Final Fantasy VII: Black Gold

Are you ready for the most epic Final Fantasy VII RP ever?! If you answered yes, you're in the right place! If you answered no... What's with your dilly-dallying?? Beginning in the year 0001, this thread will go all the way through 0010! Interested but have questions? PM me and I'll be glad to talk with you about it in more detail. =]

OOC thread --> http://www.kh-vids.net/showthread.php?110895-Final-Fantasy-VII-Black-Gold-OOC-thread

STORY
28 June 0001 @ 10am

Rain, cold and thick, blasted down on everything it could and put up a fight to reach everywhere else. The miserable weather perfectly reflected the lost girl’s mood. Though her eyes were an unnatural blue, brighter than a clear sky, they were now dulled and glazed. The girl had Mako poisoning. She stumbled down the empty street; every sensible person had gone inside. The girl tripped over her own foot and feel into a puddle. She knelt there, rain pouring down on her, with no motivation to get back up.
“What are you doing?â€
The deep voice came from the man that now stood in front of the piteous girl. Distantly curious as to who was speaking to her, she raised only her eyes to investigate. The man was tall and muscularly large. His brown skin and deeper brown eyes were more attention-grabbing than his ripped, sleeveless vest and dark green pants. The girl gave no answer to his question.
“Are you okay?â€
There was that kind, strong voice of his again. It brought comfort to the girl. After all that had happened, she somehow felt like she could trust him. Maybe it was his build, maybe his hands, maybe his attention, maybe her own desperation. No; it was his voice.
“No,†the word rasped from the fourteen year old girl’s mouth. She could barely speak, it was so difficult. The rain, still coming down mercilessly, nearly drowned out her feeble voice.
“What happened to you?†To the girl’s surprise, the man crouched down to her level.
“Can’t remem–…†the girl’s voice failed her. She wasn’t terribly upset about it; she felt like she was drained of all energy and couldn’t bother with emotions. She hung her head, too tired to hold it up any more.
“My name is Barret Wallace, and I’m going to help you,†man introduced himself.
“Rae,†the girl struggled to get her name out. Her electric blue eyes dropped to the puddle she was still kneeling in.
“Alright, Rae,†Barret hoisted the girl off the ground and held her like one would hold a baby. “I know some good people who’ll get you back on your feet.†With no response from Rae, Barret just continued on, “AVALANCHE ain’t about to turn away someone like you.â€
A small part of Rae wondered what AVALANCHE was and what Barret meant by someone like her. But she didn’t have the energy to think on it fully.

RULES
1. Forum rules are to be followed
2. Refer to timeline or me if you have question
3. I am a grammar Nazi; I will bug you about your writing (like a total tosser). If you really have trouble, type up your posts in Word, fix them there, and then copy and paste them to the reply box in kh-vids.
4. You do not need to have played all the games in the VII compilation (look to the timeline, FF’s wiki, or just ask me if you need to know about a game’s, movie’s, or OVA’s storyline)
5. I will allow for 5 1 other OCs (excluding Turks at the bottom of the character list); first come first serve; PM your OC to me using the outline below the rules
6. LilBueno is the cofounder of this. Snow Princess, Machina, and Bushy Brow are the SOLDIER to my presidency as Shinra. (... That means you've got to listen to them or they'll use deadly force.)
7. If I see any “listen to this video/music before you read this post†things in ANYONE’S post, I reserve the right to stalk you down and slap you in the face. Hard. Just don’t do it. Kay? Good.
8. This one should be obvious: type AVALANCHE and SOLDIER in caps (that’s how it is); the word “a†shouldn’t precede SOLDIER (ex: “Protect your honor as SOLDIER.†not “Protect your honor as a SOLDIER.â€)
9. If you want the timeline I've created, you'll have to e-mail me at ben-10-tennyson2005@hotmail.com because a Word document cannot be an attachment on kh-vids. Just put "Black Gold timeline" as the subject of the e-mail.
10. I'm not gonna be a freak about color coding characters for this thread since there are so many characters and so few colors. If you want to do it, go ahead, but make sure no one else is using the same color/font/format as you first.

