"Ruby, do you remember that one time, under the weeping willow?" The
theatre was closed, and only a few dim lights stayed on to throw twisted
shadows in the half-light. Blank stood, his shoulder raised casually
against a cold brick wall, his eyes staring intently into Ruby's giant blue
portals.
"Hmm?" She asked quietly, digging through her purse, "What are you talking about?" Blank watched her with a joking smile on his lips. She sure was a beauty, even more so now that she was wealthy and had the money to waste on pampering. All of his child hood fantasies had been focused around Ruby...some things never change.
"Remember, you told me that you loved me." Ruby's eyes quickly shot up at this suggestion.
"Oh you liar, I never said any such thing."
"Of course you did!" Blank insisted, drawing a little closer, "You just don't remember it...maybe it was all the wine you drank at dinner that night."
"Liar...Blank give it up. I can't believe it's been over a year since I've seen you and you're still at your childish game." Ruby shook her head slowly and looked back down into her purse, "Why don't you just find someone else?"
"Childish?" Blank stepped away quickly, scoffing at the very idea, "Just trying to bring up the best part of our friendship, that's all. We had quite an intimate thing going for a while...just wanted to...you know," He turned his back, staring at the vast dark stage above him as he waved his hand, "Umm...see if that relationship is still alive."
"I barely talked to you. Blank you're here to act, not to pick up a date. Please act mature."
Act...ah yes, that was the point of this. About a week ago the Queen had sent for the members of old Tantalus, to see if they could put on a play for her third anniversary. Of course no one declined, so there they were, a week later, waiting for the others so they could begin practicing. Ruby of course didn't have to go anywhere, seeing as it was her theatre that would be performing the play. Ruby's theatre had become somewhat of a hit in the past three years. She kept expanding and expanding, and more people kept coming and coming...leaving her quite wealthy.
Blank, on the other hand, had never quite grown out of the rogue's role. Tantalus had broken up, for the most part, after the War of the Worlds, so Blank had decided on a new career. Card Shark. He played the taverns and gambling halls of Kazal, a small town on the outskirts of Lindblum. And so far he was fairly successful. With everything but women.
"Hello kids." Marcus grunted as he burst in through the door, throwing a few of the last rays of sunlight in with him. First Marcus noted who was in the room. Noted the position they were in. Noted the silence...and smiled. Damn him.
"Hey Marc, how's guard duty?" Blank smiled broadly as he stepped over to greet his old friend. Marcus had taken the opposite path of Blank, the path of law. Due to his extreme swordsmanship, he was appointed as the Captain of the Guards in Alexandria, and so far had ruled the populace in safety with his iron blade.
Marcus nodded, his smile still present, "Not bad...not bad...how are the pickup lines going for you?"
"Haah..." Blank growled, trying to think of a witty comment. Unfortunately, Ruby beat him to it.
"Careful Marcus, once he's done with me he might start telling you about the old love affair you two had." Ruby yawned, smiled sweetly at Blank, then glided over to the stage where she began straightening chairs. Marcus wrinkled his nose,
"I hope not."
Blank's eyes followed her down the aisle, "You know...I just realized...I don't like her."
"Hey scumbuckets! Ready to get your act together?" Baku threw the door open, his full figure framed dramatically in the doorway with all the ennui of an actor performing his death scene. Cinna followed quickly on his heels, giving a quick wave to the room. Baku and Cinna had both remained stationed in Lindblum. There Baku continued his underhanded dealings. In the past three years he had been in and out of half a dozen thieves guilds, all of which he called 'insufficient compared to the glory of Tantalus'. It had always been Baku's dream to be a great leader, and he would probably never stop until he reached his goal.
Cinna followed Baku as faithfully as ever, and almost as clumsily. He tripped down the stairs, narrowly avoided a collision with Baku, and ended up sprawled on his knees panting. "How you...folks been doing?" Cinna gasped, trying to regain his cool.
