A young white mage enrolled in Mysidia University that would one day name himself "Helios" takes advantage of the light briefly going up for intermission to once again review the program he'd been handed when entering the auditorium. Here at the University, students aimed to settle into the classes they had chosen in school, and often would add additional abilities to their arsenal through extracurricular programs. For instance, the musicians who had just finished their set were mostly people who had enrolled to become Bards, although some were only Bards on the side. White Mage observed that next up was a troupe of dancers.
"Hahaha, awesome!" the red mage sitting next to White Mage elbowed him, a lecherous grin on his face. "This is my favorite part!"
"What, the dancers?"
"You bet!"
"I never took you to be much of a fan of the arts."
"Nah, dude, that artsy stuff ain't for me. The girls, though..." The mage's grin widened. "The chicks who become dancers have the best bods in school, man. It's like a prerequisite or something."
White Mage rolled his eyes. "Can't you think about anything else?"
"Don't be a downer, dude! it's... like, an oasis of sexy in a desert of lame."
The lights dimmed, and the crowd grew quiet as they anticipated the incoming show.
"Aw hell yeah!" Red Mage said quietly as White Mage grunted and looked to the stage as the dancers arrived.
The dancers certainly were pretty, he had to admit. Each was decked out in an outfit that was simultaneously traditional yet somewhat provocative, identical save for color. The women themselves were largely indistinguishable aside from height and hair color... save one.
One of the backup dancers, a fairly tall young woman, seemed just the slightest bit off compared to the rest. He felt his eyes drawn to her immediately and tried to puzzle out why. Was she slightly out of step? Were their any special decorations on her clothes? The white mage didn't know, but he couldn't look away. Something about this one girl was mesmerizing...
As he watched her long brown hair fly, he saw it.
Her hair had spread as she'd performed a twirl, revealing a slight streak of purple. Hair dye that had been overlooked during a shower. That's when it hit him - he'd seen this girl on campus before, but not as a dancer. That was why he'd been drawn to her - she was familiar. Oddly so.
A few girls on campus dyed their hair purple, but White Mage could only think of one who matched this dancer's height - a friendly but somewhat awkward black mage. He tried to remember more about her, but they hadn't spoken much. They'd passed in hallways, or he'd caught her out of the corner of his eye while leaving or entering the school, or some such thing.
"So you like that one, eh? Yeah, she ain't bad at all!" Red Mage interrupted White Mage's daydreaming with a nudge and a sly look in his eyes. "And you knocked me for peepin' the scenery, heh!"
"Oh, um, uh... Hmm." He had tried to think of an excuse, but had decided to simply decline to comment. His red mage companion nodded sagely and turned back to the show.
-----
After the show ended and students began to file out, something possessed White Mage to hang around. All of a sudden, he couldn't get that girl out of his head. As his fellow classmates flowed around him like water towards the drain that was the exit door, he opened his program again and scoured the list.
Dancer 1F
Dancer 2F
Dancer 3F
Dancer 4F
Dancer 5F
Dancer 6F
Geomancer 5F
Black Mage 3F
Dragoon 7M
There she was. 3F.
You see, in the land of Mysidia, names were earned from the royal family for accomplishments. Until then, people were referred to by their profession or job class. In the school, which gathered many individuals of the same job together, they were all assigned a number and either M or F to designate their gender. Sometimes White Mage wondered what he'd name himself someday. Hopefully he'd be successful enough to earn a title.
Name or no name, he'd correctly placed that girl. And now his mind was flashing back to every time he'd bumped into her in her black mage outfit, and every inconsequential moment their eyes scanned over each other in the hallways, on the grounds, in the auditorium during assemblies. He mulled it all over and finally started walking.
Outside, he loitered further, watching the other students as they laughed and chatted and faded into the darkness, some going back to their dorms and others getting atop chocobos to head home. Under a street lamp near the entrance, he saw what he'd hoped to see - the dancers. They were talking up a storm amongst themselves, praising one another and dismissing the compliments they received in turn. Helios studied the group and saw it was only seven strong - the geomancer had changed back into her usual outfit, however, and tipped him off. He quickly spied the dragoon as well, who had distanced himself a touch from his fellow dancers.
Finally, he spied her - a dozen feet behind the rest, Black Mage 3F was keeping to herself, her face covered completely by black mist and her tall straw hat pulled forward a bit.
Slowly, carefully, White Mage began walking in the same direction she was, maneuvering himself and changing his speed until they were side by side. He cleared his throat, and she jumped a little, having not noticed him until now. From the mist, two shining eyes stared at White Mage.
"Um... Hi there."
"Hi." she said quietly.
"I just wanted to say... I, uh, really liked the show. You're really talented."
The black mage's eyes widened and she seemed to shrink a bit. She pulled her straw hat further down, covering her eyes.
"So... someone recognized me."
"Well, there's a black mage listed in the program."
"People read those?"
"Well, I did!"
He fell silent after that, trying to think of what to say next.
"So, um... Don't be embarrassed. You looked great out there."
"No better than the others. We all had to dance the same except for the lead male."
"Well, if it means anything, I thought you were the best one."
She didn't have an answer for that one. The two of them went over the awkward conversation in their heads five times in the space of six seconds.
"Well, it was nice meeting you! I've seen you around but never thought to say hello. Maybe we can talk again sometime?"
The black mage paused a moment, in thought. "Maybe."
-----
Two weeks later, White Mage was quietly panicking. He'd messed up, hadn't he? He hadn't seen that black mage since the concert. They were never going to talk again, were they? It bothered him - all of a sudden he'd wanted to get to know her, and he still wasn't sure quite why. Maybe the whole dancer/black mage dual jobs thing intrigued him, maybe he'd always liked her and this was just the push he needed to remember her existence, maybe it was Maybelline. He didn't know, but he had no idea where to go from here.
Little did he know, across campus, Black Mage was thinking the same thing. She was disappointed she hadn't met up with that white mage again. He seemed nice, and she had made few friends at the university due to her tendency to keep to herself. Clearly she was the one who'd made a mistake. She'd even worked up the courage to take dancing classes to try and expand her social circle, and an opportunity like this comes along and she slips up!
White Mage entered the dining hall that day with his mind made up. He would find that girl, and he would buy her dessert. As he left the cafeteria line with an extra brownie, Black Mage entered from an opposite door. White Mage scanned the seats, searching for a pointy hat nestled on top of purple hair that wasn't yet sitting down, and unbeknownst to him was currently in line. As he shrugged and went to have a seat, he caught a blue robe out of the corner of his eye and turned to see her walking towards him steadily.
And upon her tray, next to her meal sat two brownies.
No comments:
Post a Comment