The Past Ain't in the Past [Cissnei]

Tagged : Cissnei | Words : 700-ish | Notes : IT RETURNS.

"Longley, some people here to see ya!"

The pair of legs hanging out from under a red car in the back of the shop nodded, forgetting the other guy couldn't see him right now. Op, right, he couldn't see him right now. Longley shook his head to himself (since the guy couldn't see that, either) and stopped working long enough to take the wrench out of his mouth and speak up. "A'right, be out in a couple," he rattled out casually, shifting himself into a more comfortable position to get back to work and figure out who the heck could want to see him once he got out from under his car. He didn't hear footsteps walking away from him in the empty shop, though, and peeked out from under the set of the car to see his boss still standing there. Longley cocked his eyebrow, the corner of his mouth following suit. "Everything good?", he asked, wondering what else in the world his boss could want. "Uh...I think they want to see ya now, kid." Longley really got his eyebrow up for that comment. "Uh...gonna tell me who'd be in such an all-fire hurry to see me, big man?" He didn't have to see his boss to know he shrugged. "Some guys in suits."

Longley immediately went to pop up, just barely remembering in time that he was under a car and managing just to lightly tap his head against the steel before he caught himself. Guys in suits didn't just show up and want to talk to a guy like Longley just any day of the week. He'd been a biker once and a mechanic now. Guys in suits didn't just visit him to talk business - not any typical guys in suits, anyway. "So whadda they want now?", Longley mumbled under his breath, as stared up into the bottom of the car. It had been a long damn time since he'd worn the last suit he thought he'd ever need, and if he was gonna believe what the rest of those suits were telling him, he wasn't gonna wear it again. Unless what they'd said was crap, they had a short memory, or they were here to drag him back and put him under...surveillance or something, Longley couldn't figure what they'd want with him, if he was even thinking about the right people.

He needed to check this out. Pushing himself out from under the car, he saw his boss walking back towards the front of the place, and he did see someone standing there all fancied up in a suit. Longley looked at the person closely as he tossed his rag aside and tried to figure out if it was anyone he knew from back in the day, outta all those crazy jokers he'd known. Couldn't tell a thing about them from here, so he just sucked in a breath and haphazardly popped up to his feet, kicking his creeper out of the way so he could step over it. Man, had he ever thought he'd never be a part of anything related to Shinra again - if he saw more of Shinra than what they put on the news at night, he was usually pretty surprised. But now he was walking towards a past life, and as he got closer to that past life, he saw a face that he thought for sure he was never, ever gonna see again in all his life. Okay, so something was really going down with Shinra for her to be here.

He gave a wide, smooth smile as he stepped into the front of the shop and propped himself against the counter with one hand. "Now what could bring a chick like you all the way out to a place like this?", he asked, good naturedly, scrutinizing her. "Cissnei, ya look good."

Maybe those plans to head up the Turks weren't so far gone after all.

In the arms of the Angel

Fly away from the endlessness you fear

Cissnei glanced around the front of the shop that she had just entered. Crimson eyes flickered from place to place, before finally settling on man that was in front of her. Definitely not Rod...unless he'd gotten plastic surgery and a hair job to avoid the Turks. Somehow she doubted it. Rod wasn't really the type to hide away like that - exactly why it had been so easy to track him down. The man looked at her in appreciation, which she ignored. Instead, she walked up to the shop counter. "Can I do anything for you?" Cissnei realized they probably got no women that came into the shop - and so she was a rarity. Still, she didn't exactly enjoy his close scrutiny. Hadn't the man seen a woman before? "Yes, I believe you can. There's a Longley in employment here. I would like to speak with him if that was possible." Cissnei, knowing Rod, added a "Please tell him it's urgent." Was it urgent? Well...she supposed so. After all, it wasn't every day that a crazy old scientist was found messing up the lifestream. It seemed the lifestream always got the brunt of crazy people. "Alrighty, I'll go snag him." The lazy meander he took to go to the back of the shop didn't encourage her, but she didn't say anything.

