They'd moved onto the topic of payment for her ship – she was fully intending to call her new ship Fere Invictus, since Cid had made it clear that there was no length restriction on naming one's vessel, and had even seemed a bit bemused that she'd asked such a question – and, interestingly enough, the man seemed to be more than willing to accept something other than simple monetary compensation for the time and work he'd put in on her behalf.
"You're offering me a job?"
"Why not?" Cid asked, sounding like that particular question as one of the most inane he'd heard in quite some time. "You've got good ideas for ship designs, ya learn quick when ya put your mind ta things, and you're not afraid ta ask questions or admit when ya don't understand somethin'. Those're all good things for a mechanic ta have, 'specially if ya want ta do more than just stick ta workin' offa someone else's blueprints."
"Sounds workable, if you don't mine odd hours and sudden departures," she said, knowing that too many peoples' lives depended on her for her to take up a job-offer if such a thing didn't make allowances for the mission she had.
Still, it wasn't like Cid was sheltered from all the nasty things that lurked just out of sight in this part of the 'verse.
"Don't' worry, kid," he said, the smile on his face taking on a reflective cast; Sarah didn't really need to guess why. "I know there's a lot more crap out there; stuff that's a heck of a lot more important than my little tinkering. So, whenever you get called out to deal with those dang Heartless, I'll take over for you until you get back."
"Thanks for the understanding," she said; sure, it was pretty obvious that everyone here understood the needs of survival, but it was always nice to have her suppositions confirmed every now and then.
In the end, she and Cid hashed out a few extra details, mostly with regards to overnighters and especially large projects, and the pair of them came to an accord.
"It's gonna be good workin' with ya, kid," Cid said, as the pair of them shook hands to seal their agreement. "I can tell."
"Thanks," she said, as she and Cid prepared to part company for the time being. "I look forward to working with you."
"Thanks, kid."
Waving goodbye as she and Riku left the hangar behind, she turned with a raised eyebrow to Riku as she heard his long, drawn-out sigh.
"Wow, I thought that was never going to end."
Sarah tilted "her" head, bemusedly amused. "If you weren't interested in listening to Cid and me while we talked shop, why'd you bother coming in the first place?"
"I just didn't want to lose sight of you, that's all," Riku said, just before his blue-green eyes shifted to track something just over "her" left shoulder.
The familiar, nigh-weightless form of Kuromaru hopped up onto "her" shoulders not too long after that, the way she'd almost been expecting to happen, given the expression on Riku's face as the little Shadow had presumably been running up.
"Ansem says that the bond you and that Heartless of yours share is really admirable," Riku said, having sidled up next to her so that he could mutter the words into "her" right ear as the pair of them continued on their way through Traverse Town's First District.
She'd almost found herself asking just which "Ansem" he was talking about, and was still fairly tempted, but the arrival of Donald and Goofy put paid to even the most tentative plans.
"Something come up?" she asked, scruffling Kuromaru's antennae as the little Shadow nuzzled the left side of "her" head.
"We still haven't found the King yet, so we have to keep looking," Donald said.
Really, he seemed to be the more vocal out of the pair of him and Goofy; for good and for ill.
"Come on, you're leaving again?"
"You could always come along," she said, in response to the look of not-quite-dejection on Riku's face.
The silver-haired boy's face transformed in an instant; an expression of incredulous amusement taking the place of the carefully-controlled emotion that Sarah found herself wondering if anyone else had noticed. "I'm not sitting on your lap!"
"I could always sit on yours," she said, smiling slyly at the mix of contradictory emotions she could see on Riku's face.
Foremost among them being bemused shock, of course.
"You are so weird," he said, after what had clearly been a pause to gather his composure again.
She grinned, big and cheesy. "Thank you! I do try."
Riku facepalmed, while Goofy laughed heartily.
The four of them parted company with Riku not long after that, heading back to the areas of the hangar that were meant for use by the general public. Sarah considered for a moment whether or not to tell her compatriots – at least those who seemed to be capable of understanding more than simple concepts – about the ship she'd finished commissioning from Cid. Then, deciding that such a conversation could wait until they'd finished this latest task of theirs and hence had more time to discuss the latest happenings, and her present arrangement with Cid in particular.
She'd have more time to answer any questions Donald and Goofy had; if they had any at all, anyway.
