Cloud & Tifa

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa was finishing off the glasses that Marlene had started when Cloud entered through the bar door, carrying some groceries for her. She smiled brightly, having been worried she'd dreamed him up or something, but no. he was definitely really back.
His query about the groceries would be answered first as she put the final glass back in its orderly place on the bar.
"Just leave them here, I'll put them away." She said, stifling a giggle as Cloud cuffed Reno over the ear. Boy she'd seen that coming a mile away. Once drunk, the red head could ramble on for hours, or at least until and exasperated Rude came to fish him out of his own fumes.
"Thanks for that Cloud. I'd been meaning to get some stuff soon." She smiled at him again before bending over the bags and inspecting what Cloud had brought her.

The assortment of things he'd gotten her was good, very good. She smiled again as she straightened and began putting things in their places, her mind ticking over whether she needed anything done. The bar wasn't in too badder shape, a leak here and there and a dent in the plaster from one of her scuffles. None of those things were particularly important to her.
"I don't know Cloud... there's a few maintenance things that need doing, but they're not urgent." She continued to hurry back and forth, refilling her cupboards with the groceries Cloud had brought home.

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud watched as Tifa scurried around, only to begin placing the groceries where they belonged in order to help. Anything to lighten the load Tifa bore on a daily basis. After all, he was going to be hanging around for awhile...so he might as well work to earn his keep. "It is no problem. I had nothing to do anyways, and since I will be hanging around for awhile, I figure I'd earn my keep." He stated aloud, only to continue with what he was doing.

It was her next comment that made him pause. "What sort of small things? I can fix most everything in this bar. Just say the word." The blond informed, flashing her the slightest of smiles before returning to what he was doing - putting groceries and other items away where they belonged.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa noted with a small smile as Cloud began putting the groceries away with her. She actually did appreciate it. She'd correct him occasionally, having moved a few things around since his last visit. She then stood back and brushed her hands on her apron, pulling the cupboard doors shut.
"Thanks Cloud." She said with a smile, noting he seemed to be in a good mood today, for him at least.
At his inquiry into the repairs that needed doing she winced slightly.
"There's a few leaks... the worst one is by the light in the hall." She jerked her thumb in the direction of the hall that lead out the back door. "And then there's the mess i made." She pointed over to the dent in the plastering up the back corner. "But that one's no biggy." She turned to serve a new customer who sat at the bar and then whipped out a cloth to efficiently wipe away a drop she'd missed.

"Tifa!" Denzel called from up stairs, peeking his head around the wall of the stairwell. "Have you seen my other shirt?" He asked, a light frown on his face.
"Try under your bed Denzel..." Tifa said casually, shaking her head and giving a small chuckle.
The red head vanished briefly before reappearing. "Thanks Tifa!" He called before vanishing once more.

"Is he taller since yesterday, or it that just me?" Reno mumbled over his glass.

[Cloud Strife]

As Tifa thanked him he offered up a nod, idly noting where she replaced a few things that he had ah...missed. Whatever. The blond would make sure that he would memorize everything once more. It seemed to become routine lately. He put something in the wrong spot, Tifa fixed it. Every time he returned, one thing or another was not in the spot he could have sworn it had been at one time or another. All the same, he took it in stride and regarded her when she began spouting off the bit about what needed to be done around the bar.

Good lord. Leaks, dents in the wall. Sigh. The blond shook his head and offered up a small smile again, shifting his attention to when Denzel called downstairs for his shirt. A fond look was sent in the child's direction before once again speaking... "I had better get to work on those leaks. After all, they won't fix themselves." He stated finally, finding that it was better to have something to do. Reno's commentary on Denzel's height had him contemplating...finding that he was right. The lad had grown during Cloud's absense. Sigh.

He hated missing out.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa smiled again at Cloud as Reno finished another glass and pushed it towards her for a refill, which she promptly gave him with no interaction, suggesting this had become much of a routine for both of them.
"Thankyou so much Cloud... i'm sorry you have to work so hard, i let the place go a little." She sighed and returned to cleaning up some drink slops from the bar.

