Sorry about the long wait guys, I don't really have an excuse. Apart from being bone idle I've been playing too many games (FFX being the main contributor), although I've known in my head that I needed to write if I had the time to be doing nothing. I myself don't think that this chapter was worth the wait but I'll leave that up to you readers to decide.
Lena and other OC's belong to me, everything that's uber awesome and FFVII belongs to Square T_T
It was here. It had come – the white envelope containing the results of her interview. Outcomes of this moment had run through her mind during the time she had to wait for it, none of them matched what she was doing at the anticipated moment of time.
Lena stared. She didn't move or speak, just kept her eyes glued onto that letter lying in front of the door. It almost seemed innocent, lonely, but she knew better. As soon as she opened that slip of paper she would get her results and then she would know the outcome of her interview...Except she didn't want to know.
If she hadn't of been focusing on it so much the teen would have noticed that Faro had emerged from his room and was currently staring at her. It was a strange enough sight seeing the younger of the two awake at this hour, never mind awake and staring seemingly at the floor. Not once had he seen both occurring at the same time before.
"Uh, Lena? Are you okay...?" Faro questioned, cautiously reaching out to try shake his friend out of her stupor. Before the male's hand could even touch her, Lena's hand had shot out to grasp it. She turned to face her friend, eyes unblinking, before whispering in a strained voice "It's here."
Confused, Faro looked between the brunette and the letter still sitting on the floor where it had landed after being pushed through the letter box. The small, red logo printed onto the corner of the envelope caught his eye. The distinctive logo of the Shinra company. Now he understood. Shaking his head Faro picked up the letter, waving it in Lena's face. A smirk grew on his face as the teen flinched away from the harmless package. "Come on, stop being stupid. Just open it."
Lena scowled as she followed her friend into the living room. She watched as the letter was placed on the coffee table, her letter opener sitting next to it. She didn't need the small knife but she liked to use it for the sake of using it. She wasn't sure what but something about opening letters with the job specific blade appealed to her. Maybe it was her childhood dream of one day being able to use a sword but she didn't know.
Allowing herself to sink into the cushions of the sofa she took a hold of the coarse white paper. Lena knew that she had to stop being stupid, just as Faro had said. Picking up her letter opener she hacked into the envelope, managing to thoroughly destroy it while somehow keeping the majority of the contents intact.
Pulling the contents free of their confines the teen looked over the details. She saw the usual formalities that would accompany this kind of thing, and then she saw it. The words that had decided her fate. Groaning loudly in despair she failed to notice Faro's presence enter her range again. Plucking the loosely grasped letter the elder looked over the printed text.
"What are you in such a slump about? You've got the job; shouldn't you be celebrating and rubbing the fact you'll be escaping from my 'smelly' socks in my face?" Faro questioned, resting the letter on his friend's head.
"It says I have to meet with someone at the Shinra building at six..." Sinking even further into the sofa Lena groaned once more. Little attention was paid to the letter that had drifted to the floor due to the movements.
Taking a sip from his coffee Faro stared at his friend, he knew of her terrible sleeping habits: going to bed late in the morning, waking up in the afternoon, and sometimes the opposite even though he'd rarely seen that before today. "I'm failing to see what the problem is."
"Six in the morning Faro! In the morning! I can't wake up at that time, it's ungodly!" Throwing her arms up in the air Lena sluggishly pulled herself up to stand, purposely treading on the letter as she made her way back towards the short flight of stairs. Anything that Faro might have said to her was lost; she was too busy complaining to herself in her mind about the time she had to get up the next day.
She needed her tea and sandwich.
Leaping out of bed with a banshee-like scream Lena attacked the alarm clock, succeeding in disconnecting it from the wall socket. Although silence reigned through the apartment the insistent beeps from the now lifeless mechanism rang in the teen's mind. Normally she wouldn't have reacted as such, the regular routine being to turn the alarm off, roll over, and fall back asleep. That was when she'd had more than two hours sleep however.
Lena rolled herself out of bed and onto the cold floor, groaning in discomfort at the combination of the impact of the drop and the sudden dive in temperature. This was her early morning wake up technique.
Pushing herself to her knees after rolling onto her stomach, the brunette glared at her bedside table. Ever since she'd moved in with her friend Lena had found that the patterns in the wood grain made a grinning face, at least to her it did, and every time she did her early morning routine it grinned at her, laughing at her misfortune.
