He felt old. Yes he knew that he was technically old, even if he still looked like he was in his late twenties. Feeling old and out of place were two feelings Vincent did not like to experience.
It never bothered him that he didn't have the newest gadgets and gizmos until now. Everyone on ALVALANCH had cell phones, Cloud even had Fenrir.
He never felt a need to carry a cell phone, he certainly wasn't going to call someone just to chat idly with them. If he did want to make a call, he would just simply use a phone booth. The problem about using a phone booth, was that he was pretty there wasn't a single one left in Edge.
Then one day, Vincent decided that he too was going to join society, by getting himself a cell phone. Vincent talked to the other members of AVALANCHE, asking what kind of phones they had and what store had the best selection. Each member tried to retain their shock, but he could tell.
In unison they all said that Happy Phone had the best phones around. They also advised him to watch out for the saleswomen, who was worse than Yuffie when it came to talking. Apparently she could easily talk your ear off.
Vincent stared at the phone store, was he really going to do this? In front of the store was a poster with a lady holding a phone, grinning happily. To him it just looked lame.
Vincent let out a small sigh, preparing himself for the next twenty minutes of his own personal hell.
Before he was even all the way in the door, a way to cheery "Hello, how can I help you?" greeted him. So this was the dreaded lady.
Standing before him was a women in her early twenties, with an overly cheesy grin plastered onto her face.
"I'm Amy, how can I help you?" the preppy store clerk repeated.
Vincent immediately took a step back, he didn't like people getting to close to him, especially her.
"I'm here to buy a cell phone." He replied keeping his distance.
"Hmm a cell phone you say. Are you replacing an old one? If so, do you want to continue with the same brand or do you want to switch? What kind of accessories do you want? Texting, camera…" She kept rattling on and on.
He was starting to get confused. The inside his mind was in total disarray, while on the outside he retained his calm, mysterious composure.
"I just want a simple phone." He muttered quietly.
Amy's face fell, darn, here was another boring person who wanted a boring phone, where was the fun in that?
"Are you sure? There's a new high-tech phone that just came out and it has your na-" She stop in mid-sentence when the man gave her a hard stare. Amy shuddered slightly, geez this guy was creepy!
Vincent strolled over to the case of phones, looking at all of the different models. Quickly running up behind him, Amy continued to try and help her mysterious customer.
Vincent completely ignored the saleswoman as he surveyed the mechanical devices. He could tell that she was trying to see over his shoulder, which unsettled him.
Finally he spotted a sleek black phone that caught his crimson eyes, it was on an display next to the register. He could defiantly see himself owning that phone.
Coming to his decision he walked up the saleswomen, ready to make his purchase.
"But sir-" Vincent silenced the women by handing over a sum of cash.
Before the women could open her mouth, the ex-turk took his leave. With his new purchase in hand and his tattered red cape billowing out behind him, Vincent made his way towards 7th Heaven.
He was partly surprise that the bar was almost deserted on a Friday afternoon, save for the bartender herself.
"Hey there Vincent." Tifa greeted the man, looking up from the glass she was polishing.
In return, he gave her a curt nod before making his way over to a table in the back corner. He then began opening his new device. Out came the phone, the instruction booklet, and batteries. He wasn't sure what the batteries were for, but he was about to find out.
Taking a minute to glance over the materials that were laid out before him, Vincent picked up the instructions and began reading. After gathering all the information he thought was needed, the gunman proceeded to turn on his cell.
When the phone was turned on, Vincent was greeted by an overly cheerful song before it said Hi, what's your name? In a cheaply made artificial voice.
It took him a second to recompose himself after that interesting greeting. He quickly shot a glance over at Tifa. He was relieved to see that the bartender was still in the process of polishing glasses.
He was starting to wish he didn't buy the stupid thing. Vincent decided that the first thing he was going to do was to figure out how to change the awful message. He was certainly not going to be walking around with that in his pocket, he had a reputation to retain.
After wasting thirty minutes of his life, Vincent gave up, he would work on it later. Bye best friend! Was the last thing Vince heard before he turned off the horrible device. Before the ex-turk was able to stuff the phone back into its container, Yuffie came up behind him, taking the phone out of his hands.
"So, this is your new phone. Let me do you the pleasure of adding the Great Ninja Yuffie's number into your phone." Yuffie squealed happily, before turning on the mobile phone. She too was greeted by the synthetic message.
Vincent was not looking forward to this. Yuffie was definitely going to tease him about it later, along with telling everyone else in ALVALANCH. An awkward silence engulfed the two before Yuffie broke the silence, "Vince, you know that this is a plastic play phone, right?"