Post by ST on Nov 13, 2007 1:32:13 GMT -5
The skyline burned under the fire of the setting sun, coloring the ocean with brilliant rays of orange and red at the horizon. Stella turned to Rayden with a radiant grin. "Today has been lovely,"
He returned her smile, admiring the way the sun set her pretty face aglow. He opened his mouth to respond, but the loud and rumbling sound of some type of aircraft above them overcame his voice. They looked upward in unison, their moment interrupted by two long cylinder shaped objects with pointed tips soaring noisily high above, the sound fading as the they flew further into the distance.
Not some type of aircraft.
He looked back at Stella.
"Oh HELL no," Blaze shouted. "That's EVERY CARD on the board!"
"Combo," Deo said calmly. It was nice when he won the third and fourth time, but now that he was on his seventh victory, things were starting to get a little monotonous.
"Combo MY ASS." she retorted hotly, looking as if she might spring from her chair at any moment and throw herself across the table at him. "This is ridiculous! You're cheating!!" Deo slid the cards together in one pile and gathered them in his hands, beginning to separate their decks again. He was discovering more and more with each game that his little sister was much better at yelling than she was at strategics. "This game is the stupidest effing game in the entire universe. ONE rule can take all my cards?!"
"Deo always wins." Vanesse walked into the room and plopped down onto the couch. "Hmm," she murmured to herself. "I wonder if Deling Beach is on... ?" She grabbed up the remote from the cushion and flicked on the television.
Blaze stared across the table at Deo. "Rematch." Her tone was impatient and demanding.
Cooking Mama Jaime came from the kitchen decked out in full gear; apron, pot holders, and even a cute little chef hat. In her hands she held a fragrant glass dish housing some sort of cake. "Make way! Clear the cards!" she announced cheerfully, grinning from ear to ear as she sauntered across the room.
"We're not finished!" Blaze snapped.
Deo turned instantly at the smell. "What's that??"
"My newest!" Jaime chirped proudly. "Strawberry Butternut."
Vanesse paused on a channel, staring at the TV set in front of her. "Hey guys -- "
"Is it going on the restaurant menu?" Deo asked, showing much more interest in Jaime's cake than his sister's haughty scowl. Blaze gave a growling sigh and began shuffling her deck.
"Well you're the taste tester!" Jaime answered with a smile, placing the whole cake down on the table in front of him. She pulled a fork from the pocket of her apron and stuck it down in the middle.
"Guys, look, " Vanesse raised her voice this time to compete with theirs, grabbing their attention. "This is bad... this is really bad!" She held out the remote and turned up the volume. To the right side of the screen a woman holding a mic stood at the Dolletian Dock. Spinning red ambulance lights lit the area all around. There were several small SOS pod ships anchored at the ports. Over the anchorwoman's shoulders dozens of people moved about; paramedics helping the injured, city patrol trying to regulate the situation, citizens crowding around--many of them crying. The evening sky cast a darkening purple glow around them all.
"Dolletian Navel Scouts are scouring the regional ocean for any sign of Balamb Garden. Currently, we are not having any luck."
Hadrian adjusted the strap of the laptop bag over his shoulder and moved quickly through the crowded walkways of the Estharian upper city. He glanced down at the device in his hand; a handy gadget he had put together himself. It had the standard phone, mp3, and GPS capabilities, as well as several other random and not-so-legal features. A little dot on the screen told him his destination, and another his position. He wasn't far.
His path suddenly went from annoyingly crowded to untraversable. A mob of people stood before one large glass storefront, their attention fixated. Hadrian paused and frowned, distractedly glancing at what these idiots were gawking at while trying to navigate around them. However, the pictures on all the large plasma screens behind the storefront glass caught his eye just as it had caught theirs, and he stopped moving.
"Oh Hyne," one of the girls in the crowd moaned. "Oh Hyne!"
The shot on screen was from a helicopter point of view. Bright white lights beamed down on a gigantic structure sinking into the darkening ocean below. It was Balamb Garden.
"Jax!"
Gemma bounded down the rather long staircase, graceful and light on her feet as she hastily pulled her hair back into its usual bun. "Ajax Darius, I won't let you make us late again!" She reached the bottom and strode into the foyer purposefully. Of course he could hear her, her voice echoed from the walls of their mansion of a home and carried into every adjoining room. He was simply ignoring her, she decided.
"You know this banquet is a very important one for father," she continued loudly, pushing open the door of the entertainment room to find him standing before their large flatscreen. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, and the expression on his face immediately startled and distracted her from even glancing at the image on the screen.
"Gemma, Garden's been bombed."
