The light cascaded in through the window, setting about a red hue to fill the room. There was a stillness surrounding the sleeping beauty, one that could only be peace. It may have been the profound sleep she was encased in, but it may have been that during sleep you feel nothing and nothing is quite peaceful.
If anyone had been awake in the room they would have been startled at the abrupt shattering of the warmth when a fist started to rap violently at the door. However the sleeping women, too deep in dreams, never even trembled. It wasn't until the shouting began that she was awakened.
For a moment she was confused, slightly disoriented at the sudden movement of her surroundings, the sudden reality. Slowly however she found herself able to concentrate on the phrases being shouted through the door. "Work starts in ten minutes," the low shout penetrated the door with awesome force, she almost found herself covering her ears.
Suddenly everything became too real, the cream room, the shouting, life. She sighed and listened once more to the mans shouts before finally responding. It seemed to have taken that time to gather her thoughts.
"Seifer, I'll be down in a few minutes, stop screaming," she rubbed her temples, wishing so that she could slip back into the warm embrace of the stillness, nothingness. The screaming halted and large cumbersome footsteps were heard pounding down the dimly lit hallway behind the door.
The new brunette clumsily swung her legs off the side of the bed and scooted down off it, shivering as two bare feet hit the cool ground. Quistis was unable to quite remember the details of the afternoon but could vaguely recall her run in with Seifer and being hired by a man name Nex.
Her slim body ached as she stretched her arms upwards, much like a cat. Instantly it became obvious she had only slept for a couple hours. Mumbling to herself she quickly scanned the room.
It was a mid-sized apartment, painted all beige and barely separated into rooms. The kitchen was not much more then four squared feet of counter space, an old style pea green locking fridge and overly abused brown stove nestled in between. Nothing seemed to match in the room. A washroom door came from a large square sized protrusion in the wall, and the bed she had been laying on was no more then a mattress propped off the floor on several wooden blocks. She looked to the empty expanse where the living room should be and was suddenly startled by the sound of music pumping below. It hit with enough force to make the floor shake.
Half expecting a monster to pop out from beneath the floor Quistis retreated to the mattress, suddenly realizing her stupidity. Hyne, control yourself, you're a bartender now, not a mercenary, not everyone wants to kill you, pausing she rephrased her thoughts, not the same people want to kill you.
Hit with the sudden realization she didn't have her uniform she tiptoed to the door, ignoring the consistent humming and base coming from the floor. Her muscles ached with each movement she forced them to make, it was going to be a laborious night. She slowly gripped the doorknob, somewhat unable to tightly clutch it. She cursed herself for indulging in sleep before her first night of work, short sleep always led to more fatigue. She sighed pulling open the door to hear a hanger clanking on the other side.
She stared as the door opened inward revealing a short black dress with spaghetti straps and white accent stripes. She hadn't been expecting something quite so revealing, she had noticed that the club looked classy, but felt no need to argue with the manager; at least it didn't have a tail. Slothily she moved her hand up to grasp the uniform, returning back inside to change quickly, emerging five minutes later looking tired as hell in a perfectly fitting black dress and white sneakers, the only pair of shoes she owned at the moment.
Seifer sat in the empty club, drinking a rum and coke. He had just woken up Quistis for work, specifically waiting until she would have barely enough time to get ready. He cursed at himself for it, taking another sip of his drink. He couldn't really understand why he despised her, not only that but why he went out of his way to show it, especially when he had found out what she was going through in a newspaper he had stolen from a stand.
Hyne, why in the world did I even steal it, I make enough money to buy a cheap newspaper, sighing to himself he pondered the explanation he was a kleptomaniac when Quistis emerged from the back of the club.
Seifer looked up from the table to a very amusing picture; Quistis Trepe emerging from the backdoor brown hair disheveled, bags under eyes and horribly distracting shoe wear. He would have laughed naturally had he not pitied her. Cursing at himself, he forced a dry laugh, staring at her openly as if to get the point across.
Seifer realized his first mistake when she gave him the glare which held the pain of a tossed away women, she was not in a good mood. He realized his second mistake when she actually sent mild ice magic in his direction, shattering his drink into a million pieces. She hadn't lost her touch.
"Don't mess with me Seifer," she continued to glare in his direction while shaking her head, trying to make her hair looked styled. She coldly walked down into the sunken dance floor and crossed over to the right side of the club, near where Seifer was sitting and coincidently the bar was located. The music had stopped thumping rhythmically and unfortunately they were engulfed in silence.
Seifer attempted to sound unscathed by her power while collecting the now melted drink off the table, "I know why you're here." He waved a newspaper he had pulled out of his trench coat pocket smoothly in the air as if to accent his point.
"Really Seifer, I thought you realized the whole world knew why I ran away," Quistis didn't bother to look up from the bar which she was trying to get comfortable with.
This gesture, or really the lack therefore of got to him, he enjoyed respect, "Why do you have to act like that Quistis, like I'm not even high enough for you to acknowledge?"
Quistis peered up over the bar, slamming a cup down, "Why do you think I should respect you? You were the cause of the loss of my beloved job, you tried to kill me; twice, and you weren't strong enough to resist you dream for the greater good."
Seifer seemed to be getting redder with each word and when she paused at the end he stood and stomped over to the bar, firmly clasping onto the counter, "You don't ever say anything like that again, okay fuck you, I am the reason you lost your job? Maybe you just weren't able to teach me, pass the blame on Quistis hey? At least I fought for what I believed was right. I bet you find yourself the victim now Quistis, right? Not that Rinoa is off somewhere contemplating death because of you, you sure as hell weren't able to resist Squall for the greater good!" Then Seifer saw something that shattered his world, the Ice queen broke down and started to sob. He watched her cross the dance floor and head to the back door. At first he felt the urge to run after her, to say something to make her feel better. He, of course, realized he was the source of her pain.
