The Turks floor was strangely empty. Vincent wandered round, and picked up a newspaper. Under normal circumstances he would have welcomed the peace and quiet, but now it just served to remind him that he had two Turks out of action; one recuperating at home the other hospitalised. He'd contacted Preston Drake, the fourth member of the group, first thing that morning. Preston had been on an information gathering assignment in Wutai for a month and Vincent was loathe to take him out of it, but what with Linden and Deacon injured, there was no option but to recall him for the time being.
After a few minutes, he decided that he needed the company of people, and preferably ones that weren't about to shoot at him. What with one thing and another, he was feeling understandably jumpy of late. He shucked off his jacket and undid his tie; the damn thing was feeling more like a noose at the moment, and he wasn't in the mood for playing Turk right now. Taking his paper with him, he left the Turks Lounge and caught an elevator down to the 30th floor. Walking out past a couple of soldiers who recognised him in spite of his less formal attire and gave smart salutes, he headed for the main employees' lounge.
Less elaborate than that afforded to the Turks, the lounge was still a pleasant place to relax, with a small diner in one corner, serving hot drinks and snacks. Vincent felt the lure of coffee pulling at him, and made a beeline for the counter. Collecting his usual from the smiling attendant who point blank refused to let him pay, he took his drink to a small table to one side and began to read his paper.
oOo
Lucrecia was feeling peckish. She'd spent several hours in the lab working on some new research and had forgotten to take a break. It was now several hours later than she had originally planned to eat, and she was dying for a snack. The employees lounge was not far away, and already the tasty aromas of cooked food were wafting down the corridor.
Inside, the place was filling up fast and the majority of the tables were occupied. She walked over to the food counter and picked herself out some pastries. To hell with it, she'd earned them. Paying the cashier, she moved away from the till and searched for a spare seat. This was not going to be easy – all of the tables were in use and many were full up. Scanning the room, she noticed one table on the far side that only had one person sitting there, reading a newspaper. Idly she wondered why other tables were crammed yet this remained mainly empty, but didn't waste too much time doing so. Hurriedly, she made her way over to the table, weaving her way through the mass of people with her tray.
"Excuse me" she asked the occupant politely, "but do you mind if I sit here?"
The man behind the paper didn't so much as look up. "Sure" he answered, continuing with his reading. Lucrecia offered her thanks, before slipping into the vacant seat and starting on her first pastry. Whoever Shinra employed to man the diner sure could cook. Relaxing into her seat a little, she idly began reviewing the front page of the newspaper, whilst munching on her meal. The headline story was standard fare for the past few weeks, more anti-Wutai propaganda. Apparently some dissenters on the continent had appropriated a few weapons and staged a terrorist attack on a small Shinra holding. Several people were injured in the attack, and needless to say, the Electric Company were taking the matter very personally.
"That's terrible…" she murmured, as she read some of the more detailed points of the article. The corner of the paper suddenly flicked down, and she found herself staring into a pair of dark brown eyes, slightly slanted at the corners with surprisingly thick lashes. They were set into a finely crafted face; a pale ivory complexion that stood out against inky black hair. You couldn't really apply the term 'beautiful' to a man, but that was the closest word she could think of at the time.
"Miss? Are you alright?"
It suddenly occurred to her that while she had been off in a world of her own, the man had been speaking to her. Or at least trying to speak, since it had been a rather one-sided conversation with her staring into space. "Oh! Sorry, I'm fine… I was just er…" She broke off, flustered. "Sorry. What did you say again?"
The corners of his mouth twitched a little, as if he was suppressing a smile. "I asked you what was so terrible" he replied in a soft voice. Lucrecia felt a blush rising to her cheeks.
"Sorry" she said again, before noticing that was the third time she had apologised in the space of about thirty seconds. "I meant the article. About the terrorists in Wutai. I think it's terrible that they should feel they have to do something like that."
He nodded at her words. "It is. You would hope that an amicable solution could be reached by both parties without having to resort to terrorism."
"That's the way people are though" Lucrecia sighed, shaking her head. "I know Shinra is interested in the Materia over there, but for some reason it's all being dealt with in a very heavy handed way." She glanced up again at the man, to find that he was returning her gaze intently. She fought against the blush again, only this time for different reasons. "I'm sorry, I'm distracting you from your reading, Mr…?" she trailed off, leaving the unspoken question hanging in the air.
Truth be told, Vincent was somewhat taken aback, albeit pleasingly so. Most people working for Shinra knew him and his position by sight, even dressed informally as he was. You only had to look around the room to see that the employees didn't wish to get too close to him, for fear. Yet here was a woman, and it had to be said, a very attractive woman at that, asking his name as if she didn't know who he was. For an instant he thought she was joking. He had been surprised enough when she had asked to sit at the same table. Even more so when she'd started muttering and he'd actually caught sight of her. But a close examination of her face revealed only open, honest curiosity. Reaching the conclusion that she was indeed telling the truth, he decided to answer, hoping she did not notice the glaring omission of his last name, something that was sure to give him away.
