Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
- Location
- Here
Not an official one but if anybody wants to make their own version of an index that marks important events on a timeline or whatever, I'll add it to informational.
Arc 3: We're coming down. I'm yelling, Timber!
- Location
- Here
Fury Caraway had not raged. He had not screamed, nor thrown punishment details at the group, nor rallied his people. He had not shifted policy, adjusted protocol, or even give a threatening look at the many silent people in his office.
The man quietly read the report.
Again.
Somehow, it all just made this feel worse.
The silent room echoed from the thin document hitting the desk.
His eyes were not focused on them.
Nor were his memories.
Fury Caraway tapped his desk. "For many years, I assumed the various failures of my people were due to outside circumstances."
That… Was not a good start.
His tap was constant. "An overly aggressive Sorceress, forcing us to ignore tactics. To ignore supply chains, to ignore logic in general, as she rampaged over the planet. Obviously, we did what we could to mitigate the situation, to preserve the life of our people and even reduce the casualties to our foes, but my hands were limited. My reach tied."
That tapping. "And when she finally flinched, and retreated back here to our capital, we fought HARD against that incompetence. Against our flaws. We stabilized our conquest, and began the depressing steps and paid all the horrifying costs of trying to mend a nation rapidly expanded and forged through avarice and lust for battle."
The sound was insidious. "I then shifted blame. For clearly, our new problems, our lacking, our faults… They were due to corruption."
Some of those here shifted.
His eyes did not. "Men and women who bought power, who bribed prestige, who stole respect. Men and women who hoarded supplies and abused subordinates and committed active sabotage to pursue political games and paths to supremacy."
It was silent.
Fury's eyes flickered. "I dealt with it. Despite the costs, politically, personally, and of course mentally and martially. I accepted losing talented fighters who were also horrific monsters consuming our men and women. I took risks to ensure those who would abuse our people would have consequences, no matter the backing, no matter the power, no matter the source."
Please, show rage. Anger.
Fury silently reviewed the document again. "I assumed our issues were due to outside circumstances. Lacking in training, due to inadequate teaching and lack of time as we sent good people into bad situations. Lacking experience, as bad people had destroyed the good pillars of our military to better gather power and goods… At least until they found themselves also lacking. Until we finished them."
Just… Don't show this.
He raised his eyes to the people. "I find myself forced to consider that our failures may be a lack of our nation. A deficiency of our people. A flaw in ourselves."
Don't show us disappointment.
Fury Caraway stopped tapping the desk. "Do not block my daughter's actions in Timber. Consider her requests, if properly formatted and following protocol, with the highest respect and seriousness. And send everyone in the tracking squads back to remedial training."
A fucking MORON had to speak up! "But SIR!"
His eyes were dull. "You only discovered her due to her buying a train ticket back to Timber. After having returned from Balamb Garden, the location that all our intel claimed to be her destination."
But while dull, the eyes were NOT compromising. "I will NOT begrudge their decisions and actions to follow her potential paths, to send agents to other locations, to cover your bases. But I am beyond furious that not a single person decided to investigate the facility that my daughter named, claimed to be visiting, bought a ticket to visit, rented a vehicle to visit, and so on and so forth."
A weak voice had clearly learned nothing. "But… But the records!"
Fury sighed. "Then you shall return to remedial training as well, Director. I won't have you lose your office, not over a one time situation like this, but we BOTH know that false trails are the staple of the information battlefront. That verification is needed for a REASON. The desire to get fast results should NOT result in us not following procedure."
The room was quiet again.
He sighed. "Everyone get out. Get back to work. I will do the same."
Their shoulders felt heavier, with disappointment and disapproval guiding their path.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Rinoa grinned, a whole long train ride snuggled with Sarah, Shiva, and Selphie (Was she collecting S's? Look out Squall!) had really pepped her up!
The boy's were less touchy feely (So far), but at this point? Rinoa had plans!
Right. "We need to head to the Mayor and get things moving."
Zell blinked as he followed behind them from the train station. "Eh?"
She led the way, Angelo padding along beside her and the rest following behind. "Up till now we have been moving our group from base to base, from temporary locations to privately owned trains. Now that we have finances, political partners, and an industry to set up? I'm going to need to make some investments."
Watts would catch up with her soon enough, he was always gathering intel and kept an ear to the ground on situations like this. "So first we need to acquire territory. Hopefully a place that we can reinforce or work with, and a more prominent location for future auctions."
If all else failed, they could always rent a location. Or buy it.
Sure, they theoretically had a stable supply of future income. Even at a SMALL percentage, the production of MCards had basically set up her and her group for life once it started selling. And, ALL the staff of the Headmaster agreed, it WOULD sell. Fast.
But future income, while awesome, wasn't the reason why Rinoa was about to go on a massive shopping spree. It wasn't the reason why her budget had ballooned massively.
No, it was Sarah's food.
Headmaster Cid and 'Big Sis Edea' had both been very generous when they realized that her Marvelous Moon Momma had Lunar Kingdom produce to push… Basically, Sarah filled up their storage facilities with high quality goods and now the Forest Owls had a line of local currency and credit that was effectively limitless.
Like, there WAS a limit, but hell if SHE knew what she could buy to spend it all.
It wasn't even a scam either, if anything the Garden got the goods for a bargain… The only issue with the whole situation was how embarrassed Rinoa had been when Sarah just dumped all the money and stuff in her lap.
Seriously, that woman was basically Rinoa's sugar momma at this point. Which uh. Was pretty hot on several levels.
No, focus! "I'm going to try and get something usable for now and ALSO buy out the heavily damaged area where the monster swarm hit a week or so ago. It won't be usable for a while, but it will help people whose homes were ruined, give Sarah room to set up a new market for her food, and let the Forest Owls eventually set up a long term facility that, on paper at least, is a privately owned corporate office."
It had been one of her wish plans, the impossible ideas back when she had shown up and thought she could save everyone in a week or so and help all the people while showing her dad that she was TOTALLY grown up and not a baby and… Sigh.
Still, it should work! "As a corporation, unlike a military group or…" A glance made sure they weren't over heard or on electronics. A habit, really. "...Or other small organizations, well! We would be able to hire locals for personal projects." Missions, political action, diplomatic negotiations, and so on.
They could also have 'security guards', also known as a formally gathered, organized and trained fighting force. To keep away monsters, of course! Nothing else! Nope!
A lot of the older supporters of her cause who were forbidden from getting local jobs (Those in previous military groups, or former security, so on and so forth) COULD be hired by her new organization too. Give some financial stability and support to her people directly, as WELL as hire Timber locals to build stuff and all that jazz.
Sarah hummed. "Focus more on getting property rights, I can easily clear out previous buildings and set up facilities."
Squall, currently out of hugging range, spoke up. "I've been informed not to use spells for constructive or deconstructive purposes."
Selphie snorted. "Because when we need a hammer like spell, the stuff YOU cast is a freaking high speed train. There is a reason why only YOU were banned from using magic outside of combat, your compatibility level is WAY too high."
Zell just grumbled. "No kidding, what kind of monster can not only summon their GF but actually [[Boost]] their attacks!? It's crazy shit!"
Rinoa didn't even need to look to feel Shiva being smug or Sarah trying to look innocent.
Right! The plan! "So if I get a lot of property in a low income area, how fast can you set up a decent apartment complex?"
Her girl was an insanely powerful Sorceress after all, after all the shit she pulled Rinoa was NOT going to make assumptions about what was or wasn't possible.
Sarah hummed. "A few hours? A day maybe. MUCH faster if you can convince the people to leave the area first, then I won't have to be so slow about it to keep them safe."
Hmm. She ignored the shocked SeeD team and Ellone, who was still enjoying those veggie stick snacks from earlier and was just stumbling along with the group right now.
Her mind reviewed recent reports. "Most demolition crews are gone or left Timber, and new construction is down across the board… But getting locals to do that part can really help this place out. Right!"
Get ownership of the chunk of town damaged and a good section outside that gate in particular. "We'll have you clear out the area we buy, set up a new housing complex for anyone we have to move and for some of our people with tight finances…" Just offering good rate rents was probably the limit of charity the prideful Timber people would accept anyway.
Yeah, this could work. "Can you expand the wall, leave most of it planned but unbuilt, and make us a market, an auction house, a base, and a housing complex?" Timber could build the rest with her funding it.
Sarah shrugged. "It would be best for me to set up the road network, plumbing, electrical, water and stuff. Maybe build foundations for all the local facilities too…" She hummed. "But yeah, though I will have to drop the quality a whole lot with my designs so that local people can maintain, repair, modify, dismantle, and all that."
Oh. Uh, that could be bad. "How big a drop in quality?"
An illusion suddenly flickered in the air, showing a palace. "Some of the more powerful spells could easily damage the place, and if I have to use local materials entirely then even a basic GF summon attack could destroy something."
Sigh. Of course. "Then use the high quality stuff for our base, and the Lunar Kingdom Market stalls… And the Auction House. Use normal stuff for the rest of it."
Hadn't she said she wouldn't underestimate this person? "Can you hide a core of the good stuff inside our section's normal looking walls? And make it a fully defended district?" She remembered that the more powerful corporations were nearly nations of their own really, and could put all kinds of 'questionable' defences into place when they paid enough.
Sarah gave a nod, which was good enough.
Squall was somehow tapping the hologram, making it shift. "I have requests for this future base, if possible."
Selphie squealed! "Ooh! A mud pit!"
No! Don't give it away!
Thankfully, Squall just nodded. "I was thinking SEVERAL training rooms, another simulating a desert environment and one with 'rainfall'. It had been dismissed from my suggestions for Balamb Garden's Training Center as excessive and costly."
Thank goodness for thick protagonists! "Of course! Any other ideas?"
Selphie just started counting fingers. "A pool, hot tub, steam room, massage parlor, bondage dungeon, a ball pit, reference library, some gardens, bondage dungeon, weapon testing facility, some labs…"
Squall blinked. "What was that in the middle?"
Her face was innocence. "A ball pit? Sometimes you need some fun in your life."
Heh. "Right, let me talk a bit because most of the people in here put up with me pretty good since I helped keep morale up when things had been pretty bad here."
Plus, if her team of hot people kept talking she would be SUPER distracted.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The military aid hesitated. "Sir?"
He sighed. "Just… Just spit it out."
They both glanced at the door that Fury Caraway's daughter had left through.
His assistant coughed. "Are we… Allowed to have her just purchase a third of the town?"
The man sighed. "That isn't our jurisdiction. She came here to notify us that her new corporation, 'Lunar Magic', has recently set up a headquarters locally. As is required. And paid in advance, covered all related fees."
The other one blinked. "But…"
Nope. "None of the territory is stationed by Galbadia troops, none of the area has restricted [[Draw]] points or other such resources, and all the paperwork is filed according to procedure."
More than that, her request to locally ranch monsters for spells and harvest had been approved suspiciously quickly. SOMEONE higher up the chain was ensuring all the hoops were jumped and the contracts signed and the approvals handwaved.
Not a big guess who was responsible either.
Not that it mattered. "We followed procedure, we followed the chain of command, and as far as we can determine this is legal, follows policy, and is approved by management."
Because why NOT let the insurrectionist movement of Timber flat out purchase freedom for a third of the whole city. By being a 'privately owned organization' it drastically cut down the territory he needed to secure, as well as reducing the costs of 'securing' the rest of the location.
Not that it mattered, not when someone high up makes a decision.
You followed orders.
Though, if it had been someone OTHER than Timber's little cinnabon Rinoa pulling this shit, he would have been VERY efficiently complying in some very legally protected ways. Lots of confirmations and double checks and paperwork details and committee decisions and requesting additional forms, etc.
The military KNEW how to comply in the most annoying way possible, when required.
Deployment or not, mission or not, the small people (Like Ms. Karen's bakery with warm food and a warm welcome) had to be protected after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah shook her head at Rinoa's exasperated look. "Two more people, a child and a teen, five houses that way. Seems to be hiding from chores or something."
Her Boss groaned! "People, I said ALL of you need to get out of there!"
The crowd was conversing, mildly concerned, and partially amused as the ever popular Ms. Heartilly (Rebel, older sister, and freedom fighter for the land!) attempted to herd the cats of modern society away from a chunk of the poor side of town.
For some reason.
Oh, she tried to explain, but people were unwilling to read/listen/understand/stand still at the BEST of times, much less when something complex was happening.
Ironically enough, a lot of these people were only putting up with Rinoa because this section of town had only survived this long thanks to the revolutionary cells constantly fighting for resources. That, and this seemed interesting.
