New Acquisitions
Haruna was sitting in the Church, waiting for Aeris as she'd been doing every few days since first meeting her there (though, avoiding Reno's, Kunzel's, and Zack's frequent visits had been fun until she'd worked out their general pattern). The twelve-year-old was just so insistent she join her, and she hadn't had the heart—or the desire—to stop. After all, she'd never have another opportunity to be so open and friendly with the girl, to spend so much time with her without endangering her. And it really was that her presence wasn't putting the girl in danger. As Airmed told her, she was so happy, both versions of her, to have her 'big brother' back, even if her 'brother' was now in the form of a 'sister'. It had also been making it easier to manage the voices of the Lifestream, and to just not let the influx affect her.
That day was one where she'd gotten there early after a good day and a quick shut-down, and she was beginning to wonder if something had happened to Aeris because of how long past their usual meeting time she'd had to wait. However, as she was about to rise from her seat on the 'altar' (at the statue's feet), the door opened and Aeris stepped in—followed by her adoptive mother, Elmyra. For as much as she was shocked, Elmyra wasn't supposed to know Haruna's actual identity, so she couldn't let the woman know she knew her.
"Aeris, who is this?" she asked a bit warily of the grinning girl.
"My mom, Elmyra Gainsborough. You said about a week ago that you had no one to take over if you and your partner at the shop had to go on a business trip, so I thought Mom could do it. Here's some of the things she's made to keep us fed and all since her husband's death—I never met him, though," Aeris grinned as she walked forward and offered a bag full of cloth to Haruna. There was amusement in her eyes, but her mother's widened in shock.
"...You didn't tell her, did you?" Haruna asked tiredly, and Aeris giggled. The Wutain woman sighed and met the older woman's gaze to ask, "So, are you willing to try for a job in a textiles shop on the Plate, Mrs. Gainsborough?"
Blinking again, the woman gave her a faintly amused look and said, "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you think I have a chance. What's your name? I had no idea my daughter had a Wutain friend."
"Haruna Hayashi. I own a textiles shop which opened recently called Stitching Rainbows. It's been more popular than expected, especially since I didn't make much effort to advertise it, and sales trips are a very likely future event. Unfortunately, there's only two of us, and she'd have to join me on the trip, leaving the shop untended. I had one very bad day and somehow ended up here, where Aeris and I started talking, so I've kept coming back every so often. You do tailoring?" the Wutain asked.
"I do," Elmyra agreed, stepping closer and choosing a front-row pew to sit in. "Usually in basic fabrics like common cotton and wool, but sometimes I can get my hands on better fabrics to make formal clothing with. If that bag has samples of my work, it should be sufficient. Aeris is normally quite good at choosing the right things to show off someone's skills."
Haruna had to smile at that, knowing it was true, but she was curious about more than that (she'd peripherally known the woman did tailoring, but had never looked further before, and for the shop and her future infiltration plans, it actually mattered), so asked, "Does that mean you're good at recognizing types and quality of fabrics?"
"I wouldn't say I know them all, but I could certainly learn," the woman offered in a thoughtful tone. "Of the ones I know, I can definitely tell good quality from poor, which is mostly cotton, wool, satin, and velvet. I especially like satin, even if silk would be better—I've only been able to work with silk twice, so I'm not very familiar with it. I know embroidery as well, but for this part of town, I only really use it on formal clothes, not everyday wear. How much would I be paid, and would it be by day or hour, or...?"
"I have a set hourly wage usually starting no lower than two hundred gil per, but depending on what Maya thinks of your skills as well, that might be higher. You can choose to collect it at the end of the day, after one week, or after two (1). If you would actually be taking over for us because we're not here, you would be working every day for full days, including extra time for start-up and shut-down. If you're willing to do this and Maya thinks you can be our second tailor, we may be able to find a second person with no particular skills to handle the till and taking orders so you're not having to literally do everything yourself. May I have a look at this, then?" she asked as she held up the bag.
"Go ahead," Elmyra agreed, and Aeris sat beside her happily.
They kept talking about other business questions—response to situations, business experience (formal and informal), expectations, education, and so on, as Haruna opened the bag and gently began taking articles of clothing out of it. Each one, she checked for the cut, the seams, and the details the way Maya had taught her, and was largely seeing a slightly less refined version of what kind of work Maya typically did. The last item—a formal dress in satin—however, showed her that the lack of quality stitching had more to do with the materials than with the skill of the tailor, because the satin dress was just like what Maya did.