OC FORM
Username:
Name:
Gender:
Age (use the timeline for help if you need it):
Bio/Personality:
Weapons/Abilities/Powers (reasonable; model other FF characters from other games if you absolutely cannot think of anything yourself):
Appearance (picture, description, or both):

OCs

Spoiler: Original Characters

Username: Garxena
Name: Raelynn “Rae†Grace (nickname pronounced like Ray)
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Bio/Personality: Raelynn was born in Kalm and now lives in Midgar with AVALANCHE. Four years ago, she was orphaned in the Kalm extermination and taken to be a part of Shinra’s Mako experiments. Believed to have been a failed subject, she was rejected by Shinra and left to fend for herself. She was a happy, bubbly, and extroverted girl before the cruel deletion of Kalm in 1997; now she is silent and mistrustful.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers: Foresight, tracking (sees visions through dreams, can induce visions if she has something someone owned/wore or touches them directly)
Appearance:
http://i1012.photobucket.com/albums/af247/pokeaddict17xakatsukifan17/animerare-1.jpg
Blue-white leggings under the dress and white, Converse-style shoes; her eyes are Mako-blue (not the purple in the picture)

Username: Garxena
Name: Caleigh Anama
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Bio/Personality: Born in 1975, she has grown to be strongly opposed to Shinra. A tactical member of AVALANCHE, she is tough on the outside, but is fond towards younger people. She lives in Sector 5, Midgar in a two story building; most of the AVALANCHE members who come to Midgar stay in her home to keep under the radar. She took up smoking at age 18 when she heard it would relieve stress.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers: A fairly good fist fighter; carries some knifes just in case.
Appearance:
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u300/Yoro-san/Anime-goth1.jpg

Username: Snow Princess
Name: Lightning
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Bio/Personality: Born in 1982 in Gongaga, she and Zack became close friends quickly. The two spent many days together discussing SOLDIER and sharing their dreams of one day joining the elite group. Lightning is determined, concentrated and independent. Lightning's early solution to things that annoy or upset her is to distance herself, either emotionally or physically. In 1997, she left for Midgar with Zack; the two swore to each other that they’d reach SOLDIER 1st class together.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers: Gunblade
Appearance:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/...orsair89/final_fantasy_xiii_lightning.jpg?o=6

Username: Snow Princess
Name: Aveline (French for BIRD!)
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Bio/Personality: Aveline grew up in Midgar, her entire family working for Shinra as far back as she could remember. Her mother was a receptionist at Shinra headquarters and her father, brothers, and cousins were all security guards and infantrymen in the army. She herself had been trained to do the same as the rest of her family before her, despite being the only girl.
Aveline was a very quiet girl from childhood to her late teenage years, boyish in her own way, being raised with only men and a distant mother. When she wasn’t training, Aveline would read and research SOLDIER members and Shinra itself. With the help of her family’s deep ties, she could access materials others couldn’t usually get in the libraries. One member she found the most interesting was a man named Sephiroth. His details and past were something she could never figure out, and whenever she asked her family about him, she only heard the usual praise of his abilities as SOLDIER.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers: Typical fighting training in hand-to-hand combat, skilled in fighting with double daggers, trained by her father for 15 years and counting.
Appearance:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t279/Narasgirl/Anime/ANormalshashara.jpg

Username: LilBueno (Red Robin) (Boy Wonder) (Shell Bullet) (Webhead)
Name: Legas Storm/Legendary Turk/Death God of the Battlefield
Gender: Male
Age: 20 (That's a guess. I have no idea. Should I make him older?)
Bio/Personality: Legas was born in Junon. He originally started out in an Anti-Shinra group. A few years ago, an arms dealer betrayed his group during negotiations and all of his comrades, including a little girl who was very special to him, died. Shortly after, he was recruited into the Turks (ironically part of the organization he fought against) by their leader Veld. Two years ago, in 1999, he was sent to rescue an arms dealer. He recognized him as the same arms dealer from before who betrayed him. When asked about it, the arms dealer denied it so Legas left him to die in a collapsing building. Because of this, he was put under house arrest by Shinra in Costa del Sol. He actually enjoys his punishment because it gives him time to get to know the women of the beach town. He was recently visited by Tseng for recruitment, being told about a new possible threat to Shinra. He refused to become a full-time member again and now acts as a freelancer for Shinra instead of a Turk, though he still operates like one due to being one in the past.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers: Unlimited supply of bombs that come out of his sleeves! (I couldn't think of what else to say xD) He's able to chain the bombs to each other. He's also able to use timed bombs and can control their detonation with his gloves. He's extremely agile and quick, able to make it across battlefields in short amounts of time throwing bombs everywhere and strong enough to survive if a bomb blows up too close to his body. He really is a Death God of Battlefields.
Appearance:

