Return

Haruna was staring in annoyance at the collapsed shelf and accompanying hole in the floor as Maya and Aeris both giggled and a woman—one of her shop's customers—stood nearby, blushing, her husband just behind her and looking confused. Finally, the Wutain sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and asked, "Maya, could you make sure the fabric is salvageable, please?"

"Some of it will be dirty. Torn, I doubt that. But if any fell down that hole, I'm not sure we'd be able to get the dirt out," Maya commented, moving over to start pulling bolts of fabric free.

"How did this even happen?" the man asked, still looking very confused.

"I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to—I was just trying to put the bolts back and they slipped and then—" the woman customer suddenly burst out, looking like she was going to cry.

"Ma'am..." Haruna cut her off, still pinching the bridge of her nose. The woman silenced, so she lowered her hand to eye the woman for a moment, then turned to another shelf, lifted three bolts, all of them heavier than the ones the woman had been looking at, and dropped them. They banged onto the shelf, making it shake but otherwise not affecting it or the floor, then the three bolts fell forward, so she caught them and looked back up at the woman, who was staring with her mouth open. "This floor, and these shelves, are supposed to be sturdy. This wasn't your fault, it's something I need to take up with the owner of the space I'm leasing here. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh..." the woman blinked, then suddenly looked really relieved. "Um...Actually, if I don't have to try to cover the damages, could I still buy a bolt? The one I decided I liked best was over there..." At the words, she pointed to one shelf a few down from where Haruna stood.

"You may," Haruna agreed, pushing the bolts back into place and turning to Aeris, who was still giggling. "Since you're finding this so amusing, maybe you wouldn't mind getting the warning pylons to place around the hole?"

"Okay!" she agreed cheerfully, then headed to the back to get them.

The Wutain woman then faced the couple, seeing that the man had picked up one of the bolts, and said, "Come to the counter with me, and please be careful of the hole." She then headed for the counter where the till was, and the couple followed.

"Thank you so much!" the woman said in a truly thankful tone. "Something like that—I mean, not so damaging that it put a hole in the floor—happened once before to me, and the shop's owner made me cover the costs. I thought the policy was that I had to pay for the repairs because I caused the damage, intentional or otherwise."

Sighing faintly, Haruna told her, "If you had dropped a store product and it broke, that would be true." She paused to eye the startled woman from across the counter, then went on, "If I had seen you, say, hit the floor with a hammer and it broke, I could make you pay for the damages." The woman's eyes widened at that. "You did nothing of the sort, just dropped a few non-breakable items onto what should have been a shelf and floor able to hold the weight. That's the shop's and the landowner's responsibility, not yours. If another shopkeeper treated you in such a way, you could charge him for it. If you aren't one to dredge up unpleasant things, I suggest you not shop there anymore. Fabric, please."

The man laid the bolt on the counter and Haruna found the price, then ran it through the till as Aeris returned to put up the pylons. Maya was still working on pulling the fabric bolts free, and Haruna planned to join her once the couple had left.

However, as she was putting the bolt in a bag to the woman's thoughtful 'thank you', the door opened again and a man's voice asked in surprise, "What in the world happened to your shop?"

Haruna looked past the couple at a man who honestly looked a lot like a mercenary in jeans and a t-shirt rather than combat gear, then said to the couple, "Thank you for coming, and have a nice day. And remember not to feel guilty over something which wasn't your fault."

The couple both thanked her with smiles and left, so she approached the man, who had stopped by the hole. "To answer your question, this should have been a sturdy floor which could have taken a couple bolts of cloth being dropped on it. Instead, this happened, so I need to get in touch with the owner—I was assured this place was in fantastic shape."

"I see," the man blinked, then frowned and crouched to look more closely at the broken edge of the hole. "See that black around the edges in a lot of places here?" he asked, pointing to a few nearby.

"That looks like rotting wood," Haruna blinked.

"It does. And like water damage. Do you know what was here before you opened shop?" the man questioned, standing.

"No, but I can find out. Thank you for the note about the type of damage, though," she told the man, facing him. "Now, hole in the floor aside, what can I help you with, Sir?"

