Sure Shot {Karn}

[Kylie (Gun)]

Landing gear? Check. Blades? Kylie clambered up the side of the helicopter to look at each one thoroughly. Check. Controls? Hopping into the main seat, Kylie pushed a few switches here and there before hearing the engine roar to life. Kylie glanced up to see if the blades were rotating. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. All that was left now was to wait on her companion for this certain mission. Powering the helicopter down while she waited, Kylie glanced at her watch. He still had a few minute, but she would rather just get this mission over with. Why she had been paired with this guy, she still hadn’t been able to really figure out. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. Kylie could appreciate why they had asked this Karn guy to come with her. They were going back to the Forgotten Forest and outfitting some weapon to use on the odd going ons of the area. If she herself was asked, she would think that it was instability of the lifestream that was causing it. After all, the Forgotten Forest was just known for the creepy. And big-ass glowing trees. If that right there wasn’t an indication, you needed some help.

Apparently this guy was a weapons specialist. Must have been hired when she was in hiding along with the other Turks of her time. Honestly, she didn’t know if it was a good idea or bad to place a weapon in the location they were going to be doing so. And speaking of which, the large weapon was currently in pieces in the back of the helicopter. Peering over her shoulder at the pieces that were all strapped down, she sighed and rubbed her eyes. ShinRa was a whole hell of a lot better in the whole ‘let’s just blow everything up’ area that it had been in before, but honestly, sometimes she could see them reverting back to their old ways. But that wasn’t for her to decide, now was it. They were the ones that made the decisions, and she, like the other Turks, remained loyal. Perhaps not the best place to be loyal to at all times, but they still did.

And that meant that she had to go with this weapons specialist, even though she would much, much rather go with one of her fellow Turks. Why couldn’t they have sent Rude along with her? Or…well, Cissnei was-…that just hurt Kylie to think about her friend being a crystal. And Reno to care for the newborn by himself. For perhaps the first time in her life, Kylie felt a large amount of respect for the new father. He was shouldering his responsibility with his little daughter, even with the pain that she knew he was going through. To finally fall for someone, tie the knot, and then…have her be taken from you. Kylie couldn’t imagine that herself, let alone for Reno, someone who didn’t take real commitment lightly once he really decided on it. He had never had to commit to much of anything outside his job before, and now being a father…

Kylig was going to have to remember and take the little baby girl off his hands for a day so he could get a break. Of course, he had a babysitter, but Kylie would rather have the Turks take care of the child. She was sure Cissnei would want it like that. And Kylie couldn’t believe how badly the Turks missed the chestnut haired Turk. Their ‘mommy Turk’, even more appropriate now. “Damn it,” she muttered out, lightly slapping her palm against the dash board in frustration. But…Reno had come back from crystal status. Couldn’t…couldn’t Cissnei as well? Left sitting there thinking about it, Kylie became lost in thought, a faraway expression in her features.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 807
Muse:; Great!
Location:; ShinRa Landing pad - Rooftop (helicopter)
Outfit:; Turk uniform
Tagged:; Karn
Notes:; Notta!
Listening To:; --
Setting Early morning

[Karn Fenix]

Honestly, Karn wasn't all that sure why he'd been assigned to this mission, either. Initially, he figured that he was just going to be assigned to serve as muscle for the Turk he was paired with, giving her some extra firepower to keep her safe while she did her thing. But apparently he was being tasked with assisting in the assembly and deployment of some kind of specialized weapon designed with the portals and their visitors in mind. Sure, Karn was a "weapons expert" in a manner of speaking -- but he was an expert with guns and personnel weaponry, not alien-smashing weapons of mass destruction. He hadn't even been fully briefed on exactly what he was dealing with, but he'd have to try to understand that as time went by.