Legally, as the new owner of the poorest sections of Timber, Sarah could easily and without concern wipe it all from the map. Only a few places were even officially owned, and the few that DID have proper Galbadia paperwork didn't live here (Rich people from other lands) and were (for some reason) more than happy to sell to the woman.
In fact, Sarah had noticed that a LOT of people, both official, local, and foreign, were (for some reason) really willing to make a few allowances, to bend a few rules slightly, overlook a few things. Only some of it could be due to her natural charm and innocent willingness to help others, it seemed clear enough that SOMEONE influential in the background was trying to help gain influence or keep the path clear, so to speak.
Actually, make that SEVERAL someone, if 'Research' was correct. Certainly Balamb Garden and Headmaster Cid had made some calls, and SeeD units in general were loved by most people as being competent and not amoral or corrupt when on missions. Unless you were the target, of course.
So uh, once people found out this team was a protection detail? A lot of concern dropped away from various watching groups.
Another group was a strange variant of the criminal underground. Whoever was organizing the actual crime (Not just the Timber Freedom movement, from what her senses could detect) felt that investing in Rinoa's recent actions would be good for the area. Or maybe had plans to infiltrate and potentially gain control of her work, which was unlikely to work but good motivation.
Obviously, the odd support of the occupying forces was easy enough to determine and confirm when Sarah had [[Scanned]] the local military hardware and saw someone higher up wished to support Rinoa Heartilly's endeavors.
Sarah had theories about that one, but it was a touchy and emotional topic for Boss, so uh. Keeping that one on the down low.
But the biggest push for the locals putting up with all confusion and hubbub was coming from the commerce groups. The merchants.
They could TASTE the opportunity in the air, even if it wasn't clear exactly what the final goal of all this spending and investing was to be. And those with more concealed connections, more hidden resources… Well, the whispered Auction alone had outside eyes drifting to this hub of a town.
Oh, the kids were being led out. "Right, it's mostly good now. Clear!"
There were still lots of living things, pets, insects, smaller monsters, the life that tended to be attracted and thrive in society when a section is lost and falls to decay. And stray cats.
But she could work around that. "Am I good to go now?"
Rinoa just groaned as she fell into a nearby chair, this part of the street on the edge of her new 'Territory'. Meanwhile, the well trained SeeD team were keeping an eye on things without rest and even keeping the crowd's mood pretty high, as Zell was showing some kids how to throw a punch and Selphie was gossiping away.
At least Squall responded. "We are secure and prepared for the plan to continue."
Rinoa pointed. "That stuff. Sheesh, trying to be responsible sucks!"
Meh, Sarah could see that.
Now, let's get started!
Ignoring the suddenly quiet crowded street, Sarah flexed her wings of B̹̝̠͖o̹̩̞̩͇n̲͖̞̣̰͍̪e̼̲̮, the ghost frameworks of S̠̘͕p̤̮a̝̗̰̮͓͙̠̠c̳̫̟͈͖̻e̘̤̯͉͎̺̻ drifting in the air now visible.
Her skin shimmered as silver tattoos lit with light, her hair silver and floating with T͙̪͚r̳͉̣̬̝u̩e͎̘̪̞̝̹̝͕ ͍̻͉͓M̯̝̩̯͎̰a̗̺̠g͙ͅi̜͍̣̮c͉͕̞̤̹̪͎̯̙.
Eyes see the unseen.
"[[S̛̱̦ć͓̪̼͇̖͈ͅa͔̥̯͍͖̹̜n̛.]]"
A hand raised.
"[[H̺̠͍̰̻̤̹̳͎̥̗̯̹̝́́͟͝a̵̢̛̗̝̩̬̺̫͢r̵̡̞̦̹̰̗̖̺͇̘̯̗v̵̸̧̤͍͓͈̣͢͡e̶̸҉͖̞̗͚͙̝͎̹̳̤͇͇͚̖͈̘̮͝s͓̬̩̦͉̗͍̦̺̫̯̜̻̪͞͝t͘͏͝͏҉̻̱͚̜̙̜̣̝͍͖̝͇̰̱͕.̷̸̮̰̮̦̩̻͇̻͚̭̗̫̥̖̮̣]]"
In a moment, the S̢̡͟͝p҉́á̧̛͢͝c̢̀͟͜ȩ͝ ̕ H͏͠͞u̢̢͞n̢̧̢͢͡ge̷͟r͠͏̧͠e̸̷d̶͢͝.̴̴ And before the crowd, nothing spread.
Pipes were sealed, wires capped, tubes blocked, cables clipped, tunnels blocked… And before the witnesses, a pit expanded outwards.
From far above, along Rinoa's property line to the exact marking, all above a flat surface vanished. If the ground dipped, it was filled with soil and rock. If there was a hill, it was [[Harvested]] and sliced smooth. Buildings, gone. The wall segment, gone. Trees, gone.
And a perfect column, the largest circle possible within Rinoa's property possible, now formed an impossibly deep pit.
It was much easier to hear now. "Right, the foundational stuff first."
Layers to handle water drainage, to ensure the water from the local water table that even now tried to fill this gap was handled properly. A hidden layer of modified 'bone balls' to ensure any future magical surge from the planet would safely gather and be directed to the center of the territory, which would ensure no future [[Draw]] points formed or collapsed in this city sector.
A few layers of automated farms. It wouldn't be Lunar Kingdom quality, and these were designed to use local materials and VERY simplified hardware that natives could maintain and repair on their own, but at least it would reduce local food costs and ensure Squall's suggested Monster Ranches would have cheap food stock for feed.
Some of the systems the Garden used to generate power were easy enough to sneak in here, and if anyone asked Headmaster Cid would probably be a bro and back them up on where the plans came from. Most likely. Hopefully.
Defensive layers and walls on all sides of the pit, to ensure no digging or ground restricted monster assaults, have those layers of defence reach up to a bit more than the standard Timber defensive walls previously used.
A few empty levels (structurally reinforced) that would be used for shipments, material transfer, good transfer… Basically the lessons Sarah had learned from Adam doing projects in Rapture, keeping merchant traffic from interacting with pedestrian traffic and the general public.
Plus she added some Timber locals-only sections and pathways, because being a Timber Citizen should come with perks. And it would make Galbadia resistance easier. Or something.
Yet there was still more space. Um.
'Research' easily enough shifted the huge Auction House AND the material warehouse facility underground, connected the public section to the underground Timber network. No reason to expose these places to flying ships, monsters, or missile attacks.
In fact, screw it! A number of stalls that reminded her of the great work in Pauper's Drop's Market Dome were easy enough to set up, along with a para-magic rune portal connection up to the Lunar Kingdom that people could use to head up there.
After all, the Lunar Kingdom was a single building, one that was basically Alive already. It already had shops and hotels and all kinds of stuff up there, with the place itself and it's zombie like bone creations acting as shopkeepers and attendants.
So why not have market stalls for planet people down here, and just connect a portal up to the moon for any product purchases? And they didn't need any residence housing either, they could all just use the empty buildings in the Lunar Kingdom instead!
Sarah was super brilliant, Rinoa was going to love this.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Rinoa grit her teeth.
Don't… Don't snap at her. "It is lovely, and very impressive."
All the roads entering her 'Timber Owlery' shifted from 'Yeah, they exist' to astounding levels of quality. The buildings that made up the city ended abruptly into a beyond beautiful field of grass, with tiny thickets of fruit trees and bushes and small ponds and seating. Magic empowered lighting made the area have a strange mystical glow to it.
Angelo loved it, based on the soft whine and looks she was getting.
And in the center of this sudden field, a defensive wall, one that (in the distance) had tiny wings of material connecting to the previous walled protections of Timber.
This central wall was… Well, it 'looked' normal if you ignored HOW Sarah just pulled it into existence.
Pillars of silver bones just thrust up from the soil, ones that got covered in molten metallic shimmering sheets of power covered in silver glowing symbols. Patterns that were so out of context, so overwhelming, that it hurt to watch them being formed.
But it was fine now, of course. Because Sarah had put a thin cover of 'Totally normal wood bro!' on top, and that somehow made that oppressive force just… Vanish.
Job done, no problem.
But inside? Inside those massive open gates that could clearly close against invaders?
A large metallic silver bone tree with blue flames for leaves, and smaller silver bone trees connecting to the network of paths. Something like glass spanned the ground where the grass and rock was expected to be.
Where the planned BUILDINGS were supposed to be.
Damn it.
Sigh. "Where is the apartment housing?"
Sarah waved an arm. "Each of those small silver trees over there are stairs and elevators and stuff that lead down to the main public floors downstairs. And I hooked up the housing apartments to them! Except for your base of course."
Her Sorceress pointed at the impossible tower of a tree that now looked over the entire damned city. "The big tree's your base!"
The Bone Sorceress grinned with those sexy eyes as they both ignored the stunned people behind her. "See, I realized that there was a LOT of space down there even after I put in my automated stuff and the power generation and all that jazz, and I was like: Hey, why not move some stuff down here? You know, use it a bit!"
Sigh. "I don't want us to change our city from 'Timber' to 'Cavern'. Being in the forest is a big part of our city's identity, and moving everyone underground wasn't the idea."
Sarah waved a hand! "Don't worry, I got lots of layers of cubic silicon nitride up here on the surface for light and grew some trees down there. This stuff will melt snow and keep itself clean, lots of sunlight and stuff, and the air will stay fresh and cool and stuff! I mean, I had to modify the designs and materials slightly to better work with the para-magic reinforcement and stuff, maybe added some extra lighting here and there, but it should all work great!"
Damn it. "This isn't in the plans. The plans we all agreed on."
She blinked. "Well, yeah… But I realized the old plans left your people exposed to missiles and bombs and snipers and stuff. THIS design will protect us from a full on Guardian Force attack! Plus, if it snows or rains or stuff the kids can still play and people can shop and whatever."
This woman. "We were going to hire people to make stuff. To build new homes in Timber. To move the economy and all that."
An illusion flashed into view, showing the layout. "And they can! I've got a freight elevator station here in the city AND on the outer wall! Monster corpses and lumber and shipments can be easily moved down there via those big machines, from the trains or from outside. Aside from the stuff we designed already and a small portal to my old home I left even MORE room down there for everyone to build stuff!"
Portal to her old home? To the LUNAR KINGDOM!? "You… You added a portal from Timber to the moon."
Sarah shrugged. "Just in case, you know." Her eyes flickered to the distant (also stunned) military groups. "If Galbadia decides to launch missiles at us or something? No one will get hurt now."
Squall coughed, one of the few people not still brain locked and gawking. "It IS more defensible ma'am."
Well… Yeah. Of COURSE the moon was more fucking defensible, but boy you are taking this FAR too well! Damn it.
Sigh. Still, if you ignore the impossible stuff and insane things, it DID technically match the original blueprints. Kind of. In a way.
Just a few hundred meters further down.
And while this DID make it blatantly obvious something Sorceress related was going on here, it would ALSO protect her people as well… And the connection would be made some time or other anyway.
Headmaster Cid apparently had suspicions even BEFORE his wife caught her girlfriend in the act, as it were, and others were likely to find out pretty quickly too.
One of the smaller kids was blinking. "Eh, Ms. Scary-wing-lady?"
Sarah paused. "Yes?"
He pointed. "Where's my stuff?"
Oh, right. "You did handle that, right?" Please say Sarah handled it.
Sarah waved her off. "Yeah, of course I did!" Turning to the child, she knelt down. Which looked hot as HELL in her current outfit. "You're from the Sloan family, right?"
He nodded. "Dan's my da."
A map showed up from nowhere. "Give this to your family, all your things have been moved to a new apartment."
The kid blinked. "Like when we gotta hide again?"
This damned military occupation. Rinoa held back a grimace and spoke up. "Like that, Brandon. But this place is going to be lots better and you don't have to carry stuff this time."
That was enough to get the kid to accept the paper and relax slightly. "Cor, that's cool."
Sarah grinned at the eavesdropping adults. "Any Timber residents who were displaced due to their homes, official or otherwise, being previously located within Boss's territory have had their pets and stuff moved to an apartment in the Owlery. Rent for this month is free, and I know the new apartment rental rates for other people are very competitive if you are a Timber local… But you have to ask the Boss about the details. I just make stuff!"
You just make PROBLEMS! WHY didn't you follow the plan!?
No, be calm. Spanking is for later.
Sarah stood, ignoring her otherworldly wings that faded in and out of reality, and grinned at the groups! "Right, so the Owlery of Timber is officially open, everyone come to me for maps to your new apartments and keys and stuff, and don't bother to ask me about how much rent is or how much it costs to rent a market booth or use the transport systemto get to the Lunar Kingdom!"
The fucking TRAITOR pointed at RINOA! "All that financial stuff is up to the Boss, Just let me know if you need special adjustments to your place or whatever!"
