•Sector 5 - Slums

@Joon “You’re right, actually. It’s sad to say, but this part of Midgar is very…dead and desolate. Nothing grows here, there is no sunlight, there is barely much water, the air is polluted, it’s dark most of the time, but luckily there is even a bit of beauty in such a place.” She whispered as she looked around her. True, this place was many of those things, but she loved it here. It was…home to her. It had been home to her since she was a little girl, and even before that. She had lived in the slums for as long as she could remember. She was birthed here and raised here. She smiled as she watched all of the people she had known for most of her life going around about their business. Everyone here was used to the life down under – she couldn’t even hope to imagine how Joon lived his life on the top of the plate. Maybe he lived a beautiful life where he could see the sun as much as he wanted. Maybe there were many flowers at the top, all different colors and grew in such wonderful conditions. She didn’t know why people wanted hers. Sure, she sold them for cheap, but if there were more at the top why did some people come down here to the bottom of the plate and get the flowers from her? She had one color – they were yellow. It was the only real color that was in such a place. It was bright, vibrant, and it symbolized hope; hope for a better, brighter future. She played with the petals of her flowers and brought a flower towards her nose where she inhaled deeply. She was so sidetracked with the scented smell of the flower, that when he suddenly agreed that she had been cute, she nearly dropped the flower into the basket. She widened her eyes and looked at him.

Joon – a Soldier, a man of power, a man in SHINRA thought that she was cute? She felt her cheeks turning a bright red color and she tried to cover it from him so he couldn’t see. She didn’t want him to about how easily his words had her blushing. When he reached forward and grabbed her, causing her to turn to him, she felt her breath catching in . She had never been this close to a man before. It only caused her breath to hitch in and her heart to race a bit faster. She saw that he was examining her a bit closer, moving closer towards her face and her eyes widened. When he mentioned her nickname and commented on it, she was surprised that he didn’t . “Cute…and the urge to cuddle me?” She cleared a bit out of nervousness and looked away from him for a second. This man really did know how to make her nervous. Or maybe it was just from herself. She heard a playful tone in his voice and turned her head just in time to see him stick his tongue out at her. A smile crossed her lips at how he suddenly looked handsome doing such an action.

She nodded her head soon at the mention of how the two of them should be on their way. She continued to lead him on through the small crowd of the people in the market place. “The flower field is right by my home. It’s just a small walk from here, and we should be there in about five or ten minutes depending on how fast of a walker you are.” She looked at him and smiled warmly. She was slightly nervous with bringing him so close to her home when she didn’t know him, but for some reason she trusted him a bit. He didn’t seem like the others. He was sweet, helpful, kind. He protected her and was extremely generous. So, indeed it wouldn’t hurt to just go ahead and show him such a place. He might want to take a few of the flowers back up to the top of the plate and maybe give them to some of his friends. She could, at least, give him a few flowers in the amount of the money that he had given to her. She wanted to compensate him for every piece of gil handed to her. He might claim that it was for the damage that his subordinates had done a bit earlier, but she wanted to give him those flowers as a thank you for both saving her and for giving her a bit of money – quite a bit of money.

“Oh look, there it is! My home is in the distance.” She pointed forward and pulled him along.
[Part Two; done]

@Joon [ OTL; sorry it took me so long to post – please forgive me ]

Hye Min was certainly thankful that someone like him would be willing to offer her money – more than enough that she had needed, yes – but it just didn’t feel right at all for her to take it. She didn’t think she even deserved that much considering the flowers were only one gil. She would feel bad to take his money and she’d feel like she had stolen from him. She was always one who wanted to do what was right. Sure, she would have put his money to good use to seek out better fertilizer for her flowers, or to save up some of the money to put towards her mothers’ birthday present in a few months. However, it was a bit too much. She opened , about to say something more of the amount of money that he had given to her, when he began speaking before her. She closed immediately and bit her lips. She gripped the basket a bit firmer as he told her not to worry about the amount of money he had handed to her. How could she not, though? She looked at the amount of money that had been placed into her slightly dented basket of flowers and felt her heart racing. She honestly had not seen such an amount of money in her life. “Thank you for such generosity.” She bowed down to him as her long hair brushed over her face. She smiled up at him softly and moved her bang from her eyes. “I shall use it well…but I still feel bad that you are giving me such an amount of money.” She admitted to him as she trailed her fingertips over the flowers in the basket. “It will be put to good use…but…” She bit her tongue for a moment to keep herself from disagreeing with his motives. Surely he had reasons as to why he gave her the amount of money that he did, so she couldn’t possibly give it back to him or keep making him feel a certain way because she didn’t want to keep it. She bowed politely to him again before she kicked the soft dirt beneath her feet. She was very thankful, indeed, and she didn’t want to make it seem like he’d done wrong for this.

She cocked her head to the side when he had suggested that she hit him if he seemed so engrossed in his thoughts. There was no way she could be violent with him in any way at all. She waved her free hand in the air. “Oh, Mr. Joon, there is no way I could hurt anyone.” She told him. “I’m not…violent in any way at all. I will just call your name and snap my fingers in front of you in an attempt to get your attention, but I could never hurt anyone.” She looked at him, a blush on her face. She couldn’t believe that he’d suggest such a thing to her. She her lips for a second and smiled when he mentioned how strong her flowers must be for thriving in such harsh conditions. She nodded. “I agree, my flowers are really strong. I believe that there must be some sacred land around here. I mean, it has to be sacred if something grows in such harsh conditions. So, you’re right – these flowers are strong and special. Those flowers must have been thriving even long before I was born. I guess I have just come at the right time and helped the flowers even moreso than they had been helped before. I love everything about these flowers, and I try to spread the beauty around. It’s nice that these flowers, too, have made it in the upper levels of the slums.” She giggled as she covered with her hands so that he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of her teeth or anything. She ran her fingers through her hair as she began to straighten herself up. She had never been in such a comfortable state around someone like this. Usually, she stuck to herself, but now she felt as though this man, Joon, had made her a bit comfortable. Maybe it was because they were discussing such topics like flowers – something that she loved deeply. She loved to replenish the Earth and make it stronger, and if she was doing it only by little bits and pieces such as selling flowers, then she was doing some good, right? Well, she at least liked to think that she was doing something. She couldn’t just downplay what she did. Sure, she was a simple flower girl, but as Joon said, there were people who knew of her.
[Part One]

