It was early the next morning that she found the note left to her by Cloud
Marlene
I've gone to the doctor's. Will be back later today.
Training is at 3:00p.m in the usual place
Breakfast is in the Fridge
Cloud
P.S. Do NOT attempt to use the pressure cooker!
Strange she thought. Usually he only leaves me a note to tell me when and where our next training session is. She shrugged and headed into the kitchen. Her eyes fell upon the new pressure cooker that Cloud had recently installed, and she toiled with the prospect of using it. However, one look at all the knobs and dials put her off, and instead, she decided to check the fridge.
When she opened the fridge door, all she found in there (apart from an assortment of vegetables and cheeses she couldn't care less for), were some pancakes.
He knows that I hate pancakes! She took them out of the fridge and chucked them in the bin. Guess I'll have to get my own breakfast...again... She made her way into Cloud's room. Looks like I'll just have to sell something of Cloud's to make some money...
Despite giving most of his materia away to Yuffie after the Meteor Incident, he still kept a substantial backup supply for emergencies. Marlene not only knew this, but she also knew where he kept it hidden.
Slowly, she moved the wardrobe off to one side, revealing a state-of-the-art safe, which was impenetrable to all physical damage. If Meteor had hit this house, the safe would still be intact. However, Marlene knew that the safes had a fatal flaw. They could be easily hacked to figure out the correct combination.
From her belt, she removed her pocket computer. Cloud had given it to her, long ago when she was little, and it was original purpose was it's use as a personal organiser. However, with a small amount of cash, and help from a few of her friends, she was able to modify it so it could access computer system. However, when the new government developed a counter-measure against it, it looked like she would never be able to use it again. However, Cloud's safe was an old model, and it probably hadn't been opened in years until Marlene had found it. And so, now and again, Marlene would break into the safe and take a relatively unimportant piece of materia.
One of the main problems with this machine she thought as she connected the access wires from the computer into the data port, is that when the user installs it, he can set as many rotating pass-codes as he likes, as long as he remembers which code corresponds to which month. She started hacking into the code, unveiling it number by number. This was the month of June, and she hadn't acquired a code to hack into it yet.
Her computer beeped after several seconds, confirming that the code had been hacked. She entered the code into the safe's keypad as she had done many times previously. As she entered the final digit, the safe slowly grinded open.
Okay, which one this time? She didn't want to take anything major, just something that would buy her a good breakfast. She briefly contemplated taking a red summon materia, but she decided against. There's too few of them, and they would be noticed easily.
Eventually, she decided to grab a low-level lightning. As she reached in to grab it, the photo of that woman once again caught her eye. Ignoring it as she always did, she took the materia out of the safe and turned away...
Only to find Cloud standing in the doorway, his face unreadable. For a moment, the air between them was tense. Marlene felt herself backing away from him. Cloud continued to stand, watching her closely.
She forced herself to speak. "Um...I didn't know you would be back this early..." Cloud didn't respond. She held her breath, wondering what he would do to her. Finally, he spoke.
"Take three of the green materia and meet me in the usual place.
Marlene
I've gone to the doctor's. Will be back later today.
Training is at 3:00p.m in the usual place
Breakfast is in the Fridge
Cloud
P.S. Do NOT attempt to use the pressure cooker!
Strange she thought. Usually he only leaves me a note to tell me when and where our next training session is. She shrugged and headed into the kitchen. Her eyes fell upon the new pressure cooker that Cloud had recently installed, and she toiled with the prospect of using it. However, one look at all the knobs and dials put her off, and instead, she decided to check the fridge.
When she opened the fridge door, all she found in there (apart from an assortment of vegetables and cheeses she couldn't care less for), were some pancakes.
He knows that I hate pancakes! She took them out of the fridge and chucked them in the bin. Guess I'll have to get my own breakfast...again... She made her way into Cloud's room. Looks like I'll just have to sell something of Cloud's to make some money...
Despite giving most of his materia away to Yuffie after the Meteor Incident, he still kept a substantial backup supply for emergencies. Marlene not only knew this, but she also knew where he kept it hidden.
Slowly, she moved the wardrobe off to one side, revealing a state-of-the-art safe, which was impenetrable to all physical damage. If Meteor had hit this house, the safe would still be intact. However, Marlene knew that the safes had a fatal flaw. They could be easily hacked to figure out the correct combination.
From her belt, she removed her pocket computer. Cloud had given it to her, long ago when she was little, and it was original purpose was it's use as a personal organiser. However, with a small amount of cash, and help from a few of her friends, she was able to modify it so it could access computer system. However, when the new government developed a counter-measure against it, it looked like she would never be able to use it again. However, Cloud's safe was an old model, and it probably hadn't been opened in years until Marlene had found it. And so, now and again, Marlene would break into the safe and take a relatively unimportant piece of materia.
One of the main problems with this machine she thought as she connected the access wires from the computer into the data port, is that when the user installs it, he can set as many rotating pass-codes as he likes, as long as he remembers which code corresponds to which month. She started hacking into the code, unveiling it number by number. This was the month of June, and she hadn't acquired a code to hack into it yet.
Her computer beeped after several seconds, confirming that the code had been hacked. She entered the code into the safe's keypad as she had done many times previously. As she entered the final digit, the safe slowly grinded open.
Okay, which one this time? She didn't want to take anything major, just something that would buy her a good breakfast. She briefly contemplated taking a red summon materia, but she decided against. There's too few of them, and they would be noticed easily.
Eventually, she decided to grab a low-level lightning. As she reached in to grab it, the photo of that woman once again caught her eye. Ignoring it as she always did, she took the materia out of the safe and turned away...
Only to find Cloud standing in the doorway, his face unreadable. For a moment, the air between them was tense. Marlene felt herself backing away from him. Cloud continued to stand, watching her closely.
She forced herself to speak. "Um...I didn't know you would be back this early..." Cloud didn't respond. She held her breath, wondering what he would do to her. Finally, he spoke.
"Take three of the green materia and meet me in the usual place.