"Think he'll come back?" Cissnei glanced over at the ShinRa employee that had been tasked with coming with her. "Perhaps. Rod can have a mind of his own." She hadn't liked it, but she couldn't exactly say no when Tseng had commanded it. Why hadn't he sent another Turk with her then? It didn't seem logical, but then. Cissnei had been keeping tabs on them the lat four years. Some had kept in touch with her, worried probably. She hadn't exactly been at the most stable of situations when they had disbanded. She'd taken it hard, but what really upset her was that she had lost control. A turk didn't have room for such luxuries. But then...she had sworn that she wouldn't become a turk again, and look at where she was now. She couldn't lie entirely though, it was good to be back...in some ways. Others perhaps not so much, but she would get into the routine of things. She would admit that she had missed them...all of them. "He'll do whatever he's told." Cissnei's crimson eyes cut over to the cocky ShinRa employee. She didn't like him...didn't like him at all. "Go wait in the car.", she finally said lowly. "But-" "Now." Her tone left no room for argument, and after a brief pause, he walked out, slamming the door in the process.

Finally rid of him, Cissnei found herself wandering to the side. Parts were on display all around her. While she understood the mechanics of a very select few things, most of it was far above her head. With a curious hand, Cissnei reached out and allowed her fingertips to brush against the larger item that was there. "Alternator.", was typed on the section beside it. Interesting. She knew what it did, but she'd never really been told how it worked. Cocking her head to the side, she had just started to study it in depth when she picked up the footsteps coming behind her. Yet she waited until he spoke to turn, her crimson eyes taking him in. Cissnei nearly rolled her eyes. "I'm actually head of a mechanics department now, technology advances...I'm a super inventor. I thought I might come and snag some parts from you, you know, for the time machine I'm working on."

Brushing off the sleeve of her suit, Cissnei gave him a smile. "Thank you. You too, grease always did look good on you." It wasn't a lie, really, but she shouldn't let him get too confident in himself. "Are they feeding you alright here?", she asked with another shifting glance around the room. While she'd never been a mechanic, it didn't seem like the type of place to have cozy family dinners.

Then again, neither did ShinRa.

words 816 • tagged: Rod • outfit: Suit • Notes: None!

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Tagged : Cissnei | Words : 500-ish | Notes : IT RETURNS.

The Turk-turned-mechanic just stared incredulously at Cissnei as she rattled off some oh-so-serious explanation about how she was the head of some kind of mechanics company kind of thing. Yeah, sure, Longley was gonna believe her spouting that kinda nonsense. He waved a dismissive hand in her direction. "Some nice suits ya ripped off," he said, taking in her form in the Turk suit, which she wore extremely well now and always had. "How much did Shinra charge for the suits and the time machine parts? A pretty penny, I'd bet." Shinra always charged a whole hell of a lot for anything they thought could get them some money. Heck, Longley wasn't judging them for it, for sure. All that money they'd hogged up had gone into his paycheck, and that paycheck had kept him afloat ever since the whole "exile" deal. The pay he got working in this place definitely wasn't gonna keep his head over water, especially after he'd bought that nice apartment back when he was a Turk...and was still living in it to this day.

Welp, Longley was gonna take the whole "grease" comment as a big-time compliment, especially coming from a little lady like Cissnei who always had that seriousness going on when it came to business arrangements like this one...or what Longley guessed was a business arrangment of some kind. He gave her a wide grin. "I saved a little grease in the back, if ya wanted any to go on your outfit." His connotation was pretty obvious, but then, it was meant to be. Besides, Ciss needed someone to spice up her life after all these years. Rumor had it she'd disappeared totally - where was the excitement in disappearing? Longley had to make up for all that lost time.