Running his hand through his disheveled blonde hair Seifer took his position outside of the club in front of the full line and wished that it had never happened.
Quistis ran after hearing Seifer, ran with her head in hands, avoiding the two humans she had not met yet in the hallway. She slammed into her bedroom door, fumbling for the key and fell to the ground, sobbing. She never did reach her room, instead she breathed in the dusty carpet, banging her head into the orange walls.
Mother of all, why do I feel pain…why do I cause it…why am I fed it? Why did I blame Seifer? I invoked it, prodding, blaming, accusing. How do we all forget our faults, pass the terror onto others, keep the joy for ourselves? Hyne, dear Hyne, you have listened to me only once before, please answer me once again… she sobbed once more, half expecting Seifer to come to her for some reason. Suddenly she felt an arm around her shoulders, slightly ashamed she turned her head to face the arms owner.
The man was about a couple years older then Quistis. His hair was short and reddish, wild, he was built like Seifer and his eyes almost lilac, his air and eyes contrasted abruptly, especially in the harsh overhead light. Quistis stared quite bewildered at the man, tears still streaming down her cheeks. He must have noticed this because he removed his arm quickly, however remained there, crouched on the floor beside Quistis.
Quistis wiped away her tears, quite unsuccessfully as they continued to fall. "Who are you?" she struggled to communicate through the steady stream of anguish.
"Umm, your neighbor, Menka," he replied rather cheerfully for finding a sobbing girl in the hallway before apartment 2. Menka readjusted himself so he was seated beside Quitis who was bent over on her knees.
"I'm, I'm, Quistis," she found it hard to admit she was herself, "I'm sorry, am I bothering you or something?"
At the last suggestion Menka smiled, looking as if a bomb dropped on his house couldn't bother him and spoke peacefully, "Not at all, but something seems to be bothering you." He had this slightly off aura that radiated happiness.
"Nothing anybody can help with, its something I did to myself," she struggled to smile faintly but failed miserably. Menka reached for the fallen key in front of Quistis and stood. He quickly opened the door and helped Quistis to her feet, hauling her inside.
He set her down on the side of the mattress and promptly took a seat next to her, noticing she seemed not to want to be alone, "Are you THAT Quistis?" He prompted, watching her slowly meet his gaze and nod.
Menka sat there, waiting for Quistis to halt her crying, for half an hour, sensing she didn't want to talk anymore. When she finally came through he still sat there, waiting for her to say something. He seemed to have a knack for people, which Quistis duly noted.
"I'm sorry Menka, I'm a terrible host, and I'm sorry for dumping this on you," she smiled, eyes still reddened and tears yet to dry on her cheeks.
"Don't worry about me," he looked solemnly at her, "now if your feeling better I believe we both should get to work."
Quistis shook her head slowly in remembrance, she had caused Menka and herself to miss the first half hour of work, "I hope I'm not fired, I haven't been able to find work anywhere else."
"Oh, your not fired, you see, I'm the manager, and I wouldn't fire you because your sad as hell," he smiled as if nothing had just happened.
It was four in the morning when Seifer was done his job, the club had been cleared out, no rowdy customers had caused problems and he was still thinking about Quistis. When he entered the club he found his mind beckoning him to go see if she was alright. Seifer was never one to go on instincts, however he felt surprisingly bad for what he had done, something he hadn't even felt after learning he tried to kill Quistis.
To his surprise the only person in the club was Menka, who he dutifully approached to announce he was retiring to his room.
"Slow night, going now," he was never really much for words, plus Menkas' annoying all-knowing attitude really got to Seifer who constantly found himself confused.
Menka looked up from some papers he was viewing behind the bar and simply answered, "she's in her apartment."
Seifer felt the need to punch him, although he had simply pointed him in the right direction. He was used to his over drive of violent urges however and let it pass. Instead of argue with Menka for nor real reason, as he would have done in the past, he stomped off.
Quists was sitting alone in her apartment, writing in her journal, scribbling down all the random thoughts which came to her head. She had so many things to think about. She couldn't live in constant fear someone would bring up the painful subject of the garden, on the party, or Squall. She had filled up two whole pages of her journal when someone knocked on her door.
There was a knock again and then a voice. "Quistis, its Seifer, are you there?" he tried to sound softer, however ended up sounding harsh anyways.
"Why are you here," she shouted, stashing her journal underneath the mattress of her bed. She didn't want anyone to find it, especially Seifer, there was so much he could use against her hidden within its pages.
"Hyne, Quistis, I just want to talk," he sounded exasperated, stressing each word carefully.
Quistis contemplated whether or not she felt like speaking, but decided that Seifer wanting to have a civil conversation may be a once in a lifetime offer, "come in, but only if you'll talk politely."
She listened as he paused outside the door, wondering if he could possibly do so, but suddenly the unlocked doorknob turned and Seifer walked in, mumbling 'I'll try'. He stood there by the door, looking at his shoes for a couple minutes.
"You wished to talk Seifer, please do so," Quistis calmly spouted.
Seifer reached up and scratched the top of his head, mumbling something inaudible at the floor.
"I didn't catch that."
Seifer mumbled once again.
"Hmmmm," she spoke quite bravely now.
"I SAID I'M SORRY," Seifer yelled, turning to exit the room and slamming the door behind him.
Quistis fished her journal out from underneath the mattress, she suddenly has so much more to write about.
Note: my formats prettier now...am going to include jealousy, bitterness and all that good stuff to make it all interesting...I update very quickly...maybe this is why I don't get more sleep.