I really wasn't kidding about the slow bit, can you tell? Or the perfectionist thing. Another overhaul-- let's hope this one stays, because I really want to leave the beginning alone and move on to, well, PLOT. Even so, this chunk's not quite finished. For the love of little green apples, tell me what you think. I might not take it into account, but I'd like to know all the same whether it's enjoyed, despised, whatever.
Generic Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns Final Fantasy VII and all related characters/ideas. I own Elise, Celia, and Kale. _ Don't remind me.
Alternate Fantasy: When It Rains...
Rain. The feeling of wet trousercloth clinging to his legs. The cold of his gun as he gripped it tightly, his fingers slippery on the clammy metal. Blinking raindrops away from his eyes, trying to blink away his confusion.
A pair of bright blue eyes blinked right back, perfectly calm and steady. Not at all what they should be, what he'd... expected?
"What--?" His voice sounded thick in his own ears, hammered flat by the rain.
"Can we go now?"
That voice didn't belong to those eyes-- there they were-- another pair rose up out of the darkness that was the trash-filled alleyway, and they stood side by side, both looking at him, full of expectation. Strange. Too strange. He should be worried; he was confused. Children shouldn't look at him like that. Not down here, not in the slums.
/Go?/
"--What?" He shook his head once, sharply. Water flew from his hair, the tip of his nose, in an arc. Cleared his mind. "I'm not taking you anywhere." That, at least, was correct.
"But you're supposed to. Someone was supposed to come and find us, and take us up there." The voice that belonged to the first pair of eyes spoke, the voice of a young boy. "You're the only one who's right."
Dammit, he was confused again. And he didn't know why, or how or anything else, but he was wet and cold and might as well take them up. What they did topside had nothing to do with him, or anyone else. They were no one's. Black hair, blue eyes, a matched pair... nobody's children. Nothing.
No... not /nothing/. His mind shrank from the word, and he knew better than to ignore that feeling. Incorrect. So what, then?
"Can we go?" Repeated, by the other voice. A girl. "It's getting colder."
There was a flash, a changing in his head. Like a door slamming, or ice splintering. He turned on his heel and walked off; there was nothing else to say. He knew they would follow him.
But damned if he understood why.
He was numb until he reached the pillar-- carefully not-thinking and just as carefully aware of his surroundings. Then someone hailed him, and everything rushed back, slamming into his senses.
"Hey, boss! Hurry up, we're freezing our asses off!" He stopped, vaguely aware that he ought to glare at Reno for being so loud. He saw the two small figures that came to a halt just at the edge of his sight, and opted to keep walking until he reached the relative shelter of the pillar.
"What have we here? Taking in strays now, Tseng?" Celia's acerbic question sharpened his focus a bit. He looked again at the two children that were standing side by side, now in front of him and looking over the rest of his team. Still calm, still unconcerned.
"We're taking them up for questioning." Yes, there was certainly a lot of that to be done. Now he just had to find the right ones to ask.
Maybe he'd even get some answers.
**********
"So I stood there, like the world's greatest fool, and just looked at them. And they looked right back-- only they looked at me like they /knew/ I was going to be there. Like they expected me, and I ought to have expected them." Tseng's mouth flattened into a dissatisfied line, his fingers curling a bit tighter around the steaming mug of coffee on the table. "I don't think I've felt that disoriented since the last time Rude dosed me with painkillers."
Kale grinned at that; Celia pursed her lips and stared hard at the tabletop in thought. They were seated around the coffee table on the floor of the apartment that belonged to Kale and herself, dry and warm and trying to figure out just what the hell Tseng had seen fit to drag up from the slums. Or why, at any rate.
"Where are they, anyway? Don't tell me you dropped them off with the creeps downstairs--"
Kale earned himself a dirty look for mentioning the company shrinks. "Give your boss a little credit, would you? No, they're with Gast. It was either him, or Reno and Rude's apartment." He finished the last third of his coffee quickly, setting his mug down and leaning back against the bottom of the couch. "And I figured we'd probably want to be able to actually find them in one piece come morning, so Gast it is."