Heh, sounded like Cissnei read his mind about the way this place paid him, too. Longley let out a hearty laugh when she asked if they were feeding him right in this dumpy place. Man, Ciss really hadn't changed - she was still trying to take care of everyone. "Feedin' me? Kinda optimistic to think these jokers feed me," he joked, before his boss' voice rattled out nearby. "Jokers that put up with you!" The ex-Turk chuckled a little in his boss' direction before turning his attention back to Cissnei, his humor slowly settling out. He studied her face for a few seconds, trying to decide what it was she was here for - exactly what she was here for, not just a guess. Finally, though, he just asked what he'd wanted to ask when he'd first heard that suits were hanging around in his little mechanic's shop. "You here to recruit me or arrest me or what?"

In the arms of the Angel

Fly away from the endlessness you fear

Cissnei shrugged as she continued her story about what she was doing. "You know ShinRa. If it's an object that will make them a bit more famous, it's worth the tens of thousands they could have spent to help someone. Now that I work in the scientific part, I actually feel like I'm beginning to understand." If nothing else had clued him that she was making it up, that would. Cissnei would never be able to condone such actions on the part of ShinRa. "Besides, as of lately ShinRa is made of money, haven't you heard?" Right...while they were slowly recovering, they were far from what they had been previously. Cissnei found herself thankful for that. Perhaps now they would be kept in check, unlike the last time around. No one should be able to have the power enough to make all the decisions for everyone.

Cissnei quirked an eyebrow at just how far Rod took her comment about the grease. She should have expected it really. At one time, she would have blushed like a schoolgirl over that comment. Years of being around Rod, Reno, Ethan, and a few others had taken that embarrassment away from her. She had too much confidence in herself to mind. "Maybe later. I don't think this suit is the appropriate clothing choice for being covered in grease." She didn't doubt that he would take it the way he wanted to - and that she was now going to have to deal with his continued talk of the grease that she had originally brought up. Oh well, she wouldn't be able to change anyone over night, even if there were times she wished she could.

Cissnei had to frown slightly in concern when Longley made a comment about their lack of feeding him. Her eyes flickered toward what she presumed was the boss of the place as he joked around. She sized Longley up again. From what she could see, he didn't appear to be starving, which was good. If he had appeared like that, she would have had to speak her mind to this boss of his. Instead, she shook her head and curled her fingers underneath her jaw. So she could save her lectures about eating the right amount for later - since this was obviously a joke. "You still seem to have some fat on your body, so you couldn't have been starving." Obviously Longley had no fat...anywhere that she could see, but it didn't stop her from pestering him about it.

Soon enough though, it was turned toward serious matters. Rubbing the underside of her jaw with her fingers, Cissnei tried to think of how she should approach the subject. "The later might be more entertaining.", she finally admitted. With a sigh, she dropped her hand and crossed her arms over her chest. "We have a situation." Didn't they always have a situation? She felt like sighing deeply again. "I'm sure you knew I vanished." For good reason. "I was in Wutai of all places. Long story short, Reno...found and convinced Bradley and I to join the ranks again." Her face didn't exactly exude happiness over that fact. She was still leery of ShinRa, and of being a turk. But she would admit that she had missed it...and the turks themselves. Wetting her lips with her tongue, Cissnei's eyes lifted until she was looking at him. "I was hoping I could convince you to do the same."

words 816 • tagged: Cole • outfit: Leather armor • Notes:

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Tagged : Cissnei | Words : 773 | Notes : I actually didn't mind this post. \o/ 

Welp, now Ciss had just gone out of her mind with this whole explanation. Longley couldn't help but shake his head and snicker into his chest a few times at what she was spouting about Shinra. "Oh yeah, Ciss, Shinra's loaded these days. Baldy found his family's fortune of shades and started sellin' 'em to support the company's children's charities." Everyone knew what Shinra was about, and even as a Turk, Longley hadn't been all too sure about the boss' motivations. And anyone claiming Shinra was sitting on anything close to a fortune lately was out of their damn minds or they'd been under a rock for a couple of years. Last Longley had heard, about all it had to its name anymore was the chopper and some of the old, crappy facilities. It was a shame to see the company crash so fast, but after the whole Sephiroth disaster, it was always gonna happen and it was probably the right thing for the company to find a little humility. If Cissnei had decided to wear the suit again, they definitely must have found that humility at least some already. He doubted she'd go back for any other reason.