[post deleted by owner]

@Park Hye Min {part 2}

He was glad after she said it would be alright to go with her. The last thing Joon wanted to cause was any trouble for her, for himself that wasn’t a big deal. He handled trouble each single day, but then he wasn’t pulling a young girl with him. “Yeah of course, let’s go. You will need to lead the way, I don’t know where you are having your flower field”, he said then and smiled, waiting that she would start to walk into the right direction. He indeed was curious where she was living and of course at what place flowers were growing in this dark place. As a child he often wished for such a miracle. Something which would bring a little color in his dark life, but never appeared anything. Not even when he got up on the plate and became a Soldier, he really saw anything bright.

Even the people around him were dark, looking like they were just living like dolls sometimes. But this girl, she seemed to alive, so cheerful. Joon even asked himself if a guy like him deserved to be around her, after all would he be the complete opposite of her. Dark, bad, a fighter… a pupped of Shinra. But nevertheless, he enjoyed for now the company and followed her then finally.

@Park Hye Min {part 1, sorry it's short... but can't think of more at the moment, but I wanna give you a reply ;A;}

Joon knew she was having a problem with just taking the money he had given her. But well, he surely wouldn’t take it back, he had way enough of it and a girl like her would surely not use for anything unworthy. “Don’t worry about it okay? I wanted to give it to you, so see it as a present and use it for your flowers or your home or… well whatever you want to use it for. I’m sure you won’t waste it, so I don’t have any problems with giving it to you”, he explained and smiled a little. She indeed was cute, like a rare flower in a dark and gray alley, which finally dared to bloom. Indeed, she was a flower girl, even without those wonderful plants in her basket, she indeed was a flower, in her own way.

He snapped then back out of his thoughts when she talked to him again. “Ah it’s nothing. And don’t worry, there won’t be any misunderstandings between us. I just tend sometimes to doze off into my thoughts… just punch me or something and I’ll be back”, he joked and chuckled then, although it was sometimes the truth. Whenever he didn’t need to concentrate that much like during a mission, he liked to just hang at his thoughts, without realizing what was happening around him. No wonder his mentor called him always a little puppy, cause they were as restless and curious as he was. “Hm… seems like those flowers are really strong. Growing without sunlight takes very long and it’s surely not easy. For that they should be even more worth than other flowers, cause they are growing here… in the dead part of our planet”, he said and sighed a little.

Although he was part of Shinra, he didn’t like everything they were doing. Of course he would never admit that in front of anyone else of Shinra, it was quite too dangerous to say anything against the company. Soldiers just disappeared if they thought they could betray them. Smiling then warmly at her, he chuckled lightly when she turned around and blushed, cause people were calling her cute. “Indeed you are cute, even now”, he said and walked a little closer, turning her then towards him to take a closer look on those red colored cheeks. Hearing then that people were teasing her because her nickname, he sighed softly. People just tended to tease others whenever they found a reason for it. Even Joon once had been the victim of it, but that had been years ago, when he still lived in the Slums. “I’m thinking the name fits you. Cute and giving the urge to cuddle you”, he joked and stuck his tongue slightly out at her in a playful manner. He didn’t want to scare her in any way or getting too close that he would feel uncomfortable.

[post deleted by owner]

@Joon [ part two ]

It made it all the more worse when he complimented her name. She realized that she would have to thank him. She turned slightly as she tried to conceal her blush. She immediately bowed down to him and moved her bangs from her face. “Thank you…especially for not teasing my nickname. When I was younger all the school kids used to tease me since my mom accidentally said it a loud before she sent me inside.” She unknowingly revealed to him. She caught herself and placed her fingers over . “Oh my…” How did she feel comfortable enough to disclose such things about herself? She could feel a blush creeping on her cheeks again as she looked away from him. Instead, she tried to immediately change the subject back to what they had been talking about; flowers. “Oh, you don’t have to be surprised. You’ve helped me so much today and I want to be able to repay you somehow. So…I’m going to show you a place where only I go – my flower field.” She told him and smiled warmly. “No one will mind if you come with me. They know, from what they have seen that you’re kind.”

