Chapter 1: Nina Wynd
Yuletide, a season of celebration, of family and friends; many peoples used that day to celebrate the birth of their countries. To celebrate, lights are put up all over the cities, people put up trees in their homes and decorate them and upon Yuletide day, people exchange gifts. It is a time of joy and fellowship, kindness towards ones fellows, unless you happen to be shopping in which case it's a free-for-all fight to the death. Some people say that it is a warm up for the New Years celebrations that are a week after Yuletide, but then the celebrations for the coming year are very special, for this was the last year of the millennium. For the past few years, all manner of doom saying prophets had come out of the works, predicting that the New Millennium would herald the end of the world while others said it would herald the end and then a new beginning. Of course the three major religions disregarded these prophets as deluded, however, no one ever said they were wrong. The majority of people were more concerned with living their lives and, at the moment, the approaching holidays. For instance...
A young woman with blonde hair and green eyes, lithe and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, wearing a purple winter jacket and winter boots, was sprinting through the downtown streets. She carried to bags, full of wrapped gifts, suggesting she had just finished a round of yuletide shopping and she appeared quite flustered and a bit panicked. The brick apartments, business buildings and skyscrapers seemed even colder with the sun behind grey clouds and it was snowing again. Granted, medium to heavy snowfall was quite common in the winter in this region, but it wouldn't officially be winter until Yuletide Day. Fortunately, the Environmental Department of the city had already begun clearing the snow on the streets, but because of the rather large snow banks created by the snowplows, the sidewalk was rather crowded.
The woman hopped over a snow bank and ran across the street, praying to whatever deities would listen that she would not get run over by a car. She passed through the glass, revolving door of a building and headed straight for the nearest elevator. She bit her lip and looked about frantically as she repeatedly pressed the button in the vain hope that the elevator would get there sooner. Giving up, she dashed to a door and opened it, running as fast as she could up the stairs. As the door closed, the elevator door opened awaiting someone who was no longer there.
~SOL (1) Nina~
My name is Nina Wynd; I live in the city of Winlan, in the Rhapala region of the country of Windia. I'm twenty-one, I live by myself in my apartment and this... well this was me trying to get back to my little cubicle, hopefully before anyone important noticed I wasn't back from my lunch break. I work in the accounting department for a Rhapalan shipping company; the pay is nice and the hours are okay and I don't usually slack off like that, but... well I didn't honestly think I'd be gone as long as I was. I had taken my lunch break so I could do some shopping for Yuletide and... well, I kinda lost track of time, so I had to run back.
~ End SOL~
Nina reached the fifth floor of the building and entered the main hall of that level of the building. She walked over to the door, took out a card and swiped it through the scanner to unlock the door. She walked through the halls and past cubicles, each with at least one person in it, working on projects. She came to a corner and looked down the hall on the right, making sure no manager or her own boss was around so she could sneak into her cubicle discreetly. She reached her cubicle without incident, removed her jacket, hanging it up on the wall, placed the bags under her desk and then she went into the neighbouring booth to briefly visit a fellow worker.
"Hey Liss." Nina greeted to the compartment's inhabitant.
"Nina... Drew was here." She said, looking away from her computer.
"Oh crap... What did he want?" Nina asked, worriedly.
"Nothing... until he saw you weren't there. He said he wants to see you in his office as soon as you got back." Liss said with mock pity in her voice. "Did you have to be gone that long?"
"Well... I lost track of time, but I wasn't gone that long; just an hour past the end of the lunch hour..." She replied sheepishly.
"Well you know Drew... a real pain in the ass with this kind of stuff. Say, while you were out, did you get me anything?"
"Yeah I did, but don't open it until Yuletide." Nina smiled.
She went to her cubicle; retrieved two wrapped presents from her bag of gifts and removed the diskette from her computer. She gave the larger wrapped gift to Liss and walked, a bit grimly, towards Drew's office.
"Good luck." Liss called out.
Nina entered the office and saw a middle-aged man at a desk, typing away at a keyboard. This was Drew, the manager for the accounting department of this division of Rhapala Shipping incorporated.
