The Honorary Ball

[Lawric]

Lawric laced his fingers with Jun's, weaving through the assembling couples as he pulled her deep into the dance floor. Now that they were playing music everyone could enjoy, the floor had become a little more crowded. He turned when he was satisfied with their location, placing his hands at her waist and pulling her closer without hesitation. Her dress was very soft and smooth, it felt nice against his hands.

The song was now playing in full swing. He realized he had pulled her into a rather romantic dance, which actually felt a bit ridiculous, considering the fact that he was trying to help her have a good time. Slow-dancing with a guy she kind of just met, would that be her idea of a good time? Good job. he told himself sarcastically, suddenly feeling very indecisive about the whole situation. He hadn't exactly meant to come onto her, but that was probably the way it seemed.

Awkward.

He cleared his throat and assumed a smile. Oh well, too late to be indecisive now.

"So what was wrong with the wine?" he asked, lowering his head slightly and meeting her gaze. His smile became a teasing smirk. "Don't tell me you don't enjoy alcohol... "

Hyne, she was nice to look at. Some of his indecisive feelings shied away. Her face alone gave any guy excuse to ask for a dance.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

HAHAH Yeah Zacke! That's what I'm talking about LOL XD
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Hadrian turned around when Zacke's voice suddenly sprung behind him. His brows lifted. Was this guy following me? He watched as Zacke apologize to the door, looking so desperate, mad, and sympathetic all together. There was even no indication that Blaze could be inside, but he was still trying to talk. He looked down, placed a hand on his hip and scratched his cheek. This was really awkward.

/Corpora Quadrigemina's analysis shows--/

I know what you're going to say, Hadrian thought, bringing his gaze back to Zacke. So this is the real thing. He smirked. Maybe he was just out of touch with Deo back there, but this time he was sure.

Letting Zacke do his thing, he stepped back and leaned against the opposite wall. He hoped Blaze was inside and was hearing everything Zacke said. As long as she would come out, that was fine by him.

"Yeah, Blaze, you heard what he said," Hadrian added amusedly, helping Zacke.

[stardust]

"Fuck Leonhart." Reese unexpectedly said. "I'm proud of you."

Stardust turned to look at him, a bit surprise that he would say that. She pulled her knees to her and leaned her head on the back of her palm. F*ck Leonhart? she thought, her shoulders starting to shake a little. Pulling her head back, her chuckling face was really evident. She must be crazy now. From deep hatred, to solemn irritation, up to a laughing machine---she would be branded as crazy.

/Don't be too hard on yourself, just call yourself bipolar, maybe you'll feel better./ Diwata said passively.

She couldn't stop laughing. What was so funny about it? Clearing her throat, she finally was able to speak. "Damn right."

She heard more footsteps coming. She looked up to see Blaze run past them like she hadn't seen them---next came Hadrian and then Zacke.

What the hell?

"When did Blaze become so popular here?"

[Reese]

Reese smirked at her laughter. When she tilted her head back that smirk on his lips grew into a grin. It was probably the first time he grinned since... Well, since coming out of his coma. Since before that, even. It felt good, seeing her laugh and the feeling it gave him. Genuinely good. She would still laugh with him. It made him feel close to her again, gave him faith in their strange bond. Whatever it was.

"Damn right." she declared, shaking her head a bit, the laughter dying out. He looked downward between the two of them, his grin still lingering.

"When did Blaze become so popular here?"

He lifted his gaze and turned, noticing Hadrian at the end of the hallway about to turn the corner, and Zacke hurrying after him. So I guess they're going after her... He rolled his eyes and turned to face Stardust again.

"Well look at that, not only is Blaze gone, but Zacke is out of your hair too." He smirked.

What he said next, he had not planned at all. In fact, he had sort of been grappling with whether or not he was even going to ask at all tonight... It must have been the pheromones in the atmosphere, or the odd pleasant feeling left in the wake of her laughter. Whatever it was, it made him brave, because the words left him before he had a second thought.

"It looks like Diwata took care of your hands." He stared down at her. "Come dance with me."

