paixaorpg | A Cure for all Ills [Completed; partial rp-log]

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A Cure for all Ills [Completed; partial rp-log]

Characters: Lucrecia Crescent, Vincent Valentine, Elena, Cheshire Cat
Content: Vincent is a huge dork. As in, he takes Lu out as a surprise.
Setting: A park. A fake park.
Time: late Sunday morning
Warnings: Cursing, excessive use of science, some innuendo

"Argh! Tell me!" She tugged in his arm, practically twitching with curiosity, moderately disappointed when he'd pulled her from the bed but now lost in almost neurotic need to know what he was planning. He seemed immune to all her tactics.

Tugging on his arm didn't work. Asking incessantly wasn't getting her anywhere. Slipping her arms around his waist as they walked, she kissed his shoulder, slipping a hand up to play in his soft hair, fingers brushing his neck and throat as she tried to perhaps seduce the answer out of him.

"Vin...c'mon, tell me," she breathed, her voice strangely breathy. It didn't occur to her that he knew she'd be doing the things she normally did to get an answer out of him. She wasn't quite as good at instantly making him quiver, considering she didn't have the experience with him that Vincent had with her, but it was quite pleasant, what she did. "I wanna know..." She hated being teased in any sense of the word; him withholding information was driving her crazy.

Vincent's spine shivered a little bit as she tried seducing him, each time she was getting closer to driving him crazy. And not to mention his face was getting redder and redder. However, he wouldn't show her the package. "Just a little bit longer," he told her.

And a few minutes later he stopped her and without warning he had taken off his headband, and put it over her eyes like a blindfold. "Trust me," he told her again, and started her walking. They had been in the city before, but 5 minutes of walking with the blindfold on he told her to take it off.

When she took off the blind fold they were in a park, yet it was unlike any other park. The grass was fake, the trees fake also, it looked like a normal park, but everything was fake. Vincent looked around at everything, then looked at the expression on her face.

Finally he pulled the package out from his cloak. It was a picnic basket, and inside they had packed lunch for two.

Lucrecia squinted a bit in the sudden light as he removed the headband from her eyes, frowning a little and removing her glasses, polishing them neurotically before replacing them, looking around with a little smile.

And then she blinked. And walked over to the nearest tree. And touched it. She began inspecting it with a puzzled frown, looking at the grass, the bushes, the leaves of the trees, the bark-- "How the--what the...why would--who the fuck--?!" Why would someone bother making all these fake plants?!

"Vincent, wh--...who did all this?" A slightly neurotic tic in her mind wanted to begin taxonomizing all the fake plants, but she tried to squelch that, looking up at Vincent in puzzled shock. Seeing one fake tree had been a rather casual occurrence--she'd seen fake plants before. But not a fake park.

Vincent set out the blanket, letting her wander around, as he figured she would. She was a scientist after all. Pulling out the lemonade and the sandwiches he watched her look around for a few minutes.

"I don't know, who would build a big city in a dome?" he asked to no one in particular, sitting on his blanket. He unwrapped two sandwiches, one for her and one for him, and took a bite. He waited for her to calm down before saying, "Are you going to eat or what?".

He picked up a blade a grass, rolling it in his fingers. "The grass isn't even real," he thought aloud, holding it up to the sun, his eyes barely able to see. Dropping the blade on the blanket he went back to his sandwich, amazed at how hungry he actually was.

Lucrecia came back to the blanket with a little laugh. "You...pff, you took me on a picnic! You're such a dork," she giggled, sitting beside him and picking up the blade of grass he'd dropped, examining it. "Thanks, though. I didn't eat much of my French toast..." She bit into the sandwich, noticing the lemonade with a little grin.

"You like lemonade?" she asked after she'd swallowed. It was one of her favorite non-alcoholic (and non-caffeinated) drinks. Really, all Lucrecia drank was liquor, coffee, and lemonade (and water, but only to prevent hangovers). The sandwich was good, some kind of moderately fancy chicken or tuna salad thing which she very much enjoyed. It was pretty cute, the way he knew things about her.

"How do they get food if all the plants are fake?" she wondered, looking around with a little grin. "There must be somewhere there are real plants... You can't have life without plants--they're the foundation of the energy chain..." She glanced at the lemonade again, unsure if they were supposed to just drink from the container thermos-type-thing or if there was some sort of cup requirement. She was also a bit surprised at how fast Vincent was eating. "You act like you're half-starved," she commented, realizing immediately after that it sounded a bit sexual. He probably wouldn't notice, but she still giggled a little. Why was her mind constantly in the gutter?