She indicated that she wanted him to follow before she reached out and lightly held onto his forearm. She tugged slightly as she meant to lead him towards the direction of her home. “Come on – I’m excited…let’s go…”

@Joon [ part one ]

Hye Min knew that it was slightly…odd that she was inviting a complete stranger towards her sacred flower field. Even more so considering the flower field was right beside her home. It was rare that anyone ever came to her house without being invited – even people that she and her mother had known for years – but this man…well, apparently he was different. She was sure that spectators who were looking on at the interaction between the two of them were just as baffled as the man, Joon, seemed to be. His expression was a dead give-away of the way he was thinking of her offer. She knew that it was random, but if he seemed so interested in seeing her flowers, then she would take him there to see them. Besides, she highly doubted that he would even do anything of harm to her or her flowers. He had come to her in her time of need. He had saved her from his subordinates. He had offered her some help with getting her flowers. He had even paid a handsome price for the flowers – though none of them were worth more than one girl, the price in which they sold. But, she felt as though this was a right decision to make. Maybe it would be best for him to see such beauty in a world that was filled with darkness and gloom. Maybe it would be wise for him to get a glimpse of what she was trying to share with the world – a gift from a planet that was still thriving and abundant with life. She truly did hope that maybe he would appreciate the beauty of it as much as she did when she had first witnessed the beautiful flowers when she was younger to now. Even those in the slums were still in awe over how well she was able to tend to them and keep them alive and constantly growing. Even her mother loved stepping out and seeing all the color in a world filled with grey. So, she hoped that this man, Joon – this Soldier, would feel the exact same way as others did down here. He did seem like the type who appreciated the simple things around him. She had seen the way he cared for the flowers when he had first saw them – and how he reacted upon meeting the ‘Flower Girl’.

“Well, I really do appreciating you compensating for the damage that had been caused. However, Mr. Joon…I do feel bad about taking the money away from you.” She admitted as she held the basket before her. She shifted slightly on the soles of her combat boots. She knew that this man would not want to take the money back, especially after he had given it to her out of kindness. But she couldn’t help it – she felt bad for taking all of this strangers’ money. Even though he had helped her, and even though she had just endured that, she didn’t believe that she /deserved/ to have the money that he had just given to her. It felt as though she was being unworthy of his kindness. She was but a simple girl who was selling flowers – she lived in the slums – she was poor. This man before her had money, he had the social status, and he lived on the upper plates. When he had suddenly began to mutter words underneath his breath, he slowly stepped closer towards him as though she wanted to know what he had said. She cocked her head to the side and her bangs moved right along with her. She smiled warmly at him and lifted her index finger.

“Joon…” She began. “If you have something to say, you should go ahead and say it, right? I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us.” She told him as she gripped her basket again. “If you’re wondering about my garden, yes, it is strange that flowers grow in Midgar, especially here when there is no sunlight and where there is no real fertile ground. However, it must be some sort of miracle that there is an entire field of flowers near my home in which I tend to the best of my abilities.” She told him. She had suddenly felt a little more comfortable around him, but when he mentioned the fact that many people were saying how cute she was, she immediately gasped. She her heels and had her back to him as she reached up and touched her cheek. She could feel how hot it was. W-was she blushing because of his words? She widened her eyes as she realized that she was blushing. “I’m not cute…” She whispered as she tried to calm down from his sweet words.

@Park Hye Min {part 2}

After she revealed her name, he really had to smile even more. Even a cute and beautiful name she got, although he was slightly surprised that she had just told him. People down here usually were really careful with names and all that, but maybe he did something right and got a little of the girl’s trust. It was making him happy of course, since he usually had only conversations with the serious people up in Shinra, talking now with a young girl was just way better. “A really beautiful name… and a cute nickname”, he said and chuckled lowly, actually only teasing her a little cause she said he shouldn’t. If she wouldn’t have talked about it, he wouldn’t even have thing of teasing her in any way, Pony was indeed a really cute name, so why should he even make it bad? Thinking over his own name, he felt a little bad in just using his new name he chose for himself back the day he left the Slums, but he didn’t really want that anyone was recognizing him as the little Lee Changsun who once got bullied by Soldiers and was now the commander of them. No, it was better if Changsun just disappeared and would never come back.

Her next words shook him out of his thoughts and he looked at her a little surprised. She really wanted to even show her where she was living? Not that he had anything against it, he was just surprised about how many trust she seemed to have in him. “Uh… of course, I would love to see them. I’m just a little surprised about your offer, usually people down here don’t want my kind to get even close to their homes”, he explained and chuckled a little, smiling though brightly at her. “Don’t worry, I’m not busy at all, I would really love to see them. But are you sure no one will have anything against it if I come with you?”, he asked then a little skeptically. He didn’t want to cause her any problems, neither with the inhabitants of the Slums nor for example with her mother, although she was surely old enough to just decide on her own who she would take with her and who not. Joon just wanted to make sure about everything, it was just his nature… well now it was his nature, after tons of hours training and all that he had to do up in Shinra the past years.

Just now he even wondered if that old hideout of the children he was part of was still there and if they still were living on the streets. Well of course there were children on the streets, but he indeed wondered if their old hideout was still there or if they were still using it. Joon could remember it like it had been yesterday, how they were running back to it after they were able to steal something from one of the Soldiers or just one of the higher ranked people, which came down here.

@Park Hye Min {part 1}

He of course noticed that her hands were trembling while she held them towards her, like she just waited for any sudden chance of his mood or that he would start to act like those other Soldiers which were down here before. But Joon had no intentions of doing so, instead he just smiled and took the flowers after he gave her the money, looking at them with an even brighter smile. It had been ages since he last saw any flowers and he really had believed that all of them were gone in Midgar. Good to hear now, or better said see for the moment, that they still were growing somewhere around here. Looking at her then, he chuckled softly and nodded. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not only for the flowers, rather more for the destroyed ones too and the basket… and the wrong behavior of the Soldiers before.. so just take it and don’t even think of giving it back”, he said and grinned.

