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As usual, rumors flew furiously through the halls of the Shinra building.
One cadet said to another, "Guy from Squad 6 yesterday said the General is being followed by an invisible choir everywhere he goes."
"No way man, it's probably just earbuds or headphones in his pocket."
"Don't take magic out of the world."
Earlier...
He'd agreed to it. Why? Why not?
By order of the greatly esteemed Zack Fair, summer solstice was now Give-a-Gift-to-Your-Friend Day. Appropriate observation of the holiday consisted of... the obvious, although you could give a gift to any number of friends, which was nice. Unfortunately, it looked like the honor of hosting the first auspicious celebration would fall to Midgar, Rotting Pizza Capital of the World. Not a good place to spend summer.
What a coincidence that it was Beachplug season in Costa del Sol. Someone had to protect the vacationing sunbathers and swimmers from their stings. The experts predicted a greater-than-usual concentration of the monsters. It could be a serious situation, possibly requiring greater-than-usual SOLDIER attention. Yes, merely a coincidence. Sephiroth wrote the mission. They could stay at that beach house and be thankful for air conditioning.
Zack caught him smiling and asked why.
It was still a secret, so he said instead, about the holiday, "Zack, after this you will be broke."
"Nah, they'll give me stuff too. Fair trade and all."
Sephiroth managed not to laugh at the pun. No, that was a lie. He did laugh.
If he was really going to get into the spirit of the thing, he'd need to think of quite a few gift ideas. Tseng probably knew about Give-a-Gift-to-Your-Friend Day before Zack even came up with it, so he'd get something for Tseng. And for the other non-SOLDIER generals. Scarlet just barely made the cut as a friend, but she might get the wrong message. Or maybe not. It would be amusing to find out.
Of course, the most important gift would be for Zack.
What did Zack like to do?
Zack liked lots of different things. You had to pay close attention to which one it was at the moment. Thankfully, that wasn't difficult, because Zack loved to talk.
Last week he'd been going on about dolphins. How aquadynamic they were, and how strong and powerful and how they slept with one eye open so they could kill sharks if necessary. They talked to each other constantly and passed down knowledge through the generations and always seemed to be having fun. So Sephiroth had nearly a month to get Zack something dolphin-related. If he couldn't find something good in that time, Zack liked photography 24/7.
He could ask his fanclub where to get such a gift; that was an option. But Zack would see and he'd be upset. It needed to be more of a surprise than that.
What was it he'd heard on his travels? A little girl in Junon had said, right out of the blue, "Mideel is Mr. Dolphin's playground!" The strangest rumors could suddenly become relevant. It was incredible. He'd search for a suitable present there, two days from now, when he'd be helping to set up a medical lab to treat the aging population because the hot springs were not sufficient.
Unsurprisingly, the mission was a success. The doctors were grateful. Sephiroth hadn't met the scientists who studied the Lifestream quakes; he could do that on another trip. He went shopping.
The store owners practically jumped at the chance to sell him their wares. Weapons of genuine crystal! Buy this rare and expensive Chocofeather! Last one in stock! It was okay, but not special enough, and had nothing to do with dolphins. Although maybe Hojo could make that happen. Hmm... choco-dolphins.... In the end, none of the merchandise was the right gift. And under no circumstances should Zack have that cannon.
He walked back to the inn, trying not to be discouraged.
On the morning of his departure, he found himself pacing along the beach, lost in thought. There was no breeze yet, the water was still. The sun had only just made the concession to rise (probably woken by the cacophony of jungle birdsong), so the light was shadowed gray brightening to pale. He saw the trails in the sand where Sea Worms had come ashore to hunt at night. He was enjoying the relative peace and wondering if he could have gotten away with taking off his boots when he accidentally kicked something. He looked down to see what it was, expecting perhaps the empty carapace of an unlucky crab or a piece of driftwood. It was a whistle. How odd.
As soon as he touched it, he understood its use, what it would summon. Ha! That would be perfect.
Give-a-Gift-to-Your-Friend Day was rapidly approaching. Now that he'd made it official, he needed to find the gifts. Seph was first on his list. Zack went shopping.
The music store was poorly lit, appealing to that dark and edgy laser tag teenage aesthetic. Many of the cd's were in the wrong section and casually defied the concept of alphabetical order. It was the best place in town though, with the largest selection. Actually, it was kinda fun to browse and then stumble upon things you'd never heard of. And you could get a warm fuzzy feeling from putting something back where it belonged.
Oh! That would be perfect! It was new, so Seph couldn't possibly have it already. He'd be ecstatic. There was only one copy left. Must be destiny. Zack smiled.
He paid for the 3-disc album of choral marches and thanked the clerk.
One cadet said to another, "Were you there for that drill with Lieutenant-General Fair?"
"No, why?"
"Dolphins, man. Every time he blew the whistle."
"What, in Midgar?"
"Yeah, right out there on the field. Crazy animals did better on the obstacle course than half the trainees."
"...?"
"Those things can jump."