Test
Vincent was a cross between highly amused—so amused he actually wanted to start laughing—and extremely annoyed—to the point where he wanted to bang his head on the wall. In there was also some utter exasperation, and in the end, because he could neither laugh nor bang his head on the wall (not without someone, probably Rufus, sending him for a psych evaluation), he turned to expressing the exasperation in the form of a sigh and a permanent annoyed twitch of his brow. The worst part was that he'd always known about the problem, and even the real reason behind it—besides just the cost of fixing it.
Rufus hadn't asked him yet, and he was wondering if the blond ever would.
Right then, he and Rufus were in Veld's office as the younger man did some planning on a paper in front of him, trying to work out the ordering of the items in the storage rooms for the combat personnel. And, once again, Rufus was trying to over-load shelves too tall to be useful to those same combat personnel.
"Rufus, stop adding the extra shelf on the top, and stop trying to fill it with things we use all the time," Vincent told him in annoyance.
"But—" the young man began, looking up with a cross expression.
Vincent rose and said, "Come with me. You've already made an incorrect assumption about our storage, as the Turks, and you're trying to put too many things in each small storage room when you shouldn't be. The only things which should be in a training room's storage are a variety of practice weapons, and the floor storages should have viable weapons, gear, and Materia in easy reach—we prep for missions from them. Let me show you what our storage has always been like, courtesy of your mother. I don't think she realized building storage wasn't the same."
The blond grabbed his papers and followed Vincent out of the office and to the main storage room on the Turks' floor, with all its shelves of bracer-armor, weapons, Materia, and even items for combat—potions and effect or damage items. The state of the room made Rufus stare in wide-eyed shock, and while it wasn't 'perfectly' organized, every similar type of item was in the same general area of the shelves. Those shelves also only went up to about Vincent's eye level, and there was a stool in the corner for short Turks to stand on to peruse the top shelf.
Weapons racks were set along two of the walls, and some weapons were on the shelves as well, but those were, for the most part, laid out neatly in rows of similar types of weapons. Bracers were similarly laid out in mostly neat rows. What wasn't in the room was actual 'practice' gear, only very real and powerful bracers and weapons. Near the entrance to the room, most of the shelf space had been appropriated by rows upon rows of various healing items. The most 'disorganized' part of the room was how Materia and the various combat items were in bins of similar items, which you then had to sift through to find the ones you wanted.
"The bins—" Rufus began to say.
"The bins of goods we honestly don't switch out much, and once we've chosen something from them, we generally keep—or use up—the item or items we took," Vincent replied flatly. "We tend not to go into those bins when we're in a rush because we don't need to—they're meant for very specific mission prep, which we're taking time to assess and prepare things we normally wouldn't use for it. By extension, we actually want them to be in a general bin or a few which we can sift through as we ponder how we can combine things in unusual ways."
For several long moments, Rufus stared at him, then looked around the room again, and said, "If you had another shelf, you could have so much more in here—"
"Is anything actually missing?" the undead Turk asked in annoyance.
"Practice weapons—" the blond began.
"Which are all neatly arranged in the storage rooms directly off our training rooms. They don't need to be in this room because they won't help us with mission prep," Vincent told him flatly. "We don't need anything more in here, and some of the shorter Turks won't even be able to see the top shelf with the stool if you add another level to the shelves."
"Okay, what about your paperwork and things like pens and staples?" Rufus glared.
"We get clerical to send up anything office-related we need, and one of the unused offices down the hall has shelves of the paperwork specific to our department in it—forms for various things. We let the printing department know when we need more, and they send clerical up with them, so we can then put them where they need to be," the Turk informed his charge.
It was a rare occasion when Rufus looked stymied, but he did just then, and Vincent once again had to fight the urge to laugh. It took the younger man a long time of staring between him and the organized room before he finally asked, "So is SOLDIER storage this organized?"
"No," Vincent replied. "But theirs should be similar to this. That also means the height of the shelves."
Rufus' brow furrowed. "What would be different?"
