A Brand New Day! (everyone)

[admin]

Tifa looked over to the shed next to his and Cid's humbe abode. Didn't seem that far... at least a hundred feet away; give or take. But even if one had the upper body strength to push a vehicle this size was going to prove a little difficult. Tifa rolled down the window from the driver's seat that Arddyn was kind enough to open for her --what he didn't know about her was that she wasn't that lady-like. Eight years worth of martial arts made her physically strong, and the brunette wasn't one to literally sit and do nothing.

Closing the door, Tifa put one hand through the open window and gripped the steering wheel, whilst the other hand gripped the exterior of the truck. She was offering to help Arddyn push the truck all the way to the workshop while steering it, as the man suggested, to its destination. [glow=blue,2,300]"Whenever you're ready."[/glow]

[yasuo]

Arddyn grinned as Tifa closed the door to the old gray pick-up truck and then poked her head out through the window. The young man grabbed a pair of black leather, fingerless gloves that were tucked into his belt around his back, and shoved his hands into them, wiggling his fingers to ensure a snug fit.

"Alright, lets go!!"
And as he said go, he pushed his hands on the back of the truck and gave a mighty shove, his feet digging into the ground slightly as the sheer weight of the truck forced him to stand his ground. However, after a few scrapings of his feet across the ground, he gritted his teeth and let out a muffled roar as he finally felt the truck begin to trundle forwards, every so slowly. At this speed, it would take him all day and all his strength to move it hardly anyway.

He felt his feet slip a couple more times, so he then decided to rest for a second, resting his arm on the back of the truck and taking a couple of deep breaths. He looked behind him and noticed that he only pushed the truck about 2 feet. He grinned to himself, feeling slightly embarrassed.

[admin]

Tifa kept a steady hand on the steering wheel whilst keeping an eye on the road ahead, looking back every now and then to see how Arddyn fared. Progress was slow as expected. Unconsciously, a smile appeared on her lips as she watched him trudge through the dusty road pushing the pick-up from the rear. She couldn't help but laugh a bit, hoping he hadn't heard.

Unable to watch the slightly embarrasing situation, Tifa rummaged through the rather large glove compartment. 'Found it!' she remarked as she took out a steering wheel lock. Making sure the truck was headed towards the workshop, Tifa assembled the lock. With a satisfying click of the lock, Tifa left her position and headed to the back of the vehicle right beside Arddyn. [glow=blue,2,300]"Mind if I cut in?"[/glow]
Reaching into her back pockets, Tifa took out and put on her black-leather fighting gloves. Pulling down on the sleeves to ensure a tight and snug fit, Tifa readied herself to assist Arddyn.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Let's go on three, okay? One... two... three!"[/glow] Without waiting for a response, Tifa planted her feet on the ground and began to push the accursed vehicle with all her might.

[yasuo]

Arddyn watched Tifa rummage through the glove compartment from the back of the truck and noticed her take out the steering wheel lock. He continued to just stand there, resting on the back of the truck as she climbed out the drivers seat, walked around next to him and put on her fighting gloves. His eyes watched her carefully as he readied herself and began to push on the truck, which started to move much sooner then Arddyn's attempts. The young man just stood there, mouth open, until the truck had moved enough so his arm slipped of the back, causing him to fall and stop day dreaming.

"Yikes!"
He yelped as he caught himself from hitting the floor and shook his head quickly, gathering himself and assisiting Tifa at the back of the pick-up. With both of them pushing, it didn't take long at all for them to both complete the 100 yard distance into the workshop. Thankfully the doors were already open so they were able to easily get it inside. As soon as the pick-up came to a stop at the center of Arddyn's workshop, the mechanic stood up straight and turned to face the strong woman beside him.

"I'm impressed... I didn't think you'd be so strong! I take it you work out then? Martial Arts right?"
He said, hinting towards the gloves she wore. Before anything else was able to happen, the rear doors to the workshop burst open and a large, yellow feathered bird came charging into the workshop. Arddyn just had enough time to look over his shoulder before being tackled by the huge, happily squawking bird. The impact made both Arddyn and the large canary crash into a table covered in tools such as spanners and wrenches.