"You... uh... you wanted to see me, sir?" Nina asked nervously.
Drew looked up from his work and Nina cast her eyes downward. To him, she looked like a child caught doing something bad.
"You weren't here when I walked by your cubicle, care to explain?" He asked.
"Well... um... you see I was shopping and kinda lost track of time..." She said, rubbing the back of her head, grinning nervously.
"Look... I don't care that you weren't here, but it shows bad work ethic. You know the holidays are our peak times. We need all of our departments working their best, even on the last day of work. If you had completed your work..."
Nina casually tossed the diskette onto his desk, which made him stop his little tirade. He picked up the diskette and looked at Nina.
"What's this?" He asked.
"My work." She said calmly.
"Completed?"
"I wouldn't have given it to you otherwise... I was planning on giving it to you when I got back anyways... I just lost track of time." She replied a bit smugly.
"Be that as it may..." He began again.
This time Nina carefully placed the small wrapped gift on his desk and again he paused. He picked it up and looked at her questioningly.
"That's a Yuletide gift I picked up for you while shopping today, sir. Hope you like it." She smiled.
"Err... O-kay... I guess you can go back to work... um... just don't repeat your mistake." He said a bit flustered.
Nina returned to her workspace, a smug smile on her face. She went to her computer and opened her e-mail; there wasn't anything for her to do now, after all, she had finished her work. There was only one new e-mail message and it was addressed to everyone in the department.
'Due to the fact that it is the last day before the holidays and that everyone has mostly finished their work, you may all take the rest of the day off. Happy holidays to you and yours,
Andrew Valifor.'
Apparently others were looking at their mail as well as Nina heard a building of celebratory noises from throughout the office, cubicle walls being rather thin after all.
"Suck-up." Liss laughed.
"Awww you're just jealous 'cause you didn't think of it first." Nina replied putting on her jacket.
She reached into a pocket and pulled out her cell phone, using the second number she had on speed dial.
"Honey, are you busy?" She said answering the inquisitive hello on the other end. "Can you pick me up? Sure... you wanna go to Lenn's, they shouldn't be finished yet. Great, see you in a few."
Nina put her cell phone away, picked up her two bags full of gifts and left.
*******************
In an apartment across town, five people played music in a homemade studio, with the latest of technology. They ceased playing as they were finished that song.
"That was pretty good." A Woren man said.
He had black hair and dark eyes, wore a red t-shirt and black pants and he had a decent physical build, but still rather lean. Like most Worens those days, he had mixed blood (2), but still had the feline pointed ears and tail; his had black fur of the same colour as his hair. He was sitting at the drums.
"Fehhhhh... Need a glass of water over here." A fox-girl said rubbing her throat.
She had more rust coloured hair and violet eyes; she wore a halter-top and tight fitting jeans. Another mixed blood, she had long fox ears and a bushy fox tail same colour as her hair, except that the tail had a white tip. One could look at this girl and the word 'vixen' would come to mind, not because of her race, but rather because of her appearance. She stood before a microphone as the singer of the group.
"Can you guys do one more?" A woman in the studio booth asked.
She had dark skin and hair, like one who came from a race of people who had evolved in a tropical sun. She was seemingly a pure human. She had a voice that seemed to have a musical tone when she spoke and every word seemed almost a musical note from her lips. She wore a light blouse and dark pants. She monitored the sounds and recorded the music from her position behind the glass, the console before her controlled every part of the music output.
"I don't know about you guys, but this is just one of the things I could do all night." A human said, leering at another woman.
He had short spiked hair, which was dyed red and a goatee. He wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans as well as a silver necklace with a religious symbol around his neck. He had a good physical build. He was also human. He played an electric guitar.
"Do you want me to slap you?" The girl asked.
She had long white rabbit ears, long silver hair; pale skin, red eyes and she wore glasses. She was an albino rabbit. She wore ripped jean shorts and sleeveless, white shirt. She was simply beautiful, having an athletic, but voluptuous physique. Many men would willingly sell their own souls to sleep with her. She sat behind three sets of electronic keyboards, which could produce a variety of synthetic sounds.