Frankly, Karn was pretty happy with the company's approach here. Strange portals spewing otherworldly creatures and random people into the world? Find a way to blow them up or kill them all. For a guy who specialized in firearms and killing people up close and personal, it seemed like a pretty nice gameplan. In fact, since the fall of Meteor, Karn had found himself wishing that ShinRa would adopt more of its old identity. He missed the days of ShinRa's global, nigh-unstoppable army filled with legions of loyal soldiers and powerful mechanical weapons; the days of marching down the streets of Junon in elaborate military parades.

That period of ShinRa's existence may have been over, but Karn's loyalty remained unwavering. Whatever they needed him to do, he'd do -- including learning how to operate some kind of anti-portal superweapon, whatever it was.

The morning sun caused him to squint slightly as he stepped up onto the helipad. A short distance away he could see the chopper sitting idle, its black-suited pilot awaiting his arrival. The two seemed an interesting pair, contrasting one another in many ways. Kylie was short and small-framed; Karn stood just under six feet tall with a soldier's muscular body. Kylie projected the sleek sophistication of the Turks in her black suit; Karn's image was of a stalwart grunt, decked out in the blue fatigues of ShinRa's regular soldiers. And yet, they were both gun users and, most importantly, they both loyally served the same ShinRa.

The only gun physically on Karn's person was his late father's pistol, the heavy semi-auto magnum strapped to his right thigh. A long brown-and-silver hard case held the rest of the weapons he was bringing along on this mission, field stripped and packed neatly away to make it easier to store them on the helicopter. Case in hand, Karn walked up to the side of the helicopter and knocked several times on the side of the hull.

"Taking a little nap in there?" he called with just enough of a chuckle in his voice to make it clear that he wasn't being a jerk. For a Grunt, he tended to take a pretty casual tone on the occasions that he dealt with Turks, where many other employees tended to treat them with a certain amount of awe and distance. But Karn was a pretty brazen guy, and generally figured he was entitled to a certain level of respect for his tenure with the company.

Grabbing onto one of the side doors of the helicopter, Karn slid it open and climbed inside, setting his gun case down on the floor just behind the cockpit, giving it a little kick to make sure it wasn't going to move around when the bird lifted off.

With his weapons secure, he climbed into the cockpit, taking the co-pilot's seat just behind and slightly above Kylie, and reached down to give her a pat on the shoulder to communicate that he was strapped in and ready to go.

"Ready when you are," he said as he shifted a bit to get comfortable in his seat, "Name's Karn, by the way, in case they didn't brief you on who you were taking along... I don't think I remember your name, but that suit tells me most of what I need to know anyway -- this mission should be in good hands."

=-=-=-=[/b]
Word Count: 700-ish.
Muse is Feeling: Pretty sweet! Moar gunz!
Wearing: ShinRa Grunt Armor.
Listening to: Crisis Core's version of the ShinRa theme.

[Kylie (Gun)]

Clearing her throat as she sat and pondered over the events that had been happening lately, Kylie finally determined that she needed a bit of a rest. All of them did. But she needed it a lot less than some of the others. She had always been…somewhat at odds with the personalities like Rod, Reno, and Ethan. The more…mm…spazzy members of the Turks. They were disrespectful or unmotivated, or qualities along those lines. Still, they were family, and so she had to like them. Perhaps not all of the time, no, but at least part of the time. And that led her back to thinking about Reno’s situation. The more she thought about it, honestly, the more she felt empathy for him. He obviously was going through a hard time, and had for a long time now. It was interesting, how once you thought you finally had everything together, the rug would be pulled out from under you and your whole entire world would come crumbling around you. That seemed to have happened to Reno and Cissnei both now. She wished to help, but she wasn’t sure how, or hadn’t been sure. Emotional support wasn’t something she had ever been comfortable with giving. But she did know for Reno, she could offer to watch Zayden for him. The little girl was a handful, but he needed a brea-

The voice got her out of her thoughts. Blinking, Kylie heard the male voice asking if she was taking a nap and felt a bit of a scowl cross her features, before she was able to eliminate it. The chuckle forced her to realize that he had been joking, and she could understand humor, even if her own sense of it could be somewhat dry at times. Turning her gaze back, Kylie glanced at the man that had approached. Not overly tall, well built. “No,” she just stated in reply, figuring he would want some sort of reply, but not really caring if she gave him one to work with. She didn’t know him, didn’t need to know him, and didn’t really care to get to know him. This was a mission, nothing more, nothing less.