"Go to hell, stupid piece of tree." Lena grumbled. After deciding that she was getting too cold she used her irritation to spur herself on, stomping into the bathroom for her first round of washing. The first round was always in the morning and the second before she got into bed; if she didn't follow the routine she knew she'd feel horrible and dirty later in the day or in the morning.
What was only minutes felt like an hour as the brunette stumbled out of the small bathroom. Although she was finally wide awake she'd succeeded in jamming her side into the wash basin again, tingles running up and down her leg from the impact and causing pins and needles in her foot. Despite experiencing her current discomfort she thanked herself for preparing her outfit the night before.
After wearing the outfit she'd pulled together the day she'd gone for the interview she found that she loved it. She'd worn it nearly every day and whenever it got dirty she washed it, much to Faro's dismay. Her friend was irritated that his water bill had gone up so Lena had to wear other combinations of clothes, saving her favourite outfit for special occasions such as today.
Before it had even registered in her own mind, Lena was already dressed and making her way towards the elevator. She couldn't recall when she'd left the apartment but could remember clearly the now worse throbbing in her side when she'd fallen while getting dressed, her side meeting with the corner of her bedside table. If she was 'special' she would think that the wash basin and bedside table were conspiring against her, and although she did have her slow moments she wasn't that slow.
Pressing the call button for the elevator the teen pulled out the letter she'd received. Looking it over properly for the first time she saw that she had to meet with someone named Angela Tompkins. The surname struck a chord in her mind somewhere but she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. Shrugging she walked into the elevator as the bell chimed, signalling it's arrival.
Lena glanced at the electronic clock above the doors briefly and bent down to tie her laces properly; she'd need to hurry if she wanted to get to her destination on time and that meant she couldn't have loose shoes unless she wanted to lose them on the way.
"You'll be assigned to the residential floors. Everything you'll need should be in the storage rooms on the sixty–third floor, if not then just ask another one of the staff and they'll help you out. You'll be given your key card when you're done here. Do you have any questions?" Angela looked behind her to make sure that the younger of the two was following. During the time that she'd been showing the teen around she'd hardly heard a word out of her apart from the initial introductions.
"Which floor's the residential floor? And what floor is this?" Lena asked. Since she'd arrived in the building she'd felt uneasy. In her attempt to figure out why she felt how she did she'd spaced out, all floors and the majority of instructions failing to sink in. She knew she should have paid attention but she couldn't help it, at least that's what she told herself.
"The residential area starts at floor thirty-two and ends at fourty-five and we're still in the lobby. Of course you won't be working on them on your own and to keep things from getting too repetitive those of you working on those floors will work on a rota. When you arrive tomorrow you'll need to go to the office to find out which floors you'll be cleaning on each day. Are you following me so far?" Calling the elevator as the two women reached it Angela turned to face the younger. She'd noticed the spaced look earlier but if she truly hadn't noticed they were both still on the ground floor then she was going to have a problem.
"Work on a rota, report to the office." Lena looked around; they were indeed still in the lobby. She knew she'd blame her lack of attention on how uneasy she was feeling despite that she knew that wasn't the case.
Moving automatically the teen only registered that she was in the glass elevator when the doors sealed themselves in front of her. Maybe it wasn't her anxiety but her lack of sleep that was the cause of her inattentiveness, the conclusion for this discovery brought up by the fact she was fascinated by how shiny Angela's hair was. Due to the fact that she was entranced by her appearance of the elder's hair she missed seeing which floor they were headed to.
"We'll get you your uniform and then you'll be free to do whatever you like." One thing that Lena never failed to hear despite what might be ailing her was a dismissal. Whenever she was at school or doing a job she would be out of the door as soon as she was dismissed, she loved her free time and thought she always would.
"Fine by me." Shrugging nonchalantly Lena looked upwards to see the electronic number telling her which floor she was on. She could tell that the elevator probably cost more than most of the apartment building her and Faro were living in just from that one panel.
Directing her attention away from rapidly changing numbers the teen focused her gaze outside. The glass elevator made her nauseous but seeing the city from the height she was at amazed her. If it wasn't for the view occupying her mind she would be on the floor trying not to be sick, heights were never her forté.
Facing back toward the doors as the elevator bell chimed in her ears Lena was surprised to see someone on the other side of the doors. The most prominent features of the stranger were the blonde hair and white lab coat which contrasted with his tanned skin. There was something familiar about him though, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Lena made a mental note to buy some pain killers on her way back to the apartment, with all the thinking she'd be doing she'd need it.
"Run out of sterilising agents again Dan? With the way its being used you'd think this place was a hospital!" Angela laughed at her own little joke as she pushed her companion out of the small space, joining her a moment later as she swapped places with Dan.