[Jun]

Jun didn't know how to slow-dance. But she couldn't admit to Lawric, it would be the second biggest shame of her life, the first being her inability to take alcohol. So she mimicked the girls around her and put her arms around his neck, inevitably getting closer to him by doing so. Her heart started misbehaving, and a flush spread over her cheeks. She could recognise his cologne, the same smell that she noticed the first time they met.

He didn't seem to notice her abnormal reactions, and she was almost glad that he didn't. She gazed up into his eyes, warm and filling her with a tingly feeling just by looking at them.


"So what was wrong with the wine?" he asked, lowering his head slightly and meeting her gaze. His smile became a teasing smirk. "Don't tell me you don't enjoy alcohol... "

Oh...I knew it had to come up sooner or later... She thought regretfully.

She lowered her head.

"I...I have an allergy towards alcohol..." She spoke in a low tone, a little ashamed to admit it. "Have had it ever since I remember.." She laughed it off. "That obvious huh?"

[Lawric]

aww Jun XD

---

Lawric's eyebrows raised slightly. Wow, an allergy to alcohol?

She laughed. "That obvious huh?"

He looked down at her and grinned. "Well, you were making the same face at that glass of wine that my friend Deo makes when he stares at the last cold, mangled reject-pancake left on the plate and realizes he's slept through breakfast." He let out a laugh. "Which isn't a very happy one... "

He trailed off, his mind wandering a bit. She moved along with him, easily and gracefully. If she had never done this before, he was oblivious to it. Her twinkling eyes and petite frame were lovely distractions from everything around him and all the weird and not-so-good feelings he was having about his life as of late.

"So what got a girl like you into the SeeD business, anyway?" he ventured suddenly. She was so open and friendly with him--and although that might have something to do with him salvaging her sword, he could see from her interactions with some of the others that she must be a good friend. Her personality was very fascinating to him. She was dignified, but so modest. And she was obviously a very smart woman, but somehow she retained an innocent cuteness about her. He found himself genuinely curious as to what had lead her to take up a life of battle, when she could obviously succeed in so many other fields.

[Jun]

Jun was taken aback by his question. She debated in answer in her mind, unsure about how much she would reveal to him. He was, afterall, someone she had just met and didn't really much about him other than his name and that he was part of the Opps, and he was a charming man, he looked dapper in his suit....oh she was rambling, but most of it was superficial knowledge. She shouldn't burden someone with her life story and "profound" troubles just cos they asked a conversational question. It would scare him off and that was the last thing she wanted.

"Well.." She began softly, looking up at him as she did. "I'm searching for some answers, and I felt that being a SeeD would be the fastest way to them." She smiled. "It'd take at least an hour to go into that and I don't want to bore you."

[Blaze Sanaku]

Blaze had finally decided that she was done. She was through crushing over Squall Leonhart and it felt sooooo good, like shackles had been taken off of her ankles. She was a free woman now, no longer bound by intimidation and blushing cheeks.

She was busy shredding her fourth Squall Leonhart poster when she heard Hadrian's voice through the intercom. She paused to let out an exaggerated sigh. What is HE doing here!?

Blaze huffed and continued shredding. She was busy getting over her celebrity crush, and didn't need Hadrian announcing that he was going to barge in if she didn't answer him.

"Don't be stupid," Zacke's voice cut in, "If she's upset, she's not going to open the door for you. And if you open it against her will, it'll be an invasion of privacy that will just upset her more."

Blaze nodded silently from her bed. Too true, too tru-- Hey, wait!! ZACKE was there too? What the hell? She understood that Hadrian didn't want to look like a loser showing up at the candle ceremony without a date and was trying to persuade her to come out, but why was Zacke there?

Oh great, now he was apologizing. Blaze peeked out of her peephole and saw the two guys standing far away from each other, leaning against the walls. Awkward. Why was Zacke apologizing. Why were they even there? Didn't she make it extremely clear that she wanted to be left alone?!

Suddenly she figured it out. Zacke thought that Blaze getting kicked in the chest was all his fault and thus had to clear his massive male ego by being mr. goody-two-shoes and apologizing. Hadrian didn't want to be embarassed at the ball by being single. They were both there for themselves. Boys were so easy to figure out.

