Off Duty
Cloud, Tifa, and Cid entered the restaurant carefully looking around. The place was nice and large, with a festive atmosphere as people were happily getting drunk and singing karaoke. Cloud scanned the room looking for anything that remotely looked like Yuffie. I can't believe she stole our materia! How the hell can she carry it all too! Damn it, we were hot on Sephiroth's trail too. I can't believe this, at this rate we will never catch him. Alright, clam down, just look around.
"Alright lets look around," commanded Cloud.
"How about we have a drink," said Cid as he saw a hot blond woman sit at the bar. Entranced Cid followed his hormones as they gave him the command to move forward. Before he could run into a full out sprint and drop the line 'Yo babe, I'm a pilot' Cloud grabbed the back of his shirt.
"Damnit you blond piece of shit! What the hell you cock blocking me for! I saw her first, respect your elders ya shit!"
"Cid we aren't here for that! We have to find Yuffie so we can get our materia, so we can then go find the Temple of the Ancients."
"Oh come on Cloud, one lousy drink, or a couple for that matter won't hurt. So what if our materia is gone. That is not our priority now."
"Oh yeah what is it?"
Cid made sure that Tifa was out of earshot and then whispered, "Poontang dumbass! That is always a priority mission! Where the hell are your balls!"
"My God Cid, picturing you getting any wants to make me vomit! We have to get Sephiroth before he gets away!" Cloud said almost shouting.
"Look, I'm sure Sephiroth is trying to get laid too, so we should follow his lead and try to do the same, all this damn chasing is making me sick. We are in a damn resort town! Lets make the best of it!"
"No! We have to find Yuffie so we can find Sephiroth!"
"Calm down SOILDER boy, Yuffie is stuck in this town, so we should try and fool her and think that we don't care, reverse psychology! It'll work, damn I'm a genius." Too bad I really don't care. Jeeze ever since I joined up with this crew, it has been nothing but lets go here, Sephiroth is there. Damn, how can a guy get a break here? We are gonna burn out at this rate.
"What the hell are you talking about! Come on we are lea…" Then Cloud suddenly went white for a second as he saw the occupants of the table in front of them. Cid looked puzzled and then looked around his shoulders and saw a bunch of suits sitting at the round table. There was a huge black man, some other guy, and a pretty cute blond there. What the hell are they, insurance agents? Why the hell would Cloud be scared of insurance agents.
"Hey Cloud, who the hell are they? They insurance salesmen? If they are, you outta insure your balls because you keep losing them!" Cloud kept looking forward, unfazed by Cid's insult. What the hell is wrong with this kid? He just got burned! If Barret was here he would be laughing his ass off!
"They are the Turks."
"Turks!? What the hell does that mean, is that short for turkey or something? Are they from Turkey?"
"No you dumbass! They are…"
Suddenly the blond woman jumped out of her seat and pointed straight at Cloud. Damn! Cloud suddenly went to a fighting stance and his hand sought after his sword behind him. He saw out of the corner of his eye Tifa running up to his side to give him backup. He then looked at Cid stupidly staring at Elena's chest, damnit! Why the hell did I ask this perverted old man to join us. Man…Cid is stuck in perv land, we have no materia, and we are in a confined space. This doesn't look good.
"Yy, you!? How did you get here...?" shouted Elena shakily. She gained control over her fear and continued, "Never mind that. I guess it's fate that brought us together. Get ready to die!" She immediately went into a fighting stance and began to charge after Cloud. Cloud was about to slash his sword out when he heard Reno say something that made both Elena and himself stop dead in their tracks.
"Elena…You talk too much."
"Ww, what?"
"What are we doin here in the middle of nowhere?" Reno said as if he was talking to a child.
"We are taking our vacation and resting up from our work."
"Now our vacation is ruined."
"…sorry…" Elena whispered as she slumped back into her chair, feeling depressed that she once again disappointed Reno, whom she has been trying to impress for weeks now. Cloud was completely stunned. He still had his hand on the sword hilt as his mind began to think this was some sort of trap. Tifa was also nervous as she looked with confusion at the scene. Cid was trying to see if that blond was still at the counter. He was glad that he didn't have to fight these guys, he didn't even know who they were. He noticed Cloud's confused look and hit him on the shoulder.
"Hey, we gonna drink or what. I say we join these guys on vacation."
"I don't understand it…why didn't they attack us? Aren't they the enemy, aren't we their enemy?"
