Post by Cid Highwind on Jun 15, 2009 13:27:53 GMT -5
A young waitress walked by the table before producing a rag from her apron's pockets and cleaned the table's surface.
"Sorry about that. Now sir, my name's Mary and I'll be your waitress for the day. What would you like?" The woman smiled and took out a pad of paper and a pen.
The man sitting at the table smiled back in return and took a cigarette out of the pack that was secured in place by the strap of his goggles.
"Tea would be fine miss. Earl Grey perferably if you have it." The man lit the cigarette and took a puff.
"Oh, and an ashtray would be nice too." The woman wrote his order down and left the man to smoke in peace. A few minutes later, she returned carrying a pot of hot water, tea bags, and an ashtray.
"Thanks." The man stated around his cigarette as he poured the boiling water into his tea cup.
Cid Highwind was a man that most might think would drink coffee. However, the gruff spoken man despised the thick black liquid with a passion and preferred hot tea instead.
Dunking the tea bag a few times more he pressed it against the spoon and wrapped the string tied to it around the bag. Pressing the bag with his thumb he shook the spoon up and down once, and then twice to make sure any last drops of tea would fall in his cup and not on the pristene white table cloth below it.
Cid then scooped two spoons of sugar in his tea and as a finishing touch added a lemon slice to the cup to finish off his masterpiece.
Cid sipped his cup of tea as he watched the rest of the small cafe go about it's daily business. He'd found this place about two weeks ago after he had tried and failed to find his way home. It had been chance that Cid had stumbled upon the tea cafe and it had been even luckier that he had found an apartment at the same time.
Cid refilled his tea cup and picked his cigarette back up from the ashtray.
"At least the damn place lets me smoke." Cid thought to himself as he took a drag off his cigarette and followed that with a gulp of tea. "It's bad enough that every god damn place around here has to be 'Smoke Free!'...What the fucking hell is that about?! We're all going to die anyway, might as well die doing something ya like."
The people here must have thought he was a janitor or someone that worked on the graveyard shift at the mall because of the weapons ban that the mall had in motion.
"Damn bastards...oh well. At least they won't know what hit 'em when I come around. I doubt they'd ever expect to have their asses royally handed to them by the great Captain Cid Highwind and his mop. This thing's helped me out in more than a few battles. Though nothing's quite as great as my good ol' Venus Gospel." Cid again took a puff off of his cigarette and drained the last bit of his tea.
"Hah, good thing they've never bother to frisk me...otherwise they'd find enough dynamite to blow up this entire place. And that's a lot of TNT...considerin' the place is fucking huge." Cid chuckled to himself as he stubbed out his finished cigarette and produced another from his pack and lit it.
A few shouts from outside caught Cid's attention.
"What the hell's goin' on out there?" He mumbled to himself.
A flash of light and a resounding crack rang through the air. Cid jumped to his feet and laid enough change on the table to cover his bill as he secured the mop onto his back.
As he trotted out the door raised voices and a crowd of people peering down off the third story of the mall caught his attention.
"'Scuse me! Pardon me! WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY SO I CAN SEE WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON!?" Cid shouted as he pushed through the large group of people rubbernecking in the middle of the walkway.
Cid peered over the railing just in time to see a small coffee shop on the first floor almost explode in a burst of flames. People poured through the restaurant doors, though he couldn't see anyone that looked like workers in the crowd.
Cid smirked. "Well well...it seems someone else here has Materia. This outta be fun."
Yells and screams from all three floors echoed around him as the flames engulfed the entire shop. Then without warning, the flames completely disappeared, almost as if willed to.
Cid's smirk grew as he puffed on his cigarette. "Well that was interesting, that HAD to be materia or a summon. I guess I better go straighten this mess out. It's obvious that none of these pansies are gonna do anything about it."
Cid made sure the mop secured to his back was in place and then put one hand on the railing.
"You ladies might wanna step back. Hold onto yer drawers and don't piss in 'em!" He shouted above the yells, coming from below them, for someone to call the fire department.
Cid vaulted over the railing like it was a stick in the road and landed on the first floor with a resounding thump.
"Well...that was easy. I swear...maybe next time I should try jumping from the top of the building for a good warm up."
Cid sauntered over to the coffee shop, only to see two people leave it and say their goodbyes to a young lady.
"Now SHE looks like she works here though, to be honest, so does that kid with the red spikey hair. Wait a second..." Cid scrunched his eyes to get a clear look at the red head's face as he heard him and the black haired young punk talk to each other about a library or something.
"Oh no way in HELL! Is that...Reno? What the fuck is going on here, he looks like he's finally just let the rest of his hair grow out. Damned Shinra...of all the people I have to run into a Turk just happens to be it. Yeah we did settle our differences and not all of them are bad guys but doesn't mean I have to like him. I'd have rather seen Tiff or hell even Vampy, but he's the first person I've seen here that I actually know...guess I'd better make the most of it."
Cid sighed and dropped his now finished cigarrette under his boot. He crushed it under his heel before glancing towards the shop.