There was no way he would take the money back, after all did he really want to give it to her, knowing that she surely wouldn’t use it for any . That was the thing here in the Slums, if people managed to get some money, they were usually always using it useful, trying to help others, getting a better home in which they were more safe or just anything like that. Joon noticed that his nice behavior didn’t stay unnoticed, other people here were watching him closely, surely not only because his kind manner, even more cause they were still watching over the young girl in front of him, making sure he wasn’t going to do anything wrong. The commander doubted that they would seriously interfere if he decided to do anything to this girl, after all knew the people here that they wouldn’t have a single chance, but still they were watching him closely. Well it wasn’t that dumb, even looking like that could prevent anyone from doing anything wrong, after all did not all Soldiers know, that people down here were rarely interfering into anything.

When she started to explain where the flowers were growing, he listened carefully and curious, wondering then as well about the strange behavior. Flowers usually needed sunlight to grow and good earth, but nothing of that could be found down here. The plate was keeping all sunlight away and the makro reactors had took so much of life out of the earth that almost nothing was able to grow anymore. No wonder that every single bit of food needed to get imported from other cities or places, since Midgar indeed could be called as dead place. “In the backyard of your house, huh? Strange…”, he mumbled softly and thought about it. If he could, he would love to see that place, but since he didn’t want to just ask that bluntly, he waited for now. The last thing in his mind was getting on her nerves or steal her time and he could even understand, if she didn’t want to show a Soldier like him where she was living.

“Yes indeed. There was no name except flower girl.. a few guys even said that she’s a quite cute young girl and well you know what kind of stuff men are talking about”, he said and shrugged then a little, smiling and nodding, since he was sure too that they had talked about her. Not the thing about the flowers alone was true, even their whole conversation over how cute she was. Of course he wasn't saying a word about it, he didn't want to scare her after all.

(I meant 18 years of her life... Sorry. Haha)

@Joon [ Part two ]

The people of the slums couldn’t possibly be the only people that struggled…right? She wondered. She had never lived on top of the plate to even know whether or not upper Midgar was any different from the slums in which she had inhabited all of her fifteen years of life. Her mother – her real mother – used to tell her stories of her father who had once been a part of Soldier. If her father had ever returned to them she would have asked him of stories of his adventures in Shinra, in Soldier, and in the upper world. But, she never got that chance with her birth father, or her adoptive mothers’ husband who, too, joined Soldier but had yet to return. She would have asked the man before her, but she felt as though she didn’t know him well enough to wonder about his life in the upper parts of Midgar. She potentially wouldn’t even see him after this encounter today. Why would he ever want to come back under the plates and visit her, a girl who was from the slums when there were other females who lived in the upper parts with money? She shook her head of the thought when he began speaking.

As he asked her about ‘them’ (which she immediately assumed he was talking of the flowers), she looked down at the basket for a moment and smiled. “Well…these flowers usually grow here. It’s kind of strange, really, considering there is no sunlight which passes through this…the bottom plate. I thought it was weird as I grew up but the only place it’ll grow is the backyard of my home. I’ve wandered these entire slums, and some of the other sectors and yet I see no flowers, no greenery; nothing.” She told him. She, indeed, loved to speak on her flowers. They were so beautiful. They were so unique and rare. She was very thankful that she was blessed with the opportunity to handle them, to plant them, and to sell them. But, her eyes widened when she heard his next words. “Truly – there is talk of a flower girl up there?” She knew there was no other flower girl here, so it was all unrealistic to her. How could anyone know of someone in the slums? “Well…I guess that means they were talking of me.” She lightly smiled and looked back up into the Soldiers’ eyes. “Everyone thinks that flowers do not grow anymore because of the pollution, but I guess these are some really tough flowers.” She lightly touched some of the petals on the flowers in the basket. She played with them for quite some time, slightly intrigued and amused all at the same time. She was still in awe over what he had said. She couldn’t believe that people knew of…her… She was honored, really. She held the basket with two hands. “Ah, so you say your name is ‘Joon’? I like that. It’s unique.” She smiled. “My name is Park Hye Min…you can either call me that or ‘Pony’. And don’t tease,” She put up her index finger as though to halt any teasing he was about to do. “My mother has called me that since I was younger. She says it’s because I am graceful and majestic.” She lightly giggled at the thought of it. She used to hate being called such a name, but it began to grow on her. She lightly tapped her chin suddenly as she thought deeply for a moment. He probably wanted to see some of the flowers that she was talking about. “Hey…Joon…would you maybe like to see the flower patch that grows near my home? I would love for you to see if you’re curious…or if you aren’t busy.” She gripped the basket and turned her head to the side. “It won’t take long…I know you have a lot of work to do back at Shinra.” She told him. “Come, it’s only around the bend…”

@Joon [ Part one ]

Hye Min was always known as the innocent shy girl rose by a woman who had tried to give her the best that she could. Hye Min was just like this naturally, nervous to meet new people, nervous around strangers; however, once she got used to them everything would be perfectly fine. Sure, she was extremely talkative, but that was usually only with her mother. For some reason just being before this man who was clearly in Soldier but of higher status was making her lose her voice, her sense of self, and causing her knees to slightly buckle together underneath her long dress. She was thankful, though, that it went unnoticed. It just wasn’t normal for someone to come to the slums and treat the people from the lower world with such kindness like this man was doing for her now. That was why she had offered him her flowers for free, because he had helped her and she felt as though those in the upper world, too, were lacking a little color and beauty around them. It was her own gift that she wanted to give him, something that would potentially start his day off right after he had to leave from his office and scold a bunch of his subordinates. She held the flowers in trembling hands towards him, expecting him to take the small bundle of saved flowers, but instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the money to pay for them. She could already see that from the amount in his hand that it was clearly more than the three gil that the three flowers were worth. Her eyes widened immediately at the sudden offer to help her, but before she could decline, she felt his hands in hers as he placed the money in her palm, then closed her hand around the money. She looked, firstly, at her hand which held money that she had never had before – an amount that was foreign to her, an amount that her and her mother could only dream of and struggled to get. She bit her lips before she looked back up at him. “A-are you sure you want to give these to me? The flowers are for free for you. I wasn’t expecting you to pay…or even give me this vast amount.” She shook her head. She couldn’t take the amount of money that he had offered. She just wouldn’t feel right. Her mother would, of course, make her give it back to him anyways because her mother was humble and she felt as though they all had to work hard for what little they did gain in the world. Hye Min, of course, agreed with her mothers’ way of thinking in this case. She just couldn’t fathom the fact that this type of money had been handed to her in such a way. It had been given up so freely. People around here could only wish of acquiring such riches in a lifetime.

