[Cloud blinks, looking just a tiny bit overwhelmed at the thought of being repeatedly put on the spot and then having to come up with questions in turn, but he lets out a breath in a brief chuckle.]
Hoo boy.
[But he nods and heads for the door, opening it and waiting for her to go through first before following her out into the corridor.]
Coffee. Infantryman's best friend, y'know.
[Because they never knew when one of the higher-ups was going to act on some ridiculous whim and order a bunch of troopers to go do something immediately to satisfy it. No matter what time of night or morning it might be.]
[She smiled up at him. She thought that it would be easy but both of them...had different social tiers of how much they could handle. But she at least walked out easy enough, hands behind her back as she walked towards the dining hall.]
Hmm...coffee in the morning, tea at night. Or afternoon.
I like the little kick in the morning.
So...how do you take your coffee?
[Sorry Cloud. You're going to be pestered with the dumbest questions.]
Mm. It was kinda hectic, being a trooper. Never knew what kinda mission you'd get put on next, where it'd be, when the order would come...sometimes you'd get conflicting orders from two different departments at the same time. Just had to do your best to figure it out, which usually meant not getting a whole lotta sleep.
[It's odd, reminiscing like this about those days. When he worked for Shinra. When he was part of the problem. Before...everything. By the time he met Aerith, the person he's talking about barely existed. But then, that's why they're doing this in the first place.]
Heh. And here I thought all that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed stuff came natural to you.
Black. Sometimes a little milk, if it's shitty coffee. Takes the bitter edge off. I'm guessing...you like it on the sweeter side. Right?
It sounds like you were in a tough job. I bet a lot of troopers felt flustered when they got onto active duty.
[Though the idea of Cloud in a uniform...cute.It was funny, trying to find out about his past self, walking in the halls if a ship that was in space so far from home.
Something she thought was impossible.]
My bushy tailness is natural, thank you very much. But sometimes it needs a boost.
Especially because I'm used to awful coffee.
Maybe I just need to learn from someone how to make it right.
[Though that makes her wonder if Shinra troops would get a decent cup.]
Yeah, it could be tough. But the tough missions were the exciting ones. Half the time we were mobilized in a hurry just to stand guard at some boring as hell executive function.
[It's true, Cloud was adorable in the infantry uniform. He was a hell of an effective trooper, too. In hindsight, he wishes he'd been able to take more pride in the things he was good at back then, instead of focusing so hard on what he couldn't do...but he can't even reliably do that now, let alone when he was 16 and had exactly one friend in the world.]
Mm. Hard to find good coffee in the slums. Not like us bottom rung guys had it that much better when the company was paying for it, but at least there were other places around to get the good stuff on our own dime.
[He shrugs.]
Don't look at me, I'm no barista. Vincent makes pretty good coffee, though. Could ask him.
Think I'll just stick with Cloud Strife, delivery boy.
[Though...he didn't get the chance to tell her the rest. The events leading up to Meteorfall, and then the aftermath. The life they tried to build, the world tried to rebuild, all the ways he derailed their lives for the worse.
His delivery service, though, that's a positive. He can tell her about that.]
Oh, uh - after everything with Sephiroth was over, Tifa reopened Seventh Heaven in a new location and I started Strife Delivery Service based out of it.
[He could tell her more, but...the more he says, the closer he skirts to the stuff he doesn't want to talk about right now. So he leaves it at that for now.]
[She smiles at him. Him, a delivery boy? It sounded like he was running around delivering newspapers. But really...it is mostly what they were doing when they were trying to find Sephiroth and save the world to make gil. And to help others.
Some of it by her prompting, but still. But her smile warms.]
I'm glad she reopened it. And that your own business too.
[Gently, she bumps her shoulder against his.]
Want to steal his coffee right now? It'd go well with the cake.
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onlyembers
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 04:11 am (UTC)Hoo boy.
[But he nods and heads for the door, opening it and waiting for her to go through first before following her out into the corridor.]
Coffee. Infantryman's best friend, y'know.
[Because they never knew when one of the higher-ups was going to act on some ridiculous whim and order a bunch of troopers to go do something immediately to satisfy it. No matter what time of night or morning it might be.]
You?
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 04:20 am (UTC)[She smiled up at him. She thought that it would be easy but both of them...had different social tiers of how much they could handle. But she at least walked out easy enough, hands behind her back as she walked towards the dining hall.]
Hmm...coffee in the morning, tea at night. Or afternoon.
I like the little kick in the morning.
So...how do you take your coffee?
[Sorry Cloud. You're going to be pestered with the dumbest questions.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 04:47 am (UTC)[It's odd, reminiscing like this about those days. When he worked for Shinra. When he was part of the problem. Before...everything. By the time he met Aerith, the person he's talking about barely existed. But then, that's why they're doing this in the first place.]
Heh. And here I thought all that bright-eyed, bushy-tailed stuff came natural to you.
Black. Sometimes a little milk, if it's shitty coffee. Takes the bitter edge off. I'm guessing...you like it on the sweeter side. Right?
no subject
Date: 2024-10-04 05:09 am (UTC)[Though the idea of Cloud in a uniform...cute.It was funny, trying to find out about his past self, walking in the halls if a ship that was in space so far from home.
Something she thought was impossible.]
My bushy tailness is natural, thank you very much. But sometimes it needs a boost.
Especially because I'm used to awful coffee.
Maybe I just need to learn from someone how to make it right.
[Though that makes her wonder if Shinra troops would get a decent cup.]
no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 05:25 am (UTC)[It's true, Cloud was adorable in the infantry uniform. He was a hell of an effective trooper, too. In hindsight, he wishes he'd been able to take more pride in the things he was good at back then, instead of focusing so hard on what he couldn't do...but he can't even reliably do that now, let alone when he was 16 and had exactly one friend in the world.]
Mm. Hard to find good coffee in the slums. Not like us bottom rung guys had it that much better when the company was paying for it, but at least there were other places around to get the good stuff on our own dime.
[He shrugs.]
Don't look at me, I'm no barista. Vincent makes pretty good coffee, though. Could ask him.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 06:09 am (UTC)But so does Cloud Strife, Shinra trooper.
[She shakes her head, smiling. Cloud must have had a lot of moments where he was asleep on his feet. Poor guy.]
But anyway- so does this mean we should steal Vincent's supply, or just bug him to make us coffee in the morning?
no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 09:04 am (UTC)[Though...he didn't get the chance to tell her the rest. The events leading up to Meteorfall, and then the aftermath. The life they tried to build, the world tried to rebuild, all the ways he derailed their lives for the worse.
His delivery service, though, that's a positive. He can tell her about that.]
Oh, uh - after everything with Sephiroth was over, Tifa reopened Seventh Heaven in a new location and I started Strife Delivery Service based out of it.
[He could tell her more, but...the more he says, the closer he skirts to the stuff he doesn't want to talk about right now. So he leaves it at that for now.]
Bug him. Definitely.
no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 11:28 pm (UTC)[She smiles at him. Him, a delivery boy? It sounded like he was running around delivering newspapers. But really...it is mostly what they were doing when they were trying to find Sephiroth and save the world to make gil. And to help others.
Some of it by her prompting, but still. But her smile warms.]
I'm glad she reopened it. And that your own business too.
[Gently, she bumps her shoulder against his.]
Want to steal his coffee right now? It'd go well with the cake.