Morning was, by far, Cid Highwind's least favorite time of day, yet this morning in particular found him up and dressed bright and early, having swaggered his way downstairs to the dining room their group had assembled in the day before. Vincent had mentioned planning on an early day before last call at the bar, and Cid had been charged with the task of getting a hold of Cloud and asking after his location.
Hell if he was going to talk to that kid without some goddamn tea in his system.
Cid sat heavily in one of the chairs at the long table, coffee and hot water for tea already laid out between various plates of standard continental breakfast fare. Well, he had to hand it to this place, the service was good. Rummaging through the small glass container of tea that had been provided, he found something marginally acceptable and dumped the bag unceremoniously into the nearest mug.
It was as the water poured over it and liquid finally started to darken a shade that Vincent came to sit beside him, looking about the same as he ever did. If the events of the day before had rattled him in any significant way, he kept it to himself.
Instead, he reached across the table without a word and poured himself a cup of coffee. He took it in both hands, and set it to the side of his neglected plate, leaning back until he could stare at the ceiling.
"Mornin' sunshine," Cid greeted him, voice only slightly more gruff than usual thanks to the night's disuse. "I recommend the bearclaws."
"Mm." Vincent mmed noncommittally, watching the ceiling for another beat before settling again. Taking a casual glance about the room to gauge their company. "First ones up."
"Everyone was hittin' the juice pretty hard last night, even Rufus," Cid observed, watching his cup intently as he impatiently waited for his tea to steep. "They'll trickle on down. If they don't, I'll go knock on every one'a their doors an' remind 'em this ain't no vacation."
"Some will be more difficult to convince than others, I imagine." he replied dryly, tipping the mug in his hands just enough to see how thickly the coffee clung to the sides. It moved a bit like tar, sluggish and thick.
Good.
He raised the cup to his lips, peering at Cid over the rim. "Do we have a heading?"
"Just about to call the boy wonder and see where he's at," Cid assured him, squinting one eye at his tea rather suspiciously before deciding he was through waiting. He spooned the bag out and deposited it on the edge of his plate, raising the mug to his lips and tipping it back as he blindly searched his jacket pocket for his phone. "Alright," he announced, flipping it open and scrolling through the address book with his thumb. "Let's see if he's an early riser."
He held the phone to his right ear, keeping his mug steady in the other hand and taking long, measured sips between rings. Finally, after the fifth or sixth, the person on the other end picked up, and Cid sighed impatiently. "Hey, Cloud. Vincent an' I got somethin' we need t'talk t'you about- no, we ain't married yet," he shot back with a scowl, slamming his mug down on the table. "You shut your smart mouth, boy, this is serious!"
Vincent only smiled into his coffee. Well. It was true, then. Cloud was feeling better, after all.
"Look," Cid huffed, "Just tell me where you are. We're comin' t'you. Sorta thing that's best done in person, y'hear me? ... an' we've sort of got a lotta people with us, but I'll explain all that later." He paused. "Oh yeah? Not far at all. We'll see y'before lunchtime, then. Yeah, yeah. Don't hurt yourself, screwball." He snapped the phone shut and pocketed it, then finished his tea in a single fluid motion.
"He an' Tifa took the kids to the Gold Saucer, been there all week."
"Crossing blades with his old nemesis, then, I take it." the dark man quipped, setting aside his coffee as Cait Sith scrambled up onto the table.
"One assumes," Cid said with a nod, reaching for a bagel and taking an oversized bite without bothering to cut it. "Least he'll be easy to find once we get there."
"Good morning," Lyla greeted the three of them from behind, approaching the table and helping herself to a cup of coffee without sitting. She eyed the number of available seats and considered, for a moment, what the best strategic choice would be. Sitting close to Vincent was likely too pushy, even with Cait Sith as a barrier, considering the events of the day before. Too far away was too stand-offish. She decided to take advantage of their convenient placement at the end of the table and circled around to sit opposite him, flashing Cait Sith her most harmless smile as she did so. "You mentioned we were visiting an old friend today?"
"It looks like we'll be able to make good time," the ex-Turk supplied evenly.
The robot, for his part, did his best to look nonchalant as he scooted closer to Cid.
"It's lucky," he added, picking up his coffee again. But if there was any explanation to that statement beyond the obvious, he chose not to get into it.