She could feel so many eyes on them – mostly on the man that was being so kind to her, a person of the slums. Hye Min was known around here as the type of girl that people looked after, but in the situation that had just happened, they could do nothing. For now, they were watching over her closely in hopes that the man wouldn’t be of harm to her after what had just happened. She was sure that they were all curious as to what the man planned to do with Hye Min. They all believed that Hye Min was a beautiful young woman of eighteen years old and it was time for her to find a suitable partner, but of course, Hye Min was so focused on helping her mother out, tending to her garden, and selling beautiful flowers, that it never crossed her mind to even look in the direction of any guy. So, for her to stand in front of a handsome man such as the one before her, it was completely a shift in what she went through on a regular basis. She lightly placed the money into the bottom of her basket without further argument and bowed down to him again; thanking him silently for the kindness which he had showed, yet again, to her. She lightly rubbed her arm with her free hand as her gaze wandered away from him. Hearing him explain his free schedule slightly calmed her. He did seem as though he was a busy man who potentially had a lot on his plate, considering he was in charge of a whole unit of men. Besides, it was probably even tougher living in the upper world and even being a part of Shinra…right?

@Park Hye Min {part 2}

“But I’m curious young lady… from where do you get them? Above the Slums people are often talking about a girl in the Slums which is selling wonderful flowers, but I thought flowers wouldn’t grow anymore in Midgar”, he spoke and looked at her then curious. He just wanted to know if she found some place where they still were growing, or if she was getting them from somewhere outside of Midgar, although he was doubting the latter. How should a girl like her getting flowers from outside of Midgar? She wasn’t a fighter or anything and they to the next town or village or whatever was full with monsters which were attacking people, if they crossed their ways. Since Joon didn’t feel like already living now, he looked around and wondered if there was any place they could go, he wanted as well making sure that the young girl was alright and not in some kind of shock she just didn’t notice till now. “Oh and… my name is Joon by the way. Call me just like that”, he added then quickly, when he finally remembered that he hadn’t introduced himself. He was curious about the girl’s name too, but he decided to just wait if she would tell him now too or if she wanted to keep it for herself. He wouldn’t blame her, after all were her experiences with Soldiers not the best ones, although he was now nice, but well, he was one of a lot.

Knowing that he actually needed to go back, since he wasn’t done with his work yet, he just threw the thought somewhere and ignored it for the moment, since people were surely able to survive one day without having him in the office. Now they would just need to ask someone else about any missions, after all did all 1st Class soldiers know about it already, so they could look for themselves. He was too curious about the girl for the moment and wanted to get to know her a little more, maybe that was a little selfish, but he usually was always doing his work just like he should, one day having off was surely not a crime.

@Park Hye Min {part 1}

Joon noticed the tears in her eyes, as well that she was more than nervous around him, but well, he wasn’t complaining about anything. He knew how scary Soldiers can be, but he really didn’t think that his Soldiers would be the same like those which bullied him once too. He indeed needed to do something against it, no matter what, but like that was it no wonder people down here hated them. He noticed the curious eyes of the other inhabitants of the slums, watching him and the young girl carefully, like they wanted to make sure he was not doing any harm to her. Not that they would do anything, most of them were too scared, but luckily was Joon not really intending to hurt anyone down here. The first moment he really believed that this young girl couldn’t talk, cause she didn’t give a single sounds from her, but then, when she finally started to speak, he smiled a little and listened to her stuttered words, smiling over it.

She indeed was a cute one, he couldn’t understand how the other Soldiers treated her like that before. When she bowed he actually wanted to tell her that there was no need to do so. Joon could tell that she was surely acting this way because of his rank and title, she surely knew now who exactly he was, but she had no reason to do so in his eyes. “Oh I will punish them… it wasn’t your fault young girl, you just wanted to be nice to them and they treated you like you would be some sort of criminal. I can’t tolerate such a behavior, Soldiers under my fist need to protect the civil, not scare them to death and even shot on them when they only want to sell flowers”, he replied and shook softly his head. He knew she didn’t want to cause anyone trouble, but right here she won’t be able to save them. Actually she should rather be mad at them for treating her like that, but she seemed just too pure and nice that she could ever do anything like that. Like this, she just looked like an innocent child, just wanting to cause no one any trouble and help people which needed it a little. It remembered him more than he wanted at himself, how he had been in his past, although he wasn’t that nice and innocent, but that was maybe because he was a guy and not a girl.