And Sarah just HURLED her lover under the bus with a smile! Damn it!
SO much spanking later!
The man quietly read the report.
Again.
Somehow, it all just made this feel worse.
The silent room echoed from the thin document hitting the desk.
His eyes were not focused on them.
Nor were his memories.
Fury Caraway tapped his desk. "For many years, I assumed the various failures of my people were due to outside circumstances."
That… Was not a good start.
His tap was constant. "An overly aggressive Sorceress, forcing us to ignore tactics. To ignore supply chains, to ignore logic in general, as she rampaged over the planet. Obviously, we did what we could to mitigate the situation, to preserve the life of our people and even reduce the casualties to our foes, but my hands were limited. My reach tied."
That tapping. "And when she finally flinched, and retreated back here to our capital, we fought HARD against that incompetence. Against our flaws. We stabilized our conquest, and began the depressing steps and paid all the horrifying costs of trying to mend a nation rapidly expanded and forged through avarice and lust for battle."
The sound was insidious. "I then shifted blame. For clearly, our new problems, our lacking, our faults… They were due to corruption."
Some of those here shifted.
His eyes did not. "Men and women who bought power, who bribed prestige, who stole respect. Men and women who hoarded supplies and abused subordinates and committed active sabotage to pursue political games and paths to supremacy."
It was silent.
Fury's eyes flickered. "I dealt with it. Despite the costs, politically, personally, and of course mentally and martially. I accepted losing talented fighters who were also horrific monsters consuming our men and women. I took risks to ensure those who would abuse our people would have consequences, no matter the backing, no matter the power, no matter the source."
Please, show rage. Anger.
Fury silently reviewed the document again. "I assumed our issues were due to outside circumstances. Lacking in training, due to inadequate teaching and lack of time as we sent good people into bad situations. Lacking experience, as bad people had destroyed the good pillars of our military to better gather power and goods… At least until they found themselves also lacking. Until we finished them."
Just… Don't show this.
He raised his eyes to the people. "I find myself forced to consider that our failures may be a lack of our nation. A deficiency of our people. A flaw in ourselves."
Don't show us disappointment.
Fury Caraway stopped tapping the desk. "Do not block my daughter's actions in Timber. Consider her requests, if properly formatted and following protocol, with the highest respect and seriousness. And send everyone in the tracking squads back to remedial training."
A fucking MORON had to speak up! "But SIR!"
His eyes were dull. "You only discovered her due to her buying a train ticket back to Timber. After having returned from Balamb Garden, the location that all our intel claimed to be her destination."
But while dull, the eyes were NOT compromising. "I will NOT begrudge their decisions and actions to follow her potential paths, to send agents to other locations, to cover your bases. But I am beyond furious that not a single person decided to investigate the facility that my daughter named, claimed to be visiting, bought a ticket to visit, rented a vehicle to visit, and so on and so forth."
A weak voice had clearly learned nothing. "But… But the records!"
Fury sighed. "Then you shall return to remedial training as well, Director. I won't have you lose your office, not over a one time situation like this, but we BOTH know that false trails are the staple of the information battlefront. That verification is needed for a REASON. The desire to get fast results should NOT result in us not following procedure."
The room was quiet again.
He sighed. "Everyone get out. Get back to work. I will do the same."
Their shoulders felt heavier, with disappointment and disapproval guiding their path.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Rinoa grinned, a whole long train ride snuggled with Sarah, Shiva, and Selphie (Was she collecting S's? Look out Squall!) had really pepped her up!
The boy's were less touchy feely (So far), but at this point? Rinoa had plans!
Right. "We need to head to the Mayor and get things moving."
Zell blinked as he followed behind them from the train station. "Eh?"
She led the way, Angelo padding along beside her and the rest following behind. "Up till now we have been moving our group from base to base, from temporary locations to privately owned trains. Now that we have finances, political partners, and an industry to set up? I'm going to need to make some investments."
Watts would catch up with her soon enough, he was always gathering intel and kept an ear to the ground on situations like this. "So first we need to acquire territory. Hopefully a place that we can reinforce or work with, and a more prominent location for future auctions."
If all else failed, they could always rent a location. Or buy it.
Sure, they theoretically had a stable supply of future income. Even at a SMALL percentage, the production of MCards had basically set up her and her group for life once it started selling. And, ALL the staff of the Headmaster agreed, it WOULD sell. Fast.
But future income, while awesome, wasn't the reason why Rinoa was about to go on a massive shopping spree. It wasn't the reason why her budget had ballooned massively.
No, it was Sarah's food.
Headmaster Cid and 'Big Sis Edea' had both been very generous when they realized that her Marvelous Moon Momma had Lunar Kingdom produce to push… Basically, Sarah filled up their storage facilities with high quality goods and now the Forest Owls had a line of local currency and credit that was effectively limitless.
Like, there WAS a limit, but hell if SHE knew what she could buy to spend it all.
It wasn't even a scam either, if anything the Garden got the goods for a bargain… The only issue with the whole situation was how embarrassed Rinoa had been when Sarah just dumped all the money and stuff in her lap.
Seriously, that woman was basically Rinoa's sugar momma at this point. Which uh. Was pretty hot on several levels.
No, focus! "I'm going to try and get something usable for now and ALSO buy out the heavily damaged area where the monster swarm hit a week or so ago. It won't be usable for a while, but it will help people whose homes were ruined, give Sarah room to set up a new market for her food, and let the Forest Owls eventually set up a long term facility that, on paper at least, is a privately owned corporate office."
It had been one of her wish plans, the impossible ideas back when she had shown up and thought she could save everyone in a week or so and help all the people while showing her dad that she was TOTALLY grown up and not a baby and… Sigh.
Still, it should work! "As a corporation, unlike a military group or…" A glance made sure they weren't over heard or on electronics. A habit, really. "...Or other small organizations, well! We would be able to hire locals for personal projects." Missions, political action, diplomatic negotiations, and so on.
They could also have 'security guards', also known as a formally gathered, organized and trained fighting force. To keep away monsters, of course! Nothing else! Nope!
A lot of the older supporters of her cause who were forbidden from getting local jobs (Those in previous military groups, or former security, so on and so forth) COULD be hired by her new organization too. Give some financial stability and support to her people directly, as WELL as hire Timber locals to build stuff and all that jazz.
Sarah hummed. "Focus more on getting property rights, I can easily clear out previous buildings and set up facilities."
Squall, currently out of hugging range, spoke up. "I've been informed not to use spells for constructive or deconstructive purposes."
Selphie snorted. "Because when we need a hammer like spell, the stuff YOU cast is a freaking high speed train. There is a reason why only YOU were banned from using magic outside of combat, your compatibility level is WAY too high."
Zell just grumbled. "No kidding, what kind of monster can not only summon their GF but actually [[Boost]] their attacks!? It's crazy shit!"
Rinoa didn't even need to look to feel Shiva being smug or Sarah trying to look innocent.
Right! The plan! "So if I get a lot of property in a low income area, how fast can you set up a decent apartment complex?"
Her girl was an insanely powerful Sorceress after all, after all the shit she pulled Rinoa was NOT going to make assumptions about what was or wasn't possible.
Sarah hummed. "A few hours? A day maybe. MUCH faster if you can convince the people to leave the area first, then I won't have to be so slow about it to keep them safe."
Hmm. She ignored the shocked SeeD team and Ellone, who was still enjoying those veggie stick snacks from earlier and was just stumbling along with the group right now.
Her mind reviewed recent reports. "Most demolition crews are gone or left Timber, and new construction is down across the board… But getting locals to do that part can really help this place out. Right!"
Get ownership of the chunk of town damaged and a good section outside that gate in particular. "We'll have you clear out the area we buy, set up a new housing complex for anyone we have to move and for some of our people with tight finances…" Just offering good rate rents was probably the limit of charity the prideful Timber people would accept anyway.
Yeah, this could work. "Can you expand the wall, leave most of it planned but unbuilt, and make us a market, an auction house, a base, and a housing complex?" Timber could build the rest with her funding it.
Sarah shrugged. "It would be best for me to set up the road network, plumbing, electrical, water and stuff. Maybe build foundations for all the local facilities too…" She hummed. "But yeah, though I will have to drop the quality a whole lot with my designs so that local people can maintain, repair, modify, dismantle, and all that."
Oh. Uh, that could be bad. "How big a drop in quality?"
An illusion suddenly flickered in the air, showing a palace. "Some of the more powerful spells could easily damage the place, and if I have to use local materials entirely then even a basic GF summon attack could destroy something."
Sigh. Of course. "Then use the high quality stuff for our base, and the Lunar Kingdom Market stalls… And the Auction House. Use normal stuff for the rest of it."
Hadn't she said she wouldn't underestimate this person? "Can you hide a core of the good stuff inside our section's normal looking walls? And make it a fully defended district?" She remembered that the more powerful corporations were nearly nations of their own really, and could put all kinds of 'questionable' defences into place when they paid enough.
Sarah gave a nod, which was good enough.
Squall was somehow tapping the hologram, making it shift. "I have requests for this future base, if possible."
Selphie squealed! "Ooh! A mud pit!"
No! Don't give it away!
Thankfully, Squall just nodded. "I was thinking SEVERAL training rooms, another simulating a desert environment and one with 'rainfall'. It had been dismissed from my suggestions for Balamb Garden's Training Center as excessive and costly."
Thank goodness for thick protagonists! "Of course! Any other ideas?"
Selphie just started counting fingers. "A pool, hot tub, steam room, massage parlor, bondage dungeon, a ball pit, reference library, some gardens, bondage dungeon, weapon testing facility, some labs…"
Squall blinked. "What was that in the middle?"
Her face was innocence. "A ball pit? Sometimes you need some fun in your life."
Heh. "Right, let me talk a bit because most of the people in here put up with me pretty good since I helped keep morale up when things had been pretty bad here."
Plus, if her team of hot people kept talking she would be SUPER distracted.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The military aid hesitated. "Sir?"
He sighed. "Just… Just spit it out."
They both glanced at the door that Fury Caraway's daughter had left through.
His assistant coughed. "Are we… Allowed to have her just purchase a third of the town?"
The man sighed. "That isn't our jurisdiction. She came here to notify us that her new corporation, 'Lunar Magic', has recently set up a headquarters locally. As is required. And paid in advance, covered all related fees."
The other one blinked. "But…"
Nope. "None of the territory is stationed by Galbadia troops, none of the area has restricted [[Draw]] points or other such resources, and all the paperwork is filed according to procedure."
More than that, her request to locally ranch monsters for spells and harvest had been approved suspiciously quickly. SOMEONE higher up the chain was ensuring all the hoops were jumped and the contracts signed and the approvals handwaved.
Not a big guess who was responsible either.
Not that it mattered. "We followed procedure, we followed the chain of command, and as far as we can determine this is legal, follows policy, and is approved by management."
Because why NOT let the insurrectionist movement of Timber flat out purchase freedom for a third of the whole city. By being a 'privately owned organization' it drastically cut down the territory he needed to secure, as well as reducing the costs of 'securing' the rest of the location.
Not that it mattered, not when someone high up makes a decision.
You followed orders.
Though, if it had been someone OTHER than Timber's little cinnabon Rinoa pulling this shit, he would have been VERY efficiently complying in some very legally protected ways. Lots of confirmations and double checks and paperwork details and committee decisions and requesting additional forms, etc.
The military KNEW how to comply in the most annoying way possible, when required.
Deployment or not, mission or not, the small people (Like Ms. Karen's bakery with warm food and a warm welcome) had to be protected after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah shook her head at Rinoa's exasperated look. "Two more people, a child and a teen, five houses that way. Seems to be hiding from chores or something."
Her Boss groaned! "People, I said ALL of you need to get out of there!"
The crowd was conversing, mildly concerned, and partially amused as the ever popular Ms. Heartilly (Rebel, older sister, and freedom fighter for the land!) attempted to herd the cats of modern society away from a chunk of the poor side of town.
For some reason.
Oh, she tried to explain, but people were unwilling to read/listen/understand/stand still at the BEST of times, much less when something complex was happening.
Ironically enough, a lot of these people were only putting up with Rinoa because this section of town had only survived this long thanks to the revolutionary cells constantly fighting for resources. That, and this seemed interesting.
Legally, as the new owner of the poorest sections of Timber, Sarah could easily and without concern wipe it all from the map. Only a few places were even officially owned, and the few that DID have proper Galbadia paperwork didn't live here (Rich people from other lands) and were (for some reason) more than happy to sell to the woman.
