Gongaga Town

[Steve Harmer]

[shadow=red,left,300]Come here for all your general Gongaga Town roleplays.[/shadow]

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Xima and her child disembarked from her motorcycle in the middle of this small, all but abandoned village. The boy, now dressed in an outfit not highly divergent from his mother's, smiled at her as she placed him on the uneven sidewalk. She now wore a replacement for the coat she had left at the Shinra Mansion, one which covered her overly conspicuous wing.

The spirits of Axel, Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj were gathered around them, focused on their movements at all times. Kadaj pointed to Axel and Loz. "You two keep tabs on the Abominations. We have to keep following the actions of Ami and her friends..."

Axel's equivalent of a jaw dropped. "You aren't leaving me here with THIS guy, are you?"

Too late. The others had already faded into the stream to find their sister.

Axel sighed. "All right, fine." He kept watching Xima. "You say, I do. That was the deal."

He observed as Xima began to prowl around the square, looking for something...

"Aha," she said with a sinister edge. She had spotted a short-order restaurant.

The boy, Fruxas, watched her with innocent curiosity. "We can eat there, Mother?"

Xima turned and smiled at her son. "Yes, darling." She took his hand and began leading him towards it.

As they entered, it seemed the entire population of the small establishment... two waitresses, the cook, and a register clerk... was staring at them. The lack of customers had led this skeleton crew to recline about the order counter, complaining about the dullness of this late hour at a diner in the middle of nowhere-- a conversation now nulled by the arrival of these strange apparitions. The waitresses looked at each other and slowly began to retreat into the kitchen...

The register clerk returned to his post. "How many?"

"Just the two of us," Xima replied in a voice that almost sounded like a purr.

He retrieved two menus and handed them over. "Take a seat wherever you'd like, ma'am," he invited before calmly walking to the kitchen, there to retrieve his coat and go AWOL for the rest of the night. The cook was not long in following him. The entire staff was old enough and conscious enough to remember the Calamity, the Nightmare, the Remnants... and though it was just as likely that this woman and her child were merely costumed motorcyclists, none were willing to stake their lives on that benign assumption.

A waitress appeared, trembling, as if the other waitress had shoved her out of the kitchen and flung her out into the dining area, saying, "YOU go do it!" She put pen to order pad, her face white with fright. "What will you have?"

Xima cooly regarded the waitress, and glanced across to her son, who was eyeing the pie display by the door with sweeties lined up proudly inside a refrigerator case.

He closed his eyes, and something began to hum through the room faintly...

The glass in the pie case door cracked in a small spiderweb pattern, right in front of a chocolate cream concoction. The waitress jumped at the sound of the cracking glass, her head whipping around to discover the source of the noise... to her profound horror. The boy opened his eyes again and beamed at his mother.

Xima returned her gaze to the waitress. "I believe you have our order."

She hurried off to the case and, with trembling fingers, worked to get it unlocked and open.

Xima turned back to the boy and raised her eyebrow in faint amusement... and a hint of pride. "You've been practicing, my son."

He nodded, eyes wide. "Yes, Mother... didn't you ask me to?"

She smiled at him, a smile that would dissolve any ordinary man into tears. "That I did." She touched his head in a way that, were it any other mother, could have been described as "lovingly". "You're such a good boy."

Fruxas smiled at her with delight. He loved to make his mother happy. Of course, he was too young to understand that, for Xima, there was no such thing as "happiness".

The waitress returned, carrying the pie in one hand and two saucers with napkin-wrapped forks in the other. By the way the silver rattled, it was easy to tell she was entirely eager to have this over with.

She set the pie down and laid out the utensils as quickly as her experience allowed. Xima watched her calmly as Fruxas waited impatiently for her to be finished.

The waitress stood back. "Will there be anything else?" She knew it was customary to ask if they wanted drinks, but custom was the last thing on her mind right now.

Xima looked across at her son. "Would you care to slice the pie for us?"

The waitress began to stammer-- she didn't have any cutting utensils on hand...

Xima sighed. "Never mind..."

She whipped out the Evil Twin and had the pie carved into eight equal slices before the waitress could blink.

Xima began to serve her son. "Remember, child... if you want something done, you have to do it yourself."

The waitress, wavering, fainted dead away on the floor.

Xima glanced at her coldly and proceeded to ignore her while helping herself to another slice of pie. "We may have to eliminate her at some point... can't have any over-frightened young women spreading wild stories about us."

Another hum went through the room, and the waitress twitched convulsively. Fruxas tilted his head thoughtfully and shook it, his mouth stuffed with chocolate filling. He swallowed. "That won't be neccessary, Mother. She drinks too much, so no one would believe her, anyway."

Xima nodded. An interesting idea... let us test how well he has thought it out. "How to explain away the cracked refrigerator?"

Fruxas barely even had to think about it. "We could make a small cut on her head, and then lay her at the base of the refrigerator to make it seem as though she fainted against it and left the crack herself. That way, it would look as though she was trying to clear herself of blame by making up lies."

Xima's satisfaction could barely be contained. My son's potential is manifesting itself beyond my wildest dreams.

She noticed a spot of cream that had gotten to the side of his mouth and wiped it away gently with her napkin. "Eat more slowly, child. No use for you to get a stomach ache."

He nodded obediently and began taking smaller bites.

They finished their meal in peace and returned to their motorcycle, riding out into the night, destination unknown.