Ch. 3 More the Merrier

"Who the hell does that old man think he is!? He takes half my damn party and then spends half my damn gil on booze!" yelled Cloud extremely irate. The cold air was cold and bitter in Wutai. As he walked away from the Turtle Inn, he could hear a multitude of laughter coming from there. He grimaced as he heard them and turned sharply towards Tifa who was looking toward the inn smiling.

"So I suppose you want to join them too, huh?" asked Cloud harshly.

"You know Cloud, he is just trying to have a good time, this journey has been stressful for everyone."

"What the hell!! Is everyone only concerned about having a good time!"

"Well, think about it Cloud, we haven't had a lot of good times lately, have we?" Cloud looked into her ruby eyes and remembered their trip to their hometown. Their discovery that everything was replaced as if the memory was a dream, even though it felt like one. So many damn bad memories. That is why I have to find Sephiroth so I can…so I can what?

"Tifa…"

"Listen Cloud, maybe we should go in there."

"No! Absolutely not, we are going…"

"Look Cloud, lets just have a good time, Yuffie will still be here in the morning, she has nowhere else to go or any means to get anywhere else. We still have the boat Bronco tied up at the other side of the island. We should have a little fun, come on. Please, don't make me beg."

"NO! AND THAT IS FINAL!" shouted Cloud so loud that it echoed throughout the whole town making dogs bark throughout the once quiet town. Tifa looked shocked at him, taken by surprise by his volume. Cloud gave her a glare that seemed to say, 'choose, me or them.' Tifa buckled under the gaze and looked down to the floor.

"Alright Cloud, your right…" Tifa said meekly.

"Alright, well lets go look some more," still very irate. The group walked with a somber step as each group member thought about their choice to stay and whether it was the right choice. But they figured they came this far and didn't want to turn back now. They stepped off slowly into the night. The lights of the inn started to fade and soon they were on the hunt again.

Back at the inn, two conversations were going on. One with Barret and Cid, the other between the Turks and Vincent. The mood was cherry and light.

"Man, this is one hell of a sausage party…why the hell did Cloud take all the chicks with em, huh! Tifa was just about to sit down and fall in love with me! But no she got that blond weenie on the brain!" said Cid getting a little irritated as their was no visible woman in the joint.

"Shut the hell up white boy, the way you bitch you make it sound as if there was a chick here. Besides you ain't got no chance wid Tifa," said Barret.

"So what was your training like? I mean did you have to go through basic first or what?" asked Reno as he stared at Vincent. They started comparing and contrasting on their experiences and Reno and Rude viewed Vincent as the old war hero. They sat there wide eyed like kids as he answered.

"Well, things were different then, the company didn't have the army division back then. The Turks were the main police force and acted as a sort of security staff. I was in the squadron that protected VIP's in the company, thus I was assigned to the Shinra mansion. Our training was tough, but most of us were mercenaries to begin with so we were used to it…" Vincent continued with his story that flowed at as he stared at his drink.

"Look at him Barret, like a damn war hero, hey dip shit! I was in a war! An ace no doubt, and you better believe a pimp too!"

"Man, you ain't no pimp, an nobody wanna hear your tired ass war stories when you fought when da dinosaurs roamed around and shit."

"Don't hate the game, hate the player jack ass!"

"You reversed it foo'! Didn't you learn anything from those lessons! Don't hate the player!"

"My bad, my bad. Who gives a shit. Just stop hating just cause I got more ass then a toliet seat."

"Ha! You say some funny shit white boy! Toilet seat…haha…that's some funny shit. But it is bull shit." Some time passed as Barret and Cid swapped insults and Vincent was telling his drawn out story about his past. Eventually some silence fell upon Cid and Barret and Cid's drunken thoughts went to Cloud.

"So what's up with Cloud I mean he's been in a bad mode all fucking day."

"Man his materia got stolen ya know. If someone jacked my shit I would be fucking pissed too, shit."

"I got the drinking materia for h…"

"Man put dat shit away! No body want no drinking materia, it probably don't even work. Shit you got it from these asses anyway, its probably a trap or some shit," said Barret said lowly, glaring at the Turks. He was very aware of their presence and still didn't trust them. He knew they worked for Shinra, and he hated anything connected to them by default. But he had to admit, that these guys were different.

"Who them, they ain't bad. Who gives a fuck if they work for the other side. They offered to go half and half on these drinks so shit they okay in my book."

"Man, if Sephiroth himself paid fo' your shit fo' you he'd be awight in you book and shit," laughed Barret.

"Well, it would have to be a lot. But these guys are alright, I mean Vinny doesn't give a shit about them, and he used to work for them too. So stop busting their balls like a bitch!"
"Yeah I suppose you right, or might be cuz I'm drunk off dis shit," Barret said as he pointed to his beer.

"Man you two beer queer. You fucked up already, man does everyone in the whole crew not know how to take a fucking drink! I mean I can drink any asshole under the tab…" Just then an attractive blond walked across their table and toward the bar. She had a sleek red dress on that fit snuggly on her body, lengthy legs, short blond hair that seemed to float, and bounce upon her feminine shoulders. "…damn she fine…look at that rack."

"Who you talkin ab…damn! She fine!" Barret said as he turned around.

"Hey Vinny, check out this babe!" Cid said as he hit Vincent's shoulder interrupting his story and making him irritated.