"So far, I like what I'm seeing," she said at last, bundling the dress up and returning it, and all the other clothing, to the bag. "We're done with our work day today, so if you have time to join us for supper, I can show this to Maya as well and see what she thinks. You could start tomorrow, even, so she and I can start taking days off if she likes your work, too. Of course, if you come with me for supper, Aeris is welcome as well."
That made Elmyra nervous as she glanced at a hopeful Aeris, but she asked slowly, "Whereabouts is the shop and your home?"
Knowing it had been set up to be commonly outside Shinra's eyes, she readily answered, "Both are in Sector Five, the shop near the outer edge of the shopping district and my home in the middle of the residential area near it. The traffic there is generally lower to upper middle class, largely housewives and students, occasionally some working men and women, and rarely someone from the upper class. By now, the streets will be mostly clear, so the walk from the station won't take long."
After another few moments, Elmyra slowly agreed, "All right. Could we also stop by the shop so I can see where it is on the way?"
"Of course," Haruna agreed, rising and tossing the bag to Aeris. "You keep that, Imp, since you're the one who brought it here in the first place."
"Of course!" the girl grinned happily, pulling the bag against her and wrapping her arms around it to carry it as the three made their way to the station. "Yay! We get to have supper somewhere other than home!" Aeris cheered with a twirl more than once on the way. It had been a very long time since 'Tseng' had seen her so happy.
Both older women just gave her amused, indulgent looks as they talked about happenings both above the Plate and below it. Airmed sent Haruna an amused sense which just made Haruna mentally flip her off—and produced out-right mental laughter in response.
MB
Genesis and Kunzel had been searching through the jungle north of the town for hours that day already, and it was going to be dark again soon. It shouldn't have been so hard to find a Blue Dragon—which usually looked more purple than blue—in a tropical forest. They were northern creatures, like Behemoths, so it was always bad news when they came south—it was pretty obvious monsters got heatstroke, especially if they were from very northern, and always cold, climates. Their insanity from the heat resulted in attacks which otherwise wouldn't happen, which they were dealing with just then. And this Dragon had attacked the town directly, so it couldn't be put off.
But still, how could a massive, Blue Dragon hide in a tropical forest? It wasn't like they blended in to the environment!
They had made their way inland and towards a short cliff which stood about six feet tall—they could probably jump it by exerting themselves, but that was more effort than either he or Kunzel wanted to put in just then. And they ended up not needing to as something roared furiously from above them, and they looked up—to see the very object of their search diving at them, wings curled close to its body as it picked up speed.
The two men's eyes widened as they jumped apart and re-balanced just in time to have it snap its wings apart and create gale-force winds which knocked them off their feet. The Dragon's landing also threw up a shock wave which pushed them even further apart, and shoved Genesis back against the cliff hard enough to daze him so he dropped to the ground, sitting with his back to the cliff. Above him, something snapped, and the next thing he knew, a branch landed beside him, showering him with twigs, leaves, and dust—as an egg he thought was a Chocobo egg landed in his lap.
Lightning crackled, making him glance up to find the Blue Dragon—
Only to see Kunzel's Limit Break dragon curled around the offending monster, electrocuting it as the Third threw Bolt spell after Bolt spell at it. The Dragon was nearly dead already, so his lips quirked and he debated setting the egg aside and rising—
Until it shook and tipped back and forth in his lap.
Blinking down at the offending pale, red-spotted, yellow-hued egg, he watched in something like fascinated horror as it began cracking open, and very quickly split down the middle so both halves of the egg fell to either side of the chick—and drenching him in goop from in the egg. He was very much not happy being covered in slimy goop, so lit himself—and the chick—on fire in the name of getting that damned stuff off him. Apparently, as the goop burnt away, the chick enjoyed the burning warmth and cooed as it turned to look at him happily, chirping what was clearly a greeting.
As the chick dried, that was also when he realized it didn't look at all like a Chocobo chick (which looked a lot like a large chicken chick), because it looked more like a...bird of paradise chick? It had mostly pale reddish baby down right then, and quickly made itself comfortable on his lap as it cooed happily. As he looked at it again, he paled and muttered, "Oh, Goddess, a Firebird (2) chick!"
That was when he registered full-throated, amused laughter from Kunzel, and realized there was no longer any noise from the Dragon, so he glanced up to see the named man standing a few feet away, the corpse of the Dragon behind him. Then, he looked back down at the chick in his lap and sighed.