Spoiler: image

Username: Bushy Brow
Name: Lent Mitsuri
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Bio/Personality: A young teen from the Midgar Slums who was scouted and signed up for the Soldier Programme.
He has shown some astonishingly quick progress and has risen to SOLDIER; Second Class.
He uses moves of the fire variety, however... his flames are for some reason Black in colour.
Because of this strange turn of events and his amazing potential, he has been assigned to train under Lightning.
He is a bit more laid back than his new instructor and takes things at his own pace, be warned though... he can be hot-headed and also get pissed off rather easily. He also doesn't know when he should back down. He has no idea 'nor could he even care about why his flames are a different colour.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers:

• Weapon:

• 'Zemetsuguri'. A Merge Blade - (Two average size swords that can be merged together to make one big blade, roughly the size of the Buster Sword once merged.)
• Limit Break: Black Nova Blitz - An improvised move of his own creation. Instead of surrounding his opponent in rings of fire, Lent releases multiple slashes of black fire towards his opponent coating them in a wave of black flames. He then charges forwards delivering multiple slashes empowered by channelling his black flames into the blade(s). He then quickly backs away and clicks his fingers causing the fire around his opponent to create a huge explosion.
• Other: As well as the regular SOLDIER like talents, he is able to use his Black Fire abilities anytime, regardless of whether he has a fire type Materia with him or not.

Appearance:

Spoiler: appearance

Wears the normal Soldier outfit.

Spoiler: image

Username: Protecter212
Name: Leonhardt Miyahara
Gender: Male
Age (use the timeline for help if you need it): 19
Bio/Personality: A young adult who was born in Junon’s lower level, growing up in a loving environment with his parents taking whatever knowledge he would grab at the time and trained under his father, a retired travelling swordsman as Leo grown older and heard the stories of Shinra and the SOLIDER’s such as First Class Sephiroth which the most known at the time but after arriving in Midgar, the SOLDIER program had already ended and he had little to no money to to return back home so he decided to wander around Sector 7 and with his last few Gil, paid for a drink at a bar until he was approached with an offer from a man to join AVALANCHE to get some pay from it.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers (reasonable; model other FF characters from other games if you absolutely cannot think of anything yourself): Skilled swordsmanship, he is reasonably muscular but able to become light on his feet and leap far distances sicne he initally trained to become a SOLIDER.
Appearance (picture, description, or both):

Spoiler: image

Username: Tana Panda
Name: Vance Valentino
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Biography/Personality: Vance is an ex-SOLDIER member, First Class. He worked for Shinra for a long time to support his family, a wife and child. Through a series of events (to be revealed later) Vance finds himself not wanting anything to do with SOLDIER anymore; in fact, he has a lot of hatred toward Shinra: they are the reason his wife and child are now dead.
Using the skills he was taught in SOLDIER, Vance was able to fake his own death; he staged an explosion in a Mako reactor, placing another body in his place. He hoped that it would be enough to fool Shinra and not have them follow him; Vance was heartbroken, and he had no reason to live among people anymore, let alone as SOLDIER.
Fleeing from all the main continents of the world, Vance finds a new, isolated, empty home on an island with one cave in the center of it. This was the perfect place for him to use to hide himself from the world. At the back of his new home is a mysterious pool of Mako energy, with a small piece of Materia in the middle; Vance doesn’t bother to touch it, though. The ex-SOLDIER stays here, biding his time, trying to find a reason to keep on living, leave his cave, and get revenge on those that ruined his life.
Weapons/Abilities/Powers (reasonable; model other FF characters from other
games if you absolutely cannot think of anything yourself): Two blades for combat; one is a Katana, the other a short-sword. These were his weapons in SOLDIER and the only blades he still possesses for fighting.
Appearance: http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee306/darktowerjunkie19/VanceValentino.jpg

VII COMPILATION’S CHARACTERS (in order of timeline appearance; crossed characters are deceased at our starting point, underlined characters are taken):