"Cid, I don't want to look at one of your two bit floozy…well she is quite attractive."

"Wow," Reno said. Rude stared and actually lowered his sunglasses to see if she was real.

"I saw her first fuckers! She's mine!" Cid exclaimed as he dashed out of his chair and started to head his way over to the bar. His booze confidence meter was full, which is a dangerous position to be in, especially for Cid. He drunkenly strutted up there, trying to pimp walk, but he was so drunk it came off more like a limp then anything. He sat down heavily on the stool next to her and turned around and gave the table he departed a thumbs up.

Reno returned his thumbs up while turning to Rude and saying, "500 gil says that the chick will slap him in the next five minutes."

"That ain't a fair bet. I say he won't last a minute."

"I'll bet to that, yo uhhh Barret was it, you want in on this pool."

Barret stared at them for a second trying to decide whether he should be friendly with them or not. Fuck it, I'm buzzin. "Yeah get me on dat shit, he won't last a minute."

What about you Mr. Valentine, do you want in?" asked Reno

"Whats with dis Mr. Shit!? Shit, Mr. Vincent, now dats funny, haha…"

"I'm sure Cid will last longer then a couple of minutes, he's not that bad with woman."

"What! Damn Vincent, you trippin…he won't last thirty seconds, haha I can't wait for dis." They all grinned and continued to drink, starring at Cid across the room.

"Yo man, give me a shot of ahhh something sophisticated. Fuc..I mean scre..I mean forget that. Get me a Martini, shaken not stirred," Cid said as he looked at the blond while he raised one eyebrow awkwardly trying to emulate James Bond.

"Yo babe, I'm a pilot. Name's Cid, best in the sky."

"Must be an empty sky," said the blond dryly. She was used to every drunk tourist trying to hit on her and she had become quite apt at smart remarks. Cid stared at her drunkingly as all the processers in his brain tried to analyze what she just said. "Thanks babe, yeah it would be a dangerous sky cause they are afraid, because I'm dangerous," Cid misinterpreted. "So I didn't catch your name."

"That's because I didn't throw it."

Damn winch! Trying to play hard to get I see, just like that other blond uhhhh whatever her name was. "We'll see…so how about I buy you a drink?"

"I guess, a Cosmo Cosmopolitan."

"Yo, let me get a cosmo, uhhh…" Cid started to dig in his pocket and pulled out lint. Damn! Maybe I shouldn't have ordered that triple order of Vodka…stay calm Cid! You can pull through this, think of something…uhhhh…maybe, naw that wouldn't work. Oh I know!

"Hey babe I'm alittle shot so how about I borrow som.."

"Forget it," she sighed heavily and started to get up.

"Hey wait up you cheap winch!," said Cid instinctively.

"What did you call me!"

"Uhhh I said can I borrow a wrench! Yeah a wrench so I can tune up my plane, hey what are you..!" She dumped her drink on him and smacked him hard across the cheek. Cid just fell off his stool and turned as he heard a roar of laughter coming from his table.

"Damn! You just got bitch slapped! Hahahah!," Barret roared over the laughter.

"Smooth Romeo!," mocked Reno.

Rude just gave him a thumbs up and shook his head grinning from ear to ear. Cid stood up and flicked them off, walking over his ego bruised, but nothing a couple of shots on Cloud wouldn't fix.

"She was a lesbian anyway…probably from Turkey, I hear they are a lot of homos there in Turkey, huh Reno?"

"How the fuck should I know, I ain't from there dumb ass. Well you could have lasted alittle longer, now I owe Barret 500." He hands Barret the gil in a bundle.

"You Barret, since I knew you guys was betting, and that is why I screwed up like that, how about you buy me another triple. Since you know it took all my skill to turn my suave off so she wouldn't do me right there!" Cid said with a big grin.

"Man shut your "suave" ass up. I already paid for yo ass already, besides you be swimming in alcohol already wid dat drink she poured on your ass. Yeah why don't you just ring out you scarf and drink that…hehehe"

"May be I will," Cid thought, naw there probably isn't a lot in there anyway.

"Hey Rude, she's still there. I wonder whats up? You would think she would never come here again after meeting Cid the pilot."

"Better then meeting Reno, the Turkey boy," muttered Cid. Man, no money equals no booze. I never liked math. Shit, how am I gonna get some money. I need a sugar mama. I do I get one of those? Maybe I should go find Cloud and get some gil. He owes me for…something. He could sort of be a sugar mama, a blond sugar whinning, cross dressing, sugar mama.

"Hey Cid, where is yo drunk as going?" asked Barret.

"I'm gonna find Cloud and get some more cash."

"Man, yo drunk ass will get your ass kicked by some little kid or dog if you go out der. Just sit here and shut up."

"What, me, El Cid! Are you kidding! The second they see these guns, they will run away, fuck y'all I'm outta here!" He stumbled up and slowly walked, holding his head along the way toward the exit.

"Maybe we should go after him?" asked Vincent, just about the only one close to sober at the table.

"Naww, he be alwright, I mean its El Cid, remember," Barret said while chuckling.

"Yeah screw it, so Mr. Vincent, tell us more about your first job," said Reno as he saw El Cid walk out and pretty sure that would be the last time he would see him, well at least till he found out what hospital he would be checked in. He turned with the rest of the table towards Vincent as he continued his story.