In fact, Sarah had noticed that a LOT of people, both official, local, and foreign, were (for some reason) really willing to make a few allowances, to bend a few rules slightly, overlook a few things. Only some of it could be due to her natural charm and innocent willingness to help others, it seemed clear enough that SOMEONE influential in the background was trying to help gain influence or keep the path clear, so to speak.
Actually, make that SEVERAL someone, if 'Research' was correct. Certainly Balamb Garden and Headmaster Cid had made some calls, and SeeD units in general were loved by most people as being competent and not amoral or corrupt when on missions. Unless you were the target, of course.
So uh, once people found out this team was a protection detail? A lot of concern dropped away from various watching groups.
Another group was a strange variant of the criminal underground. Whoever was organizing the actual crime (Not just the Timber Freedom movement, from what her senses could detect) felt that investing in Rinoa's recent actions would be good for the area. Or maybe had plans to infiltrate and potentially gain control of her work, which was unlikely to work but good motivation.
Obviously, the odd support of the occupying forces was easy enough to determine and confirm when Sarah had [[Scanned]] the local military hardware and saw someone higher up wished to support Rinoa Heartilly's endeavors.
Sarah had theories about that one, but it was a touchy and emotional topic for Boss, so uh. Keeping that one on the down low.
But the biggest push for the locals putting up with all confusion and hubbub was coming from the commerce groups. The merchants.
They could TASTE the opportunity in the air, even if it wasn't clear exactly what the final goal of all this spending and investing was to be. And those with more concealed connections, more hidden resources… Well, the whispered Auction alone had outside eyes drifting to this hub of a town.
Oh, the kids were being led out. "Right, it's mostly good now. Clear!"
There were still lots of living things, pets, insects, smaller monsters, the life that tended to be attracted and thrive in society when a section is lost and falls to decay. And stray cats.
But she could work around that. "Am I good to go now?"
Rinoa just groaned as she fell into a nearby chair, this part of the street on the edge of her new 'Territory'. Meanwhile, the well trained SeeD team were keeping an eye on things without rest and even keeping the crowd's mood pretty high, as Zell was showing some kids how to throw a punch and Selphie was gossiping away.
At least Squall responded. "We are secure and prepared for the plan to continue."
Rinoa pointed. "That stuff. Sheesh, trying to be responsible sucks!"
Meh, Sarah could see that.
Now, let's get started!
Ignoring the suddenly quiet crowded street, Sarah flexed her wings of B̹̝̠͖o̹̩̞̩͇n̲͖̞̣̰͍̪e̼̲̮, the ghost frameworks of S̠̘͕p̤̮a̝̗̰̮͓͙̠̠c̳̫̟͈͖̻e̘̤̯͉͎̺̻ drifting in the air now visible.
Her skin shimmered as silver tattoos lit with light, her hair silver and floating with T͙̪͚r̳͉̣̬̝u̩e͎̘̪̞̝̹̝͕ ͍̻͉͓M̯̝̩̯͎̰a̗̺̠g͙ͅi̜͍̣̮c͉͕̞̤̹̪͎̯̙.
Eyes see the unseen.
"[[S̛̱̦ć͓̪̼͇̖͈ͅa͔̥̯͍͖̹̜n̛.]]"
A hand raised.
"[[H̺̠͍̰̻̤̹̳͎̥̗̯̹̝́́͟͝a̵̢̛̗̝̩̬̺̫͢r̵̡̞̦̹̰̗̖̺͇̘̯̗v̵̸̧̤͍͓͈̣͢͡e̶̸҉͖̞̗͚͙̝͎̹̳̤͇͇͚̖͈̘̮͝s͓̬̩̦͉̗͍̦̺̫̯̜̻̪͞͝t͘͏͝͏҉̻̱͚̜̙̜̣̝͍͖̝͇̰̱͕.̷̸̮̰̮̦̩̻͇̻͚̭̗̫̥̖̮̣]]"
In a moment, the S̢̡͟͝p҉́á̧̛͢͝c̢̀͟͜ȩ͝ ̕ H͏͠͞u̢̢͞n̢̧̢͢͡ge̷͟r͠͏̧͠e̸̷d̶͢͝.̴̴ And before the crowd, nothing spread.
Pipes were sealed, wires capped, tubes blocked, cables clipped, tunnels blocked… And before the witnesses, a pit expanded outwards.
From far above, along Rinoa's property line to the exact marking, all above a flat surface vanished. If the ground dipped, it was filled with soil and rock. If there was a hill, it was [[Harvested]] and sliced smooth. Buildings, gone. The wall segment, gone. Trees, gone.
And a perfect column, the largest circle possible within Rinoa's property possible, now formed an impossibly deep pit.
It was much easier to hear now. "Right, the foundational stuff first."
Layers to handle water drainage, to ensure the water from the local water table that even now tried to fill this gap was handled properly. A hidden layer of modified 'bone balls' to ensure any future magical surge from the planet would safely gather and be directed to the center of the territory, which would ensure no future [[Draw]] points formed or collapsed in this city sector.
A few layers of automated farms. It wouldn't be Lunar Kingdom quality, and these were designed to use local materials and VERY simplified hardware that natives could maintain and repair on their own, but at least it would reduce local food costs and ensure Squall's suggested Monster Ranches would have cheap food stock for feed.
Some of the systems the Garden used to generate power were easy enough to sneak in here, and if anyone asked Headmaster Cid would probably be a bro and back them up on where the plans came from. Most likely. Hopefully.
Defensive layers and walls on all sides of the pit, to ensure no digging or ground restricted monster assaults, have those layers of defence reach up to a bit more than the standard Timber defensive walls previously used.
A few empty levels (structurally reinforced) that would be used for shipments, material transfer, good transfer… Basically the lessons Sarah had learned from Adam doing projects in Rapture, keeping merchant traffic from interacting with pedestrian traffic and the general public.
Plus she added some Timber locals-only sections and pathways, because being a Timber Citizen should come with perks. And it would make Galbadia resistance easier. Or something.
Yet there was still more space. Um.
'Research' easily enough shifted the huge Auction House AND the material warehouse facility underground, connected the public section to the underground Timber network. No reason to expose these places to flying ships, monsters, or missile attacks.
In fact, screw it! A number of stalls that reminded her of the great work in Pauper's Drop's Market Dome were easy enough to set up, along with a para-magic rune portal connection up to the Lunar Kingdom that people could use to head up there.
After all, the Lunar Kingdom was a single building, one that was basically Alive already. It already had shops and hotels and all kinds of stuff up there, with the place itself and it's zombie like bone creations acting as shopkeepers and attendants.
So why not have market stalls for planet people down here, and just connect a portal up to the moon for any product purchases? And they didn't need any residence housing either, they could all just use the empty buildings in the Lunar Kingdom instead!
Sarah was super brilliant, Rinoa was going to love this.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Rinoa grit her teeth.
Don't… Don't snap at her. "It is lovely, and very impressive."
All the roads entering her 'Timber Owlery' shifted from 'Yeah, they exist' to astounding levels of quality. The buildings that made up the city ended abruptly into a beyond beautiful field of grass, with tiny thickets of fruit trees and bushes and small ponds and seating. Magic empowered lighting made the area have a strange mystical glow to it.
Angelo loved it, based on the soft whine and looks she was getting.
And in the center of this sudden field, a defensive wall, one that (in the distance) had tiny wings of material connecting to the previous walled protections of Timber.
This central wall was… Well, it 'looked' normal if you ignored HOW Sarah just pulled it into existence.
Pillars of silver bones just thrust up from the soil, ones that got covered in molten metallic shimmering sheets of power covered in silver glowing symbols. Patterns that were so out of context, so overwhelming, that it hurt to watch them being formed.
But it was fine now, of course. Because Sarah had put a thin cover of 'Totally normal wood bro!' on top, and that somehow made that oppressive force just… Vanish.
Job done, no problem.
But inside? Inside those massive open gates that could clearly close against invaders?
A large metallic silver bone tree with blue flames for leaves, and smaller silver bone trees connecting to the network of paths. Something like glass spanned the ground where the grass and rock was expected to be.
Where the planned BUILDINGS were supposed to be.
Damn it.
Sigh. "Where is the apartment housing?"
Sarah waved an arm. "Each of those small silver trees over there are stairs and elevators and stuff that lead down to the main public floors downstairs. And I hooked up the housing apartments to them! Except for your base of course."
Her Sorceress pointed at the impossible tower of a tree that now looked over the entire damned city. "The big tree's your base!"
The Bone Sorceress grinned with those sexy eyes as they both ignored the stunned people behind her. "See, I realized that there was a LOT of space down there even after I put in my automated stuff and the power generation and all that jazz, and I was like: Hey, why not move some stuff down here? You know, use it a bit!"
Sigh. "I don't want us to change our city from 'Timber' to 'Cavern'. Being in the forest is a big part of our city's identity, and moving everyone underground wasn't the idea."
Sarah waved a hand! "Don't worry, I got lots of layers of cubic silicon nitride up here on the surface for light and grew some trees down there. This stuff will melt snow and keep itself clean, lots of sunlight and stuff, and the air will stay fresh and cool and stuff! I mean, I had to modify the designs and materials slightly to better work with the para-magic reinforcement and stuff, maybe added some extra lighting here and there, but it should all work great!"
Damn it. "This isn't in the plans. The plans we all agreed on."
She blinked. "Well, yeah… But I realized the old plans left your people exposed to missiles and bombs and snipers and stuff. THIS design will protect us from a full on Guardian Force attack! Plus, if it snows or rains or stuff the kids can still play and people can shop and whatever."
This woman. "We were going to hire people to make stuff. To build new homes in Timber. To move the economy and all that."
An illusion flashed into view, showing the layout. "And they can! I've got a freight elevator station here in the city AND on the outer wall! Monster corpses and lumber and shipments can be easily moved down there via those big machines, from the trains or from outside. Aside from the stuff we designed already and a small portal to my old home I left even MORE room down there for everyone to build stuff!"
Portal to her old home? To the LUNAR KINGDOM!? "You… You added a portal from Timber to the moon."
Sarah shrugged. "Just in case, you know." Her eyes flickered to the distant (also stunned) military groups. "If Galbadia decides to launch missiles at us or something? No one will get hurt now."
Squall coughed, one of the few people not still brain locked and gawking. "It IS more defensible ma'am."
Well… Yeah. Of COURSE the moon was more fucking defensible, but boy you are taking this FAR too well! Damn it.
Sigh. Still, if you ignore the impossible stuff and insane things, it DID technically match the original blueprints. Kind of. In a way.
Just a few hundred meters further down.
And while this DID make it blatantly obvious something Sorceress related was going on here, it would ALSO protect her people as well… And the connection would be made some time or other anyway.
Headmaster Cid apparently had suspicions even BEFORE his wife caught her girlfriend in the act, as it were, and others were likely to find out pretty quickly too.
One of the smaller kids was blinking. "Eh, Ms. Scary-wing-lady?"
Sarah paused. "Yes?"
He pointed. "Where's my stuff?"
Oh, right. "You did handle that, right?" Please say Sarah handled it.
Sarah waved her off. "Yeah, of course I did!" Turning to the child, she knelt down. Which looked hot as HELL in her current outfit. "You're from the Sloan family, right?"
He nodded. "Dan's my da."
A map showed up from nowhere. "Give this to your family, all your things have been moved to a new apartment."
The kid blinked. "Like when we gotta hide again?"
This damned military occupation. Rinoa held back a grimace and spoke up. "Like that, Brandon. But this place is going to be lots better and you don't have to carry stuff this time."
That was enough to get the kid to accept the paper and relax slightly. "Cor, that's cool."
Sarah grinned at the eavesdropping adults. "Any Timber residents who were displaced due to their homes, official or otherwise, being previously located within Boss's territory have had their pets and stuff moved to an apartment in the Owlery. Rent for this month is free, and I know the new apartment rental rates for other people are very competitive if you are a Timber local… But you have to ask the Boss about the details. I just make stuff!"
You just make PROBLEMS! WHY didn't you follow the plan!?
No, be calm. Spanking is for later.
Sarah stood, ignoring her otherworldly wings that faded in and out of reality, and grinned at the groups! "Right, so the Owlery of Timber is officially open, everyone come to me for maps to your new apartments and keys and stuff, and don't bother to ask me about how much rent is or how much it costs to rent a market booth or use the transport system
The fucking TRAITOR pointed at RINOA! "All that financial stuff is up to the Boss, Just let me know if you need special adjustments to your place or whatever!"
And Sarah just HURLED her lover under the bus with a smile! Damn it!
SO much spanking later!
Last edited:
- Location
- Arizona
I just realized something about Sarah and Adam. They have a pattern.