"You know you want me." The human male sang out.
"Now cut it out you two. Don't make me send you to the corners." The dark skinned one said.
Suddenly the door opened and Nina walked in accompanied by a red haired man. Unlike the other one, this one had naturally red, long hair and was clean-shaven. He seemed taller than the others and very powerful physically. He wore a long black coat, a black sweater, black pants and black boots. Even if he did seem physically imposing, he seemed kind, caring.
"Hey Nina, got off work early?" The Woren asked.
~SOL Nina~
These are my very best friends. The Woren is Migel Diaz, but we call him Lastic (3), because he is freakishly flexible. In the band he can play a variety of music and instruments, but he really prefers to play jazz on piano. He also practices Capoeira, which is a style of martial arts dance. I've never seen him use it against another person though.
The fox girl is Kitsune FoxFire. Lastic calls her his kitkat and if anyone else calls her that, they'll find themselves eating the floor. Sometimes she does vocals in the band, but she prefers a saxophone. She and Lastic are... what would be the most polite way to say it? A couple, I guess. They've been best friends since before I can remember and they started dating in high school.
The loudmouth on guitar is Rick Burke (4), but really he isn't such a bad guy, he just jokes around a lot. He's a jack-of-all-trades you could say, especially since he works for Ranger Inc. and they hire out their employees like mercenaries, no job is too small. He can play almost any guitar, but he prefers the bass guitar. Rick, Kit and Lastic own a jazz club together and the apartment above it. Between the club, Rick's contract jobs and the club itself and these small gigs, they somehow manage to keep the place going.
The albino rabbit is Rin; she's a real genius. Everything in this little studio, the keyboards the console that controls the music output all that techno stuff, she created. She doesn't go out much, except to find parts for her computer or other projects she's working on. She put that keyboard together too, it can synthesize any sound, or so she says. Since she graduated high school she's been taking courses over the Internet and using video conferencing to take university courses. She's also working for some big name company as a programmer. She hardly ever leaves her apartment, I think she's really shy, but then she probably thinks I'm really nosy.
The dark skinned woman is Lenn. This apartment is Rin's and hers; they converted the living room into a recording studio for the band. Kit introduced us to her when we were trying to get the band started. She's a compositional genius, but beyond that she doesn't have any musical talent; she can't play a musical instrument or sing worth shit unfortunately. That's why I think her parents moved away from Tunlan, I heard you can't speak with them unless you use a musical instrument.
And the charming, handsome, brave and strong man, who is oh-so-mine, that escorted me here? His name's Joshua. We've been dating for a few years now and he sometimes stays over night at my apartment, if you catch my drift. I'm not sure, but I think he works for law enforcement or something, but he won't tell me no matter how many times I ask him.
You're probably wondering what I do in the band, which is called Breath of Fire, by the way. Well, I'm the manager, 'cause I've got the connections. I can get the CD to producers and people like that, because of my Dad. The name 'Wynd' carries a lot of weight in all kinds of places because he's an important business tycoon. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, to live own my own strength, but I find myself running for that name every now and again.
~End SOL~
"If I hadn't I wouldn't be here, Lastic." Nina said. "Please don't tell me your done for the day?"
"Nope, got one last to do before the CD is finished. You ready Kit?" Lenn said.
Kit nodded, Lenn flicked switches and the music (5) began and Kit began to sing.
"What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can I do for you?
I pictured myself somewhere far in my heart that day
It becomes dark in the distance, but I can no longer return
The shape I saw in my dream
Is different from everything...
I become dizzy from reality
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose...
The only thing I can feel from my heart is to run
You are not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can I do for you?
I won't turn back, I won't rely on you
Because if something happens, you'll always come to me quickly
The only thing I can do now
Is to believe...
The truth is in my heart
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Holds me up...
You taught me everything I know, that is me now
So, I am not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Even if you feel it...
If you close your eyes, I will be there...there is a bond between us
So, you are not alone...
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose...
The only thing I can hear from my heart is to run
You are not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can't I do for you?
