Welcoming Cookout Mingle [OPEN]

[derplander]

Who: Warriors of Light, their Moogles, our esteemed NPC overlords welcomed
Where: Aqures Ixen, Old Observatory Grounds
When: March 10, from Noon till 9
What: Lots of Food
Warnings: Mark if it gets weird


It was a massive undertaking, but he had put out the call to everyone in the area. There were stoves set up with portable heat supplies, tables and a place for music and food. The Adventurer had literally invited everyone that he could think of. Even the trio of Wedge, Cid and Biggs were invited, to foster better relationships with them, as well as the merchants and the people of the land.

The Observatory was decorated as such and with the warmer weather out, there was still things to do, places to see and people to meet. Take this time to invest in that meeting you wanted. Maybe you saw this Hero or person from over the way but never stopped to say hello. It simply isn't possible to know everyone. Until now.

Go and talk with someone, play music or perform on the dance stage, and oh, save some food for those out hunting the ridiculous Gilgamesh Quest. They'll probably be starving.

Comments

[forcegalactic]

"Only what I heard," he shifted his arms and puffed himself up, proud of the information he got through his gossipy nature. "That they're posin' as an energy company, but they're workin' on makin' super soldiers like Sephiroth and all that other business that comes with controllin' and entire planet. They got some real mad scientists in there, if you ask me."

[bloodypast]

Hmm, now where would Barkeep have heard things? Probably Yuffie, if Vincent were to guess; she certainly had no love for the company. Not that anyone who delved too deeply did, but still.

"ShinRa Inc is more commonly known as the ShinRa Electric Power Company." His voice calm, not sure why he was bothering. Aside from that sloppy information gathering bothered him on some level. (Maybe it was left-over pride from when part of his job had been to gather information.) "They are and were actually an energy company, bringing electricity into the realm of efficient and more easily affordable. They also were the sole providers of Mako energy, produced through reactors that tapped into the planet's resources."

Pausing for another drink, and to see how this information was being taken and whether he should continue or not.

[forcegalactic]

He took the silences as an invitation to speak up.

"What kinda energy company uses the Mako they mine to make their own army? That ain't normal business, that's a takeover!" No wonder things were a mess on Gaia. "Havin' a monopoly's gonna have bad consequences for all of you in the future, trust me. I asked around, seein' that there's so many of you from the same universe."

[bloodypast]

Vincent SHOULD know better, and yet he's enjoying seeing the Barkeep riled up. The response from the other brings a dry and amused noise from the darker man. "Shin-Ra started as the Shinra Weapons manufacturing group. Energy and its production simply turned out to be more lucrative." He doesn't disagree with the other's assessment overall. "If anything, because of the wide breadth of the company's reach, it easily became a mega-corporation, and the president an autocrat."

"But it wasn't until they went into the energy business, that their reach was able to be expanded. They didn't stop with weapons, working on a private army--it's true. They also expanded into other areas, like space exploration, and the media. They built their own city which housed the headquarters and homes of its employees, known as Midgar."

Pausing for another drink, and a shrug. "To most people, Shin-Ra weren't the enemy however unless you had a resource they wanted and weren't willy to do 'business' the way they wanted. Most people's lives were made easier by the jobs brought when the company moved in, and the upgrade in lifestyles."

[forcegalactic]

The Barkeep didn't like Vincent's calm attitude towards the issue. It may be like Tifa's case, where she was so desensitized to their atrocities that she could say that Sephiroth killed her father and burned her hometown down as if it were nothing unusual. Something worse must have happened to Vincent.

"Yeah, they make jobs for the folks that don't fight against 'em, but that's the first step to totalitarianism. Actually, that's a lotta steps towards world domination. Would be one thing if they were actually helpin' everyone on the plant out of the goodwill of their heart, but it's another if they're makin' super soldiers and burnin' down villages and--whaddya mean by 'business'?"

[bloodypast]

Hmmm--now Vincent was wondering if Barkeep had talked to Yuffie, if he didn't already know about Wutai. The 'burning down villages' though might've come from Tifa. Interesting.

"Not disagreeing with you, on the totalitarianism." ShinRa had done a LOT more harm than anyone had ever expected. "Seems like you only have bits and pieces of the story though." There is an eyebrow raise, silently asking if Barkeep would like to know more, and what he knows already.

[forcegalactic]

Yuffie was difficult to get to sit and talk like a regular person, so he had no clue as to why she hated ShinRa to the extent she did. Tifa's tale of Sephiroth was more than enough to convince the Barkeep that this company was bad new.

