"So how often do you work here?" Glenn asked Claudia as they entered the inn.
"A few days a week, usually in the evenings" she said seeing her boss inspecting the logs. Everything seemed to be very quiet other than the few baskets of dirty sheets and towels protruding from behind the counter. Her boss immediately looked up as they approached.
"Claudia... what are you doing here on your day off?" he looked a bit surprised especially seeing her with a young man.
"Yea just checking to see if we still have vacancies for this fellow here" she winked.
"Of course, what's the 'fellow's' name?"
"It's Glenn Lodbrok sir" The innkeeper began flipping through the pages then raised an eyebrow
"It would appear Mr. Lodbrok that you still have a few days to your credit... compliments of Shinra" he paused for a moment.
"Would you like to extend your stay even longer?"
"I didn't realize that I had so many..." Glenn said a bit dumbfounded.
"Well, it's your choice, it would appear that your other colleagues have already checked out early this morning..." the innkeeper suddenly said noticing the other two gone.
"Well I guess that solves that problem..." Claudia said awkwardly since they were both standing in front of her boss.
"Yea, perhaps I'll go get cleaned up and..." Glenn started.
"Meet me by the water tower in an hour" Claudia finished smiled and quickly left before her boss had a chance to make any remarks or ask any questions. She quickly ran home to do the same herself. When she arrived home the kitchen was full of steam and the smell of hearty pot roast and vegetable soup permeated the air. Her mother didn't even notice her come in. She quickly went to the washroom and took a nice quick bath with a floral balm. Then she quickly dried off and changed into her casual long burgundy dress with a nice long white cotton chemise underneath. She brushed her long blond hair and put it up in a nice and neat bun and returned downstairs.
"So what's the occasion? Are you working this evening?" her mother asked instantly as she entered the kitchen.
"Sort of... I'm going over to help my boss with a task. Where's papa?"
"He still hasn't come home yet. He's been with Mayor Weston helping him with something, should be home pretty soon... could you pick me up some basil and sage at the general store on your way home dear?"
"Um... sure" Claudia nodded and was quickly out the door. She walked hastily over to the water looking around and didn't see Glenn. She saw Thea coming from the general store with Melanie coming down the lane, she was going to try to avoid them but it was too late.
"Claudia" Melanie waved as they approached.
"Found anymore work?" Claudia inquired
"Next week they have openings for kitchen and wait staff again but for how long, no one knows"
"Dressed up for a... special occasion?" Thea smiled.
"Not really, just waiting for Papa to get home for dinner but first I have to head up to the general store for an errand" Claudia winked.
"Oh I see..." Thea almost laughed.
"Hmm... Oh Thea told me how all of you were attacked on your picnic..." Melanie suddenly remarked.
"Um... yea, it was only a couple of Nibel Wolves, but luckily Brian and Thea here took good care of them" Claudia smiled looking at Thea. Melanie looked at Thea too with a confused look for a moment.
"Um...so are both of you cooking for your men tonight?" Claudia quickly changed the subject.
"Yea, since our picnic was disturbed we thought we should cook a little extra tonight, mom thinks so too"
"I'm doing the same" Melanie sighed.
"Well I'll see you tomorrow Claudia, this dinner isn't going to cook itself" Thea nodded moving on to her house since they were practically neighbors.
"Me too, have a great evening" Melanie waved going on further down the lane. Claudia quickly ran to the general store and picked up the herbs her mother asked with a as little interaction with the storekeeper as possible. She quickly returned to the water tower and waited. Fifteen minutes went by and no Glenn. Claudia climbed up the water tower and looked over the horizon beyond the entrance of the town as the sun began its descent. She wondered what lied beyond the borders of her village besides the port and airstrip below which brought needed imports from other regions of the world. Her father had allowed her to go with him to the port a few times when Thea's father and Thea accompanied them as well.
"Claudia?" Glenn's voice startled her, he had quietly snuck up while she was lost in her musings.
"Wow you startled me"
"Sorry, it's part of the training that I went through..."
"Speaking of which... how long have you been with Shinra?"
"It's been kind of off and on really. It started with a youth program then one thing led to another and so here we are" Glenn smiled looking at the sunset.
"Youth program? Where are you from anyways?"
"Midgar, the city of mako"
"Father has told me about Midgar, he said he saw it from a distance when he went to Kalm once. He said the privileged live above while those not so lucky live below on the ground where the threat of monsters is a part of their reality" Claudia remembered.
"It's not so bad, but it is rough living in the slums"
"Where do you live?"
"I'm among the privileged, my grandparents had worked for shinra in the past and secured a home in the second sector"
"Guess if my family lived there, we would be in the slums" Claudia sighed.
"What? Why do you say that? This high countryside is beautiful and exotic compared to the steel and concrete jungle I live in"
"I mean, it must be expensive to live there on the upper side... I think I would love to see it, just once"
"It's impressive, the architecture, the lights, but it feels... artificial, this feels... real"
"You thinks so?" Claudia smiled.
"Yes!" Glenn smiled looking at her then back as the sun created a collage of oranges, yellows, blues, purples, and crimson hues.
"Hey! What are you doing up there? Dreaming again?" a deep voice from below bellowed.
"Father!" Claudia said with surprise instantly going down the ladder.
"I heard about what happened, are you alright?" Her father said wearing a pair of blue trousers and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up revealing his muscular arms.