This awkwardness was getting too tense and as the seconds ticked by Blaze began to think. The more she thought, the more she felt like a massive bitch. Hadrian hadn't done anything wrong to Blaze at all that entire night. He offered to buy her whatever she wanted and a new fish and wanted to treat her to the bar and she still ended up yelling at him and trying her best to humiliate him.

Jun had complimented Blaze on her dress that night and had run to her aid when Stardust attacked, yet ended up embarassed and ashamed because of the Commander's lecturing on how ill-behaved Blaze was.

Zacke had just lost the sister he had left the Trinity Mission for and Blaze had rudely shoved it in his face that he was freeloading the Adel slayer status and had no ruby on his medal. He was just trying to walk down the stairs when Blaze had rubbed dirt in his face and provoked him to do the Squank which had set off this whole thing.

So why the HELL were they trying to apologize to her??!! They had no fucking right to apologze to her because she didn't deserve it and they were making her feel like complete crap!! Dumb boys! Blaze was getting angry at them now.

She threw open the door. Her makeup was redone now but she wasn't in a dress anymore. She was in her regular, everyday clothing.

"What do you think you're doing?? Apologizing. You and I both know you have nothing to apologize about, so don't do it! It's a sign of weakness!! What did you do wrong? NOTHING. Were you a dumbass? NO. SO DON'T FUCKING APOLOGIZE" Blaze shouted in Zacke's face. Sheturned to Hadrian, "You didn't do anything wrong either, so shut the eff up! Nobody is going to apologize for crap they didn't do, understand!?"

Blaze took the time to stare each guy in the face to make sure they understood. "How about instead of apologizing you make the person who caused all this live their life in hell! That's what you do, you take revenge on Stardust. You don't apologize, geez."

[Zacke]

Zacke started when Blaze threw open her door and came rampaging out without warning. Holy Hyne... He stared at her fearfully, wondering who she was going to strangle first--him or Hadrian.

She came at him first. Apparently me.

"What do you think you're doing?? Apologizing." he leaned back a bit as she shouted in his face. "You and I both know you have nothing to apologize about, so don't do it! It's a sign of weakness!! What did you do wrong? NOTHING. Were you a dumbass? NO. SO DON'T FUCKING APOLOGIZE"

He stared at her mutely. What? She turned and yelled something at Hadrian, but Zacke wasn't listening to that part. His mind was too occupied trying to register what she'd said. Did she actually just tell him he did nothing wrong? She said I WASN'T a dumbass. He distinctly heard that 'NO.' How did he do nothing wrong? He looked at her face and noticed her cheeks were damp, her eyes were puffy... Has she been crying?! Blaze... ?

"How about instead of apologizing you make the person who caused all this live their life in hell! That's what you do, you take revenge on Stardust. You don't apologize, geez."

He frowned slightly, not even really hearing most of what she said. If she was crying, it wasn't because she got kicked. She'd suffered far worse than a kick in the chest. She had probably been really embarrassed by what Stardust had done and the scene they caused. She said he'd done nothing wrong, but now he felt ten times worse about what he did. Getting Blaze kicked was one thing, getting her to cry... Wow, whether he directly caused it or not, he felt like a huge jackass just for being involved at all.

Now that he saw it from that angle, everything made a little more sense. Girls cried about embarrassing things like that. But this wasn't just a girl, this was Blaze...

First her dress, and now her tears... she was really weirding him out tonight.

He glanced down at her new attire--back to the civilian clothes. He wanted to sigh. She probably had no desire to be back at the Ball tonight. His frustration and anger with Stardust was fueled anew. There was no reason this Ball should be ruined for Blaze just because of that wild bitch's temper. He frowned a bit.

"Reese and Stardust aren't even inside the ballroom anymore." he said. "We saw them in the hall. If you don't want to go back, it's cool, but I don't think you should let her or the Headmaster or anyone else chase you out. C'mon, Blaze, you deserve to enjoy this celebration. And Hadrian doesn't even care if his date is wearing jeans." He glanced over at Hadran. "Right?"