"I'm not a dork," he said to her after eating his sandwich. Of course while he said that he poked Lu in the side, proving his point. He found two cups and poured the juice for them. He picked up his cup and looked at it oddly.

"Not really," he said finally, "too sweet." But he would take a small sip, before finding another sandwich to eat. "I haven't eaten a lot since I got here."

He took a look around him, and then looked at his food. "I've asked. They said the food just, shows up," he explained, then took another bite of the sandwich. "I think that there's someone pulling the strings here," he said, letting her in on his theory. Maybe a little later he would tell her about the Organization he'd heard of. But then he got another idea.

"Would you like to learn how to use materia?" he asked, standing up with a smile. "Come on!" he said, helping her up to her feet.

"Well...you know I like it, I guess?" she concluded with a shy smile, feeling a little bad that he hadn't gotten something they both would have enjoyed. Hmm, if the food just showed up...maybe there was a way to get back... But she didn't really want to, not now, at least. She liked Vincent and was a bit scared of the grim future he'd suggested she had back home in Midgar.

"I--" Vincent was pulling her to her feet before she could answer, and soon Lu was standing, looking a little dubious. "...Do I have to fire the gun? I...I don't really want to shoot the gun." It was a bit intimidating and with her luck and nerves she'd probably shake so badly she'd accidentally shoot someone. Or have the bullet ricochet and hit her. Or Vincent. "I mean...erm, I'm not really afraid of guns or anything, just..."

Oiy, she was nervous and babbling. "...I've never shot a gun before, either. I just don't want to learn both at the same time."

Vincent shook his head, and instead, took off a small bangle from his arm. "These can hold materia as well," he told her, taking out one of the green orbs. "This is a Restore materia. It can cast Cure," he explained, and put it back in. Placing the bangle on Lu's arm he stood in front of her.

"What you have to do is focus your energy on curing me. Pretend that I'm really hurt. Then focus on curing me. Then say Cure out loud," he said, smiling. "You can do it."

"D-wuh...uhm..." She blinked. "...You're not hurt." And then she wondered why, if he had Cure, he hadn't offered to heal her neck, which wasn't too painful, but did have a slight scab. And could Cure heal bruises too? That'd be nice...

"...How will I even know it worked if you're not hurt?" She bit her lip, holding her hand out a bit awkwardly and then figuring she'd try anyway. "Cure...?" She wasn't really surprised when nothing happened, but she was a bit disappointed. She didn't like being bad at things. She also had virtually no idea what he meant by 'focus your energy'. What energy? Heat energy, mechanical energy, potential energy...none of those could be focused.

She knew materia were made of crystallized Lifestream, so...maybe her...Lifestream energy? Uhm, she'd never really tapped into that before, had no idea what to look for in herself. If she'd never felt it before, how was she supposed to know what it felt like? And if it had been there the whole time, how was she to differentiate it from the rest of herself?

"...Cure," she tried again, frowning a little and trying not to be blatantly frustrated. She felt stupid and knew she was overcomplicating things, but didn't know how to fix it. Fuck, maybe she'd have better luck with guns...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Vincent stood with one hand on his hip, thinking for a moment. He thought of how he was taught to use different kinds of magic spells. Mostly it involved a lot of overly muscular men yelling at him. That wasn't going to work with Lucrecia. So he walked over to Lucrecia, and stood behind her.

"Try this," he whispered into his ear. "Remember in your life someone died. How much did you wish you could have saved them? Focus everything you have into curing that person. Put your all into it," he whispered, his hot breath blowing into her ear. He kissed her cheek from behind, then moved around in front of her.

"All right, try again," he told her. He was squinting a little considering the bright sun and wouldn't see anyone one coming closer if they were.

And Elena was coming from the opposite direction, anyway, catching sight of Lucrecia's frustrated expression and Vincent's back. And hardly realizing that she wouldn't, in fact, recognize the two in person despite their journalized communication, she furrowed her brow in frustration at seeing only these two in the clearing.

The blonde did note that the two looked familiar. She was sure she had seen their faces somewhere, but Lucrecia and Vincent were not in her mind at the moment and the rookie didn't manage to put two and two together at first. After all, her mind was on something much, much more urgent.

"Have either of you seen a Wutain man in a black suit with long, black hair come by here?" she asked, the concern and worry painfully evident on her face.

