Chapter Three: Promotions & Sponsors
By PasifikStar
Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews! The actual play that they're going to put on is based on one of my original stories. :P
* All Standard Disclaimers Apply: I do not own Final Fantasy or it's characters.
"Yeah...that's a standard stage size..." Rinoa said as she laid out the plans she had painstakingly spent time on the last week and a half. Irvine nodded as he looked from the plans on the table to the quad.
"It should fit," he asserted as he looked over the large area. "We can have that area sectioned off for refreshments and then that area over there for the sponsors and stuff."
"Like a VIP section!" Selphie piped. "It looks good!"
"We'll need to be very careful about the budget," Rinoa said. "We can't go over board with the props since Squall only gave us so much."
Irvine grinned and gently elbowed Rinoa. "Bet you can change that, huh?"
Rinoa smiled meekly. "I tried..." she said helplessly. "No luck."
"It's okay," Selphie said with a smile. "Zell and I went soliciting in Balamb the other day and we've secured some good prices for wood and nails and other supplies."
"Oh, thank, Hyne..." Rinoa sighed. "I just wish the costumes weren't so expensive."
"Did you rent them?" Zell asked. Rinoa shook her head.
"No, because that prima dona Seifer doesn't like wearing pre worn clothes..." Rinoa grumbled as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "He'd just bitch the whole time and then refuse to wear them."
"How do you know so much about Seifer's acting anyway?" Irvine said. "I mean...you knew he was going to be a good actor. You know what he likes and dislikes...are you sure-"
"I'm not cheating on Squall," Rinoa sighed. "I've just seen him act before, that's all. And trust me, once he's up on that stage, he's incredible. Although off the stage, he turns into the worse prima dona out there. It has to be his brand of bottled water. His brand of cheese on his crackers. His-"
"He eats cheese and crackers?" Zell asked. The spiky haired blond suddenly sunk into thought on how Seifer would look like while eating crackers. Somehow, the idea of the tall, hostile blond daintily picking up a cracker with cheese on it and putting it in his mouth while holding a wine glass half way filled with red wine just seemed so unreal.
"He picked up a taste for caviar, too..." Rinoa said. She shook her head and opened up a sketch book she had brought along with her. "Okay, here are the sketches for the scenes. As soon as it's built, come see me for this. I'm going to keep it just in case I need to make any alterations."
"I was reading the script," Irvine said. "When is this thing going to take place because you have lighting directions in there?"
Rinoa beamed a smile and looked at Selphie, who nodded. "It's going to start a sunset!" Selphie told the two young men with them. "Well, actually, it's more like the seating will start at sun set and then around seven thirty, the actual play will begin."
"It should last until ten along with the fifteen minute intermission," Rinoa added. "I'm having Zone and Watts come over with some electrical equipment and out door lighting we used to use for rallies back in Timber, so at least we won't have to worry about that."
"And last night we finished the stage markers and placements, so everything is all ready." Selphie smiled.
"You girls sound really prepared," Irvine said in awe. "I'm impressed."
"As well you should be," Rinoa said. She opened her mouth to continue when her cell phone, with it's 'Eyes on Me' ring tone went off. She pulled a little silver phone from her pocket. "Hello?" Someone was talking to her and her eyes went wide. "Right! I'll be right there! Bye!"
As she closed the little flip phone and shoved it back in her pocket, she began to gather the things. "Who was that?" Zell asked.
"Squall's secretary," Rinoa said. She smiled as she put her sketch book into a black canvas bag. "The man whose willing to be our primary sponsor is here."
"How much is he willing to contribute?" Irvine asked.
"Don't know," Rinoa said. "But if it covers a lot of our costs, we won't have to use all the budget from the Garden and that can go into other outlets. Anyway, Selphie, you're in charge of directing them what to do. Irvine, as stage manager, you report to Selphie and Selphie will report to me. I'll see you guys later at dinner, okay?"
"Right!" Zell said. "See ya!" Rinoa waved at them as she ran up the steps to the hall and headed towards the inside of the Garden.
She looked at her watch. Squall, if she knew his schedule well enough, was currently at his precious two hours in the training room. After he had been assigned that one particular time to go, he would drop everything just to go there.