"Well, actually..." Ruby strode toward the door with a smile on her face.
"Actually we're all doing just peachy." Blank coughed, "Just living our own little lives, you know... how are you?"
"Great, great." Baku snorted and moved forward to give Marcus and Blank a hearty pat on the back. "It's good to see a few competent criminals for once...whoever is training these new knuckleheads in Lindblum is doing a horrible job at it."
"Ex-criminals." Marcus muttered with raised eyebrows. Baku shrugged,
"Of course, of course. So, are we ready to knock Alexandria back on its ass again?"
"I suppose..." Ruby answered mildly, "I've hired a few actors to fill in the minor roles we're missing...and...Zidane will be playing his part, but he can't make it tonight."
"Can't make it tonight?" Baku roared, "What's keeping him?"
"There is some sort of autumn party going on at the palace, and Zidane has to attend." Ruby sighed. Baku turned his back, grumbling his resentment to the darkness,
"Damn that kid, he never did give a damn for us, did he? Hah...guess he can't make his precious queen look bad, now can he?"
"I don't think that's possible." Blank murmured. All eyes turned to him, and he explained quietly, "Making the queen look bad, that is. I don't think she's ever looked bad."
"Hmm...jealous?" Ruby sent her sweet smile Blank's way one more time, and he growled at it through a forced smile.
"Of course, my dear. Who wouldn't be jealous of a man sitting with a fine queen on a pot of gold? Sounds pretty good to me."
"Hey, Blank, don't worry. You'll get your chance." Marcus offered helpfully.
Blank looked down. "Yeah, sure. Alright, are we going to practice this play or what? Time for Tantalus to shine one more time." Chance. That was what he dealt with in cards. Chance. What a fickle word, a word with no truth to it. Chance won him everything in cards, and lost him everything in life. How fitting. He placed the smile on his face one more time and jumped to the stage. Time to act.
--
It was quite a beautiful night. A light misty rain sprinkled the lush green grass outside the castle walk, blurring the moon from her full glory. Ethereal stars shone down from above, and lights shone from below, flaming torches of revelry. And all of this light focused on Garnet; she was the strongest star; she was the beautiful night. Zidane leaned over his half- full glass of wine to peer intently at his wife, smiling broadly through the faint fog of drunkenness and listening to the conversation spinning around him.
"Rather pompous of them, isn't it? Barely a year after they formed a city-state, and now that idiot Crawford believes he is greater than our blessed kingdom." One ancient nobleman pressed urgently across the narrow table. The queen just nodded politely,
"Well, Alexandria may be great, but the economy and trade has not grown in quite some time. In the past few years almost every nation but Alexandria has begun trading across the seas."
"But there is no need to, my lady!" Another advisor objected loudly, "Everything we could possibly need is right here on the Mist Continent."
"Of course. But sometimes efficiency can be discarded for the sake of diplomacy. Conde Petei, the Black Mage Village, and Daguerro are all flourishing towns - if we do not embrace this opportunity for long distance trade, we may lose out on valuable future allies."
Zidane drained his glass and let his head sink to the table. No one ever asked what his opinion was in matters like this. They just stared at him indifferently, sniffing through their snobby noses, sometimes adding a polite smile because he was the Queen's husband. He didn't care. He was the Queen's husband. He didn't care if he ever spoke an intelligent word at a meeting, or made a single diplomatic gesture. He could protect Garnet; that was what he could do. He could love her...and he was sticking to that.
As if hearing his thoughts, Garnet turned her intelligent eyes to him, and offered an apologetic smile, mouthing one word. 'Wait' Wait...he smiled happily and winked at her. He knew what he was waiting for.
"Zidane." Zidane turned his head sluggishly to see Steiner stooping over him, looking very formal and awkward in his gleaming steel armor decorated with red velvet. The big knight's face seemed a whirlwind of emotions, nervous...very nervous, but happy - and tired, and satisfied. "Zidane I have to talk to you for a second."