I can't hear you..."
The music died down and Kit looked at Lenn expectantly.
"That was perfect, guys. Our first CD... finally finished." Lenn smiled.
Kit and Lastic embraced, Rick cheered and Rin smiled quietly. They didn't notice the ringing of Joshua's cell phone. He spoke briefly and cursed as he hung up. He tapped Nina on the shoulder to gain her attention.
"What's up, lover?" She asked.
"Bad new, sweets." He smiled sadly. "I just got a call from work and... there's this big job they need me for overseas... I wont be around for the holidays I'm afraid."
"What? Not even for New Years? But what if something happens?" She said worriedly.
"You don't really buy into that doomsday shit do you? Nothings gonna happen, just keep my presents in one piece until I get back, okay?" He said, kissing Nina on the forehead before walking out.
"Well... crap. Hey guys, can one of you give me a lift home?" Nina smiled sheepishly.
**********************************************************************
"Keep watch only for the giants and you'll be eaten by the ants." (Sneaky Homunculus, Magic: The gathering)
Music for this chapter: 'Real Emotion' (Final Fantasy X-2)
1)- SOL: Scenario OverLay system, a reference to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. In this case it is used to indicate a change of narrator to one of the story characters. In most cases it will be Nina. Since they are looking back on the events, it will still be, for the most part, in the past tense.
2)- The clans and their powers have diminished greatly due to breeding with other species. These days some clans are indistinguishable from regular humans. For instance, those of the Wing Clan (Windians) have completely lost their wings. However, there are still clans that retain some of their animal appearance, such as the Woren or Forest Clan.
3)- The character Lastic is based on an artist friend of mine named Lastic the Cat. It's a sort of thanks for drawing some stuff for me.
4)- The character Rick is based on my little brother Ricky. Why? Because I felt like it.
5)- This song is the translation of the song 'Real Emotion' from FF X-2. Proving once again, that when it comes to music, I am a listener and not a composer.
Yuletide, a season of celebration, of family and friends; many peoples used that day to celebrate the birth of their countries. To celebrate, lights are put up all over the cities, people put up trees in their homes and decorate them and upon Yuletide day, people exchange gifts. It is a time of joy and fellowship, kindness towards ones fellows, unless you happen to be shopping in which case it's a free-for-all fight to the death. Some people say that it is a warm up for the New Years celebrations that are a week after Yuletide, but then the celebrations for the coming year are very special, for this was the last year of the millennium. For the past few years, all manner of doom saying prophets had come out of the works, predicting that the New Millennium would herald the end of the world while others said it would herald the end and then a new beginning. Of course the three major religions disregarded these prophets as deluded, however, no one ever said they were wrong. The majority of people were more concerned with living their lives and, at the moment, the approaching holidays. For instance...
A young woman with blonde hair and green eyes, lithe and aesthetically pleasing to the eye, wearing a purple winter jacket and winter boots, was sprinting through the downtown streets. She carried to bags, full of wrapped gifts, suggesting she had just finished a round of yuletide shopping and she appeared quite flustered and a bit panicked. The brick apartments, business buildings and skyscrapers seemed even colder with the sun behind grey clouds and it was snowing again. Granted, medium to heavy snowfall was quite common in the winter in this region, but it wouldn't officially be winter until Yuletide Day. Fortunately, the Environmental Department of the city had already begun clearing the snow on the streets, but because of the rather large snow banks created by the snowplows, the sidewalk was rather crowded.
The woman hopped over a snow bank and ran across the street, praying to whatever deities would listen that she would not get run over by a car. She passed through the glass, revolving door of a building and headed straight for the nearest elevator. She bit her lip and looked about frantically as she repeatedly pressed the button in the vain hope that the elevator would get there sooner. Giving up, she dashed to a door and opened it, running as fast as she could up the stairs. As the door closed, the elevator door opened awaiting someone who was no longer there.