While she admired his dedication to stay in shape, she secretly hoped he wouldn't drop her to go. She rushed towards his office, where Squall's secretary looked up with a smile. "He's waiting for you inside, Miss Heartilly."
"Thank you!" Rinoa smiled a brilliant smile and knocked on the door before pushing it open.
"Rinoa!" a cheerful voice exclaimed from inside the room. A tall middle aged man was standing by the shelf to the left of the room. He was holding a book in his hands and smiled brightly as he saw the young woman enter. His back length dark brown hair was tied back at his nape as a loose, casual navy blue buttoned up shirt was untucked in his tan khaki pants with their sleeves rolled up to his forearms.
"Laguna!" Rinoa sighed happily. "Thank you for coming!"
Laguna smiled and nodded and attempted to put the book back on it's place on the shelf. Instead, he knocked over a framed picture of Rinoa and Squall.
As it felt, it hit the wooden shelf and he scrambled to grab it before it hit the floor, barely pinning it between his left hand and his left thigh before it hit the floor. Rinoa smiled weakly. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he put the book back.
Before he could put the picture frame back, the books fell over to side, causing the domino effect and making a whole row of books slanted. He was left standing there holding the picture of his son and the woman he hoped would be his future daughter in law.
"It's okay," Rinoa assured him with a weak smile as she took the frame from him and placed it on Squall's desk. She walked around it so she could sit on his leather chair. As she sat on it, she motioned over to one of the seats in front of the large desk. "Have a seat," she instructed him. She looked around the room, subtly noting two missing shadows of his. "Where are Kiros and Ward?"
"I came by myself!" Laguna said proudly. "Kiros had some project to work on and Ward was running errands for me, so I decided to come on my own."
"Is that okay?" Rinoa asked, unsure if the having the President of Esthar vanishing was such a good idea.
He nodded, completely assured of his decision. "I said I'd be back in a week."
Rinoa's eyes went large. "A...week? Where will you stay?!" *Crap, if Squall finds out that I invited his father over without his permission, he'll complain and won't let me use my, I mean HIS lap top.*
"Ah, well, I ran into Cid," Laguna said enthusiastically. "And we were discussing the new Esthar Garden and he offered to give me one of the empty student dorm rooms. Isn't that nice?"
"REALLY?" Rinoa smiled weakly. "Err...where?"
"I asked for one close to Squall's," Laguna said proudly. Rinoa's head nearly hit the table.
"I...I see..." Rinoa sighed. "Well...I guess that's okay. The costumes will be coming in soon and maybe you'd want to come by and watch while we're doing the photo shoots for promotional purposes."
"That sounds great," Laguna agreed. "Now, down to business...your editor contacted me about the play. I have yet to hear what it's about as you seem to be going about it secretly."
"Well, most of the garden knows the gist of the play," Rinoa explained. "But the full plays have just been handed out to the cast members and such. I don't want to go all out promotion wise until we have the photos."
"Have you gotten any sponsors yet?"
"Well, we have support from the community here in Balamb," Rinoa added. "But we haven't technically asked for full sponsors, yet. We want to wait until we have the photos and flyers ready to be passed out. Quistis is handling the invitations and such and Selphie's handling the promotions and public relations."
Laguna nodded. "It sounds like you made some good decisions. Can I hear about the play?"
"The basic plot goes like this," Rinoa said as she pulled out her sketch book. She flipped through the pages to show him stage designs to at least help him get some sort of visual. "It's a modern day fantasy-dark ages sort of world. It starts off with the knight of a distant country whose sent by his king to a neighboring country to acquire a relic that is supposed to bring peace and prosperity to the country that holds it."
Laguna nodded. "I'm interested all ready. Please continue."
Rinoa nodded. "Anyway, he gets caught and escapes the dungeon by a young woman, who turns out to be the princess. She feels that he has a good heart, but is going about his duties the wrong way. She tries to get him to change his ways by coming with her to a purification ceremony that will prepare her for the throne of her country. Along the way he falls in love with her but finds out that she's the princess."
"Let me guess," Laguna chuckled with a knowing smile. "The knight thinks he's unworthy of her and runs off."
"Actually, the knight turns her into the king of his country and she's betrayed," Rinoa smiled weakly. Laguna looked surprised. "She escapes with the aid of the knight's superior who respects her as someone with a good heart and she returns to her land and assumes the thrown."