That immunity she'd been building up to his passes was still going strong by the sound of it, too. But, also by the sound of it, she wasn't saying he couldn't take the grease to her...just that she wouldn't want it messing up her suit. Ahaha, he had her there and glanced her from head to toe out of habit more than anything else. "Heh," he let out, shifting onto his opposite foot to lean and give a slightly cocky, but encouraging, smile. "I'll take ya up on that offer, Ciss. Wear something ya don't mind gettin' dirty, alright? The less, the better, eh?" If you wanted to talk about a thrill, it didn't get much more thrilling than that kind of arrangement. But, hey, it would probably be pretty awkward with the boss around, so maybe later was probably a good thing.

Ciss was so dang motherly sometimes, too, that Longley didn't even know how to deal with her any more than she probably knew how to deal with his passes; they just both had to take each other in stride, he guessed. It wasn't that he minded Ciss watching out for him - because he sure didn't watch out for himself sometimes - but he just had to snicker a little more at her when she said he had fat on his body. "Sizing me up for a holiday meal?", he asked, scrutinizing her. Longley wished he could get some fat on his body at some point and stop being so absolutely skinny, but hey, if he said that, Ciss might start shoving stacks of pancakes down his throat and choke him half to death. It'd probably be fun having her trying to hold him down until she got it shoveled in and started strangling him...

Alright, enough of the funny thoughts though and it was time to get to business and figure out why she was darkening his door again. As she started to explain - slowly, like Turks always did - Longley pushed himself up onto the top of the counter to sit and motioned his head for her to plop down somewhere on the counter too. The Turks had trained him in when to stay silent and listen to things, so he just nodded along with all of her points as she spoke. Of course Shinra had a situation. Shinra existed because of situations. And he did know that Ciss had vanished...apparently, just from what he'd heard, due to all that stuff with those two SOLDIER guys who had been with Hojo. He couldn't say she'd made the wrong choice, either. He'd been pretty much ushered out, sure, but he probably would have gotten out of there eventually on his own. The weird part of the whole explanation was that Reno of all people had gotten her back, and apparently he'd gotten Babyface back too. Longley had to raise his eyebrows at that fact. Since when had Reno been good at convincing people of anything? Well, he guessed he'd gotten some of the best of them all back, if anything.

He wanted to point out the Reno thing, but he was more curious about something else. He quirked an eyebrow momentarily. "So what's the situation?" It needed to be something worth his time for him to even think about heading back, but if Cissnei and Bradley were both in on it, it must have been a pretty big problem.

Open your eyes

To see the wings of the angel that’s on your side. Let me give you my hand and hold onto me

Cissnei should have been expecting a crack about Rude's glasses. Apparently she had been away from them for even longer than she had first thought. For a moment she just stared at him, before a small chuckle escaped her lips, quickly escalating into a real laugh. She eventually wiped under her eye and then placed her slender fingers over her mouth to stifle any other giggles that might escape. "That...is not a bad idea. Rude certainly has enough pairs of glasses. Probably worth a small fortune.", she agreed. Actually it wasn't a bad thing to look into. Cissnei hadn't been in Rude's apartment for some time, but she imagined that he had at least an entire closet dedicated to shades. Reno certainly broke enough, so it didn't hurt to have quite a few pairs on hand. She couldn't help but continue smiling when the image kept resurfacing in her mind. She wouldn't argue in favor of ShinRa either, despite working once more for them. While they were getting on their feet once more financially - their current building, though much more modest than the previous, was at least nice looking again. Longley would see that for himself if she could convince him to return. In all honesty, not only did she want him back because they could use him on the team once more, but she missed him. She missed all of them. Missed the laughs and the jokes, the nights where they had gone out for a few drinks and even the missions.

