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No title.
(2013-07-26 - Now)
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Tifa Lockhart The bar/inn looks empty for the moment, but that's only an impression really. It would be almost impossible for the inn to be closed of course, but that the reception area is empty makes it a little odd. Surely they couldn't be that far, right?

There's the familiar 'kweh' sound that comes from the stables around the building. Moments later, the barmaid steps in through the back door, carrying several bags. In her usual trips around the world, she makes sure to keep up with the various drinks replenishment, but also various trinkets, decorations and tools of the trade. Between two bars and inn rooms to take care of, there's never a lack of things to buy it seems.

Setting the bags down on a table near the counter, she starts fishing in what she took back. Bedsheets in plastic wrapping is the first thing she brings out. She smiles, opening it up, and stuffing her face in it for a moment, just to feel how soft they are. She knew she wanted those for the customers when she saw them. Too bad there was only 3 of them at the time.

She puts it back down, fetching the bottles from the other bags, carrying them through the door to the storage, putting them away.
Original Zack Zack Fair has no idea where he is right now.

Oh, sure, he knows he's in a place called Traverse Town (the guys at the front gate told him that much); he knows it's a much, much more modern place than Alexandria, and he knows it's a way nicer place than Midgar. The buildings are strange and alien, but at the same time, comfortable and satisfying; they have that small-town feel, mixed with the big-city hustle Zack found so comfortable. After Alexandria, that was a good thing, absolutely.

Zack checks his wrist for a moment; he's got time to stay overnight, and he's pretty sure it's...maybe?...getting dark. He hasn't had a real sleep in a long time, just SOLDIER power-naps across quick little spans of time.

The CLOUD NINE sign in its flashing neon draws his attention; it certainly looks like an inn. Zack checks his wallet, noting the changeover from Gil to Munny with mild curiousity - but little more, since there's not much he can do about it. Oh well. Hopefully his Munny was good here.

Zack pushes open the door, and, sure enough, it's a bar. That was a good sign; bars usually accompanied inns. "Uh, 'scuse me! Hey, I'm looking for a place to stay the night - this is an inn, right?" He calls, hoping that someone's around to actually...well, positively ID the place.
Tifa Lockhart The answer comes as a bit of rummaging in the storage room, heard through the open door. A bit startled, she eeps as the sound of something bumping into another, quite assuredly bone against wood there, with a following 'ow!'. No, it probably didn't hurt that much either, its more like a reflex to say it nonetheless.

"Be there in a second!" She calls out, the sound of something being pushed away, and finally she comes out of the storage, rubbing her elbow "Sorry about that, welcome to the Cloud N-"

She stops as she spots who's there. Well, it would be hard for her to NOT remember that figure, hair and overall looks and equipment after all. But there's two things that come to mind immediately. 1- He's alive, otu of the horror of Nibelheim. 2- He still seemed equipped like a SOLDIER, so maybe he's still working for Shinra?

Regardless of that, she still interrupted her speech, but with good reason, as she says "Zack? Is that really you?" She's staring, that's for sure. Its been almost 5 years after all.
Original Zack Zack's just looking around the bar at the moment, hands on his hips, map tucked under his elbow. The Materia Blade hangs off his back, bigger than it has any right to be; it shines with an otherworldly glow, one that Tifa would of course immediately peg as Materia.

It's a nice place. More modern than he expected to find in his travels. He's been to a lot of really fantastical places lately, but this is a lot more like Midgar than he's used to as of late - real electricity, real plumbing, real working lights and, most importantly, real music (even if it is jazz). He's pretty impressed; after all, Midgar was a developing city, the forefront of culture and technology. The idea that more places out there existed like this? Phenomenally awesome. It filled him with fire, fire and excitement. He wanted to see more as soon as possible. He wanted to get out and meet more people who needed his help, to see what the worlds had in store for him, to use that enthusiasm burning in his chest.

Speaking of chests...

Zack looks up as Tifa calls his name; he looks her over, his grin unchanging. She was pretty, that's for sure! Zack reaches up to the back of his neck, scratching under his mass of black hair, and laughs.

"Sure it's really me! Want an autograph? I mean, I wasn't exactly expecting to sign anything, but if I'm gettin' famous enough for gorgeous chicks to know my name I might as well start practicing, huh?"