Spoiler: character list

Bugenhagen:
Professor Hojo:
Lucrecia Crescent:
Vincent Valentine: Bushy Brow
Grimoire Valentine:
Nanaki (Red XIII): Snow Princess
Professor Gast Faremis:
Cid Highwind:
Reeve Tuesti:
Barret Wallace: Bushy Brow
Azul:
Dr. Hollander:
Genesis Rhapsodos: Terra/Prince/Machina
Angeal Hewley:
Gillian Hewley:
Sephiroth: Snow Princess
Rude: LilBueno/Red Robin/Boy Wonder/Shell Bullet/Webhead
Ilfalna:
Reno: LilBueno/Red Robin/Boy Wonder/Shell Bullet/Webhead
Rufus Shinra:
Zack Fair: Terra/Prince/Machina
Aerith Gainsborough:
Rosso:
Shalua Rui:
Cloud Strife: LilBueno/Red Robin/Boy Wonder/Shell Bullet/Webhead
Nero:
Tifa Lockhart: Snow Princess
Shelke Rui:
Yuffie Kisaragi: Bushy Brow
Godo Kisaragi:
Elmyra Gainsborough:
Tseng:
President Shinra:
Veld:
Felicia:
Denzel:
Abel:
Chloe:
Legendary Turk (Death God of the Battle Field): LilBueno/Red Robin/Boy Wonder/Shell Bullet/Webhead
Lazard:
Shears:
Fuhito:
Elfé: (scrapped character)
Cissnei:
Professor Rayleigh:
Chelsea:
Essai:
Sebastian:
Tears:
Kyneugh:
Heidegger:
Angeal Copy:
Zangan:
Marlene:
Dyne:
Eleanor:
Shera:
Myrna:
Deneh:
Cait Sith:
Zirconiade:
Minerva (Goddess of the Planet): Garxena (because I sense this will be abused...)
Nero:
Weiss:
Scarlet:
Elena:
Biggs:
Wedge:
Jesse:
Don Corneo:
Priscilla:
Dio:
Mr. Coates:
Ester:
Kadaj:
Loz:
Yazoo:
sprothe: Terra
clod: Bueno

Create your own Turk! (initiated in BC; use the OC format)
Rod Turk:
Gun Turk:
Two Guns Turk:
Shotgun Turk:
Martial Arts (male) Turk:
Martial Arts (female) Turk:
Katana Turk:

 

Considering an OC and maybe another plot-relevant character. Are we still starting on page 15 of the timeline?

 

Okeyday. Yeah, we're starting on pg 15 still. There's a gap between June and December where we can do our own snazz. :3 By the way, the OOC thread is up. http://www.kh-vids.net/showthread.php?110895-Final-Fantasy-VII-Black-Gold-OOC-thread

 

Holy **** it's been forever since I've been on here... yikes lol umm I haven't even finished playing through VII all the way but I'm working on it. I don't know how much I can do but I'm happy to help! This is gonna be a lot of reading, isn't it? Sigh... oh boy!!!

 

The world seemed colorless to Rae; the rain didn’t help to brighten anything. She had questions that she very much wanted answered, but couldn’t find much will to think on them too much or ask them. As Barret carried her, she stared straight ahead. A small part of her noticed she did not recognize anything that they were passing. Wherever they were wasn’t Kalm. Rae’s head pounded; memories struggled to push through.

Kalm, 1997. She had been inside with her mother, cleaning the kitchen and getting ready to start on that night’s dinner. Rae had had an especially good day at school and her mother saw fit to celebrate with an extravagant meal made from all they had on their farm. Rae’s father was outside, gathering a few more necessities for the dinner. Then the terror began. The Grace’s neighbor banged on their door, shouting something indiscernible. Before anyone could get to the door, the Grace’s home and land was firebombed, along with the rest of Kalm. The next thing Rae remembered was someone pulling her half-alive body out from the rubble of her home and yelling, “I found another one over here!â€