"Nice tae see 'e's doon something for himself," Cait Sith announced decidedly, folding his arms. "Nae though'I'd see it again."
"Where is he?" Lyla asked with interest, repressing the urge to make a face as she took her first swallow of coffee. She generally liked it strong, but this had almost turned to sludge. Setting her cup down, she discreetly emptied a few more sugar packets than were likely necessary into its contents.
"Gold Saucer," Cid supplied. "''Bout an hour's ride from here."
"So with a little luck, we'll still get there ahead of time."
"If by luck, ye mean in th'rest o'the bairn gettin' themselves outtae bed, then yeah. We'll be needin' a lot o'thae, Vin."
"I banged on Reno's door on the way down, only got a whine in return," Lyla offered with a frown. "I think I heard Clarise up and about though, same for the president."
"They don't show their faces soon, I'll give 'em somethin' t'whine about," Cid grumbled as he prepared himself a second cup of tea. "This ain't no pleasure cruise. ... even if we are goin' to an' amusement park."
"Maybe that news would speed them up," Vincent suggested.
"What news?" Clarise asked, draping herself over the back of Lyla's chair. "Has anyone been outside yet this morning?"
"Nae, Missy." The cat shook his head. "S'still driech ou'there."
"He's still close." Vincent rasped, frowning at the tablecloth. "We have a little time."
"So much for a tan." The blonde shifted her weight a bit. "Who's close? Dr. McCrazy?"
"God, I hope not," Lyla muttered, going visibly tense despite the welcome presence at her back. As the night ran its course, she had more or less talked herself out of the comforting idea that Ingram might remain in pieces, but she thought it might not be too much to hope that he stayed at a safe distance, at least for the immediate future.
"Friend of ours," Cid corrected her, frowning at his tea as though willing it to steep faster. "Gonna go meet 'im at the Gold Saucer today. Important stuff. Think that news'll get the boys in blue outta bed?"
"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it." Clarise told him brightly, offering Lyla a gentle pat on the back as she turned to make her way back up the stairs.
Vincent watched her go without comment, glancing over at the pilot when her back had vanished around the corner. Cloud was close. But he wasn't the reason for the poor weather. It occurred to him that maybe he ought to mention it more clearly, but in the end, he let it pass.
Sephiroth was already on everyone's mind. No need to call the devil by his name.
"Figured it's no use gettin' anyone's panties in a twist," Cid explained once Clarise had left, his voice darkening several tones. "Not when we're about to blow outta here and hopefully make some progress. Since Shera ain't here to fuss at you, eat somethin', Vin," he went on, finishing his own breakfast.
"How is Shera," he replied blithely, taking a bagel and setting it on the otherwise empty plate. Returning to his coffee with a serenity that was not natural for a man with 15 pounds of burnished metal that close to his face.
"Callin' every two hours t'make sure our innards are still where they're s'posed t'be," Cid told him matter-of-factly. "I ain't even given her any details yet, but she figures I'm with you, so it's gotta be somethin' either real stupid or real dangerous. Used t'apologize for every little thing, now she's crackin' the whip even over long distances."
Lyla smiled to herself, promptly hiding her mouth behind her coffee cup.
Vincent seemed to think about that for a moment before finishing off his drink. "It's Thursday." He observed. "We could be watching TV."
Cid perked up slightly at the prospect. "That's true. Think we got time for it?"
"Well. The trip to the Saucer will be at least an hour, you said?"
"Yeah. That's two episodes of Dukes right there," Cid pointed out sagely. "An' y'need it. Been a rough week an' all. It'll be therapeutic, even if it ain't the same as bein' at home."
"It couldn't hurt." He agreed, rocking up out of his chair as he caught the glitter of Clarise's embroidered skirt returning from her trek.
"Now yer both talkin' mince." Cait Sith shook his head, picking up one of the ignored mugs and dropping his dice inside, casting craps to cure the boredom.
"Any luck?" Lyla asked as Clarise neared her seat again, reclaiming her coffee cup and narrowly avoiding being hit by a stray die in the process.
"I think someone said 'kill me' on the other side of Reno's door." She offered brightly, pausing to tap a finger to her lips. "Well. It was that or 'kill bees.' I'm not actually sure which, really."