Zack looks around for a moment. "So this is an inn, right? I mean, I can pay to stay here? Maybe have a drink before I hit the road - /regrettably/, because, I mean..." Zack looks over at Tifa again. "Just...wow."

"Oh, uh, heck. Sorry; even if you know my name, that's pretty rude of me. Hi; I'm Zack Fair, apparently worlds-famous mercenary. Nice to meet you."

Zack pauses.

"...although I haven't done all that much to get my name out there...ah, shoot! Maybe they put out wanted posters...?"
Tifa Lockhart There's a visible deflating in the barmaid (no, not there). Zack's reaction is not quite what she expected, and she goes seomwhat flat-eyed at him antics too. She even rolls her eyes when he lays down the flirting on top of it.

She crosses her arms over her chest, more like restraining herself than anything else "... Looks like you didn't change one bit at least." She shakes her head "You don't remember me huh?" She leaves it at that for now, as she moves behind the counter, and pulls up a drink for him. He didn't ask for anything, but it looks like she knows what he wanted too. The right kind, the right glass for it too. She remembers that much from his time in Nibelheim. She wasn'ts a barmaid back then, but when it comes to drinks she knows about it.

"And you seem in good shape too, that's reassuring." Of course, she'd be alot more curious if she knew Cloud was there the entire time too, but as it stands she's not even sure you ever met him. She might ask though, but right now, the drink is set on the counter in front of you. "Yes, this is an inn, you can stay the night. Traverse Town is a pretty busy central point in this multiverse. I have another bar in Midgar too."
Original Zack Zack scratches the side of his head at her question. That's...odd. "I think I'd remember somebody like you," Zack offers, flashing another grin, but this one doesn't quite meet his eyes. Still, as Zack sits down, there's a glass right in front of him, and a drink from Nibehleim, too - one of the drinks he'd enjoyed from way back when. He looks up at her, bright green eyes meeting hers, his grin widening.

"Okay, marry me, seriously. That's amazing. A girl who knows what a guy wants is way too hard to find in the worlds." He pops the bottle and pours a glass, tipping back the drink and exhaling with a loud 'whoo!' "Man! Just like back in Nibelheim! That's fantastic! I guess liquor's the first thing to get shipped around the worlds, huh? Gotta make sure everybody samples all the local flavors." The bottle brought back memories - bad ones, ones of fire and brimstone and laughter, ones that were all too clear in his mind, but he pushed them away. It's too nice a day for that.

Zack folds his arms behind his neck and stretches, as he's wont to do. "Awesome! I had no idea a place like this-"

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

"...in...Midgar, huh?" Zack's voice shakes a little bit. That would...explain a lot. It would explain how she knew his favorite drink...it would explain how she knew his name...it would explain a lot of things. Zack's fingers go slowly towards the massive sword's handle. "D'you, uh...d'you work for ShinRa? 'cause if you do..."

"Might have to call that proposal off..." Zack's eyes narrow. Were they still hunting him, even now? Or worse, were bounty boards across the world being spread with his name? ShinRa had way more money than the Church. They'd be happy, /happy/ to spend it hunting down one of their only remaining First-Class SOLDIERs.
Tifa Lockhart Well that seems to answer one of the questions at least. Not the wedding proposal either. "No, I don't want anything to do with Shinra either, if you wonder." She shakes her head at that. "Seems you remember Nibelheim, but not me then. I was there, that's why I know your drink. You ordered it once every night before going to bed too." Yeah, she was observing enough, she was the guide after all.

But she was in Nibelheim, that's the biggest part of it. Looks like she's a survivor too. She lets you add 2 + 2 together at least, as she sways over to get a rag, cleaning up the counter where drops of liquid fell unto at random. She still doesn't feel like she should say too much about her reasons for being in Midgar in the first place either. Either way, its a bit different now. "I opened up here because there was lots of people coming from the different worlds, and they needed places to relax and sleep at. Some people got into pretty nasty situations, with the heartless and worlds turning to darkness."
Original Zack She says she doesn't work for ShnRa, and Zack's head slowly nods. "Okay." His hand leaves his sword, moving for his drink, and he smiles into it. "It's one of my policies that a pretty girl should be trusted at least once per girl. So...if you say you don't work for ShinRa...okay. I just hope you aren't lying to me."