As the clatter of metallic objects quieted down and the cloud of dust had disappeared, Arddyn was left lying in a pile of broken wood and tools with a massive chocobo nuzzling his head and face.
"B-boko! Stop that! It tickles!!!"
Arddyn cried through laughter as the chocobo seemed pleased to see it's master again.

[admin]

[glow=blue,2,300]"Well... at least... the hardest part... is over... I hope..."[/glow]Tifa panted as she propped her elbows up in a way so that she could lean back against the pick-up. She took a moment to breathe; after that strainuous work of pushing the truck alongside Arddyn, it had left her nearly, if not completely, breathless. She wiped the small beads of sweat accumulating on her forehead as it slid down the side of her face -- she was so tired, she hadn't heard what it was Arddyn had said!

Before she knew it, an overgrown mass of yellow feathers bursted into the shed and charged towards Arddyn. She cringed in pain having realized a large chocobo tackled the man into a table -- occupied by tools.

[glow=blue,2,300]"You okay?"[/glow] Tifa found herself unable to stop laughing once again as the chocobo greeted Arddyn with endless nuzzles. She removed her right glove to stroke the chocobo with her bare hand. She looked upon the creature with awe and wonder -- its yellow feathers were fine; its talons sharp. It seemed like a fine breed. But like all chocobos, it was oh so irresistably cute!

[yasuo]

Arddyn pushed at the chocobo's chest so he could scramble back to his feet. He coughed slightly from the dust that their crash had made and then he began to dust off his clothes again. The young man looked up and smiled at the chocobo, which was staring at him in the face. Arddyn lifted up a hand and stroked the birds beak before looking over at Tifa with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Yeah i'm fine, Boko here always does that when I enter the workshop. I have a fenced off area out the back where his stable is."
The mechanic said as he turned back to the large canary. Boko chirped and then turned his head to look at Tifa when she stroked his feathers. He flexed his wings for a moment before turning fully to face her. The chocobo squawked at her briefly before starting to nuzzle her like he did to Arddyn.

"Hahah! I think he likes you!"
Arddyn said with a smile as he moved away from the wrecked table, and back next to Tifa. He patted at the birds neck, stroking its feathers.
"I brought him from the Chocobo Farm about 2 years ago. He is my pride and joy. I love him to pieces..."
He said with a large smile as the bird looked back at him and chirped quietly, happily.

[admin]

The sight of Arddyn doting the magnificent creature was still a bit odd to Tifa. Not that it was his fault though. It was his uncanny resemblence to Cid -- because he looked so much like his older brother with minor differences, it was as though she was looking right at Cid, watching him pet the large bird and saying how much he loves it. It was odd. But it was also quite a sight to see.

[glow=blue,2,300]"I like you too, Boko"[/glow] Tifa replied, scratching the chocobo gently behind its ears. Its strong vibrant color reminded her of thoughts she had tried to surpress ever since she had arrived. The chocobo-blonde haired man, Cloud. A slight frown came to Tifa's lips. She couldn't help it -- she just felt sad all of a sudden.

[yasuo]

The chocobo squawked happily as Tifa began to scratch it behind its ear. The creature tilted its head slightly and took a small side step towards her. Arddyn laughed and watched for a second before whispering something into the birds ear. Boko instantly perked up and turned to face Arddyn. The bird nodded and ran back out the doors from whence it came. The back doors of the workshop closed behind the bird as it ran past, leaving Arddyn and Tifa alone with the pick-up truck.

"I don't know what I'd do without that bird... He has been my best friend ever since it could run..."
He said half to himself, half to Tifa with a lot of sentimentality in his voice. He stared at the floor for a second before looking up at the pick-up. He walked up to it and then headed around to the hood, lifting it up and peering inside again.

"I still cannot believe how lucky you are... owning a classic vehicle like this."
Arddyn said as he leaned on the front bumper to look further towards the back of the engine. He reached inside with his hands and began to tug at a large wire that was sticking up. With a snap, it broke and he pulled out a very rusty looking piece of scrap metal, which he tossed over his shoulder. The metal lump clanked and bounced across the floor a couple of times before grinding to a halt. A few other pieces of metal and wire soon joined it with different sounding clinks and clanks as they all bounced across the floor of Arddyn's Workshop.

