Blood: 9

Nibelheim

Shinra mansion the locals called it; the grand mansion with the intriguing corporate secrets that sat at the top of Nibelheim. Nice use of natural stone, Vincent called it, standing beside the perimeter fence and staring up at it. So, the Science department would be spending the next year in some manner of class. That was something at least.

Presented with a printed briefing that morning, Vincent had some idea of what to expect. He knew nothing about genetic experiments, but knew enough about Professor Gast to realise that it must be quite something this 'Jenova project'. The Professor was nothing short of a genius, his various papers on the ancients good bedtime reading for the other leading experts in the field. His university thesis still stood as one of the main sources of information regarding those weird and wonderful ancients. The most Vincent knew about biology was where to shoot to kill and where to cripple.

He took a whistling breath, folding his arms across his chest and walking through the garden gate. The President had assigned him to 'oversee' the experiment. That meant guarding his charge and rubbishing any questions asked by the locals.

There was a trellis on the front wall, from the roof to the ground. Maybe it would be possible to get up there? Some things from childhood were never forgotten, and climbing had to be one of those things; whether up trees in the forest or Da-Chao, Vincent loved to climb, and had spent a great deal of his childhood in Wutai dragging his younger sisters up and down mountains. That trellis called for further investigation, when no one was around, of course.

"Where do you want this?" He looked over his shoulder to find that one of the Mps had done as he was told and brought his case from the truck.

"Upstairs." Vincent told him, crossing the garden quickly and holding the front door open.

"Fine." Obviously the poor man felt put upon, but that was tough. Vincent needed a little help with his everyday belongings, lugging his rather considerable gun collection around as he was.

From the various accounts of the Science department he had heard over the last few days, he had no idea what to expect. Morris had told him to 'expect the unexpected', so he had picked up every projectile weapon he owned (including the crossbow) and packed them.

Though the others were just trying to help, he felt worse about trailing along with the scientists than he had before. Richards and Evan had told him stories, as had Veld. If anyone would know it was him, the one Hojo always requested, calling him 'the reasonable one'. Even the saturday foreign exchange boy, Tseng, had something to say. He spent all day running files from place to place out of the copy room, so got to see a lot of the Company working. The Science department was no exception.

"I might need that crossbow." Vincent thought to himself, Hojo's two assistants walking by with an opaque cage.

Lucrecia followed them, Vincent inclining his head, partly from politeness, partly to hide behind his feathery fringe. The two of them would be spending a lot of time together over the next year, she as his charge, him as her bodyguard.

At least the poor woman only had his awkwardness to contend with, as opposed to the bad tempered mouthing off and lechery of the two Mps that had been sent along to help him keep things safe. They were hardly necessary in this backwater village.

Lucrecia halted, raising a curious eyebrow at the rucksack slung over his shoulder, "What's in there?"

"Crossbow." He answered curtly, the thing still on his mind. She raised both eyebrows at that, hurrying on her way as Professor Gast caught up to her.

"Morning, Vincent." He greeted the Turk, Vincent nodding respectfully.

It was quite an exciting prospect, seeing live what Professor Gast had up his sleeve this time around.

"Quite a building, isn't it?" Hojo had wandered up, stopping to impose on the lone Turk. "It was built specially for use as an out of town research centre. The people around here aren't too interested in what outsiders do, so they leave this place alone."

"Fascinating." Vincent's veiled sarcasm bit Hojo hard, the scientist going on his way into the mansion and calling to Lucrecia. So, Vincent Valentine was every bit as stuck up as people claimed. Stuck up people should watch themselves. Not everybody was patient enough to deal with them.

Vincent sighed, looking longingly over at the trellis. If he had to spend so long up here did it have to be with THESE people?

Shaking his head, he trailed indoors after them, intent on finding his room and isolating himself there, as soon as he had done one thing...

(NOTE: So, here we are, the Nibelheim incident is underway!)