Tifa talks about Nibelheim, and Zack frowns and shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I don't remember you at all. I remember Sephiroth turning on everybody..." Zack's hand closes into a very tight fist, his knuckles whitening. "And I remember him stabbing somebody in the Reactor, and the town on fire, but..."

Zack's eyes meet Tifa's. They're bright - scary bright, the green glow of SOLDIER at least proving that he is definitely who he says he is, as if the sword and the good-natured cheer mixed with just a little bit of well-tempered arrogance didn't do it already. He stares at her for a very long moment - at her eyes, just looking at her, like he's trying very very hard to remember her.

Zack shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I don't remember you. Weird, because, seriously, all joking aside, I do have a head for faces. Even if yours wasn't crazy hot, I'd probably remember you. Maybe I just didn't notice, but..."

Zack exhales, pours himself another glass, and knocks it back. He just sort of...casts all the hanging bad feelings out, and by the time he slams the glass back down, he's got a huge grin on his face. "Whooo! Okay! That's way better. So let's talk, huh? I didn't catch your name yet, and it's been *forever* since I met somebody from my world! What's Midgar like these days, huh? Still a happening town, am I right? Progress never sleeps, even if the guys up top are total jerks."

Tifa's mention of refugees doesn't dampen his enthusiasm one bit. He just nods vigorously, readying another shot. "Yeah, I've seen. I've been doing some travelling, y'know, that kinda thing. Been pretty weird, all things considered. It's amazing, isn't it? I mean...I feel kinda bad about saying something like that," Zack frowns, "Like I'm profiting off people's pain, and that doesn't sit well with me. But at the same time, I can't help it. I'm just too eager to see what's over the next hill, what I'm gonna find next, what I'm gonna see next. It's great."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart offers a smile at that. At least enthusiasm is contagious, and its not like she needs much, she's rather upbeat most of the time herself, needing to the backbone for the group int he toughest moments, even though she feels like she should roll in a ball and cry sometimes. Its not always easy when everything got ripped away from you after all.

She puts her hands on her hips though "Well you should remember me. I'm Tifa Lockhart. I was your guide in Nibelheim, when you went to the reactor. I was a step ahead of you at the reactor, you went after Sephiroth right after he left me for dead." She shakes her head, its not pleasant to talk about, but its a part of her past, its not like she can just forget about it or pretend it never happened either. "I probably would have died too if it wasn't for my master that was still in town, he found me there unconcious."

She sighs a bit, rolling her head back "Yeah, Midgar didn't change that much, its called Goug now. Something about worlds merging, apparently Goug was a mechanical city in another world, Ivalice I think they said, and Shinra took it over as their base, in their usual style. They planted some of their reactors too. And I'm pretty sure they started on their weird experiments as well, but its hard to do anything about them alone." Sounds like she has a grudge too, but that would be explainable after Nibelheim. It was a rightout massacre after all.
Original Zack Zack thinks about this for a very long moment. "Tifa, huh? Nice to meet you, Tifa Lockhart." He doesn't comment on the rest of it; the fact that he doesn't remember her is unsettling enough, probably for her as well as him. No reason to keep bringing it up. And he clearly remembered the other events, given...well, given his general reaction, and what he said about it. He sits there for a moment, drink in hand.

"Hey, c'mon. Sit down and have a drink with me." Zack pats the stool next to him. "It's not every day I get to do something like this, Mizz Lockhart. Or...Missus, he asked hesitantly but is pretty sure he has no reason to be."

"Oh, man, Ivalice. Okay, I know Ivalice, I've been around Ivalice." With a wanted criminal, but hey, no reason to bring that up - not until he was sure he could trust her, and that Ramza could trust her. And right now, neither of those were certain.

"...do anything alone, huh? Are you...y'know, are you planning to do something?" Zack's eyes move to hers carefully again. "About ShinRa, I mean."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart hms at the comment about Ivalice. "Well I heard Ivalice only of name, because there's lots of towns around here that are from there it seems. From our world, I only of Goug, Junon, Wutai and Cosmo Canyon right now. I'm not sure there's any other places, at least nothing I ever saw on maps."

She leans on the counter on her elbows, hands under her chin as she chats. It is nice to have someone from her world. Well, she knows of a couple more, but mostly Shinra people. "You could say that, but its not quite true either, not right now at last. I was part of Avalanche before darkness swallowed everything up. A terrorist group in Midgar. We were only doing small scale stuff, but we were planning on striking at one of the reactors in Midgar with a bomb before the world merge."

