FF13 fic, House of Paddra 2 (In Potentia)
title: House of Paddra
author: caledon (the_tower_room)
pairing: Hope/Lightning, various
rating: M
summary: AU. Hope is a member of a group of up and coming designers, the House of Paddra. When the Academy's Department of Design issued the greatest challenge they had ever faced, will Lightning provide the needed inspiration to help them win? Inspired by Paradise Kiss.
words: 2276
Hope's method of getting to his clients fast consisted of each of them donning two of the three coats and accessing the Corridor of Darkness. Not exactly teleporting, but still faster than riding the conveyor walkways and running through the campus to get to the Academy's Department of Music building, climbing three flights of stairs and trotting through several winding hallways to reach the classroom that was agreed to serve as the meeting place.
And so they emerged from the Corridor of Darkness to meet surprised faces-which was only to be expected, really, as they'd interrupted Flurry of Dancing Flames mid-rehearsal. The band immediately set their instruments aside and excitedly scattered haphazardly on the desks of the classroom, hollering greetings as they did so.
A quick introduction had Claire meeting Noel Kreiss, a brunet with blue eyes, apparently House of Paddra's designated blacksmith and sometime session musician, playing with Flurry of Dancing Flames during live performances. The remaining three males were the actual members that made the band: Demyx Proulx, a blond whose head was shaved at the sides, the remaining hair gelled up over his head with three strands falling over his forehead, seemingly an easy-going and happy-go-lucky guy; Lea Tiernan, green-eyed, tall and lanky, with his spiky red hair slicked back from his forehead, somehow reminding her of a porcupine; and Riku Crescent-the last the cousin Hope had mentioned to her earlier, and it would be hard not to notice the family resemblance between the two what with the green eyes and silver hair, although the musician wore his long, past his shoulders, and with his shaggy bangs falling over his eyes.
Claire felt their curiosity over her presence with Hope settle in the air almost palpably, and a susurrus of questions erupted out of them with Hope holding up his hands, easily directing them to voice their queries after he finished with the presentation.
And so, with the newly-christened 'Lightning' assisting, Hope proceeded with a demonstration of the coats' functions to the clients.
Earlier, during their journey, the two had agreed that this would be considered payable, a trial period of sorts, since she would be marketing a House of Paddra product-even if she hadn't exactly agreed to starting a modeling career right then and there. Food and gil were still things she'd be a fool to turn her back on, and so she squared her shoulders inside the slightly big coat and soldiered on with what was required of her to acquire them.
"The matching gloves," Hope was saying as he held up his gloved hands, "have sensors at the fingers and palms that connect with your nerves. These basically act as the transmitter for messages about the doorway to the Corridor of Darkness that's coming from your brain. That's all that these sensors have been programmed to do, and that's all they'll be able to read. Now, when you think something along the lines of 'I need to access the Corridor of Darkness,' wave your hand at the direction or place where you want it to appear-Lightning, if you please, thank you-and voilà! Instant doorway! Same goes for when you want to close it. Just think 'I need to close the door' or something similar, wave your hand at it, and poof! It's gone.
"The gloves have to be worn as they are the only ones that would enable you to open the doorway. The cuffs actually have magnets in them that connect them to the sleeves of the coat, signalling to the technology in the coat that you're good to go. Once the gloves are on, you have to connect these toggles at the base of the hood together as these function as the ON/OFF switch that indicate that you can access the doorway to the Corridor of Darkness as well as release micro-soundwaves that repel Heartless while you're inside the Corridor.
"If you're wondering if it works, all I can say about that is that my lovely assistant and I just went through it, and here we are, standing in front of you safe and sound as proof.
"Now, do you have any questions?"
The blond waved his hand enthusiastically in the air. "I do! I do!"
Hope nodded. "Yes?"
Demyx looked to Claire. "Are you his girlfriend?" Unsuccessfully muffled snickers erupted from the other audience members while Hope ran a hand over his face.
The lone woman in the room, however, stiffened, an eyebrow arching over a cold blue eye as she directed a harsh glare towards the musician, bristling as she put a hand on her hip. What's up with that automatic assumption? she thought. Just because she arrived here with Hope did not mean they were together, especially in that way.
The silver-haired so-called inventor laughed nervously. "Questions about the coat is what I meant."
"Fine." The blond rolled his eyes, this time addressing Hope. "Is the one wearing the coat over there your girlfriend?"