"Excuse me, gentlemen. Beautiful lady." Zidane stood and bowed too deeply, winning a giggle from Garnet. "I have a little important business of my own to conduct. Goodnight." With a heavy sigh of relief he turned away from the table to face Steiner with a smile. He had a feeling he knew what Steiner's question was.
The Knight, or more technically, Defense General of Alexandria, led Zidane to a quieter locale away from the walk, down to the gardens, resting peacefully by the river. From this position, Steiner began to mumble and babble between nervous chuckles, all the while staring up adoringly at the lighted area, where his angel sat a few seats across from the Queen.
Commanding General Beatrix, the beautiful slayer whose allegiance had been to Alexandria, the country itself, for longer than most could remember. Although her dress was usually casual, geared for war over fashion, for the banquet she had graced herself with a shimmering blue dress that trickled down her form like magic. Steiner's eyes could not pull away. "She's so...beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yep." Zidane's eyes wandered from Steiner's catch to his own, sitting in a pool of abnormal elegance...the Moon, she was the moon in her tight fitting white gown laced with gold. Long matching white gloves held her hands as they moved and laughed and spoke to the men surrounding her - her adoring audience, adoring for more reasons than the conversation of diplomacy. He wasn't jealous that they craved her attention...because he knew they were all jealous of him. She was his, his very own moon. "Beautiful."
"So," Steiner stammered, "I-"
"You're going to ask Beatrix to marry you, is that it?" Zidane smiled lazily and sank to a garden bench to more comfortably enjoy the view. Steiner hurriedly followed suit.
"Yes, I...you - how'd you know?"
"You're nervous, you're in love, you're living together...I dunno, sounds pretty logical to me."
Steiner smiled nervously, "Hah...of course, yes, that's it. So...well, I'm not quite sure how I should approach this...you know, of course, she's such a lady - I don't feel right just going out and saying it bluntly...I think I should do something special first, like take her to dinner or..." Steiner rambled on, Zidane barely listening. There was no discernable point when Zidane became Steiner's confidant. It probably had something to do with Zidane and Garnet's marriage occurring simultaneously with Steiner and Beatrix's love life - and Zidane became quickly referred to as the 'Master of Love' in Steiner's books. Zidane, of course, still didn't really like Steiner, but the man sure was dogmatically loyal, and he never meant any harm..."So what do you think?"
"My personal suggestion would be to...buy her a ring, get drunk for a little courage, and pop the question after a good night of sex."
Steiner's face reddened considerably, "Sir, that suggestion questions my honor! Of course I would not get drunk - it runs against the rules of my position! And to...bed...Beatrix, before our lock into marriage - it's just not-"
"Honorable, hmm? Whatever." Zidane shrugged and patted Steiner heartily on the back, "That's just advice from me to you - I'm sure she'll say yes no matter what you do. Knock yourself out."
Steiner eyed Zidane up and down for a moment, probably wondering to himself how someone so roguish won the queen. They'd never figure it out. Steiner finally nodded, offering a faint smile to Zidane, "Thank you...I hope so."
--
Blank traced the cold stone wall with his index finger as he stared across the river at the luminous full moon, who stared brazenly back at him. Love...the full moon was out and everyone was in love. Everyone was racing home to make love, or to win the heart of his or her love for future lovemaking. Passion unbridled turned the sight of youth red and cut off any sane thought.
Then of course, there was Blank. He remained quite calm in such an hour, quite sane indeed. His mind was that of a wall...solid and faithful and brave and dutiful...and...and...
"Goddammit!" And alone. "God...dammit!" He kicked the wall bitterly, pressing his hands into the grain until it marked his skin. The moon was supposed to be a good omen, a sign that things were all going to be alright. But he didn't see it...everything was going fine, sure, except his love life. And sometimes, just sometimes...when everything was dark and no one was around, he thought about it.