First, upon entering new world, find a trustworthy local, or at least trustworthy if you squint. Then, make them handle the decisions and paperwork while you get to play godmode-minecraft. Bonus points if you can distract the decision maker with sexy times, but not required.
First, upon entering new world, find a trustworthy local, or at least trustworthy if you squint. Then, make them handle the decisions and paperwork while you get to play godmode-minecraft. Bonus points if you can distract the decision maker with sexy times, but not required.
- Location
- Earth U.S.
verycoolname
Not actually cool
Sorry sweetie, but harems are a lot of work. Of course, these aren't the same issues you'd normally have with maintaining a harem, but you were the one who decided to call dibs on Sarah.
- Location
- US
Honestly, if you can get away with it I can't think of a better plan to have.
- Location
- Mt. Holly, North Carolina
I think Rinoa is going to need at least an arm brace after the spankings.
- Location
- England
The word you were looking for was 'staple'.
a main product or part of something:
- Shortages mean that even staples (= basic foods) like bread are difficult to find.
- Phosphate has been a staple of this area for many years.
- Romantic fiction and reference books are a staple of many public libraries.
- Location
- Planet Earth
Is it weird... that I kinda want the MC and Adam to go to a Horror setting/world. Maybe be a combination of several? Stranger Things, Evil Dead, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Fear Street, I.T., The Shining, The Thing, etc... Then, when in the setting, fix/correct things. Deal with the monsters, save the day, etc...
Could even have interesting/worthwhile Perks/Abilities. Like defenses against congitohazards and Memetic effects, mind/body/soul protections. Maybe some interesting things for resolving these kinds of issues. The ability to sense/spot supernatural threats, to enter dreams, to counter various types of possession, etc...
Could even have interesting/worthwhile Perks/Abilities. Like defenses against congitohazards and Memetic effects, mind/body/soul protections. Maybe some interesting things for resolving these kinds of issues. The ability to sense/spot supernatural threats, to enter dreams, to counter various types of possession, etc...
Last edited:
- Location
- Somewhere in Space
You forgot they love to go way above and beyond what is needed and perform city-state-country sized arts and crafts in the process. Every time. Pretty sure if we ever see vanilla Mass Effect, either one will likely build a better and bigger citadel.
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
Cinnabun is a good girl but cuddle times will decrease due to papwerwork! Sarah will soon see the flaw in her plan!
Also.. uhm.. so timey whimey Sarah only left current-Sarah with a culled memorypack, right? So.. uhm... open Bioshock thoughts?
Also.. uhm.. so timey whimey Sarah only left current-Sarah with a culled memorypack, right? So.. uhm... open Bioshock thoughts?
Norr
Misophist
- Location
- Any chair
Should probably be formally.
Sarah has had a lot of practice setting up stuff like this by now, so when we the readers get a shorthand description of a new city-level construction we have a fair idea of what has gone into it from prior experience.
What I like a lot is how the local population reacts each time this happens. Not everyone reacts the same, it depends a lot on their circumstances, so the kid going likening 'getting a new home' to 'moving all your stuff to a new hiding place' says a lot about the life they've lived 'till now.
Eh, most 'horror' settings really only are horror because they gave the monster plot armor, or made sure nothing actually threatening faces the monster. To say nothing of pure jump scare trash.
Slasher fics lose their punch when the target is immune to knives.
Also, lets not forget that Sarah started in a Borderlands/Alien/Predator multi cross ultra grim survival horror setting.
There's going to be zero horror if you put her into a straight setting. Just lots of mad cackling, and a trail of corpses that would even make the the Doomguy stop and go "damn!"
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A bigger and better citadel? Why would they replicate that POS? Humanity has already designed mega-structures that, according to the math, would work, even at larger scales than the Citadel, and look better/cooler to boot! And it isn't even things like Dyson Shells and Ring Worlds (the former of which the Geth, potentially the MOST POWERFUL race economically in ME, are struggling to build). Instead, we can build things like O'Neill Cylinders, or Planetary Rings.
It always surprises me how few sci-fi planets actually have planetary rings. There is like, the Mars rings in Warhammer 40k and in Star Trek, and the ring around Corellia in Star Wars, but I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head.
It's generally not worth the effort.
Why build a mega structure when the galaxy is full of unused real estate already?
If you still haven't cracked FTL yet, then yea mega-structures have a place, but if you have and you need more space you just... pick another planet.
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It generally becomes more ideal when you have slower FTL, or more neighbors. Cohesion and ease-of-administration are important, as is defense. All of that is easier within a certain goldilocks zone of size vs population (though the exact zone would shift based on the realities of tech and fundamental laws; if you can bypass any blockade with your phase-shift FTL, then it is different then if you would be stopped by the first solar system you pass near.)
Still, megastructures are awesome. It especially becomes a good idea when you have a focus on maintaining "garden worlds". Build a ring around the world, and O'Neill Cylinders at the stable points, and you have plenty of population "at" the planet, but still maintain the untouched-by-human-hands vibe.
Well yea, galactic politics can change that. If its a crowded galaxy already the relative value of real estate goes up. Starwars for example is pretty packed, while Mass Effect is practically deserted. Likewise shittier FTL can make them more attractive.
The one place I think they are called for regardless of that though is for fleet yards. There are strategic advantages to being able to put the majority of your ship building into one very secure, heavily defended, central location, at the heart of your territory where its difficult to impossible for an enemy to disrupt the materials and personnel fueling them. Yes, it makes a tempting target for your enemies, but it should also be heavily defended enough for anyone sticking a toe in to pull back a bloody stump.
In this case, the fact that you spend so much industrial capacity building the thing in the first place isn't a waste. You bought a change in strategic realities with the resource expenditures.
No argument there. Definitely lots of Rule of Cool to be had.
Last edited:
Arc 3: So you got a tree then. Kinda big, ain't it?
- Location
- Here
Watts just sighed. "Yes, those are the actual rent rates."
This was the… What, the fifteenth? No, sixteenth. The Sixteenth time he had to do this speech.
At least some of the other teams just accepted the 'orders' to move to a secure new facility protected financially, politically, and guarded by actual SeeD mercenaries under Rinoa's banner. One with the cheapest rent in the city, lots of benefits if you were a long time Timber resident, and plenty of 'cover' work to keep their resistance cells flush with taxable Gil.
And by accepting, Watts had to admit, he really meant that those people had been too confused and stunned to freak out before he could finish their paperwork and shove them off to move in and all that.
It was MUCH more preferred than the groups that managed to ask questions.
The mother just stared at the page. "I… I have five kids, I can't afford this much per person."
FIVE kids? "Sorry, I thought you only had four, did you adopt another one?"
She nodded. "Little Linda, from the late Sarong family that didn't survive their hunt."
Oh. "Well, that changes things." He swapped out the papers. "Here."
There was a cost reduction for rent per dependent, as well as an increase to the size of the apartment allocated. His boss was basically throwing Gil away, but he couldn't really argue with her after helping all these people. And her new girlfriend just magic-ed it all up from nothing anyway, so whatever.
Her new girlfriend, the Bone Sorceress. The Ḥ̫̙̗u̱̙̥̜n̹̖̭g͍͖̙̳͚̭̲r͉̮y̖ ̲͕̬̞̮̳̣O̥͈̫̭͚͕n͈̻e͕̭̫̩̺.
No, repress it. Repress. And… Gone!
That's better.
Hope flashed over her face… And then faltered after seeing the numbers. "Even with this cost reduction, it's too much."
Watts blinked. What? That… That seems VERY unlikely. "One moment."
He stood and staggered over to his coffee machine, getting a cup.
A few sips later (No one dared ask where all this GOOD stuff was coming from, most just assumed 'magic lady' again), and he felt more awake.
Good.
Sitting down at the table, he focused on the concerned woman. "Sorry, I've been doing this for hours now. I'm not entirely operating on full throttle. Can you explain why you can't afford these rates?"
She clenched her fists. "I… I don't have the best income. Unless there is a different rate for each child, and this is only the cost per adult…" Her jaw clenched.
What? "One second."
Another sip of coffee.
Mmm. That… That was much better.
Now, what the HECK was she talking about?
His mind, slightly more refreshed, flickered back a bit over the conversation.
Right. "I think I see the problem here."
He pointed at the number. "This is your rent."
He got a confused nod.
Watts tapped the number again. "This is your TOTAL rent."
He pushed the detailed papers forward. "That not only rents the entire apartment for you and your children, but it also pays for your electric, water, and sewage bills on top of it. Not to mention it includes your monthly fees to 'Lunar Magic' itself, which pays for medical coverage, schooling for the children, access to most Timber Owlery facilities, and so on and so forth."
Restricted by age, of course. No kids were allowed in the combat arenas or training grounds, and civilians (While technically 'Lunar Magic' employees on paperwork) were kept out of headquarters related areas unless 'promoted' to full resistance fighters.
Basically, it covered all the people moving in so that any legal issues or conflict between Galbadia, Timber, and Lunar Magic can be handled by the Boss's new army of lawyers with the political backing of Balamb Garden.
And a god damned Sorceress.
No, repress.
Another sip of the good stuff. Lovely blend, no idea how Boss got coffee this good and he was NOT risking being unable to get more (Or remembering something terrifying) by asking questions.
Anyway, back on topic. "You will still have to pay taxes every year, of course, but most of that is handled automatically as part of your employment contract."
Sure, all these employees basically got paid nothing but enough to cover Timber taxes by default (After all, they were only technically employed in the end), but if they didn't wish to get 'promoted' higher up the chain they could always do various low level 'missions' (Basically easy local chores and stuff) for extra pocket money and funds.
Or set up a stall to sell goods at the new market which was thriving down here in the Owlery, or just supply those goods to the Owlery Store if they didn't have time to sell it personally and didn't mind paying a bit of a fee. Or take one of the 'cover' jobs needed to prove the place was 'just' a corporation.
It would allow the Timber Owls to ensure a stable financial setup for their people, as any surges or tax hikes or future fines could be handled by 'Lunar Magic' directly instead of crushing the people as intended. A social safety net, as it were.
The woman seemed… More confused than grateful. "What?"
Yeah, that was the standard reaction. "You know Boss Heartilly?"
A nod.
Mmm, this was good coffee. "Since liberating Timber is a very long term project, she decided to cheat a bit. She's basically converting the entire town into a business, because while politically and militarily Timber is under an occupying force… Corporations play under different rules."
You need to gain an ungodly amount of money for initial investment, and the power to PROTECT that money long enough to pull this off, but drafting the terrifying Lunar Kingdom Sorceress of Bones into your harem tends to do that as a side note.
No, repress that Watts. Just enjoy your damned coffee.
The woman just… "What?"
Damn it. Maybe move things along? "Let me show you the educational buildings we have already commissioned from the building community." Because FUCK letting Timber kids be taught by Galbadian approved teachers.
Funnily enough, it even counted as a tax write off. After all, corporations training future employees encouraged the economy! Future employees… Heh.
Plus the guys and gals LOVED being able to build stuff again using traditional Timber techniques and styles. Really warmed up the blood to see the old ways coming back, to see the older generation teaching new workers family techniques and the legends and tales that traveled with them.
No oversight, no repression, no more paperwork mountains and red tape barriers, this wasn't Timber! No, this was just a Timber shaped business! Nothing to see here, good people!
And being able to build like this was a gift, in the end. After all, it was not like the hot women Boss was boning couldn't have simply used magic to whip up everything needed in moments.
(Repress.)
But even HE appreciated letting Timber build their own homes and lives again, and Rinoa certainly understood how important this was culturally as well as financially.
Timber was building again. Making this a new core, a new home!
Even if those homes were deep underground in a magical root protected forest covered by impossibly clear magic unbreakable 'glass' with otherworldly silver bone trees protecting the sky with blue flames of raw power.
Well, it was the thought that counts.
If their people hadn't watched thatterrifying goddess of raw power/winged woman being berated by his Boss, there would have likely been a church set up by now worshiping the Bone Sorceress already. Hell, more than a few people were already quietly suggesting that Rinoa get a religion or two by this point for having 'tamed' the savage H͍u͚̰̖̩̤͇̣n͙͈̖͕̣̳̖g͎͙̣̤͕̯e͔r̖ of the Moon!
Mmm. Considering this coffee, Watts wasn't sure he could disagree with the sentiment.
No, focus!
Worship the brew later, keep the 'employment' line moving now.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The idiot wouldn't shut up. "But sir!"
Nope. "Not our jurisdiction. Not our issue. Not our responsibility."
He refused to look outside at the impossible thing and the terrifying power and ability it represented. All of that? That was WAY not his problem.
Probably a problem too big for Galbadia itself, but again: Not his problem. And standard procedures only required that he accurately handle the related data up the chain and wait for decisions.
