Author: The Letter D (aka BlackCypress or The Bebop Cow)
Rating: Leaving it unrated until finished.
Disclaimer: As usual, Squaresoft/Enix own all things FF8, yadda
yadda. Hm. Sawblade Punk, Ying and Yang and Insectillid are all mine.
The costume designs I came up with a while go, and the 'ying and
yang' masks actually exist. I might scan them some time. Considering
I only had an hour, I never got to write a song for the band to play
or any silly dances. Oh well.
Pushing through the small throng of costumed kids and teachers
outside the ballroom working on their masks and costumes a bit more
before entering with everyone else, Squall the angel and Ifrit Zell
stepped into the eneormous room, arm in arm. Immediatly met with a
wall of sound from song and chatter. Selphie had outdone herself.
By the door, there were two people posing as Bite Bugs, deciding if
they had to be staff, they'd be notably annoying about it, and make
it all a joke. Anyone who didnt have a mask was given one and
instructed to put it on, never mentiont heir actual names, and to go
in and have fun. At the stroke of midnight, evryone would be unmasked
and all would get a surprise.
The decorations within the ballroom were on the edgeof being
spectacular. Tables and chairs arranged around the rim o the
ballroom, draped in flimsy black mesh silks, and nets, the chairs
seeming to be coated in tiny black ivy leaves. Floating orbs of fire
flickered and danced over every table and along the walls, in
actuality beng small ghosts and spirits that had been invited to the
party as guests. They mingled and drifted about those living and
costumed as well, trated as equals rather than dead or strange
monsters to gain experince from.
Small lights of red and orange had been strung along the ceiling and
the struts of the window domes, pulsing and glimmering softly like
little stars and giving the feeling of being under a forgine sky, and
a diffrent world. Staff for the festival trudged drunkenly through
the dancers now and then, waiters decked out in the funeral clothes
of the coffin makers waited on hand and misplaced foot for those who
had desires of them.
Just past the entrance there was a temporary water fountian flowing,
but instead of water, it poored forth some form of punch, which
several people had gathered around, scooping up drinks in cups shaped
like scorched and hollowed horns, discussing lives they'd made up for
their costumes or the days overall events to even the strange misty
weather that seemed to fill the room.
But truely, it was the people and all their costume designs that were
the real attraction and made the tapestry complete. Within all the
masses of figures, some were more notable than others, for sure. Zell
kissed Squall's cheek suddenly, babbling something about running off
to see if he could recognize anyone and left Squall defenceless and
on his own, sporting a white sequined mask to go with his angel
costume.
"Kupo, Ku-pop!" The unmistakeable cry of the Moogle moving by the
punch fountian, passing out little red envelopes to all that entered,
tucking them in mask straps or waistlines for those who hadnt thought
of adding pockets to their designs. Passing on well wishes to every
man, woman and child. Her body had been powdered white, and a careful
design of bikini with white fur blended well together to make her
seem nude without actually really showing anything at all. Plus the
craftily created shredded red bat wings applied to her back, and a
little springy stick atop her head bobbed drunkenly from the weight
of the plush red ball that completed the costume.
Squall found himself drawn deeper into the masses, normally highly
uncomfortable in such highly massed functions, normally a wallflower,
disinterested in everything this world had to offer. But within this
ballroom, and within the little red envelope that had been tucked
into his hand as he passed, this was something all together diffrent
and strange. There were famillair things, and many things he couldnt
even begin to comprihend. It pulled him in, pushed and drew one out
of the normal world and into the fantasy world of spirits and dreams.
Something silver caught his eye and he turned to watch, wondering ay
the stranger he saw skirting around the cliques of people and
friends, pressing into them now and then, shaking his shaggily haired
head. An odd costume resembling nothing recognizeable. Seems many
people had opted to try making their own costumes rather than follow
idealistic copycats of guardians or cartoonized charactures. This one
seemed to have been developed out of two circular sawblades, fused
and warped in differing directions. The blade spikes pulled down and
curling inwards slightly so not to hurt surrounding individuals, and
peirced through with bolts of broken metal and what looked like
shower curtian rings. Grinning all the while as he moved in and out,
surprising people. Tight silver pants that left nothing to the
imagination hugged his long muscular legs, and a black mesh shirt
with a few wandering silvery threads had been dropped over his body.