Lawric slumped a little in the cheaply cushioned chair beneath him, hoping the chairs in the actual office were a little nicer. Hell, maybe they even had a couch in there, and he could kick back with his hands behind his head like in all the movies.
He stared at his own feet sprawled out in front of him and imagined how the conversation might go once he got in there. They'd probably mark him a lost cause and give up on him after one visit. He wasn't totally insane, but the circumstances of his condition were so bizarre... He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head into his hands, ignoring the suicide hotline advertisement airing over the waiting room television. That's what he had come to call it; his 'condition.' The word fit well enough.
The television got louder when the advertisement went away, and he looked up and over at the only other person in the room -- the receptionist. She had the remote in one slender hand and was staring at the set intently. He looked over at it to see what was so interesting. News.
"Judging from the nature of the incident, this was not caused by an internal malfunction or piloting error, but rather, an outside source. Officials state we can safely assume it is the result of an act of terrorism."
Stardust pushed the blade of Trinity deep into the earth. She had been able to keep it, afterall, it being just a sword now with no magical ability. Sapphire, emerald, and ruby all glimmered in the hilt under the orange rays cast from above. There were no trees in this part of the forest. No, all of them burned along with the village.
She wiped the sheen of sweat from her forehead and took a few steps back, staring at it, taking in the sight of it. She stood upon the scorched patch of land that used to be her home; the ruins of Arias. Stone bricks clustered in places to form half-walls, sad remainders of what used to be stout and strong buildings.
Trinity. It would stand as a testament to the strength her home had given her.
A thunderous boom resounded in the far, far distance, and Stardust turned her head at the sound and frowned slightly, her instincts jarring her. She turned and headed toward a bluff up ahead where she knew she could get a better view of the skyline. Her boots pounded against the packed earth and twigs crunched beneath her as she hiked. She stopped when she reached her destination and placed one hand against a tree trunk at her side, her sharp eyes scanning the ocean beyond the forest below, narrowing in the face of the brightly setting sun.
Her brows came together and her lips pursed. Something wasn't right here.
"Thanks again for dinner," Jun smiled from across the dainty table. "The miso soup is delicious!" She leaned forward suddenly, lowering her tone. "It's not outrageously priced, is it?"
Zacke's grin became a laugh. "I'll just tell you this; it's fair. Don't ruin things by making me give you a dollar amount." She frowned in disapproval as she took a sip of her drink. "Hey," he continued, "I just got commissioned to do a series of landscape sketches for some nature museum. So don't worry. The gil's in the bank." He winked.
"Yeah, yeah," she replied, coaxed out of her nagging ways once again by his guileless grin. They were situated out on a sweeping balcony that overlooked the coast of Dollet. Several other tables occupied the area around them. The Pois de Senteur -- it was one of Dollet's finest cafes. Tall candles flickered on every table
"Besides," he went on. "It's worth it to see you. It's only been a few weeks, but man, I've missed you Jun."
"Oh, please, we could have met up for fast food and I wouldn't have minded one... bit... " she trailed off at the sound of ambulance sirens winding somewhere nearby through the city. They became louder as they got closer, and then sped blaring past along the beachside freeway below. There were four of them that went by.
She looked over at Zacke with a worried frown. "Four?"
He followed them with his eyes until the road curved and buildings obstructed his view. He looked back at Jun and gave a slight shrug. "I guess something's going on at the north end of the city?"
Reese peered through the small circular window of an emergency pod. The hulking, crooked and sad form of Balamb Garden loomed against the sunset, surrounded by several dozen other emergency escape pods. He focused on it. The painful moans of an injured SeeD man and the crying of a few Cadets who with him echoed against the steel walls encasing them all.
The western wings of Garden had been utterly blown away, along with most of the second floor and almost all of the third. That was what the first hit had done -- the initial missile. Probably meant for taking lives and not much else, he guessed. The second one hit later, and much lower. Down in the engines. Sent the whole of Garden floundering in the water and eventually blowing apart from the inside out. He frowned darkly, the grime on his face drawing lines in the wrinkles. The people behind this knew exactly what they were doing. He could only assume it to be the work of one particularly disgusting organization.
"My sister... " the young, dark brown-haired Cadet next to him sobbed into her hands. He had helped her out back there -- somewhat. More like she clung to him for dear life, and he, in half a panic himself, distractedly went with it. He glanced down at her. "Sister... " She sounded absolutely pitiful. He looked away with a small sigh and without thought draped an awkwardly comforting arm around her shoulders, staring at the steel floor before him blankly and wishing he were anywhere else.