While he got himself settled, Kylie fired up the helicopter. With hands trained to know exactly what to do, she flipped switches, pressed the appropriate buttons and lifted the headphones to slip over her head, adjusting them to make sure her hair wouldn’t interfere with any messages retrieved on any updates. Lifting her hand, she glanced above her to make sure the settings were all good and checked the gauges one more time. It looked like they were all set. At least, they would be when he got in, which he did a moment later, sliding the door open and hopping into the copilots seat, and then shutting it again.

He started to talk, and she strained to hear him, before reaching down and grabbing another headset, reaching backwards and up to give it to the larger man that had settled himself in. “Put this on!”, she shouted above the rotating of the blades. “And don’t touch anything,” she said a second later, giving him time to get the headset on if he chose to follow her instructions. They had briefed her, but she simply nodded her head. “Alright Karn, I hope they told you what we were going for.”, she said calmly, before resting her hand on the control stick and feeling the blades hit to the point where they would be able to take off. “Kylie.”, she shortly said in her own introduction. Without glancing over at him, she slowly lifted the helicopter into the air. “You ready for the mission?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 793
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Headquarters
Outfit:; Turk uniform
Tagged:; Karn
Notes:; --
Listening To:; --
Setting Daytime

[Karn Fenix]

It seemed that Kylie wasn't exactly a talker; she said enough to get them in the helicopter and situated, and was ready to take off before they'd exchanged even a few sentences. But that didn't surprise Karn, and it didn't really upset him, either. That was the nature of their job -- the Turks were there to handle ShinRa's most important and delicate missions, and be the elite special forces keeping the corporation's interests safe. In fact, he was glad to be working with her on this mission. Although he was a veteran soldier of the company, and very little put him off-balance anymore, there was still that part of him that admired the Turks, even though his battle-hardened ego led him to talk to them as equals.

Truthfully, Karn had always wanted to become one of the Turks, to put on the black suit and become an asset of the Department of Administrative Research. But that never quite seemed to be in the cards, apparently -- Karn had remained at the level of the general military, and while his skills were respected, it was never enough to propel him to that high level in his career. So when he got to work with a Turk on a mission, there was a certain sense of satisfaction that came along with it.

He felt a slight pit in his stomach as the helicopter lifted off, taking to the skies to transport them to their missions. The sun caught him in the eyes momentarily, and he winced a bit as he averted his gaze. He looked down to one side as he slipped his headset on, watching the helipad slowly shrink away, and as the helicopter tipped forward and began moving, he saw the last vestiges of Midgar and ShinRa headquarters begin to fade from sight. The sensation of being airborn started to get Karn's adrenaline pumping, and he shifted slightly in his seat as his Turk pilot almost effortlessly guided the craft toward their mission location. With that, he turned his attention back to Kylie and spoke into his headset to her.

"They told me enough of the basics, at least. Some kind of experimental weapon they're hoping to deploy against the portals that have been showing up around the planet. I don't really fully understand the thing myself, honestly, but I guess the geeks in the Science Department weren't up to taking a trip out into the field. I've had my share of experience with different weapons platforms in the past, but this seems a little high-tech for what I'm used to."

The decision to send Karn still seemed strange to him -- he was a gun nut, not a mad genius... Hopefully there was some kind of instruction manual inside.

=-=-=-=[/color]

Word Count: 475-ish.
Muse is Feeling: Awesome! Love ShinRa threads
Wearing: ShinRa Grunt gear.
Listening to: ShinRa theme from Crisis Core. Love that song!

[Kylie (Gun)]

With the helicopter now in the air, Kylie could focus on steadying it and then actually getting down to business. She wasn’t quite sure about this man that she had been paired with for the mission, but only time would tell whether he actually seemed to be a valuable man to have along or if he was nothing but a hindrance. It could go either way really. Which was why she didn’t get friendly with anyone until she could properly assess their personalities and skills. If you couldn’t contribute to life, then she was less likely to be mildly interested in developing even a working relationship. Keeping her distance was how she handled that situation.

