Suddenly, Riza's eyes flew open. She had so much to do and only...she checked her watch... ten hours. She had slept in so late, as she was still recovering from her accident. A nurse came in to check her functions and declared her healed enough to leave, as long as she returned the next day for a checkup.

Riza was relieved to hear this, and left immediately, taking a street car up to the resort. She held a small paper bag with her, full of medications and notes, and walked first to her condo to drop it off and exchange her hospital flip flops for her sandals, and then went in search of the organization committee. She had to know the dress code, and perhaps retrieve her dress uniform.

"Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye...let me see," muttered the secretary. She searched through a stack of papers which made the General's desk look almost neat by comparison. Except the secretary seemed to know exactly where she had last seen the list. "Ah! Here it is. Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's notice. You must have been away when we sent these out, because yours was returned." She handed the paper over to Riza, and recited, "You are to attend the Military Ball on 7th June in black tie civilian dress."

It went on, added personally to hers, either by her grandfather or another who knew her well enough that she wouldn't shoot them. 'And yes, Riza, we do expect black tie and show up on time. You can wear business casual any other time, but this is indeed a formal event. It would be nice if you put your hair up differently for a change too.' Riza scowled, but didn't take out her anger on the note. She thanked the secretary and went back out into the hot sun.

Passing across the sand, she was nearly to her room to retrieve her purse and return to town when she saw Maria leaving her own rooms. "Maria!" She turned around, and then walked over to her friend.

"Riza, you're out so fast! Are you feeling quite all right?"

Riza laughed. She did look a little pale but it was nothing really. "I'm fine. Listen, I was just on my way to buy a dress for tonight. Do you want to come with me?"

Maria looked a little doubtful. "Are you sure you're up to going to tonight? The shopping might wear you out." Then she seemed to remember what she was saying. "Wait. You don't have a formal outfit for tonight? I'm coming with you shopping right now so you don't mess up and buy business casual again. I went through your luggage, and I know what you brought with you." She went into Riza's rooms with her to get out of the sun while her friend washed the hospital grime off her face and arms, and changed back into a clean white tunic shirt given to her by the hospital and her formal skirt; her regular clothes were filthy from the ocean she almost drowned in two days ago.

She emerged from her rooms with her purse to see Roy talking with Maria. He stopped as soon as he saw her and embraced her, kissed the top of her head and said, "I'm sorry I didn't come see you this morning, but they told me last night after I left that you'd be out, so I figured I'd see you then...now. How do you feel?"

Riza wiggled out and breathed. "I'm fine, just a little hazy. I'll be coming tonight; with you if the offer's still open."

He smirked, "I knew you couldn't resist the offer."

She ignored that and replied, "At any rate, Maria and I were about to go shopping, so if you'll excuse us..." The two left and took the next streetcar into town.

It was small, it really only had a few shops; the difference between this one and the ones back home, Riza realized after walking around for a few minutes, was that these were full of goods, whereas at home, they were more inclined towards services. Back home, she would have run into offices, clinics, law practices, childcare, and just about everything else that didn't require much capitol. Here, there were so many shops they lined the streets and overflowed onto them.

After wandering almost aimlessly for a good twenty minutes, Maria pointed out a store called the Miss Boutique. Inside was a collection of face paints, scents, polishes, curling crème for the hair, and a shimmer for the hair. Maria pulled several objects off the shelves before Riza could complain about them and how useless they really were and how she'd never use them again so there was no point in buying them. Maria bought them, taking Riza's wallet to do so, and handed her a lighter wallet and she herself held onto the bag with various brushes crèmes, powders, and a spritz called sakura blend.

The next shop they came to was one which actually sold dresses. The card said black tie, so a practical, knee length skirt was out of the question. Maria steered her over to a rack of dresses with various amounts of shoulder showing. Riza was forced in and out of at least a half dozen dresses before she found one she liked enough to wear, at least for a few hours that evening. It was a light snowy grey, almost creamed colored, with a three quarter sleeve to cover her muscular soldier's arms, with ruffle which fell to her wrist, tied off at the elbow with a black ribbon. The back was high, but the front was a scoop neck, trimmed with the same ruffle and black trim. The skirt was so wide she could have held it up to make more than a semi-circle and it clung to her hips and flowed around her feet and ankles gracefully. It was upturned at one corner to her waist, showing off a white roughly underskirt, which matched the sleeves. The sash was tied off at the gather of the skirt by a black rose. The whole effect was quite lovely, Riza had to admit. Then she looked at the price tag and gasped.

The dress would cost her 25,000 cens. Before the war, it would have been too much, especially after her hospital dues, and all the face paints she had bought earlier. With nothing to buy back home, though, she had saved. It took her a moment to count out her money and decide to buy the dress. She could always wear it again...at her own wedding or something. The material was good wool, the seams were intact and strong, and with the ball only five hours away now, she needed to hurry. She and Maria stopped for a late lunch and then returned home.

This looks like more filler. I'm pretty sure you could read any three random chapters of this story and get a pretty good idea of what its content is. Read and review.