[hr][i][h1][color=springgreen]Cindy Keagan[/color], [color=dc143c]Maxine Diaz[/color], [color=fff200]Alice Barrett[/color], & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color].[/h1]
[sub](collaboration between [@Mr Allen J], [@FernStone], [@tsukune] and [@Nosuchthing])[/sub][/i]

[hr][hider=Kingdom Hearts II OST - Friends In My Heart][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygnL5BCAxLI[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[b][code]DOVE/RAVEN Joint Headquarters, White Coast_[/code][/b]

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. This girl - [i]lady[/i] - here certainly reminded him a lot of his old self. "Right," was all he could say before he was distracted by the sudden appearance of a blond female, who popped out of thin air and landed at the empty space beside the scowling brownie.

Another unfamiliar face.

Shizuka ran a hand through his hair. So much catching up to do... almost like he didn't belong here in the first place.

While the grumpy lady was complaining about paperwork to the petite newcomer, he looked up in time to see Cindy coming towards them, calling his name in an odd way that made him rolled his eyes at her.

"Hey," he greeted her back warmly. "I'm never a suits guy, so that's a given." At Cindy's questions, that made him roll his eyes again. "I don't enjoy being treated like a potential 'future son-in-law' candidate - at all." He yanked the necktie off his collar and rolled it up, before he stuffed it into his blazer pocket.

"C'mon, Shizu," Cindy said with a smile on her face. "You'd make a great boyfriend... a little rough 'round the edges - but, hey, maybe you'd find a nice girl that's as loony as you are." She said in jest, as she followed it up with laughter. "I just wish we could have gotten some of your friends in Prague - but politics."

"Yeah... [i]politics[/i]," Shizuka shrugged. "But enough about my woes - how about you?"

Cindy shrugged. "Well... I got vomited on by an eleven year old this morning." Cindy said. "It was not fun." And it was Shizuka's turn to laugh.

Then he lowered his voice. "Have you been in contact with Mei? Holly just told me that she's already back in Baybridge."

Shizuka mentioned Meifeng... and that hit a sore note somewhat. Meifeng had stopped talking to her, or anyone, after she got back to the States after Prague. Which annoyed Cindy somewhat... She knew that Meifeng was avoiding her on purpose.

"Sorry... haven't been talking to her after the whole shitstorm in Prague." Cindy shrugged. "Her choice, she just... stopped talking to people. I really don't know what's goin' on with her sometimes." She huffed and puffed.

Rolling her eyes, Cindy hated the fact that - no offense to him - [i]Shizuka[/i] found out that Meifeng's back in town before her. She'd have to chew her out about that later.

Shizuka raised an eyebrow at Cindy's mixed expression about Meifeng; he wasn't expecting that from her. Weren't they supposed to be [i]best friends[/i]? "...I see," he finally said, nodding his head absentmindedly. "I think---"

Which made him notice the short blonde standing beside him from the corner of his eye, distracting him for the second time in a row. He swallowed down the urge to make a snarky comment at her [i]constant[/i] interruption. "How may I help you?" he asked, giving her a polite smile that was quickly dropped the next second.

Alice smiled as the tall, well, taller Japanese man. Not that he really returned it, she realised that it probably wasn't the best start but jumped in face first now that she had the opportunity.

"Sorry. Alice..."

She extended a hand for him to shake, then before he could speak again ploughed on, "Sorry for interrupting, but I just transferred, know hardly anyone yet, and you're talking to one of them. So... hey!"

It probably wasn't the best start to a friendship, but Alice ignored the urge to simply disappear as he glared at her, and returned it with a smiling gaze.

Shizuka's face relaxed when he heard that she was a newbie. [i]Be nice.[/i] He shouldn't be so intimidating to a junior upon their first meeting (especially not in front of [i]Cindy[/i], of all people). He returned the handshake with a firm grip. "Shizuka," he said coolly. "Nice to meet you... I guess."

Alice couldn't have missed the change in his expression if she was a bat, cops learned to read people early. She may have had little time on the street but she'd learned policing at her mother's breast and on her father's knee. She wondered just how much of that change was because she was new, or because Cindy was standing right there.

She rolled her eyes, "Look, I'm not made of glass okay? I might be new, but I will gladly take any shit you hand me, and probably give you some right back, if it doesn't get me a disciplinary."

She grinned.

The "made of glass" comment made Cindy chuckle. Because, she technically could literally be made out of glass. However, she just crossed her arms, and kept quiet while Shizuka mingled with the "fresh meat." She sure as hell didn't want to sabotage things for Shizuka.

Especially now that he's a big, strong, RAVEN now.