Lucrecia was busy frowning and fretting over she'd never seen anyone even moderately injured, let alone dying in front of her. "Vin, I--" When the woman approached, Lu turned to look at her with a polite little smile, especially when she asked about a man from Wutai.

"You know about Wutai?" Chances are, she knew about Midgar, too, and...she looked...well, kind of like a Turk. "I haven't seen anyone from Wutai, but--you know about it? I'm from Midgar; I just got here yesterday..."

Thinking back to that journal and the whole confusing mess on the message board, Lucrecia broke into a sudden grin. "Hey, you're that lady Turk, aren't you? I'm Lu--Doctor Crescent? I think we talked on the message boards?" ...Maybe it was a different person. Suddenly feeling a bit awkward, Lucrecia pushed her hair back, glancing at Vincent for a moment, forgetting for the moment that the side of her neck was a deep and angry purple, with a bloody bite mark still evident. She never had gotten around to putting make-up on it...

Lucrecia said it was a Turk? Not wanting any trouble, Vincent turned away from the two, heading to his food. He kneeled down to pick up another sandwich, his back still to the two girls. His mind was running throught the options if a fight started. The girl looked weak but nevertheless she was a Turk. And Lu had his materia and his bangle. As he took small bites from his food, his claw was out of sight, pulling one of his guns from its holster silently.

Vincent let the two talk as long as they wanted, trying to stay out of sight and out of mind.

Blinking once as she put the pieces together in her mind, Elena's expression was completely blank for one second before breaking into a polite, friendly smile. "Yeah, yes I am," she said, pleased to have found someone else in Paixao from her world. And, she reminded herself, who worked for Shinra. An ally for sure.

"My name's Elena," the blonde added as an afterthought, extending her hand for a handshake. It was awkwardly businesslike, but Elena was a Turk, after all, and didn't even realize how overly professional her gesture was. "And so your name would be... Lu?" Elena continued.

It was nice having a friend in this crazy place. Especially one that didn't have bright red hair and tried to screw everything with breasts that it came across.

"Yeah, Lu," she said with a smile, taking her hand and shaking it in an equally professional gesture--meeting people from ShinRa, her new job (or, well...it would have been, if she hadn't fallen into Paixao), made her feel a bit professional herself. "I'm glad to be finding people from Gaia at least; everyone here is strangely...passive, and then I met some very strange man who threatened to kill me, something about...spring cleaning..." It was hard to remember--it was on the very brink of her blackout. "God, he's probably so mad at me..." She had, after all, vomited on Legato and then left him with her tab; she wouldn't be surprised if the insane bastard had a vendetta against her. "I had no idea where he was from, but he said he killed a lot of people and basically insinuated that he'd kill me, too. It was terrifying."

Pausing for a moment, she smiled a bit at Elena. "Sorry, I have a tendancy to go off on tangents; in any case, he was strange and clearly not from my world, and so, in short, yes--it's nice to meet you, Elena." She laughed a little, nervously. She hadn't mentioned anything about her run-in with Legato to Vincent; hopefully he wouldn't overreact at that exact instant. "I had a very trying day yesterday," concluded the doctor, looking over at Vincent's back and feeling a little guilty, as if he'd wandered off because he felt left out. "But no, I'm sorry--I haven't seen anyone from Wutai." God, it took her so long to answer a simple question. Hesitant to introduce Vincent and feeling guilty because he'd distanced himself from her and Elena, she simply prompted, "...Vin? You okay?"

Vincent really only held the sandwich in his hand to make it look as if he was busy. His claw was holding one of his gun, checking the materia in it. Time and Ice. And the Stop spell could prove useful. Vincent still kept his back to them, his head low.

"I'm fine," was all he said, trying ot detract attention away from himself. He really didn't want to fight, but would show Elena why he was a Turk in a flash if he had to.

Elena survived Lucrecia's little speech with a couple of nods, concerned looks, and vague agreements. She was quite... well, bubbly for someone from Shinra, the blonde couldn't help but note. But she didn't seem to be like asshole like Reno, and so Elena actually started to take a liking to the girl. She was refreshing.

Hearing that Lucrecia hadn't seen anything of Tseng was certainly unencouraging, but she was confident that the man would be able to take care of himself for awhile, and she was pretty enthusiastic about meeting another member of Shinra. Especially another female... not that she was a man-hater or anything, but hanging around the Tseng-Reno-Rude triangle all the time could certainly get tiring.