"Primarily? They'll want bins which are smaller and hold only one item, not a mix of several. For example, they'll actually want their Ice Materia separate from their Restore Materia and their Cauldrons separate from their Grenades. You can get specialized shelving units for those kinds of items, with several rows and columns of small-ish bins to put items like Materia in so each type is separate. Though, you may also need to have one bin which is for any kind of uncommon item which doesn't fit in the common categories. Contain and Comet are both so rare they could both go in that without too much confusion over it or overly much digging to find out what all is there."
A silence followed before Rufus turned and left the room, Vincent following him in exasperation—and it was only then when he thought to wonder where Dark Nation had gotten off to. He'd been with them up until they'd gotten into the hall earlier. When they got back to the Turks' main office, he had his answer—both he and Rufus could hear giggling as they walked up—because when they reached the door, they could see Shelke playing with Tyra and Dark Nation as Cloud and a blond Academy student watched in mild amusement and fondness.
"Miss Emerio?" Rufus asked her in confusion, and she looked up at the pair in the door in mild surprise.
"Hello, Mr. Shinra," she replied with a smile as Cloud eyed them with an annoyed look. Vincent had to wonder why.
"New friend, Cloud?" Rufus asked in a dry tone.
"I was told to bring her back here for Turk testing—she was able to identify our agent earlier," Cloud replied, meeting Vincent's gaze. "She's also supposed to be code-named Emma if she passes."
"Ah," Vincent answered, suddenly shifting from exasperated to exhausted.
"By the way—did you happen to hear of someone approving a makeover for our munchkin?" the younger blond asked, making both Rufus and Vincent blink in confused surprise—but then Vincent realized their only current 'munchkin' was Yufi.
"No, but I think Ansha keeps track of those kinds of details. I'll ask her if she knows about it," the black haired Turk offered.
He watched the student's brow rise as she commented, "Makeover. Let me guess, you and 'Claudia' aren't actually related?"
That made Cloud drop his head into his hand with a groan and a small, "That's all it took for you to figure it out?" as Vincent's brow rose into his hairline.
"...Cloud, what does she mean?" the black haired man asked warily.
"The munchkin went and got a makeover that makes her look like a female version of me with slightly more ordered hair and slightly darker skin. On the up-side, I think the two of us earned some pity from Fuhito for 'our parents not being very original when they named us'..." Cloud sighed. "You can thank her and our agent for that story, though. It was our munchkin who picked the name Claudia."
"...So where is she now?" Vincent asked, still feeling very wary. Having her out in the city at large without an escort wasn't a good thing, especially not with her habit of snatching things randomly. Much like Sly, for that matter...
"Having an ice cream party with Aeris, Hokuto, Tifa, and Elena." As Cloud said the last name, his lips quirked—and both Vincent and Rufus froze in shock.
"Elena...?" Rufus asked warily.
"She's my younger sister, top combat class student—but only thirteen, so she can't apply to the Turks yet," Maria filled in.
Rufus closed his eyes and began muttering curses, and Vincent—who could hear him clearly thanks to his enhancements—wanted to laugh again. Instead, he sighed and commented, "It's rare for two members of the same family to aim for the same job."
"We already knew that," Maria agreed. "But then, Tseng's been my best friend for years and an older brother—and sometimes crush—of my sister's for about as long. We aimed to join the Turks partly to keep that bond with him."
"Hey, not to be really rude, but does anyone know when Reno and Tifa will be back?" Shelke asked suddenly. Since she was in her Academy uniform and there were two bags on the floor by Reno's desk, he had to wonder why her sister wasn't there.
"I can't say with Reno," Vincent answered. "Tifa should be back soon to start on supper. Why?"
"I made the feather hats for Hex and Sly!" she grinned, going to one of the bags and opening it to pull out one of the 'hats'. Vincent's first response was to wonder what made the thing she held a 'hat', but Cloud began laughing—openly, happily laughing!
In a way, he didn't blame the boy.
The 'hat' had something like a headband which could be tied in place to which some leather and feathers had been woven onto—the effect going back from the band was somewhat like a net, and each net crossing had a feather. The look sleeked it back in a nice curve with a rough edge made by the feathers sticking out a bit at the back edge (since feathers themselves didn't curve). At the part of the headband which was near the bottom (just above a human's ear, probably) were a couple of tassels, each with a feather attached to them. A closer look showed beads holding the feathers to the leather strings—on the one she held, they were black and green. (1)
"Cloud, don't laugh!" Shelke pouted.
