Disclaimer: Still own nothing, well except for this computer mouse. :D

Life in Radiant Garden

Aqua's Birthday: Preparations

That November 4, the Friday after the peanut butter fiasco, Aqua had a proposal. For her nineteenth birthday, which was the Saturday after, November 12, she wanted to go camping. When Terra and Eraqus heard her proposal, the only thing they could hear was this, "Hey, wanna burn a couple of vacation days sleeping on the ground outside for my birthday?"

So, Terra's reply was "Uh, no."

"Oh, c'mon. It's my birthday and I want to see the fall colors," Aqua said, trying to persuade Terra.

What Terra heard was, "What if I told you that you can use the bathroom standing up in the woods?"

Eraqus heard, "What if I told you you'd have to spend 5,500 munny a night to stay in the woods?"

The two then said no again.

"Please, it's my birthday and I wanna go camping with the whole family," Aqua said to the two.

What Terra heard was, "You'll wake up freezing, covered in a rash."

Eraqus heard, "Serial killers will come and wipe out the family."

Terra and Eraqus then saw that Aqua was glaring.

"Okay, we'll go," the two quickly said.

That Saturday, Ven woke up to the sound of bumping. He went to the stairs and saw Terra lifting up boxes and setting them down.

Ven went downstairs and asked Terra, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Terra said breathlessly.

"Um, well, it looks like you're just lifting up boxes," Ven said, stating the obvious.

Terra, dropping the last box, looked at Ven and said, "Aqua's birthday is coming up. So, I'm trying to find a box to hide her present."

Ven then immediately remembered about her birthday and began to panic. "Don't worry, Ven. I've put your name on the present," Terra said, calming Ven down.

Within seconds, Eraqus had entered the room. When he noticed Ven, he said, "Back to your room, Ventus."

Ven, wanting not to go back to his room, asked, "If I give you my allowance and whatever I receive for the next five years, can I lower my sentence?"

"No, because the insurance company has promised to replace the SUV with another one," Eraqus replied.

"Well, Aqua wants him to come with us," Terra said.

"Terra…" Eraqus said.

"Go where?" Ven asked.

"Camping," Terra replied.

With an exasperated sigh, Ven said, "Aw. I rather stay home."

Knowing what Ven was capable of when left alone, Eraqus said, "You're coming with us, but you're not allowed out of my sight."

Ven sighed and went back to bed.

That afternoon, after everyone ate breakfast, changed and headed for work, Ven was left at home. He, after getting his peanut fix, looked around trying to find something to do. Just in the nick of time, the house phone rang and he quickly answered it.

"Hello?" Ven answered quickly.

"Hey, Ven. How're you holding up?" Zack asked.

"Good, for now," Ven replied sadly.

"What's wrong?" Zack asked.

"Well, for Aqua's birthday, she wants us all to go out camping," Ven said.

"At this time of year?" Zack asked.

"Yeah. So, if I freeze to death, you'll know why," Ven told him.

"Well, I know a few places that you guys can go to that has heated cabins and everything," Zack said.

"Okay, where are they?" Ven asked.

"Well, one's near Twilight Town. It's only about 1900 munny a night. The other's in Nibelheim. That's a little pricier 'cause it's about 2,300 munny a night," Zack told him.

"Okay, what's the number for the one in Twilight Town," Ven said, grabbing a pen and paper.

Zack was terrible at giving numbers as he didn't have "phone number rhythm" like others in Radiant Garden had.

"It's 1901," Zack started, not pausing at all.

Ven turned from the phone in annoyance.

'Again with this?' he thought.

"58-11-6458-7...2," Zack said, ending the number.

Ven sighed, saying, "Okay, did you give me your zip code? 'Cause I got a lot of extra numbers here. I can almost start a new number. What do you got?"

"Start again from the top," Ven ordered.

"Okay, the number's 19015," Zack started again, pissing off Ven.

"811-6458...7-2," he ended again. "Dude, stop doing that!" Ven yelled, his dark side of "Vanitas" coming out.

"Doin' what? I'm giving you the number!" Zack yelled back.

"You're not doing the rhythm! Every number starts off with 1-901-dah-dah-dah…dah-dah…dah-dah!" Ven-Vanitas yelled, reciting the "rhythm".

"Okay then! The number's 1-901-581-1645. You then press the numbers 8, then 7 and then 2 to get the front desk. When you've reached the front desk, you should be able pay from the phone," Zack said. "

Thank you. Now, was that so hard using the normal number rhythm?" Ven asked, back to his normal self.

"Yes," Zack said and hung up.

Later that night, Terra entered the house with several large suitcases for the trip. After putting up the suitcases, he saw a note that Ven left for him near the house phone.

It said, "Here's the number to the campsite in Twilight Town that Zack told me about. It's 1-901-581-1645. And tell Dad that it's only about 1,900 munny a night and the cabins are heated."

'That was thoughtful,' Terra thought as he looked at the note.

He then noticed that there was a message on his cell phone. It was from Cloud. He went to the voicemail and the message was with his usual slow pauses.

"Hey, Terra," Cloud's message began. "It's Cloud Strife from engineering class…I need you…to email me the notes…from Prof. Eraqus Pellegrino's lecture. I know…he's your Dad and all, but…can you give me the notes anyway."

What surprised Terra was the end of the message.

"You know my email…but…if you don't get a thank you reply from me…Oh yeah. I got…a new phone. So, my new phone number is….19108394335, 'bye!" the phone number part of the message ended going at least 150 mph.

Terra sighed, saying "Why does Cloud always leave messages like that?"

So, Terra pulled out a note card and a pen and sat down on the couch, trying to listen to the message. He placed the phone on the front table and turned on the speaker.

The first try in getting Cloud's new phone number went terribly. Terra winded the message and listened to the number.

