So, since I've been in a writing stump as of late, I decided a while ago to try something new that might be able to help, asking you guys for prompts! And thus The 29 Days Of Final Fantasy VII was born. On my Tumblr (SnowyNibleheim) I asked for prompts, and I got some! :D Not enough to fill all 29 days, but enough to start! SO I'm now asking you guys too! I will take any prompt, any pairing (or no pairings if you wish) and any rating. ANY. (I will bump rating up of needed.)
Anyways, for the next 28 days, (not including today) I will be posting one fic a day that I wrote that day. Hope you guys enjoy them and that a few of you send in some prompts! :)
Today's prompt was sent in by an Anonymous who asked 'What about a fic focusing on Marlene and Vincent? Vincent would take his role as Marlenes favorite uncle very seriously and teach her stuff every child needs to know. Like how to shoot a gun, pick a lock, and look hella cool. Also, tea parties.'
Well dear Anonymouse, this one is for you! Hope you enjoy it!
Dark crimson stared down into earth brown; the older, stoic ex-Turk and the young, rather cheerful girl. Polar opposites in most ways, but yet they got along rather well. Still, Vincent did have to wonder how he had been talked into watching the girl for the next couple of days.
"I'll just be for a few days, Vincent," Tifa said reassuringly. "I'd have Cloud watch her, but he's still away on a delivery to Wutai, and Barret's in Coral at the moment. I have to leave to pick up my shipment in Junon and I can't take Marlene with me or leave her by herself, so please?" Vincent neglected to point out that they used to leave Marlene – at the age of four, no less – to watch the bar, alone, but bit his tongue and nodded in agreement.
"I'll watch her."
But yet, how did one take care of a five-year-old?
"Vincent?" Crimson blinked, and the gunman realized that the girl had moved from staring at him to standing in front of him. Looking down, he cocked a brow as a silent 'yes?'. "I'm hungry. Tifa said that she left some sandwiches in the fridge, but they're too high for me to reach, could you get them, please?" Marlene asked politely.
Vincent nodded and let the little girl lead him into the kitchen. After retrieving the sandwiches he unwrapped one and placed it on a plate for Marlene, who sat at the kitchen table. Sitting beside her he sat the plate in front of her. "Thank you, Uncle Vincent!"
'Uncle?' he wondered. Apparently he had voiced his thought aloud as the brunette nodded, cheerfully kicking her legs under the table.
"Yep! AVALANCHE is kinda like a big family! Tifa's the sometimes-big sister/sometimes-mom. Cloud's too much like a big brother to be an Uncle. Daddy's, well, Daddy. Cid and Reeve are both Uncles too, and Nanaki is a big brother!" The little girl frowned thoughtfully. "At first I thought you were like a grandpa, but you're more like an Uncle than a grandpa." Marlene looked around before leaning forwards, whispering, "Don't tell anyone, but you're my favorite Uncle!"
Favorite. The word echoed around in Vincent's head. When last had he been someone's favorite person of any sorts? Had he ever? He couldn't recall, except for perhaps his father, but his father had rather loved his experiments almost as much as Hojo used to... Shaking his head to steer his line of thought away from that, he sat in silence as Marlene ate.
"So what would you like to do?" he asked after she had finished.
"Well, could you teach me something? Tifa teaches me different things every day! Like different cookie or drink recipes, or how to do math, or history, or how to fight," Marlene explained.
"Has she shown you how to shoot a gun?" Vincent asked, his hand moving towards where he kept Quicksilver. While he did favor Cerberus, Quicksilver would always have a special place to him. When Marlene shook her head, he moved his hand away from the gun and offered it to her. "Come, I'll teach you."
"Will it be safe?" Marlene asked in concern.
"We'll go out to the wastes, as to keep from accidentally shooting someone. And I will keep you safe from the monsters out there while you practice, and I can teach you proper gun safety."
The young girl hesitated for a second before nodding and taking Vincent's hand. "Okay. I trust you, Uncle Vincent."
"How come you always wear a cape?" Marlene asked curiously later that afternoon. Her face was caked with dirt and grim, which Vincent had been attempting to wipe off with his cape on their way back to Seventh Heaven.
"It's part of my outfit."
"But why?"
Vincent paused and then frowned. It had been one of the few thing that the Turks had left him after waking him up, just a few years before Cloud had. It was either wear this, or some ratty, old Turk suit. He had grown attached to his leathers and cape, not to mention he had a few tricks he could do with it. Instead of telling her that, he decided to go with children's logic instead. "Because I look cool in it."
"Ohhhh." The young girl nodded in understanding, her expression serious as she asked, "Do you think I'd look cool in a cape too, Uncle Vincent?"
The corners of his lips twitched upwards as he nodded. "Indeed."
The sharp noise of a phone ringing caught Vincent's attention a couple days later. Moving from where he had been preparing lunch in the kitchen (Marlene had been showing him how to make a few dishes, and she admitted that he was a pretty decent cook) he washed his hands (he had opted to remove his claw whenever they were inside of Seventh Heaven. Marlene didn't seem to mind his scars) before answering. "Hello?"