Celia grinned, an expression that most people found incredibly disconcerting coming from her. "Wise decision. Now," and the grin shifted just a bit, less amused and more skeptical, "just what possessed you to haul a pair of street urchins all the way up to HQ?"
Tseng grimaced and looked hard at the coffee table, as though it were withholding information. "Would you believe that I was supposed to bring them here?"
Kale's turn to look less than convinced. "Um, what?"
"Exactly. Christ, Kale, I've never felt that unsettled around a couple of kids before. Children down there can be unusually strange, even act like they're twenty years older, but I've never had one look at me like he knew who I was before he even /saw/ me. And then they say they were waiting for me?" Tseng shook his head, running out of reasons before he felt he even had any. "It just... seemed unstoppable. For one bizarre moment, I believed that. I need to know what the hell is going on, even if it was just me being delusional."
Celia pursed her lips and stared into her mug. Kale stared at Celia, until she looked up and arched one elegant eyebrow at him. He shrugged, turning back to Tseng, and pronounced his personal take on the matter.
"Whatever. You're the boss... but I must say, now /I'm/ curious."
"You and me both. I'm also tired," Celia added with a touch of asperity, rising to her feet and taking her mug into the kitchen. "We can go visit Gast in the morning," she tossed over her shoulder, "after all, if anyone can get two odd street urchins to warm up and talk sense, it's him."
"The lady speaks words of wisdom," Kale said, grinning as he stood up and winked at her. She rolled her eyes and turned on the faucet. "Anyway, boss, in the morning then?"
"Yes. Good night." Tseng handed his mug to Kale as he rose, and let himself out. Back in his own apartment, he didn't even turn on the lights as he changed clothes. He found he preferred the pale, watery light that came in through his bedroom window, and the sound of the rain that continued to fall heavily on the pavement a hundred feet below. As his head hit the pillow, his last conscious thought-- more of a wondering, really-- was that something had begun.
**********
A/N: Good lord, it should be illegal to write when one's this tired. I'm going to hate this tomorrow... but at least it will be POSTED. Thank heaven I've got an idea for the next section, anyway.
Generic Disclaimer: Squaresoft owns Final Fantasy VII and all related characters/ideas. I own Elise, Celia, and Kale. _ Don't remind me.
Alternate Fantasy: When It Rains...
Rain. The feeling of wet trousercloth clinging to his legs. The cold of his gun as he gripped it tightly, his fingers slippery on the clammy metal. Blinking raindrops away from his eyes, trying to blink away his confusion.
A pair of bright blue eyes blinked right back, perfectly calm and steady. Not at all what they should be, what he'd... expected?
"What--?" His voice sounded thick in his own ears, hammered flat by the rain.
"Can we go now?"
That voice didn't belong to those eyes-- there they were-- another pair rose up out of the darkness that was the trash-filled alleyway, and they stood side by side, both looking at him, full of expectation. Strange. Too strange. He should be worried; he was confused. Children shouldn't look at him like that. Not down here, not in the slums.
/Go?/
"--What?" He shook his head once, sharply. Water flew from his hair, the tip of his nose, in an arc. Cleared his mind. "I'm not taking you anywhere." That, at least, was correct.
"But you're supposed to. Someone was supposed to come and find us, and take us up there." The voice that belonged to the first pair of eyes spoke, the voice of a young boy. "You're the only one who's right."
Dammit, he was confused again. And he didn't know why, or how or anything else, but he was wet and cold and might as well take them up. What they did topside had nothing to do with him, or anyone else. They were no one's. Black hair, blue eyes, a matched pair... nobody's children. Nothing.
No... not /nothing/. His mind shrank from the word, and he knew better than to ignore that feeling. Incorrect. So what, then?
"Can we go?" Repeated, by the other voice. A girl. "It's getting colder."
There was a flash, a changing in his head. Like a door slamming, or ice splintering. He turned on his heel and walked off; there was nothing else to say. He knew they would follow him.
