Put Your Lights On

12.5.05

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This is a FFVII fic by kleptomaniac0. I own no characters except those you haven't heard of, meaning the ones I've made. Normally I'm averse to posting something new while I have multiple works in progress, but this OC, the first OC I ever created, has been banging against the walls of my head ever since Advent Children came in out Japan. So I'm letting her out before she drives me crazy.

This will be a lot more unguarded than my other works, meaning it'll be sloppier. I'm writing this to get it out of my head and though I always appreciate reviews and constructive criticism, I probably won't be looking at them until the story's done.

Who am I kidding? I need feedback like sunlight. Drop me a line, you know you want to.

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Chapter Forty-Eight

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Everyone was just sitting down when Meryl dragged Toriko in, but luckily the two seats left open were next to each other. Toriko wasn't sure what Meryl would have done if that hadn't been the case, because the insistent hold the other girl had on her hand showed that she considered them friends, even if Tori wasn't quite sure herself. Meryl plunked herself into the chair next to her father, which meant Toriko was sitting opposite Sephiroth.

"I heard a lot of laughing," he thought, glancing at her. "Did you have fun up there?"

"Yes," Toriko said. "She's a very lively girl."

"So it seems."

"How's the other one?" Toriko asked, glancing at Rose.

"Nothing I haven't dealt with before."

The food was simple but well done; Toriko wondered if Naomi had done the cooking or if they'd hired someone, which seemed typical of an upper-class family. Apparently alcohol was typical too, because Naomi offered Sephiroth an uncorked bottle, asking, "Would you like to have some wine?"

"Thank you, but I can't," Sephiroth demurred. "An unfortunate side effect of the SOLDIER process."

"Oh, I've heard about that!" Rose exclaimed. "So it's true, you can't drink any alcohol?"

"We can," Sephiroth said. "But we can't break it down. The alcohol stays in our systems for a very long time and gives us terrible hangovers."

"That's awful," Rose said, perhaps putting a bit too much pathos into her voice.

"Drinking's bad for you," Meryl piped up. "Rots your liver."

"Not the liver!" Sephiroth thought in mock-horror; Toriko almost snorted. At her back, Cait Sith climbed stealthily from her hood and onto the upholstered chair back.

"What is that thing crawling out of your dress?" Sephiroth exclaimed; apparently he caught the wriggling movement.

"Meryl's robot-cat," Toriko thought back. "He'll behave."

Cait dropped silently to the floor and crept under the table. His tail brushed ticklishly over Toriko's ankles.

"How do you like being in Midgar, Toriko?" Naomi asked, looking at her. Toriko blinked, startled at being addressed by an adult.

"Um...it's nice," she said awkwardly. "It's much bigger than I'm used to, but I like it."

"Have you been to the park?" Meryl asked, looking at her.

"Yes," Toriko said. "Father took me."

"Did you go the main square?" Meryl asked. "It's great. It's just full of pigeons."

"Goddamn pigeons," Sephiroth grumbled at Toriko. "Don't go on a windy day. They'll get caught in your hair."

Toriko almost burst out laughing. Why hadn't she accustomed herself to the fact that her father, no matter how dignified he looked, would always have dumb stories?

"It didn't happen to me, it happened to a woman while I was there," Sephiroth thought back, disgruntled. "Just be sure it doesn't happen to you."

"Of course, Father."

Meryl was still talking about pigeons. "If you give the vendor a gil, he gives you bags of corn and you can feed 'em."

"I like the lake," Rose interrupted. "Especially at evening..."

No doubt she was making some sort of romantic hint at Sephiroth, which made Toriko vaguely ill. Aloud, Toriko said, "Aren't there mosquitoes?"

Rose looked flustered. "Well...not really, since it's getting colder..."

"We went on the lake and the ducks mobbed us," Meryl said with relish. "Dad fell in when he was trying to stop them from biting Rose."

"Those were tasty ducks," Reeve said, not missing a beat.

"Mm, duck." Meryl said, grinning.

Toriko glanced at Rose, who was flushing still; this had not at all gone the way she'd planned. Toriko might have felt sorry for her, but the duck tangent was more amusing.

"Have you ever tried the duck flambé at the Emerald Isle?" Reeve asked Sephiroth; apparently this was a restaurant. When Sephiroth shook his head, Naomi stepped in, saying, "It was wonderfully done. They used this excellent sauce—"

Tickle tickle. Toriko tried not to jump as Cait (untrue to his promise) grabbed her ankle. Meryl twitched too, and the two of them shared a grin. A second later, the mittened hand disappeared from Toriko's leg.

"It sounds great," Sephiroth said—the adults had been talking about food. "And Naomi, this food is wonderful. You're an excellent cook."

