The basement was very quiet, aside from low hum of coolers, creaking of pen against paper, and occasional clacking of keyboard. A perfect place to work, the man mused, writing down last notes on the results he just got from the analyzer, especially on nights like this, when everyone else were otherwise occupied.
Suddenly, silence was interrupted by the sound of heels clicking on stone floor outside the room, and a few moments later a brown-haired head peeked inside.
"Hojo, you're still here? Come on, everyone's waiting!" The woman called, stepping inside. In her long violet dress, she seemed completely out of place in this room, surrounded by crude stone walls and various technical equipment.
The man shrugged, returning his attention to his notes. "I don't see why you cannot celebrate without me."
"Oh," The woman sighed, "You were holed up in this room for most part of the day. Don't you want to take a break?"
"No." He answered.
She walked to the table, leaned on it slightly, looking in his face. He stopped writing, raised his eyebrows at her.
"Come on. Gast is going to give a speech." The woman made big eyes.
"A speech." The man rubbed the bridge of his nose, tilting his glasses upward. "Alright."

The New Year tree, decorated with coloured glass balls, covered in tinsel and shining garlands, was standing in the hall on the first floor of the large mansion, near the big windows facing east. Hollander called the mansion their "home base", Ifalna referred to it as "our lair", Lucrecia affectionately called it "the nest". Professor Faremis and Hojo called it simply "the house".

Hojo would come to the celebration as he was, clothed in lab coat, worn shirt, jeans and sneakers, if Lucrecia would not usher him to his room to change. He grumbled, but complied. Several minutes later, everyone was gathered around the table in the hall, drinks in their hands. Women in their evening dresses - Ifalna in red, Lucrecia in violet; men in suits, though Hollander did not part with his favourite yellow t-shirt even for this gathering.

"Let me congratulate you all", Professor Faremis said, raising his glass, "On the progress we made in the past year."
"The experiments on cell cultures were only the beginning," He continued, "We still have a lot of work before us. Yet already we can imagine all the benefits Jenova Project will bring to humankind. I am very proud of you, ladies and gentlemen."
The clock on the wall began to chime midnight. "Happy New nineteen-seventy-ninth Year!" Gast said.
All four assistants raised their glasses as well, thanking their mentor and congratulating each other.
After everyone finished drinking their wine, Gast added, "You all are aware of the importance of our work. That's why ShinRa is going to take some precautions to make our," He squinted at Hollander, "`Home base` more secure. They are sending additional personnel."
"Additional personnel being?.." Hollander prompted.
"A Turk."
All four exchanged glances.
"I expect all of you," Gast looked at each of his assistants, "To be polite and civil, even if some of you," He looked pointedly at Hojo. "May consider him a nuisance and an imbecile."
Ifalna and Lucrecia giggled. Hojo shrugged. "As long as that Turk will mind his own business," He answered, "There will be no trouble from me."

After the speech, night was going its course. There was music, and Lucrecia even managed to get Hojo to dance; Ifalna later confessed to her that she was surprised he even came to the celebration at all, more so by him actually doing something aside of his usual picking on Hollander.

Tired of dancing, the girls went outside. The weather was cold enough, large snowflakes were lazily drifting from the overcast sky, covering the ground with soft white blanket. In the town below, people were singing and laughing. Lucrecia picked her cigarettes out of her purse and began to smoke. Ifalna did the same. They both were silent for some time, observing the scenery.
"What do you think, Iffie," Lucrecia said at last, "About Hollander's proposal?"
"I think," Ifalna answered, "That we should take more time on in vitro experimentation."
"Hollander insists..."
"I know. Wutai preparing for war, create an advantage, blah-blah-blah. But, Lucy," She turned to face her friend, "This is not something that should be rushed. And," She neatly threw the cigarette butt into the trashcan, "This is not the talk for this night."

Inside, Hollander was talking to Gast, while Hojo stood by the tree, looking out of the window.
"Professor, we have to hurry with the project," Hollander insisted.
Faremis sipped his wine and looked into the glass, as if hoping to find some answers there. His assistant was right, they did not have decades for careful testing. And, actually, the results were so impressive that Gast was ready to give the green light to Hollander's project. The only thing that stopped him was Ifalna's reluctance. He knew her intuition well, and if she said there was something wrong, it was worth it to re-check. Still, if they would not find anything in the next few months, the project would be commenced; Shinra would not wait much longer.
"Your project," Hojo's voice interjected on Gast's musings, "Is just a half-measure. What will really give the result we want, is an injection of the cells into the foetus."
"And what result would that be? A spontaneous abortion?" Hollander asked in mocking tone.
"If applied on the right stage of development, the result will be a human with the powers of an Ancient." Hojo answered coldly. "But apparently your brain is too underdeveloped to understand that."
Professor Faremis smiled under his mustache, still watching the slow swirling of wine in his glass. Between these two, with their constant rivalry, new ideas were born and perfected with impressive speed.

...

Later, Hojo returned to the basement and his work, not even bothering to change, just putting his lab coat over the suit.
Hollander snickered at Hojo's workaholism and went to watch TV. His project was ready to begin, no matter what his rival was saying.
Gast and Ifalna went outside, to walk together in the snow-covered park and discuss the reasons for her uneasiness and their next moves.

Putting her dress back into the wardrobe and preparing to go to bed, Lucrecia Crescent thought that this was her best New Year Eve this far. But there will be even better, she thought, lying in her bed and smiling. She was young, pretty and intelligent, she had the best job and the best colleagues - her friends - around, and all the life ahead of her. What could go wrong?

All in all, the New Year Eve was perfect.