ADVENTtire . Traverse Town . Completed

[sunshine_dark]

Illogically, sleep was peaceful. For once in this town Cloud had gotten a decent amount of rest with no interruption. There were no odd lucid dreams about his own experiences for once, and from some loophole in good karma that meant no dreams about chairs. Instead he woke up well rested, albeit a little bit disoriented as it took him a second to

Comments

[sunshine_dark]

While Cloud wasn’t used to having company, he was even less used to people being so enthusiastic about things that he thought were so trivial-especially when those things were centered around his own presence being somewhere. Correlating with that feeling, the solider just gave Zell a very strange look which included a slight arch of his eyebrow and a cant of his head down-left. Punching the air had....what purpose, exactly? Excitable fellow.

Following a small pivot Cloud walked at a slightly slower pace than the other blonde; making sure there was a good arms length between the two. 'Banned?' Oh. Right. Zell had informed him about that small quarrel with the red haired Turk that almost ended in a bomb-fire on the previous day; if he needed something at the café, and was only banned because he refused to steal from it in the first place, he could just make sure that Zell got what he needed. No big deal. Doubtful that a bartender would be willing to waste another bottle of whatever liquor to get rid of Zell a second time.

"There are other places aside the café where you could get food." It was an assumption, a fair one, considering the ratio of people versus stores, there had to be more than one around this place. Item shops, at best, could sell food as well. "If you really need something there, I can make sure you get it."

[ehrgeiz_king]

It made sense to Zell. There didn’t seem to be much people there very often, so either they all went elsewhere or the entire city suffered from an eating disorder. Both seemed plausible, really, because a lot of the people here seemed mentally unstable, not that Zell himself would notice.

“I don’t know where anything else is, unless maybe you do,” he shrugged, leisurely taking the newfound bridge out of the waterway. The air was warm and blanketed by a layer of humidity. “Thanks for the help, man. I appreciate it,” he said honestly.

[sunshine_dark]

Cloud followed after along the bridge, giving it a tap with the for-end of his boot; it was his first time along the wooden planks, so that was his own little trial. "As long as it doesn't break, right?" Or rather, break again due to some destructive force named Zell. The blonde lost interest with the bridge after his small test and continued padding after.

Honestly, Cloud didn't know where many things in the town was either. He’d done rather well to find the Waterway beforehand only because of dim logic being on his side for a change. Actually, from what he'd seen of Traverse Town, Cloud had to give a mystified look at the other blonde. "I have a.. rough idea where some things are." Why? Well. He'd be sure to point out that large neon sign that said 'item shop' where, logically, the item shop was. Since Zell seemed a rather.. Gifted fellow who didn’t notice things right off, perhaps he could casually toss that in the conversation somewhere down the line.

[ehrgeiz_king]

Now, saying that Zell couldn’t see giant glowing signs in a city that was constantly black as the night was an unfair blow to his intelligence. Granted, he didn’t exactly have the largest attention span, but that was all the more reason he would notice them. Things like that tended to stick out. But he didn’t know what the other man was thinking, and as such, he couldn’t protest.

He gave a shrug at the next comment, and continued walking, figuring if Cloud knew somewhere they could go, he’d lead the way. His brain was disturbingly silent as he walked. There really wasn’t much there aside from the echoes of his boots. That became perhaps a little too apparent when he about ran smack into a large wooden crate. Wiping the surprise off his face as fast as he could, he scaled it, as though he had meant to do that in the first place.

[sunshine_dark]

Too bad that Cloud wasn't exactly sure of himself on the matter of where he was going in the town. Cloud would stop rigidly, take a small look around, and start to walk again, all the while making the matter look like he was waiting for Zell to catch up. If they couldn’t go to the café in the first district, what did that leave at their disposal? Nothing that he knew right off the bat. When Zell nearly tripped over a very large very stationary object, it just further made the point that he would be one who would miss a neon sign. He looked like he hadn't noticed and continued onward.

It was probably by pure luck alone that a steady stream of few people were leaking out of another district, therefore, Cloud just followed them in hopes that it would lead to somewhere worthwhile. While looking like he was leading, the blonde followed to where these people were coming from-turned out to be some kind of bar. How lucky.

[ehrgeiz_king]

Zell was honestly beginning to wonder if the other man knew where he was going - slamming the brakes every five seconds tended to do that. But he had said nothing about his little crate escapade, and so he followed obediently. When the came across the small groups of people, Cloud seemed to follow them more than anything else, so he did the same. They ended up at a rather seedy-looking bar. Well, they’d have to have some kind of food, if only fruit for drinks, so he took the initiative and went inside.

There were a few tables, but most of them were empty. A few obvious drunks hunched over in the corners, talking in obnoxiously loud voices to each other. Towards the center of the room there was a man by himself. He sported layered brown hair with an almost pinkish hue to it, and his expression clearly read, “Look the hell away or I might just stab you.” The barstools, oddly enough, were unoccupied. The bar itself gave a slightly blueish glow, and behind it was a man with spiky red hair that looked oddly familiar. In fact, he looked like -

Oh, hell no.

He froze angrily in place, and without so much as one word, he turned on his heels and began to walk away - straight into Cloud. Before he could ask what the hell his problem was, he jerked his head to the bar in order to get him to take a look. This was just lovely.