"Oh, thanks," Naomi laughed.

"Is she really?" Toriko asked archly.

"No, but we have to be polite. Plus, it's not for lack of trying."

"I cook," Rose said, seeing a place to jump in again.

"You bake," Meryl said. "There's a difference."

"Thank you for the cookies," Toriko said, remembering her first glorious taste of sugar. "They were delicious."

Reeve and Sephiroth shared a quick look, both of them hiding smiles behind bites of food. Sephiroth's relief at not having to fence Rose's attentions floated over to Toriko, and Toriko immediately went on, saying, "Would you mind showing me how to bake them sometime?"

"Uh...sure..." Rose said, obviously confused.

"Just make sure you don't get taught at your house," Meryl said, grinning evilly. "She'll be staring at your da—ow!" For no reason, Meryl glared at Rose and grumbled under breath. Toriko, though, could clearly her hear say, "Oh, like everybody doesn't know it."

"I like this girl," Sephiroth thought unexpectedly.

Reeve and Naomi pretended like nothing had happened. Or rather, Reeve did. Naomi looked a little pink, which Toriko found curious. About to ask her father, she blinked when she saw him looking ever so slightly disturbed. Not discernible to the normal person, the imperceptible tightening around his eyes was the equivalent of looking bothered.

"What's wrong?" Toriko asked in a thought.

"Reeve's wife's playing footsie with me," Sephiroth thought, and his perturbation was clear in his mind although not on his face. "Normally I wouldn't care, but it's right in front of her husband."

"What's footsie?"

Toriko could feel her father radiating waves of discomfort. Unable to articulate a response, he flicked what he was feeling onto her instead, and Toriko nearly leaped out of her skin as a phantom presence tickled down her knee, towards her ankle... Ankle?

"Father, that's Cait Sith," Toriko thought with relief. "Meryl's robot cat; he was grabbing ankles a while ago. He must've gone to your side of the table when Rose kicked Meryl. Don't worry, Naomi's not flirting with you."

"Thank god," Sephiroth thought. "Reeve's a nice man. I don't want to have to mess with his wife."

"...what?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

He'd told her plenty! Toriko viewed her father with new, slightly more respectful eyes. It was harder to break up a marriage than most people thought, and if Sephiroth had been manipulative (read: Seishi-like) about it, then he was truly a formidable force. It took more than a pretty face to make men leave their wives—or in Sephiroth's case, women leave their husbands.

"Though Father's pretty enough that it could work the other way too..."

"I heard that, young lady."

Anyway, that explained why Naomi was suddenly looking so flushed. Luckily, Reeve hadn't seemed to have noticed.

"Father, you should disabuse Naomi of the notion that you are sexually attracted to her," Toriko thought clinically. As Sephiroth mentally sputtered and blushed, Toriko went on to say, "Her energy is all over you."

That comment was good enough to make Sephiroth choke. Reeve patted his back, instantly anxious, but the problem cleared up almost at once. The physical one, at least.

"Are you saying that Naomi would cheat on her husband?" Sephiroth thought incredulously.

Toriko poked into Naomi's mind; this was something she'd been doing ever since she could remember, considering that knowing a person's thoughts had been essential to her and Seishi's survival. Plus, it wasn't hard to skim off the thoughts that were most linked to the current situation, which in this case were reminiscences of past affairs.

"She has," Toriko said. "And she still is. When the children are at school, her lover comes over and—"

"I don't want the details."

"You should at least know that she's emotionally committed to Reeve," Toriko replied. "He's just not around enough for her to have sex with. Plus—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH."

Toriko couldn't understand why her father was so uncomfortable with the topic of sex. Well, she could—most people were uncomfortable discussing it so blandly—but Seishi had done it all the time.

"Your mother is a freak in that aspect," Sephiroth shot at her.

"True..." Toriko thought, her temper flickering at the slur on her mother. "As you are a freak in others."

Sephiroth would have thought something at her, but Reeve had asked him something and he'd nearly missed it. Toriko had missed it, so Sephiroth's reply of it, "No, I haven't," was rather perplexing.

"Waverly is an excellent school," Naomi said; now that the subject had gone to her children, the pink flush in her cheeks was fading. "Rose is starting her final year there, and Meryl's just been enrolled."

"Hey, we could start together!" Meryl said brightly, making Toriko blink. "Wouldn't that be awesome?"

"Uh...yes," Toriko said. "Father, what does awesome mean?"

She caught a flicker of dark humor from him before he replied, "Awesome means wonderful."

"Really?" Toriko looked at Meryl, suddenly aware of how strongly the other girl was taken with her. What an alien experience, to be befriended. "Wow…"

"Mom, can she come shopping with us?" Meryl said, looking at her mother.