She shakes her head "I know its not exactly the best way to do things, but we wanted to at least slow down the bleeding of the planet. Either way, right now there's bigger fishes to fry, with heartless and Shadowlords galore. And its not like I can do anything on my own either. Instead, we work on protecting people as much as possible."
Original Zack Zack doesn't say anything, but the look on his face shifts a little bit when she mentions Wutai. He had memories of Wutai, and they weren't good ones - of what happened during the Wutai War and of what happened in the immediate aftermath, as well as the Heartless...among other things. "Ah, I'm no good with maps anyway," he says finally.

His eyes stray a little bit as she leans forward. Then she mentions AVALANCHE, and they snap right back up to hers, staring at her for a long, long moment. "AVALANCHE," he says flatly. Oh, he remembered AVALANCHE, alright. He remembered fighting monsters in their base, monsters that had once been people - even if they weren't innocent people, they were /people/...until whatever AVALANCHE did to them was done.

"..sorry," Zack says after a moment, his smile sliding back to his face, "You just don't seem like the AVALANCHE type. You seem like someone who cares about people; I mean, if you didn't care about people, you wouldn't remember a drink from months ago. Maybe a year ago, maybe more, I don't even know. AVALANCHE..."

Zack folds his hands over his mouth. "...AVALANCHE didn't mean anything like protecting people when I knew 'em."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa lifts her shoulders at that "I can't tell you, when I joined its what we were doing. Maybe things changed, I heard stories of the previous people in Avalanche. I don't agree with everything they did either. Or everything we did after I joined, but..." She sighs, looking to the side, sliding fingers to roll her hair around her ear a bit, a motion that long haired girls tend to do often as they get out of place so often. "... After what happened in Nibelheim... I must admit that I had no idea what to do, but I wanted to get back at Shinra for what happend. I still think its their fault."

She smiles a bit, sheepishly now "I had time to think about it since then, the feeling didn't change, but... I agree that just blowing up reactors probably won't change, but at the same time, they didn't want to listen to what we had to say. It was all about the money, the profit, nevermind the villages that were destroyed by their reactors, or the monsters that they spawned. They would prefer bury the truth to preserve their status, and that I can't forgive either, you can't play with people's lives." She sighs again "But maybe we do too, trying to hit Shinra... who's right and who's wrong in the end..."
Original Zack "Well..." Zack is quiet for a moment. "...I'm glad to hear that, anyway. If AVALANCHE is changing, maybe they can do something about ShinRa. Maybe you guys can make some good in the world."

Zack fiddles with his drink for a moment, swirling it in the glass slowly as he stares at Tifa carefully, watching her twirl her hair. AVALANCHE...ShinRa...he'd thought he'd fallen out of all of it. Or that maybe things had changed in this new, crazy world. Or...heck, Zack didn't know what he thought. Unrealistic expectations, probably. "Nobody ever has anything better to do than fight each other, y'ever notice that? Whole new world, wonders 'round the corner, and all any of these big guys can think about is profit, profit, profit." Zack sighs and leans back.

Then he stands up. "Hey. Let's go have dinner. I'm starving, seriously, and you look like you've been working all day. Let's cut out and get something to eat somewhere; gotta be a ton of restauraunts around here, and I'm only gonna be in this town for one night, so I might as well make the most of it! Whaddya say?"
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart laughs at that "Are you trying to take me out on a date now?" Well, he has been flirting alot. Might be best he doesn't remember her in some ways after all, makes it more natural, especially after what happened 5 years back. "I can cook food here too, this is an inn, if you just want to relax, I can prepare something of your liking as well. I'm used to the work, I like doing this."

She smiles, returning to her more cheerful self, the one that support everyone around her. She finishes emptying the bags of drinks, and picks up the rest of the luggage, pushing them behind the counter for later rummaging. "Anything you'd like to eat? If you insist on going out though, there are a few restaurants and cafes around. Its hard to tell in Traverse, but its almost dinner time right now, so the rush of customers only happen a bit later still." It has been some time since she went out and just enjoyed herself, date or not.
Original Zack "It doesn't *have* to be a date, but if you're sayin' yes, I'm sure not sayin' no," Zack replies, his wide grin still affixed firmly to his face. "I just figure, y'know, I'm only here for one day, and it's been ages since I saw anyone from my world, so we might as well hit the town! This is the first city I've seen that reminds me of Midgar even a little, after all, and you'd know it better than I would."