Ruby...there wasn't really much to Ruby. Especially after Blank had learned during the night that she was engaged to be married. No, it wasn't to the love of her life or anything so romantic. She was engaged to some banker with a golden dick. Ruby left the practice early to go see her 'dove' as she called him. Blank left soon after in disgust.
It wasn't as if there was anything between Blank and Ruby. There was no connection there. But it wasn't like he was useless...he wasn't useless. Slowly his fingers drifted down to grasp the wine bottle he had dropped at his feet. Heh...his love for the night. He took a deep swig.
Behind him he heard the quick patter of feet and suppressed laughter, and he spun around, lowering his bottle for a moment, "Who's there?"
"Blank? Is that you Blank?" Zidane's mirthful voice rang out as he strode into the short range of Blank's vision, both his arms strongly encircling Garnet. Blank looked down and took another deep drink.
"Yep, it's me. How was the party?"
"Boring as hell. Can you watch and make sure no one is coming? We've decided to act our age for once." Garnet laughed, the sound quickly muffled by Zidane's lips covering hers as he pressed her up against the stone ledge, his quick fingers feeling through her garments.
"Why not?" Blank turned away, forsaking his view of the moon as he downed the rest of the bottle and sank to the ground. The dizzying influence of the drink helped a little, it helped him forget about the truth. What was the truth? Something about him being screwed...yeah...maybe, when he woke up in the morning, huddled on the castle walk with a bottle in his hand, he'd forget about what happened the night before, and live everything for the present.
Everything for the present? That sounded nice...maybe he wasn't born to be a card shark, maybe he was really supposed to be something important. Like a writer...or an actor. He acted...hell he did, loved acting. Acting let him forget all of his problems, sort of like drinking...except with acting he had no hangover but his loneliness.
Lonely was a stupid word. "Lonely..." He muttered, listening to the dim sounds of the lovers behind him. Garnet said something about letting her take it off first...he probably would have looked - but the...acting had made him a little tired. Blank heard an airship engine roaring somewhere in the distance. Time to sleep...and in the morning...nothing would happen. Nothing.
--
Why can't we not be sober?
Just want to start this over.
Why can't we sleep forever?
Just want to start this over.
Sober - Tool
"Hmm?" She asked quietly, digging through her purse, "What are you talking about?" Blank watched her with a joking smile on his lips. She sure was a beauty, even more so now that she was wealthy and had the money to waste on pampering. All of his child hood fantasies had been focused around Ruby...some things never change.
"Remember, you told me that you loved me." Ruby's eyes quickly shot up at this suggestion.
"Oh you liar, I never said any such thing."
"Of course you did!" Blank insisted, drawing a little closer, "You just don't remember it...maybe it was all the wine you drank at dinner that night."
"Liar...Blank give it up. I can't believe it's been over a year since I've seen you and you're still at your childish game." Ruby shook her head slowly and looked back down into her purse, "Why don't you just find someone else?"
"Childish?" Blank stepped away quickly, scoffing at the very idea, "Just trying to bring up the best part of our friendship, that's all. We had quite an intimate thing going for a while...just wanted to...you know," He turned his back, staring at the vast dark stage above him as he waved his hand, "Umm...see if that relationship is still alive."
"I barely talked to you. Blank you're here to act, not to pick up a date. Please act mature."
Act...ah yes, that was the point of this. About a week ago the Queen had sent for the members of old Tantalus, to see if they could put on a play for her third anniversary. Of course no one declined, so there they were, a week later, waiting for the others so they could begin practicing. Ruby of course didn't have to go anywhere, seeing as it was her theatre that would be performing the play. Ruby's theatre had become somewhat of a hit in the past three years. She kept expanding and expanding, and more people kept coming and coming...leaving her quite wealthy.
Blank, on the other hand, had never quite grown out of the rogue's role. Tantalus had broken up, for the most part, after the War of the Worlds, so Blank had decided on a new career. Card Shark. He played the taverns and gambling halls of Kazal, a small town on the outskirts of Lindblum. And so far he was fairly successful. With everything but women.
