I debated for hours over whether I should take the job or not. The debate was useless, however, because I'd known in my heart from the moment the captain had suggested it that I would. After that, it was just a matter of packing up the things I wanted to take with me before I left my parents' house for good.
I was surprised to discover how little I actually had that I wanted to bring with me. Some practical clothes, a few books, some photos of my family to remember them by. It all fit nicely into two small suitcases. A part of me wryly suggested that I'd been made to be an airsailor all along.
When it came time for me to leave, I wasn't brave enough to face my family. I couldn't bear to watch the disappointment in their faces when the learned that I was running away to break most social conventions and clamber around on a greasy ship full of coarse men. Instead, I wrote them a note and snuck out. I regret it to this day.
The captain was pleased with my decision and, three days later, we set off towards Midgar. In Midgar, I would be screened and officially hired by the Shinra.
I hadn't been to Midgar before. The grand city wasn't on the Blackbird's last route. I'd heard much about Midgar from many places and it left me with an expectation that I would be disappointed because no city could possibly be as amazing as I'd heard Midgar was. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself not disappointed.
These days, you'd probably be disappointed with the Midgar that awed me so. The city became so much more in the decades since my first visit, it would hardly be recognizable to you if you could see what it had been like then. There was no Plate, no ShinRa Building. There were still the eight sectors, of course. There were the reactors, too, but much smaller than what they became. The sky was clear and bright, not dark at all…except at night, of course.
There was a bustle in the city like I'd never seen before, not even in the heart of Iscalis. I was so distracted by all these wonders and the crowd that I was soon lost on my way to find the ShinRa offices. I hadn't even realised that I'd become lost until I'd been lost for some time. My first instinct was to panic and I walked in circles around a couple of blocks for a while. Once I'd worn out my panic, I began to think more clearly.
I asked a passer-by if they could direct me to the ShinRa offices. They kindly instructed me and I discovered that I was in the entirely wrong sector to begin with. Determined to find my way, I only got lost once more on my way to the correct sector. I fought the urge to panic again because I was wasting time.
I turned around to go back the way I'd come when I ran, quite literally, into a blue-suited Turk. If you were hoping it was Vincent, I'll have to disappoint you in saying that it was not. It was the Turk who had been with him when he'd gone into the diner on the day that I'd dumped him. I was proud of my good memory in remembering him, but I didn't have time to waste on him, either. Unfortunately, the Turk's memory was just as good as mine.
"Aren't you Vincent's friend?" he asked me.
"I'm in a bit of a hurry," I said, choosing not to answered, "so if you'd excuse me…"
"The waitress one?" the Turk pressed, not about to let me go so easily.
"Yes, I'm the waitress," I said impatiently, "but I'm really running quite late."
"What are you doing in Midgar?" The Turk was purposefully ignoring my excuses to leave.
"I'm here for a job interview and I'm running late because I got lost!" I spat.
"At the ShinRa offices?" the Turk guessed.
"Yes!" I answered, not really caring at this point how he knew that was where I was heading.
"You're going the wrong way," he said.
"Thank you." I turned around and began walking the other way.
"Still the wrong way," the Turk said. "Listen, I'm going there too, so why don't we just walk together?"
I had no choice but to agree.
"I'm Veld, by the way," he said. "What's your name?"
"Claudie," I answered, trying to keep my end of the conversation as close to monosyllabic as possible.
Veld decided to take pity on me, I guess, because he didn't say anything else until we reached the building.
"Well it was nice meeting you, Claudie," he said. "Vincent is in town, should I tell him you're around?"
"No," I answered quickly and, checking the map for my floor, raced up the stairs even though there was a perfectly good elevator.