"19108394335, 'bye," the message ended.

Eraqus heard this from upstairs and went downstairs into the living room. He looked at Terra who was hunched over his phone.

"Terra, what are you doing?" Eraqus asked.

"Shh," Terra told him as he listened to the message for the second time.

"19108394335, 'bye," the message said again at 150 mph.

Terra looked at Eraqus and said, "I got nothin' on that pass. I got absolutely nothin'. Seriously, I don't know what to do."

"19108394335, 'bye," the message said, just as fast as before.

"I got a 1, 5, 4, two blanks and then I'm out. Not again. Seriously, Dad, I don't know what to do," Terra said, repeating the message for the fourth time.

"19108394335, 'bye," the message said.

"Okay, I got a 'G'. I got a freakin' 'G'! Cloud gave me a 'G'!" Terra yelled.

Eraqus sat next to Terra and helped him decode the almost undecipherable message Cloud left about his phone number. After about an hour, the two finally found out that the number was 1-910-839-4335. Eraqus looked at the now fatigued Terra and said, "Now, was that hard?"

"Yes! Cloud always leaves messages like that!" Terra yelled and went to bed, Eraqus laughing as he left.

That Monday, after dropping off Aqua at the salon and Ven at school, Terra headed to the national bank to gather funds for the trip. Once there, he noticed that there was a long line that stretched all the way towards the door. He got in line and noticed that he was standing next to Squall and Rinoa. Squall had this very bored look on his face while Rinoa had the more impatient look.

"Seriously, what is taking them so long?" Rinoa asked.

"I told you that we should've used the ATM outside," Squall said, looking off into the distance, very bored.

"And I told you I don't like the ATMs. What if someone steals my identity while I'm using it?" Rinoa said to him rather loudly.

"Yeah, like anyone would want to be you," Squall mumbled.

"What was that?" Rinoa snapped at him.

"Nothing. You're just hearing stuff," Squall mumbled again.

The two finally noticed Terra and Rinoa asked him, "Oh, hey Terra. What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to get some money together for this trip Aqua wants to take with the family," Terra replied, looking for his I.D. in his wallet.

"Oh, what kind of trip is it?" Rinoa asked, seemingly interested.

"She wants to go camping. I don't know why she wants to, though," Terra replied, finding the card.

"Oh, Squall, you want to go camping with the Pellegrinos?" Rinoa asked, turning to Squall.

What Squall heard was, "Do you wanna get killed out in the backwoods where no one will hear us scream?"

He turned to her and yelled, "No!"

"Oh, c'mon Squall. You need to go out of the city for once and see the wondrous world our Creator made for us," Rinoa said, still trying to convince the guy.

What Squall heard this time was, "You'll wake up sleeping near a pack of hungry wolves."

Squall replied with, "I still wouldn't want to go."

"Squall, Aqua's our friend and we should help her celebrate her birthday," Rinoa told him.

"You'll be chased by a hungry grizzly bear and get mauled to death," Squall heard.

He looked at Rinoa and saw that she was glaring daggers at him. "Oh, alright. I'll go," Squall said, defeated.

"Okay, what day does she want to go camping?" Rinoa asked Terra.

"She wants to go on her birthday," Terra replied.

"Where?" Rinoa asked, wondering where the campsite was.

"Ven was told about a campsite in Twilight Town and its only 1,900 munny a day," Terra replied.

With that, the three was at the front of the line.

Squall, forgetting the "rules" the tellers followed at the national bank, walked up to a teller when one of the other customers left. He pulled out his I.D. card and said, "Hey, how's it goin'?"

The teller, extremely nervous, yelled, "Sir, get back!"

That took Squall by surprise, which was rare, and he jumped back towards Rinoa, who was laughing.

"Sir! You can't come up here yet! We're busy! We will nod you over when we are…ready to go," the teller said, a nervous look on her face.

With that small fiasco, Squall and Rinoa was allowed back up to the teller. After a few minutes, the two were done and left, promising that they were going to see each other at Aqua's birthday celebration. When it was Terra's turn, he walked up there and asked for a slip to take out 15,000 munny. He had everything ready: the slip, his I.D. and the pen number. What he forgot was his pen.

Frustrated, he looked in his jacket and his pants pockets for a pen. The teller, noticing that he was holding up the line, said to him, "Sir, I'm gonna have to tell you to move to the side."

Terra, still very frustrated, said to him, "I'm gonna have to tell you to shut up! Anthony with the freckles and hair in a Mohawk!"

Due to the threat of calling security, Terra moved to the side. After a few minutes, one of the other customers gave him a pen. He thanked them and began writing on the slip. He was fine until it came to the line on how much he wanted to take out of his account. Unlike other places, at the Radiant Garden National Bank, you have to spell out the numeric amount you want to take out of bank account. Terra, whose prowess was not in the universal, had trouble spelling out 15,000. In his frustration, he kept spelling the number as "fifth-teh thousand".

Seeing this, one of the customers attempted to cut in his spot in line. Terra saw her cutting and began saying, "No. No. No!"

As he said that, he did the splits.

"No, drop the pen! Drop the pen, woman! Drop the pen!" Terra said.

The customer didn't hear this and picked up a pen. Terra got up from his splits and yelled, "Drop the pen, lady!"

"What's wrong?" the customer asked him.

"I'm not going to be last in line 'cause I'm havin' trouble spelling '15,000'!" Terra yelled.

"The words 15,000 are spelled 'F-I-F-T-E-E-N-T-H-O-U-S-A-N-D'," the customer said.

In embarrassment, Terra thanked the customer, finished the slip, had 15,000 munny put on his Debit Card and left in a huff.

Well, will Aqua's birthday be a success? Stay tuned. Oh, and read and review please. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

-miano53