And she was quick to realize she had gotten herself backed into a corner. Cissnei wasn't exactly what she would call that type of girl - and everyone knew it - but she was also far from innocent. It was hard to remain that way with the men she had been around, certainly, and she was a woman. A woman just like any other with desires and thoughts. She would say that was being human. She quirked an eyebrow though, and gave him a smile. "Just make sure there aren't any bosses around.", she said with a pointed look toward the man hanging in the area.

Her expertly attempting to get around that talk brought her unknowingly to the best defense against it. Motherliness. It was with concern on her features that she glanced him up and down. He didn't seem overly concerned about the 'fat' that she was teasing him about though. Taking a step closer, Cissnei spanned her hands and pressed them against his abdomen. She tsked slightly and poked him in the chest. "You wish.", she said brightly. "At least you aren't as thin as Bradley. I'm considering taking him to the doctor to make sure he doesn't have a tapeworm or something.", she sighed in frustration. Keeping up with all these turks and their lack of caring about their own physical health or safety could be a daunting task.

And just like with anything, it was time to get serious. While Cissnei was telling her story, she couldn't help but start to pace slowly around, keeping close to her companion while she did so. His question left her to have to stop and think about it. Pursing her lips slightly, Cissnei had to stop and think about it for a moment before she could answer. "This might sound like...a lame excuse, but I'm not one hundred percent sure.", she finally admitted. "While in Wutai, the place I was living in, this little village, got attacked by...strange creatures." At that point, Cissnei remembered the folder she had left on the chair by the door. Going there now, she lifted it up and returned back toward the counter and where Rod had propped himself. Flipping it open, she riffled through the papers until she came to a few pictures they had, laying them out so he could see. "Some are bigger, some are smaller, but they leveled that place. No one survived.", she said in a sad tone. "And it isn't just in Wutai. These occurrences seem to be popping up all over Gaia. They don't just...they devour the people.", she said slowly. "And they glow really oddly. We have a researcher building a machine she thinks can read the creatures and tell us why they glow like they do. But in the meantime, this isn't going away. We're not sure who or what is creating them, but whoever it is means to use them for some purpose, and it isn't going to be a good one."

Notes: Nuuffin'. Wearing: Turk uniform Setting: Dat shop Tagged: Rod Words: 795

made by Δ ashy of caution; shine

Tagged : Cissnei | Words : 615 | Notes : STUFF. 

Longley could definitely go along with what he was hearing from Ciss right now about them having a good time as long as there wasn't a boss around to witness it. Heck, Cissnei was a dang good looking woman - he was all in on that action. Cutting his eyes to his boss minding his own business nearby, Longley spent just a few seconds plotting ways to get him out of the building before deciding that Cissnei was probably here for a mildly important reason and trying to turn it into something more...entertaining wouldn't be the right thing to do. Later, though, Longley was going to find time. "Bosses won't always be around," he told her, sealing the promise for later with a toothy grin.

He watched with amused features as she tested the size of his stomach, forced to bust out laughing when she finally pressed her hands into him and grabbing the finger that poked him, squeezing on it lightly. "Ya really have been back with Shinra. Already treatin' people like lab experiments." Really, she was treating him like she was his mother more than an experiment, but hey, experiments worked too. And Longley still thought it was funny that people like Ciss, who seemed right at home doing motherly things, could end up working with an organization like the Turks were espionage and lies and deceit and danger were all the name of the game. But he would be lying if he said she didn't fill out a suit damn well. She was probably twice the Turk that Longley himself had ever been. She wore the suit again first, too, doubling that notion. She could balance being a Turk and watching out for all of them apparently, too. He snickered yet again at the comment about Bradley. "Babyface's just built like a tapeworm. Buy 'im something like twelve cheeseburgers all the way on the way back to headquarters." Longley wanted to add a joke about getting him a tape-on beard so Bradley'd finally look like a man, but he kept the comment to himself, only smiling widely about it.