"Yeah, only got to Tifa, and she said she's from Cloud's future, which means he doesn't know just what Sephiroth can be like. Now, I don't want to cause no trouble in the timeline, so I ain't warnin' him of future events, but it gets me worried about that Sephiroth. He's one of the super soldiers Shinra made, but apart from that and burnin' things, I don't know much of the whole story."

He pulled a stool closer to him and sat down. "But I'd like to know more."

[bloodypast]

"Tifa and I are from the same point in the time-line. Yuffie and Reno are from slightly ahead of us." Vincent supplied, that much easily given. The rest though, he pondered over another drink. A slow blink, debating whether it was worth feeding a potential gossip for the sake of accurate information. (And a bit of his own amusement.)

Some ground rules needed to be laid out however. "I don't like gossips." Meaning Barkeep better treat this respectfully.

[forcegalactic]

Threats against this mouth would not lead to any sign of flinching or fear in the Barkeep's eye. There have been many people who went up to him, mumbling not to share information about their personal lives to no avail. He was used to this kind of attempt to control him, and he regarded it with typical apathy.

This was different. "History and politics ain't gossip, Vincent. That's just news. No one's gonna care how one company took over a planet and ruined a couple folks' lives, unless it's important to savin' this world, which I assume ain't the case."

Unless Sephiroth's village-burning habits would be a concern.

[bloodypast]

That was the correct answer and route to take, as far as Vincent was looking for. A tiny nod of approval, gathering his thoughts as well as assessing who was nearby. How much might be overheard, and the darker man knew he'd be keeping as much spatial awareness of who was where as possible.

"Shinra truly did start as a weapons manufacturing company. Eventually it branched out into power-generation, discovering and processing a natural resource into Mako. Mako energy provided cheap and efficient electricity, and turned out to be a far more lucrative venture. The company had and maintained a monopoly on Mako energy, and expanded its reach eventually. There are five primary departments headed under the President and owner of the company. Weapons development and Science remain the departments with the most influence and support still, followed by the Public Safety Maintenance department, along with the Urban development and Space exploration departments."

A pause, and it was likely the most Barkeep had heard Vincent speak already.

"The Science department continued its research into Mako. Where it comes from, what else it can do, such as being refined into Materia, which allows access to abilities similar to those granted by our Jobs here. Other projects included research into the 'Ancients' of our world, as well as the existence of a promised land granted to those ancients, plentiful in Mako." Not entirely technically-correct--Vincent was glossing over a lot of details. "There was also research into the effects of Mako as a means to enhance soldiers."

More than enough for Barkeep to get an idea of what the Company was like.

"But Mako is condensed from the natural resource of the planet, the Lifestream. There were those who objected to its use, for a variety of reasons. Concern for the environment, objection to the ethical and moral standards of the company, a dislike of the growing monopoly and hold Shinra was gaining over the world. The largest and most successful dissident was Wutai, although they suffered for not being willing to do 'business' with the company. For more, you would have to ask Yuffie." Because at least some of this, Vincent had only found out in hindsight and it wasn't his place to share.

[forcegalactic]

That came as a surprise. He would have assumed that Shinra was a military group with an energy branch, not the other way around.

"Sounds like this company's a PR disaster in the makin'. You'd think a planet with somethin' so crazy powerful in it would have other countries steal some of that info and declare war. Unless Shinra's already got 'em in their pocket."

Perhaps that's why Sephiroth burned down Tifa's village.

"Wish I could say you can move off-planet and terraform a nearby one, but we got lucky in my universe."

[bloodypast]

PR hadn't been much of a concern for Shinra, not with most people welcoming new energy and an increased standard of living. From what Vincent'd learned since his re-awakening about how Shinra had expanded, including its news outlet and media control. It hadn't surprised him in the least.

"I doubt they cared much about Public Relations, although they had agents to help with any problems regarding it." Like the Department of Administrative Research, if things went really bad. Sabotage and assassination, threats and kidnappings, along with investigation and general espionage--dogs of the company so that those in charge could remain clean. SOLDIER was the more obvious Military unit--little more than a gleam of an idea, when Vincent had been on the payroll.

"Once Midgar was built, they controlled their own city which was also home to the Corporate Headquarters, and residences of those who worked there. They expanded into their own media relations, while maintaining their presence in Junon. Junon Harbor had been their main base of operations prior to Midgar's construction, and still bares the mark of Shinra today." A pause. "Most towns were more than willing to work with Shinra for a higher standard of living. Cosmo Canyon was, to my knowledge, left alone, nor had they penetrated much up north, to Icicle Inn. There were no truly powerful countries, other than Wutai, to oppose Shinra's rise. Wutai itself was conquered eventually."