"It's weird, actually; I've been wandering around for a while now and I haven't seen *anything* like Midgar before. All the cities I've been seeing are kinda...they're old-timey, y'know? Bricks-and-mortar stuff, stuff we'd see in old towns." Zack scratches the back of his head and laughs, his hand disappearing into the giant mess of black hair. "It's pretty wild, but it's nice to be back in a big city, and the best way to see a big city is with a pretty girl!"
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart moves the boxes away for later storing, nodding as she listens to you "Well yeah, but I kinda like it that way too. Midgar was all metal, rust and dirt. Even if it looks old-timey, there's a quiet charm to it too. The current Midgar, Goug, so also pretty slumpey really." She sighs at that, but shakes her head "If you want to see something out of the ordinary though, hop through the portals to Manhatten. Its like a step under Midgar. It has metal, but also brick, stone and glass, and it doesn't use mako reactors either, and stays clean comparatively too."

She wipes her hands dry on a rag "And a 'date' just depends on the way you want to do things, really." She smirks confidently. Yes, she's a bundle of complexes too when it comes to 'love', but she also knows what she struts, she has to as a barmaid. This is just like throwing a sales pitch right now, she's not trying to make you fall for her, but she's definitely charming in her own way. Yet, she offers a hand, mostly playful gesture there "There's a cafe nearby we can stop at, the Cat Cafe, there's also a few restaurant around it."
Original Zack "Yeah, I noticed how clean it is when I got here," Zack agrees as he stretches, "It's crazy. I couldn't imagine a city using so much electricity without mako...nevermind one so clean! I wonder if they've got, like, people to shine it down or something?"

"Well if 'date' just depends on 'style', then I'd say that's definitely the 'style' I'm going for!" Zack takes her hand as it's offered; his grip is strong, his hands a little rough - but not as rough as the hands of a master swordsman ought to be. Where there should be bumps, callouses, rough patches, it's just a bit smoother than it really should be, and it probably stands out to Tifa as a martial artist - especially given how heavy the Materia Blade (and before it the Buster Sword) is. He flashes another grin at her as he opens the door. "Sorry I'm not dressed for that 'style', though...but then again, you can't be too careful these days, huh?"

"The Heartless...it seems like they're everywhere. I'm glad that people are still living normal lives, even despite all this." Zack looks away from her as they leave the bar; he gazes up at the sky, the ever-present twilight of Traverse Town catching his eye. It's...pretty. It's serene, despite the bustle down below. His cocksure grin slowly fades to a soft smile. "It's like...no matter how bad things get, people won't give up. And that's great. That's the attitude everybody ought to have. That's how life should be - even when things are really bad, if you stop smiling, you're just gonna regret it."

As he catches himself philosophizing, Zack fumbles a bit. He laughs. "Ahaha...the cafe, huh? Sounds pretty nice. Let's do that, then; lead the way!"
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart doesn't spend too much time wondering about the hand in hers really. Her hands are not that smooth either, with all of the fighting and training she's had, although its still feminine. The grip she can give is much stronger than one would think looking at her too. So really, she's not what she should be, and not quite what people think she should be either.

She leads you down to the WildKat Cafe, where she takes up a chair at a tree table "Its not like my bar, its open aired but I heard they have some good coffee." She smirks. She nods at the philosphy time too "Yeah, that's why we need to fight. People are strong, they can adapt to anything, they don't give up to despair easily, they hold on to hope. But not all of them have the strength of doing it on their own either. In fact, not many of us do. We all have different talents, we pool them together into a larger force. One that I hope will make the darkness vanish one day. I've seen it happen already."
Original Zack Zack removes his sword, setting it down against the wall of the building as he sits down across from Tifa. He folds his arms over the table, glancing at whatever passes for a menu in the cafe. It's probably not much more than a slip of paper or something sitting on the table, but Zack's learned not to take anything for granted these days.

"Man, open-air coffee. What'll they think of next, huh?" Zack rolls his shoulders. "This kinda thing wouldn't even be possible back home."

