A/N: Standard disclaimer applies. I'm not in the mood for rambling today, so I'll just be to the point - thank you, reviewers, especially Quisty Almasy, because you helped me to express everything I wanted to express,and Dead Pollen, although you probably won't be seeing this. You're right in saying that I'll probably appreciate FF8 so much more if I actually gave it a chance, and to be honest, that's what I was doing from the beginning. But I did find a lot more to love about FF8 than I had already on my third time through the game recently. I DO love this game. A lot, in fact. Or I wouldn't bother writing fanfiction for it.

And yes, I AM a musician of sorts... hehe. That said... welcome to the fourth chapter (:

lessons in ineloquence

#04: c a n t a b i l e

"Oh, hey, Quistis. Found a new place to mope in, did you?"

Quistis turned. Sure enough, there Seifer was, standing with his arms tucked into his pockets in all his smirking glory. "Seifer," she deadpanned. "Oh, my. You survived the car crash."

"Sorry for disappointing you then, dear Instructor. I'm afraid it was the car that didn't." He went over to where she leaned on the railing, looking out over the quiet sea. Balamb Harbour, as was the peaceful, tiny town it was situated in, had never been a place of activity even in the daytime, and it was even more silent and secluded in the night. Little could be heard besides the sounds of waves crashing against stone walls and the occasional clinking of glasses from guests in the hotel nearby.

"I know that well," Quistis replied. "That was Nida's car, Seifer. You had some nerve!"

"Quit lecturing me," Seifer drawled in reply.

She turned to face him. "So how was your first SeeD assignment? Trouble?"

"Could anything be trouble for I, Seifer Almasy?"

"You're right. I guess your experience makes everything just about easy-peasy for you, isn't it? Well, Seifer Almasy," she mimicked in a similar tone, "you certainly gave us a good deal of trouble during your days as the Sorceress' Knight."

Why am I bringing this up? she wondered. What purpose does it serve?

Much to her surprise, however, Seifer threw back his head and laughed.

"I did, didn't I?"

But that was all he said. He fell immediately into silence thereafter, which was uncharacteristically passive for him.

Quistis searched his face intently, but could not tell whether he was angry or not. They continued to linger in silence for a time - her gaze now fixed on the undulating grey glass before her, his now on…? she couldn't tell – and she wondered why he hadn't left yet.

"Do you like watching the sea too, Seifer?"

He snorted. "Hell no. It's freaking boring. It puts me to sleep."

"Sleeping's not all a bad thing."

"It is, for me."

"Because it's a waste of time?"

"Yeah."

She smirked. "I guess you like looking at things that go bing, boom, bang. Like explosives. Rockets. War."

"Wrong," Seifer replied. "I'd prefer being the source of the bing, boom, bang, baby."

Quistis's lips twitched into an almost-laugh. Seifer stared at her as if to enquire, What?

She shook her head. "You know," she said as the night breeze loosed strands of apricot from her tight bun, "I've been wanting to see what's in your head other than bing boom bang – and yourself – since long ago, and I thought I'd stopped caring. But lately I've finally started to see it. You're… intriguing, Seifer."

Seifer looked hard at her for a moment before rolling his eyes to the dark sky above.

"Don't start thinking you know everything about me, Trepe. Your problem is that you think and assume too damn much for your own good. Say," he added abruptly, "it's getting way past curfew. Shouldn't we be heading back?"

Quistis raised her eyebrows. "It's a bit too late to start regaining points lost in the teachers' books, you know."

But Seifer was already trudging back the way he had come, his shoulders and legs swinging in his usual braod, careless manner, trenchcoat flapping in the wind. Quistis allowed herself a little wistful sigh of disappointment and returned her gaze to the open sea.

Then, two minutes later, he was back, with two glasses in each hand from the hotel. Quistis took one of them, her eyes dancing with a sort of near-happiness. "Are we going to have a toast to the future or something?"

"Don't be such a bloody idiot, Quistis," Seifer said, shaking the ice cubes in his drink.

"That's my line," she laughed, and clinked her glass against his anyway.

(in a singing manner)