"Oh i'm sorry..."
He said suddenly, bringing his head back out from inside the hood of the truck and looking around for Tifa.
"You're welcome to go into my house and grab something to eat, or you can go play with Boko... I'll have this fixed in a couple of hours at most."
He said with a confident tone in his voice. He already had a couple of oil splashes on his face and his hands were covered in oil stains and rust from the worn out engine.

[admin]

It was unexplainable. This saddness that suddenly overcame her. Just the mere thought of Cloud made her go silent and pale instead of her usual perky, optimistic self. Her thoughts began to drift away with her as Arddyn spoke: "I don't know what I'd do without that bird... He has been my best friend ever since it could run..."

'Yea. Cloud's somewhat means the same thing to me...' Tifa wanted to vocalize the bitterness of her thoughts but her efforts failed her. Should she call? Would he answer? Cloud was always away, and Tifa was certain that was among the reasons she wanted to get away too. Tifa unpocketed her PHS and dialed Cloud's number. She awaited a response but was only greeted by a repetitive beeping, and a voicemail. It seemed like Cloud didn't want to talk today either.

Sighing in defeat, she pocketed her PHS once more and began to roam around the workshop while Arddyn carried on with his work. She didn't mind the clanking noises made by Arddyn as she silently browsed the area like a wondering cat. It was like the times when Avalanche would plot some scheme to take down a mako reactor while Tifa tended to the bar in Seventh Heaven in Midgar -- everything she heard was somewhat disturbing, but she had grown accustomed to it. Tifa noticed framed against the wall were some photographs; memories of which she assumed to be dear to the man immortalized in paper. She took a closer look and began examining them... one of the pictures portrayed the two brothers, Cid and Arddyn. Both looked slightly younger in their years and their resemblences were still quite facinating. Another image was of Arddyn, a little older than the first picture but slightly younger than what he was now. The background was also vaugely familiar too...

[glow=blue,2,300]"So will you tell me now?"[/glow] she inquired all of a sudden, having realized why the background was so familiar. It was Midgar. Tifa recalled him saying he used to live in Midgar for a short period of time. [glow=blue,2,300]"What were you doing im Midgar?"[/glow]

[yasuo]

Arddyn glanced up from the inside of the pick-up's hood to look towards Tifa, who seemed to be wondering around the workshop, examining the tools and whatnot. He burried his head back within the vehicle and began to rip out a few more pieces, tossing them over his shoulder, which clanked against the floor and joined the ever growing pile of rusty, worn out engine parts. Spark plugs, the battery, the pistons, the radiator fan, you name it, it was coming out.

Upon hearing something that sounded like faint beeping, the mechanic looked up from the hood again and cast a glance at Tifa, noticing she had pulled out her PHS and seemed to be waiting for someone to pick up. He paused for a second and waited, watching her as nothing seemed to happen until she hung up and pocketed the PHS. Arddyn then pushed himself up from the hood and walked to a nearby table on the opposite side of the room, grabbing a couple of spanners and then returning to the pick-up. He once again burried his hands inside the engine and began to work on some screws and bolts, that creaked gently in the air as he began to undo them with the spanner.

"When Shin-Ra came to Rocket Town all those years ago... The people here revolted, not wanting their presence within the town..."
The young Cid look-a-like began to say as he continued to work on the truck, undoing more nuts and bolts from deep inside the engine.
"A lot of people got killed because of this... including our parents. Cid wasn't here when it happened though..."
He continued, getting up from the inside of the truck and then turning to face Tifa for a second, as he kept telling his story.

"In rage, I became saddened and furious at Shin-Ra and attacked an officer. I'm surprised, looking back, that I wasn't killed on the spot. Instead, I was arrested and taken to Midgar as a prisoner, working for Shin-Ra building guard robots, tanks and other weapons of death and destruction..."
Arddyn turned back to the truck and undone a couple more screws before pushing himself back up and grabbing a nearby light that dangled down from the ceiling from a thick wire. He turned the light on and moved it so it shone over the engine, lighting up some hard to see places.