It was then the bell at the door rung again and a new patron entered. The man seemed fairly unremarkable and he greeted Tifa pleasantly as he sat.
"Hey there. I'll have what he's havin'" He jerked a thumb at Reno.
Without a question Tifa served him what he asked for, but she was now a little wary of this man, he was behaving a bit like the other mysterious questioners had at the beginning. But once he had the drink he fell silent.
Maybe i'm just being paranoid now...

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud merely shook his head when she started apologizing, finding that he really did not mind being put to work. It meant that he was useful, meant that he could still be of some sort of help...and not worthless like he often thought thanks to his constant departures and trips. He really, truly wanted to stay with Tifa and the children...but whenever he made that promise it was broken not too long after. "Don't worry about it." He stated, and with that he headed into the back to retrieve the supplies needed to begin filling in the worst leak.

After doing so, he returned with his shirt tied around his waist - unwilling to get any of the filler on it - only to snag a chair and drag it over to where it was needed. Time to -- Mako blue eyes caught sight of the man that made Tifa uneasy, the same blue orbs regarding him suspiciously as the look that came across her face clearly expressed some sort of distress. The blond was officially disturbed. Glancing back up at the leak, he decided that he would have to go the roof to stop that particular spot first...but...he wasn't exactly willing to leave the room just yet. After all... Eyes landed upon the man next to Reno again...a frown appearing upon his features before finally shaking his head and hopping off the chair. Yea, he would do the leak later. Time to get that dent fixed first. Heh.

See? Cloud was just...reaaaally protective over those whom he thought to be his family. Chair was replaced, supplies for the leak shoved behind the counter as he once again retreated to find something else - the dent was going to have to be filled in. Oy. It's not like it was a car door. Ha ha. He couldn't just pound it back into place. And again he returned with the necessary items and thus he began his work - making sure to regard the man and Tifa's reaction from time to time. Cloud knew something was going on...and he was fully prepared to initiate some sort of altercation should the bastard bother her. Hmph.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa went about thing as normal, pretending she hadn't noticed Cloud's decided change of job when he'd seen her new customer, his actions made her feel a little safer, but she was still very unnerved, this man seemed so much more... organized than the others.
"So i see Cloud's back... that must be good for you, make things easier." The stranger said idly, as if making normal small talk.
"Yeah, it'll be good having him around." Tifa replied, keeping all suspicion from her tone.

Reno was now eying up the stranger as well. Even when drunk the guy was still a well-trained Turk, if not a little shabbily dressed. Something about this guy just didn't seem quite right, he didn't seem like one of the normal crowd who visited Tifa's bar. Seventh Heaven was popular with the average citizen, this guy seemed a little over dressed.

Tifa continued to work as if nothing was upsetting her, though she'd glance up at Cloud over in the corner every few moments.
"Yer, i'm sure." The man said with a smile, and continued on a merry chat fest with Tifa about nothing in particular. Perhaps this guy was genuine rather than questionable, or maybe he was just better at lulling her into a false sense of security.
"You're all pretty tight aren't you?" He eventually said, polishing off his glass. "You and your buddies. Always in close contact and stuff... right?"
Tifa grew tense as she was polishing a glass, "I suppose so..." She said, choosing the most diplomatic answer.
"They always seem to gather when there is trouble..."
"Well we like to be prepared if we can help..." She said again, turning to face the man, propping one hand on her hip to regard him suspiciously.
"They all come running when there's trouble huh?" He murmured, there was a long uneasy pause. When he spoke next he kept his voice very low, as if trying to stop Cloud in the corner from overhearing. "I wonder how fast they'd come running if i do this?"

Everything that followed this statement went very fast, Reno shouted a warning and tackled the man, knocking him off the stool and onto the ground. There was the sound of a gunshot and Tifa was slammed against the wall of the bar, breaking the shelves and sending bottles tumbling to the ground at her feet where the smashed and covered her in their contents. People began screaming, some stood, brandishing their concealed weapons, others hid beneath tables while Reno wrestled Tifa's would be attacker.
The fighter had been hit. Not as badly as the man had intended though, thanks to Reno's timely intervention. She clutched her side, blood oozed between her fingers.

The gunman landed a punch to Reno's jaw and, escaping from his suddenly loosened grasp, made a run for the door.

