Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rith was lying back on a large rock with his outback hat shielding his eyes from the sun. He was in the Midgar wastelands stalling for some time. He had by the end of the month to report in; but he already knew where his target was. He sat up and grabbed is canteen strapped to his hip with rope. Hope the kid enjoyed his last few weeks. He thought as he took a sip. He hated it when his targets were children. But a job was a job. He then took out the bracelet he had stolen from Dane. He had tracked the bracelet owner to Midgar Slums. It would be fun to take the weapon right out from under Dane’s nose. He mused and pushed up his hat with his thumb glancing at the two directions he could go in. Both seemed like fun. He hopped off the rock and slid onto the back of his motorcycle {YES MOTORCYCLE >.>} which was a Kawasaki KLR 650. Lookit! So purty Starting the bike he made his choice and drove towards one of the two options.



Dane walked through the broken warehouse and eyed the now empty lot. The tracking device was useless now; it only picked up the partials caused once the weapon was fired. After such a long time, there would be nothing to track. Thanks to Hardes’s stunt; it had taken forever to locate the girl who had taken the weapon, though Dane was not surprised by this continued poor luck. They made their way to the Midgar slums; only to discover the girl was the younger sister of the former spy Giglamesh Grimm. And to make things worse; they had left the Slums only three hours ago. Of course it would get into the hands of the ******** Grimm reaper. Dane thought with a sigh. Though he was granted more men for this task, he could at least look at that as good luck. Walking around the slums he tried to question people about the Grimm’s. Where had they gone? When are they due back? No one was willing to talk, and even more knew nothing. Dane walked over seeing a grumpy old man glaring at the soldiers who were talking to the citizens. Dane took off his hat as he got closer and he forced a smile. “You sir seem to be the unspoken leader of these parts. Think you can help us? We’re looking for River Grimm.” He said. The man spit some chaw mud off to the side and continued to chew his plug of tobacco. “Always knew that little punk was up to no good. Always has some new-fangled technoey gizmo. Says she built them but I think she’s a thief.” He said slowly and he sized up Dane before he added. “Name’s Harold. I don’t know much but I’ll tell what I can.”


ღRiver paused then headed towards the mountains once more. She had wanted to go to Dude’s but she was not willing to ever let Gig find her. Inexcusable! She thought as she stormed up the mountain trail. She could either find food up here; or once back get something small. She found a nice quiet place then broke the silence with rants and the sound of gunfire. She sounded like a crazy person… ”You want some of this too?? ******** squirrel, get back here…” She said as she fired at a tree. Her cell phone rang but she ignored it as she fired at random targets. Eventually she took a seat on the rock and rested her head on her knees. ”This is the worst day of my life…” She said. Ah the catch phrase every teen says. The gods of fate laughed each time they heard that phrase.ღ



Duderomus Mc Coy, called Dude by all, was at his home in Wutai taking a break from all the drama. Two days ago his ex-wife showed up at the door half naked and completely drunk. ”I miss you. I don even care if ya want babies. Let’s make babies.” She said. Dude was unsure what would have happened if she didn’t pass out; but she did. After carrying her to his guest room, Dude left a note for her saying he did not want her to regret her drunken choices, and then he headed to Wutai. A knock came at his back door and he sighed praying it was not Kendra again. He missed her, and would always love that bitter woman. He headed to the door and cracked it open only to have someone fall into him. It took a few seconds but Dude recognized his brother and caught the teen before Eugenius fell to the ground. ”Holy s**t… Guiness… what the hell happened?” he said but Eugenius was out cold. He probably used the last of his strength to knock on the door. Blood leaked into Dude’s hands as he dragged his little brother into his house. He rolled Eugenius over to examine the wounds. ********… he thought and he raced to his phone. Dialing a number he said, ”This is Duderomus Mc Coy. I’m calling in one of my favors… ya I know… I need a healer at my house, like five minutes ago… ya… my brother finally showed up with like five bullets with him… even better thanks.” He then hung up and unlocked the front door. He went over to Eugenius and applied pressure on the worst wound. ”You will not die baby brother… you hear me? I’m not going to let you die.” he said determined.