For the moment, however, Sarah settled herself into the familiar gunner's chair and fastened the flight harness about "her" body. Kuromaru had taken its usual place, curled up at "her" feet, and Sarah smiled as she settled "her" hands on the triggers of the single set of guns that the tiny ship they were presently traveling in possessed. Looks like this is the last we'll be seeing of each other, puddle-jumper, she mused, with a detached sort of affection.
She'd been a good ship, but anyone who knew anything about combat would naturally understand that one would want every kind of advantage that one could possibly possess; particularly when one was facing an enemy like the Heartless.
Laying on the triggers, once their ship was comfortably out of atmo, Sarah smirked slightly as she imagined the shock that any thinking opponent would feel when they ended up within the firing-arc of Fere Invictus' swivel-guns. It was bound to be a shock for them, particularly since even Cid had been surprised by the idea, and he'd been a part of the design process. Hunting down Heartless in this manner had just about become second-nature at this point, leaving a portion of her mind free to look out for anything else that might be coming up.
The space they were traveling through was just as strangely beautiful as it had been the first time she'd seen it, but the sudden shouting that filled the cabin of their small ship made it more than a little difficult to determine just who had been the first to spot the literal space whale as it sped at their small ship on what was unmistakably a collision course. Sarah had a brief moment to be grateful that she'd trained herself to taunt and swear in German, since she was currently swearing the proverbial blue streak as she all but slammed down on their small ship's paltry single set of guns.
She fully remembered this; it was one of the most annoying preludes to one of the most annoying levels that she'd had the sheer displeasure of being railroaded through. That entire level had been a goddamned maze, and had only compounded her desire to beat the stupid out of KH!Riku. Really, the whole situation had just been one annoyance after another.
Still, here and now their ship's weapons hadn't been disabled by the petty whims of some asshole programmer; here and now, Riku was using his head for something besides growing hair; here and now, "canon" only existed as a literary concept. And so, here and now, Sarah unleashed a withering salvo from their ship's twin guns. Advising Donald to keep them oriented as well as he could on the fuckhuge whale's nearest eye, Sarah watched in swiftly-mounting satisfaction as said whale writhed in what had to be the worst kind of agony it had ever endured.
"How'dya like me now, you oversized sack of lamp-oil?" she asked softly, almost conversationally, smirking ever-so-slightly. "Still wanna try eating me? Try eating this first."
Narrowing "her" eyes as the whale thrashed itself around so that it was facing nearly the opposite direction from where it'd originally charged them, gave something that looked a bit like a full-body spasm, and flew off into the depths of space once more.
"I've got them!"
She only had a few seconds to wonder just what in the hell Donald was talking about, before Riku and another two people appeared in the back of their little ship. One of the newcomers was a cheery-looking old man, dressed in what looked a great deal like stereotypical old German fashion as seen through the lens of Disney; the other was, interestingly enough, what looked like a well-made marionette. It had clearly been crafted to resemble a boy of about six or so, and seemed to be capable of both independent movement as well a speech.
It was a bit strange to be confronted with so suddenly, but nothing that she couldn't process given everything she'd already seen.
And really, it didn't hold a candle to the situation she was currently dealing with.
"So, Riku, how'd you end up in that whale?" she asked, smirking in more than slight amusement.
"Wait, that was a whale?"
"Yes, Riku," she said, smirk widening slowly into a full-on grin. "You were just pulled out of a whale."
"That's just…" Riku trailed off, shaking his head in clear exasperation.
"Oh my, did you end up getting swallowed by Monstro as well, young man?" the old man who'd also ended up being teleported onto their ship asked, hands clasped in front of him and a clear expression of worry on his careworn face.
"Was that what that giant whale was called?" Sarah found herself wondering aloud.
"Oh, yes," the old man said, turning to face the pair of them more squarely. "Monstro was the most enormous whale that had ever lived on our World," the old man paused for a moment, seemingly attempting to regain his composure. "Honestly, I wouldn't have thought we'd ever be able to escape from Monstro's belly. That is, until we all ended up here," the old man paused for about the length of a single breath. "I would like to thank you all for helping us the way you did," an expression of confusion stole across his face. "How did you manage to drive that awful monster away?"