"I was told that I'd be killed or sent to someone called, Professor Gojo... or was it Hono... Either way, I would have been sent so I could be experimented on like some test subject... So I complied with the orders and did what I was told. I was even responsible for the main design and creation of the Sister Ray that attacked and destroyed the barrier around the Northern Crater."
The dirty blonde haired man continued to say as he worked on the engine some more. He grabbed a few chains that were hanging from a pulley that was attached to the ceiling, like the light and fastened them around the engine. With a rattling sound, Arddyn began to pull on one of the chains that slowly started to lift the engine out of the front of the pick-up and into the air, making it a lot easier for him to work on. As the rattling of chains came to an end, so his story continued.

"I managed to escape from Shin-Ra when Diamond Weapon attacked the HQ. That monster caused such a ruckus that all the guards and SOLDIERS were preoccupied that I were able to slip out the back and make a run for it. I escaped when I was 21... and to this day i've been haunted and hunted by Shin-Ra... I believe they want to take me back... But I refuse. I don't want anything else to do with them! They even destroyed our rocket to blow up Meteor... but look what good that did...!!"
His tone steadily became more and more angry as memories of his past came back to haunt him. His grip on the spanner tightened till his knuckles turned white. Arddyn gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths before quickly grabbing a cigarette from his coat pocket and sticking it in his mouth, lighting the end with a match from the box he kept in his pants. Pausing for a second to enjoy the cigarette, he turned around and grabbed several small parts from a table behind him, near the door that Boko charged in through and returned to the engine, starting to fix them on all over it.

"I've fought off every single attempt that Shin-Ra made to take me back to the HQ. I heard rumours of some kind of group... like a clan, which was created solely to tackle the Shin-Ra menace. What was it called again...? Landslide.... Earthquake... Volcano? I can't remember..."
Within a matter of seconds after finishing speaking, Arddyn started t lower the engine back inside the hood of the pick-up truck and began to fix it back in place with new bolts and screws, securing it in place. He then removed the chains and turned back to face Tifa, taking a couple more puffs on the cigarette.

"My brother mentioned something about this group of people who fight against Shin-Ra. Cid says the leader of this group is a massive guy, with a gun mounted on his arm. You know anything about it?"
He asked Tifa, wondering if his story had bored her half to death or whether she was actually fascinated by it.


((ooc: wow xD))

[admin]

Tifa kept her gaze fixed on the photographs while listening intently to Arddyn's side of the story. It was ironic to think that he was the one responsible for the Sister Ray being stationed in Midgar -- she witnessed the power and destruction the massive weapon was capable of the day the it was fired when she was onboard Cid's airship, the Highwind, two years ago. Was it really that long ago? Those days seemed a lifetime away.

The anger and rage he had for the mako-sucking corperation was present, and although Tifa didn't look back at him, she heard it in his tone of voice -- his words just dripping with hate. It was understandable, after all that he had been through. Although from Tifa's perspective, the ShinRa should be hated for whatever reason. The mention of Hojo sent a chill down her spine. She too witnessed his insanity

[glow=blue,2,300]"It's Avalache,"[/glow] she corrected smiling weakly as she turned to look at Arddyn, watching as he lowered the engine back into the hood. [glow=blue,2,300]"We're an anti-ShinRa organization dedicated entirely to oppose the ShinRa Incorperated and their wrong-doings."[/glow] she explained. The flooding memories came back to haunt her; secret missions. Sneaking into reactors. Planting crude yet effective explosives to sabotae the mako-draining facilities. Back then, they didn't care who got hurt or who got killed. It was for the greater good; for the protection of the Planet. She was deep in thought that she was subconsiously unaware of using the term 'we' often in a sentence.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Some people say we're terrorists... but I prefer to think we were more of a 'resistance group'. And Barret isn't all that bad once you get to know him."[/glow] she added, smiling weakly.