Naomi glanced at Sephiroth. "Is that alright with you?"

"Want to go?" Sephiroth asked Toriko.

Bemused by the requesting ping-pong, Toriko said, "Yes," and returned the 'ball' to Meryl, who hooted excitedly and did a wiggling dance in her chair. Toriko watched her, amused and a little envious. It must be nice to be so uninhibited... So childish.

"I haven't been a child since the day I was born..."

"One always wonders..." Sephiroth agreed.

"We're going on Wednesday," Meryl said. "Wanna sleep over?"

"Meryl, that's a bit sudden," Reeve said, frowning lightly.

Meryl pouted, but nodded, saying, "I guess it is kinda soon..." To Toriko, she said, "We only just met today."

It was surprising but endearing how close Meryl already considered them; Toriko had never experienced such openness before. She was tempted to say 'yes', but the reservation she felt about spending the night at somebody else's house outweighed the desire. That, and propriety.

"I haven't even been with Father a whole month yet. I don't want to make it look like I'm trying to run away..."

Dinner passed in pleasant conversation, with the adults mostly talking among themselves (along with interruptions from Rose; she kept trying to talk to Sephiroth). Meryl and Toriko had their own conversations, mostly commentary on what was going on. Toriko found Meryl to be vivacious and intelligent, though not exceptionally so, and her company was overall quite pleasant. But more interesting than Meryl was the Tuesti family dynamic. Toriko couldn't help but liken the interactions among the Tuestis to a group of kittens playing: they wrestled playfully with each other, much to the delight of the observers.

"I'm glad to see you're so amused," Sephiroth thought at her. "I'm starting to get bored. Reeve and Naomi are fine, but Rose... Is there any way you can distract her?"

"I'll try to think of something."

"EEEK!" Rose suddenly screamed, throwing herself away from the table.

"Bwahahahaha!" Meryl cackled, clapping her hands. Toriko looked at her food, trying not to smile. It was painfully obvious what had just happened...

Reeve swung down to look under the table. "Cait!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The robot cat yelled, and Naomi let out a small scream of surprise; Toriko and Meryl looked under the table to see the cat leaping into her lap. "I won't do it again, I promise!"

"What the..." Sephiroth stared at Cait, clearly nonplussed.

Standing in Naomi's lap, the robotic cat saluted Sephiroth sharply and said, "Sieg Heil, meinen Bruder!" before leaping off, just milliseconds before Reeve made a grab for him. Toriko sat up just in time to see Reeve babble, "I'm sorry about that," even as he jumped out of his chair and ran after the robotic cat. Cait was shockingly fast running on just two legs, and unlike Reeve, he could run and talk at the same time.

"I just got bored!" The cat yelled, dashing around the couch; Toriko couldn't stop from laughing as Reeve chased him around the furniture, murder in his dark brown eyes. Meryl was shrieking with laughter. "Jeez, it's not like I was chewin' on her ankle or anything—come on, Reeve, lighten up! This ain't good for your blood pressure! WAH!"

Sephiroth had been carefully tracking the robot cat with his eyes, and in a movement too quick to be perceived by normal people, had grabbed Cait Sith by the scruff of his cloak and lifted him into the air.

"Fascinating," Sephiroth murmured, turning Cait Sith from side to side.

"Please don't eat me," Cait Sith said at once.

"Be quiet, you!" Reeve hissed, walking up and taking the cat from Sephiroth. "Sorry, Sephiroth—Cait, open your mouth."

"Mm-mmm!" Cait Sith firmly clamped his mouth shut and shook his head, his crown glinting.

"Azimuth," Reeve said flatly, and Cait Sith's mouth popped open with a surprisingly loud click. Cait squalled his fury as Reeve stuck his finger in the cat's mouth and then went limp almost comically fast as the Executive pushed the 'off' button. "Meryl, put this back in your room," he said, sitting down and handing his daughter the now floppy Cait Sith.

"Aww, you killed him," Meryl pouted.

"He needed charging anyway," Reeve said.

Meryl's pout deepened and she made as if to slide out of her chair, saying, "May I be excused?"

"Certainly, dear," Naomi said; she seemed to have recovered from the shock of having Cait jump into her lap, while Rose was red-faced with embarrassment. "Rose, will you help me clear the dishes?"

"Sure, Mom," Rose said, rising to her feet and smoothing down her dress. She was pink in the face and flustered over appearing so silly in front of Sephiroth; again, Toriko might've felt sorry for her but the girl had no idea what her father was really like. No Prince Charming, him.

"Let's go play," Meryl said at once to Toriko.