Rae blinked, rain and tears mixed on her cheeks. Where was everyone she knew? Where was she?
“Who’s this?†Rae didn’t recognize this new voice, and she didn’t see who’d spoken.
“All I got out of her was ‘Rae,’†Barret replied to the new speaker. His tone was familiar, making it clear that he wasn’t a stranger to this new person. “She’s not doin’ so well.â€
“So why’d you bring her here?†The question implied some suspicion of Barret’s motives.
“Caleigh, I couldn’t leave her sitting in a puddle in the rain,†Barret sat Rae in a chair; she still didn’t look towards the woman Barret had called Caleigh.
“You could have actually. What are we supposed to do with her? You knew I wouldn’t turn her away,†The sound of footsteps and smell of smoke came closer to Rae. She leaned to the side to keep away from Caleigh; she didn’t agree with this first impression. Her stomach twisted in knots. What was giving her this uneasy feeling?
“Help her,†Barret replied as if it was the most obvious answer. “She looks like she’s thirteen and a thirteen year old girl shouldn’t be wandering around in the rain. Something’s happened to her.â€
“Well ain’t that the understatement of the year?†Caleigh sighed. She couldn’t argue with Barret there; the girl before her obviously had something wrong with her. She was about to say more, but the girl raised a trembling hand and pointed to the door. “Guess she doesn’t want to be here either.â€
Barret ignored Caleigh’s remark and pulled up a chair next to Rae. “You can’t go back out there. You’ll get yourself even sicker.â€
Rae lowered her hand. She was sick? Was that why she felt so confused and weak? Maybe she did know these people and this place and had just forgotten because she was sick. But Rae had never heard of such a sickness and Barret had introduced himself only minutes ago. This was definitely a new place for her and new people. Rae kept her eyes on the door. As soon as she was able, she was going back to Kalm and searching for some answers.
“She’s not much of a talker, is she?†Caleigh observed, flipping a cigarette in her fingers. “Good luck figuring out anything about her.†She walked away from the two and back into the kitchen.
“Ignore her,†Barret was still focused on Rae. “She tries not to show her soft side around guys like me. Mind answering some questions for me?â€
Rae shook her head slowly. If she answered Barret’s questions, maybe he’d answer hers.
“Why were you out in the rain all alone?â€
She shrugged. Honestly, she couldn’t piece it together herself and she wanted to know as much as the next person.
“Okay. How old are you?â€
“Eleven,†her reply was a whisper.
“Really?†Barret had sworn she looked older than that. “Where are from?â€
There was a long silence before her answer finally came out, “Kalm.â€
“Kalm?†Barret breathed, confused and surprised. He didn’t understand. Kalm had been firebombed four years ago.

 

"Not good enough, not yet," sighed the young blonde as he panted. His grip loosened and his ears twitched as the sound of metal clanging against the dirt rang through the air as he dropped the sword. I'll never be SOLDIER at this rate, he thought to himself as he dropped to his knees to catch his breath. The Shinra infantryman rubbed his thighs through the thick fabric of his uniform, massaging the pain for a few moments before standing back up. His blue eyes scanned the array of training dummies in front of him before darting to the wall hooks on the wall to his right. Hanging on one by its strap was his firearm. Looking at it, the young man grunted in disapproval. The gun was not his choice of weapon, but he was merely an infantryman, he didn't have a choice of weapon. However... he looked down at the small sword at his feet. During his last mission, he found himself wielding a sword and surprised everyone, even himself, with his skill. Maybe...just maybe if he could fine tune his swordsmanship, he might get another chance at becoming good enough to be SOLDIER. To this end, he 'borrowed' a SOLDIER training sword and came to the training room. He knew SOLDIER had a much better and more technologically advanced training room, but one with dummies was enough for now.

The young man knelt down and wrapped a gloved hand around the hilt of the sword, gripping it tight as he raised himself. With his other hand, he reached up to the scarf covering the bottom half of his face and pulled it down slightly. "My name is Cloud Strife..." he whispered to himself as his other hand moved to the hilt. "And I'm going to be a first-class SOLDIER!" He yelled it as he ran forward and slashed at the nearest dummy.

 

"Did she say Kalm?" Caleigh hurried back over to Barret and Rae. They both remained quiet. “Well, come on! Get her to say more!â€
“No more for now,†Barret stood up and looked sternly at Caleigh. His eyes flickered to Rae but then focused back on Caleigh. “Let the girl be.â€
“What the hell are you talking about?†Caleigh snapped. “She could give us answers about what happened that day! We all know Shinra’s responsible for what happened. This girl survived the fire-bombing! She –â€
“Fire-bombing?†Rae croaked, straightened herself in her chair. It couldn’t be. That was impossible. What did Caleigh mean by “survived?†What happened to others? To her parents? Rae suddenly got dizzy, her head pounding from all the confusion.
“Take it easy,†Barret tried to calm Rae. To Caleigh, he said, “Stay here with her. I’m going to call Chelsea.†Before Caleigh or Rae could say another word, Barret walked to the counter, picked up the phone, dialed, and walked to another room to which he promptly shut the door.
Rae lowered her eyes to the floor, thinking the solidity of it would quell her dizziness; she was wrong. Now everything sounded fuzzy; whatever Caleigh had just said to her didn’t register.
“Hey,†Caleigh sat down next to Rae at the table. She spoke more collectively than she had only a moment ago with Barret. The poor girl next to her evoked a pity the woman had never felt. She had so many questions to ask, but those could wait until the girl was feeling better. “Look, you don’t have to stress about answering me. I just wanted to say that you can stay here as long as you need. Don’t go telling Barret I’m soft though!†She smiled. The best thing she could do now was to reassure Rae that she was safe.