Claire had half a mind to step over and seriously wreak grievous bodily harm to that rather curious fellow, the other half wanting to do the same to her temporary employer for not answering the question directly. She didn't really know what to make of his avoidance of the subject, nor of the warm flutter in her belly at his refusal to deny it. She brushed the feeling off, attributing it to her growing hunger and purposely retrieved her earlier frustration and annoyance. What's wrong with just outright saying 'No, she's not my girlfriend. Now can we please get on with the coats?' The hand not on her hip began to form a fist.
She found Hope's lack of frustration at this turn of questioning rather suspicious, although she couldn't help the small laugh that huffed out of her in a breath when he replied:
"She's a model, in potentia, for House of Paddra. Now can we please get on with the coats?"
Uncannily, as one each spectator tilted his head to the side and perused her.
"'In potentia?' Potentially? What do you mean?" This time, the one who spoke was the supposed blacksmith. "I thought I was going to scout for models."
Chagrined, Hope gave Claire a sidelong, apologetic glance as he scratched the back of his head. "I just saw her out in the walkway on my way over here and thought she was perfect for the part."
Once again in peculiar unison, this time their audience tilted their heads to the other side, letting out a collective chorus of hmm's as they did so. Her eyes narrowed, feeling like an object being scrutinized under a microscope as each began to comment about her.
"Great find," said the redhead.
The smirking silver-haired cousin merely gave her a thumb's up of approval.
"Yeah, I can see she's got a certain oomph to her," contributed the blond. "She definitely fits the look your brand's going for. But the hair, though. Needs work."
Claire resisted the urge to smooth out the frizzy wavy nest on top of her head. Sure, it didn't look like she had the usual mop of pink dandelions for hair since she had brushed it to something manageable and tamed it into a bun this morning for the job interview but he really had no right to judge. Who did his hair anyway? Why did he think it was good idea to pair a Mohawk with a mullet?
In an effort to redirect the focus from further commentary on appearances, the blacksmith addressed Claire with the subject he felt was the most important for their project: "What kind of weapons have you handled?"
She started, then offhandedly replied with a shrug, "Guns...blades..."
A thoughtful look came over his brow as he nodded. "Guns and blades, huh. Sounds good. Vague enough to lend a lot of versatility. Princess Ashe of Dalmasca apparently was trained to use lots of different kinds of weapons, so that's really good. Gives our group an edge in whatever direction we may take weapon-wise."
She released a frustrated exhale. "I haven't said yes to modeling for House of Paddra."
"Oh. O-kay." Noel was taken aback, a slight frown on his brow. "Why not?"
She gave another shrug. "Never modeled before. Might turn out to be not my thing."
"So what are you doing here then?"
She pointed to Hope with a shoulder. "He said he'll buy me lunch if I think about it and if I helped with getting the coats here."
"Aha!" exclaimed Lea with a clap. "So you're his girlfriend in potentia!" He looked around, grinning like a loon. "Did I use that word right?" He glanced at Hope, teasingly shaking his head. "What a way to pick up girls. Just offer them modeling careers out of the blue to get them to date you."
"Ahem." Hope cleared his throat and attempted to steer the discussion away from potential danger. "So about the coats..."
"Ah, forget about the damn coats. Yeah, yeah, we saw it work. It looks great. Riku's gonna be paying so send the bill to him. Now, that's out of the way, you and her are much more entertaining. So details. Spill."
"We just met-" started Hope.
"-This is a job, in potentia, as you all like to say for some reason-" elaborated Claire, grumbling as she rolled her eyes.
"-And we'll be having a lunch meeting about the possible job of modeling for House of Paddra-"
"-Which I might not even take the more I hang out here-"
He turned to her, a sound akin to a kicked puppy coming out of him.
"Did you just whine like a dog?" asked his cousin, sputtering out a laugh.
Hope scoffed. "Pshaw. What. Did no such thing. Ahahaha ha."
"Really subtle, cuz," muttered Riku with a smirk.
"Shut up," mumbled Hope, sotto voce.
The pink-haired woman crossed her arms over her chest, choosing to ignore the exchange between the cousins. "Can we just finish up with coats, please?"
"Er, right. Sorry." House of Paddra's engineer cleared his throat. "So. Any questions? About the coats and nothing else pertaining to anyone's modeling career in potentia?"
A chorus of disappointment echoed from the clients.
"Alright." Hope rubbed his hands together. "So, I guess the coats are good to go for you guys, then?" Seeing variations of nods and shrugs in response, he clapped his hands. "Great. Thanks very much for your patience. Meeting adjourned."
And with that, as the band dispersed and converged into their own conversations, Hope divested himself of the coat and proceeded to carefully inspect it, tucking the matching gloves into one of the pockets before placing them into the garment bag.