So nope! "We reported it, our job is done, now get out of my office and let me get back to work."
That hidden bottle wouldn't drink itself, after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah wasn't in trouble.
Mostly.
But uh. She WAS being very helpful right now. No reason to risk cuddle time over other 'unexpected alterations' to existing plans, right?
Though the 'punishment' had been pretty fun… Heh heh.
Wait, no, she was like remorseful and stuff.
But the point was, she wasn't allowed to modify Timber's railroad system to include a station down here. Which was fine. And she couldn't set up a teleportation network with a Hub in Balamb Garden just yet either, because that would be a pretty big deal apparently.
And she had to move the customized [[Draw]] points into the big tree headquarters, hide the bone balls under the floor in a designated para-magic harvest room, and when Rinoa found out that she had been planning on having ALL the spells available…
Well, there was now a public [[Draw]] point area with basic useful stuff like several [[Cure]] and [[Esuna]] nodes, a more restricted area with [[Regen]], [[Life]], [[Haste]], [[Protect]] and [[Shell]]... And um.
Well, there was a set of back rooms that had all the REST of the spells that Sarah wasn't allowed to talk about and only top staff of the Forest Owls could even be informed of, if ever.
And the exasperated look when Sarah offered to set up an [[Ultima]] node was… Um. Yeah.
At least she was allowed to add her custom stuff, like [[Odorless]] and [[Numb]], to the public access point. Though 'Research' was still having problems working out how to get [[Lost]] to properly mess with a target's sense of direction without destroying their brain and stuff, so uh. That one was fully restricted.
And that was fair.
Besides, [[Lost]] was a work in progress and [[Ultima]] felt disappointing.
Sure, [[Ultima]] was hefty, unit wise, and it was able to enhance Junctioned stats very well, with only [[Triple]] being better in a couple of areas like with speed or hit percentage boosting… And the spell certainly did a lot of damage too, technically...
But it only HAD those abilities because it was somewhat similar to True Magic. And it was unstable as all hell, making it annoying to carry around and frustrating to attempt to [[Draw]] the stuff… On record, it was the MOST difficult spell for the Junction system to handle.
Sarah offered to make a [[Draw]] point for the stuff out of an innate desire to 'collect them all' more than any desire to use the stuff.
After all, HER Junction system used True Magic for ALL her stat junctions, and unlike [[Ultima]] this stuff not only was the best fuel to use but was much more stable. Para-magic was a knock off after all, compared to the good stuff!
Everyone would want to use it!
And without having random chance and nature and random people with equipment messing with the power generating para-magic spells, without needing help to get the structure set up and conceptually reinforced, True Magic was safer to use too!
Sort of safer.
Relatively safer.
Alright, fine! Anyone who wasn't Sarah and anyone without her gifts would probably pop.
Especially since HER Junction system tracked units of 'True Magic' but didn't bother capping any one stat to a random amount like 100.
So… Uh... Her strength currently had 8222 units of True Magic hooked up.
And that number moved up and down as her body adjusted to the strain, as her mind units detected more optimal layouts and empowerment calculations, as other stats were passing data for 'Research' to work with.
It would have been even more enhanced if she wasn't worried about losing control and accidentally squishing somebody, but slow and steady improvements would win the race!
Besides, Strength wasn't even the stat with her highest number of units Junctioned to it right now, strangely enough.
Something about her past magical prowess and the way she included uncertainty patterns in HER customized system hardware let her hook up a LOT of units to her Magic stat, which was fascinating to keep an eye on.
ANYWAY!
The 'pick some spells' room was mostly blocked off and therefore it was fine.
So she wasn't in trouble.
Just… Being encouraged to not build so much. And not as quickly. And to stop trying to get people to visit her moon kingdom 'subtly' just because it is 'super cool'.
Seriously, the walls can open up with skeleton butlers in them! How neat was that? Super neat, that's what!
So while Rinoa wrangled the mess of people moving all kinds of stuff into new housing and her people set up shop stalls and stuff, Sarah was mostly modifying the existing setup as it all progressed.
The 'food court' area had several market stalls that needed cooking units and refrigeration and water and stuff, the 'produce section' was hiring a lot of people from Timber to stock the shelves and help sell stuff… Mostly because Rinoa shot down skeletal golems as Shopkeepers but still!
Lots of little fixes here and there!
And it was totally not boring at all. Though she might have gotten a LITTLE bit in trouble when she dug out a massive side chamber underground, reinforced it, added artificial lighting and weather, and used True Magic to raise a forest for people to go logging within.
These trees were local species! Mostly. It was more convenient! Eventually.
Sure, one or two trees went a bit odd with raw True Magic building up here and there, and seeing a small grove of saplings empowered with [[Thundara]] was shocking, but that just uh… Added value! And rarity!
Sigh.
At least Angelo had been happy to hang out with her while her owner ran around organizing stuff. Sarah was basically stuck here, answering questions, handing out maps and keys, helping people move by teleporting their stuff to their rooms, and other basic stuff.
Who's a good girl? YOU'RE a good girl! Yes you is, yes you is!
Absently Sarah sent the Warehouse (And Adam, and 'Research') a note: The bones in her Space wings didn't interact right with reality and dogs were unable to fetch them.
Poor girl was REALLY confused when she tried to 'catch' the thrown wing part and somehow ended up teleported thirty feet to the left. Didn't hurt the dog, and she seemed to enjoy trying several more times, but yeah.
Catch shouldn't be this hard for EITHER player involved.
A strained voice spoke nearby. "Eh… Excuse me?"
Hmm? "Yes?"
The man could barely see anything over his box. "I was told you know where I need to go? We're the Gordon family."
Um. He was the only guy here. "When you say 'we'..."
The big box slumped. "The girls ran off again, didn't they?"
Clearly. "One second. [[Scan]]." Let's see who you are.
Gordon family, building C, floor 33, room 122. "Got it, one second!"
Her wings flickered as his box vanished through S̖̜̩̱ͅp̤̬̙̤̯a̪c̥͖̦ͅe.
Step one, done.
Ignoring his confusion, she focused. "[[Phase Pierce]]... There they are. Better double check though. [[Scan]]. Yep!"
A pulse of her tattoos had a glowing blue portal form, a ring of light with some curious kids looking from the other side.
Two younger girls blinked. "Dad?"
Well, there we go! "Good, we found them!"
Sarah handed the frozen man a map, some keys, and a pat on the back as she gently shoved him through the hole in reality. "Ask one of the Forest Owl Delivery Birds and they'll be happy to move the rest of your stuff, that box is in your room now. The map will get you there and the keys are in your hand."
The 'Delivery Birds' was Rinoa's version of a local Postal Service for this underground Owlery. Selphie was having fun trying to make up cool names for ALL local services normally found in cities, like firefighters and police enforcement and all that.
Basically, they were a group of locals that were being paid to act as a movement company, package delivery service, mail handling organization, and escort group. Or to be more accurate: A way for Rinoa to shove more money into Timber's economy.
After all, most people in Timber were more than happy to help each other move for free. Having her hire a bunch of people and give them salaries was just another trick to make them accept some damn charity in a sneaky way.
The kids were poking the reality tunnel, the dad was… Mostly fine, if mentally rebooting, and their stuff was delivered! Job well done! "Alright, you guys be safe now!"
Portal closed, and job done!
Woo!
Sarah blinked.
Oh, right. She was stuck here to help people (AKA, grounded), and doing her job fast and efficiently just meant that she ran out of stuff to do faster.
Sigh. Woo.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
They all turned to her. "That wasn't needed you know."
Fuck that! "It was a good precaution."
She sighed. "We stopped that whole situation already. Galbadia won't launch missiles at ANY of the Gardens now, nor Timber."
Meh. "They SHOULDN'T, and they DIDN'T, and they WON'T… But better safe than sorry. Besides, more nations than just Galbadia have missiles, and even private organizations can launch mortars and stuff. I don't want an asshole with a GF taking a pot shot."
A grumpy growl. "It made Rinoa mad at us." "Well, not mad…" "Shh, we are trying to be mature." "YOU are trying to be mature." "Focus." "It certainly caused issues."
Fuck all of that! "Look, it was just a nudge! And the new designs are much safer. Far less risk of a moron or dozen trying something if there is a higher difficulty curve to overcome if they try and damage shit!"
General nods and grumbles, which was good enough.
One of the older ones sighed. "How's Adam doing?"
Sigh. "He's trying." "Been working his skeletal ass off!" "Does he even HAVE an ass?" "He's stressed out, if I remember right." "It won't be for much longer."
Right. The new defenses were nearly established, if everything didn't warp and cause them or him or whatever to split or combine again. Then all of them could be less cautious.
One sneers. "And stop picking on her! I caught YOU sending a pork roast recipe earlier! Hypocrite."
And that got some good natured rants from the rest. "T-Rex Steaks were better." "I still say chilled soup is the high society shit." "Not for every course." "The Skele-Butlers always made the best potato dishes, even without using actual magic." "Hey! You liked my corned beef hash!" "Well, of course we did, but did you try the Skele-Butler's roasted potato and veggie medley?" "Oh, don't bring THOSE up." "Yeah, that's just cheating."
Um. Hang on, didn't she send over stuff about her favorite pies? "Did ALL of us push our dishes to her earlier!?"
A pause. "No!" "Of course not!" "I mean, maybe one?" "Oh yeah, I sent her like a dozen. No regrets." "YOU BITCH! I felt terrible sending my casserole!" "You SHOULD feel terrible about…" "Oh that's it. Come here you ASS!" "Eep!"
Shit. "Did… Did everyone remember to spread out the information we pushed over time?"
Another, slightly more hesitant pause. "Uh…" "Probably?" "I sent it to our first picnic!" "Wait, which first picnic?" "Yeah, we've had a few." "You know, when the harem had just met?" "There were SEVERAL harems, and Rinoa is a thirsty woman." "The one where we picked up bondage girl." "Oh, where we shared sandwiches in the meditation garden?" "Probably not, I sent my deviled egg recipe to that one." "But… But I sent my pasta dishes over then!"
Double shit. "Someone make sure we didn't accidentally start a culinary revolution down there, we should be in Timber right now still. Or then. Or eventually. So it should be safe to do a long distance recon of Balamb Garden for a few minutes back then in the future."
And they were moving. "We did go to Balamb Garden, right?" "This isn't the loop where we went to Galbadia, or it eventually won't be." "I thought we took that ocean route to Trabia?" "Nah, that was WAY back when we visited Selphie's older friends." "I think we merged those two timelines together and then it never happened." "Only half way, Selphie is still from Trabia Garden for now." "Did we get Quistis out of that bondage fanclub?" "Well, you can take the girl out of the club but…" "She has a more basic fan club this time." "None of that sacrificial shit this time?" "We nipped that, yeah."
Damn it, this was WORSE than trying to herd cats with long distant onion puppets.
At least ONE of her was able to enjoy this Jump. Even if she was sort of grounded right now.
One in the future screamed in frustration. "That fucker in Esthar just tried to make an [[Ultima]] reactor again!" "Didn't we submit papers proving that was fucking retarded!?" "There is enough evidence, and we got his bosses to crack down on him." "Make them crack HARDER, we don't need another temporal cascade situation." "Yeah, stings like a mother fucker." "Can't we just kill him?" "Nah, he makes awesome shit if he would stop trying to detonate the planet." "He's just so damn frustrating!"
Sigh. Lucky Sarah, with full access to Adam (Busy or not) AND following a linear timeline. Mostly.
Back to work. "Who has my report I file about today?" Might as well skip some steps by seeing which steps she skipped. Though sometimes she gets lazy and makes her past selves write the future reports that she needs to read now.
Oh well. That (technically) wasn't HER problem!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Headmaster Cid just… Didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry?"
The team leader sighed. "It's all in the report Sir. My team has already been sent over to medical for a checkup, and I will be joining them after."
His mind still blanking, he gave a nod. "Very well. Take care, I'll look over the details and get a formal review to the team by the end of the week."
A nod and he left, leaving Cid to just stare at the new report.
After setting up a partnership with the young Ms. Heartilly, he had certain mental assumptions.
Better funded resistance cells, clandestine actions, political networking and collaboration attempts, so on and so on. Maybe helping out the downtrodden in Timber, or funding larger missions, or just upgrading hardware and equipment. Or splurging on her new growing harem.
After all… Somewhere, between all the shiny and very cheap bobbles that he and his wife had eagerly bought, among the contracts and deals they had signed, Rinoa Heartilly had managed to gain quite a substantial amount of resources.
More than he had fully been paying attention to, in the end.