"That's an incredible machine, Reeve," Sephiroth murmured, lacing his hands together and leaning his chin on his knuckles. "I take it 'azimuth' was an override?"

"Yeah," Reeve said. "His on/off switch is in his mouth and as you saw, sometimes he doesn't feel like opening it. It used to be that pulling on his tail would shut him off, but there were a couple of instances where the tail came off, so..."

"You made that yourself?" Sephiroth asked, interested.

"Hehe... Yeah," Reeve said, grinning. "He's a work in progress, but I'm pretty proud of him."

"Rightfully so..." Sephiroth's eyes flicked from the floppy Cait to Reeve as he said, "What do you think about a collaboration with my department?"

Reeve blinked and stroked his chin. "Interesting..."

"Eew, shop," Meryl said succinctly. Toriko thought the conversation was actually getting interesting, but spending time with Meryl was novel enough for her to want to follow the girl instead. "Let's go charge Cait."

"How do you do that?" Toriko asked.

"It's pretty gruesome," Meryl said, her words at odds with her giggling. "You have to rip open his stomach and plug him into the wall. Dad's been trying to make a compact energy generator for him, but nothing's really worked so far."

"I see," Toriko said.

Cait's charger looked like a stripped engine the size of a soup can, from which sprouted two long wires. At Meryl's urging, Toriko plugged one of the wires into the wall while Meryl felt around on Cait's stomach and eventually found an open seam between the black and white fur on Cait's belly; taking the other wire, Meryl stuck the end of it into the hole and smiled when something clicked.

"All done," Meryl said as the thin slivers of Cait's eyes began to glow red, giving him a rather demonic cast. Also disturbing was the way the charger corded out of his stomach, balled into the generator, and then plugged into the nearest socket, giving the impression that Cait's disemboweled intestines had been jammed into the wall. Toriko tried to suppress shudders of revulsion as she was inexplicably reminded of the lab.

Luckily, Meryl seemed to notice this and said, "Let's go downstairs and break out the cards; I bet my dad's challenged your dad to a round of poker by now."

"Poke 'er?" Toriko repeated, getting the not-so-good image of Sephiroth and Reeve chasing Naomi around. There were definite downsides to knowing this much about sex...

"It's a card game," Meryl said, correctly interpreting Toriko's look of puzzlement. "Pretty fun stuff. I'm not that good at it, but Dad's a whiz. You wanna try? The more people playing, the better."

"Okay," Toriko said.

"Yay!" Meryl ran to her bedside and opened the drawer of the nightstand there, pulling out a much-used deck of cards. "Let's go."

Bemused, Toriko trotted after Meryl as she took off down the stairs; didn't the girl ever walk? Sephiroth and Reeve were still talking business when they came down, but Meryl blithely interrupted their conversation by slapping the pack of cards between them.

"Poker?" She asked, her eyes bright.

Sephiroth blinked, surprised but not offended. Toriko caught Reeve frowning at Meryl's obviously rude behavior, but she could also tell he was intrigued by the offer of poker. Looking at Sephiroth, Reeve asked, "Wanna play?"

"Sounds good to me," Sephiroth said. "But I'm a little rusty, so let's not play for money, hmm?"

"I wouldn't play for money with my kids," Reeve said, smiling, even as Meryl plunked herself into a chair. Toriko walked around and took a seat by her father, if only better to watch Meryl. The girl was positively glittering with excitement and Toriko wondered if she'd been lying about her skill level; why would a person who was intermediate with the game at best enjoy playing so much? She pondered over this as Reeve began to shuffle the cards, and Rose and Naomi also sat down to play.

"I'm going to beat his socks off," Toriko caught her father thinking.

"That's not nice, Father," she scolded.

"Look at his eyes," Sephiroth said. "He wants to do the exact same to me."

And it was true; Reeve's face was calm, but there was a certain glint of excitement in them. Toriko began to wonder which father would win.

"But of course that's a silly question; Father will probably end up reading his mind."

"I leave nothing to chance," Sephiroth agreed.

Well, duh. Toriko, though, had already decided not to cheat. Where was the fun in a game if you already knew where everything was going?

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Author's note:

I've got to cut it off here because otherwise it'll get too long... Plus, I've got exams tomorrow. Bleah! Definitely time to go beddy-bye.

And Sieg Heil, meinen Bruder means, "Hail, victory, my brother!" I think I was on crack when I wrote that—I mean, I could have gotten away with 'Sieg Heil!' just because Cait's being cheeky, but 'meinen Bruder'... I suppose Cait would naturally noticed Sephiroth's kitty eyes. Anyway, the line's silly but I just can't make myself take it out. It's a 'little darling', and I'm not a good enough writer than I can ruthlessly strike it down.

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