I realize that I have taken a few liberties here, as in, writing for all characters a little. If anyone is bothered by what I've done, let me know and I will totally edit this and put whatever you want for your character to be doing!
He returned her smile, admiring the way the sun set her pretty face aglow. He opened his mouth to respond, but the loud and rumbling sound of some type of aircraft above them overcame his voice. They looked upward in unison, their moment interrupted by two long cylinder shaped objects with pointed tips soaring noisily high above, the sound fading as the they flew further into the distance.
Not some type of aircraft.
He looked back at Stella.
"Oh HELL no," Blaze shouted. "That's EVERY CARD on the board!"
"Combo," Deo said calmly. It was nice when he won the third and fourth time, but now that he was on his seventh victory, things were starting to get a little monotonous.
"Combo MY ASS." she retorted hotly, looking as if she might spring from her chair at any moment and throw herself across the table at him. "This is ridiculous! You're cheating!!" Deo slid the cards together in one pile and gathered them in his hands, beginning to separate their decks again. He was discovering more and more with each game that his little sister was much better at yelling than she was at strategics. "This game is the stupidest effing game in the entire universe. ONE rule can take all my cards?!"
"Deo always wins." Vanesse walked into the room and plopped down onto the couch. "Hmm," she murmured to herself. "I wonder if Deling Beach is on... ?" She grabbed up the remote from the cushion and flicked on the television.
Blaze stared across the table at Deo. "Rematch." Her tone was impatient and demanding.
Cooking Mama Jaime came from the kitchen decked out in full gear; apron, pot holders, and even a cute little chef hat. In her hands she held a fragrant glass dish housing some sort of cake. "Make way! Clear the cards!" she announced cheerfully, grinning from ear to ear as she sauntered across the room.
"We're not finished!" Blaze snapped.
Deo turned instantly at the smell. "What's that??"
"My newest!" Jaime chirped proudly. "Strawberry Butternut."
Vanesse paused on a channel, staring at the TV set in front of her. "Hey guys -- "
"Is it going on the restaurant menu?" Deo asked, showing much more interest in Jaime's cake than his sister's haughty scowl. Blaze gave a growling sigh and began shuffling her deck.
"Well you're the taste tester!" Jaime answered with a smile, placing the whole cake down on the table in front of him. She pulled a fork from the pocket of her apron and stuck it down in the middle.
"Guys, look, " Vanesse raised her voice this time to compete with theirs, grabbing their attention. "This is bad... this is really bad!" She held out the remote and turned up the volume. To the right side of the screen a woman holding a mic stood at the Dolletian Dock. Spinning red ambulance lights lit the area all around. There were several small SOS pod ships anchored at the ports. Over the anchorwoman's shoulders dozens of people moved about; paramedics helping the injured, city patrol trying to regulate the situation, citizens crowding around--many of them crying. The evening sky cast a darkening purple glow around them all.
"Dolletian Navel Scouts are scouring the regional ocean for any sign of Balamb Garden. Currently, we are not having any luck."
Hadrian adjusted the strap of the laptop bag over his shoulder and moved quickly through the crowded walkways of the Estharian upper city. He glanced down at the device in his hand; a handy gadget he had put together himself. It had the standard phone, mp3, and GPS capabilities, as well as several other random and not-so-legal features. A little dot on the screen told him his destination, and another his position. He wasn't far.
His path suddenly went from annoyingly crowded to untraversable. A mob of people stood before one large glass storefront, their attention fixated. Hadrian paused and frowned, distractedly glancing at what these idiots were gawking at while trying to navigate around them. However, the pictures on all the large plasma screens behind the storefront glass caught his eye just as it had caught theirs, and he stopped moving.
"Oh Hyne," one of the girls in the crowd moaned. "Oh Hyne!"
The shot on screen was from a helicopter point of view. Bright white lights beamed down on a gigantic structure sinking into the darkening ocean below. It was Balamb Garden.
"Jax!"
Gemma bounded down the rather long staircase, graceful and light on her feet as she hastily pulled her hair back into its usual bun. "Ajax Darius, I won't let you make us late again!" She reached the bottom and strode into the foyer purposefully. Of course he could hear her, her voice echoed from the walls of their mansion of a home and carried into every adjoining room. He was simply ignoring her, she decided.
"You know this banquet is a very important one for father," she continued loudly, pushing open the door of the entertainment room to find him standing before their large flatscreen. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, and the expression on his face immediately startled and distracted her from even glancing at the image on the screen.
"Gemma, Garden's been bombed."
Lawric slumped a little in the cheaply cushioned chair beneath him, hoping the chairs in the actual office were a little nicer. Hell, maybe they even had a couch in there, and he could kick back with his hands behind his head like in all the movies.