 

“You’re just not good enough, girl. It’s as simple as that; how could you think differently?â€

Aveline’s usually-neutral expression turned to a frown for a moment, her fists clenched tightly around her daggers at either side, still soaked with sweat from the training she’d done for the last few hours. Her superior’s words hurt, especially after all the work she had put in. Why, after all this time, could she not be promoted to 2nd Class SOLDIER?

“I don’t understand,†she whispered, staring at her feet. “I’ve been in 3rd for three years now…†She cut herself off quickly, wanting to blurt out, for some reason, that her father and her uncle, all 1st Class SOLDIER members, would not be happy to hear this… but blackmail and b.itchiness was not her style.

“Dismissed,†the man muttered, and waved her out the door. Aveline went without another word, knowing better than to speak again. F.uck giving up, she thought viciously. I’m going to keep it up… not because I really want to… being 1st Class isn’t that big of a deal; I’m going for it to prove I’m better than everyone else here: my family, my partners, my superiors… I’m taking them all down. But there’s only one way I can do that: Sephiroth.

 

OOC: Yay, it's Zack! <3

Lightning turned immediately, fist raised to hit back whoever had bumped into her, but she stopped when she saw Zack, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Watch it, idiot," she snapped, eyes narrowed. "You're not protecting anything walking like that."

Aveline thought of heading back to the training room upstairs, but knew better; her hands were sore and she was getting tired already, even though it was still earlier on in the day. I know, she thought, suddenly coming up with an idea. I'll head to the best place I can to get information: the bar.

 

Rae’s stomach grumbled. How long had it been since she’d eaten? Her unnaturally blue eyes looked up at Caleigh.
“Hungry? Okay, I’ll whip ya up something. What do you like?” Caleigh got no response. She stood up from the table and rubbed her hands together. “I’ll just make a little of everything and you can pick what you want. Does that sound good?” With still no answer from Rae, she sauntered into the kitchen and opened up the fridge. “’Kay… I guess I need to get some more food. I wasn’t planning on having anyone over until Chelsea got here. That’s fine; I can still make you a sandwich at the least.”
Rae’s eyes looked back to the door. She could still hear the rain pouring outside. As much as she wanted to think further on her situation, it hurt her head too much to do so. She looked back to the floor and listened to Caleigh talk as she made Rae something to eat.
“You know, your eyes are so blue,” Caleigh began casually, crunching her cigarette on a plate full of others on the kitchen counter. She got out some bread and went back to the fridge to look for something to make the sandwich out of. “They remind me of the eyes those SOLDIER creeps have. Your mom or dad have blue eyes like that?”
“My eyes are brown,” Rae managed to respond, confused. She already had an awkward first impression of Caleigh but now she had the thought that maybe the woman had had one too many cigarettes.

OOC: My Zack! D< You can have the icky Sephiroth.

 

"I...think I'm done for now," Cloud sighed as he walked over to his rifle. He laid the sword against the wall and grabbed his firearm, throwing the strap over his shoulder. He looked down at the SOLDIER training sword and shrugged, before walking out of the training room. The young blonde didn't feel like returning the sword. Noticing his stomach was grumbling and he wasn't on duty, he decided to hit the cafeteria. Maybe some food will help refresh him.


"Twinkle, twinkle, little star~" a red-headed man in a black suit mused to himself as he laid on his back. He was resting on top of a truck's trailer, ignoring his cell phone going off. "Oh hush," the Turk said, turning his head to it. "I'm on my break." As if it heard him, the phone beeped and stopped ringing.

 

“Have you looked in a mirror recently?” Caleigh raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got some of the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Rae still didn’t look at her. Why would her eyes be blue now when they’d been brown the rest of her life? Her headache worsened.

Bright lights invaded Rae’s vision; warm air made her half-conscious self uncomfortable. A cryptic voice spoke, “She’s interesting. Use plenty of Mako with this one.”

