paixaorpg | Serendipity [active]

Entry tags:

Serendipity [active]

Character(s): Sephiroth, Celes
Content: Serendipity
Setting: Niflheim area
Time: Mid afternoonish
Warnings: None (yet)

It had been one forevermore insane day, Sephiroth mused to himself. First the city, then those white things, and then Kadaj... It had all been a little hard to swallow.

As he pored over these things, Sephiroth walked down the way near the Niflheim gate, not particularly watching where he was going. Something was drawing him, he knew that much, but whatever it was wasn't making itself known to his eyes.

Ah well. His feet would lead him to it. They always did.

At about that time, he felt an impact from the front and frowned. Surely he hadn't walked into a wall? No, too soft to be a wall, and too short. Looking down at it, he noticed that it had a rather shapely figure, and was dressed in what looked to be supremely silly armor; what genius designed armor that looked like a swimsuit?

Admittedly, the overall -visual- effect was quite nice, and Sephiroth found himself admiring the whole package for rather longer than he normally would. But still, what -genius- designed armor like that?

Scattered all around were what looked like a set of the pamphlets from the gate, and at his feet lay one of the journals; remarkably useful, those.

After a few seconds of just admiring, Sephiroth regained his wits. "I'm sorry, miss. I wasn't watching where we were going; sloppy of me." He offered her a hand, and noticed that the closer he was to her, the stronger that pulling sensation was. Very interesting.

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The last place the young general had expected to find herself was sprawled upon the ground. Had she spent more time paying attention to where she was going than to the fine print on the numerous pamphlets she had received at the gate, she probably could have spared herself and the similarly inattentive stranger a disruption in the course of their separate journeys, or at least her own. The man had apparently taken the lesser of the impact and received little recoil, for he was standing. Then again, he hadn’t been the one power walking, now had he?

It was her position that made her quite aware of his staring, but merited no frown. The apology registered, as did the outstretched hand, proving the man to have some manners; though, his motivation was questionable. Pausing to retrieve the device and make a minute attempt to recover as many pamphlets as possible, she drew herself up from the ground without even so much as a grunt to convey her displeasure at the situation.

“That makes two of us.” She spoke softly, but there was an audible strength within her voice that refused to be drowned out. “My apologies.”

There was no doubt that this was a very awkward situation. Celes was not used to bumping into people. One did not bump into others in the military, not like this. Words seemed content to fail her when she thought more might be needed, enhancing that distinct brand of self-consciousness that focuses upon others’ perceptions of oneself. Rather than making an attempt at being even remotely social, she promptly proceeded to make a more thorough recovery of the lost pamphlets around her. Whether it was wrong or not, she found herself hoping that the stranger would continue on his way.

Celes didn’t feel she had the patience to entertain a chance encounter, not with the present circumstances in which she found herself at that moment.

Sephiroth could not help but feel sorry for the lady. He knew how she had to feel about being here; felt the same way himself. But he also had to admire the strength in her voice as well as her audacity. I mean, who wears armor shaped like a bikini?

None of that showed on his face as he bent down to help her collect her pamphlets. "If you need someplace to sit down to read through these," he offered, "there's a teahouse nearby. I could lead you to it, if you'd like, Miss...?"

The fact that she was armed was not lost on Sephiroth's consciousness. It was a curved, wide-bladed sword, from the look of its scabbard, wider at the tip; a falchion. Long considered the weapon of a peasant, it was far more dangerous in the right hands than most gave it credit for. And from the look of things, she was no peasant, which meant she probably knew how to handle it.

A piece of materia fell from his gauntlet with a soft 'plink' of crystal on pavement, and rolled over to bump into Celes' foot...

It was a mistake anyone could have made, but few would have dared cross that line in her presence. The man did not strike her as stupid--bold, perhaps, but not stupid; and yet, there was an innocence present about the entire situation that gave her pause. There was no need to be brash in her reply, no need to be preposterously curt or hostile, but she would have her rank known, for establishing that was instinctually key.

Looking up, she did not hesitate to meet the eyes of the stranger. Her words were calm an cool, but held a slight of severity that mingled with the audible strength. "General Celes Chere," the contact was broken as she reached for the last pamphlet--severity fading, "and you are...?"

The 'plink' caught her attention, causing her to pause and turn her eyes downward once again. She tilted her head slightly at the sphere, furrowing her brows at it. An almost instinctual pull prompted her to retrieve it, but she remained motionless for a few seconds, contemplating the sphere's composition and that...feeling.