Tifa mentions seeing the darkness disappear, and Zack nods, distantly. He hadn't seen that. He had seen a lot of shadows on his way around the worlds, but he hadn't yet seen people banish it - just push it back for another day. That would be kind of troubling, if he was the kind of guy to dwell on things like that. Fortunately for Zack, he's not.

"So why a bar?"
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart picks up one of the menus as well. Its not really a restaurant, but they do have a few pastries and what not to munch, along with the coffee. Its fine for a 'not really a date' time to relax. She waits for the cafe waiter to come pick up the orders, as she contemplates the question.

She rolls her head back a bit, leaning forward on her elbows, hands closing together as she thinks "... I suppose it has to do with that darkness in a way. People are strong, but they also need help. If I just wanted to make money, there would be better places to put a bar." She motions down the street, where the one in Traverse is, as an example. "Not in the Midgar slums, you must realize that. But, there's the matter of giving some back. Offering a smile, a ray of light in the darkness of the slums. Not quite hope, but at least a more cheerful, less depressing approach to it. If you wanted to make people happy, would you go in a rich place where everyone is already happy, or some place that is depressing and dark, and desperately needing that happiness?"

She shakes her head "I don't know if that even makes sense, but I thought that the 7th Slums needed something... and it became a front for Avalanche as well, raising money for operations, although none of that is going on right now."
Original Zack "That makes sense," Zack agrees. He tenses up at the word 'AVALANCHE' again, but relaxes shortly after. The memories of what AVALANCHE did to those people are still fresh in Zack's mind; the images of those monsters weighs against Tifa's words, and it's not easy for Zack to just let go. They had never been better than ShinRa, after all. The idea that AVALANCHE was the good guys was just...topsy-turvy.

Zack's hand goes to his brow, and he rubs his head thoughtfully. "Yeah, it makes sense. People need some way to get away from it all, especially with times as they are, huh? And a bar's the best place."

Zack orders, but he sits in silence for a bit before the food comes. "Y'know, I'm not much of a coffee drinker, normally, but this is pretty good. Do come here often?"
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart nurses her cup for a moment, a hand reaching to pick one of the muffins from the basket, using her fingers to rip some small pieces away from it that she brings to her lips "I don't come here for myself that often, but I do come here. I prefer serving my own coffee at the bar, but sometimes there's just too many requests. I have some arrangements with the guy here, in case that happens, it works out pretty well for both of us." She is a pretty good merchant lady it would seem.

"I know you don't like hearing about Avalanche, I only heard rumors about what happened before Barrett took over. You're the closing thing to confirming those I've seen. Honestly, if I thought any of those rumors were true at the time I wouldn't have joined either. I prefer thinking that its a completly different group now. If Barrett ever thought of doing the same thing, he wouldn't have time to finish that sentence that he'd break the record for being the heaviest guy to cross the speed of sound when I kick him through the doorway."
Original Zack "Sorry, yeah. I know you aren't responsible. I don't hold it against you, seriously." Zack smiles over his coffee. "But if you'd seen what I'd seen - people trying to keep the peace and take down terrorists turned into some kind of insane bird-monster things, the way AVALANCHE was all too happy to just turn them loose on me and let them die...and it's not like there was an option to cure them. They were gone. Had to kill 'em." Zack shrugs and looks down the street.

"But they definitely weren't rumors. AVALANCHE was rotten to the core, just like ShinRa is. I dunno if it started that way, but...you can't use the methods of the enemy to beat the enemy, y'know? You just wind up becoming the same thing you're fighting against."

Zack sets his coffee down - it's already drained. "Sorry. Pretty heavy conversation for a date. So what's Midgar like these days, anyway? I bet all the new stuff coming in has made it crazy."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart has a bit of laugh at that "Everything is crazy, its hard to say anything is normal compared to what we knew before. But, like you said before, humans are strong, and adapt, so normalcy happens to be what you get used to after a while. Between heartless, Shadow Lords, and other crazies... We had a black monster that just rampaged through Goug not that long ago, some crazy scientist... could be Shinra for all we know, but we never got confirmation, and its not like we'd get any from Shinra either." She shrugs, picking some more at her muffin quietly for a moment.