"What about the knight?" Laguna asked, now wanting to know what happened next.
"He runs away from his country to find her and after years of wandering he finds her again...I'll just leave it at that," Rinoa smiled as she leaned back against the chair and put her hands together. "What do you think?"
Laguna nodded. "I think you just got yourself a sponsor," he said. "I'm willing to tap into my private funds for this. How much do you need?"
"As much as you are willing to donate to pay for the equipment needed," Rinoa said. "It's a benefit play and all the money we'll make from ticket sales and other sponsors will go to the Garden."
"How many times do you plan to put it on?" Laguna asked.
Rinoa wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment. "Squall wants to put it on once and make it a big gala event. I'm thinking, however, that if it makes a lot, we can make a formal event. But that's still an after thought."
"It sounds good," Laguna agreed. "And I'm assuming Squall will be playing the part of the knight?"
Rinoa froze. "Uh...no..."
"No?" the middle aged man gasped, looking surprised. "Why not?" he asked with a sad frown on his face.
"Well...he's really busy with work, I didn't think we should bother him with memorizing lines and coming to rehearsals!" Rinoa stammered. "I mean... he's been so stressed with the Garden duties and all, it just wouldn't be fair to burden him more, right?"
The man thought for a moment and finally nodded. "I suppose so...Then who is going to play the knight to your princess?"
"Actually, Laguna..." Rinoa sighed. "I'm not in the play..."
"Not in the play!?" he gasped. "But the whole reason I wanted to be a sponsor was so I could see you and Squall on stage!"
*NO!!! Crap, crap, crap, crap!!* Rinoa's mind screamed as the warning alarms in her head went off. "I wrote the play and felt that being the director would be the best way for me to contribute."
"Then whose going to play the princess and knight?" Laguna asked, thoroughly saddened by the idea that his precious son and his precious hopefully soon to be daughter in law weren't going to play the parts he had idealized for them when he heard about it.
"Quistis is going to play Princess Ileana and Seifer is going to play Prince Aiden..." Rinoa trailed off. "Uh...Zell's an extra, Selphie is Princess Karma and Irvine's the stage manager."
"You have a stage manager in your play?"
"Um...he's not an actual character. He does the background and props."
"Oh..." Laguna looked around the room and nodded. "Well...I've never been let down by your work before," He sighed. "I'll sponsor you."
"Thank you, Laguna!" Rinoa smiled brightly as she clapped her hands together. "We need all the help we can get! You'll get to sit in the VIP section and be invited to the dinner the night after! Thank you so much! You won't regret it!"
Laguna merely chuckled at Rinoa's energetic response as he nodded. "When you asked me to sponsor you to get your first book published, I was blown away by the material. I'm sure this play will be just as good."
Rinoa nodded enthusiastically. "I assure you, it will!"
As she rapidly talked about how Laguna wouldn't be sorry for his help, Rinoa completely blocked out the sound of the door opening or the sight of a sweaty, gun blade wielding commander standing at the door way with his hand on the door knob. "Rinoa?" Squall said as he walked in. "What are you doing in my-"
"SQUALL!!" Laguna said, suddenly standing up and turning to smile at his son.
The brunette's eyes went wide as he took a step back and clutched his gun blade tighter. "La...Laguna!?"
"Squall...!" Rinoa sighed tiredly. "Uh...Laguna's going to be one of our...sponsors..."
"WHY!?" Squall gasped as he took another step back, away from the man who was smiling at him and extending his arms for a hug. He looked over his shoulder at Rinoa. "I'm going back to the training room! We're going to have a LONG talk tonight, Rinoa!"
With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, as fast as he could, back to the training room. Rinoa sighed and ran her hand through her hair. *So much for keeping it from Squall...*
Quistis looked at the beautiful dark red gown that was presented to her by Rinoa. It was an off the shoulder number made of soft velvet and silks. It had a black lace trim around it's wide cuffs and at the end of it's skirt. "What do you think?" Rinoa asked. "I contacted some people in Deling City and they were able to make the costumes according to my designs."
