Day 49: Noon - Tasty Burger

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Once she'd found she wasn't in any danger whatsoever of hopping aboard the Pukemobile, Yuffie had gotten kinda peckish. She'd ditched the bagged breakfast ages ago, way back on the bus, and, haha, like hell was she trekking back over that way to get it. Too much to see in a town without a lot in it.

So, here she was. Sitting at a plastic table in a plastic chair, in the almost completely plastic 'Tasty Burger', with fries, chicken strips, and a banana shake to wash it down with. Yuffie wrinkled her nose, more put off by the Eastern-style 'meal' than the reproachful stares of the staff and patrons. The latter she was way, way more than used to. Came with the job description. All of the job descriptions.

"Should've gone to the Twin Pine," Yuffie muttered around the (plastic!) straw, slumping forward onto her damp, denim-clad elbows. Taking a long pull of vaguely banana-flavored gloop, she cast a deft, if bored, eye around the establishment. As always, she'd gone for the most strategic seat; one that let her see as much as possible, without cutting off her access to at least one viable escape route. Not that she wanted to look at the place. Eurgh.

It was still hard to reconcile how this place should have looked with how it did look. Quick repair jobs were one thing, but something about the set-up rubbed Yuffie the wrong way. It was the same the whole town over. Chips, here and there, cracks in windows and doodles on walls. But no scorch marks, no sign that there'd been a no-holds-barred battle tearing up the place from top to bottom. The residents were pissy and suspicious, but not in that way—not in a way that'd suggest they remembered what they'd done, what they'd turned into, and what the patients had done in return.

[Cloud and Nanaki~.]

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[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

Tifa took a long sip of her drink, having expected Zack to have had plans and now needing to come up with an answer. So far all she had going for her was to rendezvous with Rude, since she missed him at the bar, and then go off in search of ingredients to make some form of drinkable alcohol. It didn't seem very impressive, especially in the face of a seasoned SOLDIER.

"I was going to meet up with someone--Rude, actually--and take stock of what provisions that institute keeps..." Yeah, that sounded much better than stealing a crap load of apples, ketchup, and a big trash bag. "And maybe I can find some kind of cushion for gloves. I'd rather not break my fist on some monster's face since our.... strength...." Well, it didn't need to be said.

Her eyes had fallen back to her meal as she began trailing off, but they quickly fell back up at Zack. "I'm F6, by the way... I'm not sure what Cloud's is..." Which was terribly sad since she had gone to Rude's room specifically for that reason. He probably told her too, but somehow Tifa thought she could retain knowledge while chugging back rum. "But I bet he'll be up for something if you need a partner in crime..." The brunette wasn't going to stop Zack from coming along if he was just dying to raid a kitchen, but she was pretty sure it didn't hold much appeal for anyone outside of her and Rude. It was a shame since Tifa doubted the two of them could carry back enough supplies in one haul. Maybe after she scoped the place out she could enlist a few boys to help her the next night.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

The moment that Rude's name was brought up, Zack's eyebrows rose up pretty far on his face. It was just so hard to imagine. Even though the changes in Tifa were obvious, this was almost too much. "Since when do you commiserate with Turks?" he asked, his tone between slightly teasing and genuinely curious. He was used to working alongside the suits, but part of him still looked at Tifa and saw that teenage girl in the cowboy hat. It was just weird.

He took note of her room number, realizing that it would be in his best interest to write all of the important ones down in his journal at some point. Zack also felt weird about not knowing Cloud's room number -- it turned out there were a lot of things he needed to bug his friend about. Preferably when the guy wasn't on the brink of tossing his cookies all over the bus floor.

"I'll see if I can get a hold of him somehow," he agreed. "Rude's got a good head on his shoulders, so I'm sure you two will be fine." Zack could have invited himself to the party, but he got the feeling they'd manage without him. It was better to spread out and cover as much ground as possible. "And... does that mean you fight with your fists?" He'd caught her earlier comment about the gloves, and he had to admit he was impressed. Close-quarters combat wasn't easy; Zack could manage it in a pinch, but it was something he'd never focused on because it was hardly his strongest area.

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

"Since I had to start...." Her lip pulled up into a quiet snarl, not exactly happy about the whole situation. "He's been here a lot longer than me or Cloud or you... so..." She paused to munch on a cold fry. "He has pretty good information, getting him to talk is the tricky part..." But, well, she figured out how to his buttons quickly enough.

"First day too..." She groaned just thinking about the whole ordeal. "It was like I was a magnet for enemies. Met one guy named Loz who was from the future... yeah I dunno, but apparently he wanted a rematch over something..." The brunette didn't really know much about it so she hand waved the rest. "Then I see Rude sitting there and I thought he had to be in on this... so I started kicking at him...." Not having meant to ramble one and on, Tifa paused and summarized. "Long story short, there's enough enemies outside, we don't need to be squabbling amongst ourselves..." They were going to need every willing soul to help them escape so it wouldn't be a great idea to ostracize the one guy who was really damn good at fucking shit up.

As Zack continued, Tifa finished off the last of her drink, shaking the ice to find any hidden liquid that had been trapped. She almost balked at his question, but then remembered the SOLDIER hadn't exactly been around for a good long while. "Yeah, been training since I was a kid..." She kept it at that, not wanting to suck all the air out of the room by talking about herself. Though she had a new appreciation for her skills in this environment when everyone else was weaponless. She may not have her full strength anymore, but she was formidable nonetheless.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

If that was the case, then Zack couldn't be too surprised that Tifa had decided to throw her lot in with a Turk. He personally had no problem with it, since the Turks were efficient and usually knew what they were doing. It made him wonder if he should track Rude down himself, but he wasn't sure if he'd have any luck with getting him to spill. It had been hard enough with Tseng.

Zack stared at the girl when she brought up some random name of a person from the future -- so even she had to deal with that? He'd figured everyone was just ahead of him due to the obvious reasons of his death, but maybe it wasn't that simple. It sounded like Tifa could handle herself, though, since she'd wormed her way past all of her adversaries in one piece. He nodded when she made her final point; there really was no point in infighting. "Don't worry, I'm not going to pick any fights," he said with a smile. "I'm pretty close to a Turk or two. I don't know about any people from the future, though." If they cared about him, then they could go ahead and find him themselves.

He was pretty surprised to hear that Tifa had been working on her combat skills since she was a kid, though. He hadn't gotten any indication of that when he'd met her years ago, but maybe that was because the situation hadn't called for it. Or maybe she had still been a rookie back then. Seeing how they'd been dealing with the likes of Sephiroth, he couldn't imagine she'd been ready for something like that. "Guess it's coming in handy, huh?" Especially if all she needed to fight with was her fists.