"A friend told me you have some interesting quality fabric around back," the man commented, and she blinked, but inclined her head. "I'm looking for something—hm—dream-like? How to explain it...?" he murmured with a frown. "Hazy but intense?"

Tipping her head to the side, the Wutain thought about what things she had which might fit under that category, then nodded slowly and said, "I have a few options I could bring out for you to have a look at?"

"Please. We'll see if one of them will work for what I need," the man agreed.

"Wait here—at the counter, that is—while I find them, then," she offered, then went to the back. This was another definite hit, so she scanned the options and found three which were both hazy and bright—all of them were for chemical compounds, from acid to sleeping gas. There was also a fourth potential if the first three didn't work for the man. Thankfully, none were very deadly ones, but they were harmful enough in the right hands. Or the wrong ones.

When she returned and laid them out, the man blinked in surprise, then began handling them the same way Fuhito had, unrolling them just enough to see the instructions. The first, he rolled back up and set aside, kept the second out, and hesitated with the third. "Interesting. I have to debate these two. By the way, do you take pre-orders?"

"As in?" she asked curiously.

"If I knew of a pattern but you didn't have it just now or if I needed it sent somewhere else, could you order it and-or get it to the location it needed to be?" he clarified, still obviously pondering the two bolts in front of him.

"I've been planning to start up some business trips soon, which would also mean for deliveries, but at the moment, I haven't formalized it," Haruna told him. "As for fabrics I don't have and ordering in...I should have a list from all my suppliers which I could use to set up an online order system, but I hadn't thought of that option before, so I would have to also arrange that."

"Yes, Wutains are very traditional that way," he answered in amusement. "That you thought of it yourself and offered the potential as a business owner is a point in your favor. Of course, it would have to be actually viable for you to do, so—would it be?" he asked.

She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "I'd probably have to do a poll of my customers over a span of time, but I think it has potential. Of course, people may not agree, because you can't touch fabric for the texture when you're looking at a computer screen."

"There's that," he agreed. "Maybe just special orders, then?"

She blinked, then offered, "Possibly, with repeat customers willing to spend a fair bit on quality fabric."

His lips quirked, then he tapped the second bolt and said, "I think this one's the best, if that's fine by you? Thanks for at least thinking about it."

"If you become a regular, I'll let you know my decision once I've made it," she replied, pulling the bolt over to run it through the till and bag it. She gave the regular 'don't get it wet' instructions (which were actually viable because the fabric would bleed if it got wet before color-fasting, which in turn would bleed the color into the schematics), then wished him a good day and sent him on his way. Once he'd headed out, she took the other two bolts he'd left and returned them fully to rights and took them to the back. Done with that, she joined Aeris and Maya at the hole.

"Good, you're done," Maya commented. "There are two bolts stuck under the shelf and half in the hole—if I try to pull them out with the weight of the shelf on them, they'll tear. Aeris doesn't have the strength to lift the shelf, so you'll have to try. If it works, I'll be ready to get them out as soon as I have the space to do so."

"Okay, we'll see if that will work," Haruna agreed, moving over to help with the shelf. Either way, she was seriously starting to respect shop owners and managers a lot more—some of the situations they found themselves in were utterly absurd. Before, she'd thought the Turks and SOLDIERs had the upper hand on that, but after this, she was seriously starting to re-think who had the most absurd situations to handle.

MB

Cloud's eye was twitching in irritation by the time they got back to Midgar and the Shinra building. Yufi had complained like the worst whiner ever the whole trip, and Rufus had been annoyed to see so little of what was really going on in Wutai. They both had to issue their complaints to him, repeatedly, whether or not he wanted to hear them, or could even do anything about them. In Rufus' case, Cloud supposed he could have left him in Wutai, except that there was a good chance he'd have been dead if he had, and that was a definite no-go. The Rufus from the future could fight for himself and actually hold his own against powerful opponents, but this one was only just learning; a battlefield was no place for him.