"I have a bar over there, I go check often, but I don't really want to spend too much time there either. Traverse is a heaven comparatively speaking. Sure, the Shadow Lords are trying to get at it for some reason, but its not as dirty or rotten either. And not managed by Shinra."
Original Zack "Yeah, that 'not managed by ShinRa' is a pretty huge sell here," Zack agrees as he holds up his cup in the general direction of the waiter for a refresher. The cup's gone almost as soon as it's poured.

Zack doesn't drink a lot of coffee very often.

Something about the shop reminds Zack of home. That is, of course, ridiculous; his home is Gongaga Village, nothing like either Midgar or Traverse Town in the slightest. But he feels weirdly safe here; the mark on the door, the atmosphere, they're just...they're safe. They're comfortable. /He's/ comfortable. Zack unwinds a bit, draping his arm over the back of his chair as he gets a third cup; this one he sips easily instead of just letting it disappear, enjoying(?!) the taste as it goes down smooth. The coffee was familiar, too, which is again impossible, since Zack didn't drink coffee...well, ever. Even in ShinRa, he only had a cup if it was the only thing around.

Zack rolls his shoulders again. "...listen. I'm...I've got a job right now. An employer. I'm working on something...something really important. But...if you guys are legit, if AVALANCHE really has changed...if you guys are trying to make the name really mean something, really make a difference..."

Zack looks down at his cup. Then he looks up at Tifa, his grin broadening. "Well, my rates are pretty affordable, especially if the person asking's such a hottie."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart laughs at that "Flattery will get you everywhere, or so you heard, right?" She smiles. She does appreciate being considered as a girl for once. Not that the others don't, but often its not very nice either, or its all business, or its too lewd to speak of. Having a high exposure job like being a barmaid kinda has that happen, but she's used to it.

"I might call you up on it. Right now, its not like we're doing much, we got bigger fish to fry than Shinra, with the Heartless and whatever monster they decide to throw at us. Its like, me and Aerith only right now, and she's not really part of the group either, technically speaking at least since we're not doing much. Oh, Kim too I suppose, she's really against creeps like Shinra. Its good to know we're not crazy in our idea at least."
Original Zack "Nah, nothing like that." Zack waves his hand dismissively. "Just the truth, that's all."

"Yeah...yeah, I can understand that. The Heartless seem like everybody's problem. Bad news to the extreme." Zack folds his hands behind his head and leans back, tipping the chair back onto its back legs. He has no problem balancing; a guy who can run down mountains rarely does. "Even ShinRa probably isn't stupid enough to mess around with them...but then again, I've been wrong about that before, huh." His smile turns wry; if there was any doubt he hadn't lost all his memories, it's erased with that.

He shrugs. "I don't think it's crazy to stand up and fight somebody bigger. It's dangerous, sure...but if there isn't a challenge, is it worth it? Is it worth fighting for something if there's no real fight behind it?" Zack shrugs again and looks up at the sky.

"Man! Listen to me. I'm just all over the place tonight. All thoughtful and reminiscey. Normally I'm way more upbeat; next date'll be way more cheerful, I promise." Zack makes a face. "Maybe I'll take you to Gold Saucer or something if it's still around."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart thinks about that "I don't think the Gold Saucer is around, but there's Serendipity, its not quite as flashy, but its a sort of theme park I guess, lots of chocobo ladies there, chocobo racing track, and card hall. You're a card player, Mr Fair?" She grins a bit at that.

"But yes, Shinra has been dabbing into lots of weird stuff, I sure hope they don't think that controlling the heartless is a good venture, because I've already seen too many cases of those failing and just eating you up instead. Obviously, it loses all purpose if you can't control them."
Original Zack "Nah...never been much of a card player. Never really had the patience for it. But otherwise...that sounds pretty good."

"...Wutai thought it was a good idea," Zack observes darkly. "Wutai thought it was a great idea. And look what happened to the world because of it." He shakes his head and leans forward, the chair *thunk*ing down against the pavement as he does so.

"Getting involved with those things is nothing but bad news."
Tifa Lockhart Tifa Lockhart sighs "I know, Aerith thinks we have to stop them too, it was our priority in fact. Although I haven't seen her in a while... I have no idea what Wutai is thinking, but that's where the reasoning comes from. but then again, Shinra too has some weird ideas about experiements."

 
This scene contained 31 poses. The players who were present were: Tifa Lockhart, Original Zack