"Those are—very interesting 'hats'!" Cloud replied, still trying to stop laughing—which was really only resulting in him laughing harder and tearing up in the process.
"But they are! We had them back in my hometown—people wore them for special occasions! That's where I learned to make things with feathers, anyway!" she answered, still pouting.
"Well, if Hex and Sly like them, I suppose that's what's important..." Rufus commented in a strained tone that made Vincent think he was also holding back laughter.
"Well, if a pair of raccoons leave those on for more than five minutes, you can probably say they do like them," Maria commented, lips twitching in amusement. "So, who killed the Zuu you got all those from?"
"Nobody killed a Zuu!" Shelke glared at her. "We just collected them off the ground—Sly and me. Reno had no idea what to do with them, so he's going to pass them on to me so I can make stuff with them. Except for some feathers Sly and the other Turk pets wanted to keep. Actually, I think Sierra hijacked one or two from my pile of them, too, so some SOLDIER pets like them, too."
"Fair enough," Maria agreed, then turned back to Vincent. "So, do I get tested now, or wait for the rest of the Turks to get back?"
"I can give you part of the test now—there's an obstacle course you'll have to run, and Cloud and I can both observe that. You're just lucky Cloud's registered as an able combatant, even if he's only Turk staff, not one of our number directly," Vincent offered. "Shall we, Miss Emerio?"
At her agreement, Shelke shoved the 'hat' back in the bag she'd taken it from, gathered both bags, and followed him, Cloud, Maria, and even Rufus, from the room and to the one where they had the obstacle course set up. By extension, Dark Nation and Tyra followed them, too. As the others settled against the wall to watch, Maria moved to the starting line of the course as she did a few stretches in the process of the walk. At the line, she stood braced with her feet a bit apart but otherwise relaxed—and when the start signal (a green light) turned on, she immediately bolted off the starting line.
The group all watched her intently, Shelke mostly just impressed and amazed, Rufus surprised and thoughtful, and Vincent and Cloud assessing her actual ability. For someone who hadn't been in the advanced course Neirine—Cissnei—had been in, she was actually very good as she dipped, wove, dodged, and scrambled through the course. What things she hadn't yet perfected could be, probably in short order, and the things she needed to have at a minimum skill all either met or exceeded the requirement. Even if she was only fifteen, she was physically qualified, especially for someone whose main weapon was a handgun.
When she finished, she paused at the end, then began some stretches—but Vincent noticed her grimacing several times as she did, and he was sure he knew what the cause had been. Beside him, Cloud commented, "I was right—the trick ball hit her ribs. Probably pretty hard. That means, if she's only feeling it now, she can either shut off the pain or she's got easy access to the clear-mind combat zone."
"It could have been the adrenaline spike," Vincent pointed out.
"She'd have winced when it hit if that was the case. She didn't," Cloud returned, and Vincent had to admit he had a point. For Turks, normally the reason for 'not feeling pain' came from the state of clarity in battle most often called 'the zone', and he hoped that was the case with her, too.
Finally, she moved off the finish line, and the others began rising to meet her, Vincent asking, "So, what did you think of it?"
"It's a challenge," she replied, head tipped to the side as she winced a bit again. "I know I took a hit, and while I know there's a way to get around that, I don't know it yet. I'd really like to figure it out, though."
That made Vincent's lips quirk in amusement, but he said, "Since this is actually a 'public floor' and we don't keep these rooms locked, you can come back and try again later, whether or not we hire you. Just make sure you bring along a spotter in case something goes very wrong." He gave her a nod, then said, "We'll go back to the office while I grab the written portion for you. When I give it to you, I'll also instruct you on your task, and you'll write it privately in Veld's office—even I won't be there while you do."
"Does that mean I'm allowed to raid the office files for data?" she asked with an amused grin.