{Rith can you check my math? D: I did this on my notebook so I think I jotted down all the right stuff. used friend's iphone to get formulas >3}



Rith had a cropped picture of Eugenius in his pocket, with the bracelet wrapped around it. He now sat in an outdoor café in the Midgar Slums watching a group of girls gossiping as they drank smoothies laughing at anyone not in their group. Rith had noticed the bracelet was homemade and hand carved, which would mean if luck had it the girl River would probably still have the weapon. People like that though did not often fall into the popular crowd which is why Rith was observing the group of bullies. He identified the leader of the group and stood walking over taking out the picture and bracelet. ”Have you seen my nephew? He was last seen with River Grimm…” The girls look annoyed as they turned then did a double take. Adding a smile Rith knew he caught their attention. The leader grabbed the picture and said, ”The freak River knows him??” She said. ”Should we go find them?” said the girl to the leader’s right. ”Ewww I don’t want to talk to that skud…” Said another girl. Rith shrugged and he took back the picture. ”Wait! We’ll take you to River.” she said and she glanced back at her friends. They realized her plan and cackled.

Rith listened quietly to the girls chatter as they walked. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. Teenagers could easily backstab and betray another in a heartbeat. It was rather sad. He thought. He was also contemplating if he really wanted to face Giglamesh. Yes he had recognized the surname Grimm. The challenge was something hard to pass up; but he had to complete his mission. Though if he missed this chance, he had no other reason to fight Giglamesh down the road. Hmmm. He thought and The girls still chattered and he topic switched to the aforementioned River Grimm. According to the girls River lived in a sleazy RV with a ghoulish brother and a brat kid. River spent most of her time building freakish stuff and hung out with a creepy guy at a shop called A Hole In The Wall. Rith sighed growing bored he slipped off and went into an alleyway. He jumped and easily caught the fire escape ladder above him then scaled it with ease. He made it to the roof and leapt to the one across from it. Climbing the water tower he had spotted earlier he quickly tracked and spotted the girls. He guessed their path and saw a large empty space. Oh ho… Hello Dane. Rith said with a grin as he leaned against the water tower. Dane was below with his men searching for the Grimms as well. Hmmm. Rith pondered and he decided to look for the mentioned shop. Rith quickly found the shop and picked he lock on the back door. The owner seemed to have a nifty security set up; but it was still able to be bypassed. Rith did a quick search and clarified the owner was not home. He saw the answering machine was blinking so he pressed the button as he searched the shop. A few messages went by giving no information, then the fifth message gave Rith all the information he needed, ”Hey it’s River… You still haven’t gotten a cell phone??? Anyway I’m going to be in Wutai in a few hours. I’ll try the other phone in the morning… seriously get a ******** cell phone…” Rith heard the time of the call and smiled. The call was made only ten minutes ago. Guess all roads do leave to Wutai. He thought and he left the shop.


ღRiver kicked an empty can before her. It was about 6 at night now; she had wasted a whole day up in the mountains. She was now heading towards Kanan district were Dude’s house resided. She had just convinced Dude to get a cell phone yesterday, and yet the man did not have the blasted thing on. She thought irritated; but she had no other place to go. She hefted the bag to her other shoulder realizing the weapon was heavier than she had remembered. She was excited what she could do with such a weapon. It was dangerous, she knew that and she also knew this had Shinra’s dirty hands all over it, but she could never pass up on such an opportunity. Besides if someone else had it, they could do some serious damage with it. She had reasoned. She was looking forward to take it apart; unable to before due to lack of good tools. It was one of the reasons she was heading o Dude’s house. Also, the zipper to her duffle bag was kind of jammed; so she had to find a way to open it again. Her phone rang and she took it out glancing at the ID; ignored the call. Isis would just convince me to come back. She thought annoyed. She was not going back until she was good and ready to.ღ



Taking a different path; Dude was walking to the where the Grimm’s were staying. brown eyes He needed help, and sadly he could not do this on his own. He just hoped someone could lead him to Giglamesh. He took out his newly bought cellphone and turned it off not wanting to hear Guiness complain about being bored again. River had nagged and nagged at Dude for almost an hour telling about the blessings of a cellphone. Just to shut her up he went and bought a cheap model, now when he wanted to get ahold of her; she was ignoring her phone. Brat… He thought and sighed putting his phone away. He had wanted River to get in contact with Giglamesh. He hated to ask for a favor, but he needed help. His family life was fractured at best having had over six foster fathers last he had counted, each worse than the next while his dimwitted mother sat back wondering why her two sons refused to come visit. 19 years separated the brothers but Dude had promised long ago he would help Guiness whenever he could. Yesterday Dude discovered Guiness was being hunted by Shinra, which is how Guiness got so injured last week. This is when Dude realized he needed help. Freaking family drama… he thought with a sigh. Dude walked into the brothel heading straight for the bar, knowing exactly where to go. He was greeted by a familiar face as he took a seat at the circular bar table. ”Hey Dude. What are ya having?” Frank, manager of this bar, said. Dude paused not sure if he should drink. He had to ask Giglamesh a favor, best to stay sober for such a thing. But then an inner voice countered saying, Just one… ”Anything that can solve family drama.” he said with a sigh. Frank chuckled and nodded going off to make a zombie.