Silently, the tall blond lifted the dress against her pale skin and looked at herself in the full length mirror. "Rinoa...this dress..." she said as she blushed. "It's gorgeous..."
"Yes, I know," Rinoa grinned. "I'm a genius."
"AH!!!" Selphie squealed as she ran into the room where Quistis and Rinoa were wearing a long, yellow dress with white trims. It was also off the shoulder and clung to her body until her waist, where it flared out into a thick mess of drape like cloth. "I want this dress!!!"
Rinoa and Quistis giggled. "Glad you like it," Rinoa nodded. "I hope the others are finding their costumes okay," she turned around and headed for the door of Quistis' bedroom. "I'm going to make sure Fujin and Raijin are ready. When you're done meet us in the quad."
"Okay!" Selphie said. Rinoa left and Selphie looked over at Quistis' dressed. "Whoa...that has got to be the perfect dress for you, Quisty..."
"I look like a princess..." Quistis blushed. "How should I do my hair?"
"Leave it up to me!" Selphie said. "Just put on the dress. I'll go get my things!"
"Okay," Quistis agreed. Selphie ran out of her room and Quistis began to take off her clothes. She put on the dress, finding that it fit her like a glove. Rinoa had taken all their measurements before she sent in the request for costumes. *Oh, Hyne...* She slowly turned around, watching the thick cloth move around her slim body like a red water fall.
The top clung to her body as her long skirt ended behind her in a short train. The sides of her bodice were covered with black lace as gold ribbons formed 'x' shaped patterns on the side of her body. She looked over at the costume jewelry that Rinoa had brought in.
A gold necklace lined with red crystals would form a choker around her neck that would trail down right over her chest to a point right over her cleavage. Matching earrings and head piece were also amongst the pile as she ran her fingers along the material.
The door burst open and Selphie came in. She let out a whistle. "You're going to knock'em dead, Quisty!" she assured her. "Let's get to work on your hair!"
"Seifer! I don't CARE if you think it makes you look gay!" Rinoa growled as she slammed her fist against Seifer's dorm room door. "You WILL show up at the photo shoot at the QUAD in TEN MINUTES!!!"
"Why the hell should I!?" Seifer shouted from inside his room.
Behind Rinoa, Raijin and Fujin were patiently waiting, dressed in dark colored clothes. Raijin in a black suit with a long cape and a gold sash over his chest with a gold belt. The sash was decorated with medals while Fujin was in a long black dress with silver undertones that showed themselves when she moved. It hugged her body well and Rinoa even got her matching eye patch of the same material as well as long, silver earrings and head piece.
"Five words," Rinoa hissed. "Where. You. Learned. To. ACT."
She heard nothing but grumbling, incoherent swear words. "Fine..." he finally hissed. "I'll BE there! But I won't be HAPPY!!"
Rinoa smirked. "Good! I'm going to make sure Irvine has the set ready," She turned to Raijin and Fujin. "If he's not out in ten minutes, break the door down and drag him, understand?"
"The show must go on, ya know..." Raijin nodded.
"Thanks! Ten MINUTES, Seifer!" she shouted over her shoulder as she ran off.
In the quad, Irvine was showing the photographer the spots where Rinoa had instructed him to tell the photographer. Sitting on one of the benches under a tree was Edea, who was the playing the oracle. She was dressed in a low cut, off the shoulder black dress, tight fitting to her body, but without any sleeves. It's bodice was lined with soft black fluff.
She stood up and smiled at Rinoa, revealing the slit at the front of her legs from her knees down. She had a short black train behind her and a silver head piece that went around her head. The back of the head piece held up long, gauzy sheets of thin black material that partially hid her hair.
Zell was dressed as some of the other knights and was talking to them about how Rinoa wanted them to pose. She had already told him so she wouldn't have to tell the rest of the group.
"Is everyone almost ready?" Edea asked. Rinoa nodded.
"Almost," she sighed. "Thank you for coming out to the shoot, Matron."
"It's not a problem," Edea assured her. "It's my pleasure, really. I'm actually having a lot of fun." she winked.
Rinoa giggled. "I'm glad. How is the dress?"
"Very...different..." Edea sighed. "Although Cid did have VERY postive comments about it," she giggled slightly as she smiled. "Must I put on the rest of the head piece yet?"