[sunshine_dark]

When Cloud had successfully found and alternative to the first district, it should have been something good, not something to turn heel and run away from. Since Zell seemed eager to go in first, the room was made for him to dart in but not back out again-at least he could have not bumped into him. Cloud glared slightly. Since he was slightly shorter than Zell, he didn’t see everything in the bar right off-which Zell forcing him to look like some little rag-doll didn’t help matters any.

Instead of concentrating on what was in the bar, Cloud made it a point to first get some comfortable space between Zell and himself. Not hard to accomplish with a solid step away and further close to the bar instead of away from it. With an about face, he scanned the scenery. A few scattered people-then there was the bartend. The soldier slowly turned his head to Zell with that "Guh" expression on his face.

[recalcitrantly]

Since Reno'd gotten bored out on the streets, the redhead had resorted to taking a few convincing measures to get the owner of this here bar to hand it the hell over nicely. Whenever he got bored with this place, he'd just dump it anyway. [Though that was unlikely]. Reno looked up from his place behind the counter and lo’ behind! "Well if isn’t the hot dog kid."

Too late to go anywhere. They'd been spotted. WheetWheet.

Reno went about his business, shuffling about behind the counter for something until he retrieved a small bucket, dustpan, and broom. "....And pointy blonde kid," He added. "hurry and clean the place up will ya? Since it’s all you’re good at." Passively, like he remembered no incidents beforehand with Zell, the three things were set on the counter, "But if ya find a way to suck at that, Hot dog kid can help you." Incompetence aiding incompetence made sense.

[ehrgeiz_king]

Zell cast a glance to Cloud. Normally, the whole situation would have just pissed him off - that whole café incident would not soon be forgotten - but at the moment, he was just plain confused. Was that an order the clean up the place? The hell? Not only that, but Reno didn’t seem particularly pissed off. In fact, not so at all, as though the whole bitch-fight had never happened.

Well, whatever. They were here, they were noticed, and he was hungry, so it would be stupid to leave now. So he dragged himself to a table, away from the rest of the people in the bar and plopped down on a chair.

[sunshine_dark]

Likewise, Cloud just gave a glare to the bartender and followed Zell to have a seat. The Turk remembered him, sure enough, well enough to pull the appropriate jokes. Ignoring was probably the best option. Not without a slight second of hesitation, Cloud pulled a set on the opposite side of the table where Zell had pulled a chair. [Not without a slight bit of hesitation from an earlier encounter..]

[recalcitrantly]

It sorta pissed Reno off that the hot dog kid wasn’t only incompetent, but apparently deaf as well. Didn’t matter. The kid hadn’t said nothin, so there was nothin to respond to. It's not like he didn't intend to give the pair o' dumb blondes anything if they cleaned the place up a bit. Ignoring him, eh? Not on his home turf. Reno took out two bottles of the good substance, and set it on the counter. "If you clean up after those guys in those black coats or whatever that keep coming in here and messin’ shit up, I'll pay ya with these." Maybe some food, too. Depending on how good of a job they did.

[ehrgeiz_king]

Upon the comment, the man that Zell had observed earlier stood, and with a smirk, kicked over the table he was standing at. He then dug into his pockets and tossed a single munny next to the scene.

Zell just stared at the incident, giving no notion of hearing a word Reno had said. Not to say he didn’t hear him; he was simply distracted. Though if it hadn’t been for that fact he probably would have been very pissed. The whole getting rewarded with alcohol didn’t sound all the promising either; he had learned that hard way he wasn’t exactly a great drunk. Anger, bar fights and vomiting weren’t exactly the greatest way to start the morning.

He was still a bit hungry though, and if it was going to prevent his food, well, that would be regretted. Luckily he was more for a snack than an outright meal. A hungry Zell was an angry Zell.

[sunshine_dark]

As did Cloud do quite the same thing as Zell had done. Instead of staring at the scene, though, he just looked to it, then to Reno. He didn't make a move to clean as was offered-since it would be probably like old days in Hollow Bastion; Reno would follow him as he cleaned with a cup of coffee, pouring it onto the floor continually the red-head would repeatedly go on about how Cloud had "missed a spot." Fortunately for himself he didn't have to put up with that by force these days. With a brief shrug he turned his attention to his hands.

[recalcitrantly]

Reno battled with a half of mind to chase that man with a broom, but eventually let it slide. Seeing as his two.. Hirelings weren’t so eager to move for the pay offered, he dug a little deeper behind the counter and sat a small box of cookies on the counter, "I'll toss these in if ya clean up." He whistled slightly, "An' if you do a good job, I might have some hotdogs around here I could dig up." Turk ingenuity.

[ehrgeiz_king]

Hotdogs. Zell had to scowl at the fact the redhead knew his weakness. Unconsciously, his mouth started watering. He looked from Reno to Cloud, Cloud to Reno. Was he bluffing? He had no way of telling, really. He supposed he could find out by following orders, but then, he wasn’t about to clean for nothing, either.

He made another turn to Cloud, helpless look plastered on his face, as if to say, “What the hell do I do?”

[sunshine_dark]

Cloud had only known Zell for a small amount of time. This amounted to a likeness to the average business relationship, therefore, he wasn’t exactly aware of the weakness for hotdogs. To the questionable glance, the blonde just shrugged. They’d come for food, but as far as playing servant, Cloud wasn't too wild about the idea. Especially since Turks tended to take advantage of the situations to an extent. If it was fair exchange, sure, but memories from Hollow Bastion back then made him a little hesitant to comply.