"With the way the professor runs his lab it might as well be. I won't bore you with the details; I need to get moving anyways. Still up for coffee as usual later?" Repositioning the box under his arm Dan pressed a button on the elevator panel as Angela nodded. Just before the elevator doors could close properly the male sent a questioning glance at Lena, causing her to send her own in return. Had he only just noticed her now? If that was the case then she was going to be annoyed, she wasn't one for being in the spotlight but she certainly didn't like being overlooked.
"Come on then, let's get you your uniform." All thoughts of the assumed scientist flew out of Lena's head. The word 'uniform' was now unconsciously connected to being able to go home and she knew she wanted to. The teen slowed her pace so she wasn't so close to Angela's heels, she didn't want to seem eager about the job never mind over-eager.
Angela led the brunette into a small room just to the right of the elevator and began to rummage through some boxes. It wasn't until after she'd destroyed the order of the first couple that she found what she was looking for. Pulling out a light blue overcoat the woman yelled in triumph, holding it out to be taken.
"That's all you're required to wear for your uniform, it might not seem much but with how much work we have to do you'll be glad it's just that." Taking the light material Lena noted that there was a thin layer of dirt on it, probably from the other things it was stored with, or so she speculated.
"This is all I need to wear?" Turning the garment in her hand the teen caught sight of the size on the inside tag, she was surprised that it was her size but what surprised her more was that Angela knew that it was, she hadn't told the older woman what size she would need.
"Yepp, nobody cares what else you wear with it but it's your own fault if you come to work and hurt yourself because you weren't wearing practical clothing." Angela closed the tops to the boxes she'd rummaged through, leaving the contents in disarray before making her way back to the elevator. Lena followed moments later after concluding her inspection of her 'uniform'.
"How come you're not wearing yours?" Lena held her overcoat out to the elder to show what she was talking about. One problem she had at times was that she didn't specify what she was talking about so whoever she was having a conversation with either had to ask or guess.
"I'm actually having my week off. I had to come in to get you sorted out though; none of the others could be bothered, lazy bunch. Here, take this while I remember." Angela pulled a card out of her pocket and held it out to the brunette.
Taking the slender object Lena looked it over. It didn't appear to be too special but it was shiny and that made her want to store it immediately. Whenever she gained anything that seemed both nice and shiny she had the urge to hide it away so that it wouldn't become damaged and lose its shine. Faro always teased her about it but when his nice things got damaged she got to laugh much to his annoyance.
"That's the key card that'll allow you to get up here. Unless you want to take the stairs you'll need it to get to this room and the ones below. You'll get any key cards you'll need if in the off chance you need to go any higher for work. Keep that safe though, it might only get you up to here but there are some people who'd pay a lot for them just to infiltrate the building." Lena nodded and slipped the card into her trouser pocket. She didn't watch the news, it bored her to no end, so she didn't know that there were people out there that would wish to do harm to Shinra. Even though she herself wasn't the biggest fan of the company she didn't want to do anything drastic, although she had had thoughts about it. Sure, she'd heard of the apparent damage the reactors did but she wasn't too concerned with that, if the planet was to die due to them it would probably happen in another generation's time, at least that's what she thought.
The electronic elevator bell chimed and Lena and Angela stepped into the enclosed space. Now that she had her uniform she could go home, and home meant bed and sleep. Looking at the clock above the lit buttons she nearly screamed out loud. She had to get up after having little to no sleep, commute on a journey that felt like forever and it was only one in the afternoon. Never had a day felt like it'd dragged on as much as this.
During her thoughts of sleep the bell signalling the end of the elevator ride jingled. Once again Angela had to act and remove the teen from the lift, shaking her head as she seemed to return to the present.
"Now that we're done making sure you're ready for work you're free to do as you please. I just hope you'll be able to fill your quota when the time comes." Lena frowned; she didn't miss the emphasis when 'hope' was said. Did she really seem that spacey? She didn't mean to, she didn't even realise she was doing it when she'd had as little sleep as she'd had.
Waving a goodbye to Angela the teen made her way out of the lobby, she didn't wish to say goodbye verbally - she didn't think she could. Lena couldn't deny that she was disappointed; she had thought that Angela would have more faith in her even if her first impression wasn't the best. Shaking her head of her thoughts she tucked her uniform under her arm and prepared herself for the long journey home. She'd soon enough be home and then in bed and she vowed she'd sleep the whole day away if she had to.
Well, there you have it. Please leave a review if you have a minute spare, much appreciated.