"If he's not up in five minutes, play some particularly irritating salsa music outside his door," Lyla advised, pausing to finish off the last of her well-sugared coffee. "Do the same for Rude, I guarantee they'll be here in thirty seconds flat."
"No need," Reno interjected miserably, sitting himself down in front of Cait Sith and resting his chin in his hands, leaning both elbows against the table. "Where we going today?"
"Gold Saucer," Cid told him, the answer now becoming rote and automatic.
"That's gonna be great for a hangover," Reno reasoned aloud. "Rude'll be thrilled, though."
Cait Sith set the coffee mug down in front of Reno, leaving one white, glove-like paw atop it for a moment as the dice settled. He seemed to be expecting the Turk to say something, and hesitated before ripping the mug back to reveal the number he had thrown.
"Odds." Said Rude simply as he entered the room, hand still on his tie.
The cat peeked under the rim before peeling the cup away. "Player wins!" he announced.
"Coffee, then." He muttered, indicating the cup in Cait Sith's hand with a flick of his fingers.
"Same here," Reno cut in, shoving the chair next to him out with his foot to offer Rude a seat. Cid stretched as he abandoned his own seat, quickly downing his second cup of tea and leaving the empty mug behind.
"You all do what you gotta do, I'm gonna head to the ship and see what's what. Be ready to head out in half an hour. Like t'get away from this storm," the pilot clarified with a frown. Natural storms were bad enough, but he had no desire to stay near the eye of this one any longer than he absolutely had to.
Standing on her tip-toes, Clarise did a quick count. "We're missing the President and the concussion victim." She observed, frowning a bit. "Someone checked up on him, right? That thing was really nasty."
"I gave him my bed last night," Lyla told her, idly swatting at Reno's hand as he tried to steal half a donut from her plate. "Insists he's alright. He should be down shortly, he was taking a turn in the bathroom when I came down. Don't know about Rufus-" she went on, finding herself cut off by the man in question a moment later.
"You should all know by now, I like to make an entrance," the president informed them with a reserved smile, making an effort not to lean too heavily on his cane as he approached the table and sat down beside Rude. He was, as usual, impeccably groomed, and despite having been away from the bulk of his wardrobe for several days, his suit seemed to be holding up extremely well. "Clarise, coffee."
The blonde tipped a hand as though tapping an invisible button before turning on her heel and heading toward the kitchen. If the manner bothered her at all- well. Clearly it didn't.
Vincent watched her leave for the second time in 6 minutes as he leaned against the far wall. He seemed to be in the process of following Cid before the rest of the party assembling distracted him.
Shinra had always prided itself on strange employees, he supposed.
Cid beckoned for Vincent to follow closer as he stepped out of the dining room, heading for the main entrance of the hotel and leaving the Turks and all the rest to nurse their hangovers or what-have-you in peace. "Cloud ain't gonna be happy to see more'n half the people here."
"That's alright." Vincent said, watching the sky as they headed for the Shera. "Neither were we."
"So," Reno began as their number filed out of the ship, now docked comfortably at the Gold Saucer's airport. With aircraft being much more common than they were just a few years ago, many cities now had appropriate accommodations, and getting to the Saucer was much less of a hassle than it once was. "Anyone else interested in taking in the sights while we're here? Rude, buddy, I think the casino misses us."
The large man nodded, cracking his knuckles thoughtfully as he glanced around the dock.
The unlucky employee bounding about in a fat chocobo suit was as ever-present as the unsettling maw of the snail-creature at the information booth. Vincent stepped around him in his perpetual circle-dance to make brief eye contact with Cid. Then he turned on one heel, glancing down the hallway. "Just as well. We'll make our way to wonder square."
"At least the kid is predictable," Cid said as he rubbed at the back of his neck, falling into step beside Vincent as they both avoided a collision with the dancing chocobo. Lyla decided to stick with the business-minded branch of their party and did likewise, flanking Vincent on the left, while Dr. Caraway hung back, paused at the rear of the group in conversation with Rufus.
"Well, you all have fun now," Reno suggested cheerfully. "Give us a ring if any excitement pops up."
"Vincent?"
The ex-Turk paused mid-step, turning his head towards the pleasant, if somewhat nervously pitched voice.