Claire followed suit, being careful with how she handled the garment since from the look of things it seemed to have been a costly thing to make, and she was loath to damage it as she didn't exactly have the kind of gil to be able to afford repairing it or having another made to replace it. There were rent, groceries, and Serah's college fund for her to contend with, and she could barely make ends meet even with the three jobs she had.
Setting the garment bag with the others on the desk at the front of the classroom, she turned, now seeing the two silver-haireds with their phones held out, no doubt concluding the transaction via online banking, the other Paddra member with the brown hair looking over Hope's shoulder, then both shaking Riku's hand as the transaction seemed to have been successful.
She turned again as she heard a scuffle behind her, the blond and the redhead picking over who got which coat.
"Yeah!" exclaimed the blond, clutching a garment bag to his chest. "I get to smell like her. She smells like roses." Feeling her gaze, he turned and gave her a wink, to which she could only respond with a huff and a roll of her eyes.
"Yeah, well, I get to smell like Hope," countered the redhead rather smugly, sending a smirk her way as well as a wiggle of his eyebrows towards said young man.
At that, a funny little flutter shook her stomach while at the same time annoyance weighed on her chest. Fine, whatever, she thought, crossing her arms as she faced the silver-haired in question. Of all times to be wracked by teenage hormones. I don't have time for that. Which was true. She and Serah had been orphaned just as Claire became a teenager. Beset with the sudden responsibility for another life, she'd had to grow up fast and had to skip out on that period of life that Serah was now actively and enthusiastically participating in. From what she'd been seeing of her sister's behaviour, she was actually glad for not having to go through it. It sometimes drove her crazy with Serah as it was. But the sudden infliction of crushing on someone-she could really do without that.
This is business, Claire, she told herself. Strictly business. He's paying me, so this is definitely not a date. Just work. Nothing else.
But she couldn't stop the warmth that spread through her as she watched Hope walking her way, the sight of the smile on his lips making her pulse jump.
"Ready for lunch?" he asked.
Schooling her features into a mask of impassiveness, she shrugged and mumbled, "Sure."
Then, amidst catcalls and wolf-whistles, they left the classroom and its annoying occupants. But not before she flipped them the bird. Only to be answered by their laughter, much to her dismay.
Though half of her figured it was well worth it to see Hope's reddened ears.
==================================================
previous chapter | next chapter
author: caledon (the_tower_room)
pairing: Hope/Lightning, various
rating: M
summary: AU. Hope is a member of a group of up and coming designers, the House of Paddra. When the Academy's Department of Design issued the greatest challenge they had ever faced, will Lightning provide the needed inspiration to help them win? Inspired by Paradise Kiss.
words: 2276
Hope's method of getting to his clients fast consisted of each of them donning two of the three coats and accessing the Corridor of Darkness. Not exactly teleporting, but still faster than riding the conveyor walkways and running through the campus to get to the Academy's Department of Music building, climbing three flights of stairs and trotting through several winding hallways to reach the classroom that was agreed to serve as the meeting place.
And so they emerged from the Corridor of Darkness to meet surprised faces-which was only to be expected, really, as they'd interrupted Flurry of Dancing Flames mid-rehearsal. The band immediately set their instruments aside and excitedly scattered haphazardly on the desks of the classroom, hollering greetings as they did so.
A quick introduction had Claire meeting Noel Kreiss, a brunet with blue eyes, apparently House of Paddra's designated blacksmith and sometime session musician, playing with Flurry of Dancing Flames during live performances. The remaining three males were the actual members that made the band: Demyx Proulx, a blond whose head was shaved at the sides, the remaining hair gelled up over his head with three strands falling over his forehead, seemingly an easy-going and happy-go-lucky guy; Lea Tiernan, green-eyed, tall and lanky, with his spiky red hair slicked back from his forehead, somehow reminding her of a porcupine; and Riku Crescent-the last the cousin Hope had mentioned to her earlier, and it would be hard not to notice the family resemblance between the two what with the green eyes and silver hair, although the musician wore his long, past his shoulders, and with his shaggy bangs falling over his eyes.
Claire felt their curiosity over her presence with Hope settle in the air almost palpably, and a susurrus of questions erupted out of them with Hope holding up his hands, easily directing them to voice their queries after he finished with the presentation.
And so, with the newly-christened 'Lightning' assisting, Hope proceeded with a demonstration of the coats' functions to the clients.
