Eva awoke. Not with a start, not breaking out in a sweat, she simply awoke, as she always did. She sighed deeply as she stared at the ceiling. It had been the same dream for the third night in a row.
Sirens blared loudly at 4 in the morning. Eva rubbed her eyes then stretched out, back arching like a lithe cat. She sat up idly in her bed. No pills tonight, she thought. She was sick of having to take them to forget, to sleep without dreams, to actually rest. It was doing more harm than good, Eva felt.
She crawled out of her bed. Settling into the rolling chair across her bed, she turned on her computer. Might as well do something productive. The chunky black knit sweater was hanging haphazardly off one bare shoulder, mostly covering her arms and her navy blue pajamas. It didn't keep her legs from shivering with cold, though.
As the computer booted up, Eva grabbed the small, leather notebook that lied next to the mouse. "Same dream for third night," she wrote in pencil. "Much the same. Less color, more sound." She ran her fingers through her curly auburn hair.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Her computer chirped serenely every few seconds. Eva looked up, puzzled. A mail icon blinked in time with the sound. She double-clicked the icon.
"What the…"
No subject, a corporate sender, no attachments. The e-mail had arrived to her work account. Eva set aside the notebook and the pencil, completely focused on the e-mail.
"Ms. Eva Stronghold," it read, "We at Shin-Ra Electric Power Corp. have heard much of your skill and positive reputation. We would like to meet with you this week, if possible, at our offices in Midgar. Please reply promptly with your answer."
She stared. And stared. And stared. And stared.
This could not be happening to her. Eva ran her fingers through her hair again. No. She was still dreaming.
The sirens blared again, loudly and even closer than before.
No, she was not dreaming. This was very real. She pinched and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
Eva looked at her cell phone, chewed her lip. 4:17 AM, it glowed. "I won't call," she said to herself. But she found herself opening her black cell phone anyway. The cursor scrolled until the name Wyatt was highlighted. "I need an emergency session," she rapidly typed, "please say yes." The message was sent.
What the hell was this about?
She traced the IP address, finding that the e-mail was, indeed, sent from Shin-Ra headquarters. Now, not right now, please. Not ever. Just… no. Eva left for a reason.
But she couldn't refuse so easily either. Work was slow, dull even, and finding money to pay for the rent was starting to get more and more difficult with the reparation of Midgar. Surprising especially because the rent was already fairly low as part of an overall effort to bolster the economy and get things going again.
"Gods, I should've taken the pills," she groaned.
The cell phone began to flash and vibrate on the desk. She snatched it up and flipped it open.
"Yes. 10 AM sharp."
Eva sighed in relief as she thanked Wyatt.
She scrolled through her contacts again and dialed when she got to the one she was looking for. "C'mon, answer, answer, answer," she muttered desperately, tapping her fingers rapidly on her desk.
"Eva, sweetheart, it's 4 in the morning," the girl answered in a sleepy voice, "this better be good."
"Good is not the way I'd put it."
"… Something's wrong. Is it a guy, sweetie? I bet it is, ugh, I already told you a million, billion times to avoid those country boys like the plague. You're much better than that and we both know it."
"No, it's… it's not that Victoria. It's Shin-Ra."
Both went silent for a few seconds. "What about Shin-Ra?" Victoria asked very seriously.
"I got an e-mail from them. They're hiring me."
Silence again. Eva heard a shuffle of noise from the other side of the phone. "Hold on, I need to get comfortable before I keep talking to you." Eva rolled her eyes and moved back to her bed. "Why are they hiring you?"
"I don't know. They want me to meet with them in their office. They're pretty vague, but they're addressing me as Eva Stronghold."
"I don't think they'd use your Turk name in an e-mail. Cissnei isn't exactly a common name. It would be a dead giveaway."
"I know," she agreed.
"Who do you think they want to hire? Eva the PI or Cissnei the Turk?"
"That's exactly what I'm worried about."
"You know they could hire both if they wanted to, if they're that desperate." Victoria sighed lightly. "Wonder what they could want you for."
"There's not really a whole lot of things I could do."
"As a civilian," Victoria added. "You left like I did, but it doesn't mean they can't reel back in. Tsk, tsk, Eva, you should've come to Mideel with me like I said you should. You'd be completely and totally anonymous."
"You have a family, I don't."
"Oh, don't be so silly, you'd be perfectly fine here with me. We'd help you out. We were once Turks together, after all. It's not in me to leave such a poor, helpless soul that I know all alone."
"I'm not that helpless," Eva flatly said.
Victoria giggled. "Oh I do quite distinctly remember that you never were helpless as a Turk."
"Look I just… I don't know what to do," she said with resignation. "I need the money."
"Everyone does." Eva hears pages flip quickly. "Do you need for me to visit you, sweetie? Over in sort of dreadful Midgar?"
"It's not that bad. It's getting better."
"You still haven't answered my question," Victoria sang.
Eva thought about it for a few moments. "Wyatt wouldn't understand."
"Of course he wouldn't. He's a shrink, what does he know about being a Turk?"
Eva laughed at that. "You've got a point."
"I know I do. It'll be a few days from here to Midgar. In the meantime, just go and talk to them, see what they want. Stall if you can until I get there. I don't want you making any stupid decisions. Besides, I've yet to see the place for myself these days."
"Victoria?"
"Mmhm, sweetie?"
"… Thanks."
"Don't even mention it. Reno always said we were family and I look after all of my brothers and sisters. Even you, miss has-been."