When they got off the airship in Midgar, however, Rufus pulled up short when he saw a very annoyed-looking Vincent waiting for him, arms crossed. Cloud kept walking, leading a still unsteady and ill-looking Yufi towards the door into the building. As he passed the older man, Cloud told him quietly, "Don't be too hard on him. His and Dark Nation's presence probably saved all our lives, even as stupid as it was for him to do it."

Vincent gave a soft, amused snort and replied, "Noted," but otherwise didn't react.

It was only as Cloud was stepping inside that he realized Tyra really was just following him, and he had to wonder how soon Angeal would be back. And what to do with her until then when she apparently still needed her mother, but almost refused to stay with Halo unless Cloud was there, too. Yufi was getting her footing back and starting to walk without his help, but still looked very unhappy, so he led her to the Turks' floor and their cafeteria. A couple Turks were in the main office—Anki and Donnel—but everyone was otherwise elsewhere. The two gave him absent waves as he passed with Yufi, so he just headed for the office and into the hidden space, which produced an amazed 'wow' from the girl.

Finally, they were in the cafeteria, and Cloud could see Reno, Kariya, Derin, and Eonna there. Because Derin and Reno were basically sitting in opposite corners of the room and their pets were with them, it became obvious pretty quickly that Rogue and Sly didn't like each other, though both seemed to have curled up against their owners' arms. The fact that both Turks were there at the same time made him wonder if that had something to do with Veld. Either way, Reno's table was closest to him at the moment, so he led Yufi to it, wondering why neither Eonna nor Kariya were sitting with either Reno or Derin.

As he sat, a depressed-looking Reno looked up, then eyed Yufi for a minute as she settled, and Cloud called, "Got anything on right now, Teef?"

"Still got left-overs from breakfast if you want?" she called back from the kitchen.

"Got enough for two?" he returned as Yufi looked back and forth, her view of the kitchen obstructed by the counter.

There was a pause, then Tifa replied, "Yeah, there is. I'll bring out two plates in a couple minutes!"

"Thanks a bunch, Teef!" he returned with a smile.

"So...trainin' munchkin, yo?" Reno asked, brow raised as he eyed the Wutain girl.

"Whose 'training' do you mean, Reno?" Cloud asked with a smirk, and Yufi actually giggled.

The smile Reno returned was small and strained, but he offered, "Yeah, I'd heard that's gonna be a major question."

"Yeah. The answer is actually 'everyone's'," the blond shrugged, then asked quietly, "So, what's bothering you—and why isn't anyone sitting with either you or Derin?"

"Erm..." Reno began, then sighed faintly. "Tryin' ta keep Sly 'n' Rogue from fightin's like tryin' ta keep a tasty bone away from a Nibel Wolf, yo...'N' it's not like we can just tell 'em Veld's gonna off 'em if they don't get along by the time he gets back, so..."

Cloud's brow rose as he asked, "Is that what he told you when he called the two of you into his office?"

"Yeah," Reno sighed tiredly. "I mean...it's bad enough for me, but Sly's still new. Derin 'n' Rogue...That's years o' loss if we can't get 'em ta stop fightin'..."

"Wait, what'll happen to Kurosai if that's what your boss does?" Yufi asked in alarm.

"It's not going to affect Kurosai, Yufi," Cloud told her, and she turned to stare at him. "I mean, unless your bird makes a habit of attacking others?"

She blinked, then shook her head. "Only if I'm in danger. And he can tell the difference between 'training' fighting and an actual attack."

"Okay, then the most he'll be is annoyed by having yet another pet to keep track of," Cloud told her in dry amusement. "But he's not going to do anything to Kurosai at all. It's just...Sly is a raccoon, and raccoons are perpetual thieves. We were just waiting for the day Sly started getting into locked rooms, and shortly before we headed out to Wutai, he did—Derin's room. And, of course, Sly made off with something shiny, which Rogue, Derin's Trickplay, didn't take kindly to. That also meant Rogue followed Sly back to our office and attacked him here, creating a real mess while people were working. Veld wasn't happy about that."

"Oh," Yufi blinked, looking at the bundle of brown, black, and white fur laying curled in a ball with its head on Reno's arm. "But why do they need to get along? Can't they just be kept apart?"