Two perky nipples beneath sporting silver barbells peeking from
beneath and teasingly inviting a wandering hand now and again from
the owner.
"What the hell?" Squall found himself muttering aloud in an almost
irrisponsible fashion.
"Such language from the heavens above? Seems unlike you." Sprouted a
female voice beside him. The voice had been so sudden that Shall
jumped and recoiled to the side, casting a glare the way of the voice
before stopping in his tracks and staring.
He had almost mistaken for a ghost, another origional costume that
had wandered from waiter to waiter, picking up things speared by
toothpics or a glass of wine or some other notable treat. A sweet,
gentle voice of this slender woman slipping out from behind a mask of
fanning chokobo feathers. Soft and gentle down around the face of the
mask, trailing down the cheeks, and broader wing and tail feathers
fanning out around, giving off an almost soft sun like apperance. Her
dress, though thin and almost seeming to be made of silk and tissues,
proved to be plenty strong and only revealing in shape and not in who
was beneath, nor what. Long blonde hair cascaded down behind her
mask, silken as her dress, fresh off the corn cob.
"What..?" Was about all the brunette could manage, staring in
surprise at the waif of a woman before him. Wondering how she had
gotten the effect of not appering to be all there.
"Dont know a chocobo goddess when you see one? No, I'd suppose not,
the legend was just local to Winhill some years ago. Its cute really,
I found stories about them in the library somewhere. Like it, Angel
Boy?"
"Actually. It is farily good." Squall had to admit a few things now
and then. Especially if he was supposed to be someone else here. He
had to wear a different personlality or they'd figure out who he was
before the unmasking. How the hell had Selphie come up with this
idea? He'd have to congradulate the girl later he supposed.
His attention turned shortly from casual conversation with the
Chocobo Goddess as he heard increasingly uprorus laughter, and
shortly found the source. Zell had found someone to mingle with,
telling jokes of increasingly develish kind to another pair of
costumed revelers.
The two young men huddled together with Zell, their grins unmatched
by even their fans, so proud of their costume they were. One man thin
and a bit on the small side, the other almost the perfect image of
the dream muscle man. The two of them had opted for gladiator style
garb, leather chest peices and flayed battle skirts, knee guards and
sandals. However, they had also made a costume shop quite happy with
the sheer amount of purple skin toner they'd bought and coated
themselves over with. Great golden ring protruding from nose and
horns adorning each head. The grinning duo had worked hard in a short
amount of time to create the perfect costume of the Minotuar Brothers
Guardian Force.
Squall found himself smiling uncontrollably as it seemed the Guardian
Force costumers were starting tog ather together, Shiva and Sirien
mingling with the men, and he could see someone who had gone through
a lot of truble on making a Diablo costome just slipping through the
door. His contemplations of joining them to find out what they were
doing were interrupted with the laughter of children bursting through
the door and galloping through the crowd on all fours before popping
up next to the dance floor.
Some of the younger kids not yet within the range of pulling off the
SeeD tasks and tests, had opted for something more innocent. Dressing
themselves up with bright red spiked hair and oversized gloves. These
four figures of Wink, Blink, Nod and Twitch had been used for years
in teaching the youngest children the basic elements in how to fight
and cast magic withing Balamb Garden, and had eventually garnered
their own little comic strip in a local newsprint. Steaking face
paint, red pants clinging and white bellied red shirts with ruffles
marked them all as creative little Moomba costumes.
Squall found himself laughing along with everyone else, his heart
lightened by the kids opting to have Twitch and Nod tumbling over
eachother on spotting a Coffin Waiter with a tray of cookies, while
Wink and Blink powed and strutted around before attackign eachother
in slapstic humor. They were pulling out all the stops to get the
older people laughing along with them, making jokes and puns off
strange code twitches they had all grown up with over the years that
no one bothered to fix, or moking some of the greater battles of over
the last year of wars and troublesome border skirmishes.
A glimpse of the house band Selphie had pulled together at the las
minute showed an entire troupe of zombies playing their instrimunts,
parts of their bodies seeming to peel off, the sag of half rotted
organs peeking out of bone and flesh structures looking fairly
convincing. If it wasnt for the observant eyes they all had of each
player and singer breathing normally under all their makeup, they
might have been the real deals.