"I just got adopted, too, didn't I?" he asked of Kunzel.
"I don't think a bird imprinting on you could be taken any other way, Genesis," Kunzel answered in amusement. "I've never seen a bird quite like that one, though. Is it a bird of paradise chick? I don't think they're that big, are they?"
"They're not. This is a very, very rare and as rarely seen Firebird chick," the older man informed him. "I think the people of Mideel and Banora, and the other villages in this area, are the only ones who even acknowledge them. On the plus side, no one has ever reported a Firebird attacking them, even though they're monsters, not normal animals."
"...So, do you feed them things like worms?" the younger man asked in surprise.
"No, they like fruit and grain, very soft ones at first, and a mix of soft and solid when older. Er, that is to say, it could probably eat peach or raspberry right now, but would have to wait to eat apple or strawberry," Genesis explained, wondering what he should actually do with the chick. Out in the Banora and Mideel area, it was warm enough to not really need to manually keep it warm at all times, but at night, and when they got back to Midgar...
Then again, it seemed to like his fire, so he supposed he could keep it warm with that...Damn, this little one was going to be demanding...
"Do you think that's why the nest was in this area? Because there are a lot of different fruits here, all types? At least we should be able to find food for it on our way back to town for our flight," Kunzel commented thoughtfully, eying a nearby stand of banana trees.
"Yes, some bananas will do until we get back," Genesis agreed, finally deciding he probably wasn't going to break it by picking it up and using his hands to lift it so he could get up and hold it close against him in one arm. The chick woke with a small peep, resettled itself, and leaned against him to go back to sleep, so he let Kunzel collect a couple clusters of bananas (3) for them, only warning him, "Make sure you check for spiders in the cluster bases—those are ideal hidey-holes for them, and sometimes those spiders even make it to Midgar that way."
"Sure," Kunzel agreed with a surprised blink. "Is that how that poisonous spider called the 'wandering spider' got its name?" He carefully chose two bunches and cut them down with a utility knife he often took on missions with him.
"Most likely," Genesis agreed as he took one bunch and started back for town. Kunzel quickly followed him with the other. "I don't even remember what it was called before that."
"Okay...So what do Firebirds look like when they're grown?" the younger man asked curiously, peering down at the chick.
"It should be mostly gold and red, but who knows—it might have some blue or purple plumage. The overlay of the gold and red with the way its feathers shimmer easily tricks the eye into seeing the full spectrum of yellows, oranges, reds, and golds. And, of course, they can create fire at will, so I suppose it was a shockingly good match. I'm also glad I got this little one while your Coerl is still a kitten—it should accept the bird as a sibling that way, rather than trying to adapt her when she's already grown."
"...Yeah, that would have been a lot harder," Kunzel agreed with a wry grin. "But still—that couldn't have been more hilarious. Aren't you glad I'm a quick study and could handle the Dragon myself?"
"Very," Genesis agreed in amusement. "Speaking of, any progress on choosing her name?"
"I can't seem to narrow it down further than the five I told you last time," Kunzel replied with a bit of a helpless shrug.
"Then test them on her and see if there's one she responds to, or responds favorably to, if she responds to them all," Genesis offered. "I plan to do that with this one, too. Though, probably I'll just test—him? Her?—on each name as I think of it and see how it responds. If I don't get a response after trying several names, I'll think of another way, like taking my favorites, writing them on strips of paper, folding them, and randomly choosing one from, say, a bowl or hat. I'm not sure animals or monsters are quite so unaware of what we're calling them to not respond to one they like, though."
"...You mean, if they don't respond, it's not because they don't understand, but more because they don't care?" Kunzel asked thoughtfully.
"Yes, unless you pick something really, really horrible, and none of your names were," Genesis agreed in amusement. "So try them on her first. She may well tell you which one she likes best."
"Sure thing," the young man agreed, then sighed faintly. "I just hope Zack doesn't make a mess of things..."
"It'll be fine," Genesis answered in amusement, but was interrupted by a demanding, insistent 'cheep' from the bird he carried. Looking down at it, he blinked and commented, "I guess you're already hungry." Another demanding 'cheep' followed as it opened its beak and kept it that way—waiting for something to be put in it. The two men stopped to peel a banana, and Genesis sighed in annoyance as he squished part of it into gooey mush in his hand, then let small bits drip into the chick's mouth. It only needed around half the banana before going back to sleep, so they kept moving.