Earlier, during their journey, the two had agreed that this would be considered payable, a trial period of sorts, since she would be marketing a House of Paddra product-even if she hadn't exactly agreed to starting a modeling career right then and there. Food and gil were still things she'd be a fool to turn her back on, and so she squared her shoulders inside the slightly big coat and soldiered on with what was required of her to acquire them.
"The matching gloves," Hope was saying as he held up his gloved hands, "have sensors at the fingers and palms that connect with your nerves. These basically act as the transmitter for messages about the doorway to the Corridor of Darkness that's coming from your brain. That's all that these sensors have been programmed to do, and that's all they'll be able to read. Now, when you think something along the lines of 'I need to access the Corridor of Darkness,' wave your hand at the direction or place where you want it to appear-Lightning, if you please, thank you-and voilà! Instant doorway! Same goes for when you want to close it. Just think 'I need to close the door' or something similar, wave your hand at it, and poof! It's gone.
"The gloves have to be worn as they are the only ones that would enable you to open the doorway. The cuffs actually have magnets in them that connect them to the sleeves of the coat, signalling to the technology in the coat that you're good to go. Once the gloves are on, you have to connect these toggles at the base of the hood together as these function as the ON/OFF switch that indicate that you can access the doorway to the Corridor of Darkness as well as release micro-soundwaves that repel Heartless while you're inside the Corridor.
"If you're wondering if it works, all I can say about that is that my lovely assistant and I just went through it, and here we are, standing in front of you safe and sound as proof.
"Now, do you have any questions?"
The blond waved his hand enthusiastically in the air. "I do! I do!"
Hope nodded. "Yes?"
Demyx looked to Claire. "Are you his girlfriend?" Unsuccessfully muffled snickers erupted from the other audience members while Hope ran a hand over his face.
The lone woman in the room, however, stiffened, an eyebrow arching over a cold blue eye as she directed a harsh glare towards the musician, bristling as she put a hand on her hip. What's up with that automatic assumption? she thought. Just because she arrived here with Hope did not mean they were together, especially in that way.
The silver-haired so-called inventor laughed nervously. "Questions about the coat is what I meant."
"Fine." The blond rolled his eyes, this time addressing Hope. "Is the one wearing the coat over there your girlfriend?"
Claire had half a mind to step over and seriously wreak grievous bodily harm to that rather curious fellow, the other half wanting to do the same to her temporary employer for not answering the question directly. She didn't really know what to make of his avoidance of the subject, nor of the warm flutter in her belly at his refusal to deny it. She brushed the feeling off, attributing it to her growing hunger and purposely retrieved her earlier frustration and annoyance. What's wrong with just outright saying 'No, she's not my girlfriend. Now can we please get on with the coats?' The hand not on her hip began to form a fist.
She found Hope's lack of frustration at this turn of questioning rather suspicious, although she couldn't help the small laugh that huffed out of her in a breath when he replied:
"She's a model, in potentia, for House of Paddra. Now can we please get on with the coats?"
Uncannily, as one each spectator tilted his head to the side and perused her.
"'In potentia?' Potentially? What do you mean?" This time, the one who spoke was the supposed blacksmith. "I thought I was going to scout for models."
Chagrined, Hope gave Claire a sidelong, apologetic glance as he scratched the back of his head. "I just saw her out in the walkway on my way over here and thought she was perfect for the part."
Once again in peculiar unison, this time their audience tilted their heads to the other side, letting out a collective chorus of hmm's as they did so. Her eyes narrowed, feeling like an object being scrutinized under a microscope as each began to comment about her.
"Great find," said the redhead.
The smirking silver-haired cousin merely gave her a thumb's up of approval.
"Yeah, I can see she's got a certain oomph to her," contributed the blond. "She definitely fits the look your brand's going for. But the hair, though. Needs work."
Claire resisted the urge to smooth out the frizzy wavy nest on top of her head. Sure, it didn't look like she had the usual mop of pink dandelions for hair since she had brushed it to something manageable and tamed it into a bun this morning for the job interview but he really had no right to judge. Who did his hair anyway? Why did he think it was good idea to pair a Mohawk with a mullet?
In an effort to redirect the focus from further commentary on appearances, the blacksmith addressed Claire with the subject he felt was the most important for their project: "What kind of weapons have you handled?"
She started, then offhandedly replied with a shrug, "Guns...blades..."
A thoughtful look came over his brow as he nodded. "Guns and blades, huh. Sounds good. Vague enough to lend a lot of versatility. Princess Ashe of Dalmasca apparently was trained to use lots of different kinds of weapons, so that's really good. Gives our group an edge in whatever direction we may take weapon-wise."
She released a frustrated exhale. "I haven't said yes to modeling for House of Paddra."