~SOL (1) Nina~
My name is Nina Wynd; I live in the city of Winlan, in the Rhapala region of the country of Windia. I'm twenty-one, I live by myself in my apartment and this... well this was me trying to get back to my little cubicle, hopefully before anyone important noticed I wasn't back from my lunch break. I work in the accounting department for a Rhapalan shipping company; the pay is nice and the hours are okay and I don't usually slack off like that, but... well I didn't honestly think I'd be gone as long as I was. I had taken my lunch break so I could do some shopping for Yuletide and... well, I kinda lost track of time, so I had to run back.
~ End SOL~
Nina reached the fifth floor of the building and entered the main hall of that level of the building. She walked over to the door, took out a card and swiped it through the scanner to unlock the door. She walked through the halls and past cubicles, each with at least one person in it, working on projects. She came to a corner and looked down the hall on the right, making sure no manager or her own boss was around so she could sneak into her cubicle discreetly. She reached her cubicle without incident, removed her jacket, hanging it up on the wall, placed the bags under her desk and then she went into the neighbouring booth to briefly visit a fellow worker.
"Hey Liss." Nina greeted to the compartment's inhabitant.
"Nina... Drew was here." She said, looking away from her computer.
"Oh crap... What did he want?" Nina asked, worriedly.
"Nothing... until he saw you weren't there. He said he wants to see you in his office as soon as you got back." Liss said with mock pity in her voice. "Did you have to be gone that long?"
"Well... I lost track of time, but I wasn't gone that long; just an hour past the end of the lunch hour..." She replied sheepishly.
"Well you know Drew... a real pain in the ass with this kind of stuff. Say, while you were out, did you get me anything?"
"Yeah I did, but don't open it until Yuletide." Nina smiled.
She went to her cubicle; retrieved two wrapped presents from her bag of gifts and removed the diskette from her computer. She gave the larger wrapped gift to Liss and walked, a bit grimly, towards Drew's office.
"Good luck." Liss called out.
Nina entered the office and saw a middle-aged man at a desk, typing away at a keyboard. This was Drew, the manager for the accounting department of this division of Rhapala Shipping incorporated.
"You... uh... you wanted to see me, sir?" Nina asked nervously.
Drew looked up from his work and Nina cast her eyes downward. To him, she looked like a child caught doing something bad.
"You weren't here when I walked by your cubicle, care to explain?" He asked.
"Well... um... you see I was shopping and kinda lost track of time..." She said, rubbing the back of her head, grinning nervously.
"Look... I don't care that you weren't here, but it shows bad work ethic. You know the holidays are our peak times. We need all of our departments working their best, even on the last day of work. If you had completed your work..."
Nina casually tossed the diskette onto his desk, which made him stop his little tirade. He picked up the diskette and looked at Nina.
"What's this?" He asked.
"My work." She said calmly.
"Completed?"
"I wouldn't have given it to you otherwise... I was planning on giving it to you when I got back anyways... I just lost track of time." She replied a bit smugly.
"Be that as it may..." He began again.
This time Nina carefully placed the small wrapped gift on his desk and again he paused. He picked it up and looked at her questioningly.
"That's a Yuletide gift I picked up for you while shopping today, sir. Hope you like it." She smiled.
"Err... O-kay... I guess you can go back to work... um... just don't repeat your mistake." He said a bit flustered.
Nina returned to her workspace, a smug smile on her face. She went to her computer and opened her e-mail; there wasn't anything for her to do now, after all, she had finished her work. There was only one new e-mail message and it was addressed to everyone in the department.
'Due to the fact that it is the last day before the holidays and that everyone has mostly finished their work, you may all take the rest of the day off. Happy holidays to you and yours,
Andrew Valifor.'
Apparently others were looking at their mail as well as Nina heard a building of celebratory noises from throughout the office, cubicle walls being rather thin after all.
"Suck-up." Liss laughed.
"Awww you're just jealous 'cause you didn't think of it first." Nina replied putting on her jacket.
She reached into a pocket and pulled out her cell phone, using the second number she had on speed dial.
"Honey, are you busy?" She said answering the inquisitive hello on the other end. "Can you pick me up? Sure... you wanna go to Lenn's, they shouldn't be finished yet. Great, see you in a few."