By the time they got back to the helicopter outside town, they had stopped to feed it a few dozen times, and Genesis had spent the whole time from dusk until dawn (and a bit past that) generating fire to keep it warm. Both had also felt like they were being watched, and judged, all the way back to town as well, but nothing showed itself, so they just kept moving. It was assumed by the fact that they had been left alone that it hadn't been a negative judgment, so they weren't going to push their luck.
They were both thankful for the general heat of the chopper interior by then, and slept well—other than Genesis being woken every fifteen to twenty minutes to feed the chick. Needless to say, they were nearly out of banana by the time they got back to Midgar.
MB
Vincent checked the time on his PHS as he walked with Tifa back to the Shinra building after she'd put in some orders for the last things she needed to properly use her new kitchen in the Turks' cafeteria. He was a little annoyed by the time it had taken, because he was going to be late to meet with Reeve. As they were approaching the building, they saw a taxi driving away after dropping off a Third with many bags—a Third who looked like a younger Zack who was only around fourteen or fifteen years old. The younger man looked a bit distressed as he tried to collect the bags, but it became clear very quickly that he couldn't carry all of them himself, even with the handles. Not in one round, at least.
"What's all that?" Tifa asked as they approached, running over to look in one bag. "Fruit?"
"Yeah, my friend and his Mentor asked me to get all this for them. I guess birds eat a lot?" Zack commented wryly. "But now I can't carry it all..."
"Birds?" Tifa blinked.
With a sigh, Vincent said, "If you're so curious, could I leave you in the Third's care from here and head to my meeting, Tifa? I'm already late."
"Is that okay?" Tifa asked Zack.
In response, he grinned and agreed, "Sure! I don't think they'll mind."
The girl faced him and said, "Then you're good to head to your meeting. Thanks, Vincent!" She then turned back to Zack as he walked away, saying eagerly, "I'll help you carry them, then!"
"Thanks a bunch!" he heard the Third say. "I'm Zack Fair, by the way. You?"
He ignored the rest of it before he was even far enough to not hear it—he really didn't want to get stuck listening in and lose out on making it to Reeve's office in a reasonable time. It didn't take long for him to get inside and to the elevator, where he took it up to Reeve's floor. A pale auburn haired woman apparently named Reva Mitter waited there to show him into the Urban Development Department and to Reeve's office, not saying a word about the fact that he'd been late—in fact, she just gave him a knowing, amused look, her brown eyes expressive. When he got to Reeve's office, the shockingly young man sitting at the desk waved him to a seat as he kept working on some schematics, and a minute later, he finished what he was doing to look up at the Turk with a smile.
"Sorry to make you wait, I had to finish my line of thought before I lost it," Reeve offered, and Vincent just shrugged. "Anyway, I'm Reeve Tuesti, and you must be Vincent Valentine?" The younger Reeve only had a small goatee and his hair was all black. It was actually a little longer than he'd kept it in the future, but the style wasn't too different. He was wearing the navy suit Vincent had first seen him wearing, with a red tie and white shirt, but his hands were smeared with ink and pencil lead—as the leader of the WRO, those stains had largely been absent due to the demands of operating such a large organization. It was strange seeing him as a young man who was maybe twenty years old.
"I am," Vincent agreed mildly. "I was told you wanted to see me, apparently about my arm, but not given any details."
"Ah, that would be because the President demanded Hojo's information on what he did to your arm, and gave it to both Scarlet and myself as second opinions. Both she and I agreed he really hadn't done a good job, and had never fixed it, but Scarlet admitted she didn't know enough about the body to handle the medical elements or how the engineering would affect that and vice versa," Reeve explained, looking surprisingly calm, given who—and what—he was talking to.
He paused for a moment before going on, "So, when I told him the rest of the issues I knew about, the President said it needed to be fixed as soon as I had the tools and supplies I would need to fix it. But, even though I have them, it's still not going to be an instant fix, and today, we have a few things to go over and I have data to collect before I can make you a new arm that actually works properly. Then, I'll be able to start making it."
First, Vincent froze, then blinked slowly once, then twice, and finally a third time before he asked in a winded tone, "You're going to make me try to adapt to a whole new arm when it took me years to adapt to this one as it is?"
"That's a fair question to ask," Reeve agreed. "But that arm is too heavy for your body to sustain it, and if we don't fix it, even your enhancements are going to start wearing out. Because you're—well, apparently somehow already dead, so you can't die again, you'd be left permanently maimed with a shoulder that would be slowly unraveling until it just fell apart into bits and strands of flesh, muscle, and tendons."