"Vincent! Cid!" Tifa Lockhart hurried up to them in the very slightly hunched posture of one who is somewhat unwilling to be caught at whatever she is doing. She took Cid's hand as she reached them by way of greeting, bouncing on her heels. "What are you doing here? It's good to see you."
A small girl of about eight stepped out from behind her, smiling bashfully and waving at those assembled as Tifa took Cid's hand. "Hi," she said at length, toeing the ground behind her with her right foot.
"Cloud didn't mention us then, eh?" Cid remarked, patting Tifa's hand before pulling her into an affectionate one-armed hug. "Figures. Talked to 'im this morning, we're here on business, unfortunately. An' hi t'you there, little lady."
Vincent nodded his greetings, even as Tifa checked surreptitiously over her shoulder and back. Flashing the group a smile.
"Looks like something's up." She noted. "Ah, we actually haven't seen Cloud since this morning. There's sort of..." She paused then, exchanging a glance with Marlene. "Do you think we could ask you for a little help?"
"What sorta help you lookin' for?" Cid asked her, inclining his head slightly. Marlene looked back and forth between the two men for a moment, then studied the unfamiliar woman beside them. Putting both hands behind her back, she stepped closer to Vincent and then pulled one out to wave again.
"I didn't know you were coming to see us," she told him, addressing him directly this time.
"It was a surprise," he agreed, offering her a slight bend and the extent of his human hand. "How have you been."
Tifa glanced back again, and this time, there was the distinct impression she was looking for something. "There was an accident at the track," she began uncertainly. "We've lost Prince."
Marlene took his hand between her smaller ones and smiled, inching closer to the dark gunman and beaming up at him as though she didn't find him intimidating at all. "Good! Busy! We've been here all week and there's so much to see! Are you here to play? Will you ride the roller coaster with me later, the one where you shoot stuff? I bet you're good at that."
Lyla smiled at the scene between Marlene and Vincent before turning her attention to Tifa and Cid. "Ah... who's Prince, if you don't mind my asking?"
"The devil's chocobo," Cid said darkly, sneering. "That demon got loose?"
"They said the latch must have been loose and he pushed his way out." The girl shook her head. "I don't want to panic Cloud. How hard could it be to find one chocobo in an amusement park, right? It's not like they're small."
But there was a somewhat hysterical edge on the woman's voice that told tales of just how hard it could be.
"We'll make time, for at least one." Vincent promised quietly, glancing up. "No one's been hospitalized yet?"
Tifa smiled a little lopsidedly and shook her head. "Not yet."
Lyla offered Tifa a sympathetic look as she folded her arms over her chest. "Oh, honey. You sound like you're having a day," she told her, shaking her head. "What kind of chocobo is he?"
"Demonic," Cid answered, squinting one eye. "Just look for the giant bird feasting on moogle flesh an' you've found 'im."
Marlene dropped one hand away from Vincent's to put against her hip. "He's a gold one," she corrected him, "And really big. He's almost as tall as my dad."
"He's Cloud's prize racer," the dark woman added, frowning briefly before extending a hand in Lyla's direction. "I'm Tifa, by the way. This is Marlene."
"Lyla," the scientist offered in reply, raising one hand in what could almost be called a wave before taking the hand Tifa had extended and shaking it. "Nice to meet you."
"You said you called Cloud." Tifa smiled again at Lyla briefly before turning her eyes on Cid and Vincent in turn. "What about? And- ...and is that Rufus Shinra with you?"
"Yes." Vincent agreed, turning to take in the President and his companion for a moment before looking back into the crowd. "First thing. Let's find Prince before he hurts someone."
"Permission to put the beast out of his misery if he attacks me?" Cid asked testily, narrowing the other eye. Lyla was beginning to get the idea that Cid and Prince had a rather unpleasant history.
"No!" Marlene insisted. "He's our pet, Uncle Cid!"
"He's sort of mean tempered with people that aren't Cloud." Tifa supplied, looking only mildly embarrassed. "He raised him from an egg."
"So keep your fingers clear of him," Lyla confirmed, putting her hands on her hips and rolling her weight to her left leg. "Well. They're not exactly small animals. Between all of us, we should be able to cover ground more quickly, he'll be out of places to hide."
Behind her, Rufus waited until Tifa's gaze moved past him again and offered her a wink and a smile once he'd caught it. He'd caught her bewildered look a moment before. It was always fun to keep the whitehats guessing.