She chuckled. "Big and tough as that mass of blubber was, nothing enjoys being shot in the eye."
"Ouch," Riku added helpfully, a familiar smirk curling across his face.
"Would you like transport to somewhere, sir?" she asked, turning her attention back to the old man, as he observed her and Riku's by-play with a gentle smile. "I mean, the place we've been staying is a bit crowded, but it's better than nowhere."
"Thank you, young man," the old man said, turning his gentle smile on their entire group. "Oh my, I just remembered that I haven't introduced myself. My name is Geppetto, and this is my son: Pinocchio," he continued, pulling the hand-crafted puppet forward by its right wrist so that it could say its own hellos to the group.
"Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" she wondered aloud, taking a last look back over "her" left shoulder before she returned her attention to the forward-view through the cockpit windows.
"No," the puppet called back. "I've never seen you before at all," the talking, child-shaped puppet said cheerily.
Her first thought was that she'd been remembering wrong, but then she heard the sound of agitated speech coming from behind her. Knowing that she could count on Donald and Goofy to handle most things that might come up during the course of their journey, Sarah focused her attention back on the task that she had set for herself. The barrage of firepower she was unleashing, even from the paltry pair of guns that this puny ship possessed, cleared a nice path through the Heartless ships still attempting to set themselves against their group.
Once the seven of them had made it back to Traverse Town, Sarah sighed in relief as they began disembarking from the tiny ship. Gathering up her supply-pack, she slung it up on "her" back, and turned to grin at Riku when he slung his right arm around "her" shoulders.
"I didn't have to sit on your lap," Riku said, smirking as the pair of them exited the hangar and began making their way across the First District's main concourse.
"Standing room only, I'm afraid," she said, chuckling as Riku's expression grew all the more amused. "Besides, you can't say that that was a particularly long trip."
"Oh, so you're saying I would have ended up on your lap if the trip here had been longer?" Riku asked, seeming to be perfectly willing to carry through with their banter for as long as either of them was interested.
"You probably would have ended up wanting to rest somewhere if we were out there too long," she returned. "Still, it's about lunchtime, so how about some food?"
"That sounds good," Riku said, his smirk melting into a soft smile.
Slinging "her" right arm briefly around Riku's own shoulders, she told Donald and Goofy about the plans that she and Riku had hashed out, and the pair of them seemed perfectly happy to let them go. Apparently, Donald and Goofy were going to be busy getting Geppetto settled into a new house with the help of Squall and Aerith, and so they were both happy to know that she and Riku wouldn't be bored while they were busy.
Goofy was clearly happier than Donald, of course.
She and Riku made their way to Scrooge's place, aiming to have some food, before the pair of them parted company again.
"So, what do you think you're in the mood for, Riku?" she asked, as the pair of them stepped into the small, enclosed outdoor seating area that served Scrooge's place.
"I really enjoyed those hamburgers we had last time," Riku said, grinning as he pushed open the doors to let the pair of them inside once more. "I even kind of liked those onion rings you bought," he continued, chuckling softly.
"Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as the pair of them settled down at a small table.
Their usual waiter came to take their orders, and just as he'd said he was going to, Riku ordered himself a burger.
"And, what would you like to have today, young man?"
"Do you guys have batter-dipped chicken strips?" she asked.
"Of course we do," the pig said, with a bright grin.
"I'd like a plate of those, and a double order of onion rings," she said, licking "her" lips, both in anticipation and because they'd gotten a bit dry in the interim. "And, I'd like to have a large glass of root beer to drink."
"I'll have a root beer float," Riku said, as the pair of them handed in their menus.
"Glad to see you enjoy those so much," she said, smirking at him from across the table.
"I wouldn't have thought of something so weird, but it's really tasty," Riku said, grinning amusedly back at the boy nearly everyone still thought she was.
Watching Riku without annoying him or making him feel crowded took a bit more work than just sitting back to watch him when Sarah wasn't focusing on her own food, but given just how touchy she could recall him being, she figured that the extra effort would be worth the time. For his part, Riku seemed to be a bit more twitchy and uptight than he had been when the pair of them had first met up like this. Still, it also seemed like he was excited about something or other, so Sarah figured that it wasn't too likely to be anything bad.
So, at least there was that.
"So, what's on your mind, Riku?" she asked, once their food had been served and she'd taken her first few bites.
