Disclaimer: All appearing characters and places belong to Namco unless otherwise specified.
The O-dai themes belong to the Zeroshii-Wa, but it has closed down now. Ain't that so sad?
"Party Dress" was originally written by Sumino Hirume and is probably now owned by Namco and DNA Comics.
Setting: In-game.
Warnings: Comments on how males think of the famale body. Notspoilers this time so don't worry about beingspoilered, is that a valid verb anyway?
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Normal Version,
#16 – Dance
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Sheena stared at the contents of thepresent and then quickly closed it again and pretended to examine the expensive-looking white box in which the outfit was packed.
It was white, with the seamstress' name written in florid silver letters at the middle and two bands of pastel pink at the right-most corner. It was a box and there wasn't anything else to see.
Next to her Colette seemed in a daze, holding a white dress with red ribbons delicately sewn at the shoulders. The skirt was white and a little too frilly for Sheena's taste, but something told her Colette would look perfect in it.
At the other side of the table Presea, too, was holding up her dress and looking at it as if she wasn't sure what to do with it. As in Colette's attire white was predominant, Presea's number was mainly blue – pale blue, dark blue, rather somber despite of the childish cut.
Raine was examining her own with a far more critical expression. She was also the first to speak, lightly touching the dark blue coat that would cover a knee-length white dress. "Whoever made these clothes wasn't particularly worried about money. The buttons are made out of gold, the fabric is of the best quality possible... and these boots! In Sylvarant I would've never afforded something like this on a teacher's salary."
Colette wasn't that concentrated on the quality, though. "Professor, look! It's so pretty, isn't it? Aaah, I'm so happy!" the blonde hugged the dress.
"...the possibilities of the cloth getting creased are high. I would recommend laying them on top of a solid surface in order to avoid wrinkles."
Colette eeped, let go of the dress and them primly extended it on top of the table and looked at it once more. Then, what Sheena had been fearing came to happen – the angel turned towards her and, in her usual chipper voice, asked "What is yours like, Sheena?"
The ninja had known this question was coming but still didn't know what to say. So she sighed and waved a hand while pushing the box away. "Ah, forget about it. It'll never fit me; I'll just have to get something else."
Presea cocked her head. "Something else?" she repeated, "The dance is scheduled to start in three hours. The chances of finding an appropriate dress that's within our price-range, along with shoes and any other accessories that combine with said dress, coming back and getting the make-up, hair and all details done in time for us to depart towards the ball-room are –"
"Extremely low, yes, I know," Sheena cut the girl off, a little ticked at the fact that she was completely right. "But I don't think it'll fit me..."
Now it was Colette the one that looked confused. "But I thought they had said they had made the dresses to be an exact fit?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not saying it'll be too small or too big..." the ninja tried again. It seemed neither Presea nor Colette understood that it wasn't the size what was the problem, but the attire's personality. "Just that I'll look weird with it."
"Well, I think it might be too small," came Raine's voice from behind. Sheena spun around – to her chagrin, the silver-haired woman had opened the box and was holding out her dress for everyone to see. "Highest quality silk, however."
"That's – that's not – !" the ninja tried to complain but failed. Raine was right, too – it was too short, not in size but in the amount of fabric used. Too short of a skirt, virtually nothing to cover her chest and how was she supposed to wear underwear with that?
"Oooh, it's so pretty Sheena! Look, it even has ribbons!" Colette exclaimed and rushed towards Raine to take a feel at said ribbons. Presea said nothing (she probably understood Sheena's problem by now) and Raine only looked at her and smirked.
She groaned and cursed whoever had designed her gown. Why was Raine's so much more sober, and Colette's so much more innocent? Why was she stuck with the one that looked more like a swimsuit than a ballroom gown?
And given how Raine was looking at her Sheena guessed she wouldn't be able to sit this one out. The older woman looked as if she had suddenly found a life-sized doll to play with.
Three of Zelos' maids walked into the room accompanied by a fourth woman who, they said, would be doing everyone's hair. Sheena sighed and prayed there would be a dark corner she could hide into because she really didn't think she'd feel like dancing.