[yasuo]

Cid looked up from the engine and turned his head to face Tifa. He rested his hands and arms on the engine for a moment and listened to what she was saying about Avalanche and Barret. Curiosity appeared on his face after hearing her say the word, 'we' a lot a times when mentioning Avalanche. Because of this, he pushed himself up from the pick-up truck and turned to face her fully, grabbing a cloth from a table nearby and starting to clean some of the oil off of his hands. He then cocked an eyebrow and looked at her seriously for a moment.

"You're in Avalanche?!"
Was all he were able to say while continuing to look at her with an interested look on his face. He dropped the now ruined and oil stained cloth onto the front bumper of the truck and turned his torso to face the engine again, yet kept his head and eyes looking at Tifa. A smile crept across his lips when he finally remember something that his brother once told him.

"I see now... You're Tifa, owner of 7th Heaven in Midgar and co-worker for Cloud's Delivery Service. I thought I recognized you from somewhere..."
He said with a smile before looking back at the engine again and securing a couple more fastenings and bolts onto the engine. He then grabbed the cloth from the bumper and began to wipe the whole engine down, removing the oil and rust.

[admin]

(Ooc- Umm... "Cid looked up from the engine and turned his head to face Tifa"? I thought you're Arddyn lol)

[glow=blue,2,300]"The one and only!"[/glow] Tifa gave a casual shrug, a little modest that someone recognized her as 'Tifa, the owner of Seventh Heaven'. It seemed a tad bit more subtle compared to her other titles for which she was known for: Tifa, member of Avalanche. Tifa, Zangan's student. Master of the martial arts. Co-worker of Strife's Delivery Service. Johnny's girlfriend (which was never true, by the way). It was still hard to think she was famous in some part of the world in one way or the other.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Your brother was in Avalanche too, y'know. We've been through a lot together. I guess that's why I'm here in Rocket Town. To search out for old team-mates, I guess."[/glow] Tifa walked over to truck and leaned over to see the engine, losing intrest in the photographs that hung on the wall. It was an ugly mass of rusty metal and oil, but she knew that if it got the truck going again, she couldn't complain.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Maybe you should join"[/glow] she teased.

[yasuo]

Cid, I mean, Arddyn, continued to clean down the engine a little more till he managed to break though a small part of the rust and oil and saw the metal that made of the engine. A grin spread across his lips as he got up from the engine and walked away from the truck, grabbing an unusual looking tool that was designed to remove rust. Lingering around the table at where the tool laid, he fiddled with it to make sure it was still in 100% working order. Upon finding it was, he grinned once more and headed back over to the pick-up, noticing that Tifa had come over to inspect the engine.

"Cid was in Avalanche? What happened to him?"
The brother asked as he leaned back over the hood of the old gray pick-up and began to scrape away at the rust that covered the engine.

((ooc: Sorry for short post, Muse ran out T_T))

[admin]

Tifa found it slightly surprising that he didn't know Cid was a part of Avalanche, but then again Arddyn did state he hadn't seen his brother for two years. Give or take. She nodded when he asked if Cid was in Avalanche, and further explained as she watched him scrape away some unpleasing-to-the-eye rust. [glow=blue,2,300]"It all started when we first met him, I guess. When the ShinRa cancelled the Space Exploration Program. He joined our rag-tag team to get back at them. One thing lead to another and before we knew it we were all part of the Jenova War."[/glow]
She turned her back and leaned against the truck, looking upward at the ceiling trying to remember. Tifa felt that she could trust him. Tell him everything that there was and what she knew. [glow=blue,2,300]"We fought together, helped each other out, took down the bad guys... after that we just went our own seperate ways, I guess. Last I saw him, he took off on his Highwind and that was that..."[/glow]
Tifa crossed her arms, feeling a little disappointed with how things have turned out. She wasn't hardly in contact with anyone anymore, and felt as if this was her own fault growing this distant to her friends. Shaking her head to cast aside her guilt, she looked back at Arddyn

[glow=blue,2,300]"What is the Sierra anyways?"[/glow] she asked, recalling Arddyn having said Cid taking something by that name.