"No, no," Rinoa shook her head. "You can wait until the rest of the group arrives."
"Rin, the photographer's all set up!" Irvine called from the side.
"Tell him to start taking a picture of the knights and extras!" Rinoa said. She looked around for Fujin and Raijin to see if they were coming yet.
"Is that Seifer?" Edea asked, raising an eyebrow as she laid eyes on a sulking blond wearing tight black pants, boots, and a tight black, sleeveless turtle neck.
Rinoa smirked as Seifer tightened the long, black jacket around him and glared at everyone who dared look upon him. "Yep... Sir Aiden," she nodded. "The aloof, cold hearted, duty bound knight."
"Why is he dressed like a model?" Edea asked.
"To go along with my theme..." Rinoa said. "The story takes place in a modern day like setting with fantasy and gothic undertones. You'll see when you see Quistis."
"Why the hell did you make me wear this crap!?" Seifer growled as he approached her. "These pants are crawling up my ass!!"
"What are you talking about?" Rinoa frowned. "Few men can carry off those pants. Squall definitely can and you sort of can."
"Sort of?" Seifer snorted. "Anything he can do, I can do just as well! Let's get this thing started!"
Rinoa rolled her eyes. *Deep down...he's so simple to manipulate...* she thought to herself. "Okay...all we need are Selphie and Quistis."
"We're here! We're here!" a voice shouted from the hall way. Running down the corridor, lifting the hem of her dress so she could run, was Selphie. She was smiling brightly and waving to the group.
"Whoa! Selphie! You look cute!" Irvine shouted with an appreciative grin.
"Thank you!" Selphie said as she turned around her dress. "Rin!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the other girls's hand. "Check out what I did to Quistis' hair!"
"What...?" Rinoa said. Selphie pointed to the figure slowly coming out of the hall way. Rinoa's eyes went large. "Selphie...you're good."
The green eyed brunette giggled. "Hehehe...I know."
Quistis was walking down the corridor, her hair down around her body, curled into thick, defined waves half way down so that they flowed past her shoulders as she walked. She began to step down into the quad, wearing heeled black shoes with laces that went up her ankles and calves.
Zell's mouth dropped as he watched the blue eyed blond slowly lifted up her head to reveal darkly painted lips, exaggerated eyes, against a creamy, flawless face. Irvine stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening as he let out a long whistle.
"What...?" Quistis asked sternly, trying to ignore the heated blush on her face. "What's wrong? Selphie, I told you over did it!"
Her blue eyes scanned all of her friends. From Rinoa's highly pleased face, to Selphie's proud one, to the shocked look on Zell and Irvine's faces, and then to Seifer's.
His green eyes never seemed to leave her as they went up and down her body, taking in every inch of her and engraving it in his memory. Rinoa looked over at Seifer, noticing how he suddenly looked very interested.
"Seifer," Rinoa grinned. "What do YOU think of your co-star's attire?"
His eyes rose and met Quistis' sapphire ones. "I think," he grinned. "That she should wear something like that more often."
As if on cue, Quistis' face exploded in a heated blush as Rinoa and Selphie giggled. "Quistis, to put it plain and simple," Irvine said as he looked at her. "You're hot."
"Yeah..." Zell nodded dumbly. Rinoa noticed Seifer shoot them both glares.
"Thank you..." Quistis trailed off, embaressed by all the attention.
"Okay!" Rinoa said as she clapped her hands together. "Let's get this photo shoot started, shall we!? Zell, you and knights gather over there! Selphie, can you help arrange them?" Selphie nodded and began to yell out instructions.
"Okay, guys! Let's get a move on here! We're loosing valuable time and money! Let's go! Let's go!"
As Selphie herded the extras around to get their pictures, Rinoa pointed out where Edea would take her picture before she walked over to Raijin and Fujin. "The king and queen will just be together for shots up from the waist up. But Raijin, you'll have to pose with Seifer and the knights, okay?"
"Affirmative." Fujin said. She headed over to the area where Rinoa had instructed them as Raijin followed along.
Rinoa then turned to Seifer and Quistis. *Hehehe...! I'm a genius! AHAHAHAHA!!!*
"Why are you wearing that?" Quistis asked, raising an eyebrow at Seifer's choice attire. "What? You're some male model now?"