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Lloyd rushed into the dance hall, eliciting many smirks from a few nobles and a few snarky comments from some of the girls. Not that he listened to them and not that he would've cared if he had. Just as he rushed in Colette rushed out of the crowd to meet him.
"Lloyd, you made it!" she called as he rested his hands on his knees, a little bent after running from Zelos' mansion to the palace and then back to the mansion and then to the ball-room.
"Of... of course... I made... it!" he answered.
Not really noticing he was just getting his wind back the girl took a hold of his hand and dragged him into the crowd. "Look! They've got a table full of small cakes and you can take as many as you want! I think the Professor said they're called canapés..."
"Wait, Colette! Hey – wait – ah, sorry m'am – Colette, you're gonna trip of you're not careful!"
From the back of the hall Zelos watched the two and smirked. Champagne flute in hand he had been talking to the King and princess Hilda for a while but was becoming a little tired of it – the King was a nice chap but not the person you wanted to talk to in a party, and Hilda was... blushing.
Now, women usually blushed a lot around him. But this was a princess and he, supposedly, had just saved her from the clutches of the evil pope. In other words, she was infatuated with him right now – and a princess is not a girl you can play with for a few days and then leave. From the Chosen's point of view much suffering would be avoided if he lost himself into the crowd before the King decided to play matchmaker and leave him alone with the princess.
And Lloyd had given him a perfect opportunity.
"Wasn't that a friend of yours, Chosen?" the King asked, raising an eyebrow at the small ruckus that the twin-swordsman entrance had caused.
"Aaah, it seems so!" he answered, as if he hadn't noticed. "They really don't know how to behave! Wouldn't you say, Highness?"
The King huffed. "It matters not. This party is theirs – and yours too, Chosen."
"But even then! There's this thing called manners, right princess?"
The girl in question startled, blushed a little and attempted a smile. "Ah, yes, of course. Manners are important in this kind of occasions."
Zelos nodded. "Exactly. And what kind of friend would I be if I allow them to look so out of place? Therefore I think it's my duty to find them and make sure they don't do something like that again," he bowed slightly, "So your Majesty, Princess – if you'll excuse me..." before any of the two could say anything the redhead turned around and quickly made his way towards the center of the crowd. Being important had its perks every now and then.
"Well then," he thought to himself, "Find something to do now..." He brushed back a few hairs that had slipped out of place, readjusted his jacket and looked around. He had almost forgotten how dreadful these kinds of parties were – almost. Truth to be told he had just realized how much he enjoyed Lloyd and the other's company, specially compared to the stupid noblemen who were greeting him all around the room.
Hypocrites, all of them, he thought.
"Not that I'm any different," the redhead said within as he greeted back.
For a few minutes he walked around the room without doing nothing in particular – the dancing hadn't started yet so he couldn't occupy his mind on that, he wasn't feeling like talking to any of the old madams, he held no interest in the canapés at the moment and he didn't like to get drunk on champagne. The only option he had left, he guessed, was to find Lloyd and the others or, perhaps, find a pretty girl (or girls) to spend the party with.
His first option proved to be harder than he had thought. There ballroom was large and there were plenty of people, and while at least Lloyd and Colette should've been easier to spot, if the young angel was as hyperactive as she looked before then Martel knew where they were right now, and Sheena was probably hanging around them, too.
After some more walking he had managed to spot Regal (who looked in deep (read: boring) conversation with some old nobles), Raine (who was too busy talking with one of Syback's invited researchers) and Genis and Presea, who were too young for him. The Chosen half-sighed and decided that finding pretty girls would be way easier than finding any of his friends.
His search was over as soon as it began, however. He had only inched close to a table to leave his now-empty champagne flute when he saw a girl standing by a window, staring out into the night. Even in this crowded room she had managed to stand by herself and, he thought, she looked too lonesome for someone invited to a royal ball – what kind of gentleman would leave an obviously-depressed girl alone?
Well that and she had a hell of a fine figure, too, as the girl's very short wine-colored skirt and naked back allowed him to see. He confidently walked 'till he was standing behind her and readied himself to use his smoothest voice possible.
"Why, such a delightful night isn't it? But I'm sure the stars will look pale in comparison to your eyes..."
