Author's Notes: I've had this one kicking around on my hard drive and my
blog for some damn time and I hope that uploading it here will inspire me
to get off my arse and finish it. Like "Everybody Else's Girl", I hope I
can find a way to get formatting to work on this one soon - something about
the HTML I'm using is unliked by ff.net. And I don't own any of the
characters, but Squaresoft does.
* * *
If he kicks that $^@*in' drawer one more time, Cid thought, with mild amusement, it's gonna smash all over the damn floor. And he's gonna have to pay for it. And that'll just piss him off even more.
Cid could afford to make judgements about these things. He was an engineer, after all.
He had to wonder why the Wutai Inn had a single room that slept six, but it had come in handy. Cloud had only been persuaded to leave three people to guard the Tiny Bronco, choosing to leave Red, Cait Sith, and Barret, while somehow neglecting its pilot. Cid didn't mind... much. Spiky was providing much more entertainment even than working on Cid's pride and joy.
Right at the moment, the aforementioned warrior and de facto leader of AVALANCHE was pacing around the room, muttering angry curses under his breath. He mananged deftly to step around Aeris, who was bandaging Tifa's upper arm, and Vincent, who was performing some routine maintenance on his Peacemaker. Cid was particularly amused to see Vincent paying attention to cleaning out the materia slots.
Because they were empty, of course.
"Why aren't we going after her?" Cloud shouted, pausing just on the sane side of pulling his Rune Blade and doing serious damage to random furniture.
"Tifa shouldn't go anywhere with this kind of injury." Aeris replied, not looking up from her work. "I really need some potion to heal it quickly, but we used the last of ours in the last battle. I'll need to go back to the Tiny Bronco to get more."
"One of our Restore materia can cast a second level Cure spell." Cloud mused, staring out of one of the windows, over a Wutai that sheltered, somewhere, a teenaged ninja who had dared to thumb her nose at mighty Cloud Strife, and who mighty Cloud Strife was even now imagining being pecked to death by hungry chocobos. "Even a Regenerate spell, I think. One of those would have Tifa back on her feet..."
"So if Yuffie would kindly drop in and cast one, we'd be fine, wouldn't we, Cloud?" Aeris pinned the bandage, patted Tifa's shoulder with a smile, and stood. "As it is, we need to make alternate arrangements."
"As it is, we need to catch her, and get the damn materia back."
"C'mon, Cloud." Tifa said, standing to drop onto one of the beds - and sparing her cut arm. "Yuffie shouldn't have stolen our materia, and I agree we have to get it back, but you sound like you're out for blood."
Cloud took a moment before he replied. "The materia was a gift of the Planet, to help us save the Planet. Without it... you've seen us fight. We're not useless, but we're close."
So this is all about your feeling impotent, Strife? Cid thought, smiling quietly to himself. The moment I saw your $^@*in sword, I knew you were compensatin' for somethin'.
"Well." Aeris took up the Fairy Tale lying by her bed, running her hands over the empty materia slots out of habit. "I'm going back to the Tiny Bronco now, to get Tifa some potion. You can either come with me, or take Cid and Vincent to run around Wutai howling for ninja blood. Remember that if you do the second, you'll be leaving me and Tifa alone in dangerous surroundings. You've mentioned something about that, I think." With a smile - does the $^@*in' girl ever do anythin' without one? - Aeris walked out of the room.
Cloud growled, turned, and kicked the bedside table that had been suffering his ire ever since their arrival in the room.
As Cid had predicted, it broke. The leg he had kicked snapped in two, spilling the table down on one corner and letting both of its drawers spill onto the floor, the list of emergency PHS numbers skidding across the floor to land at Tifa's feet.
Cid couldn't help but to laugh as loud as he could, despite the look of impatience and annoyance in blue-green Mako eyes.
Yep, he thought, Spiky's far more fun than the $^@*in' Bronco.
* * *
If he kicks that $^@*in' drawer one more time, Cid thought, with mild amusement, it's gonna smash all over the damn floor. And he's gonna have to pay for it. And that'll just piss him off even more.
Cid could afford to make judgements about these things. He was an engineer, after all.
He had to wonder why the Wutai Inn had a single room that slept six, but it had come in handy. Cloud had only been persuaded to leave three people to guard the Tiny Bronco, choosing to leave Red, Cait Sith, and Barret, while somehow neglecting its pilot. Cid didn't mind... much. Spiky was providing much more entertainment even than working on Cid's pride and joy.
Right at the moment, the aforementioned warrior and de facto leader of AVALANCHE was pacing around the room, muttering angry curses under his breath. He mananged deftly to step around Aeris, who was bandaging Tifa's upper arm, and Vincent, who was performing some routine maintenance on his Peacemaker. Cid was particularly amused to see Vincent paying attention to cleaning out the materia slots.
Because they were empty, of course.
"Why aren't we going after her?" Cloud shouted, pausing just on the sane side of pulling his Rune Blade and doing serious damage to random furniture.
"Tifa shouldn't go anywhere with this kind of injury." Aeris replied, not looking up from her work. "I really need some potion to heal it quickly, but we used the last of ours in the last battle. I'll need to go back to the Tiny Bronco to get more."
"One of our Restore materia can cast a second level Cure spell." Cloud mused, staring out of one of the windows, over a Wutai that sheltered, somewhere, a teenaged ninja who had dared to thumb her nose at mighty Cloud Strife, and who mighty Cloud Strife was even now imagining being pecked to death by hungry chocobos. "Even a Regenerate spell, I think. One of those would have Tifa back on her feet..."
"So if Yuffie would kindly drop in and cast one, we'd be fine, wouldn't we, Cloud?" Aeris pinned the bandage, patted Tifa's shoulder with a smile, and stood. "As it is, we need to make alternate arrangements."
"As it is, we need to catch her, and get the damn materia back."
"C'mon, Cloud." Tifa said, standing to drop onto one of the beds - and sparing her cut arm. "Yuffie shouldn't have stolen our materia, and I agree we have to get it back, but you sound like you're out for blood."
Cloud took a moment before he replied. "The materia was a gift of the Planet, to help us save the Planet. Without it... you've seen us fight. We're not useless, but we're close."
So this is all about your feeling impotent, Strife? Cid thought, smiling quietly to himself. The moment I saw your $^@*in sword, I knew you were compensatin' for somethin'.
"Well." Aeris took up the Fairy Tale lying by her bed, running her hands over the empty materia slots out of habit. "I'm going back to the Tiny Bronco now, to get Tifa some potion. You can either come with me, or take Cid and Vincent to run around Wutai howling for ninja blood. Remember that if you do the second, you'll be leaving me and Tifa alone in dangerous surroundings. You've mentioned something about that, I think." With a smile - does the $^@*in' girl ever do anythin' without one? - Aeris walked out of the room.
Cloud growled, turned, and kicked the bedside table that had been suffering his ire ever since their arrival in the room.
As Cid had predicted, it broke. The leg he had kicked snapped in two, spilling the table down on one corner and letting both of its drawers spill onto the floor, the list of emergency PHS numbers skidding across the floor to land at Tifa's feet.
Cid couldn't help but to laugh as loud as he could, despite the look of impatience and annoyance in blue-green Mako eyes.
Yep, he thought, Spiky's far more fun than the $^@*in' Bronco.