It hadn’t failed her yet.

Expertly maneuvering the controls, Kylie piloted them into the air and then turned the chopper to be facing the direction they would have to go. It shouldn’t take them long in the helicopter they had. Rufus made it a point to make sure his Turks had the latest and greatest in technology if they wanted it, which included helicopters. Or perhaps it was to balance the deficiency that Reno created. Either way, Rufus was sure to keep them stocked up on whatever it was that they needed to be successful in their job. Kylie took advantage of that as regularly as she needed, usually involving enhancements on her weapon, or other things that she needed. Checking the different things she needed, the altitude, engine power, and fuel level once more to make sure they were alright, Kylie relaxed slightly and reached up a hand to rub her eyes. This was going to be a hell of a mission.

And then she could turn her attention back on this Karn fellow. He seemed to choose that moment to converse with her again. He seemed like the sort of guy that talked to anyone and everyone. Well that was lovely, but Kylie hoped he didn’t talk nonstop this entire mission. Otherwise she would rather they send someone like Reno to go along. He seemed to find it just as easy to talk to people, while Kylie herself would rather they focus on the task that needed completing instead of needless yakking.

She had to sigh again when he spoke to her about just what he was and what he knew about the mission. This didn’t sound like it was going to go well. “The newly developed weapon is the hope of the scientists to be able to control and manipulate the portals that have been showing up across the entire planet. The Forgotten Forest, due to the large levels of energy, has seemed to attract a lot of these, and along with that, sucking beasts through and then sealing up, leaving us to deal with the consequences. This is the first testing that we’re doing in actually getting the machine running.” Quickly she gave him her explanation, clicking at a few buttons and then resting her hand back on the control stick. “I can operate it once it's up and running, as I was trained by the scientists, and they sent a detailed explanation along with us.”

She actually cracked a bit of a smile when he mentioned the scientists didn’t want to come. “Something like that. They didn’t really want to come, no, but Rufus also decided he couldn’t afford to lose some of the most intelligent scientists he has employed should something go wrong.” She even smiled while she was explaining that basically Tseng was sending out a man that didn’t know much about this specific weapon because if he got killed, it wouldn’t affect the research department. It was harsh, but that was the way life went. She would survive because that was exactly what she had been trained for her entire life, but she had no idea what this man would be capable of. He said he had some experience, but only time would tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 836
Muse:; Great!
Location:; On their way to the Forgotten Forest
Outfit:; Turk uniform
Tagged:; Karn
Notes:; I'm sorry for the delay D8
Listening To:; Blurry - Puddle of Mudd

[Karn Fenix]

Karn nodded his head periodically as Kylie gave her own explanation of what this new weapon was, and how it worked, as his eyes scanned over the surface blow them as they flew. Karn didn't fly often, but when he did, it was always a bit of a fascinating sight. Most of his life had been spent in and around Midgar, with the exception of his deployment at Junon prior to its WEAPON attack. Part of him wanted to mentally scold himself for being so easily amused, but he accepted the fact that this was something uncommon and, yes, a big exciting.

Kylie was clearly a bit apprehensive about working with him, which he could understand. The Turks were the cream of ShinRa's crop, the best the company had to offer. And when you're one of the elite, you aren't always chomping at the bit to work with the "little people." Karn was the same way among his fellow soldiers. As a combat-hardened veteran, he often found himself slow to trust new squad members and teammates. Hell, when he'd gone chasing after that thief girl in Kalm, half of his squad ended up dead in the first few minutes of the engagement -- hardly worth taking the time to cozy up to and getting to know.