Again, the Turk blinked, but his mind drifted back to the odd shifts he'd been feeling from his shoulder in that future, and to how that Reeve had been trying to get him to let him look at his arm so he could make him a new one. Finally, he asked, "What proof do you have of this?"
With a nod, Reeve rose and went to his filing cabinet, where he took out a folder and returned to Vincent to pass it to him. "They're not pleasant, but those are Hojo's notes. I'm honestly disturbed by how gleeful they are, but he pretty much spells out what direction it was going in. I was the one who worked out the 'why' when I realized how much that arm weighs—I'm both shocked and impressed you can even stay upright with so much weight on only one side of your body."
Slowly, Vincent flipped through the file, skimming over most of it while stopping to read the most important parts. While Hojo was an ass, he was usually thorough in recording his observations, and he actually had reason to want to see Vincent suffer (hence both the glee and the extreme detail of the harm it had been doing to him). In that, Hojo's accuracy couldn't be faulted.
Finally, he sighed and nodded slowly, saying, "So you wanted to discuss what, exactly?"
"The arm I would make for you should look mostly like a human arm outwardly, but it could have built-in features you could choose to activate or not," Reeve answered. "I believe Veld also has a prosthetic arm, one which has its own slots—just a couple—for Materia, so that's one thing I could include if you want. I could give you regular fingertips, or retractable claws similar to the ones you already have. If there's something else you may want, I can do that, too, within reason. There are a few options for metals it can be made with as well, which all differ depending on how you want to be able to use it. The frame will be a mythril alloy meant to be durable, but the cover panels—the ones which would take blows—would be able to be more variable, even from one panel to the next. We have to go over all that now so I know what I'm making."
"...That's...more variable, and more complicated, than I would have guessed..." Vincent muttered, and Reeve gave him an amused smile. "So, you also need to measure this arm?"
"I'll take a few measurements around the shoulder, but no," Reeve replied in vague amusement. "It's already a prosthetic which isn't the right dimensions, anyway. What I more need to measure is your surviving arm, because that's what dimensions this arm should have been to start with, just flipped. And yes, there will likely be rehab to do once the arm is replaced, but a lot less by making it correctly and by not leaving the arm off for any length of time. If you went an extended time without one, that would double or triple the required rehab time. And most of your rehab will be things you can do on your own time while still doing most of the things you'd normally do anyway."
"...I see," the Turk mused, thinking through the data—and how free the younger man was being with it. Finally, after several minutes, he sighed and agreed, "Fine, so what do you want to start with first?" He put the folder on Reeve's desk as he prepared to have one of the longest discussions he was likely to ever have. But, if things worked out well, he may just benefit from it in the end.
Reeve's behavior wasn't matching the way people had described him early on, either—he seemed to be behaving more in-line with his older self. Had he also gotten those memories, to behave that way (especially in Vincent's company, since he was pretty much talking to him like a friend) and know medical aspects he'd only learned after forming the WRO?
Notes:
(1) In Japan, at least two of these are feasible and legal ways to pay people, which also means some people in Japan 'work' by going around to service and retail outlets and asking for work for a day or two, and they're paid in cash at the end of the work day. A two-week pay schedule is for a formal, stable employee (usually office jobs), which is the current most common one. I figured since Gaia is a different planet, they'd have an option we don't, hence the one-week schedule I added.
(2) FFVII doesn't have a Firebird, so this was effectively imported at Morganna Saphire Raven's suggestion, though my ultimate description of it was a cross of Firesong's bird in the Heralds of Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey and actual mythology. To be clear, 'firebird' mythology and 'phoenix' mythology are actually different, with only some crossover.
For the purposes of this story, however, Minerva created Firebirds as standard creatures (intelligent and magically-inclined), and Jenova's cells mutated them into monsters like the Needle Kiss or Thunderbird (no one in-story realizes this, though). However, Jenova didn't quite get all the Firebirds, so some went into hiding—in the tropical environment of Banora and Mideel.
(3) I'm sure everyone is thinking about 'bunches' of bananas found in stores, which are usually between five and eight bananas. That's NOT what I'm talking about right now. When bananas grow on trees, they grow in massive clusters often over fifty bananas (and several layers) each, and it was two of THOSE Kunzel cut down. Yes, this bird eats a lot. It's also about the same size as a house cat with a metabolism more than five times that of a cat, and its primary food source is much less filling than meat.