"Yes, thanks to this young man named Glenn" she pointed to Glenn as he was climbing down.
"Is that so?" he said looking as Glenn came to join him only standing three inches shorter than himself. Glenn was dressed in a pair of similarly fashioned blue trousers, brown boots, but with a white collared shirt.
"Yes, he wielded an axe and killed three Nibel wolves, kind of like you did one time" Claudia bragged.
"Interesting... you wield an axe young man?"
"It's a hobby of mine, I don't rely completely on firearms, and you are?" Glenn admitted.
"I'm Strife, hmm... perhaps we could talk about it over dinner, how about you join us?" Claudia's father nodded now curious.
"Of course" Glenn shook his head a bit surprised. Claudia too was surprised.
Claudia's father led them back to the house and when they entered the savory aroma of the pot roast dazzled their sense smell.
"You're back, great timing, dinner is ready, Claudia can you help me set the table?" her mom started then noticed Glenn and paused for a moment.
"Mom, this is Glenn..." she introduced as Glenn smiled and acknowledged her. Claudia's mom wasn't sure how to respond.
"He helped save our daughter who was out on a picnic with Thea and Brian" Claudia's father quickly informed her.
"Oh?" Claudia's mother's demeanor instantly changed to one of curiosity and bewilderment.
"Here's the herbs you asked for mom" Claudia placed the two small pouches on the counter.
"Have a seat... I'm going to get washed up" Claudia's father quickly disappeared upstairs. Claudia and her mother began taking plates out of the cabinet, and silverware out of the drawers while using oven mittens to place the steamy savory pot roast and pot of vegetable soup on the table. Claudia's mother was awkwardly silent until Mr. Strife came down stairs dressed in a pair of black linen pants and a white t-shirt. His beard slightly trimmed on the ends as it reached just above his chest. He took his seat at the end of the table.
"Come Glenn" he said pulling up a chair at their rectangular table that could sit up to six people. Glenn joined them as Mrs. Strife and Claudia took seats just after doling out portions in the plates.
"So... I heard you work for Shinra" Mr. Strife said taking his first bite of pot roast.
"Yes, that's true but... they dismissed a bunch of us saying that we had completed the time assigned" Glenn said a little nervously.
"So they fired the lot of you?" Mrs. Strife suddenly chimed in.
"Well, it was a temporary hire for the Shinra youth program" Glenn answered quickly.
"How old are you? And your parents approve of you traveling away?" Mrs. Strife continued.
"I'm 16, I will be 17 in a couple weeks and I actually live with my grandparents"
"What happened to your parents?" Mrs. Strife continued her line of questioning.
"That's kind of complicated... my father went away and my mother remarried"
The answer brought Mrs. Strife to silence a bit taken back not sure what else to say. Claudia regarded her parents' expressions not sure exactly if things were going well or not.
"I saw a group of about six young men presumably from shinra because they weren't from here, take a van back down to the port earlier today" Mr. Strife paused for a moment taking a couple of bites of his soup. Glenn mirrored his movements expecting to answer carefully watching each of Claudia's parents' facial expressions.
"So what were you doing up on Mount Nibel?" Mr. Strife predictably asked.
"Some of that I can't tell you, but what I can say is I wanted to know what they were doing up near the Nibel reactor. Only the senior guards were allowed to continue on with whatever that mission was and what they brought up to the reactor for whatever reason" Glenn explained.
"So did you find out?" Mr. Strife also interrogated while Claudia nervously ate deciding when she needed to intervene.
"No, and that's all I can say except that on my way up Mount Nibel, I underestimated the creatures that roamed the area. I was told it was fairly mild and I got halfway up and realized I wasn't ready to make the trek all on my own"
"You came across a whole pack of Nibel wolves then?"
"Toward the end of my trek back and then I was pursued and luckily Claudia and her well-armed friends were there to help" Glenn motioned to Mr. Strife's daughter.
"I did nothing except toss a few stones" Claudia interjected laughingly.
"I spoke to Brian already, he told me what unfolded" Mr. Strife confirmed.
"Well, I'm glad no one was hurt, but you should have known better than to go up the mountain alone" Mrs. Strife scolded.
"Yes, it was my mistake..." Glenn agreed.
"I heard you wielded an axe like a seasoned warrior" Mr. Strife's face lit back up a little.
"Yea, I originally wanted to move away and become a logger. Where I live, wood products are a commodity"
"In Midgar? I imagined so... but being a logger doesn't automatically give you the skills to swing an axe effectively in battle, that's another skill on its own, I know" Mr. Strife went on.
"You use an axe as a weapon too?" Glenn raised an eyebrow with excitement.
"You could say that, when firearms fail you in certain situations" Mr. Strife laughed getting a laugh out of both his wife and Claudia.
"So what are your plans Glenn?" Mrs. Strife asked as she got up and placed a nice steamy fresh baked apple pie on the table.
"I was thinking about heading to Costa del Sol within a day or two before heading home and letting my grandparents know my plans"
The conversation went on a little longer about more trivial subjects and about how Claudia met Glenn and finished off a little about the weather of Nibelheim and how it can change rapidly. The reception went from cool to lukewarm after an hour of discussions and some apple pie after dinner. Claudia was a little relieved because she had been more than a little nervous how the meeting would go. Her father seemed a bit more at ease than her mother but this was only the first time meeting him. Glenn told them goodnight and returned back to the inn.