And part of him, at least, knew that what she was getting at was right. The brain trust in the science department were too valuable to risk on a field experiment like this. Turks were much more hardened and survivable, and ordinary infantry were much more expendable. Some people might have been offended by being handed a job with such a possibility of gruesome death, but Karn didn't think much of it. He'd made a career out of fighting hard and making it out alive even when things didn't go well for the ShinRa army. He was deployed like an infantryman, but he endured like a SOLDIER... Or so he told himself.

"I know," he said once she'd finished, "In less subtle terms, you're the elite Turk trusted with the expensive toys, and I'm the muscle to help make sure things get done. More than likely, the higher-ups are thinking that if something goes wrong, I'll take the bullet and you'll make your grand escape in the helicopter. At least, that's how I'd expect them to think, if I know them at all."

And ultimately, if it came down to it, he would. He'd promised himself years before that he would die, if necessary, fighting for ShinRa's interests. But he wasn't about to go down without a fight -- and he fully expected that, even if everything went to hell, he'd be shooting his way back to ShinRa HQ no matter the cost.

"That probably sounds pretty morbid," he continued, "But that's a soldier's calling, right? As long as you know how to work that gadget they sent us out with, I'll make sure nothing kills you in the meantime. I might be a grunt, but don't go sleeping on my abilities... I pack a lot more punch than you'd probably expect from an army regular."

=-=-=-=
Word Count: 558
Muse is feeling: Saucy!
Wearing: You know them fancy ShinRa army blues.
Listening to: The Mako-Controlling Corpration (FF7:CC)

[Kylie (Gun)]

While flying them through the air, the blonde spared a few moments to explain to the man just why he had been selected to go with her. Honestly, she wasn't exactly sure why he had been selected rather than one of her fellow Turks. Generally speaking, they knew more than the average Joe anyway, not to mention the Turks often just worked with each other. When they did, it was for special circumstances...which was probably what this was. Well whatever, if he could do the job, than great, she could know to rely on him in the future. If he couldn't do the job, than she was going to pull them both up by their bootstraps and keep them both alive. And she would keep them both alive. Even though there was no reason to be loyal to this man, and even if some claimed she was heartless, Kylie did have some heart. She was, even with the slight mako enhancing that was done to every Turk, still human. Their mission was to get in and get back out, which she would make sure of.

He had gotten a few points in his favor by his answer. This Karn was perceptive, even realizing the unspoken what she meant. Life could be cruel sometimes, and harsh, but that was how things went. If you got your feelings hurt for the simple truth, than you weren't going to survive in ShinRa. Adjusting the headset and putting her attention back over the land they were hoovering over, Kylie nodded. "Something like that.", she mentioned when he said what he thought each of their roles were. "To be perfectly honest, I wasn't looking forward to piloting a brilliant moron out into the field with everything out there trying to take a bite out of you. The easy part is surviving, the hard part is keeping them alive." Kylie had dealt with those so called genius masterminds plenty, and usually walked away wondering why people thought they were so intelligent. So you could invent things. That didn't really matter when you had some beast attempting to eat you or AVALANCHE members ganging up and attempting to end your life. Didn't matter at all.

She actually looked at him when he mentioned her making a grand escape. "You might take the bullet, but we both go home.", she said firmly. "I have too clean a record to allow you to come back in a body bag, so no dying happens today. They send the Turks for the same reason they send grunts really. If one of us die, the company can still develop. The difference being that we're trained and prepared for one purpose: Survival." The point was that she wasn't going to just bail out and let him rot in the dust, at least not if humanly possible to get him out alive as well. Ultimately, her own survival was better than returning with a dead body, but if he was still breathing she would cart him along. That was, after all, what made the difference between being human and barbaric, was it not?

She almost smiled over his claim that he would keep her alive. Almost. She simply nodded instead and chose not to say much about that. "You can be different and show the same colors," she mentioned while she glanced at their location. It would be quite the ride. While she was content to sit in silence, she doubted that he was the type to do the same. Mine as well get the topic rolling so she could drown him out in some long winded explanation instead of being questioned about her own life. "Have you been with ShinRa for long?" That had to include some huge explanation where he would jabber for the next few hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 816
Muse:; Great!
Location:; On their way to the Forgotten Forest
Outfit:; Turk uniform
Tagged:; Karn
Notes:; Notta!
Listening To:; --
Setting Helicopter!