Nina put her cell phone away, picked up her two bags full of gifts and left.
*******************
In an apartment across town, five people played music in a homemade studio, with the latest of technology. They ceased playing as they were finished that song.
"That was pretty good." A Woren man said.
He had black hair and dark eyes, wore a red t-shirt and black pants and he had a decent physical build, but still rather lean. Like most Worens those days, he had mixed blood (2), but still had the feline pointed ears and tail; his had black fur of the same colour as his hair. He was sitting at the drums.
"Fehhhhh... Need a glass of water over here." A fox-girl said rubbing her throat.
She had more rust coloured hair and violet eyes; she wore a halter-top and tight fitting jeans. Another mixed blood, she had long fox ears and a bushy fox tail same colour as her hair, except that the tail had a white tip. One could look at this girl and the word 'vixen' would come to mind, not because of her race, but rather because of her appearance. She stood before a microphone as the singer of the group.
"Can you guys do one more?" A woman in the studio booth asked.
She had dark skin and hair, like one who came from a race of people who had evolved in a tropical sun. She was seemingly a pure human. She had a voice that seemed to have a musical tone when she spoke and every word seemed almost a musical note from her lips. She wore a light blouse and dark pants. She monitored the sounds and recorded the music from her position behind the glass, the console before her controlled every part of the music output.
"I don't know about you guys, but this is just one of the things I could do all night." A human said, leering at another woman.
He had short spiked hair, which was dyed red and a goatee. He wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans as well as a silver necklace with a religious symbol around his neck. He had a good physical build. He was also human. He played an electric guitar.
"Do you want me to slap you?" The girl asked.
She had long white rabbit ears, long silver hair; pale skin, red eyes and she wore glasses. She was an albino rabbit. She wore ripped jean shorts and sleeveless, white shirt. She was simply beautiful, having an athletic, but voluptuous physique. Many men would willingly sell their own souls to sleep with her. She sat behind three sets of electronic keyboards, which could produce a variety of synthetic sounds.
"You know you want me." The human male sang out.
"Now cut it out you two. Don't make me send you to the corners." The dark skinned one said.
Suddenly the door opened and Nina walked in accompanied by a red haired man. Unlike the other one, this one had naturally red, long hair and was clean-shaven. He seemed taller than the others and very powerful physically. He wore a long black coat, a black sweater, black pants and black boots. Even if he did seem physically imposing, he seemed kind, caring.
"Hey Nina, got off work early?" The Woren asked.
~SOL Nina~
These are my very best friends. The Woren is Migel Diaz, but we call him Lastic (3), because he is freakishly flexible. In the band he can play a variety of music and instruments, but he really prefers to play jazz on piano. He also practices Capoeira, which is a style of martial arts dance. I've never seen him use it against another person though.
The fox girl is Kitsune FoxFire. Lastic calls her his kitkat and if anyone else calls her that, they'll find themselves eating the floor. Sometimes she does vocals in the band, but she prefers a saxophone. She and Lastic are... what would be the most polite way to say it? A couple, I guess. They've been best friends since before I can remember and they started dating in high school.
The loudmouth on guitar is Rick Burke (4), but really he isn't such a bad guy, he just jokes around a lot. He's a jack-of-all-trades you could say, especially since he works for Ranger Inc. and they hire out their employees like mercenaries, no job is too small. He can play almost any guitar, but he prefers the bass guitar. Rick, Kit and Lastic own a jazz club together and the apartment above it. Between the club, Rick's contract jobs and the club itself and these small gigs, they somehow manage to keep the place going.
The albino rabbit is Rin; she's a real genius. Everything in this little studio, the keyboards the console that controls the music output all that techno stuff, she created. She doesn't go out much, except to find parts for her computer or other projects she's working on. She put that keyboard together too, it can synthesize any sound, or so she says. Since she graduated high school she's been taking courses over the Internet and using video conferencing to take university courses. She's also working for some big name company as a programmer. She hardly ever leaves her apartment, I think she's really shy, but then she probably thinks I'm really nosy.