"…Vincent. Pleased to meet you." He smiled then, and Lucrecia was glad she was already sitting down, since she was sure her knees had just turned to jelly. "But now you have the advantage of me. Might I enquire as to your name?"
"Lucrecia Crescent, from the Science department" she said by way of introduction. A flicker of recognition passed over Vincent's face.
"Crescent?" he asked. "That name rings a bell… Did you write a paper a few months back on Cetra Physiology?" Lucrecia nodded, wide-eyed.
"Yes, yes I did! But how on earth did you know about that?"
Vincent smiled at her again. "I am fairly well acquainted with Professor Gast, who runs the Science department" he explained. "And in fact, now that I think about it, he has mentioned your name to me before. Although I don't believe I have ever seen you up there."
"I only transferred here a few months ago" Lucrecia replied quickly. He nodded vaguely in understanding - that at least might explain why she didn't know him. "Till then I'd been working out in Mideel. The Professor requested my move, and I was only too happy to accept. Well, I could hardly pass up the chance to work with one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, could I?"
"Of course not."
"And I've always been interested in the Cetra. Finding out about a race long gone… It's fascinating." She was warming to her topic, always excited by talking about her love of the Ancients. "I mean we can learn so much from them! We don't know too much about them at the moment, but I'm sure if we keep on researching we'll find out more." Sensing his eyes boring into her, she felt a little selfish for talking about herself for so long. So she was taken aback to find that they had not glazed over as she would have expected. In fact, he had folded the paper away and was solely intent on her rather rambling conversation. "Sorry" she apologised again. "I get a bit carried away sometimes."
"I don't mind" Vincent said. "I'm also interested in the Cetra, although I'm sure your knowledge far surpasses mine."
Lucrecia laughed. "Well, I have had the advantage of studying them for the past few years" she admitted. "That might help." She decided to turn the topic away from herself for a minute. She wanted to know more about the intriguing man sitting next to her. "How about you? I take it you work for Shinra too?" He nodded.
"Indeed."
"So what do you do?"
Vincent hesitated. This was always difficult. He was engaged in conversation with what seemed like a very nice woman, and he was actually enjoying himself talking with her. On the one hand, he could now tell her that he was an assassin and watch as she inevitably fled from the room. Or alternatively he could skirt round the issue. Dress it up a little. Which was the gutless thing to do, he admitted to himself. It would be a lot less complicated just to come straight out with it. Be honest and up front, right from the beginning.
"I… work for the Department of Administrative Research."
Gutless. It would seem that his brain and his mouth had chosen two different paths. Not that it was technically a lie, he decided, wrestling the concept over in his mind. After all, Administrative Research was the official name for the Turks, just one that was rarely used nowadays. She might recognise it.
"I can't say I've heard of them." Nope, obviously she hadn't. "But then there's so many departments in this place it's easy to lose track. Administrative Research? Sounds quite dull, if you don't mind me saying so." Lucrecia stopped, having heard how that sounded. "Not that I mean that in a nasty way" she went on. "It's just 'Administration'… You know. Like you don't get out from behind a desk too much."
It was all Vincent could do not to choke on his coffee. "... You'd be surprised" he replied dryly.
The next half hour passed alarmingly quickly with small talk. Vincent was reluctant to give away too many details about himself or his job, but encouraged Lucrecia to tell him more about her. In truth he found her fascinating. She obviously had plenty of intelligence, you had only to listen to her for a few moments to work that out. She was intensely passionate about her work too, and possessed a wry sense of humour, once she had got over her initial hesitation. It was only when she glanced at her watch that he too noticed how much time had elapsed.
"Oh Odin, look at the time!" Lucrecia exclaimed. "I had no idea it was so late. I've really got to be getting back to my lab." She hurriedly scrambled up from her chair. Politely, Vincent stood up too to help her with her things.
"It was lovely talking to you Vincent" she said, smiling. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." He was never any good at this bit. He knew what he wanted to say, he just wasn't sure if it would come out right. He was fine with giving orders, making thinly veiled threats or interrogating suspects. But faced with a good looking young woman, it was as if he had all the words neatly lined up in his mind, but just as he was about to say them they vanished into thin air. Being a Turk definitely had an impact on your social skills, he thought bitterly. Oh... To hell with it.
"Look, I don't suppose you'd be free for lunch later this week?" He paused, going to leave it at that, but yet again, his mouth had other ideas and started running away before he could get a grip. "I mean, I know you're probably busy and you don't have to, but I just thought…"
Lucrecia couldn't hide the blush this time. He was very charming, she had to admit. And it might be nice to have a break from work…
"Alright… I'm busy in the labs tomorrow, but is Thursday any good?"