Not quite putting together that "Vin" meant Vincent, and that Vincent meant the man she had met who claimed he was a Turk on the journals, Elena didn't realize at first that the man with the sandwich was the same person. Especially since she had only really seen his back, anyway.

And so, Elena simply smiled politely and asked, "Oh, who's this?"

Oh yes, there's a reason that this girl is blonde.

"Oh, this is, uhm..." Lucrecia began, a puzzled little frown on her face. She realized she really didn't know that much about Vincent, and she suddenly hoped he wasn't one of those anti-social boys who weren't any fun to be around in groups. She had no idea why he was off moping with his sandwich, or why he wouldn't look at her or introduce himself--logically, he should have been excited to meet people from Gaia as well, right?--and so she hesitated a moment, so busy worrying that she was unaware it sounded like she'd forgotten his name.

"This is Vincent," she said after a pause and a little smile. "I, uhm...it's a long story, really. He is--or was--a Turk, like you." Lucrecia wasn't very good at handling strange social situations gracefully; her tactic was always to do them drunk so she at least didn't feel awkward. She felt quite uncomfortable now and longed for a glass of brandy, even though it wasn't even noon yet.

Vincent was not happy. Lucrecia just blew his cover. Well, its not like he told her to not tell anyone who he was. That was partly his fault. Considering the fact that he had told this blond woman he would kill her if he needed to, Vincent figured any Turk would be pulling a gun the moment she fgured things out. However, Vincent was a little, if not a lot, better than Elena.

In the matter of only a few seconds Vincent managed to do a few things. He dropped the sandwich first, not that they could see it anyway. Then he crouched down, and jumped backwards, toward the two girls. With barely a sound he landed behind Elena, his back to hers, and the barrel of his gun firmly pressed against her back. He tried to hide the gun so that he wouldn't frighten Lucrecia, already feeling pretty bad to have to do something like that in front of her.

"Don't move," he whispered to her, turning his head so that he spoke into her ear. As he did he made sure not to make eye contact with Lu, knowing he might scare her off if she saw what stirred in his eyes.

"A... Turk?" Elena repeated, her eyes narrowing in confusion. But the second she managed to connect Vincent with his online persona, he was behind her and had a gun at her back.

"Don't move," came his menacing voice.

To be perfectly honest, the blonde's initial reaction was to panic, break down in tears, and ask Lucrecia what was going on. But her Turk instincts were just starting to kick in, and she caught herself about one hundredth of a second after thinking it.

Elena's hand went discreetly and swiftly to her side then, reaching inside of her dark blue suit jacket to where she normally kept her gun. But unfortunately, she had forgotten the thing back at the restaurant, and she cursed under her breath as she let her grappling hand go limp once again. She did, however, have a very small knife in her pocket, and reached for that after only a few seconds longer.

Twisting around so that she was now facing Vincent and directly behind him, she reached up and held the thing against the man's neck. It was a very small knife, she confirmed, and Elena wondered if she could even manage to kill him with it if she wanted to. Yet, she also reminded herself, he hadn't seen the blade and the thing probably felt quite formidable pressed up against his neck.

"You don't move," Elena said forcefully, even more aware than ever of the gun that was now pressed directly into her stomach. But she did her best to keep her calm. She considered saying something about Vincent's gun being loaded for a moment, but then decided not to. After all, he DID seem pretty dangerous and unpredictable, and so it probably WAS loaded. People only got that lucky in the movies, anyway.

"Now who are you, why are you posing as a Turk?" the blonde half-spat. She considered asking what he was doing with Lucrecia as well, but the woman hadn't seemed to mind his company horribly. Elena figured that one could wait until later.

Now she oncould only hope that Vincent couldn't see the almost ineffectual blade, and that he didn't feel her heart beating crazily against his back.

Lucrecia was staring, more startled than anything else. She'd never seen anyone move that fast, and suddenly Vincent had seemed to be striking a pose behind Elena--

And then Elena whipped around and threatened him with a knife?! Lucrecia hadn't seen the gun but knew he had guns, and was well-trained to use them. What in hell had just happened?! She'd been slammed very suddenly into anxiety, on edge and tense. "God, what the fuck--" That dosage of estrogen she'd administered that morning wasn't letting her stay calm. Gritting her teeth, Lucrecia stared at the two Turks, refusing to let her eyes tear and burn. Stupid fucking hormone...