"Hello kids." Marcus grunted as he burst in through the door, throwing a few of the last rays of sunlight in with him. First Marcus noted who was in the room. Noted the position they were in. Noted the silence...and smiled. Damn him.
"Hey Marc, how's guard duty?" Blank smiled broadly as he stepped over to greet his old friend. Marcus had taken the opposite path of Blank, the path of law. Due to his extreme swordsmanship, he was appointed as the Captain of the Guards in Alexandria, and so far had ruled the populace in safety with his iron blade.
Marcus nodded, his smile still present, "Not bad...not bad...how are the pickup lines going for you?"
"Haah..." Blank growled, trying to think of a witty comment. Unfortunately, Ruby beat him to it.
"Careful Marcus, once he's done with me he might start telling you about the old love affair you two had." Ruby yawned, smiled sweetly at Blank, then glided over to the stage where she began straightening chairs. Marcus wrinkled his nose,
"I hope not."
Blank's eyes followed her down the aisle, "You know...I just realized...I don't like her."
"Hey scumbuckets! Ready to get your act together?" Baku threw the door open, his full figure framed dramatically in the doorway with all the ennui of an actor performing his death scene. Cinna followed quickly on his heels, giving a quick wave to the room. Baku and Cinna had both remained stationed in Lindblum. There Baku continued his underhanded dealings. In the past three years he had been in and out of half a dozen thieves guilds, all of which he called 'insufficient compared to the glory of Tantalus'. It had always been Baku's dream to be a great leader, and he would probably never stop until he reached his goal.
Cinna followed Baku as faithfully as ever, and almost as clumsily. He tripped down the stairs, narrowly avoided a collision with Baku, and ended up sprawled on his knees panting. "How you...folks been doing?" Cinna gasped, trying to regain his cool.
"Well, actually..." Ruby strode toward the door with a smile on her face.
"Actually we're all doing just peachy." Blank coughed, "Just living our own little lives, you know... how are you?"
"Great, great." Baku snorted and moved forward to give Marcus and Blank a hearty pat on the back. "It's good to see a few competent criminals for once...whoever is training these new knuckleheads in Lindblum is doing a horrible job at it."
"Ex-criminals." Marcus muttered with raised eyebrows. Baku shrugged,
"Of course, of course. So, are we ready to knock Alexandria back on its ass again?"
"I suppose..." Ruby answered mildly, "I've hired a few actors to fill in the minor roles we're missing...and...Zidane will be playing his part, but he can't make it tonight."
"Can't make it tonight?" Baku roared, "What's keeping him?"
"There is some sort of autumn party going on at the palace, and Zidane has to attend." Ruby sighed. Baku turned his back, grumbling his resentment to the darkness,
"Damn that kid, he never did give a damn for us, did he? Hah...guess he can't make his precious queen look bad, now can he?"
"I don't think that's possible." Blank murmured. All eyes turned to him, and he explained quietly, "Making the queen look bad, that is. I don't think she's ever looked bad."
"Hmm...jealous?" Ruby sent her sweet smile Blank's way one more time, and he growled at it through a forced smile.
"Of course, my dear. Who wouldn't be jealous of a man sitting with a fine queen on a pot of gold? Sounds pretty good to me."
"Hey, Blank, don't worry. You'll get your chance." Marcus offered helpfully.
Blank looked down. "Yeah, sure. Alright, are we going to practice this play or what? Time for Tantalus to shine one more time." Chance. That was what he dealt with in cards. Chance. What a fickle word, a word with no truth to it. Chance won him everything in cards, and lost him everything in life. How fitting. He placed the smile on his face one more time and jumped to the stage. Time to act.
--
It was quite a beautiful night. A light misty rain sprinkled the lush green grass outside the castle walk, blurring the moon from her full glory. Ethereal stars shone down from above, and lights shone from below, flaming torches of revelry. And all of this light focused on Garnet; she was the strongest star; she was the beautiful night. Zidane leaned over his half- full glass of wine to peer intently at his wife, smiling broadly through the faint fog of drunkenness and listening to the conversation spinning around him.