The frazzled girl blinked at him, then, after some minor hesitation lifted his hand in a small wave. It seemed to be harder and harder to tell who was a bad guy these days.
"Well." She said to the group, getting back on track. "Shall we split up then? Come on, Marlene."
"Don' leave me, Vin," Cid instructed, even as Marlene looked torn about letting go of the gunman's hand to take Tifa's. "I don' wanna be alone with that bird when I find 'im."
"I want to stay with Vincent," Marlene voiced, dark eyebrows knitted together as she gave her caretaker a most plaintive look. "Please, Tifa?"
She glanced up at the ex-Turk, silently requesting his input. When he replied with a minute nod, she smiled at Marlene. "Okay," she agreed. "We'll meet back at the tracks, okay?"
"Okay!" Marlene said brightly, renewing her grip on Vincent's human hand. "We'll find him fast, we're a good team."
Lyla smiled at the assembled group, turning one hand up in a half-hearted shrug as she took a step towards the inner ring of the amusement park. "Well, since Cid can't be trusted alone, I'll leave him to you, Vincent. Otherwise we're not split up very much. I'll check Event and Battle Square?"
Vincent nodded as he turned to head off. "Let's get going, then." He rapsed.
"Thank you!" Tifa waved as she made her way back into the crowd. "...I just hope he didn't wander into Wonder Square."
"See you shortly," Lyla called to the rest of them as she turned and headed for the tunnel to Event Square, disappearing into the crowd after Tifa. Marlene began to gently pull the gunman towards the sea of people, looking up at him questioningly.
"Where should we look?" she asked, tilting her head. Cid pointed out the visible tunnels.
"We could start there at Round, then head for Speed. Where'd mama look, Marlene?"
"We've been everywhere," the little girl said with a well-pronounced pout. "So he could be anywhere!"
"If you were a chocobo, Marlene, where would you want to go?" Vincent asked, combing the faces in the crowd for any with hair that vaguely resembled Cloud's- and a beak.
"Speed Square, cause chocobos are fast!" Marlene said automatically, swinging their hands between them as they walked. "But Prince doesn't like to shoot stuff. But maybe he's just running around because the track wasn't big enough for him. He likes to bite, though, and peck at people. Battle Square!"
"Yes." Vincent agreed, following the sloping hall towards the Haunted Hotel. "That's the part that concerns me. ...If he's at Battle Square, Lyla will see him. Maybe we should start at the food court."
"Prince likes food," Marlene reasoned, lightly tapping her chin with her index finger as she tilted her head to one side. "That's a good idea. Maybe you should make a sound like a wounded Gyashl green, though. Those are his favorites."
Beside them, Cid laughed, doing his best to smother it by wiping at his mouth with the back of his gloved hand.
The gunman paused, glancing heavenward and then down again. "...How... would one make such a noise?"
Marlene looked momentarily thoughtful. "I thought you could figure it out. You're pretty smart."
"An' aren't you glad your girlfriend ain't here to hear you try your hand at it," Cid remarked as they neared the hotel, hands sunk deep in his pockets.
Vincent offered him a cool look over the lip of his collar. "Maybe buying some Gyashl greens." he suggested dryly.
Cid gave the gunman a dismissive wave while Marlene tugged gently on his hand, looking over the small, open area in front of the park's famous Haunted Hotel. "I don't think he's here," she said miserably, toeing at the ground again. "He's too big to fit through the front door and I don't see him outside anywhere."
"Food court, then." he suggested, giving her hand an encouraging, return tug. "Might be charming a french fry out of patrons."
Or menacing them and eating the meals they abandoned in terror. You know. Whichever.
"Okay," Marlene agreed with him, swinging a leg towards the tombstone-door that would lead them towards the food court. Cid followed suit, rubbing at the back of his neck as he trailed alongside them, completely missing the flash of gold that darted past behind him as he went.
On the deck of the Shera, Clarise glanced about blankly. She had broken a heel on the way up the steps, and darted back down to replace it. In the mean time, it seemed, everyone had dispersed.
She tapped blue nails to her lips idly, trying to decide, then, what there was to do.
Clearly the only logical thing was find some trouble.