That made Shizuka regard her with a little more interest. She wasn't just a [i]fun-sized[/i] girl, but someone with a mouth to match. "Neither do I want to get into any disciplinary trouble - RAVEN still owes me a good, long vacation leave. I'm so done with all these retarded business trips." This time, the smile on his face was a genuine one.

Alice raised an unconvinced eyebrow, displaying some impressive facial dexterity. "I'm sure they'll find an excuse to take it away, can't have you relaxing too much, I swear they plan it to match up with emergencies."

This was followed by a brief appraisal of the clearly expensive suit, though her gaze was not unappreciative, "Either that or they'll claim you used them all up on your air miles. And that suit..."

Shizuka gave her a look of mock horror. "That's bullshit." At the mention of his clothes, his brows furrowed into a frown. "This?" He tugged on the collar of his dress shirt, annoyed. "Long story - but just to be clear that this isn't what I like to wear." He then gave Cindy a sideways glance. "As she says, suits aren't my thing."

Cocking her head, Alice looked to the brunette and, addressing her, with a mischievous glint in her eye, she said, "Pity, at least you didn't end up with a green one though. Are you going to burn it? Or are you keeping it as a souvenir?"

"Oh shut up," Cindy said with mock irritation.

"'Green one'?" Shizuka turned to Cindy with a raised eyebrow. "I won't go that far to burn off this suit, but I'm definitely [i]not[/i] gonna wear this ever again." Maybe he could just pass this on to Haruka. After all, this suit was fucking [i]expensive[/i].

Max had remained silent, listening, and trying not to look too grumpy (and failing). Still she decided she may as well try to be friendly. "Are suits really anyone's thing? Excluding, of course, rich businessmen." She shrugged slightly, trying to offer a smile. "Oh, Max by the way." She assumed since she hadn't know who Shizuka was beforehand he wouldn't know who she was.

"You missed out 'classy snobs'," Shizuka added with disdain, before acknowledging Max's introduction. To shift their attention away from his suit (which was an embarrassingly stupid topic), he tried to change the subject. "Anyway, are both of you in DOVE or RAVEN?"

Max indicated her head slightly at the mention of classy snobs, before going to answer the question. "RAVEN. I, eh, don't have the people skills for DOVE." She would have been even worse in DOVE... and she wasn't doing particularly well in RAVEN as it is.

Alice nodded in response to the question, "I'm RAVEN too," this was followed by a wry smile, "For my sins."

"That makes you two my junior - well, sort of," Shizuka said, studying Max and Alice. "My position isn't suitable to be at the front lines like most of you guys, yeah."

"Technically, yes," Max responded, looking up at Shizuka from where she was sitting with a neutral expression. "I haven't had a chance to be anywhere near the front lines yet... Then again, I did just finish training a few months back." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "What exactly is it that you do within RAVEN, then?"

Shizuka pointed a gun-shaped hand at Max's forehead. "Sniper. Nah, I don't go around shooting heads off - recon first - but sometimes I do have to put that bullet through those hopeless cases."

"Oh, right," Max raised an eyebrow at Shizuka's hand. As long as he didn't actually touch her forehead it was cool. She had no idea what his power was and didn't want to risk getting it. "I would've thought shooting off the heads would be the fun part, anyway?" She joked, before shrugging. "Though I imagine recon is interesting. More interesting than paperwork, at least."

"There, you've said it - [i]paperwork[/i]." Shizuka put his hand down and smirked. "Blowing heads off isn't fun with all the extra paperwork that comes after that. As if I don't have more than enough on my plate already." He still had to write a report on his most recent trip, and obviously he was going to leave out the bit where he was forced to go on a date with the General's (bitchy) niece.

"Extra paperwork? That's enough to put anyone off anything," Max made a face at the thought of the stack of paper waiting for her. She was just putting it off more. Maybe if she hadn't done it by tonight she wouldn't have to do it. "Is there a lot of paperwork for blowing off heads, then?"

"Of course," Shizuka replied in mock seriousness. "Not only you'll need to describe the whole situation in bloody detail, explain why you feel the [i]dire need[/i] to crack the skull of a valuable witness... and vomit out a shitty essay to reflect upon your action swearing to God that it won't happen again, but it [i]will[/i] in the end, as always." He laughed and put his hands into his pockets. "Okay, I'm exaggerating, but still."

"Well, I am beginning to regret my decision to join RAVEN," Max responded dryly, though she laughed slightly at the thought of having to write such a detailed description of whatever happened. "Was there small print about extra paperwork I didn't read when I signed up?"

"Yeah," Cindy said sarcastically. "It was in between the lines."