"Not when they're gettin' in and outta places they ain't supposed ta be, yo," Reno answered with a heavy sigh. "'N' Sly actually takes outsmarttin' Rogue as a challenge and won't stop."

"...And why are Eonna and Kariya not sitting with either of you?" Cloud asked slowly, still not getting that part.

"Kariya brought his work here," Reno shrugged. "An' he's been workin' the whole time. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's been here workin' all night, so he just didn't move when we came in. Eonna...apparently had ta redo some work after one o' Rogue's attacks on Sly, so she's not happy with either o' us just now..."

"And neither of you has asked Verde for help?" Cloud asked with a frown. "Or did he say no?"

"He's out on a mission," Reno shrugged. "We could ask when he got back, but who knows when that'll be..."

Tifa arrived with two plates of food just then, setting one in front of Cloud and one in front of Yufi, then looked down at Tyra, who was sleeping on Cloud's feet. "Isn't Tyra still supposed to be with her mother?" she asked with a frown, Yufi listening intently, even as she started eating.

"Yes, but for some reason, she insists she's staying with me, or with Dark Nation, not with Halo," Cloud sighed tiredly. "Do you know what to feed her, by the way?"

"I have some meat scraps...maybe in a bowl with some milk?" Tifa offered thoughtfully, eying the pup. "She should be old enough to eat solid food, even if she's still technically being weaned. The milk would help compensate for that. I don't think she needs to be bottle-fed since she only needed a couple more weeks anyway."

"We'll try it, then. Thanks, Tifa," Cloud agreed. She nodded and went back to the kitchen as the blond looked back at Reno. "Can you maybe get them collars with a vibrator at the back of the neck to distract them if they start to do something they aren't supposed to?"

"Do those exist, yo?" Reno blinked with a frown. "'Cause I'm pretty sure me'n'Derin both agree we ain't goin' the electrical shock route."

Cloud waved him off. "If they don't, I can make them. I don't remember when the first ones were made, though, because I never had to worry about pets before—mine or anyone else's. And I do literally mean it would vibrate, not that it would cause a shock, sort of like a PHS on vibrate mode. Put that at the back of their neck and I'm pretty sure they'll get distracted by it."

"Huh...Spare us the trouble o' lookin' and just make a pair we can try, would ya? We're almost outta time, yo..." Reno requested, lightly patting Sly's head and back.

Cloud huffed in mild annoyance, but said, "It shouldn't take long as long as I have material or an actual collar to fit it to. Making the vibration box is one thing, but Shinra Company doesn't keep around basic animal collars to attach them to."

"I can grab those—there's a pet shop not too far from the Shinra buildin' over in Sector Three. Could ya keep Sly close while I'm out?" the red haired man asked.

Tifa returned with the bowl for Tyra, which she set on the floor not far from the pup, who quickly stirred and turned to eye the bowl curiously for a minute, nose twitching with the scent from it. Tifa then ruffled Cloud's hair and headed back to the kitchen, which made the blond give an annoyed huff and run a hand through it to straighten it. Well, as much as it could be. As he finished, Tyra got off his feet and made her way to the bowl, sniffing it before she started working her way into it.

"You think Sly would stay with me?" Cloud asked with frown as he turned his attention back to the other Turk.

"Probably you more'n anyone but Tifa, and he'd only stay with her because Hex is with her, yo," Reno answered.

"Who's Hex?" Yufi asked curiously.

"That would be what Tifa named Sly's sister, who adores Materia, and can even use them," Cloud replied in amusement. "Hex is also our bouncer here, in case someone causes trouble."

"Cool!" Yufi grinned. "If I didn't have Kurosai already, I'd go find a raccoon."

"Like you need encouragement..." Cloud sighed, and Reno managed a chuckle. The blond then began eating.

Around then, Rufus and Vincent joined them, the older blond sitting beside Reno and Vincent sitting beside Rufus. The blond looked annoyed while Vincent looked smug, and Cloud decided he didn't want to know. "So, how bad was it, Rufus?" he asked with a bit of a quirked brow, wondering what kind of response he'd get. Movement near Tyra made the younger blond glance over to see Dark Nation settling near Tyra while she ate, but to his surprise, he didn't try to eat the food Tifa had put out for the pup, or try to interrupt her meal.