Why was Elena acting like this? And what had Vincent said to her? Feeling effectively useles--she was useless in a fighting situation--Lucrecia just regarded them, overwhelmed. "Don't--" Right. Tell the two highly-trained killers Don't fight. That sounded like it would go over well.

Vincent laughed, although the voice no longer belonged to him. It was definately a fight situation, and a certain demon had no trouble riding the adrenaline, and taking control of their shared body. If Lucrecia could remember anything about the night prior she would see the shift in his stance and his eyes and would recognize the monster inside Vincent.

He and Chaos laughed out loud, a sinister, most evil laugh that could scare someone down to their bones. Before Elena could notice Chaos had moved their claw around the knife and snapped it easily in half. The same arm would then shoot back aiming at her stomach. The two turned around pushing away from Elena, one arm extending aiming at the Turk.

"Stop!" he yelled focusing his Will to use the Time Materia held within his pistol. Vincent hunched over after, taking control of his body, forcing Chaos back. He was physical and mentally exhausted. Turning his head to look at Lucrecia he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Come on Lu, let's go," he said, not even thinking that she might be afraid of him.

She barely even heard him. Everything seemed to meld together in her mind--hadn't she been learning how to use materia only a few seconds ago? And then Vincent's weird dance and Elena spun around with a knife and then...Vincent seemed to ripple, almost, and...and then he pulled a gun on her but didn't fire and Elena wasn't moving--it had to be a materia thing, but...stopping time? Her mind was absolutely boggled; she'd always figured that it happened in some logical way, involving relativity to slow time with light inundation or something.

The confusion over how the stop spell worked wasn't the worst of it. "What the hell just happened?! Vin, is she--are you--" Her voice broke as she remembered the way he'd kind of collapsed into himself, hunching over. "God," she managed, trying to keep her panicked breathing from being too noticeable. Stupid fucking hormone! God, she was kind of wheezing, stupid illogical tears building in her eyes. She knew why they were there, that the injection was toying with her emotions, and it only made her more upset. "Vin, what just--" She still had no idea how it had gone from a rather friendly meeting to...to this.

Vincent sort of limped over to Lucrecia, taking the woman into his arms. "It's ok, Lu, calm down," he told her, patting her head. "Don't worry about anything." Vincent leaned in to whisper to her. "If you need to there's Cure and Lightning in that bangle, you can use it if you need to. You will know how." He knew he didn't get to fully teach her, but if she needed to protect herself she would figure it out quickly.

He let her go and turned back to Elena, who was about to come out of her freeze. Vincent stood up fully, his breathing still short quick breaths. He held both pistols up, aimed at the Stopped Turk.

"Alright, let's get this under control. We have no reason to fight. If you move I will shoot to disarm you," he said in a controlling manner. Most likely she would see a little Tseng in Vincent considering the both of them were taught by Veld and respected the man very much.

Suddenly resuming her breathing, Elena fell forward a bit, no longer leaning against Vincent. Her expression had lost all control it previously seemed to have, and the blonde pouted in frustration ever so slightly. Not only had she proved herself totally incapable- again- but now this crazy stranger was pointing a gun at her.

"I..." Elena began, not sure of what to say. "Well, you're the one pointing a gun at me for no reason!" she exclaimed, trying to keep herself in check... oh, and not get shot. That too. She considered asking again, more diplomatically, why the man had posed as a Turk on the journals, but figured it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do at that moment.

Oh, if only Tseng were here. He would know exactly what to do.

But as it were, Elena was carelessly weaponless now and completely at the mercy of this possibly insane man that she didn't know, and who didn't like her. "... I don't want to fight you. I never even attacked you at all, until after you pointed your gun at me all of a sudden!" Elena reminded Vincent a bit accusingly. She was aware she was being childish, but she was embarassed and upset and alone, and she didn't like it.

The hug helped a bit, but then when he told her that she might have to defend herself, she got even more frightened. She couldn't use materia! God, her utter lack of ability with them before proved that! But before she could say anything, he'd pulled his guns on the frozen Elena.

And then she heard the Turk accusing Vincent of starting the fight. "W-wait, that's what you were doing?" Lucrecia asked as she finally realized what his strange pose had been all about. "You pulled a gun on her? Why?" What in hell had he been thinking? "Don't shoot her, God--" There she went again, telling Turks not to do the things they were trained to do.