[Cloud Strife]

You see? This is exactly why Cloud changed jobs. As soon as Reno called out the warning, the blond was at the door - waiting for that motherfucking bastard to make a swing at him. Sure, his first instinct was to immediately run to Tifa and see if she was alright..but Cloud wanted ANSWERS. A snarl erupted forth from the Ex-SOLDIER, hand moving to grab the guy by the throat and slam him against the wall - knocking any weapons he had on him and holding a dagger at his throat. "One wrong move, buddy, and I'll drop you where you stand. Now give me some answers or I'm going to start with your fingernails. Don't fuck with me. Who sent you?" The man snarled, knowing that Tifa was a tough cookie and that she could take care of herself for at least a good while.

Reno was ignored for the time being, though he would definitely be recieving thanks later.

But it was that moment when a blurr of crimson came oozing through the doorway - materializing not long afterwards into none other than Vincent Valentine. Metallic steps sounded as he approached Tifa, aiming to reach forward move her hand from her injury. "Come with me." Simple order and no other words would be uttered as he hoped to drag the woman out of plain sight - up to where the children were located. Vincent had every intention of fixing her up while Cloud went to town with Mr. Badass. After all, the pale man knew that mako blues were set on seeing this guy's death after the injuries he'd dealt upon his woman.

Vince figured that Cloud would rather not let Tifa bare witness to such atrocities that the blond was really capable of.

Oh ya, and the guy was right. Tifa's friends did seem to come when they were in trouble...even though it had only been Vincent that arrived. Strange, huh, how you just have this FEELING that something was wrong and that SOMETHING was gonna happen that could be potentially dangerous. Gotta love intuition.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa struggled with Vincent briefly as he took her in hand and ushered her upstairs. She wanted to make sure Cloud and Reno were OK. She was unable to break the red-coated man's hold on her however, and therefore had to do his bidding, but as she was taken up stairs she yelled out to Cloud.
"Be careful!" and then she disappeared around the door frame into the stairwell, which she limped up. It was not a bad shot, the man had thankfully missed anything vital, but it was bleeding pretty badly.

Denzel came running at that moment, stopping at the top of the stairwell with Marlene close behind.
"What happened? Tifa are you alright? Where's Cloud?" The boy didn't seem scared, just alarmed.
Marlene on the other hand, clung to her adoptive brother's arm.

The shooter merely laughed as he was grabbed, or at least he managed a choked gargle around Cloud's powerful grip.
"You're gonna have to kill me asshole." He said, grinning confidently, "You won't get nothin' out of me!" His eyes darted to the door as Vincent Valentine entered, and his expression became even more confident, "So predictable... like dominos lining up!" He broke into maniacal laughter.

[Cloud Strife]

A snarl erupted from Cloud again as he slammed the guy's head into the wall abruptly, hand moving to dig into his pocket for those pliars, yes pliars, he had on him. After all, he was going to have to fix a few things with this bastard. Still holding him up by his neck he suddenly would toss him to the ground - boot-clad foot landing on him square in the chest, followed by it sliding up to rest on his throat nicely. Leaning down, he dropped to the one knee and gripped the guy's hand with one while holding the pliars in the other. "You've got ten seconds to tell me something useful or your first hand is going to lose some finger nails." The blond stated impassively, lips pursing as he moved it so it was hovering over the first finger.

The Ex-SOLDIER would do it too.

Meanwhile, Vincent had ushered her into the other room, making certain that the children were also inside - Cerberus clutched in one of his hands just in case. "Stay." And he headed for the door again - aiming to get supplies necessary for Tifa's stitching up. He came back a few moments later and motioned for Tifa to sit on the bed and for her to take her shirt off so he could look at the injury.

Probably Cloud and Vincent were the closest two to Tifa at this point - the very pale man almost following Cloud everywhere really - always there when needed. Crimson gaze lifted to regard her patiently, waiting for her to do as asked.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa glanced nervously at the door as Vincent fetched what he needed to help her, and her eyes jerked to Denzel and Marlene, who stayed obediently silent over by the wall, watching with concerned eyes.
She winced slightly as she peeled her bloodied shirt away from the wound and shed it so Vincent could inspect her injury.
"I knew something like this was going to happen..." She said in a panicky tone, eyes flicking to the children again. "I should be down stairs helping Cloud! There might be more of them, he might get hurt." She seemed genuinely distressed to near hysterics, if it weren't for the fact that Tifa rarely expressed bad emotions like that.

