Grinding
Final Fantasy VII, all rights to the Square-Enix.
Cid was outside watering some plants under Aeris's instructions. As he saw Yuffie running outside he couldn't help aiming at her feet.
"Cid! You big asshole!" she shouted.
"A young lady should watch her language" he replied laughing.
"You watch your head from now on" she replied sticking her tongue out.
"Where are you running to? It's almost lunch time"
"Don't worry; I'll be back in an hour or so"
After setting up the table and everyone was at place Yuffie still was out.
"She said she'd be back in an hour"
"Where did she go?" asked Aeris.
"I don't know she seemed pretty happy…maybe she has a secret date" Cid smiled.
Red snorted as he sat on the ground as any common animal.
"She's probably mugging some poor lad"
"That's so mean Red."
Aeris placed the food on a plate for him on the ground.
"If she's not going back soon I'll put aside something for her"
"Don't worry about it! Her stomach will eventually grumble"
Tifa entered the dining room with barely her eyes opened.
"Hey! Good Morning" said Cloud "Perhaps you'd like to have breakfast and lunch all together?"
"No thanks…I've got a huge headache"
She passed by headed to the kitchen.
"Hey Tif! Remember tonight there's a big game on tv and clients…"
"Don't worry dammit!"
Barret felt uneasy at such a reply.
"Well…sorry. You sure you're ok?"
"I'm fine…just need something to drink and a pill"
A big slam on the door and Yuffie reached the others yelling.
"I won!" she jumped grabbing Red by the neck.
"Won? World Thief Championship?" Cid joked.
Red coughed for a while.
"Shut up Cid" she replied "Tickets for the Gold Saucer!"
Everyone looked at each other silently.
"What's wrong?"
"That's great Yuffie…" Aeris calmly got up "…but we're in Midgar now…we'd have to go across the sea"
Yuffie started getting nervous.
"The hell with that! We have a fine working aircraft" she pointed to Cid.
"Hey hey! I'm no chauffeur"
"Com'on Cid! You of all should agree to this!"
"It's not just that Yuffie...it's still a long way and…"
"Some of us unlike you have to work"
Vincent spoke for the first time. He probably was the only one who kept eating.
Aeris nodded sadly.
"The hell with all of you!"
Yuffie left the room as quickly as she came, and for a while nobody had anything to say.
"Err…Aeries…"
"Yes Cid?"
"You think Yuffie minds if I take her ration?"
"…"
Tifa was on the kitchen sink not really caring what was going on. She heard Yuffie make a big fuss about going to a stupid amusement park, like if they had never gone there before. She didn't care about that place, she wasn't a kid anymore. After all Aeris had gotten a nice place near Cloud's heart precisely there. Not the best place to have fun, not at all.
"I'm sick and tired of all of this…" she bent to wash her face.
Vincent entered the kitchen with dirty plates on his hands. Tifa looked up and moved without saying a word.
"You keep sleeping like this you might seriously wan to consider to buying an entire package of headache pills"
Tifa looked at him seriously annoyed but Vincent wasn't looking toward her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Have you never received advice before?"
"That didn't sound like an advice to me. Mind your own business."
Vincent gave her an odd look.
"My apologies."
She couldn't see his mouth twitching into a mocking smile but she felt it and she wasn't the least bit happy about it.
Barret was sitting outside watching Marlene playing in what remained of an old playground. Cloud reached them.
"About Yuffie's idea Barret…"
"We can't just leave…I'd like to go too"
"Can't you close the place with some excuse…it's just for two days"
Barret took a deep breath.
"What about you and the others. You all have jobs to answer too…responsibilities. Yuffie has a stupid part-time job in a shop, and even so she won't last there long as her usual…"
Cloud smiled.
"I can take a break, Aeris and Red aren't working, Cid and Vincent can be convinced I guess."
"You of all people!" Barret laughed "You and Reeve shouldn't take your new job lightly"
"Honestly Barret, I take it very seriously." He replied sadly "So many things have to been done that's hard to think were to begin from"
Barret called out Marlene.
"Com'on kid! Bed time!"
The little girl immediately obeyed. She seemed happy and relaxed among all the confusion and problems arising around her. Sweet child innocence.
"Ready!"
Barret picked her up in his arms giving her a warm hug.
"Guess what?"
"What? What?"
"We're going to the Gold Saucer!"
Marlene's eyes widened happily.
"Really?"
Clouds eyes were wide open in surprise as well.
That's the second chapter. I actually hope things don't seem too slow but I thought I'd be too harsh to just point the situation with out a good background situation.