What was that? Some distant memory coming back? Rae kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to say anything to Caleigh or Barret about whatever had just happened. Who had spoken? And what did Mako have to do with her? Mako was what they used in SOLDIER, wasn’t it? She didn’t know much because her parents never liked to talk about it very much.
“Don’t fret over now,” Caleigh tried to appease. She saw that she’d upset Rae somehow. She finished putting together Rae’s sandwich and brought it to the table on a simple, white plate. “Go ahead and eat.” Kindly, she placed her hand on Rae’s shoulder. The girl’s eyes glazed over as if she were sleeping with her eyes open.

“I’ll bet you two boxes of cigs that this plan blows,” Caleigh told Barret. “No way does Chelsea have the balls to pull it off.”
“You’re about to lose two boxes of cigs then, Inky,” Barret replied.
“Don’t call me that,” Caleigh retorted, placing a hand on her tattoo. “You couldn’t have come up with something more original?”

Rae blinked repeatedly after Caleigh took her hand off her shoulder. Rae wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball at this point. What was happening to her? What was she seeing?

 

Aveline headed to the closest bar she could find, one she hadn't been to in a while, actually; she tried not to frequent any one too often when she was searching for information, to be safe. The building was simple enough, slammed between to larger, towering structures that dwarfed the bar in both size and quality. Yes, the area was hard to find through several winding alleyways, but Aveline found that, the worse the neighborhood smelled like sewage and metal, the better the rumors were.

Lightning scoffed under her breath at Zack's optimistic attitude. I don't understand how unfocused he can be sometimes... she thought skeptically. As he walked past her, she landed a hard-enough punch on his shoulder.

"Hey," she added, one side of her mouth rising in an emotionless smirk. "Meet me for a drink later, okay? We need to talk. Once you're done... gathering your thoughts." Before he could respond, she turned and headed directly for the training room at the very end of the hall, empty of any other SOLDIER members. My head's always clear, focused, ,and centered; I know what I want... and that's to kick some ass right now.

 

“You okay? Not hungry anymore?†Caleigh frowned. Strange that Rae’s stomach had been rumbling only minutes before and now it looked like even the thought of food repulsed the girl. Caleigh’s frown turned to a smile as she tried to lift Rae’s mood. “It’s fine, baby-doll. You just need some rest is all. C’mon; we’ll kick Barret outta that room and get ya all warm ‘n’ cozy in the bed that’s in there.†She glanced to the clock; it was almost noon. A little nap couldn’t be too bad at this time.
As if on cue, Barret opened the door and came out of the room. He looked at Caleigh and Rae and saw that Rae was on her feet, clutching Caleigh’s arm for support. “What are you making her walk for?†He snapped, hurriedly putting the phone back on the counter and going to help Rae. He wasn’t surprised when he found most of Rae’s weight lean on his offered hand.
“She’s gotta rest. And I ain’t letting her sleep in that chair.†Caleigh replied hard-headedly. She smirked at Barret’s taken aback look.
“Right,†Barret walked Rae to the room he’d just exited, across from the kitchen and to the left of the front room. He kept his knowing smile to himself; Caleigh was the right person to bring Rae to after all. He decided to change the subject. “Chelsea told me she wants to do this Turk spying thing herself.â€
“I’ll bet you two boxes of cigs that this plan blows,†Caleigh told Barret with an air of arrogance. “No way does Chelsea have the balls to pull it off.â€
“You’re about to lose two boxes of cigs then, Inky,†Barret replied, pulling back the covers of the bed for Rae. She was listening even more now. How was it that these two were saying the same things that Rae had heard them say when Caleigh touched her shoulder just moments ago?
“Don’t call me that,†Caleigh retorted, placing a hand on her tattoo. “You couldn’t have come up with something more original?†The two continued their banter but now Rae wasn’t listening at all. She was comfortably under the covers of the large bed and was glad to close her eyes. Barret had been right before – something had happened to her. Once she could think straight and put a sentence together, she was going to find out what.
“Whatever,†Caleigh raised her hands over her head as she walked out of the room, Barret following her. He closed the door behind himself. Caleigh grabbed her sack of gil and tied it to her belt loop on her tight fitting pants. She grabbed a cigarette and lit it carefully.
“You really wanna smoke with her around?†Barret questioned, frowning.
“I’m going out,†Caleigh replied, as if those words were a complete answer. She didn’t plan on smoking around Rae in the future; it wouldn’t be too big a deal to go outside for a smoke. “I need more food if she’s staying here. You’re not.â€
“Fine then,†Barret frowned further. He would have preferred to have stayed with Rae, but in all technicalities his work in Midgar was done and he needed to be getting home. “You call me later tonight and tell me what’s up with the kid.â€
“Nyuh huh,†Caleigh mumbled with a cigarette in her mouth and one foot out th door. “C’mon!†She beckoned Barret to follow her outside. Once outside the two didn’t bother with any kind of good-bye; Caleigh went right and Barret went left, and that was it.