The dark skinned woman is Lenn. This apartment is Rin's and hers; they converted the living room into a recording studio for the band. Kit introduced us to her when we were trying to get the band started. She's a compositional genius, but beyond that she doesn't have any musical talent; she can't play a musical instrument or sing worth shit unfortunately. That's why I think her parents moved away from Tunlan, I heard you can't speak with them unless you use a musical instrument.
And the charming, handsome, brave and strong man, who is oh-so-mine, that escorted me here? His name's Joshua. We've been dating for a few years now and he sometimes stays over night at my apartment, if you catch my drift. I'm not sure, but I think he works for law enforcement or something, but he won't tell me no matter how many times I ask him.
You're probably wondering what I do in the band, which is called Breath of Fire, by the way. Well, I'm the manager, 'cause I've got the connections. I can get the CD to producers and people like that, because of my Dad. The name 'Wynd' carries a lot of weight in all kinds of places because he's an important business tycoon. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, to live own my own strength, but I find myself running for that name every now and again.
~End SOL~
"If I hadn't I wouldn't be here, Lastic." Nina said. "Please don't tell me your done for the day?"
"Nope, got one last to do before the CD is finished. You ready Kit?" Lenn said.
Kit nodded, Lenn flicked switches and the music (5) began and Kit began to sing.
"What can I do for you?
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can I do for you?
I pictured myself somewhere far in my heart that day
It becomes dark in the distance, but I can no longer return
The shape I saw in my dream
Is different from everything...
I become dizzy from reality
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose...
The only thing I can feel from my heart is to run
You are not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can I do for you?
I won't turn back, I won't rely on you
Because if something happens, you'll always come to me quickly
The only thing I can do now
Is to believe...
The truth is in my heart
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Holds me up...
You taught me everything I know, that is me now
So, I am not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
The feeling of swaying in the real world
Even if you feel it...
If you close your eyes, I will be there...there is a bond between us
So, you are not alone...
The feeling of swaying in the real world
I don't want to lose...
The only thing I can hear from my heart is to run
You are not alone...
What can I do for you?
I can't hear you...
What can't I do for you?
I can't hear you..."
The music died down and Kit looked at Lenn expectantly.
"That was perfect, guys. Our first CD... finally finished." Lenn smiled.
Kit and Lastic embraced, Rick cheered and Rin smiled quietly. They didn't notice the ringing of Joshua's cell phone. He spoke briefly and cursed as he hung up. He tapped Nina on the shoulder to gain her attention.
"What's up, lover?" She asked.
"Bad new, sweets." He smiled sadly. "I just got a call from work and... there's this big job they need me for overseas... I wont be around for the holidays I'm afraid."
"What? Not even for New Years? But what if something happens?" She said worriedly.
"You don't really buy into that doomsday shit do you? Nothings gonna happen, just keep my presents in one piece until I get back, okay?" He said, kissing Nina on the forehead before walking out.
"Well... crap. Hey guys, can one of you give me a lift home?" Nina smiled sheepishly.
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"Keep watch only for the giants and you'll be eaten by the ants." (Sneaky Homunculus, Magic: The gathering)
Music for this chapter: 'Real Emotion' (Final Fantasy X-2)
1)- SOL: Scenario OverLay system, a reference to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. In this case it is used to indicate a change of narrator to one of the story characters. In most cases it will be Nina. Since they are looking back on the events, it will still be, for the most part, in the past tense.
2)- The clans and their powers have diminished greatly due to breeding with other species. These days some clans are indistinguishable from regular humans. For instance, those of the Wing Clan (Windians) have completely lost their wings. However, there are still clans that retain some of their animal appearance, such as the Woren or Forest Clan.
3)- The character Lastic is based on an artist friend of mine named Lastic the Cat. It's a sort of thanks for drawing some stuff for me.
4)- The character Rick is based on my little brother Ricky. Why? Because I felt like it.
5)- This song is the translation of the song 'Real Emotion' from FF X-2. Proving once again, that when it comes to music, I am a listener and not a composer.