"It was—just annoying," Rufus replied, throwing a glare at Vincent. "Apparently, what I did was something I shouldn't have been able to do at my current level of skill, Dark Nation and Yufi's help aside."

"That was you notably not getting skewered by an Imperial Assassin, you mean?" Cloud asked in amusement.

"That," Rufus agreed, and Reno gave a long, impressed whistle. "And it apparently means I got something from—a different me?"

"I wondered when that would finally show up," Cloud shrugged, looking at Vincent. "But is it going to be enough?"

"Not yet, but it should simplify things once we get back to training. Rather, make things go faster, depending on the extent of it," Vincent replied, then looked at Yufi. "So, we have a room for you on the Turks' floor, but we still need to get your formal ID made so no one can question you being here. You'll also need a uniform—for now, the one for the Academy—and we'll have to start testing your current skill level. From there, we'll see."

"How can you do that if your boss I guess isn't here?" Yufi asked in amazement at the sudden address.

"Actually, it would be more accurate to say both he and his Second aren't here right now," Vincent replied flatly, and she blinked. "So, because Reno has some—issues—to fix, Veld left me in charge until he gets back. Hopefully, that won't take long. And if Reno can fix the problem with Sly and Rogue, he'll have the rank of next-in-line to the Second, so next time Veld leaves, until our actual Second is back, that position would go to him."

"Hey, no one told me that, yo!" Reno gaped in shock.

"Really?" Vincent asked critically. "Or were you just never listening when someone told you?"

Reno's mouth opened, then shut as his brow furrowed and he drifted into thought.

"So while he's thinking on that, is there going to be enough for me to eat?" Rufus asked, eying Cloud's and Yufi's nearly empty plates.

"Shout over to Tifa and ask," the younger blond replied. "I only asked if she had enough left over for Yufi and me. And she didn't indicate anything about the quantity, either."

Rufus' brow rose for a moment, then he turned in his seat to call, "Have you got enough for one more plate, Miss Tifa?"

"I wondered if you'd ask!" she called back, sounding amused that time. "As it turns out, Hex hid a helping, so yes. I'll get it to you shortly!"

Cloud's brow quirked as Reno blinked and Vincent gave an amused snort. "Did she just say Hex hid food?" Cloud asked in bemusement.

"Apparently an animal's desire to store food is inherent in a raccoon," Vincent replied, still looking amused. "Though the timing on that is oddly good, like everything Hex does, so she may have kept it because she knew it would be needed later."

"Does that mean Hex is, like, 'super raccoon' or something?" Yufi blinked. "If she somehow knew there would need to be extra helpings just this morning?"

"In her case, we've given up tryin' ta guess," Reno replied in amusement. "Like with her decidin' ta stop messin' with Sirra after the first time, but messin' with anyone else who tries ta cop an attitude here."

"But that's probably from observation and the realization that Sirra wasn't being rude 'to Tifa', she's just always abrasive," Cloud commented. "How would she know to keep an extra meal aside this morning, rather than some other one?"

"Observation of familiar people not being where they're supposed to be?" Rufus asked in amusement as Tifa joined them and set a plate in front of him. He gave her a nod of thanks, then added to the group, "After all, she's got the most exposure to Turks as a whole, and like you've all been teaching me, paying attention to the surroundings is a major point in working things out, like the best course of action on a given day."

The others blinked, but Cloud agreed, "Okay, that's a point. But that also means she's, like, near-human intelligent and can grasp our discussions—which her brother can't do."

"Yeah, more like he's decidin' most of it's beneath his notice," Reno commented in a flat tone, which made the others blink in surprise.

Cloud pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "That figures," then reached out and seized one of his Materia from Yufi's hand, making her yelp. "And Yufi, I already told you not to do that. I don't like having to repeat myself."

She 'eeped' as the other three men began laughing or chuckling.