"Hi Vincent." Tifa's voiced echoed through the phone. "Can I talk to Marlene, please?"
"Marlene!" the gunman called for the girl, who had been practicing some of the work sheets Tifa had left for her. The sounds of footsteps on the stairs grew louder as the young girl rushed down the steps.
Taking the phone from Vincent, she eagerly answered it, "Hi Tifa!"
"Hey Marlene, how have you been?"
"I've been good! Uncle Vincent's been taking real good care of me! When are you going to be home?" the girl asked quickly.
Tifa cocked a brow curiously and mouthed 'Uncle Vincent?' before answering,"I'm sorry to tell you this, Marlene, Vincent. But my shipment's been delayed because of bad weather and it'll be a few more days before I get back home." Tifa apologized from the other side of the line.
"That's okay, Tifa! Uncle Vincent and I have been having lots of fun together, right?"
Marlene turned expectantly to Vincent, who raised his voice just enough for Tifa to hear him, "We have." A small smile flitted a cross his features when the young girl beamed brightly at him before resuming her eager chattering to her pseudo-mother.
"What are you going to teach me today, Uncle Vincent?" Marlene asked curiously, bouncing on the balls of her heels.
"Today I'm going to teach you how to pick a lock with a bobby-pin." The gunman sat on the couch, a simple lock in his hand. "We'll start with the basic lock and move on. I know that most locks these days are computerized, but you never will know when you might need to know how to pick an old fashioned one."
"Okay!"
"It's my turn to teach you today!" Marlene declared that morning at breakfast.
"Is it?" Vincent asked, crimson hues blinking in amusement as the brunette nodded seriously.
"Yes! Today I'm going to teach you how to have a tea-party! First things first, we gotta make cookies and tea. Then we have to set up the table in my room and write the invitations. After we pass the invitations out, we gotta dress for the tea-party and then greet the guests when they arrive. Then we can have the tea-party!"
"Sounds like a lot of work," Vincent commented.
"Yep! But it's all worth it!"
A chuckle rumbled in the gunman's chest as he stood and began to clear away the dishes from breakfast. "We best get started, then."
It took them a good hour to mix and bake the cookies, which sat on a rack cooling as they set up the little table in Marlene's bedroom. Vincent had managed to convince Marlene that it would be better to boil the water for the tea after setting everything up. He (albeit a bit reluctantly) joined in with writing the invitations and then helped pass them out to her 'guests' (her stuffed animals).
"Alright, I have a dress I can wear, a really pretty one as I'm the Princess, but you need a dress too! And I know where to get one," Marlene stated as she took Vincent's scarred hand and led him away from her room and up the stairs. Opening the top bedroom door, she led him inside of Cloud's room and towards the closet. Pulling out a rather gorgeous purple dress. "Cloud keeps this one and wears it sometimes, I asked him why once and he said he liked the feel of it..." she trailed off, her eyes going wide as she looked up at Vincent, suddenly looking sheepish. "That was a secret... Please don't tell anyone, Uncle Vincent! I didn't mean to tell..."
"I won't tell anyone, Marlene," he promised. "And I won't tell Cloud that you told me either. If he does, then I'm certain he won't get mad."
"Thank you, Uncle Vincent. I'm gonna go greet the 'guests' while you get dressed!" The little girl skipped off happily. The ravenette held the dress up, eyeing it for a long moment before sighing and, shutting the bedroom door. Undressing, he eyed the dress again before slipping it on. It felt just as soft as it had looked, rather silky too. He wondered how Cloud could feel rather comfortable in the dress, for him it was rather uncomfortable. The gunman had to remind himself that this was for Marlene.
Neatly folding and stacking his clothes, the gunman went downstairs and joined Marlene in her room. Sitting at the table he was greeted politely by her and she asked, "Would you like a cookie, Miss Vincent?"
"I would, Princess Marlene." Vincent bowed his head, accepting the plate of cookies that the young girl passed him with a straight face. They continued on for a while, chatting about 'news' of Mr. Fluff's recent affair with Ms. Cotton and how Mrs. Fluff was considering divorce. They were talking about how sorry they both felt for Fluff Jr. when the soft click of a camera caught their attention and both man and girl turned towards the doorway.
Tifa stood in the threshold, a grin on her face and a camera in her hand. "I see that you two have been having fun while I was away."
"Tifa!" The excited girl jumped out of her chair and almost tackled the young woman in a hug. "We've been having lotsa fun! Uncle Vincent's been teaching me lots of cool stuff, so I decided to show him how to have a tea-party! Did you know that he's never had a tea party before?" Marlene demanded to know, her expression serious.
The grin on Tifa's face grew as she shook her head, "No? Really? Well, one of these days we'll have to get everyone here and have a tea party all together to show him how to have a big one too, not just a small one." Her gaze then turned to the gunman, eyes alight with amusement as she said, "You suit that crown and dress very well, Vincent."
Vincent knew that Tifa (and possibly the rest of AVALANCHE, if Tifa or Marlene told them) would never let him live this down, and honestly?
He didn't care.