No sooner had she placed a hand upon it did another strange turn of events occur. A small wind whipped about the sphere before spiraling off, almost forbodingly. It flickered once, then began to glow brightly, light bursting forth from it as though it were a star or the sun. Celes was standing by this point, sphere in hand, but she was not shielding her eyes. She was looking directly into it, mouth slightly agape. Raw power, raw energy -- the very components of life -- were within that sphere...and she felt it as plain--no, as marvelous--as the day. It felt different, foreign...

But beneath the surface, there was a whisper...

It was the cry that tore her eyes from the glowing sphere and forced her gaze to the sky. Four wings were spread in their chosen directions, four wings belonging to a massive creature the likes of which she had not seen before; and yet, she knew his name. She could hear his voice, understand that quiet whisper despite the ancient language in which he spoke. Even as he leased another cry and came fully into being, but this...

"Neo..Bahamut?" a barely audible whisper escaped her as she took an uncertain step back, the creature replying with a...different cry.

The materia fell from her hand, falling to the ground with another soft 'plink'. Just as suddenly as he appeared, Neo Bahamut faded, but his voice did not. It was a dim whisper, but it was more than that.

"An...Esper?" Celes stared at the crystal sphere, blue eyes wide. There were...memories within that sphere, memories of a place, a time...but it hardly made sense. The level of confusion had reached a new high. "Magicite...?"

'But it can't be Magicite. I've touched Magicite a thousand times before and never..' Her eyes flickered once again, still focused upon that orb. The glow finally began to withdrew, the whispers beginning to quiet.

Sephiroth watched Celes now with folded arms, the expression on his face utterly serious. "I think, perhaps, that you need to sit down. Your mana is depleted." It was rather obvious, even to Sephiroth; such a Working would deplete even -his- reserves. And how had she managed to coax the advanced form from materia bearing the memories of the base form?

"My name, General Celes Chere, is Sephiroth. General Sephiroth, SOLDIER First Class, of the ShinRa corporate army. I rather think my... employer... would like to meet you. If nothing else, we can help you get on your feet in this place even as we do so ourselves."

His bearing was more military now, his shoulders a little straighter (not that they had been slumped to begin with), though he still had that peculiar panther grace about him, the air of a martial master...

"Depleted" was a kind way of putting it, but "utterly exhausted" sounded so much more accurate, for that was exactly what she had done. She had utterly exhausted her mana in what felt, to her, like mere seconds. If anything did remain, she could scarcely feel it, let alone access it, for the confusion and the feeling of light headedness that had overtaken her. Sitting upon the ground, she had set herself to the task of recovering her thoughts, quieting the echoes of the voices...until he spoke again.

His introduction was most curious, prompting her to look up a little too fast. A general..? Outside of the Empire? Celes was sorely tempted to take his words in jest; however, the slightest change in his posture, the distinct air and quality of his tone, validified his claims to some extent. His competence in militaristic fashion was evident, but his offer...

"ShinRa?" She repeated the name, more to herself than to him. Slowly, she stood, brushing the dust from her as she considered his proposal.

Celes knew where her loyalties lie -- with the Empire; however, she was in a strange place that she had never heard of, had encountered a strange sort of magicite, had somehow managed to sum--well, as things stood, she hadn't been in Paixao very long. She had no real knowledge about the place and...working with a group would prove far more lucrative than alone, particularly if she remained in familiar company to whose styling and background she could relate.

Her two options at that particular moment made her choice quite obvious. And if things didn't work out, she could always leave. Running around the place with no information or aid would get her nowhere fast, though.

"General," Celes inclined her head slightly forward, taking a careful step toward him, "tell me more about this...'ShinRa'."

Sephiroth offered a nod which turned into a bow as he collected the materia, then gestured for her to follow. "ShinRa is a corporation. An energy company, at least nominally, though we dabble in things like heavy weapons, genetic engineering, and a rather large military. I'm not really the best source for information about the company itself; I'm the leader of the military branch. The current president, Rufus Shinra, would be a better source."

As he talked, he led the way to the tea house he had mentioned before. It seemed the logical thing to do; discuss business over tea. It would at least give Celes a chance to rest and recharge her batteries, as it were; he wondered if one of the vials of ether he kept with him would help with that. They certainly seemed to help his troops when they ran themselves low.

The teahouse was a rather roccoco affair, low-slung in a distinctly West Continent (Oriental, or Wutai for those not familiar with Gaian geography) style. 'Teahouse' was perhaps a little too forward; it was your standard coffee/tea joint on the inside, despite the decor. The perfect place for any of a thousand different things, from a romantic dinner to a meeting between two bewildered generals. The waitress (blonde, blue eyes, pale skin) directed them to a table, making no comment whatsoever on the outlandish dress of either of the two customers.