"Rather pompous of them, isn't it? Barely a year after they formed a city-state, and now that idiot Crawford believes he is greater than our blessed kingdom." One ancient nobleman pressed urgently across the narrow table. The queen just nodded politely,
"Well, Alexandria may be great, but the economy and trade has not grown in quite some time. In the past few years almost every nation but Alexandria has begun trading across the seas."
"But there is no need to, my lady!" Another advisor objected loudly, "Everything we could possibly need is right here on the Mist Continent."
"Of course. But sometimes efficiency can be discarded for the sake of diplomacy. Conde Petei, the Black Mage Village, and Daguerro are all flourishing towns - if we do not embrace this opportunity for long distance trade, we may lose out on valuable future allies."
Zidane drained his glass and let his head sink to the table. No one ever asked what his opinion was in matters like this. They just stared at him indifferently, sniffing through their snobby noses, sometimes adding a polite smile because he was the Queen's husband. He didn't care. He was the Queen's husband. He didn't care if he ever spoke an intelligent word at a meeting, or made a single diplomatic gesture. He could protect Garnet; that was what he could do. He could love her...and he was sticking to that.
As if hearing his thoughts, Garnet turned her intelligent eyes to him, and offered an apologetic smile, mouthing one word. 'Wait' Wait...he smiled happily and winked at her. He knew what he was waiting for.
"Zidane." Zidane turned his head sluggishly to see Steiner stooping over him, looking very formal and awkward in his gleaming steel armor decorated with red velvet. The big knight's face seemed a whirlwind of emotions, nervous...very nervous, but happy - and tired, and satisfied. "Zidane I have to talk to you for a second."
"Excuse me, gentlemen. Beautiful lady." Zidane stood and bowed too deeply, winning a giggle from Garnet. "I have a little important business of my own to conduct. Goodnight." With a heavy sigh of relief he turned away from the table to face Steiner with a smile. He had a feeling he knew what Steiner's question was.
The Knight, or more technically, Defense General of Alexandria, led Zidane to a quieter locale away from the walk, down to the gardens, resting peacefully by the river. From this position, Steiner began to mumble and babble between nervous chuckles, all the while staring up adoringly at the lighted area, where his angel sat a few seats across from the Queen.
Commanding General Beatrix, the beautiful slayer whose allegiance had been to Alexandria, the country itself, for longer than most could remember. Although her dress was usually casual, geared for war over fashion, for the banquet she had graced herself with a shimmering blue dress that trickled down her form like magic. Steiner's eyes could not pull away. "She's so...beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yep." Zidane's eyes wandered from Steiner's catch to his own, sitting in a pool of abnormal elegance...the Moon, she was the moon in her tight fitting white gown laced with gold. Long matching white gloves held her hands as they moved and laughed and spoke to the men surrounding her - her adoring audience, adoring for more reasons than the conversation of diplomacy. He wasn't jealous that they craved her attention...because he knew they were all jealous of him. She was his, his very own moon. "Beautiful."
"So," Steiner stammered, "I-"
"You're going to ask Beatrix to marry you, is that it?" Zidane smiled lazily and sank to a garden bench to more comfortably enjoy the view. Steiner hurriedly followed suit.
"Yes, I...you - how'd you know?"
"You're nervous, you're in love, you're living together...I dunno, sounds pretty logical to me."
Steiner smiled nervously, "Hah...of course, yes, that's it. So...well, I'm not quite sure how I should approach this...you know, of course, she's such a lady - I don't feel right just going out and saying it bluntly...I think I should do something special first, like take her to dinner or..." Steiner rambled on, Zidane barely listening. There was no discernable point when Zidane became Steiner's confidant. It probably had something to do with Zidane and Garnet's marriage occurring simultaneously with Steiner and Beatrix's love life - and Zidane became quickly referred to as the 'Master of Love' in Steiner's books. Zidane, of course, still didn't really like Steiner, but the man sure was dogmatically loyal, and he never meant any harm..."So what do you think?"