[Karn Fenix]

Ah, the professionalism and pride of the Turks. She promised, even if he took a bullet in the process of their mission (or a claw, or a fang, or who knew what else?) that she'd get them both home. Maybe she actually cared about getting a comrade home -- or maybe, and perhaps more likely, as Karn thought, she was more concerned with protecting her track record than she was for one particular infantrymen she'd been assigned to work with. Either way, he'd take it. Despite his own ego and his confidence in his abilities to keep himself alive, it was nice to know that he had one of the vaunted Turks looking to get him home safely. He didn't doubt she could, either... The Turks weren't exactly superhuman freaks, but they were a high cut above any of the normal rank-and-file.

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment," he answered her, "But I don't plan on weighing you down like that. Feel free to focus on this experimental device and the mission; you can trust me to stay alive."

Moving past the mission's specifics, she questioned him about his background. Judging by the tone of her voice, she was only actually half-interested in his answer; she was probably just trying to make some basic, pleasant conversation, since the two of them were stuck together in a cramped helicopter cockpit for the time being. Karn was friendly, for sure, though he wasn't the talkative machine that she was getting the impression that he was. Still, he was more than happy to exchange some casual chatter while they flew.

"Yeah," he said, leaning back comfortably in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, "It's been quite a few years, now. I'll spare you the long, boring backstory, but in a nutshell, I fought through some gangs in the slums as a kid, then enlisted with the Military Police in Midgar when I was 16... Got marked for a promotion and trained to serve in the general infantry when I was 18, and I've been there ever since. I was in Junon when the WEAPON hit the town -- after that, I was part of the forces transferred to Midgar along with the Sister Ray, and I've been serving in and around the capitol ever since."

It was a very condensed version of his story, for sure, but neither of them felt like sitting through a long monologue. Short, to the point, and informative. As he told his tale, he continued to scan the surface as they flew, half-zoning out as he spoke, just watching the sights pass beneath them as the helicopter continued the swift journey toward their mission.

"As for you... You have a pretty composed demeanor, even for a Turk... I'm guessing you've been with the department for awhile, yourself."

=-=-=-=
Word Count: 500
Muse is Feeling: Monologue-y!
Listening to: Crisis Core's version of the Shinra theme
Notes: Remember that time you posted so fast, I forgot you did it? XD

[Kylie (Gun)]

Kylie wasn't quite sure how to judge this guy. From what he said at the start, she had almost instantly opted that he was a man that ran his mouth and talked big but couldn't deliver. That was what most that talked big did, so it was more of a stereotype than anything. There were plenty examples in her life of big talkers that could still deliver, Reno, Rod, Shotgun and a few others, but they were Turks, so it was an entirely different ball game with them versus just plain old infantryman people. Then again, hadn't Strife been an infantryman? Jenova cells and mako, she reminded herself, nothing more, nothing less. Though even she herself had the slight mako in her from being a Turk. Not enough to be noticeable physically on her person, like the normal mako eyes, but enough to boost her abilities, which was perhaps why the Turks had viewed SOLDIER a little differently from the rest of society.

Well anyway, the point was that time would tell if this guy was nothing but a big talker. He seemed awfully confident in his own abilities, so maybe he really could deliver. Time would tell, she just hoped in the meantime, before they were in a life or death situation, that it would be revealed. Oh well, nothing she could really do about that until the time arose anyway, aside from hope that he could deliver and leave it at that. Instead of saying anything to rile him though, she simply gave him a curt nod. "It would help.", she commented. Yeah...this mission would go a lot more smoothly if he could cover his own self. Not as good as a second Turk that she had hoped for, but it would be enough for him to have some abilities with that weapon of his.