Eugenius went by the nickname Guiness ever since he met his older brother. He had always admired Dude, so this latest screw up pained Guiness more ways than one. He was desperate to redeem himself before his brother’s eyes. To do that he had to obey his brother’s list. No matter how stupid, no matter how dull… No matter how bored I am…… He thought with a sigh as he stared at the ceiling. He was lying in bed in the guest room too bored to even sleep. He sent a text to his brother asking where he had gone off to. Ten minutes later he heard a knock at the front door but stayed put. There was now a loud pounding noise before a click and the sound of the door opening. Guiness sat up quickly. No one should know I’m here, but I can’t let some thief rob Dude. He thought.


ღRiver knocked at the door when her key got stuck in the lock. ”Piece of crap!” she said frustrated and she kicked at the door a few times as she tried calling Dude again. His phone was off still. ”Stupid door!” she ranted and tried to calm herself before she tried the key once more. It opened without an issue. She muttered rants at the inanimate object as she let herself in the house. She tossed her duffle bag onto the couch and kicked the door closed behind her. She headed to the kitchen to help herself to a drink when she returned she saw a young man standing in the hallway with a bat in his hands. Holy hottie… River thought blinking catching a glimpse of his face beneath a hoodie. She quickly took out her gunblades and aimed them at the stranger. ”Who are you and why are you in Dude’s house? Depending on your answer I’ll shoot you.” She was dismayed that he was so cute. The guy though smirked and dropped the bat. ”You must be River. I’m… a friend of Dude’s. He’s letting me crash for a while. You can call me Guiness.” He said. River lowered her gunblades slightly and said, ”As in brother?”ღ

Guiness was surprised only slightly. Dude had mentioned River many times, said she was the closest person to a daughter. Her bright purple and black hair was the giveaway; so Guiness knew exactly who this stranger was. Guiness frowned at that a moment and thought, Gotta stop thinking of her as family… Might as well tell her the truth. He took off his hoodie and shrugged saying, ”Guess he talks about me eh? You’re River right?” River put away her gunblades and nodded saying, ”We usually talk about our inventions; but ya he mentioned you sometimes. So… where is he? Guiness took a seat on the couch and glanced at the duffle bag. ”I have no idea.” River scowled grabbing her duffle bag and she started to head for the workshop. ” How much do you know about engineering?” She asked glancing back at him. He gave a sheepish grin as he shrugged once more. ”Sadly not as much as my brother, but if you need help… I mean I know some things.” River chuckled and said, ”If I think of something I’ll let you know.” She then left him thinking how she was going to wring Dude’s neck. He needed to talk about his brother more, much more. She wanted to know everything. She took out her phone and started to respond to her friend’s texts.

”Sad to say… but I’mmm rreeaally glad my ex said no… no kids… or I’d be trapped and stuff…” Dude said sounding quite slurred in his speech as he finished his second drink. The gorgeous woman at his right laughed shaking her head and she took a sip from her own drink then she said, ”It’s easier when you have to love them.” Dude laughed and she grinned. The woman called over the bartender. ”I’ll have an applemartini.” she said and she glanced at Dude who noticed his drink was gone. ”I’ll have… what was this again?” He said confused and the man laughed saying, ”That was an Earthquake. Want to try something else Dude?” Dude nodded not remembering his earlier thought to only have one drink, he said, ”Something lighter, I have to meet someone… ho crap. Where is Giglalammmish… Uh…. Grimm? That bloody Reaper I need ta talk ta him.” he glanced at the woman he was talking to earlier and for the life of him he could not remember her name. ”Nice talking ta ya Miss… Ma’am.” He said and he started to wander. Eventually he was able to be directed to the other bar out back and Dude was shown to Giglamesh who was at a table surrounded by woman. Huh, who knew the Reaper was a player. Dude had that drifting thought as he tried to remember why it was so important to speak with Giglamesh.