"My personal suggestion would be to...buy her a ring, get drunk for a little courage, and pop the question after a good night of sex."
Steiner's face reddened considerably, "Sir, that suggestion questions my honor! Of course I would not get drunk - it runs against the rules of my position! And to...bed...Beatrix, before our lock into marriage - it's just not-"
"Honorable, hmm? Whatever." Zidane shrugged and patted Steiner heartily on the back, "That's just advice from me to you - I'm sure she'll say yes no matter what you do. Knock yourself out."
Steiner eyed Zidane up and down for a moment, probably wondering to himself how someone so roguish won the queen. They'd never figure it out. Steiner finally nodded, offering a faint smile to Zidane, "Thank you...I hope so."
--
Blank traced the cold stone wall with his index finger as he stared across the river at the luminous full moon, who stared brazenly back at him. Love...the full moon was out and everyone was in love. Everyone was racing home to make love, or to win the heart of his or her love for future lovemaking. Passion unbridled turned the sight of youth red and cut off any sane thought.
Then of course, there was Blank. He remained quite calm in such an hour, quite sane indeed. His mind was that of a wall...solid and faithful and brave and dutiful...and...and...
"Goddammit!" And alone. "God...dammit!" He kicked the wall bitterly, pressing his hands into the grain until it marked his skin. The moon was supposed to be a good omen, a sign that things were all going to be alright. But he didn't see it...everything was going fine, sure, except his love life. And sometimes, just sometimes...when everything was dark and no one was around, he thought about it.
Ruby...there wasn't really much to Ruby. Especially after Blank had learned during the night that she was engaged to be married. No, it wasn't to the love of her life or anything so romantic. She was engaged to some banker with a golden dick. Ruby left the practice early to go see her 'dove' as she called him. Blank left soon after in disgust.
It wasn't as if there was anything between Blank and Ruby. There was no connection there. But it wasn't like he was useless...he wasn't useless. Slowly his fingers drifted down to grasp the wine bottle he had dropped at his feet. Heh...his love for the night. He took a deep swig.
Behind him he heard the quick patter of feet and suppressed laughter, and he spun around, lowering his bottle for a moment, "Who's there?"
"Blank? Is that you Blank?" Zidane's mirthful voice rang out as he strode into the short range of Blank's vision, both his arms strongly encircling Garnet. Blank looked down and took another deep drink.
"Yep, it's me. How was the party?"
"Boring as hell. Can you watch and make sure no one is coming? We've decided to act our age for once." Garnet laughed, the sound quickly muffled by Zidane's lips covering hers as he pressed her up against the stone ledge, his quick fingers feeling through her garments.
"Why not?" Blank turned away, forsaking his view of the moon as he downed the rest of the bottle and sank to the ground. The dizzying influence of the drink helped a little, it helped him forget about the truth. What was the truth? Something about him being screwed...yeah...maybe, when he woke up in the morning, huddled on the castle walk with a bottle in his hand, he'd forget about what happened the night before, and live everything for the present.
Everything for the present? That sounded nice...maybe he wasn't born to be a card shark, maybe he was really supposed to be something important. Like a writer...or an actor. He acted...hell he did, loved acting. Acting let him forget all of his problems, sort of like drinking...except with acting he had no hangover but his loneliness.
Lonely was a stupid word. "Lonely..." He muttered, listening to the dim sounds of the lovers behind him. Garnet said something about letting her take it off first...he probably would have looked - but the...acting had made him a little tired. Blank heard an airship engine roaring somewhere in the distance. Time to sleep...and in the morning...nothing would happen. Nothing.
--
Why can't we not be sober?
Just want to start this over.
Why can't we sleep forever?
Just want to start this over.
Sober - Tool