"Vincent, what the fuck is this all about?!" She could see Elena was pretty scared, indicating that she was unarmed and had no plan. "Please, just--just put those away and talk, for fuck's sake!" Lucrecia was surprised at herself for being so level-headed, until she realized she was more angry than calm. Eventually the estrogen would let her level out.

Vincent really didn't care about Elena's compaints. Hell, why would a Turk be complaining about a fight? But, Lucrecia was getting angry and he figured he could probably cast Stop one more time if he needed to. And so put both pistols back into their holsters, still keeping an eye on Elena.

"As a Turk I was told to attack first, ask questions later," was all he said as he turned back to Lucrecia. He didn't think Elena had any weapons left, and even so, she seemed to had lost the will to fight.

Standing in front of Lucrecia he took her hand in his, then brushed their lips together. "I am sorry about that," he told her. Turning his attention back to Elena he glared at her.

"I am not 'posing' as a Turk. I was once in the Investigation Division of the General Affairs Department. I worked with Tseng, whom I know you know. Ask him." Vincent glared at the girl with his deep red eyes for a few moments longer, letting her make up her own mind.

"As a Turk I was told to attack first, ask questions later."

Those words almost hurt more than any bullet Vincent could've put through Elena's body. She immediately felt her face flush, and her fists clenched ever so slightly in reaction. How many million times had Tseng said those exact words to her? And, of course, she had done the exact opposite. She was completely embarrassed, and willed the blood rushing to her face to go away as she stood her ground and kept her defiant gaze on the man.

What else was I supposed to DO, then? I didn’t have a weapon… she wondered in frustration to herself, in an attempt at consolation. But it didn’t really help, as she was sure there had been some other alternative that she had simply... completely missed. At least Lucrecia was present, and the man wasn’t able to do anything else other than threaten her- at least for now.

Vincent whispered something to Lucrecia that Elena totally missed, but rather than ask about it she stayed spitefully silent, shooting a mild glare at the man. And then, almost as if on cue, he turned back to Elena and spoke again. "I am not 'posing' as a Turk. I was once in the Investigation Division of the General Affairs Department,” he told her coldly, plainly. “I worked with Tseng, whom I know you know. Ask him."

The mention of the Turks’ official title and his quote earlier had more than proved Vincent’s position. Elena was still confused as to who he was- she had never heard the name mentioned but once a very long time ago when she had just begun her training, and all she remembered about it was Tseng’s face growing slightly dark and serious, avoiding the subject. The blonde couldn’t help but wonder if they were indeed the same person, that Vincent and this one...

But it wasn’t the first thing on her mind. The other half of Vincent’s statement was what stuck out in her mind; Tseng. “I would ask him, but-,” she began, then bit her tongue before going on. How unprofessional would it seem to not only show her utter inability to defend herself, but also to admit that she had lost track of her boss? “But he’s on classified business right now. And I’m not going to interrupt him,” she finished, pursing her lips spitefully as she said it.

Elena still wondered who this man was, and why she had never heard of him. She knew he couldn’t have known the things he did without ever having been a Turk, but she hadn’t ever heard of him, either. She was still adjusting to the idea of people all in Paixao from the same world yet different times, after all, and the possibility hadn’t struck her yet. So she figured that asking wouldn’t hurt.

“Who are you?” the blonde questioned, a little softer than before but still far from trusting. “And how do you...” she began, stumbling over her words a bit as she chose the most inoffensive and yet correct ones. “... know what you... know?”

Lucrecia was almost affronted by the gentle kiss. She didn't know this man, not really--all she knew were the things he'd told her, and up until then his actions had all been fairly regular and understandable. But when he'd pulled a gun on Elena for no apparent reason--he'd yet to explain anything to her--Lucrecia began to call the things he'd said into question. For all his charm and good looks and love for her (which she believed in, honestly), he'd acted in an illogical manner and it caused her to recognize just how little she knew him. Could she really love someone she barely knew? It bothered her; if she'd known him better she would have seen the logic in his actions, and she didn't like that he was incomprehensible to her. So when the gentle kiss brushed across her lips, Lucrecia's first instinct was to push him away, and she would have, if he hadn't turned back to Elena anyway. Too fast... This has gone way too fast...

She watched the two Turks talking, drawing the conclusion that Vincent knew Elena while Elena didn't know Vincent--which was strange, but acceptible; after all, he knew her and she had never met him before. So perhaps his reaction was based on past encounters that Elena did not remember, though that didn't make much sense either. Elena didn't seem like the kind of person to be inherently dangerous, so Vincent's aggressive behavior still made little sense. He seemed strange to her; everything he'd done since Elena arrived seemed strange. The threat, the strange ripple, the kiss, holding Elena at gunpoint... Lucrecia's first inclination was to like Elena, and since she was sober, she trusted the instinct.

