A/N: Once again thank you for the reviews guys! I've been having a rubbish time lately writing assignments, one of the joys was why don't you give high flow oxygen to a COPD patient. Actually that was one of the easy ones. But it's all finished now, just got a do a bit of editing, spruce up the references and hand it in. For once I've actually finished early, but then that had more to do with the fact that I wanted to celebrate my birthday in style!! And by that I mean lots of wine and cake. Anyway, here's the latest update!!
MONDAY MORNING
07:30
Foster surveyed the world in which he had total control. Everyone in the room belonged, in some way, to him. He often enjoyed watching them go about their business, trying desperately to keep under his notice, and all the while knowing that they only lived because he deemed it so. He loved to see the fear in other's eyes, when they looked at him, unsure about how he would react. But then there were some, that no matter how cruel he was, how he beat them down, he could never break. They continued to stare back at him with contempt, with an unshakable knowledge of their own independence and self worth.
Just like the girl at his feet. But he had broken her eventually. Of course it had taken her death, to turn the look of hatred in her eyes into something glassy and dead. She stared up at him now, her neck twisted from where it had snapped. She had been the only human in his collection, but she wouldn't be the last. He'd wanted her simply for the reason of her beautiful face, now sunken and grey. She'd been standing behind the bar, laughing at something a customer had said, flicking a glance Foster's way, but ignoring his advances. Her dismissal had condemned her, and she had spent the rest of her short life trapped in one of his cages.
He looked up, in the distance he could see a group of men, their eyes glowing with excitement as they peered through the bars of his latest capture. A small fairy girl, with long blonde hair and a doll-like face huddled as far back from them as she could manage. Her transparent wings folded up for protection, pressed back against the cold bars. She had been crying yesterday, but today she was silent. He saw no defiance in her eyes, only fear, so he would not harm her. There was no need, as long as she did as she was told.
Foster closed his eyes in anticipation of the next one, the one he had been thinking about for a long time. He didn't mind waiting, he had all of eternity, days meant nothing; years meant nothing. Irvine would bring her to him eventually, and then she would be his prize attraction.
12:55
Rinoa pressed the button that announced her to be free, and another customer shuffled forward with a checkbook in hand. Shooting an exasperated look towards the mortgages girl, Rinoa saw her yawn and tap her watch. They'd been working for a total of three hours and fifty-five minutes, and Rinoa's stomach was asking for its lunch. Trying to disguise it's growling by shifting in her chair, she smiled at the man before her and began paying in his check.
"Can I help you with anything else today?" she asked him, just like she asked everyone whom she served. For a moment the man paused, as if not sure whether he needed to do anymore banking or not. Rinoa resisted the urge to roll her eyes, he either needed something else doing or not, it wasn't difficult to answer. Eventually he thanked her and took back his checkbook.
Tempted to wave over her supervisor and ask for her lunch break, Rinoa decided to play by the bank rules for once and serve another customer before leaving. She felt in a giving mood. In fact she'd felt pretty good ever since Zell had worked the voodoo on her.
"I hope I serve him!" the girl next to her muttered, making Rinoa look up. In the queue was Seifer, flicking through a checkbook as if he'd never seen one before.
Sitting up straighter in her chair, Rinoa scanned the room looking for Squall. It seemed likely that if Seifer were here, then Squall would be too. It was too much a coincidence that Seifer might suddenly decide to do some banking, and accidentally choose the one she worked for. He'd have to be here for a reason, and she was betting that he was looking for her.
Eventually she spotted Squall, who had unfortunately stood too close to her friend on the opposite side of the room. Rinoa watched as the girl that had been yawning a moment ago, was now animatedly trying to sell him a base-rate tracker mortgage, and a credit card with 9% interest. Rinoa smiled to see Squall looking rather stunned, flicking through the beginners guide to mortgages.
"I'd like to pay off my overdraft," someone said in front of her, making Rinoa jump.
"Do you even have a overdraft?" she asked with a sceptical look.
"No," Seifer replied, "But I hear that is what people do in banks… Got any spare cash floating around behind there?" he asked peering over the desk.
"Where would I put it?" Rinoa asked, knowing he'd find that amusing.
"Well my dear, that would be up to you," he said suggestively.
The queue behind him was getting restless; annoyed that someone was holding them up, by flirting with the staff.
"Excuse me, but this man has pushed in," someone said, hoping to attract a manager over with his complaint.
Seifer turned around to meet the smaller man, who was now red in the face with annoyance. Rinoa rolled her eyes, flipped her sign to closed, and pushed her chair back. The day had just got a whole more exciting than changing people's holiday money, and paying in checks. The rest of her colleagues could sort out the small angry man.
"I'll get my coat, I'm due my lunch break anyway," Rinoa said, leaving her station.
"I might be able to kill off a few customers for you, if you want to leave early today?" Seifer said with a smirk following her to the staff only door. "Or your boss."