The girl turned around alowly. And he stared. In the span of a second three things happened – first he was glad to see her face was just as good as her figure. Then he thought something about her was familiar.
The third and last was him almost screaming "Sh-Sheena?.!"
With most of her hair done up in an elegant bun, a delicate silk dress that looked nothing like her usual clothes and a her lips painted in deep burgundy the ninja looked different, to say the least.
Not that he was complaining. He had always thought her attractive during their travels, but to the same degree he thought the Altamira Bunny-girls to be attractive. But now – with no monsters lurking around and no real distractions close by – it seemed to him that she looked not only attractive, but more beautiful than she had ever.
Sheena, however, wasn't aware at all of the thoughts that were crossing the redhead's mind and frowned slightly. "What, trying to make fun of me?" she snapped at him, but without as much energy as she usually had. "Not in the mood, Zelos."
He realized she must've thought his pick-up line had been a joke, but decided against telling her that it he had mistaken her for some random girl. When she glared at him he noticed he was still staring and quickly looked away, feeling his cheeks burn a little.
"Ah, no, I wasn't trying to," he blurted out, grinning as best as he could, "Just that – you know, you looked all alone, so I thought I should... but I'll leave you to your business now, fine? I was searching for Lloyd anyway..." as he said that he stepped back, waving a little at her as if to say goodbye.
Much to his surprise she reached out. "Wait a minute!" she called, "Don't leave me alone!"
"...eh?" he asked, having absolutely nothing better to say. All possible witty lines had suddenly disappeared.
The ninja (who didn't look particularly ninja-ish right now) almost pouted and he thought that, after all, she did look rather sad. "I don't wanna be alone right now and I don't want to walk into the crowd by myself to search for the others," she explained and he said nothing. Sheena didn't behave like this usually. The girl seemed to understand what he was thinking and thus set herself to explain quickly. "It's just that – well, everybody's staring! And they mutter amongst themselves and laugh at me. I know I'm out of place and I wouldn't normally care, but with this dress...!"
Zelos looked around. Yes, there were some people staring at her – all of them men, he noticed, and none of them was laughing. He was staring and he wasn't laughing either, so he guessed he knew pretty well what those men were thinking.
Once more she glared at him but with no strength at all. "You aren't even listening..."
"Eh, Sheena..." he started, wondering how to explain people weren't looking at her because she was out of place but because of something rather different. It came out like: "You can be such an idiot at times, you know?"
The reaction was immediate. "What did you say?.?"
"Well, more like slow."
"You – you stupid Chosen! You know, you're right! I'm an idiot for even thinking that you'd understand!"
"Don't take it personally, now –"
"How am I supposed to take it, then?"
Zelos smirked. "See now? That's much more like yourself, ain't it?"
Sheena startled. "...eh?"
"That girly shy attitude? It's creepy."
"...idiot," she said and crossed her arms, but it was pretty obvious she was just containing a smile. Zelos forced himself not to look at her chest and took a step back.
"Well, if you're gonna be all depressed, I don't really have much choice..." he started and then bowed low, one hand behind his back while the other he offered in front. "Will such a lovely lady object to being escorted by me for the night?"
He peeked up and thought that he had never seen Sheena panicking like this. It was funny, really, how she looked around and tried to pat his hand away while muttering something like "Zelos – stop it – what are you – Zelos, get up! Everybody's staring – get up! Zelos –"
But down he stayed, bowing 'till the girl sighed and, while she refused to take his hand, finally answered. "Fine, I'll let you escort me or whatever," she said and he looked up, grinning amusedly. "But – but it's because I don't have any other option, got it?"
"Same here, same here!" he exclaimed, getting completely up now and grinning. The girl rolled her eyes a little, arms still crossed.
"So?"
"So what?"
"What do 'escorts' do, anyway?"
"Ah, well," Zelos started, placing himself next to her, "We are gleaming knights who make sure our lady is not hit on by other guys. And we dance."
Sheena stared at him. "Only that?"
"Well, we could hold hands and have make-out too, if you want!"
She raised her fist and then lowered it. "You're lucky we're in public!"