She chuckled for a moment. "What? Did you think RAVEN was all about fighting the bad guys?" She sarcastically asked.

Max rolled her eyes, frowning at Cindy. She had been having a perfectly nice conversation and now the DOVE agent had gone and ruined that. "Oh yeah, I expected to be fighting against evil metahumans all the fucking time," she snapped back. "There's just a bit too much paperwork for every little thing."

"You don't have to get an attitude, [i]Max[/i]." Cindy rolled her eyes up into her head as well. "I was just making a joke. Want me to google that for you?" She hissed in return, putting her hand on her hip and staring down Max. "Paperwork's just something you're going have to get used to - I get all [i]sorts[/i] of paperwork while in DOVE, and you don't see me..." She stopped herself there when she realized she was getting a bit too irritated.

"Well, it didn't particularly sound like a joke," Max responded, clenching her fists slightly while trying to take deep breaths. Here was not the place to get annoyed over such a small thing. She really just needed to calm down. She normally didn't mind people joking with her; it was just something about Cindy that rubbed her the wrong way. After a moment's pause she spoke again. "Oh I'm getting used to it, don't worry. And don't see you what? Complaining?" She returned Cindy's stare. 

"...It's nothing." Cindy was quick to answer, as a quick way of telling Max to drop it. She probably shouldn't have said anything in the first place to this girl. Cindy swears that Max's "bad girl" act is the most annoying thing in the world - but if the likes of [i]Maximilian[/i] would allow former gang members and thugs to join their ranks, then why should she complain? Cindy shook her head. "Carry on with your conversation - sorry for intruding." Cindy quickly put on a professional demeanor on par with Lihua seven years ago when she took a step back.

Alice had remained quiet for most of the previous conversation, like the others she didn't much care for paperwork, but she'd always just accepted it as part of the job. Besides, chiming in on it right now looked like it might set off Cindy, and she didn't really want to piss off her friend over something so trivial.

Shizuka looked from Cindy to Max, somewhat amused at their heated exchange. Was it him, or was this reminding him of his own relationship with Cindy years ago? He could really see a shadow of his old self in Max... even in Cindy too.

Whatever. He didn't feel like dealing with some petty catfights now. "Knock it off, girls. Do me a favor not to make a scene here - don't want to look like I'm the reason for your little argument." Deep down he knew that Cindy was right, but he wasn't stupid enough to add more fuel to the fire.

Alice was relieved that someone with actual seniority had stepped in to break the two apart. She would have done so herself, but it would have felt awkward to do so when technically she was the same rank as Max, and Cindy did have a lot more experience. People tended not to appreciate being told to 'cool it' by a comparative rookie.

"Yeah, yeah, I get you,"  Cindy said as she looked off to the side. Maybe she was being a bit of a bitch - but she'd keep her mouth shut.

"Now that the intros and whatnot are out of the way... Holly's sure slow today," Shizuka muttered, glancing at the digital clock on a wall in the room. "I'm told to be here for a briefing of sorts, but now it's already past noon. Guess I better tell Haru not to expect me for lunch."

He took out his phone and sent a quick text to his brother, scowling. [i]There goes my precious family time.[/i]

Holly. Dana's protege, and she remembered seeing her a few times during the Verthaven Disaster. Right now Holly's the new mission control for the RAVENs (and sometimes DOVE). "Eh, don't worry about it." Cindy said. "Holly's probably doing some... weirdo plant stuff." She started laughing.

"Anyways, there was something I wanted to address with you..." Cindy said, before her eyes drifted over towards Max and Alice. "...And the rest of the RAVENs present."

She took in a brief inhale before she let it all out.

"You heard of that big old party that Jiao-Long Liu is throwing tonight?" Cindy asked.

Shizuka rubbed his chin. "Maybe. What's that about anyway? Are all of us supposed to go for it also?"

"To answer the first question," Cindy started off. "The Saviors - err, the Liu Pharmaceutical Company - turned this run down wasteland up there in Silver Hills... they feel it's necessary to throw a great big celebration there to make it "special."" Cindy answered the first question with surprising professionalism.

"And to answer the second question: yes. They want RAVEN there to provide security detail, and DOVE there to... you know, represent." Cindy nodding her head as she looked in between the three other people in their group. "Only thing is that Chairman Deborah doesn't want a whole lot of RAVENs there so we don't look like that "militant state" that NEST did before... so only a few will be going."

Cindy sighed. "Of course, I can get you there as a security guard... all you have to do is walk around, and make sure no member of the Allegiance shows up and tries to kill people... since, y'know, Jiao-Long is with the Saviors. Saviors are really anti-meta..."