Vincent's brow rose as Cloud snickered, but he headed for the door as he motioned her to follow him. She did, the others following her, as he told her, "That's one of the questions I'm not at liberty to answer, period."
She blinked and asked, "You can't say 'yes' or 'no' to something like that? What about cheating?"
"You're trying out for the Turks, Maria," Cloud told her in exasperation. "There's such a thing as honor, but there's also such a thing as investigation. I never had to do these official tests, so my best take on Vince's answer is that the question can't be answered because you have to use your own better judgment based on your specific task—because I'm sure the Turks aren't all given the same thing or things to do. That's also why they leave you alone—to see what your response will be, and whether or not it was appropriate to the circumstances you were given. Or even to see if you can hide your trail, for that matter."
She gaped at the boy as Vincent had to struggle to not react in a way which would give away how closely Cloud had hit it—not looking things up, looking them up and letting others know, and looking them up and hiding the evidence were all possible responses. That also meant that Cloud had correctly assessed the academic portion to be a test of appropriate response, not of actual knowledge...and he'd done it easily as well as Maria had supposedly figured out Tseng's identity. And that Claudia wasn't who she'd originally met her as.
As they arrived back at the office, from behind them came a happy exclamation of, "Cloud! Rufus!" and a moment later, as everyone turned to look, Yufi with her now-blond hair and blue eyes was hugging both blond men. Vincent could only stare at her in surprise as he tried to process the new look she had, but he couldn't help some faint chuckles from emerging.
"Who are you?" Shelke asked the other girl in confusion as an amused Tifa joined them.
Pulling away from Cloud and Rufus to turn to stare at Shelke, Yufi just blinked at her for a few long moments—then grinned and said, "Hi, I'm Claudia, Cloud's younger sister!"
"Are you?" the red haired girl asked in amazement. "Awesome! I'm Shelke! My older brother is Genesis, and my dad's the Turk named Kariya. I have an older sister named Shalua, too."
"Wow, that's cool!" Yufi agreed. "Are you in any combat classes?"
"Only to learn some self-defense in case I'm attacked again. But I'm in Materia classes!" Shelke grinned, then created a ball of ice in her hand—a ball which shaped itself into a teacup, which she handed to Yufi, who stood there with her mouth open as she held the ice teacup gently.
"Whoa...I had no idea Materia could do that..." the blond Wutain replied reverently.
Shelke just grinned and said, "Come on, I want to play with Tyra and Dark Nation again!" grabbed Yufi's hand, and dragged her into the office after Tyra, who had wandered part-way into the room.
The older ones all stared after them for a long moment before Cloud asked absently, "Why do I get the sudden feeling we just created a pair of monsters?"
"Make it a trio, because I'm sure Yufi is going to drag Nero into their mischief," Rufus sighed faintly as Dark Nation joined the puppy and the two girls. "At least this time, it was someone else dragging Yufi around, not Yufi dragging Nero around. But seriously...blond hair, blue eyes, and Claudia?"
"Ugh..." Cloud muttered. "It was a good enough disguise to fool Fuhito, so I'll take what I can get. Don't ask me what made Yufi choose that name—I haven't got a clue. And I'm seeing a trend here, of someone weaker dragging around someone stronger, and thereby endearing themselves to the stronger one by not being afraid or intimidated. Of course, in Shelke's case, she wouldn't think she had to be afraid of a girl her age, and I'm not sure Yufi knows how to feel actual fear. I think that part of her brain just doesn't function."
Rufus snorted, and Vincent sighed as he faced Maria and said, "Head into the back office and choose a seat. I'll join you shortly with your task."
She agreed and did so as Vincent went to the Second-in-Command's office (it had Tseng's name on it) and went into the filing cabinet there for the assortment of files used to test potential Turks. The basic premise was that they had around three dozen options, but they were set in a specific order, and when one was taken from the front, it would be returned to the back. The order shifted at times by having multiple people being tested at once and them finishing in a different order than they had been taken from the cabinet in, but otherwise, they stayed in a similar order. At times, older cases were exchanged with new, similar ones which would have required the same response.