Burning with her own questions but willing to let poor Elena ask hers first, considering Vincent had never held her at gunpoint, Lucrecia simply looked at him with critical--and skeptical--eyes, waiting for him to answer. Who are you? And how to do know what you know? Lucrecia's frown was barely perceptible, and that was always the worst kind. And why did you do what you did? The fact that Elena hadn't asked that question suggested that maybe Vincent had a legitemate reason for it. And so Lucrecia waited, watching him with objective and scientific eyes.

Had Vincent any idea what was going on in Lucrecia's head he probably would have broken down right there. Yet, he still had a little adrenaline rushing through his body that he was able to continue, even though he was tired as hell.

"My name is Vincent Valentine," he said, with almost a bow of respect. He could see the fear in both the women's eyes and could only feel sorry for his actions. His father would not have approved.

"I'm sorry about that, from what I believed about your character, and the fact that you are a Turk, I thought you were going to attack me first," he said quite clearly so that the both of them could hear him. Vincent pulled his hair back out of his eyes, obviously exhausted.

"Like I said before, I was a Turk. And probably long before your time. That man, Hojo, he experimented on my body. And have been sleeping ever since."

With Elena calmed down, or so he believed, Vincent turned back to Lucrecia. The fear and pain he saw in her eyes was perfectly evident and only made Vincent hurt more.

"Are you ok Lucrecia? I'm sorry to scare you like that. I was only trying to protect you," he said truthfully.

Giving the two only a moment to themselves, Elena continued on.

"Not only does a Turk attack first and ask questions later, but a Turk should also have good reason for attacking. Especially on a target that has shown no signs of hostility," Elena reasoned aloud despite Vincent's turned back, still a little miffed. It wasn't cruel, how she said it, but she was still definitely a little sore at the man... mostly for embarassing her, but she never would have admitted to that. She just hoped that her own little made-up piece of wisdom there sounded wise and not stupid.

For a moment, Elena considered asking what the hell Vincent meant by 'what he believed of her character'. HE was the one who had refused to explain himself over the journals! Elena reasoned, her bitterness dissipating but still barely present. But she had decided to try and handle things more professionally for the duration of the conversation... which, to her, meant doing what Tseng would have done. Which would mean letting the possibly insulting statements about how unnecessarily violent he was go for now.

After only a short pause as these thoughts took place, Elena continued on to question, "So you're... before my time?" she asked, apparently confused. The rest of the Turks had appeared here after her time, and she couldn't help but wonder why they two were an exception.

"But you know Hojo and Tseng? You can't be too far back then, right? Do you know Reno or Rude then, or- oh." So much for being professional. "Sorry, I should introduce myself first. My name is Elena."

"Protect me? From what? An innocent unarmed woman?" Not a Turk, not a dangerous trained killing machine, but a woman. Just a woman. An innocent, unarmed woman. It was nice to know just exactly how Elena came across. She seemed nice; she seemed innocent, and she seemed harmless.

Seeing Vincent...well, not apologizing, really, but at least being cordial, Lucrecia relaxed a bit, the tense anxiety coursing through her finally easing. Okay. He thought for some reason that Elena was dangerous and responded accordingly. That made sense; the reason why he thought that was less imperative. With that grain of logic, his actions were forgivable. Though she still felt a bit strange around him, a little shaken, her blind and undeniable crush on him weakened and shaky. It would eventually fall back into place though, right? Oh God, don't let me flake out on this. Please. She could feel herself overthinking this whole situation already.

Smiling a bit at Elena in an attempt to get the conversation moving forward, Lucrecia nodded. "Well...hello, Elena." God, this was strange. "...So Vincent's before your time? He's after mine, I think--I don't know Hojo, or Tseng, or any of the others you mentioned... Actually, it was going to be my first day at ShinRa but I ended up here instead." Then, hesitantly, trying to do it carefully so Vincent wouldn't suspect anything, she asked, "...So you're familiar with this Dr. Hojo?"

"Dr. Hojo? Of course I am!" Elena chimed in before Vincent could react, happy to once again be talking to Lucrecia. And, of course, something she undeniably knew about. With Vincent, nothing was really very certain- and, if Elena remembered correctly, Hojo had even called him dangerous. Well, she knew where that had come from.