Celes was somewhat surprised at Sephiroth's words; though, her expression conveyed nothing of the sort. She nearly missed the unusual decor of the place for her heavy contemplation of the seeming familiarity of the man's descriptions. Heavy weapons, genetic engineering, weighted military operations, and energies were all things that the Empire were involved with. How, then, could they not have stumbled across this Shin-Ra, if they were so closely involved in the same areas?

The young general did not think twice about taking a seat, but did so at her own pace rather than hurriedly. As menial as appearances might have been at that point, they were still stressed within her subconscious. It was the people that gave her pause, for she had noticed an apparent trend in them in passing that struck her as...odd.

"It sounds almost like the Empire." She commented somewhat quietly, having no desire to share private affairs with the general public.

Having taken a seat, Sephiroth shrugged a little bit. "I'm not familiar with any 'empire', except from history texts dated almost four centuries. Perhaps we're from far distant points on that timeline; there are several others here from much closer to my time, but not my -precise- time."

This didn't seem to bother him all that much; he'd dealt with temporal phenomenae before, and someone in ShinRa had even made a working time machine, once. Good thing it hadn't come to Hojo's attention; he would have gone back for live test subjects of the Cetra, which could have thrown the whole balance of time off.

A waitress (cheery, blonde, blue eyes, flat personality) wandered over with a pair of menus. "Will the two of you be having lunch here, or just drinks?" she asked, looking from one to the other. Sephiroth looked across the table at Celes, indicating that it was her choice; chances were that she was hungry after such an exertion, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Looking at the menu, Sephiroth almost fell over. Where the prices were listed on normal menus, there were numbers and a word. It was this word that very nearly made him laugh out loud, and which would surely do the same to Celes if she took the time to look.

The word was 'Shinies'. Hey, you take what laughs you can get in an uncertain world.

Hungry was one way to put it. Having had no sustenance save for a brief campfire snack the night prior to her...disappearance, Celes was very hungry. The information she was receiving wasn't helping the matter. The general was talking about time travel. Time travel! Of all the outrageous ideas...but then, were Magitek not a reality? Was the fusion of magic and machine not within Man's grasp?

Crystal blue eyes had met Sephiroth's, the message being properly read. "Lunch," she said lightly, opening the menu...only to pause.

Celes blinked at the word. 'Shinies'. Taking a breath, she decided not to ask, and turned her attention to the dishes listed. "I'd like...two chocolate donuts for here and an oreo pie to go. Milk, two-percent."

With that, she handed off the menu easily and gestured to Sephiroth, waiting for him to order.

Sephiroth glanced over the menu again, making note of the options. "An order of shrimp-fried rice and a glass of iced tea, please. Nothing to go."

Handing over the menu, he reached down to retrieve the pouch of gil from his belt. Having checked the menu, he knew the cost of the meal; about fifty 'shinies', whatever they were. Well, only one way to find out. He counted out a few coins, about 75 gil just to be on the safe side, and put it out in the middle of the table.

"I don't mean to pry, General, but maybe we can figure this out together. What were you doing before you were brought here?" He had folded his hands on top of the table, and was looking across at her patiently. (Where had his sword gone? It was nowhere to be seen...) There was nothing lecherous about his look; he was addressing her as an equal, someone who deserved the respect of her rank. ShinRa was an equal opportunity company, after all; gone were the days when a woman couldn't hold the same jobs or get the same pay and respect as a man.

The question had merit. It took Celes a moment to make the transition from the present and into the past, as short a time as it had been since the past had been the present. She bowed her head quietly and closed her eyes to concentrate. Some things were better left unsaid, particular when they concerned the Empire; the price of treason was not one she wished to pay in the least, so ordering the facts into a line for judgment was a necessity.

'...What was I doing before--'

"Maranda"——the name came to her almost as easily as her own. With it came the memory of her assignment, the orders to rendezvous with her colleagues...and an uneasiness with it. She hardly noticed the woman leave.

Orbs of a clear blue flickered open. She lifted her gaze, meeting the man's eyes squarely. "I was scheduled to rendezvous with my colleagues near a particular city. Night was due, so I ordered my men to set up camp and established a vigilant watch. I saw to the camp before retiring for the night. We were due to resume our march at dawn."

Sephiroth nodded and made a thoughtful 'hmm' sound. "I was performing a sweep of the perimeter of my group's camp. Night had fallen; there were three others out with me. Protocol demanded that I make a cursory sweep, even though we were close to civilization. There were rumours of dragons and the like in the area, after all."

Steepling his fingers, he looked through Celes, seeing not her but the forest around that camp. "I walked around a tree, out of sight of my camp... and then, I was standing in front of a gate. There were a few moments of vertigo; unusual, especially for me. It sounds like you and I, at least, made the transition under similar circumstances."

The food was taking longer than he had hoped, but that really didn't bother him. It gave them more time to talk, after all.

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Serendipity [active]

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