"Why in the world are you putting ketchup on your chicken?" Riku asked, his expression becoming one of mixed confusion and what seemed to be mild disgust.
"Because batter-dipped chicken tastes good with ketchup on it," she said, mildly surprised about the sudden shift in conversation, but perfectly willing to field the question.
It wasn't like she hadn't been asked just that kind of thing before, after all.
"That's gross," Riku said, making a face, and then smirking at her over their respective plates.
"Have you ever tried it, Riku?"
"Ick, no!" the silver-haired boy exclaimed, sticking his tongue as he made an exaggerated, disgusted face.
"Would you like to?" she asked, teasingly holding out a freshly-dipped chicken strip and grinning widely at Riku as he cringed.
"Ew," Riku groused, leaning away with that disgusted look still firmly on his face.
She chuckled. "More for me, then," she said, biting into the chicken with sheer relish; relish that was only partly exaggerated.
Riku picked up his own burger and took a big bite, making a face that could only be properly described as defiant. Sarah laughed, dipping yet another chicken strip into the ketchup she'd squeezed out for herself, smirking back at him as she did so. It wasn't too long after that that the two other members of her group showed up, sans Geppetto and his tiny family.
Turning to wave at Donald and Goofy as the pair of them came into the restaurant with her and Riku, she started in on the platter of onion rings that she and Riku were splitting.
"How're Geppetto and his family doing?" she asked, after wiping "her" mouth with the soft, cloth napkin that'd been set down by the right side of her plate.
"He seems happy with his new home," Donald said, nodding to the boy everyone still thought she was, before flagging down their waiter and ordering their own meals.
She and Riku continued picking at their shared plate, as Donald and Goofy ate and talked; she'd always wondered if people who held conversations over their meals were honestly enjoying the food set before them, or if it only counted as a diversion in their minds.
"Cid told us about that new ship you and he were working on," Donald said, sounding rather interested in what she and the pilot had created together.
"What did you call your ship?" Riku interjected, the smile on his face edging back into smug again. "A puddle-jumper?"
Sarah smirked right back. "She's a tiny ship; what else would I call her?"
Goofy laughed. "Yeah, I guess she was pretty small."
They chatted for a few more minutes, while the four of them finished their respective meals, and Riku was the first one to stand up.
"I'll talk to you later," the silver-haired boy said, smirking at the boy nearly everyone still thought she was.
"Take care of yourself, Riku," she said, as the pair of them briefly clasped hands and then swiftly parted company.
Falling back in with Donald and Goofy as the three of them made their way out of the Sarah swept up her supply-pack and swung it back up onto "her" back. Smiling softly as she felt Kuromaru nuzzling "her" back, she pulled on the straps to bring the little Shadow closer to "her" back. When their group returned to the hangar, she raised an eyebrow as Cid came out from the back of the hangar.
"You're right on time, kiddo," the man said, grinning at the three of them as they made their way farther into the hangar. "I just finished the last of the pre-flight checks on your new ship. She's all ready for you, all she needs now is a name."
"Are there any kind of limits on how long a name can be?" she asked.
Really, the character limits on names in-game had been one of the more persistent, low-level annoyances that she'd had to deal with in KH1.
"Not really," Cid said, looking a bit nonplussed, before he grinned. "Just don't make it too long, or else you're gonna be the one fillin' out the ownership forms."
The pair of them shared a laugh, before she sobered with a slight smirk.
"Right; I just wanted to be sure I wouldn't have to make my name too short."
"All right," Cid acknowledged, nodding sharply. "What's this not too short name you wanted ta give your ship, kid?"
"Fere Invictus," she said, giving her new, purpose-build vessel the name she'd had in mind ever since she'd built her first new ship in-game with the spoils from her various hunts for the Heartless ships that skulked the spacelanes in KH1; a shadow of the ones that she'd been traveling through here and now.
"Hercules would like that," Cid said, chuckling as he turned to make his way back into the further recesses of the hangar.
"Ferry Invictus?"
"Fere Invictus, Goofy," Donald snipped, turning up his beak at his fellow anthro as the three of them came within sight of the newly-built ship that she and Cid had been collaborating on.
"Settle down, you two," she said tolerantly, as the three of them plus Kuromaru boarded Fere Invictus for the first time.