The wide, hexagonal area stuffed with restaurants of various quality and cultural flavors was awash with people. If working a low-level, food service job was terrible, this was the ninth circle of it's hell. Small tables crowded too close together were littered with patrons talking too close together and eating too quickly in order to get back to the sights.
Vincent sidestepped a man in red with a startlingly overtaxed tray, putting a hand on Marlene's shoulder to tug her from harm's way.
The girl darted beneath his cloak for cover, staying close to the ex-Turk for fear of being separated. There were crowds all over the park, but they were so thick here in such a small space that it was almost overwhelming. "Do you see him?" she asked, looking up.
Cid was looking out over the crowd with one hand over his eyes, squinting. "Don't see anything that looks like feathers."
"Maybe this is too crowded for a chocobo." Vincent frowned, shifting a bit to look down at his smaller companion. "How high can you see?" he asked Cid, eyes still on Marlene.
Cid turned a judgmental eye on his friend. "You callin' me short?" he asked gruffly.
Instead of answering, the taller man reached down a hand to Marlene. "Do you think you could see better from my shoulders?"
"Uh-huh!" Marlene confirmed, holding both arms up to be lifted. "It's not Cid's fault he's too short."
The expression on Vincent's face as he settled the girl onto his shoulders might have been something like 'smug.' But it was hard to tell around the cowl. "See anything?"
Marlene hummed thoughtfully, careful not to grab his hair as she gently braced her small hands against the sides of his head for balance. "No," she said a moment later, frowning her herself. "He's not here, either! Do you think that lady is having any luck?"
Cid sighed, reaching up to straighten his goggles atop his head as he gave the area another sweep. Nothing even remotely birdlike in sight. "How d'you lose a dam- dern chocobo, anyway?" he asked, filtering his language as best he could for Marlene's sake. "We're indoors, for cryin' out loud."
"...In an amusement park." Vincent added, frowning. "...and Prince is big, even for a chocobo. The whole thing seems vaguely impossible."
"Where else can we look?" Marlene asked with a pout, leaning over Vincent's head as she struggled to get a better look at him.
He glanced up at her through his bangs, giving his head a minute shake. "We may want to check Battle Square. Maybe you were right, and Lyla's found him."
"I bet he would like it there," Marlene reasoned, "He's really mean."
They checked a few more stops along the route to Battle Square, poking in wherever they thought a chocobo might be able to hide, but overall the trip was uneventful.
Most of the rides were under populated, due to a spectacle down at the food court that had garnered some attention.
A man smartly dressed in a burgundy suit had apparently been bitten by a chocobo after his french fries. No one else seemed to have seen it, however, and he was having a difficult time in his zealous complaints to the staff.
Cid huffed to himself as the three of them wandered into Battle Square. It wasn't as heavily crowded as some of the other places they had been; the lobby was mostly clear aside from a handful of spectators watching the series of monitors that displayed the combatants behind the event's brick walls and iron doors. A few participants stood at the various vending machines, eyeing their choice of prizes.
Marlene frowned, resting her chin atop Vincent's head. "No Prince."
Spotting a familiar head of brown hair, Vincent made his way over, Marlene in tow.
"Working hard?" he asked mildly.
Lyla startled as his voice sounded, fumbling with the bright yellow materia in her hands before catching herself against the vending machine, pressing a palm flat against it to support herself. She looked over her shoulder at the gunman and offered him a nervous smile, showing teeth. "Ehehe. I thought I would kill some time while I gave Prince a chance to come through here. And look at all this stuff I won?"
The gunman looked obligingly, quirking an eyebrow as he took in the rather respectably sized pile- considering the amount of time they had been gone. "Impressive." He replied dryly.
Lyla squinted one eye closed as she sighed heavily, painfully close to admitting defeat. "I didn't intend to play when I said I'd look here, but then I got here and saw that someone had beaten my score since the last time I came and I couldn't let that stand, and-" She cut herself off as a remarkably large, gold chocobo trotted over to them and dipped its head to take Vincent's claw in its beak with a single, sharp motion. It let out a low trill of content, and Lyla held a hand out to indicate that their search was over.
"And I found the chocobo," she told him in sum.
"Prince wants to hold your hand, too!" Marlene informed him, waving at the bird from her perch.