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian stared mutely at Blaze when she unexpectedly came out and started telling Zacke off. He was more surprised when she turned to him and said that he didn't do anything wrong and that he shouldn't apologized. Her eyes were a little red as well as if to say that she had been...crying?

Hell no. No way.

"Hey, wait a minute here..." Hadrian said, thinking that something was definitely wrong with Blaze's head. "That's cuz I really didn't do anything wrong, it was only this guy who was apologizing, okay? Of course, I don't have to apologize." He pushed himself off the wall to approach Blaze and Zacke. "You think I was here for that?"

She completely misunderstood. Unlike Zacke, he just wanted to tell her not to run away since he could relate. He was fine leaving it off at that. "I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't be running off like that since it's lame, and it's like you admit you lost. I hate to see people who refused to get even and just run away." he stated, taking another close look at her from head to toe.

"....And Hadrian doesn't even care if his date is wearing jeans." He glanced over at Hadran. "Right?"

Hadrian's eyes narrowed. He had just realized. She wasn't wearing the sexy red dress anymore and had changed to her stupid jeans. This was unacceptable. Definitely unacceptable. He wanted her in her sexy form, not in her maniac form.

"What the hell is this?" Hadrian spat, pointing to her outfit. "What the hell is your fixation in this jeans of yours? This is the only time you get to stop wearing your uniform and you slip back into it not even an hour later!" He wanted Blaze to change back.

"You look horrible, change back," he told her flatly, "You see...Daddy.." He reached in his suit to get his camera. He flipped open the screen to show her a picture of her coming out of her room in her red dress. "Daddy, wants to see this!"

[Zacke]

Zacke's gaze slowly slid over to Hadrian.

Daddy?

"What the fuck, dude?" His eyes narrowed. "Don't talk to her that way." He glanced down at the camara and then back at Hadrian's face, glaring for a moment. Is he serious? Or does he just think that's funny? It didn't matter, either way Zacke found himself thoroughly annoyed by it. Talking to her like that wasn't going to make her feel any better. Why did she agree to go to the dance with a total prick? He looked back at Blaze.

As much as this guy was getting on his nerves, Hadrian had a point about her and running. He didn't like to see Blaze running either. Besides, the Ball just wouldn't be complete without her there.

"Well, I guess I was wrong. Apparently he does care about stupid things like a sexy dress." he glanced at Hadrian again in an annoyed way, before continuing. "Look, I don't give a shit what you wear, Blaze. In fact, I'll change into jeans too, if you want." he said. "Just don't ditch the Ball."

[Blaze Sanaku]

LMFAO Hadrian is soooo hilarious XD

---

"Oh yeah!!! Like telling me I look horrible is going to make me change right back into the dress again!!!!" Blaze lashed out. She knew he had just come back to save the date and the embarassment of being stag. "You think I look horrible, then why'd you want to ask me to the ball in the first place?!! What was it, huh? Was it a bet or a dare? Answer me!"

Hadrian was an idiot if he thought he was the first. Cadets betted and dared each other loads of times to ask out Blaze Sanaku but unlike them Blaze had actually said yes to Hadrian. She shouldn't have said yes. She was stupid! If she had thought Hadrian had done nothing wrong earlier, telling her she looked horrible and accusing her of running away had changed all that.

Blaze's face turned white when Hadrian showed her his camcorder. He BETTER not have recorded the fight earlier

Zacke seemed to react the same way as she did.. about everything Hadrian had just said. Zacke was so weird. He was either an annoying jackass, or a voice of reason.

"hah, don't bother. It'll take too long," Blaze replied to Zacke's offer to change into jeans himself. Sometimes his goody tendencies were so... goody. She wondered why he always had to make everything happy again and resolve problems. Blaze was the opposite. If something was bothering her or a problem arose, she sat around and let it fester.

