Chat Room
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"Tifa Lockhart?" The bar had barely opened, two men dressed in fedoras and trench coats were her first customers. At least, she had assumed they wanted a drink, as it turned out, they had other business to discuss with her.
"That's me, can I get you something? Two bourbons, fellas?" She was normally a wiz at telling what new faces enjoyed, she summed it up to years of practice, that and maybe a bit of luck.
"No ma'am, we're here on business." The younger looking detective informed her. He was around six feet, a few inches taller than his companion, and his face was clean shaven while his friend looked unkempt and scraggly. "I'm detective Smith, and this is my partner Jones." The younger man introduced himself along with his grumpy looking partner.
"We're here to ask you about Cloud Strife. Has he been at your establishment lately?" The older man, detective Jones, gruffly asked. He squinted his dirty brown eyes at her suspiciously.
"It's been two weeks since I last saw him. He tends to show up out of the blue, I never really know when to expect him." She answered honestly, the squinting man seemed to believe her, his facial expression softened slightly.
"Was he acting strange, out of the ordinary?" The younger detective Smith politely inquired.
"He was pretty run down looking, like he hadn't had a bath in weeks. Is Cloud in some sort of trouble?" Tifa didn't know what he had done, but the fact that two detectives were questioning her about him meant something bad was going down.
"We're just trying to piece everything together, ma'am. We have reason to believe he's involved with..." The younger man, Smith was about to say more, but his older partner butted in.
"We're not at liberty to say at this time, just give us a call if he shows up again." He handed her his card. The older detective was pulling his partner away from the bar and towards the door when he paused and turned back towards Tifa.
"And ma'am, I'd start locking all your doors at night." Detective Jones left on that chilling note, not even giving Tifa a chance to ask why.
That evening felt like it dragged on forever, her mind lingered on Cloud. She had grown unenthused recently, at the thought of his inevitable return. Talking with her chat room friend had taken away her longing for companionship, her loneliness was almost thoroughly eradicated. When she did fall asleep, she only felt a light ping of longing for a warm body next to hers. Now, that longing didn't mean she wanted a stinky, emotionless man to keep her feet warm at night. She remembered a time where having Cloud in her bed meant everything to her, but now...
He just wasn't the same guy anymore. Sure, he was still the cold, quiet type, but he was also rude and a bit of a moocher. Tifa still cared, she probably always would, but that caring was only on a friendship level now, she just wasn't motivated to try and be more than that to him when he was very blunt about how he felt through his actions of isolation.
As the last customer left her establishment, Tifa locked up and started cleaning up the tables throughout the room. She was wiping down a table next to the window, when she heard a tapping sound against the glass. The neon sign that now had the word 'closed' on it, lit up the tapping persons face.
Cloud was staring at her, an expectant look on his face as he continued to watch her. Tifa was conflicted, the detectives wanted her to call if Cloud showed up again. Would she be a bad friend, letting authorities take Cloud? She thought that maybe, if she told him people were asking about him, he'd reveal what was going on in his life. Hoping for that outcome, she left her cleaning supplies on the table, and went to open the door for him.
As she swung the door open, he flew inside and went straight to the bar. He poured himself a shot of tequila, followed by three more by the time she walked over to him.
"What's going on?" She assertively asked, crossing her arms and frowning at his continued consumption of tequila.
Cloud swallowed his sixth shot and looked at her coldly. "I drink and automatically I'm on trial?"
Tifa swiped the bottle away, "You're into something, people were looking for you, Cloud." She was taken by surprise at his quick movements. Her words had caused him to lunge over the bar and grip her shoulders. He shook her and demanded that she told him who it was.
In all the time she had spent with Cloud, he had never once harmed her physically. She had never had a reason to be afraid of Cloud, but at that moment, Tifa felt it. Fear rolling down her spin as she tried to appear tough, yelling at him to let her go.
"Who the fuck was it?!" He had pulled her upper body over the counter and was looking her dead in the eyes, his grip tightening around her shoulders painfully.
"Detectives! They were detectives!" She growled out, her answer made him immediately release her. She was rubbing her shoulders as he zoomed out of the bar and towards her adjoined apartment.
Tifa had few fears in her life, she usually could handle herself in bumpy situations, but she hadn't expected this. She never would have imagined Cloud behaving so brutal towards her. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she went behind the bar and picked up a bottle of pepper spray she kept for emergencies. Feeling that this situation required the use of the harmful spray, she entered her apartment armed and ready for her abuser.
None of the lights had been turned on, so she started flipping all the switches she came across. Slowly her home became fully lit, none of the rooms down stairs had Cloud in them. Cautiously she moved upstairs, turning on her bedroom light and searching for any sign of him.
Tifa noticed her bedroom window was open, and as she looked out into the street, she could see a shadow of a person running over to a parked motorcycle. The person hopped on and the engine roared to life, the lights on the dash lightly illuminated the riders face. Her eyes made out Clouds image, he was pulling away from the curb and hauling ass away from her home.