The deals were good, at least to Balamb Gardens (ALL the Gardens, really), the designs were beyond professional quality, the hardware was ingenious, the finished products valuable and useful and already generating profit across the board…
And of course, his children (adopted or otherwise) had become a small army of foodies due to recent events. His wife had eagerly agreed to have some White SeeD teams change careers to become culinarily focused battle chefs, hunting Monsters for flavor rather than what spells they could [[Draw]] or what experience they could gain.
It was a food movement that was gaining momentum. And fanatics.
Even now, his love Edea was over in the Training Center ensuring the new breeding stock of monsters were able to properly raise healthy (And delicious) young ones… And establishing ongoing missions for students to butcher a certain percentage of the new herds for Cafeteria testing and research.
Thinking of that section of the Garden, he couldn't help but snort.
Most people assumed the 'Training Center' was to help the kids get some experience, to better adjust to the Junction system, to [[Draw]] needed magic and so on and so forth.
Very few knew that he had built the place for Edea when she thought she could train monsters to be trustworthy pets and battle companions for her kids. She STILL insisted the T-Rex's would eventually let less powerful people ride the damned things.
Ah well, at least when her attempts failed the creatures were useful battle fodder. And now, actual fodder… Oh ho!
Cid let his chuckles fall away as he stared at the report.
No, Rinoa Heartilly got a (not so small) fortune and basically bought a third of Timber.
Subtle.
Then she vanished the whole area, built a magical paradise, and in the process exposed her ownership of an infatuated Sorceress from the depths of society's nightmares.
Super subtle.
Now a burning silver tree built from bones was towering over the entire damned city, visible from literally miles away. Eldritch blue flames apparently warmed or chilled people who looked at it, depending on how they felt about Timber in general, and the local monster population had been very clearly and very QUIETLY sneaking away from the place.
Team Bravo swore that a small flock of Cockatrice had bumped into them during ongoing observations, and that the beasts had almost seemed to APOLOGIZE for getting in the way as they quietly fled from the strange city.
Subtlety. This girl was like a true ninja, unseen, unheard, unfelt: A shadow in the night. Everyone should give them a slow, unsarcastic applause. Wow.
Teenagers.
Sigh.
An assistant entered with paperwork. "Sir? We have a message from a Fury Caraway about wishing to join some sort of auction. Apparently the local military decided to redirect the related communications to Balamb Garden as an official sponsor."
She seemed confused, not noticing Cid slumping onto his desk. "I was unsure about the topic, but apparently we officially posted about the 'Super Secret Elite Timber Auction' on our servers, a full series of articles written by the leader of our Garden Festival Committee? And this Caraway guy seems VERY insistent on acquiring an invitation."
Selphie Tilmitt, you are SO in trouble young lady! "Just… Just put it there on the pile."
Damn it. This was going to end in war, he just knew it. Or at least, the Sorceress of Bone ENDING a war.
Either way, it was going to be a mess, a headache, and (somehow) HIS problem. Damn it.
This was the… What, the fifteenth? No, sixteenth. The Sixteenth time he had to do this speech.
At least some of the other teams just accepted the 'orders' to move to a secure new facility protected financially, politically, and guarded by actual SeeD mercenaries under Rinoa's banner. One with the cheapest rent in the city, lots of benefits if you were a long time Timber resident, and plenty of 'cover' work to keep their resistance cells flush with taxable Gil.
And by accepting, Watts had to admit, he really meant that those people had been too confused and stunned to freak out before he could finish their paperwork and shove them off to move in and all that.
It was MUCH more preferred than the groups that managed to ask questions.
The mother just stared at the page. "I… I have five kids, I can't afford this much per person."
FIVE kids? "Sorry, I thought you only had four, did you adopt another one?"
She nodded. "Little Linda, from the late Sarong family that didn't survive their hunt."
Oh. "Well, that changes things." He swapped out the papers. "Here."
There was a cost reduction for rent per dependent, as well as an increase to the size of the apartment allocated. His boss was basically throwing Gil away, but he couldn't really argue with her after helping all these people. And her new girlfriend just magic-ed it all up from nothing anyway, so whatever.
Her new girlfriend, the Bone Sorceress. The Ḥ̫̙̗u̱̙̥̜n̹̖̭g͍͖̙̳͚̭̲r͉̮y̖ ̲͕̬̞̮̳̣O̥͈̫̭͚͕n͈̻e͕̭̫̩̺.
No, repress it. Repress. And… Gone!
That's better.
Hope flashed over her face… And then faltered after seeing the numbers. "Even with this cost reduction, it's too much."
Watts blinked. What? That… That seems VERY unlikely. "One moment."
He stood and staggered over to his coffee machine, getting a cup.
A few sips later (No one dared ask where all this GOOD stuff was coming from, most just assumed 'magic lady' again), and he felt more awake.
Good.
Sitting down at the table, he focused on the concerned woman. "Sorry, I've been doing this for hours now. I'm not entirely operating on full throttle. Can you explain why you can't afford these rates?"
She clenched her fists. "I… I don't have the best income. Unless there is a different rate for each child, and this is only the cost per adult…" Her jaw clenched.
What? "One second."
Another sip of coffee.
Mmm. That… That was much better.
Now, what the HECK was she talking about?
His mind, slightly more refreshed, flickered back a bit over the conversation.
Right. "I think I see the problem here."
He pointed at the number. "This is your rent."
He got a confused nod.
Watts tapped the number again. "This is your TOTAL rent."
He pushed the detailed papers forward. "That not only rents the entire apartment for you and your children, but it also pays for your electric, water, and sewage bills on top of it. Not to mention it includes your monthly fees to 'Lunar Magic' itself, which pays for medical coverage, schooling for the children, access to most Timber Owlery facilities, and so on and so forth."
Restricted by age, of course. No kids were allowed in the combat arenas or training grounds, and civilians (While technically 'Lunar Magic' employees on paperwork) were kept out of headquarters related areas unless 'promoted' to full resistance fighters.
Basically, it covered all the people moving in so that any legal issues or conflict between Galbadia, Timber, and Lunar Magic can be handled by the Boss's new army of lawyers with the political backing of Balamb Garden.
And a god damned Sorceress.
No, repress.
Another sip of the good stuff. Lovely blend, no idea how Boss got coffee this good and he was NOT risking being unable to get more (Or remembering something terrifying) by asking questions.
Anyway, back on topic. "You will still have to pay taxes every year, of course, but most of that is handled automatically as part of your employment contract."
Sure, all these employees basically got paid nothing but enough to cover Timber taxes by default (After all, they were only technically employed in the end), but if they didn't wish to get 'promoted' higher up the chain they could always do various low level 'missions' (Basically easy local chores and stuff) for extra pocket money and funds.
Or set up a stall to sell goods at the new market which was thriving down here in the Owlery, or just supply those goods to the Owlery Store if they didn't have time to sell it personally and didn't mind paying a bit of a fee. Or take one of the 'cover' jobs needed to prove the place was 'just' a corporation.
It would allow the Timber Owls to ensure a stable financial setup for their people, as any surges or tax hikes or future fines could be handled by 'Lunar Magic' directly instead of crushing the people as intended. A social safety net, as it were.
The woman seemed… More confused than grateful. "What?"
Yeah, that was the standard reaction. "You know Boss Heartilly?"
A nod.
Mmm, this was good coffee. "Since liberating Timber is a very long term project, she decided to cheat a bit. She's basically converting the entire town into a business, because while politically and militarily Timber is under an occupying force… Corporations play under different rules."
You need to gain an ungodly amount of money for initial investment, and the power to PROTECT that money long enough to pull this off, but drafting the terrifying Lunar Kingdom Sorceress of Bones into your harem tends to do that as a side note.
No, repress that Watts. Just enjoy your damned coffee.
The woman just… "What?"
Damn it. Maybe move things along? "Let me show you the educational buildings we have already commissioned from the building community." Because FUCK letting Timber kids be taught by Galbadian approved teachers.
Funnily enough, it even counted as a tax write off. After all, corporations training future employees encouraged the economy! Future employees… Heh.
Plus the guys and gals LOVED being able to build stuff again using traditional Timber techniques and styles. Really warmed up the blood to see the old ways coming back, to see the older generation teaching new workers family techniques and the legends and tales that traveled with them.
No oversight, no repression, no more paperwork mountains and red tape barriers, this wasn't Timber! No, this was just a Timber shaped business! Nothing to see here, good people!
And being able to build like this was a gift, in the end. After all, it was not like the hot women Boss was boning couldn't have simply used magic to whip up everything needed in moments.
(Repress.)
But even HE appreciated letting Timber build their own homes and lives again, and Rinoa certainly understood how important this was culturally as well as financially.
Timber was building again. Making this a new core, a new home!
Even if those homes were deep underground in a magical root protected forest covered by impossibly clear magic unbreakable 'glass' with otherworldly silver bone trees protecting the sky with blue flames of raw power.
Well, it was the thought that counts.
If their people hadn't watched that
Mmm. Considering this coffee, Watts wasn't sure he could disagree with the sentiment.
No, focus!
Worship the brew later, keep the 'employment' line moving now.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The idiot wouldn't shut up. "But sir!"
Nope. "Not our jurisdiction. Not our issue. Not our responsibility."
He refused to look outside at the impossible thing and the terrifying power and ability it represented. All of that? That was WAY not his problem.
Probably a problem too big for Galbadia itself, but again: Not his problem. And standard procedures only required that he accurately handle the related data up the chain and wait for decisions.
So nope! "We reported it, our job is done, now get out of my office and let me get back to work."
That hidden bottle wouldn't drink itself, after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sarah wasn't in trouble.
Mostly.
But uh. She WAS being very helpful right now. No reason to risk cuddle time over other 'unexpected alterations' to existing plans, right?
Though the 'punishment' had been pretty fun… Heh heh.
Wait, no, she was like remorseful and stuff.
But the point was, she wasn't allowed to modify Timber's railroad system to include a station down here. Which was fine. And she couldn't set up a teleportation network with a Hub in Balamb Garden just yet either, because that would be a pretty big deal apparently.
And she had to move the customized [[Draw]] points into the big tree headquarters, hide the bone balls under the floor in a designated para-magic harvest room, and when Rinoa found out that she had been planning on having ALL the spells available…
Well, there was now a public [[Draw]] point area with basic useful stuff like several [[Cure]] and [[Esuna]] nodes, a more restricted area with [[Regen]], [[Life]], [[Haste]], [[Protect]] and [[Shell]]... And um.
Well, there was a set of back rooms that had all the REST of the spells that Sarah wasn't allowed to talk about and only top staff of the Forest Owls could even be informed of, if ever.
And the exasperated look when Sarah offered to set up an [[Ultima]] node was… Um. Yeah.
At least she was allowed to add her custom stuff, like [[Odorless]] and [[Numb]], to the public access point. Though 'Research' was still having problems working out how to get [[Lost]] to properly mess with a target's sense of direction without destroying their brain and stuff, so uh. That one was fully restricted.
And that was fair.
Besides, [[Lost]] was a work in progress and [[Ultima]] felt disappointing.
Sure, [[Ultima]] was hefty, unit wise, and it was able to enhance Junctioned stats very well, with only [[Triple]] being better in a couple of areas like with speed or hit percentage boosting… And the spell certainly did a lot of damage too, technically...
But it only HAD those abilities because it was somewhat similar to True Magic. And it was unstable as all hell, making it annoying to carry around and frustrating to attempt to [[Draw]] the stuff… On record, it was the MOST difficult spell for the Junction system to handle.
Sarah offered to make a [[Draw]] point for the stuff out of an innate desire to 'collect them all' more than any desire to use the stuff.
After all, HER Junction system used True Magic for ALL her stat junctions, and unlike [[Ultima]] this stuff not only was the best fuel to use but was much more stable. Para-magic was a knock off after all, compared to the good stuff!
Everyone would want to use it!
And without having random chance and nature and random people with equipment messing with the power generating para-magic spells, without needing help to get the structure set up and conceptually reinforced, True Magic was safer to use too!
Sort of safer.
Relatively safer.
Alright, fine! Anyone who wasn't Sarah and anyone without her gifts would probably pop.
Especially since HER Junction system tracked units of 'True Magic' but didn't bother capping any one stat to a random amount like 100.
So… Uh... Her strength currently had 8222 units of True Magic hooked up.
And that number moved up and down as her body adjusted to the strain, as her mind units detected more optimal layouts and empowerment calculations, as other stats were passing data for 'Research' to work with.
It would have been even more enhanced if she wasn't worried about losing control and accidentally squishing somebody, but slow and steady improvements would win the race!
Besides, Strength wasn't even the stat with her highest number of units Junctioned to it right now, strangely enough.