"Hey, don't get philosophical on this, they're just on vacation, it's as simple as that. You'll just have to wait for them to kick your ass another day. How about we order a round huh?"
"I just don't get it?" Cloud looked over at Tifa for an answer.
"I don't either Cloud? I mean, isn't it their mission to kill us?" They both looked puzzled at the table that was now full of commotion again. Reno had ordered another round, while Rude sipped his drink and compassionately put his hand on Elena's shoulder. Elena smiled and continued to drink as they continued their card game, completely ignoring Cloud and his group. It was as if they weren't even there. Over the ruckus of the bar, Cloud heard Reno say, "Drink Rude! How long have we been a team? There have been hard times being a Turk, but all in all, I'm glad I did it. I even got to meet a bunch of wing nuts like you!"
Reno and Elena beamed in unison and raised their glasses. "To the Turks…To Reno…cheers!" They tapped each others glasses and proceed to down the booze inside it. After they finish their chugs in a drunkenly fashion, they gave a cheer and laughed together. Cloud looked at them in wonderment and felt a daze come over him. All of a sudden he was strangely jealous of them and very confused. He walked over to the table in a trance, determined to find out why they won't fight him.
"Cloud! What are you doing?!" Tifa yells at him but it is no use. Cloud walks over to the table and stands there looking at Reno. Reno tries to ignore him, but soon his presence is too close to him to be ignored and he turns around in his chair coolly and lowers his sunglasses revealing his eyes.
"Why didn't you attack us?" Cloud asked plainly.
"Look, you are making me sober, so go piss off will you."
"Hmm, you're lucky all right. Now get out of my sight! The next time we meet I won't be so nice," said Elena. Cloud still stood there waiting for an answer. Reno was visibly getting more annoyed and hissed, "I don't want to drink with you so get the fu…" but before he could finish, Cid sat down at the table loudly and said, "Yeah but I wanna drink, and no body doesn't want to drink with the captain. The next round is on me! So you guys are the Turks huh? You guys from Turkey or something? I'm from Rocket Town myself, the name is Cid," Cid cheerily said as he winked at Elena. Elena coughed and gagged as she saw him wink at her. Who does this old man think he is?
Reno was wondering the same thing. He had never seen him with Cloud and the others before. He must be a new member. Shirna Intelligence is really getting lazy on these guys. He contemplated kicking him out, but he offered to buy a round, and you can't say no to that.
"Sure, old man. Get me a Scotch on the rocks."
"Now that is what I'm talking about! I have been waiting for this ball less wonder to say something like that, but I guess I have to jump the gun and do it myself! Yo! Get my new friends here a scotch on the rocks, in fact make that a double, and another round of Sake, plus some of these beer nuts too! Thanks doll, and this blond guy will pick up the bill."
"Cid you bastard! Don't you remember why we are here! We need to go!"
"Well then go already, you have the PHS. Phone in the rest of the crew, you don't need me."
"FINE THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M GONNA DO DAMN IT!" Cloud screamed enraged. Tifa took his arm and took him outside scared that he might do something rash. Cloud called up the rest of the team with the PHS and told them of their situation. Soon all of them were gathered outside the Turtle Inn.
"Alright, it'll be me, Tifa, and Barret. Aeris, you take Vincent, Red 13, and Cait Sith. If we split up we should be able to find her faster." There was apprehension in the group as everyone hesitated to move. Cloud looked around annoyed and waited to hear someone say something. Barret was the first to speak.
"Yo, Cloud, Cid has a good point. I been bustin my ass tryin to catch that fool Sephiroth for months now. Wid out rest too, maybe we should take a rest."
"Am I the only one that thinks that our mission is important! And we need materia to do that mission don't we! So what the hell is the hold up!"
"I am curious to see the Temple of the Ancients," said Aeris. "But Barret does have a point Cloud. We need to rest."
"Fine! You guys can go and drink and screw around while Sephiroth gets farther and farther away. Me and Tifa are going to look for Yuffie, right Tifa?" Tifa didn't want to argue with Cloud. She only wanted to keep him calm and not make him upset. She agreed with the rest of the group, but she didn't want to leave him out in the cold alone. So she slowly nodded her head. "Good, who else is coming?"
"Awright Cloud, we'll go," Barret said reluctantly, knowing that Cloud was the leader. If you don't obey a leader, what is the point of having one anyway? They split up and went looking for Yuffie in the distant town of Wutai.