It looked like it wasn't ruined, Cid could say that much. While the fire seemed to have been carefully maintained, even when it was a blazing mess, none of the actual physical structure had been severely damaged. Cid turned around at the rush of voices and sirens announcing the arrival of the fire and police departments.
A man in a trenchcoat and some hat that looked like a fedora proceeded to question the young girl that worked at the store. Cid heard the cop introduce him self as Zenigata or something similar and the girl stated her name was Tohru Honda.
Cid grunted. "Tohru Honda? Well, she definitely doesn't look like the type of person that would set a cafe ablaze. But isn't Tohru a boys name or was that damned ninja brat Yuffie just shittin' me?"
Tohru told the police that the oven, which had been acting up earlier in the day, had developed a gas leak while she had been in the storage closet changing her apron, which had been earlier burned, and retreiving more food for the customers. As a result of the gas leak, the stove had exploded, damaging the door leading to the shop, as well as the shop itself. The pantry where she had been, was not touched by the flames.
Cid chuckled and pulled out a cigarrette as the girl finished her story about the store. "Now this is getting interesting." He talked around his cigarrette as he blew smoke out of the side of his mouth. "That definitely doesn't sound like an explosion. If it had been one, the whole shop would have been damaged, but strangely the pantry and most of the kitchen weren't even touched." Cid smiled as he turned around.
"Yep, that had to be materia or a summon spell; no doubt about it now. That fire was too well controlled to just be an accident or freak of nature. It also disappeared with out a trace of smoke. Looks like I need to go find that damned Turk Reno. Now where did he go?"
Cid glanced through the crowd and cursed under his breath as he realized that Reno and the young punk he'd been with had completely disappeared. Letting out a few choice words, Cid resigned himself to going back to the tea cafe. He needed a drink, and though these events usually required alcohol, the bar on the second floor wouldn't be open for a good six hours.
Cid bent his knees, the launched himself in a jump up and over the third story railing landing soft as a feather on the walkway outside of the tea cafe. The laughed when he was met with the scared, awestricken, and horrified faces of the people he had pushed his way through earlier.
"...What 're you girls lookin' at?"
He took a long drag off of his cigarrette and exhauled the smoke before entering the cafe and sitting at the table he had been at earlier. Seeing his change still sitting on the table, he picked it up and put it in his pocket. "Must have been too busy watching the goings on outside." He thought to himself as he poured another cup of tea and added two spoons of sugar and a slice of lemon.
He took a sip before holding the cup in his hands and watching the smoke rise over the rim into the air. "This is going to take some investigating..." He mumbled to the empty cafe where customers were just now trickling back in.
"Sorry about that. Now sir, my name's Mary and I'll be your waitress for the day. What would you like?" The woman smiled and took out a pad of paper and a pen.
The man sitting at the table smiled back in return and took a cigarette out of the pack that was secured in place by the strap of his goggles.
"Tea would be fine miss. Earl Grey perferably if you have it." The man lit the cigarette and took a puff.
"Oh, and an ashtray would be nice too." The woman wrote his order down and left the man to smoke in peace. A few minutes later, she returned carrying a pot of hot water, tea bags, and an ashtray.
"Thanks." The man stated around his cigarette as he poured the boiling water into his tea cup.
Cid Highwind was a man that most might think would drink coffee. However, the gruff spoken man despised the thick black liquid with a passion and preferred hot tea instead.
Dunking the tea bag a few times more he pressed it against the spoon and wrapped the string tied to it around the bag. Pressing the bag with his thumb he shook the spoon up and down once, and then twice to make sure any last drops of tea would fall in his cup and not on the pristene white table cloth below it.
Cid then scooped two spoons of sugar in his tea and as a finishing touch added a lemon slice to the cup to finish off his masterpiece.
Cid sipped his cup of tea as he watched the rest of the small cafe go about it's daily business. He'd found this place about two weeks ago after he had tried and failed to find his way home. It had been chance that Cid had stumbled upon the tea cafe and it had been even luckier that he had found an apartment at the same time.
Cid refilled his tea cup and picked his cigarette back up from the ashtray.
"At least the damn place lets me smoke." Cid thought to himself as he took a drag off his cigarette and followed that with a gulp of tea. "It's bad enough that every god damn place around here has to be 'Smoke Free!'...What the fucking hell is that about?! We're all going to die anyway, might as well die doing something ya like."
The people here must have thought he was a janitor or someone that worked on the graveyard shift at the mall because of the weapons ban that the mall had in motion.
"Damn bastards...oh well. At least they won't know what hit 'em when I come around. I doubt they'd ever expect to have their asses royally handed to them by the great Captain Cid Highwind and his mop. This thing's helped me out in more than a few battles. Though nothing's quite as great as my good ol' Venus Gospel." Cid again took a puff off of his cigarette and drained the last bit of his tea.
"Hah, good thing they've never bother to frisk me...otherwise they'd find enough dynamite to blow up this entire place. And that's a lot of TNT...considerin' the place is fucking huge." Cid chuckled to himself as he stubbed out his finished cigarette and produced another from his pack and lit it.