She trailed off for a moment.

"...You know, [i]politics.[/i]" Cindy finished.

Shizuka had to roll his eyes at that word. "Anyway, the Zhaos are related to the Lius, right? We might see Mei and her [i]mum[/i] at the event." He emphasized the part about Lihua with a sneer.

"Hmph, yeah." Cindy said. "Jiao-Long's Meifeng's uncle if I recall correctly... I can't wait to give Meifeng a piece of my mind for disappearing on us like that..." Cindy snarled out the words.

"Well, I got your back - so I guess you can count me in." Shizuka shrugged. "And I'm definitely gonna demand for an [i]extended[/i] leave right after that event thingy."

"What? Don't like our "foreign exchange program?"" Cindy jokingly asked him with a wink.

"Not. One. [i]Bit.[/i]" Shizuka tugged at his shirt collar again. "Entertaining sour-faced grandpa's one thing, but trying to marry me off to their spoiled bitches? How about [i]no[/i]."

"Heh, I thought you'd at least like to travel." Cindy answered with a toothy grin. "I'd [i]love[/i] to be the one traveling... but I don't think I'm white enough for that. Ha." She followed that up with laughter.

Shizuka sighed. "...Shut up."

"Sorry, Shizu." Cindy said, briefly laughing.

Max just listened to the two for a moment, looking confused. It was a bit different from her normal grumpy look. She spoke when there was a break in the conversation. "Wait, you're asking [i]us[/i] to help at this celebration?" And by us, she meant her. "Are you sure?" Her tone wasn't even confrontational, just confused.

"Yes." Cindy cordially said. "Would you rather sit around in here doing paperwork, or would you like to go out to that fair where you'll have plenty of food to eat, and different people to talk?" She asked, not a hint of hostility in her voice.

At that point Alice perked up, "Free food? Shit, why didn't you say that before? You had me at lasagna."

This wouldn't be a surprise to Cindy, or even Max, Alice was always eating. The fact that she wasn't chewing on something right now would be more of a surprise. Her ability allowed her to quite literally bend space, so it didn't matter quite how much she seemed to eat, it all got burned off when she teleported.

"I think my answer to that is quite obvious," Max replied with a shrug. "The festival." She was finding it easier to be courteous to Cindy with other people around.

"Good, good, good... I'll sign the three of ya'll up..." Cindy said. "Anything else we need to go over? Questions? I [i]am[/i] one of the top DOVEs here in Baybridge."

Alice raised her hand, "Seriously though, will there be lasagna?"

Cindy shrugged.

"...[i]Dunno[/i]," was the simplest answer that Cindy could produce. "But I know there'll be seafood!"

The petite blonde narrowed her eyes in mock suspicion, "Well... as long as there's shrimp..."

Her tone changed, making it clear that now she was being serious, "How much earlier can we be up there? I'd rather walk the site before it's packed with people, get a feel for it y'know?"

"We can actually show up [i]now[/i]," Cindy quickly answered. "Since we're DOVE, RAVEN... we can show up a little bit ahead of time... but, they're going to expect us to help."

"Getting there earlier would be a good idea. What kind of helping out would they expect us to do?" Max frowned slightly, pulling out her phone to send her cousin a quick text (she had said she be home that evening, but obviously that wouldn't be the case).

"Helping getting the DOVE hosted event set up. We're going to have our own little stand with Deborah giving a speech, and answering questions." Cindy said.

With a shrug Alice said, "I don't mind helping, I haven't been given anything else to do today and I think I might pop if I sit here till things happen."

"I also have no problem with helping - sounds better than stuck here, yeah," Max said with a slight nod.

Shizuka shook his head while the girls were discussing. [i]They are capable of having a normal conversation after all[/i], he thought sarcastically when he looked from Max to Cindy.

"'Kay, let's get a move on then..." Cindy turned her head towards Shizuka. "Are you gonna come? Well, I just [i]expect[/i] you to, but I just wanted to ask."

"Obviously I have to, or else you'll [i]glass[/i] me," Shizuka replied dryly. "Not that it works much against my ability, but my power won't save me from your wrath." And that was followed up by a short laugh.

"Heh." Cindy laughed. "Alright, let's get a move on then? I assume we all got our own vehicles... and know where the Strong Gold Community is, right?"

"Well, I have a bike..." Shizuka scratched the back of his head. "But I don't think it's appropriate for me to show up on that. And I really need to get changed out of... [i]this[/i]."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Cindy said. "Just get in my ride with me, and I'll get you there in a DOVE vehicle... it'll be better than showing up in a big old RAVEN truck." She rolled her eyes. "...And I agree, you [i]really do[/i]."