Seifer jerked his head back. "Hey, not many people can pull off the tall, dark, and oh so damn fine look," he told her arrogantly as he pulled back the jacket slightly to look over his clothes. "You on the other hand look like a gothic doll."
Quistis narrowed her eyes, but Rinoa stepped in. "Okay, let me direct you guys to who you're going to pose," Rinoa said nervously. "You two are the main characters so you two will have a lot of pictures together."
"Can't we just take separate pictures and have them digitally edited to make it look like we're together?" Quistis asked casually.
"Yes, of course," Seifer snorted. "We can't have the little princess dirtied by the ruffian, can we?"
"I'm not a little princess-"
"You had me fooled then, because you sure do act all high and mighty-" Seifer began, but Rinoa stomped on his foot.
"Seifer, stop it! Quistis," Rinoa sighed, turning to look at the other blond. "Come on, you two! This is serious!"
"Fine!" Quistis hissed. "For the Garden's sake."
"Oh, you are so self sacrificing-" Seifer commented. Rinoa glared at him.
"Rinoa, I cannot work with something like that!" Quistis gasped, pointing to the tall blond.
"I know it's hard, Quistis, but you have to admit that Seifer makes a good knight." Rinoa insisted as she looked up at Quistis with pleading brown eyes
"Damn straight."
*Hyne, Seifer, just shut up before you make things worse...* Rinoa thought to herself. "Just follow me..." she sighed as she waved for them to follow. They walked towards an area where there was a slight garden. "Okay, Quistis can you sit down on the grass there?"
The blond nodded and stood over a certain part. "Is this okay?"
"That's fine," Rinoa nodded. Quistis sat down. "Just on your knees is fine. Seifer," Rinoa pointed to the ground next to Quistis. "Lay your head on Quistis' lap."
"WHAT!?" the two blondes chorused as Seifer paused half way to his pose.
"Just do it!" Rinoa snapped. "It's just for a photo!"
"Fine..." Seifer grumbled. He shot a glare at Quistis as he laid down next to her and placed his head on her lap. *Hmm...she smells nice...*
"Okay..." Rinoa waved over the photographer. "Can you two look into each other's eyes?" As instructed, they did. Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Do NOT GLARE at each other! You two are supposed to be in love!"
"How can I possibly love her!?" Seifer yelled. Quistis rolled her eyes and let out a huff.
"Seifer, I swear..." Rinoa hissed.
"Fine, fine!" he grumbled and looked up at Quistis. *Okay...just look at her like this...she's a pretty blond woman staring at you intently. She's a beautiful blond woman staring at you intently,* Seifer watched as Quistis' eyes softened slightly as his hand unconsciously reached for hers. *Hyne...she's a gorgeous woman...*
Rinoa smiled, immensely pleased with herself as they posed there, looking into each other's eyes without any animosity. The photographer snapped a dozen shots or more from different angles before he said he was ready for another pose.
Rinoa told him to picture the others while she personally set the princess and her knight in another pose. "Okay, you two..." she said with a knowing smile. "Now, let's get some face and upper body shots!"
Laguna was watching from the covered hall way as the cast members of Rinoa's place took pictures in different positions. He watched as his hopefully soon to be daughter positioned the two blondes who were going to play the lead characters.
She was working so hard, as were her friends, he was sure that it was going to be an excellent play. He smiled to himself. After all, she was also Julia Loire, the infamous author of his favorite book series.
He had been so entranced watching the group pose for pictures that he didn't see Squall walk up behind him and then walk down the stairs to his left. His eyes went wide as Squall seemed to quicken his steps as he realized he had been spotted. "Squall! Wait!"
Squall winced as he turned around. Laguna was running to catch up with him. *Dammit!* "Yes, Laguna?"
"Uh..." *Okay, now you have is attention...now what?* Laguna asked. "So... are you busy tomorrow?"
"I have paper work-"
"No you don't," a voice said to his side. Rinoa was walking towards him, a frown on her face. "Tomorrow's a weekend."
"EXACTLY," Squall said, giving her a look. "I have to work on the weekends to get my papers done."
"What about tonight then?" Laguna asked. "I'll treat you and Rinoa to a nice dinner in town."