Looking at her then after her next words, he was slightly confused. She was speaking like he had showed any discomfort here, like she would be a burden, but he couldn’t remember that he gave her that feeling. Looking down on her petite frame, he smiled and patted then gently once again her head. “Don’t worry, I’m not here because of a mission or anything. For now I don’t have any business to do, that was actually the reason I came down here”, he said and chuckled a little, he couldn’t believe how damn cute this girl was. Joon looked at the flowers and smiled, burying his hand then in his pocket and getting out a few gils, actually more than the flowers are worth. “I would like to get some flowers. But I’m gonna pay for them like everyone else too. Here, this should be even indemnify the hurt ones”m he spoke and placed the gils into her hand, not willing to take them back. It was nice and kind from her to give him the flowers for free, but there was no way that he could accept them. Joon had way too much money that he could take from someone in the Slums something for free, when she usually was getting money for it to survive. Right now, if he could, he would just give her even more of his money, just because he had the feeling, that she was just one of those nice and pure souls, which were doing nothing else than bringing a little hope and happiness into other people’s life. But of course he couldn’t do that, everyone around them was watching and he couldn’t just treat one of them like a princess and the other’s not.

@Joon [ part two ]

She lightly touched her cheeks as she tried to keep her calm. When the taller individual walked away to grab her basket and some of her flowers and apologized, she stole glances at him, just to take a peek of the man who had come to her aid. When he handed her the slightly bent and ripped basket with a few flowers and her gil inside of it, she immediately bowed her head to him and moved her loose hair from her face. She then lightly gripped the basket handle in her hands.

His calming voice continued to speak to her, asking her whether or not she was okay. He was trying to make sure that she wasn’t hurt or dangerously injured. Had she not moved away from the gunfire that had been shot at her, she would have been wounded and would have had to deal with the pain herself. She furrowed her eyebrows as she nodded in response to his questioning. She had realized that she had yet to speak to him, to say any words. She had been too much in shock, too worried, too afraid of what had happened that she was at a loss for words. Realizing how wrong it had been to keep silent from him, a man who had helped her and protected her from the violence of those around her, she lightly cleared and prepared to speak. “T-thank you, sir…I am fine due to your help.” She whispered lowly before she bowed again to him. “Y-you don’t have to be angry with them. It was my mistake to ruin their civic duties. I should have gone about my business.” She told him as she pulled the basket tighter towards her. She looked down at the significant loss of her flowers, of her wages. Her mother could have used that money to buy herself something nice. Hye Min loved helping her mother out as much as humanly possible. She touched the slightly crooked flower petals but there wasn’t much damage to the ones in her basket. “I don’t want to hold you up any longer from getting back to your busy life.” She felt like a burden to a man that she didn’t even really know. Somehow she felt a little nervous just being around him like this. “I’m sorry if you came here and had to deal with me. W-would you like a flower to potentially take back to your Shinra estate? It’s free of charge, of course…” She told him as she reached into her basket and grabbed three flowers to give to him.

@Joon [ part one ]

Hye Min had never been so embarrassed or humiliated in all of her life. She knew that people treated poorer individuals with hatred and disgust, but she didn’t deserve such treatment. She had done nothing wrong to those Soldiers but try to spread a little beauty and joy in their lives. Her intentions were never bad. Her intentions were nothing but pure and innocent. She was prepared to head back to the flower fields to avoid going directly into her home because she didn’t want her mother to worry for her. Her mother had too much going on right now to even worry of a grown daughter. However, as she was making her way towards the area, a strong grip stopped her from doing so. It was powerful and firm and caused her to stop in her tracks as she leaned against the chest of an unknown individual. She closed her eyes as her forehead rested lightly against his chest. She didn’t know who the individual was but she could tell it was a man with the way the grip was and the way his chest felt against her. She remained rooted in her spot as his hand lightly patted against her head, smoothing out her hair before his grip moved towards her arm holding her in place. She honestly couldn’t move even if she wanted to. Instead, she stood there with him as she heard his booming voice scolding the Soldiers who had mistreated her and crushed her belongings. She was shocked and surprised that someone would come to her aid since she was of lower status, especially compared to that of a Soldier. And, even though people of the slums knew that such actions weren’t called for or even wanted, they could do nothing about it because they could be killed just for standing up for a small, petite girl such as herself. Inwardly she was thankful of this kind man’s help, but she was extremely nervous to even look up and see who had been the man that had helped her out. Instead, she lightly bit her lip to keep from crying in front of this man. He might be here helping her at the moment, however, she wasn’t about to potentially have him turn against her and over her tears. People of the slums were supposed to be tougher than what she was now.

She hadn’t even realized what he had said until after the words escaped his lips. He had told the men to all head back to the Shinra building and she could hear the footsteps and the opening of the gate. Although she wasn’t into the military much, she knew that only one of higher power than those of the mere Soldiers were allowed to command them as such. Was this…man a member of Soldier or a higher rank than those that had suddenly caused her to turn from them and attempt to flee to the safety of her flower field? She held her breath slightly as she listened to the man scolding them loudly. She was certain that he would end up scolding her, too, for approaching the Soldiers and trying to sell them wages. However, instead of being scolded like she thought she’d be, instead, he lightly released her arm. She had a chance to just turn away from him and quickly head back to the safety of her home in the slums, but for some reason she couldn’t leave without thanking the mysterious stranger who had appeared out of nowhere. That wouldn’t be the right thing to do. So, instead, she made sure to stand there, too nervous to look up at his face and see the man who had offered her his assistance. She was too nervous to face a stranger whom was in Soldier like the others. She wasn’t even supposed to be this close or even be touching someone of higher status than her. She should be standing in the background like all the other people of the slums were doing, right now, watching her closely. She bit her lips as her eyes remained on the ground. But, while she was looking at the ground, she could feel a deep gaze on her. It was as though someone with piercing eyes were watching her closely, examining her and studying her as though she was some foreign being. She knew for a fact that the one that was staring at her had been the man who had protected her from the dangerous Soldiers who took their role of authority too seriously. She used all of the courage that was inside of her and looked up at the man who literally towered over her. She widened her eyes as she made eye contact with him for the first time. His eyes were extremely black, piercing eyes that seemed to glow slightly for some odd reason. He had striking features and his face seemed to be perfectly sculpted. She gasped slightly as she lightly touched against her lips to cover the gasp in which had nearly escaped from her. She immediately felt a blush on her cheeks and she looked down, completely shy and nervous to face such a man of great power and stature. Most men her age or even younger had went off to join the military so there wasn’t anyone around her other than adults, young women, small children, and old couples.