"Hojo is the head of the Research Department at Shinra- our very top scientist," the blonde said, rattling off what she had heard others say about the professor what had to be millions of times. "He's an absolute genius, and arguably the greatest scientist there's ever been on Gaia! Well, he's published more scientific journals on his studies than anyone else, at least. And that's what all of his employees and the former President say about him."

After having said all of that, Elena beamed proudly for having been of some use. Apparently neither Lucrecia nor Vincent knew the Professor very well, or Lucrecia would have known of him or simply asked Vincent earlier. "Why? Are you looking for him?"

Could Vincent have shot Elena where she stood? Could he put two bullets in her head before she could rattle some more stupid information off? Yes. Very much yes. Ohhh, and Chaos would have loved that bloodshed. It wasn't that Vincent really disliked Elena, it was simply the way she talked about things she had no idea about. Yet, he would restain himself for now. He could feel something happening between him and Lucrecia and he didn't like it. And blamed himself for reacting stupidly.

Before Lucrecia could answer, Vincent held up his claw, the arm that had been taken by Hojo and replaced with this hideous piece of machinery. "Hojo did this to me," he said in a calm voice. "He used me like an experiment simply because I did not agree with him experimenting on Lucrecia's child." There he said it.

"Don't believe me, I don't care. I'm just telling you the truth," Vincent sat on a rock, resting his elbows on his knees, and stared at the ground, trying to calm himself before anymore monsters could get a rise out of him.

"I...no. N-no, I'm not looking for him. I just...wanted to know. About him. So I'd know. Because I wanted to." Oh shit. If ever something sounded insincere and suspicious, it was that. "N-not looking. I'm not looking. For him--" STOP. TALKING.

At least talking kept her from thinking. Hmm. Hojo was a brilliant scientist? And an unethical one, experimenting on Vincent for trying to protect her--and experimenting on her as well. Why in God's name had she allowed that? It didn't make sense...

"...Elena, for what it's worth, I believe what Vincent says. He's got no call to lie to me, and he knows things about me that no one else knows--like he knew me, and I'm just from a different time as he is?" Things were so confusing in her head, it was almost as if she was speaking out loud in order to sort through things. "I don't...know," she concluded with a glance at Vincent as he sat on his lonely rock. "...," whispered the woman as softly as she could to the Turk, praying that Vincent hadn't heard. She was getting conflicting information, felt unsettled...had questions burning in her mind that Vincent couldn't answer. She needed to talk to Hojo.

And she also wanted to find out what he'd done to Vincent, so that maybe she could reverse it somehow. She still liked Vincent, but until she could make sense of all this... She could only hope that Hojo had the answers she needed. If he couldn't tell her about her past-future, she'd have to figure this out on her own. Which meant she'd probably flake out and flee and not solve anything. She didn't want that--Vincent seemed to care about her a lot, and if anything, he deserved for her to be logical. She wanted to be. She knew how flakey she was, and she hated it.

Blinking once or twice as she comprehended this information, Elena's mind didn't really seem to work until Lucrecia started babbling. The blonde was suddenly struck with the full realization of the fact that she had only met Hojo personally once or twice, and it did make her feel a little uneasy as her mind grappled for something to give the professor credibility.

"... maybe that was a different Hojo," Elena ventured softly, unsure of how the unpredictable man would take the suggestion. "After both our times. Because... well, everyone raves about him. Sure he does experiments from time to time, but he always gets Shinra's permission first," Elena continued as kindly as she could, watching Vincent all the while for any sudden reactions. "And only on things that are already dead."

A pause, and then the blonde grew a little suspicious again. This man had quit Shinra for a reason, and obviously didn't have much love for the organization. And now he felt he could attack it's members so freely? And most likely, with prejudice? Elena didn't like that at all, and didn't see any reason to treat him as kindly as she was.

"If you have a problem with Shinra," she started again, politely but coldly, "Don't take it out on everyone from there that you meet by blaming things on them and sticking guns into their backs before you even talk with them about things. Alright?"

In her calm little tirade, Elena had missed Lucrecia's last comment about Hojo, the principle of the matter becoming more of a pressing issue for the blonde. She was starting to dislike Vincent almost as much as she was really liking Lucrecia.

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A Cure for all Ills [Completed; partial rp-log]

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[ COME ONLINE LENA<333333 ]

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