What didn't make him smile was what Cissnei was telling him had brought some of the Turks like her back into Shinra's ranks. He watched her with an eyebrow raised as she paced and explained what she'd seen in Wutai, nothing much to do but listen until he could come up with some kind of question. Monsters were attacking places all the time, weren't they? Didn't sound like anything Shinra should be getting too upset about. As she brought him the pictures and laid them out, he took in the view of her profile for a few seconds until she had them all placed there. His eyebrow popped up once more as he looked over the pictures and picked up one particularly clear one to hold it better in the light streaming from the front of the shop. Well, Ciss hadn't been lying when she'd said strange creatures, that was for sure. Longley had never seen anything like these monsters before, and he sure didn't know of any monsters that devoured people. Now he did have some questions, but he let Ciss finish speaking before he said anything.

"So they want us to be big damn heroes again," Longley quipped, shrugging a shoulder. "Whadda they want us to do about it? Throw sheets over 'em so they don't glow?" Of course, he had questions about the monsters, too...but those could wait once...well, once he decided what he was going to do about this whole proposition. He kind of already knew; he just needed Ciss to ask nicely.

Open your eyes

To see the wings of the angel that’s on your side. Let me give you my hand and hold onto me

What the hell.

Cissnei had always tried to hold this ridged line between her professional life and her personal and social, but years had taught her that when you were a Turk, they walked hand in hand. Since her professional life was her social life - and Cissnei was a woman the same as any - she decided to let her guard down and smile back at Rod. A grown woman knowing what she was getting into, for some reason it didn't matter as much as it had the last time she was a Turk. "No, they won't be." Cocking her head to the side, Cissnei sent him a smile. "Because I'm not sure about you, but the last person walking in on me with grease all over would be Tseng." Tseng, as she knew all the Turks felt, was their real boss anyway. Rufus could essentially go screw himself for all they cared. And probably did. Rod was one of those people you could let that guard down with and while he would probably hold you to your words later on, he wouldn't go judging her for it. Besides, like she had said, she was a woman, so again, what the hell.

When she moved in to feel his stomach - noting on the side that he seemed in shape as ever - she smiled up to him when he squeezed her finger lightly. "If the mechanics department doesn't work out, I figured mad scientist seemed as good of a job as any. Since you seem willing, why not use you for experiments. I might get up to Hojo's level in a few years if I really work at it." It was no real thing to joke about, but Cissnei had learned long ago that if they didn't make light of certain situations, they were far more likely to snap and have serious problems. Sometimes humor was the only way to stay sane.

She was also very aware of his nickname for Bradley. Her protective nature kicked in, and she propped her hand up on her hip and gave him a chiding look, which melted away when she mentally pictured Bradley eating down that many cheeseburgers. "I don't think his body has the room for them even if he tried his hardest.", she finally mused. And there was something more than cheeseburgers. That smile was one of straight up amusement. Quirking an eyebrow, Cissnei watched him for a moment before shrugging and letting it go. No doubt Rod was up to something, probably childish, but equally as likely harmless. At least...she could hope so.

Besides, they had much deeper things to speak of. Cissnei cut her eyes over to Longley when she had finished explaining, quirking up her mouth a bit. "I wouldn't exactly call us heroes...but we do get the job done. And right now a big job needs doing." Perhaps they were heroes in their own way - though Cissnei would never admit to being one herself. Too much guilt had been placed on her small shoulders when it came to her actions as a Turk. Walking the fine line between being a hero and a villain seemed overly close in this job. Cissnei propped her elbow on the counter and rested her jaw on her palm. She was tired herself - she had been running what seemed to be all over the place in the last few days - and she needed a bit of a rest. Flickering her crimson eyes over toward Longley, she smiled slightly. "That was actually why I suggested you. Out of all of us, I figured you were the most likely to run hellbent up to one of these to tie a sheet around it's shoulders and pretend it had a cape." In reality, it was far more important, and he would know that. "Please, Rod. I know it's a lot to ask...damn it, I know that." Sighing heavily, Cissnei's light spirit drifted away and she rubbed at her eyes tiredly. "I for one would sure be happy to have you walking around and putting Reno in his place."

Notes: Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Wearing: Turk uniform Setting: Mechanic shop Tagged: Longely Words: 725

made by Δ ashy of caution; shine