A few shouts from outside caught Cid's attention.
"What the hell's goin' on out there?" He mumbled to himself.
A flash of light and a resounding crack rang through the air. Cid jumped to his feet and laid enough change on the table to cover his bill as he secured the mop onto his back.
As he trotted out the door raised voices and a crowd of people peering down off the third story of the mall caught his attention.
"'Scuse me! Pardon me! WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY SO I CAN SEE WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON!?" Cid shouted as he pushed through the large group of people rubbernecking in the middle of the walkway.
Cid peered over the railing just in time to see a small coffee shop on the first floor almost explode in a burst of flames. People poured through the restaurant doors, though he couldn't see anyone that looked like workers in the crowd.
Cid smirked. "Well well...it seems someone else here has Materia. This outta be fun."
Yells and screams from all three floors echoed around him as the flames engulfed the entire shop. Then without warning, the flames completely disappeared, almost as if willed to.
Cid's smirk grew as he puffed on his cigarette. "Well that was interesting, that HAD to be materia or a summon. I guess I better go straighten this mess out. It's obvious that none of these pansies are gonna do anything about it."
Cid made sure the mop secured to his back was in place and then put one hand on the railing.
"You ladies might wanna step back. Hold onto yer drawers and don't piss in 'em!" He shouted above the yells, coming from below them, for someone to call the fire department.
Cid vaulted over the railing like it was a stick in the road and landed on the first floor with a resounding thump.
"Well...that was easy. I swear...maybe next time I should try jumping from the top of the building for a good warm up."
Cid sauntered over to the coffee shop, only to see two people leave it and say their goodbyes to a young lady.
"Now SHE looks like she works here though, to be honest, so does that kid with the red spikey hair. Wait a second..." Cid scrunched his eyes to get a clear look at the red head's face as he heard him and the black haired young punk talk to each other about a library or something.
"Oh no way in HELL! Is that...Reno? What the fuck is going on here, he looks like he's finally just let the rest of his hair grow out. Damned Shinra...of all the people I have to run into a Turk just happens to be it. Yeah we did settle our differences and not all of them are bad guys but doesn't mean I have to like him. I'd have rather seen Tiff or hell even Vampy, but he's the first person I've seen here that I actually know...guess I'd better make the most of it."
Cid sighed and dropped his now finished cigarrette under his boot. He crushed it under his heel before glancing towards the shop.
It looked like it wasn't ruined, Cid could say that much. While the fire seemed to have been carefully maintained, even when it was a blazing mess, none of the actual physical structure had been severely damaged. Cid turned around at the rush of voices and sirens announcing the arrival of the fire and police departments.
A man in a trenchcoat and some hat that looked like a fedora proceeded to question the young girl that worked at the store. Cid heard the cop introduce him self as Zenigata or something similar and the girl stated her name was Tohru Honda.
Cid grunted. "Tohru Honda? Well, she definitely doesn't look like the type of person that would set a cafe ablaze. But isn't Tohru a boys name or was that damned ninja brat Yuffie just shittin' me?"
Tohru told the police that the oven, which had been acting up earlier in the day, had developed a gas leak while she had been in the storage closet changing her apron, which had been earlier burned, and retreiving more food for the customers. As a result of the gas leak, the stove had exploded, damaging the door leading to the shop, as well as the shop itself. The pantry where she had been, was not touched by the flames.
Cid chuckled and pulled out a cigarrette as the girl finished her story about the store. "Now this is getting interesting." He talked around his cigarrette as he blew smoke out of the side of his mouth. "That definitely doesn't sound like an explosion. If it had been one, the whole shop would have been damaged, but strangely the pantry and most of the kitchen weren't even touched." Cid smiled as he turned around.
"Yep, that had to be materia or a summon spell; no doubt about it now. That fire was too well controlled to just be an accident or freak of nature. It also disappeared with out a trace of smoke. Looks like I need to go find that damned Turk Reno. Now where did he go?"
Cid glanced through the crowd and cursed under his breath as he realized that Reno and the young punk he'd been with had completely disappeared. Letting out a few choice words, Cid resigned himself to going back to the tea cafe. He needed a drink, and though these events usually required alcohol, the bar on the second floor wouldn't be open for a good six hours.
Cid bent his knees, the launched himself in a jump up and over the third story railing landing soft as a feather on the walkway outside of the tea cafe. The laughed when he was met with the scared, awestricken, and horrified faces of the people he had pushed his way through earlier.
"...What 're you girls lookin' at?"
He took a long drag off of his cigarrette and exhauled the smoke before entering the cafe and sitting at the table he had been at earlier. Seeing his change still sitting on the table, he picked it up and put it in his pocket. "Must have been too busy watching the goings on outside." He thought to himself as he poured another cup of tea and added two spoons of sugar and a slice of lemon.
He took a sip before holding the cup in his hands and watching the smoke rise over the rim into the air. "This is going to take some investigating..." He mumbled to the empty cafe where customers were just now trickling back in.