[forcegalactic]

This. This was interesting. More messy than Earth politics, but in some ways, not as bad.

"What'd they do to Wutai? Can't see Shinra leavin' 'em along, seein' that they up and rebelled. Y'see, back home, the folks livin' on the Moon decided to split apart from Earth's government and failed, and they got these bloodsports installed that the youth are forced to compete in as punishment. Got disbanded a short while ago, but no one liked them at all while they existed." A shrug. "No one could do nothin' about it for the longest time."

[bloodypast]

Now, it was getting slightly into the realm of gossip--and Vincent wasn't going to feed that. "Wutai still remains, although not to its former degree. Ask Yuffie, as it's not my place to tell." Sorry Barkeep.

"People are, now, starting to wake up and react to Shinra, but it might be too little too late in some ways, given what's facing our planet."

[forcegalactic]

"Alright, so I'll ask her." There shouldn't be any trouble with that. "But it ain't to late to fight back, if you ask me. It's not gonna fix everythin', but it'll be something'."

[bloodypast]

"Be prepared, as it's a sensitive subject for her." Vincent would warn him, not that Yuffie wasn't perfectly capable of making her own views clear on it. Besides, it might do her good to talk about it to someone NOT from their planet, who also thought it was horrible.

"People are fighting back, but it's an underdog battle. Not to mention there are other complications, including the potential annihilation of our planet." Sad that Vincent could speak so calmly about all this. Nor had it put him off his drink. All business for the most part.

[forcegalactic]

A nod. Sensitive meant guiding the topic of conversation more gently, but in the end, he had to learn what happened on Gaia and how afraid of Sephiroth he really should be.

"Thanks for the advice. Once we get offa this planet, I'm gonna see what I can do about yours. Weildin' the Force Galactic don't mean nothin' unless I use it to keep trouble away."

[bloodypast]

That statement, about Barkeep trying to see what he could do, with the Force Galactic? That got crimson eyes snapping to the other man, and a slow lowering of his drink. "With all due respect, considering our current troubles have come from an outside force causing problems...I suspect we'd be better off without any other outside interference." A pause, and a slight tip of his head in a nod. "No matter how well-intentioned."

[forcegalactic]

"But if it's comin' from outside, why not get help from the outside?" It made perfect sense. Sometimes, people needed help. "Don't worry, I promise not to upset the balance of the universe."

[bloodypast]

That wasn't exactly convincing Vincent. Yes, sometimes people needed help--but they also had a right to choose and to ask for it, not just have it thrust on them. "And the balance of our planet?" Countering logically as well.

"The balance regarding Gaia is already screwed up enough, to the point where the planet's own defenses have been activated and attempting to deal with the problem. Of course, the WEAPONS solutions have been exterminating humanity with prejudice as we're the 'threat' it's detecting..."

[forcegalactic]

"Planet's part of the universe, ain't it?" Asking him not to meddle in other's affairs was like telling him to never leave his house. Life was boring when spent alone.

He jerked back in surprise. "WEAPON? Ain't that the same thing Palitutu got?"

[bloodypast]

Maybe, but what if it was different universes? In any case, Vincent at least knew when to let that topic lie. Unlikely to convince Barkeep at the moment, especially since he was asking a question.

"Not entirely. More like discussing types of fruits. I'm given to understand the WEAPON here can be piloted, or controlled. WEAPONS on Gaia are sentient in their own right, spawned and created by the planet in response to threats to the planet." A pause for a drink, as well as Vincent gathering his thoughts. "They were however, just as deadly and dangerous to fight. 5 of them were awakened in the past few months. Unable to get to their main target, they went on a rampage."

[forcegalactic]

"But unlike fruit, you can't rid of 'em by eatin' a WEAPON." He crossed his arms and stroked one end of his mustache with one hand, then switched to the other. "But you can fight one off, is what I'm gettin' from you."

[bloodypast]

"Theoretically, it isn't unlikely that we could fight the WEAPONS here. But I do not know that for sure, given that these are a different type." Confirming, then another pause and drink, gathering his thoughts. "It was not an endeavor most are suited for however, taking our strongest attacks and strategies, along with a great amount of firepower. It was, in many ways, a Do-or-Die thing."

[forcegalactic]

"I know that." He stretched his hands onto the table and rolled his shoulders. "If it were that easy to take one down, we wouldn't be here worryin' about Palitutu rollin' in on that thing."

As if expecting her to come on in cue, the Barkeep turned to the sky beyond the walls of Aqures Ixen.