The first week in July always shaped up to be an eventful one. The days were so much longer, the nights were always filled so much fun and uncertainty that the whole town came alive. Kalm literally became the opposite of what it was named after, calm. The locals always used to joke that if they were any calmer, they'd fall asleep. It was a running joke used as small talk for all the tourists that come to visit over the summer months. The huge city of Midgar was only a half hour drive away, and a lot of people felt the sleepy fishing town of Kalm was a nice change of pace to the hustle and bustle of the big city, even for one night. Tonight was a different story altogether.
Vincent Valentine had been living in Kalm for quite some time, as a kid he would visit Kalm on vacation and he felt like it was a home away from home. Now that it actually was his home, he couldn't complain. He didn't like the fast pace life of the city, and his hometown was too far from civilization to try and make a proper living. Working as a researcher for the local paper, the Kalm Collaborative was a steady job Vincent was happy with.
Vincent was a twenty three when he moved to Kalm, and now at twenty five, he was fairly settled in. Sitting in his bedroom, he got up and opened the sliding window pane to let a fresh breeze in. He had been doing some research for a segment on alternatives to Mako energy for a few hours and the heat from the computer had made the room quite warm.
The bedroom was quite small, with a single futon bed on the floor, a desk for the computer with some notebooks and pens sprawled over it. Some dirty clothes were thrown to the end of the bed on the pinewood floor. The walls were painted a lemon yellow colour, although Vincent liked to throw up a few posters to make his room seem more "homely".
He sat back down and dotted out a few notes for the article. He didn't have to hand it up until Monday, it was Friday night anyway, and he had plans.
"Alright, that should do it", said Vincent to himself, shutting down his computer. He stood up and walked out into the hallway. There was a tall mirror on the wall, and even though Vincent was not a vain man, or even didn't care that much about what he looked like, he caught himself looking in the mirror.
He was handsome, with a thin face, crimson red eyes and a blank expression on his face. He wasn't a dull person, but people always found Vincent as a bit of an enigma. Although he was polite and nice, he was a very hard person to read.
A man walked out of the kitchen into the hall, it was Vincent's house mate, Reeve. A long time friend of Vincent, Reeve was tall, and had a dark beard which matched the colour of his slicked back hair.
"Alright Vince, ready for tonight" said Reeve.
"Definitely," replied Vincent in a deep, yet calm voice, "I was just going to throw on something to eat, then we should be ready to go out"
"It looks like it's going to be a good one! Cloud text me saying he has a few mates from Midgar coming in, if that's cool with you"
"Yeah dude, I mean, I'm pretty quiet around new people, but it'll be fun. I've been working on this research stuff all day, I need a drink!" said Vincent.
Vincent used to be quite a shy guy, but once he met Reeve in college, he got out of his shell and began to socialise more.
"You know it man," said Reeve, "hey, I'm gonna run down to the store, do you need some beers before we get out?"
"Oh yeah, that'd be great actually," Vincent walked into his room and grabbed 50gil off the desk, he handed it to Reeve, "just two or three bottles of Moogleborg, if you'd be so kind".
"Sure thing dude, see you in five"
Reeve went to the front door and left.
Vincent and Reeve shared a small little two bedroom apartment just outside Kalm. The kitchen and living room were joined on to each other and both had an oriental Japanese theme, with sliding doors, wooden floors and sliding windows. They did however have a nice big red couch in the living room with a flat screen TV. Although with Vincent's busy job, he barely got any time to chill back and relax. That's why tonight was pretty special. He was off for the weekend, and Cloud Strife, one of his close friends was throwing a party. Vincent needed a reason to go out and get hammered, and this was it.
He threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, some green and grey low top sneakers, and black tshirt with a red and black shirt over it. He liked to keep his shirt sleeves rolled up. Vincent had recently gotten a dark red and black tattoo of the three headed dog-guardian of the underworld, Cerberus. He parted his raven black hair to the side and went back to the living room and over to the kitchen.
Vincent was eating ramen noodles when Reeve returned with a plastic bag full of drink. He put it on the table, opened up a bottle and took a swig.
"Any trouble?" asked Vincent, looking up from his noodles.
"Nah, some kids hanging outside were being dicks, but y'know how it is" replied Reeve.
"We were like that once" said Vincent.
Reeve chuckled, "You're talking like an old man now, what are you, fifty?" He smirked and handed Vincent a bottle of Moogleborg.
Vincent took the cap off and took a swig. He always loved that first drink of the weekend. It'd been a roasting hot day outside, and the cool cider took the edge off. He was half way through his first bottle when the phone rang. A ringtone blaring the song "Redemption" played out as Vincent looked at the screen. It was Cloud.
"Yo, whats up" said Vincent, slouching back on the couch.
"Hey Vincent, just making sure you and Reeve are still good to come down tonight" said Cloud. Vincent could hear music playing in the background.
"We'll be casually late, but hey, you've got Tifa to keep you company, am I right? Sounds like you're having fun!"
"Don't you worry about me, but hey, just buzz me when you're outside and I'll let you in the back entrance. I've got a few mates coming down from Midgar so I'll have my hands full" explained Cloud. He was always a really cool, easy going person.
"Alright, sweet, looking forward to it man. We're just having a few drinks before we head over. See you in two hours or so"
"Cool Vince, see you later"
"Later dude" and Cloud hung up.
Three drinks later, Vincent was starting to feel a little buzzed. It was approaching 8:45pm so Reeve suggested they should start making their way to the party.
Vincent grabbed his keys, threw on a smart looking dark blue jacket over his shirt, and the two guys left the house on their way to Cloud's party.