Squall looked over at Rinoa, practically begging for help. "Sure!" Rinoa said with a smile.
*TRAITOR!* he screamed as he shot her a glare. She merely smiled warmly and looped her arm through Squall's.
"We'll meet you at the front of the Garden around six tonight?" Rinoa suggested.
"Sounds great!" Laguna said. "I'll go get ready now!"
He ran off and Squall looked at his watch. "It's two thirty..."
"Maybe he just needs some more time," Rinoa shrugged. "Come on, check out what we're doing!" she beamed as she pulled him over.
Squall sighed and allowed himself to be dragged over to where a group had congregated around Seifer and Quistis. "No! I'm not doing that!" the female blond exclaimed as the photographer let out a heavy sigh.
"Now what is it?" Rinoa asked tiredly as she let go of Squall's arm and stepped forward.
"The photographer suggests I kiss Seifer!" Quistis gasped.
"Why? I wouldn't be your first." Seifer snorted. Quistis glared at him.
"It's the PRINCIPLE!" she hissed. "Rinoa-"
"It's just an 'acting' kiss," Rinoa assured her. "It doesn't count as a real kiss, I swear!"
Quistis paled before she turned bright red. "Rinoa, why!?"
"It's for the story!" the brunette exclaimed.
"C'mon, Quisty!" Selphie piped. "It's not like it's for real!"
"Yeah! It doesn't count!" Rinoa agreed with a nod. "It's 'acting'!!"
"You really think it's a good idea?" Zell asked Irvine in a low voice. The cowboy shrugged.
"Hey, I'd do it," Irvine shrugged. Zell's eyes went wide and the took a step from Irvine. The cowboy frowned. "Kiss QUISTIS. What the hell are you thinking!?"
"Don't worry, Quisty," Seifer assured her with a smirk. "I promise not to hurt you."
"Shut up, Seifer..." Quistis snapped as she walked over to him and glared. "Let's just get this over with!"
Rinoa let out a sigh of relief. *Thank you, Hyne!* "Okay...everyone, can you give them some space! The extras are free to go!" Rinoa said, in an effort to disburse the crowd and lessen the amount of people who were going to watch.
Unfortunately, she found that no one seemed eager to leave at that moment. She looked over at Squall, who stood there with his arms crossed, looking bored. She tugged on his arm and he looked at her questioningly. She motioned her head over to the group. He continued to look at her questioningly. She rolled her eyes.
"Okay!" Selphie shouted at the group. "We're going to have to put away the costumes soon!" she said, being the only one who was getting Rinoa's ideas. "So everyone who doesn't have to be here right now, please go change and return the costumes here immediately!"
"YES!" Rinoa said with a smile. She turned around and looked at the group. "Okay, everyone! Let's get a move on!"
Grumbling with disappointment, the extras scattered off with Selphie shooing them away. Rinoa turned back to Seifer and Quistis, who stood in front of each other, somewhat nervously. "If you, miss...could you please stand in his arms. And sir, can you please put her hand on the small of her back," the photographer was telling them. "That's right."
Seifer looked slightly hesitant as he put his hand gently on Quistis' back, pulling her closely against him. Quistis looked down, trying to avoid eye contact at her body pressed against his. She put her hands between them, against his chest in an effort to keep some distance. A heated blush went across her face as the photographer began taking pictures.
"Okay," Rinoa said, urging them to continue. "Now...pretend we're not here and kiss her..."
*That's kind of hard considering how you're STARING at us...* Quistis thought to herself.
"It's acting, Quisty," Seifer's deep voice whispered. His warm breath caressed her flushed cheeks as his right hand rose from where it was placed on her upper left arm. He gently brushed back the soft loose strands of blond hair that fell around her face, causing her to look up. "It doesn't...mean anything..."
His green eyes peered deeply into hers as a soft breeze went past them, cooling her heated blush but only slightly. He could feel her heart picking up speed against his chest her blue gaze settled on his. Her red lips parted, sending warm air against his chin.
*I want it to...* Quistis heard her mind say as her hands began to move up his chest and on to his shoulders. Slowly, his head lowered down to meet hers and she felt her eyes closing expectantly.