So, he took the first of those, checked it for what response it should have, and found that it had two, both acceptable. Both required investigation, but depending on the angle the prospective Turk approached it from, either openly admitting to their research or hiding it could be appropriate. Closing it again, he returned to the office and to Veld's, where Maria had sat down in one of the comfortable chairs across from Veld's seat.
Putting the file on the desk in front of her, he said, "So, you begin when I leave the room and close the door. You can't leave this room through that door until you've gotten some sort of answer, or you give up. There's no actual time limit, but the longer it takes, the more harshly you'll be judged—this case in particular averages four to six hours of work. How you choose to solve it is up to you, but carefully document the steps you took to do so, and cite your reasons for taking those steps. Answers are variable and not very direct in this test, and sometimes you have to look beyond a linear process. Remember, you're here to become a Turk. You already know not everything we do is honorable, so make your decisions based on your best option in dealing with this."
He then walked out of the room and shut the door, leaving her blinking after him in surprise, then looking at the folder in dismay as she realized she had no pen or spare paper to write on. Immediately, she was going to have to get over the idea of never using something that wasn't 'hers' officially—Turks had to learn to make use of whatever was handy, regardless of whether or not they owned it. Next to none of the Turks being tested had ever actually gone searching for the hidden rooms, but they weren't judged based on finding that, and while the data there could help them, it wasn't crucial to solving the cases they were given.
"Heh, nice hat," Reno was just saying as Vincent let go of the knob and looked up. He and Sly were there, both eying the feathered 'hat' Reno was holding up. The red haired Turk then looked up at the raccoon on his shoulder and asked, "So, you wanna try it on, Sly?" At first, Vincent thought it didn't have beads, then realized the beads on that one were silver, but he found himself amused when Sly reached out to pull it out of Reno's hand and peer at it up close for a few long moments before trying to put it on over his head himself. Almost everyone in the room snorted at the attempt, and Reno helped him fix it so it sat right.
"Hey, Vincent, how am I going to make supper if I can't go in the office?" Tifa asked softly from beside him, playing with the hem of the hat for Hex—it had the green and black beads—as Hex eyed the thing like she didn't know what to make of it. "And how will everyone else eat it?"
"There's actually another way into there, but only a very small number of Turks know it," he replied, then motioned her to follow him so he could lead her to Tseng's office, into the camera room, and from it through another door into one of the hidden space's branching halls. "And as to everyone eating it, send me a text message when you're ready to bring it out and I'll get help from the few I know are aware of this space to cart it all to the main office—we'll eat there today."
"Oh, okay, nice!" Tifa grinned. "I wonder how long it'll take Reno to realize the blond girl is Yufi..."
"Since he's one of the very few Turks who found this space—through both entrances—entirely on his own, I think he'll realize it pretty quickly once he's not focused on those very odd hats," Vincent shrugged. "And that's assuming he hasn't already and just doesn't care enough to comment. He's got a very unique way of perceiving what he should be reacting to or not."
"Okay. How well do you think Maria will do?" Tifa asked curiously.
"Since she'll eventually be the Turk named Emma, even if she's hired two years earlier, she'll still be able to pass the tests. At least, she should be, especially if she's the same Academy student Reno already commended to us when she helped stall a Behemoth herd breach in the Sector Five Slums," he told her plainly. "And now she's been commended by Tseng, too. We'll just need to take more initial training time."
She gave a thoughtful hum and nod, then headed for the kitchen. Suddenly, she stopped and turned back to him to say, "Vincent, try to remind her not to harp on her sister's forgetfulness so much, please? Elena's really getting hurt by it, even if she doesn't show it, and if she gets too hurt, it'll start turning to hatred and anger. I...like this Elena a lot better than the one I vaguely remember from those future memories—this one is vivacious and happy...not depressed and desperate for acknowledgment."
Vincent sighed faintly, but agreed, "I'll do what I can to let her know not to do that."
"Thanks," the girl agreed, and shortly after, disappeared into the kitchen.
...How in the world was he going to find excuses to even mention that to Maria—to Emma?
Notes:
(1) These are similar to those 'First Nations/Native American' shaman's/chief's headdresses, but in black (since they were made with Genesis' feathers, after all), rather than paler or multi-colored feathers.