He let himself get lost, let himself go, his eyes witnessing as he
was occassionally swpt up in a dance, losing sight of Zell in a
matter of minutes as the GF people had gone off on some side plot.
Squall enjoyed himself, and managed to sue some of the dance moves
Zell had taught him in secret, hitching up his romes for a slam-
dance, and moshing a bit with some of the faster paced tracks until
he felt free of everything that had hampered his mind up until now.
He wasnt Squall anymore, he was just Angel Boy.
Sometimes things he'd pass would turn hishead, make him smile, make
him lack, cause gim wonderment and surprise. The young man strutting
by with a helmet covored in reflective spikes, these strange growths
trailing down the back of his neck and spine, to a tail that wagged
from his rear end. An insectile costume that would put the colors ofa
Catchapillar to shame, yet seeming to be made of mantis like shelling
and wood both at once, a mystical splay of nature at its finest of
oddities. The two silent figures, androgenous and beyond guessing, in
nothing more than dark grey tuxidos styled after the SeeD uniforms
and sporting strange black and white mask. One demonic and crafty
looking, the other serene and regal, the ying to the others yang.
Those mocking monsters in every day life, or twisted, cryptic tales
lost in memory that could now only be found in books and stage plays.
The hour of the unmasking was soon to be at hand. He hadnt known how
long he'd been partying with everyone else, or when the GF players
had returned. It didnt matter who was sweeping who off their feet
anymore, just that everything was amazing and he was only just now
realising someone had probably spiked the punch during all the
excitement as he was feeling just a bit woozy.
And then, he was confronted by someone that, frankly, he had no idea
how he missed before. Though many people had opted for bird feathered
costumes or actual attempts at some of the aviarian species from
around the world, none could possibly stand out more than the great
sweeping arms swatched in fiery wings and coat of every color feather
known to mankind. Plumes of feathers, almost tendril like in their
manipulation off the mans fingers, and the brushed back lok of the
brilliant headdress. How anyone could miss the Pheonix costume was
beyond comprihension. And yet, there it was. The tall stranger
covored head to toe in this vibrant display of handiwork and color,
Cutting in and sweeping the angel away off his feet. Cool and playful
teal eyes staring down at him from behind the mask. Giving sensation
of someone ever knowing, ever understanding, ever present.
Quick of breath, he danced the last hour away with this mystical and
rarely seen take upon the Pheonix. Feeling as though he was walking
on air, cloaked in clouds, mesmerized and lost in these eyes. The
wings surrounding him, pulling him in close and whispering soft
things in his ear. Muffled by the sounds all around them, he could
make out very few words. All of them heavily accented and really just
sounding like an entierly diffrent language all together.
"Squall."
His eyes snapped open at his name being called, looking around hm a
moment in confusion. The musi starting to dye down as the cheerful
and bouncy Mog mounted the stage, waving to evryone to get their
attention. The Pheonix man re;leasing him, merely holding his hand as
the speech was made. Squall shrugged off the call fo his name as
fluke of his own mind and listened.
"Alright boys and girls, lords and ladies! This is the moment you've
been waiting for! The unmasking! On the count of three, everyone
remove your masks and greet your partners! Dont forget, the ball will
continue for another two hours, but you cant stay here after that,
the Headmaster says we still got class tomorrow!"
The recurrant groan at the mention of class was almost enough to
bring the party down, but it was pushed back for the time being as
the band started up some dramatic music, the mog raving her hands in
the air, jumping up and down. "One!"
The pheonix turned slightly to Squall, reaching up for his
headdress.. Squall had already figured out the Mog was Selphie, as no
one else could pull off such a costume and manage to be Staff at the
same time.
"Two!"
Squall reached up behind his head, starting to pull the strings in
the back of his mask undone. He could hear Zell squealing in
anticipation somewhere else. Or maybe that was someone else, he wasnt
quite stue anymore. There had been an astonishing array of people
around here, he had to say.
"THREE! Take em off folks!"
Squall pulled off his mask, looking around at all those around him.
Some of them recognizing who he was and looking dumbfounded. Squall
wasnt exactly the loosest person in the Garden after all. They had
good reason to be surprised.
But looking up at the mand pulling off the pheonix headdress, none
were more surprised than him.