ღRiver had managed to fix the zipper on her duffle bag but she saw that she could do nothing with the gun. Sure she could take it apart, without ever figuring out what was missing. She cursed her lack of understanding as she shoved the gun back in her working duffle bag. She then put the bag on the chair behind her and sighed. She could work on a project that had been giving her problems before. She had the main idea, and the last working pair only had a few minor glitches. Though the last working pair were now in tiny pieces somewhere out in the Midgar Wastelands. She shrugged having a brief thought that she was lucky it was not her head that got crushed, but meh. If she was going to remake this project, she needed parts… She left the workroom and on her way back to the living room she saw Guiness was still there. She was going to just leave but she managed to convince herself to head to the kitchen and grab a piece of scrap paper. Steadying her hand River jotted down her cell phone number and cleared her throat heading over to the couch. Guiness turned flashing those perfect brown eyes at her. He gave a lopsided grin as he put down his book. “Hey, need something?” He asked. River held out the paper and said, “I’m going to pick up some supplies. Can you call me if Dude shows up?” She asked then paused adding, “Even if he doesn’t... feel free to call…” Guiness gave that lopsided smile saying, “Sure thing.” River actually blushed before she blinked a few times and she headed to the door. ”Well it was nice to have finally met you Guiness.” She said smiling. ”Likewise.” He said and River left with a wave before she said something mortifying. Outside she happily squealed thinking, He has such a cute smile! She took out her cellphone and immediately texted Isis again.ღ

 
Sitting on the roof of his Humvee Dane watched his teams head into the town of Wutai. The orders for all were arrest River Grimm and Eguenius Lock but kill Giglamesh Grimm on sight. He knew the basic soldiers had little chance completing that task, but there were a few in the mix that would provide a challenge. He smirked knowing if Hardes knew was in store for him, he wouldn’t bother showing up. Don’t ******** with me Hardes. He thought lowering the binoculars. Dane hopped off the Humvee and adjusted his gloves. There were smack spikes on the knuckles to add damage with his physical blows; but the real killer was his custom Serbu shotgun. He headed into the town of Wutai as well. If Hardes interfered again, he would have a little accident.

Rith stood on the top of the mountains only 1000 m away from Dane using his sniper scope that was on his bow to keep an eye on everything. His bike was well hidden, and he had his weapons ready to be used. A batch of arrows were packed in the quiver on his back, with an assortment of different arrowheads. Some magically charged, some set with explosives. As always he could easily judge the weight of the arrow before he fired. Very rarely did he miss a target; and when he did; well that was all the more fun. He watched Dane give out instructions to his small army and Rith grinned seeing the pictures. Well well well… it looks like Dane has balls after all. Taking my target… for shame. He thought with a slight tsk. ”I love this town.” He said aloud grinning as he put away his bow and started to climb down the mountain. Challenges were the only thing that got Rith to do a job energetically.

Dude was unsure what happened but the next thing he knew a well-endowed woman was sitting snuggly on his lap and a drink shot was slid across the table to him. Uhhhhh…. He thought unsure where to keep his hands. She was attractive sure, but the image of Kendra came to mind. The woman sitting on his lap giggled at him thinking his reaction was for her. Dude glanced at the Viera and even they reminded him of Kendra. God I’m pathetic. He thought and he took the drink. ”You mean when she yet again got into trouble? She almost died that night… my wife… uh ex… well she did more work than I did.” He said answering Gig’s remark and Dude thought back adding, ”God she was so young back then. What 9? 10? {11 xD} Now that I think about it… that was also the day you almost killed me…” He cast a glare at Gig and paused once more trying to remember something important. ”You know your sister reminds me of my brother… impatient, reckless… freaking kids.” He paused a moment trying to grab ahold of something important he wanted to say. Eyes wide he said in a panic, ”They must never meet! Just my luck I’d be stuck with some baby to take care of. Nope never meet…” He finished his drink and shook his head. ”Kendra left me because I wanted kids. I mean how messed up is that? Bah if I knew how much a pain teenagers were I would never have wanted kids. I don’t know how you do it.” I mean bad enough to have a teenage brother, and a teenage assistant; but he could always send River home. And Guiness... well Hmmm... now there was something super important he needed to remember. ********... what was it?

Dude tried to clear his head as the shot hit his stomach like molten lead. The woman named Reddia stroked his cheek and his mind went blank. Uhh… He thought trying to kick start his brain. Then Giglamesh started to talk and Dude blushed modestly. ”I just did what anyone would do.” He said with a shrug. Reddia gave him another shot of that burning drink and he had an inner debate. What the hell are you doing? Uhh what’s it look like? But Rita might take you back! She said she misses you! It’s been five years… I won’t be her back up plan… But… then the kiss to the side of his mouth silenced his thoughts once more and a lopsided smile came forth.