She noticed both of them had been staring at her with quizzical looks. oh, fuck! They had probably noticed she'd been crying. From all this yelling she was doing, she had forgotten what her face looked like. GROSS!! She was going to tell them that she had just gotten something in both her eyes but realized that none of them pointed it out. If they had, they'd surely be dead men. She decided if she yelled some more, it would take their minds off the whole 'omh blaze is crying I have to tell people.' issue she was dealing with.

"FINE! I'll go back. Why is it such a big deal with you two?? I already have my medal, what else is there to do? If you're egging on another Stardust confrontation it's not gonna happen" she grunted and crossed her arms. "If I go, it's only to pay respect to Zacke's sister and the two Opps that got shot in the head, not because of anything either of you said." She did feel slightly uneasy about saying she didn't care about the dead earlier. The dead might not care about a candle lighting ceremony but the people who were alive cared.

[Jax Ridean]

"Hey Jax."

Downing the rest of his drink, Jax gazed over his shoulder to see who had just addressed him. To his surprise, it was the cute blonde girl Jaime, who, after their last encounter, he figured he was the last she wanted to talk to. Before he could say anything, she blurted out, "Sorry for brushing you off earlier." Caught off guard by her words, he abandoned his stool at the bar and walked closer to her. "I was cranky. Lawric had just pissed me off and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time...but I guess that doesn't really excuse my behaviour."

He nodded. "So that was the problem."
The female hormones are stupid...

It was a good thing Jaime couldn't read minds, otherwise she wouldn't have suddenly grinned and asked, "No hard feelings?"

She really had a beautiful smile, and the fact that it was directed towards him was making Jax feel a whole lot better considering how shitty his evening had been. "You came all the way here to apologize?" He chuckled. "Well there really was no need to. I was acting a bit idiotic back there. Sometimes I just want someone to stuff their foot in my mouth." Realizing what he just said, he corrected himself. "Figuratively speaking I mean.." The blank expression on Jaime's face was beginning to make him feel very nervous. He stammered. "I-I-I mean..I don't a-a-ctually need...you don't have to...that would be weird.."

Violently snatching his drink, he tipped the rest of its contents into his mouth, only to realize that the glass was empty.

[Lawric]

"Bore me?" Lawric returned her smile. "'Looking for answers' makes it sound like anything but boring. But I won't prod you, I was just curious." He paused for a second, debating on how far he wanted to venture with this conversation. They had just met... But he found himself very intrigued by her.

"I have to admit, it's hard to imagine you swinging the Heavenly Maiden around." He looked away, smirking a bit, "The look of her suits you. In that she's well-made, I mean." Wow, well-made? He was starting to ramble a bit.

"Anyway, I guess I'm saying you don't seem like the Adel-slaying type--like that pink haired girl and the girl she just kicked into the table." Suddenly he paused and let out a laugh. "I think, at some point, I was taking this all in the direction of a compliment, but... " He grinned through his embarrassment. "Apparently I'm horrible at delivering them, so take it as you will."

[Zacke]

"FINE! I'll go back. Why is it such a big deal with you two?? I already have my medal, what else is there to do? If you're egging on another Stardust confrontation it's not gonna happen" Zacke grinned when she grunted crossed her arms. "If I go, it's only to pay respect to Zacke's sister and the two Opps that got shot in the head, not because of anything either of you said."

His grin faltered a bit. My sister? It was a good thing Blaze wasn't looking at him, because his expression might make her uncomfortable about what she said. He looked away quickly, his mind reeling a bit. He suddenly felt very self-conscious. Had Jun told her? He knew he hadn't. Had they all been informed? It wasn't like it was a big secret or anything, he just offhandedly told Jax the other day... But for some reason he felt weird about Blaze knowing. She was always so abrasive. Maybe he thought her knowing he was still in grief would make her see him as weak, or something?

He wasn't sure why exactly he felt so uncomfortable about it. He brushed away his thoughts, trying to recover from the momentary shock and be casual. Be emotionless about it. Just, whatever. Right?

"Respect? Well, Blaze, I'm impressed." he teased, before turning to go down the hall. "And Hadrian, if you're going to whine about a sexy dress, go take pictures of Brooke... " he added over his shoulder with a snicker.