But damned if he understood why.
He was numb until he reached the pillar-- carefully not-thinking and just as carefully aware of his surroundings. Then someone hailed him, and everything rushed back, slamming into his senses.
"Hey, boss! Hurry up, we're freezing our asses off!" He stopped, vaguely aware that he ought to glare at Reno for being so loud. He saw the two small figures that came to a halt just at the edge of his sight, and opted to keep walking until he reached the relative shelter of the pillar.
"What have we here? Taking in strays now, Tseng?" Celia's acerbic question sharpened his focus a bit. He looked again at the two children that were standing side by side, now in front of him and looking over the rest of his team. Still calm, still unconcerned.
"We're taking them up for questioning." Yes, there was certainly a lot of that to be done. Now he just had to find the right ones to ask.
Maybe he'd even get some answers.
**********
"So I stood there, like the world's greatest fool, and just looked at them. And they looked right back-- only they looked at me like they /knew/ I was going to be there. Like they expected me, and I ought to have expected them." Tseng's mouth flattened into a dissatisfied line, his fingers curling a bit tighter around the steaming mug of coffee on the table. "I don't think I've felt that disoriented since the last time Rude dosed me with painkillers."
Kale grinned at that; Celia pursed her lips and stared hard at the tabletop in thought. They were seated around the coffee table on the floor of the apartment that belonged to Kale and herself, dry and warm and trying to figure out just what the hell Tseng had seen fit to drag up from the slums. Or why, at any rate.
"Where are they, anyway? Don't tell me you dropped them off with the creeps downstairs--"
Kale earned himself a dirty look for mentioning the company shrinks. "Give your boss a little credit, would you? No, they're with Gast. It was either him, or Reno and Rude's apartment." He finished the last third of his coffee quickly, setting his mug down and leaning back against the bottom of the couch. "And I figured we'd probably want to be able to actually find them in one piece come morning, so Gast it is."
Celia grinned, an expression that most people found incredibly disconcerting coming from her. "Wise decision. Now," and the grin shifted just a bit, less amused and more skeptical, "just what possessed you to haul a pair of street urchins all the way up to HQ?"
Tseng grimaced and looked hard at the coffee table, as though it were withholding information. "Would you believe that I was supposed to bring them here?"
Kale's turn to look less than convinced. "Um, what?"
"Exactly. Christ, Kale, I've never felt that unsettled around a couple of kids before. Children down there can be unusually strange, even act like they're twenty years older, but I've never had one look at me like he knew who I was before he even /saw/ me. And then they say they were waiting for me?" Tseng shook his head, running out of reasons before he felt he even had any. "It just... seemed unstoppable. For one bizarre moment, I believed that. I need to know what the hell is going on, even if it was just me being delusional."
Celia pursed her lips and stared into her mug. Kale stared at Celia, until she looked up and arched one elegant eyebrow at him. He shrugged, turning back to Tseng, and pronounced his personal take on the matter.
"Whatever. You're the boss... but I must say, now /I'm/ curious."
"You and me both. I'm also tired," Celia added with a touch of asperity, rising to her feet and taking her mug into the kitchen. "We can go visit Gast in the morning," she tossed over her shoulder, "after all, if anyone can get two odd street urchins to warm up and talk sense, it's him."
"The lady speaks words of wisdom," Kale said, grinning as he stood up and winked at her. She rolled her eyes and turned on the faucet. "Anyway, boss, in the morning then?"
"Yes. Good night." Tseng handed his mug to Kale as he rose, and let himself out. Back in his own apartment, he didn't even turn on the lights as he changed clothes. He found he preferred the pale, watery light that came in through his bedroom window, and the sound of the rain that continued to fall heavily on the pavement a hundred feet below. As his head hit the pillow, his last conscious thought-- more of a wondering, really-- was that something had begun.
**********
A/N: Good lord, it should be illegal to write when one's this tired. I'm going to hate this tomorrow... but at least it will be POSTED. Thank heaven I've got an idea for the next section, anyway.