[hr][hr][i][h1][color=salmon]Haruka Takashiro[/color], & Akemi Shinoda.[/h1][/i]
[hr][hider=Kingdom Hearts II OST - Kairi][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_YyM9Dgtfk[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[b][code]Little Seapond, Roseview_[/code][/b]

Sending Shizuka off was never an easy thing for the Haruka. They had literally stayed together throughout their entire childhood (like a pair of inseparable twins). Now that the both of them had grown up, he knew he had to let his younger counterpart go - to pursue their own interests and goals in life.

Easier said than done.

He could tell that it was the same for Shizuka; the younger twin had been trying very hard to make time for the "family" out of his busy work schedule, so much so that he was sacrificing his future - the possibility of dating a girl and getting married (if he ever got that far, of course), his social circle...

He mulled over those thoughts as he washed the dirty plates in the sink. How long were they going to keep up with this "family" act? And that wasn't the only thing in Haruka's conflicted mind.

What about their [i]real[/i] family? Their parents?

Shizuka would update him with bits and pieces of news about their father if he ever met Yuuichi Takashiro whenever he was sent to Japan to deepen RAVEN's ties with the Metahuman agencies in Asia (which was a lot of hard work, since most Asian countries didn't have great opinions about America). Haruka was worried about Yuu, that he was pushing himself too far even when his age was catching up with him on top of the prolong period of stress from his diplomatic job.

He was also worried about their mother, Asami. He didn't hate her as much as Shizuka did - even if she constantly appeared aloof to the twins, she was still someone closely related to them by blood. He always felt that she might have a reason that caused her to become like that, and that was not because of her workaholic nature.

Once he was done with the washing, he went to change out of his pajamas for a red checkered dress skirt, a pair of dark jeans - and soon he was out of the house in sneakers, with a bicycle from the garage.

On his way to Havenfield Market.

[hr][hider=Kingdom Hearts II OST - Lazy Afternoons][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuIX0h-MHxQ[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[b][code]Havenfield Market, Roseview_[/code][/b]

Havenfield Market truly lived up to its name: it was indeed a haven of food fresh from the farmers' fields. On the outside of the central square, rows of shops and restaurants lined up around the borders, offering different types of processed goods made from the farmers' hard work.

Haruka pushed his bike through the crowd, inching towards where Akemi was. He raised his eyebrows at a truck that was parked before the stall; Akemi was watching two men loading pots of tulips up the vehicle. "[i]...Akemi?[/i]"

"[i]Ah, Haruka?[/i]" Akemi turned around, pleasantly surprised to see him. "[i]You can just wait for me at home - I'm almost done here anyway.[/i]"

"[i]About that...[/i]" Haruka began slowly. "[i]...Shizu is back.[/i]"

Akemi's face brightened up. "[i]Oh? Where is he now?[/i]"

"[i]At work. Holly had called him to drop by the Headquarters---[/i]" Haruka said, shrugging, and then his phone beeped. Pulling out the mobile and glancing at the screen, he frowned. "[i]Seems like he has[/i] more [i]work to do, so he won't be able to join us for lunch.[/i]"

Akemi could feel the disappointment from Haruka. "[i]It can't be helped.[/i]" She shifted her attention to the two men, signing some papers before waving the loaded truck off.

Haruka stared at the leaving truck. "[i]By the way...[/i]"

"[i]Ah,[/i]" Akemi said, noticing Haruka's questioning look. "[i]It's for the opening of Strong Gold Community that's happening at Silver Hills later in the evening.[/i]" She smiled before she continued on, "[i]In the language of flower, tulip means 'charity', which is exactly what the event is about.[/i]"

Haruka nodded - he knew about the Strong Gold Community through the news; Liu Jiao-Long had used his wealth to transform the deserted land into an affordable residential area for those who weren't able to acquire the more costly ones in most of the other Baybridge districts. While there were many, especially those Verthaven survivors like himself, who were grateful for everything he had done to help them to settle down in this city to rebuild their home, there were others who had rather mixed opinions about his "charity" acts.

"[i]I think we should attend the event - after all, Mr. Liu is our benefactor,[/i]" he said. "[i]We don't necessarily need to thank him personally, but the very least we can do is to show our support for the good things he has done to help the society.[/i]"

"[i]You're right,[/i]" Akemi agreed, placing a hand on Haruka's shoulder. "[i]I wish that Shizuka can join us.[/i]"

"[i]I am sure he will show up at the party - because DOVE and RAVEN will definitely be there too.[/i]"