Something about her past magical prowess and the way she included uncertainty patterns in HER customized system hardware let her hook up a LOT of units to her Magic stat, which was fascinating to keep an eye on.
ANYWAY!
The 'pick some spells' room was mostly blocked off and therefore it was fine.
So she wasn't in trouble.
Just… Being encouraged to not build so much. And not as quickly. And to stop trying to get people to visit her moon kingdom 'subtly' just because it is 'super cool'.
Seriously, the walls can open up with skeleton butlers in them! How neat was that? Super neat, that's what!
So while Rinoa wrangled the mess of people moving all kinds of stuff into new housing and her people set up shop stalls and stuff, Sarah was mostly modifying the existing setup as it all progressed.
The 'food court' area had several market stalls that needed cooking units and refrigeration and water and stuff, the 'produce section' was hiring a lot of people from Timber to stock the shelves and help sell stuff… Mostly because Rinoa shot down skeletal golems as Shopkeepers but still!
Lots of little fixes here and there!
And it was totally not boring at all. Though she might have gotten a LITTLE bit in trouble when she dug out a massive side chamber underground, reinforced it, added artificial lighting and weather, and used True Magic to raise a forest for people to go logging within.
These trees were local species! Mostly. It was more convenient! Eventually.
Sure, one or two trees went a bit odd with raw True Magic building up here and there, and seeing a small grove of saplings empowered with [[Thundara]] was shocking, but that just uh… Added value! And rarity!
Sigh.
At least Angelo had been happy to hang out with her while her owner ran around organizing stuff. Sarah was basically stuck here, answering questions, handing out maps and keys, helping people move by teleporting their stuff to their rooms, and other basic stuff.
Who's a good girl? YOU'RE a good girl! Yes you is, yes you is!
Absently Sarah sent the Warehouse (And Adam, and 'Research') a note: The bones in her Space wings didn't interact right with reality and dogs were unable to fetch them.
Poor girl was REALLY confused when she tried to 'catch' the thrown wing part and somehow ended up teleported thirty feet to the left. Didn't hurt the dog, and she seemed to enjoy trying several more times, but yeah.
Catch shouldn't be this hard for EITHER player involved.
A strained voice spoke nearby. "Eh… Excuse me?"
Hmm? "Yes?"
The man could barely see anything over his box. "I was told you know where I need to go? We're the Gordon family."
Um. He was the only guy here. "When you say 'we'..."
The big box slumped. "The girls ran off again, didn't they?"
Clearly. "One second. [[Scan]]." Let's see who you are.
Gordon family, building C, floor 33, room 122. "Got it, one second!"
Her wings flickered as his box vanished through S̖̜̩̱ͅp̤̬̙̤̯a̪c̥͖̦ͅe.
Step one, done.
Ignoring his confusion, she focused. "[[Phase Pierce]]... There they are. Better double check though. [[Scan]]. Yep!"
A pulse of her tattoos had a glowing blue portal form, a ring of light with some curious kids looking from the other side.
Two younger girls blinked. "Dad?"
Well, there we go! "Good, we found them!"
Sarah handed the frozen man a map, some keys, and a pat on the back as she gently shoved him through the hole in reality. "Ask one of the Forest Owl Delivery Birds and they'll be happy to move the rest of your stuff, that box is in your room now. The map will get you there and the keys are in your hand."
The 'Delivery Birds' was Rinoa's version of a local Postal Service for this underground Owlery. Selphie was having fun trying to make up cool names for ALL local services normally found in cities, like firefighters and police enforcement and all that.
Basically, they were a group of locals that were being paid to act as a movement company, package delivery service, mail handling organization, and escort group. Or to be more accurate: A way for Rinoa to shove more money into Timber's economy.
After all, most people in Timber were more than happy to help each other move for free. Having her hire a bunch of people and give them salaries was just another trick to make them accept some damn charity in a sneaky way.
The kids were poking the reality tunnel, the dad was… Mostly fine, if mentally rebooting, and their stuff was delivered! Job well done! "Alright, you guys be safe now!"
Portal closed, and job done!
Woo!
Sarah blinked.
Oh, right. She was stuck here to help people (AKA, grounded), and doing her job fast and efficiently just meant that she ran out of stuff to do faster.
Sigh. Woo.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
They all turned to her. "That wasn't needed you know."
Fuck that! "It was a good precaution."
She sighed. "We stopped that whole situation already. Galbadia won't launch missiles at ANY of the Gardens now, nor Timber."
Meh. "They SHOULDN'T, and they DIDN'T, and they WON'T… But better safe than sorry. Besides, more nations than just Galbadia have missiles, and even private organizations can launch mortars and stuff. I don't want an asshole with a GF taking a pot shot."
A grumpy growl. "It made Rinoa mad at us." "Well, not mad…" "Shh, we are trying to be mature." "YOU are trying to be mature." "Focus." "It certainly caused issues."
Fuck all of that! "Look, it was just a nudge! And the new designs are much safer. Far less risk of a moron or dozen trying something if there is a higher difficulty curve to overcome if they try and damage shit!"
General nods and grumbles, which was good enough.
One of the older ones sighed. "How's Adam doing?"
Sigh. "He's trying." "Been working his skeletal ass off!" "Does he even HAVE an ass?" "He's stressed out, if I remember right." "It won't be for much longer."
Right. The new defenses were nearly established, if everything didn't warp and cause them or him or whatever to split or combine again. Then all of them could be less cautious.
One sneers. "And stop picking on her! I caught YOU sending a pork roast recipe earlier! Hypocrite."
And that got some good natured rants from the rest. "T-Rex Steaks were better." "I still say chilled soup is the high society shit." "Not for every course." "The Skele-Butlers always made the best potato dishes, even without using actual magic." "Hey! You liked my corned beef hash!" "Well, of course we did, but did you try the Skele-Butler's roasted potato and veggie medley?" "Oh, don't bring THOSE up." "Yeah, that's just cheating."
Um. Hang on, didn't she send over stuff about her favorite pies? "Did ALL of us push our dishes to her earlier!?"
A pause. "No!" "Of course not!" "I mean, maybe one?" "Oh yeah, I sent her like a dozen. No regrets." "YOU BITCH! I felt terrible sending my casserole!" "You SHOULD feel terrible about…" "Oh that's it. Come here you ASS!" "Eep!"
Shit. "Did… Did everyone remember to spread out the information we pushed over time?"
Another, slightly more hesitant pause. "Uh…" "Probably?" "I sent it to our first picnic!" "Wait, which first picnic?" "Yeah, we've had a few." "You know, when the harem had just met?" "There were SEVERAL harems, and Rinoa is a thirsty woman." "The one where we picked up bondage girl." "Oh, where we shared sandwiches in the meditation garden?" "Probably not, I sent my deviled egg recipe to that one." "But… But I sent my pasta dishes over then!"
Double shit. "Someone make sure we didn't accidentally start a culinary revolution down there, we should be in Timber right now still. Or then. Or eventually. So it should be safe to do a long distance recon of Balamb Garden for a few minutes back then in the future."
And they were moving. "We did go to Balamb Garden, right?" "This isn't the loop where we went to Galbadia, or it eventually won't be." "I thought we took that ocean route to Trabia?" "Nah, that was WAY back when we visited Selphie's older friends." "I think we merged those two timelines together and then it never happened." "Only half way, Selphie is still from Trabia Garden for now." "Did we get Quistis out of that bondage fanclub?" "Well, you can take the girl out of the club but…" "She has a more basic fan club this time." "None of that sacrificial shit this time?" "We nipped that, yeah."
Damn it, this was WORSE than trying to herd cats with long distant onion puppets.
At least ONE of her was able to enjoy this Jump. Even if she was sort of grounded right now.
One in the future screamed in frustration. "That fucker in Esthar just tried to make an [[Ultima]] reactor again!" "Didn't we submit papers proving that was fucking retarded!?" "There is enough evidence, and we got his bosses to crack down on him." "Make them crack HARDER, we don't need another temporal cascade situation." "Yeah, stings like a mother fucker." "Can't we just kill him?" "Nah, he makes awesome shit if he would stop trying to detonate the planet." "He's just so damn frustrating!"
Sigh. Lucky Sarah, with full access to Adam (Busy or not) AND following a linear timeline. Mostly.
Back to work. "Who has my report I file about today?" Might as well skip some steps by seeing which steps she skipped. Though sometimes she gets lazy and makes her past selves write the future reports that she needs to read now.
Oh well. That (technically) wasn't HER problem!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Headmaster Cid just… Didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry?"
The team leader sighed. "It's all in the report Sir. My team has already been sent over to medical for a checkup, and I will be joining them after."
His mind still blanking, he gave a nod. "Very well. Take care, I'll look over the details and get a formal review to the team by the end of the week."
A nod and he left, leaving Cid to just stare at the new report.
After setting up a partnership with the young Ms. Heartilly, he had certain mental assumptions.
Better funded resistance cells, clandestine actions, political networking and collaboration attempts, so on and so on. Maybe helping out the downtrodden in Timber, or funding larger missions, or just upgrading hardware and equipment. Or splurging on her new growing harem.
After all… Somewhere, between all the shiny and very cheap bobbles that he and his wife had eagerly bought, among the contracts and deals they had signed, Rinoa Heartilly had managed to gain quite a substantial amount of resources.
More than he had fully been paying attention to, in the end.
The deals were good, at least to Balamb Gardens (ALL the Gardens, really), the designs were beyond professional quality, the hardware was ingenious, the finished products valuable and useful and already generating profit across the board…
And of course, his children (adopted or otherwise) had become a small army of foodies due to recent events. His wife had eagerly agreed to have some White SeeD teams change careers to become culinarily focused battle chefs, hunting Monsters for flavor rather than what spells they could [[Draw]] or what experience they could gain.
It was a food movement that was gaining momentum. And fanatics.
Even now, his love Edea was over in the Training Center ensuring the new breeding stock of monsters were able to properly raise healthy (And delicious) young ones… And establishing ongoing missions for students to butcher a certain percentage of the new herds for Cafeteria testing and research.
Thinking of that section of the Garden, he couldn't help but snort.
Most people assumed the 'Training Center' was to help the kids get some experience, to better adjust to the Junction system, to [[Draw]] needed magic and so on and so forth.
Very few knew that he had built the place for Edea when she thought she could train monsters to be trustworthy pets and battle companions for her kids. She STILL insisted the T-Rex's would eventually let less powerful people ride the damned things.
Ah well, at least when her attempts failed the creatures were useful battle fodder. And now, actual fodder… Oh ho!
Cid let his chuckles fall away as he stared at the report.
No, Rinoa Heartilly got a (not so small) fortune and basically bought a third of Timber.
Subtle.
Then she vanished the whole area, built a magical paradise, and in the process exposed her ownership of an infatuated Sorceress from the depths of society's nightmares.
Super subtle.
Now a burning silver tree built from bones was towering over the entire damned city, visible from literally miles away. Eldritch blue flames apparently warmed or chilled people who looked at it, depending on how they felt about Timber in general, and the local monster population had been very clearly and very QUIETLY sneaking away from the place.
Team Bravo swore that a small flock of Cockatrice had bumped into them during ongoing observations, and that the beasts had almost seemed to APOLOGIZE for getting in the way as they quietly fled from the strange city.
Subtlety. This girl was like a true ninja, unseen, unheard, unfelt: A shadow in the night. Everyone should give them a slow, unsarcastic applause. Wow.
Teenagers.
Sigh.
An assistant entered with paperwork. "Sir? We have a message from a Fury Caraway about wishing to join some sort of auction. Apparently the local military decided to redirect the related communications to Balamb Garden as an official sponsor."
She seemed confused, not noticing Cid slumping onto his desk. "I was unsure about the topic, but apparently we officially posted about the 'Super Secret Elite Timber Auction' on our servers, a full series of articles written by the leader of our Garden Festival Committee? And this Caraway guy seems VERY insistent on acquiring an invitation."
Selphie Tilmitt, you are SO in trouble young lady! "Just… Just put it there on the pile."
Damn it. This was going to end in war, he just knew it. Or at least, the Sorceress of Bone ENDING a war.
Either way, it was going to be a mess, a headache, and (somehow) HIS problem. Damn it.
Last edited:
Oh god this is great. Sublety is just not something Sarah can do xD
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
Rinoa is a good ninja girl. Timber Owl Ninja Numba One! *string instrument melody*
All the Sarah's seem to have fun, Let's see how many loops it will take for one to notice that she is the Last Sarah!
All the Sarah's seem to have fun, Let's see how many loops it will take for one to notice that she is the Last Sarah!
- Location
- Earth U.S.
Is this [[Regen]]?
- Status