"Hahaha." The man simply laughed in Cloud's face, not at all intimidated by the SOLDIER's threats. "Go ahead. I won't tell you anything." He'd humor the blond for the time being, keep him distracted from noticing as he worked his other hand free and put it in his pocket.

[Cloud Strife]

And so he went to work. Pliers gripped the fingernail of the pointer digit of his left hand, glaring darkly at him as he, quite literally and disturbingly easily, pulled it away from the finger. Completely. Just ripped it right off. If he didn't get any answers after that, he'd focus on the next one --

until he spotted the guy's other arm move. Thoughts halted as he glared at the pocket, before suddenly aiming to completely punch him in the face - soundly knocking him out hopefully. Unless the guy pulled something out of that pocket of his, it was entirely probable that the hit would land how he wanted it.

As for Vincent and crew, he continued to work on her, only to pause before he started to stitch her up. "Tifa. Calm down. Cloud had done this before and it will not do you any good to continue fidgeting and panicking. You are scaring the children." And silence once again followed as he steadily began to stitch her up as if nothing had occurred. Vincent was known for being calm in the most dire of situations and he would continue to be so. Cerberus was resting in his lap as he worked quickly, finishing up not too long after he had gotten the bullet out. Good. It did not do too much damage. He had worried about that.

"There. You are done. Stay, though. I will check it out." And with that and a billowing crimson cloak, he headed down to see what Cloud was doing - simply watching from the stairwell for now.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa fell instantly silent when Vincent warned her of scaring the children, she glanced over at them, noting tensely that Marlene looked terror stricken, though Denzel merely looked concerned.
"I'm sorry. Everything will be just fine..." She reassured them with an only half confident smile as she pulled back on her shirt, ignoring the bloodstain, and began to pace back and forth.

The man wrenched his hand from his pocket and before Cloud landed his punch he slipped something into his mouth. The force of Cloud's then struck blow, forced his jaw down on it.
Whatever it was, it must have been poison of some form, because the man died instantly, a smug expression on his face.

[Cloud Strife]

Cloud cursed, snarling out of frustration that he was incapable of getting to him - rising to his feet suddenly and promptly storming towards Vincent. The crimson cloaked man got the hint and glided slowly down the stairwell, aiming to pick the man's corpse up and bury it somewhere. Vincent was good for stuff like this..and he also figured that the blond wished to speak with Tifa alone.

And that lead to Cloud storming up the stairs, still slightly furious as to what had transpired and that he was incapable of preventing it. All the same, he immediately calmed down when he saw Denzel and Marlene, only to then glance at Tifa with a sigh following suit. "Everything is fine now." He reassured the the three, before casting a wayward glance towards Tifa. "We need to talk. Preferably now." Mako blue eyes searched her own for a time, hand extended for her to take if she wished to so that he could help her up. And once she did, he would lead her down the hall and into his own room - shutting and locking the door behind her. "What is going on? You were acting very strangely when that man came in at first. Then, the shot was fired. What the bloody hell is going on around here?" The Ex-SOLDIER wanted answers and he fully intended to figure out who was assaulting his family!

[Tifa Lockhart]

Tifa nervously glanced back at the children, giving them an apologetic nod before she took Cloud's hand and followed him in silence to his room. The moment he shut the door she let the full extent of her concern out, but it also proved she had as little idea about what was happening as he did.
"I-I'm so sorry Cloud." She said, wringing her hands as she paced back and forth, "There've been so many of them... I-I recognized the way he was behaving..." She turned back and paced the other way.
"I don't want anyone else involved I-" She stopped herself, remembering what the man had said to her before Reno had intervened. "They were always so interested in everyone... they want everyone to come here..." Her eyes were wide with terror. "He said he wanted to see everyones 'reaction'. Y-you don't think-?"

Reno meanwhile had picked himself up off the floor and was brushing off his suit.
"Well that was concerning." He mumbled, glancing over as Vincent collected the man's body. The bar had promptly emptied during the struggle. Deciding in an uncharacteristic moment of charity to clean up some of the mess, Reno set about fixing the toppled shelves and sweeping up the glass from the broken bottles. He was frowning, he'd been in the bar a few times now when Tifa was set upon by seemingly normal patrons... this was the first time though that they'd ever done anything serious though.