Though she had thought that he was going to give her some extremely long winded, boring schpeal, he seemed to have caught on that she was merely passing the time. Honestly, she didn't know if that was good or bad for her, as he seemed the friendly type that would be polite and ask about her history. It wasn't that she hated talking, so much as-...well okay, Kylie did hate to talk about her own life, and preferred it if she never had to.

He seemed to have had quite the busy life, though the one thing that stood out was that he had been from the Slums as well. She'd spent most of her young life doing somewhat of the same thing he had, just struggling to hold her own and survive in the crowd she was around all the time. She had done so, but mainly because she had fought for it and had left to the Academy, where she had learned all the skills to survive. But learning more about him did make her realize that she may have underestimated him. "Impressive.", she said shortly, scanning at the ground with her eyes as they went along.

And then he had to go and comment about her life. Though she wasn't going to give him any of the detail about her life, she supposed some of the basics wouldn't hurt. "I grew up in the slums myself, you do what you need to in order to survive." Clearing her throat, she turned the helicopter slightly to get them back on course. "Since I was ten I was enrolled in the Academy, specializing in firearms. The Turks recruited me when I was eighteen." What she didn't say was why she was the way she was. She didn't mention her mothers death when she was a young girl, didn't mention her father being unable to handle his own grief and unable to help his two daughters adjust. Didn't mention how tight money had been growing up, or the strict rules and guidelines. It had made her increasingly reserved and withdrawn.

Yes...they did what they needed in order to survive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 846
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Flying
Outfit:; Turk Uniform
Tagged:; Karn
Notes:; xD Tis okay!
Listening To:; Losing my Religion - REM
Setting Helicopter

[Karn Fenix]

Karn suppressed a little chuckle at her one-word response to his story. Obviously she was just being polite and passing the time, and probably only had a mild degree of interest in his background, at best. But he hadn't expected to hear her say that they'd actually shared a similar background. She'd grown up the slums, just like he had, and then ended up in the service of ShinRa.

Telling his own story, and hearing her express a similar background, took his mind back to his youth in the city. Midgar was still standing in all its glory back then, sky blotted out by the massive plate, Mako reactors churning 24/7, ShinRa at the zenith of its career as the world's only uncontested superpower. He'd become a solid fighter as a young teenager, giving him all the skills to survive on the street. He wondered if Kylie had fought and struggled as much as he had, or if her life had been a little more stable before she came to ShinRa.

And yet, despite both being children of the Midgar slums, the two had ended up in very different places after ShinRa lifted them out of their previous life. Kylie had been taken at a young age to be trained in the elite company of the Department of Administrative Research, becoming one of the vaunted Turks and among the best of ShinRa's best. Karn, on the other hand, was taken later into his childhood, and had become one of the rank-and-file, the scores of blue-suited soldiers that made up the body of ShinRa's armed forces.

Kylie was a highly-trained, expensive investment and critical asset; Karn was a recruit off the streets who, despite being one of the expendable masses, had proved himself to be reliable, deadly, and survivable. Two different paths through the same company, but both of those paths had led to this same mission, flying out in a company helicopter to test the newest creation of the ShinRa brain trust.

"No shit," he said out loud, mirroring the thoughts he'd been having in his head, "Guess we come from similar places, then... I know you Turks are usually the introverted, secretive types, so I won't go digging any more than that. But if you grew up in the slums too, then you know what it takes to stay alive down there. That oughtta convince you that you won't have to be a babysitter."

The small talk was getting old, though. A little banter wasn't bad, but Karn was a soldier, and it was the mission, not their chatter, that was at the forefront of his mind. He shifted in his seat a bit, looking back toward his case of weaponry.

"So, we have an ETA on arrival?" he asked simply, getting them back to the task at hand.

=-=-=-=[/color]

Word Count: 500-ish. Seriously, are like ALL my posts 500-ish? It's like my magic number or something.
Muse is Feeling: Pretty darn good. Happy to be caught up on posting now that Sandy is a thing of the past.
Listening to: The same old Crisis Core ShinRa theme. I'm pretty simple when it comes to posting music
Notes Two kids with guns from the slums. Fun times ahead!