"Oh. O-kay." Noel was taken aback, a slight frown on his brow. "Why not?"
She gave another shrug. "Never modeled before. Might turn out to be not my thing."
"So what are you doing here then?"
She pointed to Hope with a shoulder. "He said he'll buy me lunch if I think about it and if I helped with getting the coats here."
"Aha!" exclaimed Lea with a clap. "So you're his girlfriend in potentia!" He looked around, grinning like a loon. "Did I use that word right?" He glanced at Hope, teasingly shaking his head. "What a way to pick up girls. Just offer them modeling careers out of the blue to get them to date you."
"Ahem." Hope cleared his throat and attempted to steer the discussion away from potential danger. "So about the coats..."
"Ah, forget about the damn coats. Yeah, yeah, we saw it work. It looks great. Riku's gonna be paying so send the bill to him. Now, that's out of the way, you and her are much more entertaining. So details. Spill."
"We just met-" started Hope.
"-This is a job, in potentia, as you all like to say for some reason-" elaborated Claire, grumbling as she rolled her eyes.
"-And we'll be having a lunch meeting about the possible job of modeling for House of Paddra-"
"-Which I might not even take the more I hang out here-"
He turned to her, a sound akin to a kicked puppy coming out of him.
"Did you just whine like a dog?" asked his cousin, sputtering out a laugh.
Hope scoffed. "Pshaw. What. Did no such thing. Ahahaha ha."
"Really subtle, cuz," muttered Riku with a smirk.
"Shut up," mumbled Hope, sotto voce.
The pink-haired woman crossed her arms over her chest, choosing to ignore the exchange between the cousins. "Can we just finish up with coats, please?"
"Er, right. Sorry." House of Paddra's engineer cleared his throat. "So. Any questions? About the coats and nothing else pertaining to anyone's modeling career in potentia?"
A chorus of disappointment echoed from the clients.
"Alright." Hope rubbed his hands together. "So, I guess the coats are good to go for you guys, then?" Seeing variations of nods and shrugs in response, he clapped his hands. "Great. Thanks very much for your patience. Meeting adjourned."
And with that, as the band dispersed and converged into their own conversations, Hope divested himself of the coat and proceeded to carefully inspect it, tucking the matching gloves into one of the pockets before placing them into the garment bag.
Claire followed suit, being careful with how she handled the garment since from the look of things it seemed to have been a costly thing to make, and she was loath to damage it as she didn't exactly have the kind of gil to be able to afford repairing it or having another made to replace it. There were rent, groceries, and Serah's college fund for her to contend with, and she could barely make ends meet even with the three jobs she had.
Setting the garment bag with the others on the desk at the front of the classroom, she turned, now seeing the two silver-haireds with their phones held out, no doubt concluding the transaction via online banking, the other Paddra member with the brown hair looking over Hope's shoulder, then both shaking Riku's hand as the transaction seemed to have been successful.
She turned again as she heard a scuffle behind her, the blond and the redhead picking over who got which coat.
"Yeah!" exclaimed the blond, clutching a garment bag to his chest. "I get to smell like her. She smells like roses." Feeling her gaze, he turned and gave her a wink, to which she could only respond with a huff and a roll of her eyes.
"Yeah, well, I get to smell like Hope," countered the redhead rather smugly, sending a smirk her way as well as a wiggle of his eyebrows towards said young man.
At that, a funny little flutter shook her stomach while at the same time annoyance weighed on her chest. Fine, whatever, she thought, crossing her arms as she faced the silver-haired in question. Of all times to be wracked by teenage hormones. I don't have time for that. Which was true. She and Serah had been orphaned just as Claire became a teenager. Beset with the sudden responsibility for another life, she'd had to grow up fast and had to skip out on that period of life that Serah was now actively and enthusiastically participating in. From what she'd been seeing of her sister's behaviour, she was actually glad for not having to go through it. It sometimes drove her crazy with Serah as it was. But the sudden infliction of crushing on someone-she could really do without that.
This is business, Claire, she told herself. Strictly business. He's paying me, so this is definitely not a date. Just work. Nothing else.
But she couldn't stop the warmth that spread through her as she watched Hope walking her way, the sight of the smile on his lips making her pulse jump.
"Ready for lunch?" he asked.
Schooling her features into a mask of impassiveness, she shrugged and mumbled, "Sure."
Then, amidst catcalls and wolf-whistles, they left the classroom and its annoying occupants. But not before she flipped them the bird. Only to be answered by their laughter, much to her dismay.
Though half of her figured it was well worth it to see Hope's reddened ears.
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