@Park Hye Min [part two]

“So this is how you take my words of making sure everything here goes well… treating a young girl which wanted nothing more than bring a little color in this dark world, like she would be some sort of criminal. You all! Immediately heading back to Shinra headquarters, till you get further instructions… now!”, he spoke, his voice deep, serious and even angered. The Soldiers immediately followed his orders, leaving the slums in a quick movement. After they finally left, he let slowly go of the girl’s arm which he unconsciously had hold the whole time gently, just to make sure she wouldn’t run away from him.

His eyes immediately softened when he looked down at her, smiling even a little, before he leaned down to pull up the basket. He was slightly destroyed, but nothing he couldn’t repair within a little time. “I apologize for the whole trouble young lady. I’ll make sure that they will receive a high punishment for their shameless behavior”, he said with a calm and soft voice, picking then up the remaining unhurt flowers and handing them towards her. Although he usually wasn’t really the gentle and nice guy, this situation here was completely different. It remembered him too much at his own childhood, in which he had been the one who got bullied by Soldiers, calling him an useless thing, who will never reach anything in his life. And now? Here he was, commander of Soldier, letting them dance just like he was playing the music.

“Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”, he asked then, looking at her a little more close to make sure she didn’t had any wounds or something. Seemed like her body wasn’t hurt at all, but he still wasn’t sure how it would be with her emotions. Soldiers actually should keep peace and hope down here, but just now again he had to see, that they were doing nothing except causing even more trouble. Joon looked quickly around, checking if they had annoyed any other people in here, but quickly he turned his attention back to the girl. The old people in here maybe could recognize him if they saw his face for too long, but the commander wasn’t really feeling like getting revealed just like that.

He wasn’t even sure how she would react now to him, after all was he just one of them, although he of course hoped that she wouldn’t put all Soldiers into the same pot. Although she had some dirt on her dress and she looked frightened, Joon couldn’t help but notice her beauty. A rare flower in a dead desert, what perfect way to describe her. He even remembered that he had heard about a girl in the Slums which was selling flowers, a few people had told him about, which even bought some of her flowers. But that had been a while ago now, surely about 2 or 3 weeks.

But now wasn’t the right time to think about such stuff, he needed more to concentrate on the current situation than on anything else. Still he hadn’t hear the girl speak in any way, he didn’t really pay any attention to if she had tried to still escape while he had hold her back, cause he had been busy with hissing at the other Soldiers. It was just true, since he entered Soldier, his human feelings slowly started to degenerate. At least in the case of showing some feelings towards other human beings to maybe calm them.

@Park Hye Min [part one]

Joon was still asking himself what the hell was moving him down into the Slums. It wasn’t really his responsibility to take care of everything down there, that for he had send a group of Soldiers down to make sure everything was alright and no rebels were planning to start any moves. But today it was somehow different, the strange feeling in his stomach was just not letting him work properly. Like he was feeling that something was going wrong and usually he could always listen to his inner voice, although it sometimes was speaking a totally different language than he was able to understand. Slamming his fist finally down on his desk, he growled lowly about the little hole he caused. Even after all the years he sometimes forgot how much strength he had in his arms, this here was already his second desk in one month.

Sighing he moved himself up from his seat, throwing every single document aside he actually would need to work on and put on his uniform with everything he needed. His sword placed on his back, material hidden in his pockets and of course making sure his hair was fixed, he then left his office, not even caring about the confused looks people in the floor were giving him. Usually he never just left the Shinra building without any order or problems, but right now he felt like he should take a look into the Slums by himself. It didn’t take long for the commander of Soldier to reach the closed gate, opening it without any problems and of course with a strict order towards the guardian in front of it, before he finally entered the Slums.

He just remembered this place, knowing how it had been when he lived here, although it had been a long time. Being one of the orphans here, he knew exactly how hard life in the Slums could be and that was actually the reason why he was caring about it that much. Like he thought, his inner voice hadn’t fooled him. Just when he arrived he saw how one of the Soldiers he had sent down here was kicking into a basket full of flowers. Everyone who lived her knew how rare flowers were in Midgar, how dumb needed people to be that they were treating those little plants of hope with such a careless behavior.

A low growl escaped his lips, when he noticed that the flower basket was long not the only victim of his so called elite group. First hiding by the gate, he watched the scene a little to make sure he was seeing right, before he took big steps towards them, quickly getting into the girl’s way, which just wanted to run off – or at least it looked like it – and stopped her from leaving, patting gently her head, before he turned towards the Soldiers. As soon as they recognized who exactly was standing in front of them, they quickly snapped to attention and stopped their childish behavior.

@Joon [part two]

She walked through the sector in an attempt to sell her many flowers, some being sold, some being turned down, but all the while she smiled and was thankful for the slight conversation and news from the upper world, since she did not own a television to know of such things.

As she neared the shop keepers home, she heard the sound of many people walking and a gate being open. She paused and stopped to turn her head. She witnessed a vast amount of armed men in uniforms walking through the gates before they closed the gate and congregated near the small mall. It was rare for her to see Soldiers around the Slums since they mostly inhabited the upper world or the outer world. Either they were here to make sure there were no talk of rebel groups against Shinra, the most powerful company in and out of Midgar, was home to the origins of Soldier. She smiled. Maybe they would love to get some flowers to start their day off right.