Before he knew it hours had passed and Giglamesh went to dance with the two Viera women. I suck at dancing… Quit the whining! But… Then Chromia asked if he danced and he muttered, ”I haven’t danced in a long time… don’t say I didn’t warn ya Miss.” His inner self face palmed and shook his head then shrugged glad Dude was at least taking baby steps towards having a life.


Jakobe scoffed as he glanced at his circle of friends. None would look him in the eye. ”Fine if you’re so scared I’ll do it by myself…” He said and he stormed out of the room. They had been in Dixie’s room after Clea realized none of them had seen or heard from River since last night. The argument was this: Dixie and Clea had disappeared before. Clea had called her friends about 22 hours later and Dixie had gotten ahold of his friends after three days. It was a bit early to get too concerned. Jakobe had argued that River could be on some mission and in danger. Clea had countered saying she would have let them know. The argument went on for quite a while before they decided to seek out Giglamesh. Alas they had learned Giglamesh was at the brothel bar and upon searching for Kerri they discovered she was nowhere to be found. Jakobe had proposed they sneak into the bar and speak to Giglamesh but the others voted and decided to wait till morning. This is when Jakobe had stormed out of the room.


Clea, Isis and Traci were in the girls’ bathhouse with a few other girls who too lived in the house. There were no bathers here. Clea lowered in the water before she said, ”Did either of you ever get ahold of Jakobe? He seemed kinda mad earlier, but he should have come back once River sent us all that text.” Traci shrugged not really paying attention to the convercation. She suddenly snuck over to another girl and grabbed her from behind. ”Kyyaa!!” the girl screamed and she pulled away. Traci was chased off by the girls friends and with a defeated look on her face Traci sunk into the water slinking over to her friends. ”Why do you all like guys?” she whined. Clea chuckled and patted Traci on the head. ”If I were gay I would go for you. Cheer up you’ll find someone.” Traci smiled and hugged Clea before she gave a devilish look asking, ”Want to try it? You may have fun.” Clea scoffed and she shoved Traci away who again whined, ”Why do you all like guys?” Isis stood and went to get a towel as she said, ”Speaking of guys… River found a new cute guy.” Traci stood angry as she blurted, ”River is mine! She’s the closest out of any of you… I won’t stand for this!” Isis shrugged and said, ”Nevertheless, she found a cute new guy.” Traci stormed out of the water and she grabbed a towel, and Isis. ”Well we’re going to go find Giglamesh. He’ll put a stop to this.” She said. Isis and Clea shared a look and sighed following their friend. If left alone she would cause a whole mess of trouble.


Jakobe was in the first bar now wearing a heavy robe hiding himself. He had been kicked out twice before, but it seemed this disguise was working. Third time’s a charm right? He thought. He had his cell phone off or he would have seen three messages that could have potentially saved him. He took a deep breath and he started to head into the brothel bar.

Jakobe was distracted by all the half-naked women in the mar. Man why can’t all bars be like this? He thought then he heard Giglamesh’s voice. He turned and… Holy s**t! Hell ya! He thought taking off the hood of his robe. The Viera then started flirting with Giglamesh and Jakobe envied that man. Blining Jakobe then remembered why he came, then he saw guards coming towards him. Oh s**t! He thought. The yelled comment from Giglamesh had attracted attention to the underage Jakobe. ”Woa! Wait! I need to speak with Giglamesh! Wait!” He said and took off the robe blinding one of the guards and he squirmed out of t reach of another. ”Grimm! Have you seen River?” Jakobe yelled realizing he might not reach the guy. ”Jakobe!” he heard and he sidestepped another guard as he turned. He saw Isis and Clea pulling Traci away from the bar by the entrance. ”Check your phone!” Isis said. Jakobe took out his phone and turned it on. Focusing just on the phone Jakobe used a skateboarding trick he knew, without the board; as he twisted out of the grip from one of the guards. Jakobe saw he had quite a few texts. Whoops… he checked the one from River and read, ”Omg! U gys willl nvr beve day i hd… dn’t sk … Po and dwtai. sad ttyl AML!” Jakobe frowned, but he was glad she was alright. ”Ah false alarm. Have fun drinking sir. Uh bye.” he said and he started to jog out of the bar. As he jogged he felt a presence behind him.