Seifer cupped the side of her face as if he were holding the most fragile object in the world. He tilted her face up and closed is eyes as he watched her sapphire eyes disappear between long lashes. Warm lips gently brushed hers.
The entire time, Rinoa and Selphie were holding their breaths with expectation as they watched the couple underneath one of the trees in the garden. Irvine and Zell watched, a bit shocked that Quistis had actually done it. Squall merely rolled his eyes and turned his head away as Fujin smirked and Raijin's draw dropped.
The photographer clicked away as Quistis' hands wrapped around Seifer's neck, parting briefly from his lips to take a quick breath before returning. Seifer's arms went around her shoulder and pulled her close. It wasn't until Quistis felt his hand against her shoulder blades that her eyes snapped open.
"Hey!" Seifer frowned as he was suddenly shoved away as Quistis took a step back. Her eyes were wide as she looked down at the ground, shocked at what she had just been doing. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing is wrong with me!" She snapped back up at him. Her eyes flew to Rinoa. "I hope that's the end of this shoot!"
Rinoa jerked her head back and nodded quickly. She sent Selphie a panicked look. "Uh...we'll work with what we've got." Rinoa assured her.
Quistis wiped the back of her hand across her lips, silently glad that Selphie had used the lip stick that took a few hours to take off. "I'm going to change!" she announced as she huffed away from the group, avoiding everyone's eyes.
The group watched her walk away. "I'll...uh...go make sure she's okay." Selphie said as she scurried after the blond.
"Tsk..." Seifer snorted as he crossed his arms. "What's her problem...?"
Rinoa looked over at him and narrowed her eyes. "Are you blushing?"
"Men don't blush." Seifer stated simply.
"Yeah they do," Rinoa said. "Squall does it all the time-"
"That's enough, Rinoa." Squall cut her off and threw her a disapproving glance as she smiled weakly.
"Anyway, thank you for your time," she sighed as she turned her attention from Squall to Seifer. "I suggest you change and return the costume." Seifer nodded and headed back with the group.
Rinoa went to thank the photographer and finish up the details as Zell and Irvine walked over to Squall. "He seemed a little to casual about it," Zell said suspiciously. "He can't possibly be that great an actor."
"Will you guys stop questioning his acting?" Rinoa sighed as she approached them with some papers in her hands. "He's good, I know it."
"And how exactly do you know it, Rin?" Irvine asked, raising an eyebrow. "We've known him a tad longer than you, you know."
"And we've never seen him act." Zell added.
Rinoa sighed heavily. "It's just a feeling okay," Rinoa assured them. She looked at Squall. "Let's go, we have dinner with your fa-"
"LAGUNA." Squall corrected her.
Rinoa rolled her eyes. "LAGUNA..." she grumbled. "Tonight," she took his hand and began to lead him away. "Bye, guys!"
Irvine and Zell bid the couple farewell and Irvine rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know, Zell...something isn't right..."
"What do you mean?" Zell asked as they began to head back to their respective rooms.
"I don't know..." Irvine mumbled. "Remember in Sapphire Eyes how the group was investigating a haunted theater and Casey and Zephyr were put into the lead roles..."
"Yeah..." Zell nodded, replaying Rinoa's book in his head. "Man, I never thought that the original actress was the ghost...I mean...she's the one that hired the group! And man...that rehearsal scene scared the crap out of me."
"No, no..." Irvine sighed. "Think about the side story...how Stephanie and Noa Carilly had teamed up to hook up Casey and Zephyr."
"Yeah..." Zell snorted. "Hyne, Zephyr is such an ass."
Irvine looked at Zell as if he was crazy. "You REALLY don't know who the characters are, do you?"
"Of course I do!" Zell said. "It's so obvious."
Irvine let out a sigh of relief. "Good-"
"I mean the lead actor in that particular novel was totally based on me. And Casey...it's obviously that lady from that tavern. I bet Maverick is Sir Laguna."
"..." Zell looked at Irvine as the cowboy stopped in his tracks.
"What?" Zell asked.
"I've come to the conclusion," Irvine told him. "That hot dogs make you stupid."
Next Time: Rehearsals begin and an accident happens, taking out one of our precious cast members. Will Zell finally realize who the characters are REALLY based off of? Will Squall escape the clutches of Laguna? (The answer to that one is no.)