"I actually like my boss," Rinoa said with a grin. She didn't really, but it was worth saying just to keep up the banter. She still couldn't help feeling that she might never see these two again, and so the longer she made them stay, the better. She saw that she had got Seifer's attention; perhaps she was even successfully getting him to like her now. If she could only do the same for Squall.
"Wow, controversial. Anyway, its Squall who wants to see you, so don't keep him waiting."
Rinoa scrunched up her face at the order, and disappeared behind the staff doors. When she reappeared downstairs with her coat and bag, Seifer wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Squall was waiting for her, standing in everyone's way watching an advert on the screen.
"Are you thinking about getting a saving account to go with that mortgage?" Rinoa asked as she shrugged her coat on beside him.
"I don't have any money," Squall replied seriously. "At least none spare."
"Yeah, join the club. Last month's pay went as soon as it came. Anyway, I was only joking." It didn't look like Squall understood the joke; he probably through there was a real club. "Shall we get out of here, I don't want to spend my lunch in the bank."
12:35
For someone with no money, Squall was pretty generous. Rinoa didn't think she'd ever eaten so well on her lunch break. Not that she was eating anything healthy, but that wasn't the point. Toasted sandwiches had never tasted so good, washed down with two cappuccinos and half a chocolate brownie. Squall had refused to let her pay, which should have made her suspicious, but she figured he still owed her one from upsetting her earlier, so didn't insist.
"Toasted cheese and ham sandwiches are the greatest," Rinoa said after the conversation had died.
"I want you to do a séance," Squall said abruptly. Rinoa stared at him for a moment, her mind still on grilled cheese.
"Do a what?" she mumbled.
"A séance," Squall repeated seriously.
She gaped at him for a while. A séance? Like exorcist style? She had no doubt that after all the crazy crap that had been happening, ghosts were probably real. The last thing she wanted was to call up an other invisible friend, she was having enough problems with the Bleaks as it was. And besides, the way he'd gone about asking her pissed her off.
Suddenly Rinoa pushed her chair back and got to her feet. Huffing she grabbed her coat and bag and pushed her way out of the café. She could tell Squall wasn't that far behind her, following her down the road, back towards the bank, and with every step she could feel her face burning redder and redder with anger.
"You didn't have to take me out to lunch to ask me that!" she shouted, spinning on the spot and startling passers by. Squall stopped a meter away from her, bemused. He didn't know why she had left the café, but he hadn't expected her to be angry.
"You could have just asked me in the bank. What am I going to do, say no? Why can't you just be normal? You didn't have to pretend to like my company!"
Rinoa turned and continued to stomp down the road. She couldn't believe he had nothing to say to her. Not even sorry. Eventually she felt his hand on her arm, and she shrugged it off.
"Wait, Rinoa," Squall said trying to stop her furious march back to work. "I didn't buy you lunch just for that."
Irritated that he wouldn't just apologise and get lost, Rinoa scowled at him.
"What, are you saying, you like me or something? That was your idea of a date?" she demanded.
"Er, yeah," Squall said slightly confused. He had thought she'd understood. That's what humans did right, go to cafés for dates, eat food…? Had he missed something?
Rinoa struggled to breathe with her chest rising and falling so rapidly. She was so annoyed she could barely look at him. She was pretty sure nothing he could say would make her calm down. Giving him a withering look, Rinoa crossed the road and walked back into the bank. As she crossed the foyer her phone began to ring. Irritated she pulled it out of her bag and saw an unidentified number. Taking a deep breath she pressed answer.
"Hello?"
"Rinoa it's Squall…."
"Who?"
"Squall."
"Yeah I heard you the first time," Rinoa snapped. "How did you get my number anyway?"
"From Selphie."
"Well where the hell did she get it from?" Rinoa screeched. She'd made it as far as behind the staff doors, before her voice rocketed up the octaves.
"From Quistis," Squall replied calmly.
Rinoa scowled through the partition of glass in the door, trying to see whether he'd dare to follow her in, but she couldn't see him.
"What do you want now? Want me to conjure up some demons, grant you three wishes?" Rinoa asked sarcastically.
"I don't know what you want me to apologise for," Squall said annoyed. Once again he'd managed to some how piss her off without realising, were all women this changeable? He supposed he'd been out of the dating loop too long, a couple hundred years too long.
"Typical," Rinoa hissed, but starting to think a little more clearly now that her breathing was under control. Maybe she had over reacted just a little, but that was no excuse for his weird behaviour. What was a girl supposed to think? "When is this thing?"
"Tomorrow night at Zell's," Squall replied, glad to hear something that wasn't being shouted.
"Fine, see you there," Rinoa replied hitting the end call button. "God damn it!" Rinoa muttered throwing the phone into her bag and trudging up the stairs.