He stared at his own feet sprawled out in front of him and imagined how the conversation might go once he got in there. They'd probably mark him a lost cause and give up on him after one visit. He wasn't totally insane, but the circumstances of his condition were so bizarre... He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head into his hands, ignoring the suicide hotline advertisement airing over the waiting room television. That's what he had come to call it; his 'condition.' The word fit well enough.
The television got louder when the advertisement went away, and he looked up and over at the only other person in the room -- the receptionist. She had the remote in one slender hand and was staring at the set intently. He looked over at it to see what was so interesting. News.
"Judging from the nature of the incident, this was not caused by an internal malfunction or piloting error, but rather, an outside source. Officials state we can safely assume it is the result of an act of terrorism."
Stardust pushed the blade of Trinity deep into the earth. She had been able to keep it, afterall, it being just a sword now with no magical ability. Sapphire, emerald, and ruby all glimmered in the hilt under the orange rays cast from above. There were no trees in this part of the forest. No, all of them burned along with the village.
She wiped the sheen of sweat from her forehead and took a few steps back, staring at it, taking in the sight of it. She stood upon the scorched patch of land that used to be her home; the ruins of Arias. Stone bricks clustered in places to form half-walls, sad remainders of what used to be stout and strong buildings.
Trinity. It would stand as a testament to the strength her home had given her.
A thunderous boom resounded in the far, far distance, and Stardust turned her head at the sound and frowned slightly, her instincts jarring her. She turned and headed toward a bluff up ahead where she knew she could get a better view of the skyline. Her boots pounded against the packed earth and twigs crunched beneath her as she hiked. She stopped when she reached her destination and placed one hand against a tree trunk at her side, her sharp eyes scanning the ocean beyond the forest below, narrowing in the face of the brightly setting sun.
Her brows came together and her lips pursed. Something wasn't right here.
"Thanks again for dinner," Jun smiled from across the dainty table. "The miso soup is delicious!" She leaned forward suddenly, lowering her tone. "It's not outrageously priced, is it?"
Zacke's grin became a laugh. "I'll just tell you this; it's fair. Don't ruin things by making me give you a dollar amount." She frowned in disapproval as she took a sip of her drink. "Hey," he continued, "I just got commissioned to do a series of landscape sketches for some nature museum. So don't worry. The gil's in the bank." He winked.
"Yeah, yeah," she replied, coaxed out of her nagging ways once again by his guileless grin. They were situated out on a sweeping balcony that overlooked the coast of Dollet. Several other tables occupied the area around them. The Pois de Senteur -- it was one of Dollet's finest cafes. Tall candles flickered on every table
"Besides," he went on. "It's worth it to see you. It's only been a few weeks, but man, I've missed you Jun."
"Oh, please, we could have met up for fast food and I wouldn't have minded one... bit... " she trailed off at the sound of ambulance sirens winding somewhere nearby through the city. They became louder as they got closer, and then sped blaring past along the beachside freeway below. There were four of them that went by.
She looked over at Zacke with a worried frown. "Four?"
He followed them with his eyes until the road curved and buildings obstructed his view. He looked back at Jun and gave a slight shrug. "I guess something's going on at the north end of the city?"
Reese peered through the small circular window of an emergency pod. The hulking, crooked and sad form of Balamb Garden loomed against the sunset, surrounded by several dozen other emergency escape pods. He focused on it. The painful moans of an injured SeeD man and the crying of a few Cadets who with him echoed against the steel walls encasing them all.
The western wings of Garden had been utterly blown away, along with most of the second floor and almost all of the third. That was what the first hit had done -- the initial missile. Probably meant for taking lives and not much else, he guessed. The second one hit later, and much lower. Down in the engines. Sent the whole of Garden floundering in the water and eventually blowing apart from the inside out. He frowned darkly, the grime on his face drawing lines in the wrinkles. The people behind this knew exactly what they were doing. He could only assume it to be the work of one particularly disgusting organization.
"My sister... " the young, dark brown-haired Cadet next to him sobbed into her hands. He had helped her out back there -- somewhat. More like she clung to him for dear life, and he, in half a panic himself, distractedly went with it. He glanced down at her. "Sister... " She sounded absolutely pitiful. He looked away with a small sigh and without thought draped an awkwardly comforting arm around her shoulders, staring at the steel floor before him blankly and wishing he were anywhere else.
I realize that I have taken a few liberties here, as in, writing for all characters a little. If anyone is bothered by what I've done, let me know and I will totally edit this and put whatever you want for your character to be doing!