Cussing and stomping, she slammed her window shut and locked it. Whatever he'd been up to, Tifa wouldn't know now. He probably took off with more food, that or her purse was light twenty dollars again. Carefully she went about her home, checking for anything out of place. Her purse still had money in it, nothing seemed to be wrong there. Her cupboards appeared to be in order, nothing missing or shoved in a hurried manner.
After cleaning up and locking down her bar, Tifa made sure to lock every window and door in her home as well. Cloud was no longer a welcomed visitor in the middle of the night, not after his actions. She didn't call the detective that night, she wasn't interested in having a bunch of men searching her home and asking her crap loads of questions. She needed to release some stress, and talk to someone who always seemed to make her feel better about life.
"Hey, sorry I wasn't on earlier, it's been a crazy night."
"What kind of crazy? Hosting a clowns bachelor party at your bar? Or everything was super busy crazy?" He'd never let go of the clown thing...
"Two detectives showed up, they were looking for my room mate. Then, after I closed the bar, my room mate knocked on the window, wanting in. I thought I could get them to talk about it, that we'd figure things out together, but I was wrong."
"Prostitution is a crime after all, it was bound to happen. Did she tell you to stop sticking your nose in her business, or something?" That's right, he still assumed Cloud was a girl.
"My room mate, I told them about the detectives and things got physical. Then they ran into my apartment and by the time I got my pepper spray, they had left through a window. It was pretty crazy." Craziest thing that's happen to her so far.
"Sheesh! Sounds like a crazy night! I bet you threw in a few good punches though, right? I guess this means you don't have a room mate anymore."
"I didn't expect it, they just grabbed me and shook me, I couldn't believe it was happening. Flamer, I've told you she wasn't a prostitute. I guess I haven't really explained my room mate very thoroughly to you before. It wasn't a girl I had for a room mate, it was a dude." Maybe she wanted to tell him the truth, because she was still shaken up over Clouds actions, or maybe she was just tired of keeping up the lie.
"Are you really okay? Did he just shake you? Did you call the cops afterwords?"
"You're not mad?" Tifa had expected a harsh reaction, not concern.
"Mad? Why would I be? I mean, I'm a little surprised you never mentioned it wasn't a chick, but that's all."
"I wasn't sure, I guess I thought that, if I told you from the beginning, you might have acted different when we chatted. You're not, are you?" She hoped he wouldn't, she enjoyed the way they interacted with each other on here.
"No, I'm not. But seriously though, are you going to be alright? I know we just shoot the shit on here, but I gotta admit I'm pretty concerned about you. You're a nice person, and it's bullshit that anyone should try and hurt you like that."
"You're sweet, but I'll be alright. I promise. All my windows and doors are locked, and I have my baseball bat close by."
"Well that's good, sounds like you're as safe as you're gonna be."
"What, would I be even safer if I had you to guard me?" Tifa chuckled to herself as she sent him a winking smiley face.
"Not to brag or anything, but I do come highly recommended, just ask MuscleMan007. He'll vouch for me."
"Maybe I'll do just that!"
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Tifa had her chat with FlamboyantFlamer minimized as she clicked on the active user MuscleMan007.
"Hey, your friend on here FlamboyantFlamer, he says you can vouch for him being a good bodyguard."
"You're that girl he's always taking about! Why ask him to be your bodyguard when you could have me? I'm ten times the bodyguard he is." Tifa rolled her eyes at how cheesy the guy sounded. If she had been a dude asking the same question, Tifa knew he'd lose the smooth guy act.
"Oh really? What makes you say that?" Could Mr. Macho back up his claim?
"I'm taller, stronger, and lets face it, I'm better looking than him. He's just a little twig boy." Someone was acting way over confident, he needed a little slice of humble pie. Tifa was just the woman to serve it to him!
"What about the hair piece?"
Tifa sat a few moments with no response, so she switched over to her chat with FlamboyantFlamer.
"Oh my God, why did you tell him about the hair piece?!" Tifa started laughing as she asked a very obvious question,
"Did he get mad?"
"I nearly choked to death on my peanuts when he came over and whacked me upside the head! He's very sensitive about that stupid hair piece!"
"Well, you have reason to be mad right back at him. He thinks he's the stronger, better looking bodyguard. He also called you twig boy."
"Oh! The fight is on! I'll be right back after I've shown my friend who's the real twig boy!"
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Tifa chuckled, after that night she didn't know if her voice could laugh at anything again. She was getting to the point where it almost seemed silly that they didn't meet face to face. The more time she spent online with Flamer, the more she wanted to know who he truly was.
After a few moments of inactivity, her friend sent another message to her.
"Long story short, we wrestled around and made enough noise to wake up our boss, and now we're both in hot water. I gotta log off, but tomorrow I'll talk to you. Night DoubleDee."
Tifa typed in a farewell before exiting out of the chat room. Maybe, just maybe, she'd see how Flamer felt about a face to face. He might want to keep going as things were, but who knows, maybe he was a little bit curious too.
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Final Fantasy 7 belongs to Square Enix.