The ex-Turk blinked down at the bird all but gnawing on the glimmer of his plated arm. It occurred to him that the sheer amount of pressure would have been extremely painful if he'd had proper nerve endings there.
"Well." he said after a moment. "Let's get him back to Tifa."
"She'll be really happy," Marlene told him, just in case he was unsure of how Tifa would react to her world being set to rights. "You're really good! We looked all over and couldn't find him."
"Oh, just lucky, really," Lyla said quickly, as she was not in the habit of deceiving children and had no intention to start. "He found me, really. ... or Vincent's arm. But the important thing is that we got him back, right?"
"Right," Marlene said enthusiastically.
"You were right about Battle Square," he pointed out as he started towards the exit.
Prince warked irately as his shiny popped free of his grasp, trotting the next three steps it took to snatch it up again.
Marlene giggled, even as Cid moved around to Vincent's other side to keep clear of the chocobo, eyeing it warily as they walked. "He likes you," she remarked, patting the top of the gunman's head. "Well, he likes shiny things, and your arm is pretty shiny."
"It will also need some dents mended shortly." He observed, wincing as Prince clanged on his arm again. God forbid it be a human hand. Cid may have been acting like a melodramatic teenage girl, but he DID have a point.
"I'll bang 'em out with the wrench for ya later," Cid told him flippantly, with little interest in the fact that Vincent might want the job done properly, or at least with a little finesse. It wasn't far to Chocobo Square, being the next attraction over, and he waved an arm over his head to draw attention to himself when he caught sight of a fretful Tifa near the entrance.
"Hey, little girl, found your bird!"
"You did!" she exclaimed brightly, rushing up to meet them.
Prince looked up, hand-in-mouth, and cocked his head. "Wark?" he replied eloquently.
Tifa reached out, carefully detaching the prize racer and taking hold of his reigns. "Thanks, guys." she told them warmly.
"He was in Battle Square," Marlene said sagely, tapping Vincent on the shoulder to indicate she would like to be let down. "That might be better for him than racing, he bites everything."
He set her down obligingly, tucking his battered arm into his cloak to dismiss it from Prince's attention.
"We should talk to Cloud about it." Tifa smiled, giving the gold chocobo's reigns a light tug. "Come on."
"Okay," Marlene agreed, prepared to tag along a safe distance from Prince. "I think he's still in Wonder Square with Denzel." She made a face, one that made it clear she disapproved of this. "They've been there since breakfast! Doesn't Cloud ever want to do anything else, Tifa?"
"He will, Sweetie." She assured her. "Do you want to stay with the guys while I put Prince away, then? I can meet you there."
"Yeah! Can I go on rides with Vincent after we go see Cloud? He said he would take me," Marlene assured her. It may have been a bit early to be asking permission, but she knew how slippery grown-ups could be, and she didn't want Vincent to forget they had made plans. Personally, she felt he was better than that, but, just in case...
Cid grinned at his friend, hooking one thumb into his belt loop as he rolled his left shoulder back to loosen it. "Looks like you ain't gettin' outta that date anytime soon, Vin."
"Okay." Tifa agreed, looking up at Vincent. "You have time, right?"
"Mm." He mmed, nodding. "We'll see you at the snowboarding game."
"Right." She agreed, punctuating it with a nod of her own. "C'mon Prince. Let's get you some lunch."
"Snowboarding game?" Lyla questioned, giving her companions a curious look. Cid merely grinned at her in reply, clouting her on the shoulder briefly.
"Cloud's addiction," he explained cheerfully, "And his curse. You'll see what I mean."
"He's been playing it since we got here on Sunday," Marlene pointed out. "But we always know where to find him if we need him."
"Occasionally he takes a break to race Prince." Vincent supplied, the bare hint of amusement in his tone.
Lyla fell into step beside the gunman as the four of them casually meandered towards Wonder Square, mirroring his smirk with some interest. "Sounds like a man possessed."
"You got no idea, girl," Cid told her with a shake of his head, grinning all the while. "Must be seen to be believed."
Authors' Note: Thank you to everyone who has given us feedback so far! For those who are interested, we now have a simple page set up to share sketches and other things related to the story. Choose our homepage from our profile or simply head to www. fadingdusk .org / origin (minus the spaces, of course) to take a look! We plan to update it regularly, since we have a lot between the two of us as well as contributions from friends and others.