She figured the man who owned the small shop would have to wait right now. She headed on towards the group of Soldiers as she bowed politely to them.
"Hello there, and good morning. Would you Soldiers, perhaps, want to buy some flowers? They're extremely beautiful and rare and the best part about them is that they're only one gil a flower." She introduced as she looked at each one of them. "Sorry to bother you early this morning but I would be really thankful if you do."

Each of the Soldiers looked at her and a few stepped forward. She smiled as she thought that maybe they were stepping forward to be the first to buy flowers, but instead, one snatched her basket away from her.
'What are you doing, trying to force us to give you money for these fake flowers? Every time we come down into the poorer sectors there are hustlers out here like you who want to get us to spend our hard-earned money. How about you get a job and stop trying to get by in life the easy way!' One snapped at her.
'Yeah! I'm sick of coming to these sectors and being swindled!' Another called out and snatched the basket from his companion. He threw the basket on the ground and him and a few others began to stomp on the basket.

"My flowers!" Hye Min screamed before she ran forward to grab her basket, but another Soldier had a gun towards her.

'Run off little girl if you know what's best for you! I would hate to have to make an example out of you in front of all these poor folks here!' He threatened.

Hye Min took a step back as she stared wide-eyed at her basket of crushed flowers. "You didn't have to do that!" She said as she placed her hands down. She took a step towards the basket, but paused at the click of the gun.

'We warned you!'
One of the men aimed the gun at the ground near her feet and shot. She yelped and immediately jumped back, falling onto the ground and out of the way of the bullet. She struggled to her feet and tried to wipe the dirt off of her favorite dress, one that her mother had made for her last month.
'You better leave before I'm not so nice with my gunfire next time!'
The man threatened and aimed the gun again.
Hye min immediately turned and took off running away from the man who had threatened her, her eyes full of tears as she tried to wipe them away and not allow them to fall.

@Joon [part one]

Hye Min smiled as she walked from the upstairs portion of her home. Fully dressed in a simple pink dress, a small jacket, and brown combat boots, her hair in a high pony-tail, she was prepared to start her extremely long day ahead of her. She held in her arms an empty basket to head to the garden that was beside her home. It was particularly strange how in this spot right beside her home was the place in which flowers bloomed on a daily basis. Of course, she maintained the land and always had flowers to sell to people in order to give them a little bit of beauty in such a horrid place.

A smile was plastered to her lips as she noticed her mother sitting at the kitchen table, breakfast already prepared. Hye Min bowed politely to her.
"Good morning, mom," She said cheerfully as she walked to the table and grabbed a small glass of milk that had been prepared for her. "Breakfast looks good, but I'm sorry I can't stay and eat. The earlier I leave, the greater chance I can sell these flowers." She smiled as she tapped her empty basket. "Well...I have to pick them first, but you get what I'm trying to say."
'But, Hye Min, you always leave the house early; you should stay just this once in order to have strength for the duration of time you're out there.'
Hye Min knew her mother would be worried about her completely, so, there was no point in trying to go against her word. She immediately grabbed a piece of toast and headed for the door quickly.
"Satisfied?" She triumphantly smiled as she bit into the crunchy piece of bread. "Delicious! I'll be back later tonight. Be safe!" She told her and quickly slipped out of the door before her mother could argue. She smiled and headed out into the gloomy world. She took a deep breath and looked up at the plated sky. It was a shame she couldn't enjoy the sight of the sun while living in such a place. She often times wondered how life was on the top but...she was too poor to even make it towards the closed gate which housed the upper world without being turned around. She shrugged her shoulders slightly before she turned to the left and headed towards the vast flower field.

This was the only beauty that was in her world and it surprised her that she was able to see such things. She headed through the flower fields by her home and picked enough flowers that she could sell in a days' time. As she was finished, she walked back towards her house and passed it into the Sector 5 slums.

As usual, there were people there who were attempting to sell many things. There were venders selling old, used wares, there were venders selling materia, there was a small mall where people could buy scraps and other found things, and there was even a man who claimed that he had interesting things from the upper world. Homeless people stayed here in the small tunnels in the pipes, there was the town drunk, and even a sick man whom no one was able to help. This sector was filled with a lot of those who struggled and Hye Min was one of them. She usually traveled from poor sector to poor sector, but this was the first sector she sold her flowers in - it was the poorest, which was why she sold her flowers for one gil. Most people declined, but they knew her family and still attempted to give her what little they did have. Then, there were people who would try to steal her gil, so she never kept it in her pockets, instead, she kept the money she made either in the lower regions of her basket, or her shoes.

She held her head high as she walked through the sector, attempting to sell her flowers to the inhabitants there.
"Fresh flowers picked from the flower fields. They are beautiful, colorful, and can bring you happiness. They're only for one gil. Fresh flowers..." She called out in her soft voice as she lightly held onto one flower. She raised it above her head and was stopped by her usual first seller. It was a woman with a small child at home. She loved buying the flower and giving it to her young daughter. Every time her daughter would ask her where she got the flower from, the woman would say 'by magic' and the little girl would be thrilled to receive her next flower. Then, Hye Min sold a flower to a man who's wife was sick with the flu. He loved giving her a flower a day until she healed. She looked forward to receiving a flower. Hye Min then gave a flower to a man who had nothing. He was poor and lived in the tunnels. She never asked him for anything, but he was always trying to give her more than what the flower was worth.