 

Cloud looked up as he walked down the hallway and almost stumbled in social awkwardness. Walking his way was a young woman with light pink hair, a white sleeveless jacket, boots, and a weapon on the back of her hip. He looked into her eyes for a moment and saw the glow of Mako energy. She was SOLDIER. No uniform? SOLDIER First Class. He looked straighted down after clearing her throat, hoping she didn't notice him looking. He didn't have to deduce she was SOLDIER First Class, though. He knew who she was. "Lightning.." he whispered the name, this time hoping tha t she didn't hear and walked past her. He stopped and turned his head slightly, looking at the weapon on her hip. 1st Class SOLDIER Lightning. Whatever her surname was, he didn't know, but he knew that she was considered one hell of a fighter. In fact, she was the only female SOLDIER he's ever heard of. He heard rumors of her in the barracks; he shivered and wondered if she really was that strong before he kept walking. SOLDIER Girl...even she made it... He looked ahead and the image of somebody familiar pushed Lightning out of his head...but not of 1st Class SOLDIERs.

"Zack." He addressed his new friend in a slightly solemn tone. It wasn't a call nor a question to see if it was really him. Just a statement of a name.


"Geez, can't a guy enjoy his break?" The red-head grumbled as his phone went off a second time. He reached over with his left hand to grab it, but he didn't answer. Instead, he threw his legs into the air with enough momentum to put himself in a handstand. One hand on the truck he was laying on, the other holding his phone, he pushed off and flipped through the air before landing on his feet on the ground. As he hit the ground, a metallic rod fell out of his jacket. With a quick gesture, he reached down and grab it before it could reach the ground and quickly inserted it back into his jacket. "I hate you, yo," he greeted whoever was on the other side of the phone. "Ah, really? Good to know...not. We got plenty of failed experiments, what's so special about this one?" He listened to the chatter and shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, none of my business. I'm a simple servant to you, o' mighty master," he said sarcastically before a comment on the other side snapped him back into work mode. His cynical expression flashed into a serious one. "Oh, the slums of Midgar? Yeah, I know about who else is there. Yes, sir. I can do that. I'll be on my way, yo," he told his superior before something popped into his head. "Wait! What about Rude?...Oh, well I guess doing this alone is just as fun!" Before anybody could answer, he closed the phone. "There goes my plan for a naaaaaap," he said as he yawned and stretched his arms into the air. He smacked his lips a few times and started walking.

 

Caleigh smiled to herself as she walked down the street. Rae had just fallen asleep so she had time to hit the bar for about an hour or so before going food shopping and getting back to her place. She blew out smoke from her cigarette and twirled the cigarette in her fingers. She was only a few blocks from the bar, but the farther away from Rae she got, the more nervous she got about leaving the girl alone. But what could happen? She was sleeping, and it's not like she was going to get up and wander around. She sighed and took another drag, coming to the decision to stick with her plan and go to the bar.

 

Aveline sat down at the end of the bar, making sure there were at least three seats between her and the nearest patron. The man a few chairs down from her looked her way immediately as she situationed herself on the chair, straightening her short-shorts only slightly self-consciously. She wore what she wore for a reason, and one of those was to get attention... and information.
"Hey, stare much, mister?" she snapped, but kept a smile on her face. She tried not to cringe when he grinned back with only seven teeth. A minute and a couple more lines later, she'd gotten the old bastard to buy her two beers. Sure, he probably didn't know anything important, but he'd be easy to get rid of if he got annoying, and the free drinks were nice.

Lightning barely noticed the young, blonde boy that walked past her, rolling her eyes at how he held himself. For just coming out of a training room that difficult, he sure doesn't look like much, staring at his feet and mumbling to himself. Is this what the standards and prospects for SOLDIER is becoming? How pathetic... Nevertheless, she glanced over her shoulder just barely, her bangs falling her front of her eyes. When the boy stopped and addressed Zack, however, her frowned increased. They know each other? And he never mentioned the puny kid? How embarrassing...