A little light went on within his head. "...meaning you'd like to go somewhere more private? I'd be delighted to guide you!"
"What? No! I – I didn't mean - !" but, without listening to her complains he took the girl's hand and. placing it on his arm, started to walk towards the crowd. "Zelos, let go of me!"
"Keep quiet, will you? They'll leave you alone as long as you're with me."
A small blush covered Sheena's cheeks. "But they stare."
"So what? They're just envious of the beautiful escort you have."
The ninja groaned but didn't say anything else, not even when they reached a small, almost hidden set of stairs that no one was paying attention to and not even when he started to climb them, keeping her arm fixed onto his.
When the stairs were over the pair found themselves on a balcony overlooking the ballroom. It was small and clearly wasn't meant to be used in parties as large as this, but it hadn't been forgotten by whoever had readied the hall: flowers and ribbons hung from the rail and the walls around them and a single lamp with two candles illuminated their steps.
From up the balcony the scene was pretty amazing, Zelos had to admit: a collage of colors and sounds, moving around with no apparent order and yet without being disharmonious. Sheena ran towards the rail and looked down, much to the Chosen's disappointment – he had expected her to comment perhaps on how the sweet scent of the flowers filled the air, or even to say something about the two being alone.
But she was slow, after all.
He joined her at the balcony rail and looked down without saying anything for a few minutes. When he got bored he leaned back into one of the pillars and wished he had taken something to drink.
Sheena looked up. "How did you know about this place?"
He shrugged, smug. "I've attended to dances and parties here for most of my life."
She arched an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yep!" and he figured some honesty wouldn't kill him, "And spent half of them hiding in these balconies."
The girl looked surprised. "You? Why would you do that?"
The Chosen smiled. It bothered him that she had reacted like that, but then again he had never shown his actual dislike for the noble society. "I can get bored, you know?"
"And don't you get even more bored here, by yourself?"
"Well, there are a few interesting things to do here..." he grinned and thought that yes, there were some things much more interesting to do, but if he mentioned them she would kill him. "You can make fun of the people down there, for instance!"
Sheena once more looked skeptical, so he quickly searched for a 'victim' and pointed at a young couple not far from the balcony.
"Look at the girl's face."
"What with it?"
"She's completely bored!"
The girl snorted. "And that entertains you?"
"I just try to imagine what she's thinking. 'Why did I have to be stuck with such a windbag?' " he said, doing an extremely high-pitched voice for the girl's 'thoughts'.
"Oh. And the guy's probably thinking 'She's completely enthralled! I'm such a stud!'"
" 'Oh, were is the Great Chosen to save me!' "
"Idiot! Nobody would think something like that!"
"But you were! All alone, wishing for the marvelous Zelos to come and rescue you..."
"Yeah, right!"
He laughed, and she joined in a few instants later. Sheena sighed, stretched her arms in front of her and turned towards him, smiling. "You know, it ain't so bad up here."
"...did you expect anything less from your dashing escort, my lady?" he answered and she rolled her eyes and laughed again. He wondered for how long would he manage to keep her laughing and for how long he would manage to keep her up there. Perhaps she would want to go down once the music started. Or perhaps he could convince her to dance up where they were.
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Notes: An Odai lovingly ripped off from one of the Comic Anthologies, so there, I don't take credit this time. Well, for the basic plot... the dialogues and other decorations are mine!
So originally this was going to be all metaphoric and stuff, about how their relationship as uh, like a dance or something, because uh, it kept moving. I think. Then I realized I had too many "uh..."s in the idea and dropped it in favor for this one – I had read a story in the third volume of the Comic Anthologies, "Party Dress" by Sumino Hirume, and had fallen in love with it. Therefore I decided to use the basic idea and plot to make my Odai and share the love that little 6-page comic is.
I liked how this turned out mainly because it flowed pretty well from the beginning on. Had no problems writing this – no long silences wondering which word to use and that kind of thing. I hope you all enjoyed it!
On account of my being away from my country I wasn't able to answer most reviews... sorry again. I'll start again with this one RAR.
See you next week/time/whatever with...
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#17 – Sea
(but I already wrote about the sea. Oh lawks!)
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