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raajAlso I'm sorry this is so late in the day as I never did quite figure out a coherent plot for a short story and in fact ended up changing my mind about one major detail very late in writing. (...Originally Yuffie was supposed to have not included a certain materia in the Wutai theft.)
Hunting materia, there was one thing to always keep your eyes peeled for: the glint of something shiny.
Yuffie could tell she'd hit the jackpot because these guys were loaded with glinting things. First there was Cloud's slab of metal, the hunk of boring junk right up until you reach the sparkling beauties nestled in its materia slots. Tifa's wrists and the back of her hands would throw small but gorgeous rays of light when she smashed things with her fists (and boy, had Yuffie so quickly resolved to stay out of the path of those). Booming Barret was more boring with the simple array he stuck to using in his gun arm, which he was no fun for refusing to talk about, but hey, Red XIII had been characterful enough for both of them-- not only was he a talking wolf-cat thing on fire, he totally had some fun combos in his comb. Weird as it was for him to be wearing one. How the heck did he even pop the shinies in, let alone work the comb into his fur to stick? Totally weird!
Aerith would have been somewhere in the middle of this--boring, typical weapon, some sweet combos but she liked to hold onto healing materia, which was even more boring whether or not it was practical—practical for schmucks maybe. Yuffie was a devious ninja too wily to be injured. Usually. So Yuffie would have put her at about the middle of the scale. Except then there was the one other thing... a glint in her hair ribbon. A tiny one that probably wouldn't even have been caught by any but the trained treasure hunter's eye.
Yuffie couldn't even be sure it was materia at first. It was just a small glint against the drab pink of a ribbon that had obviously seen better days. Had ribbons ever been in fashion? Yeesh. But the arrangement sort of reminded her of something-- a materia kept up top, not in weapon or armor but something more decorative... It was hard to remember though, and she kept sneaking peeks at it before making herself look away so they wouldn't suspect anything about her. Oh, she was going to figure out what it was all right; these guys were so ridiculously loaded, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't steal every last one of their materia. The pride of Wutai depended on it! She could practically hear her ancestors begging her to clean out these suckers.
That little materia was what nearly busted her. They were getting ready to sleep, changed into pjs and all, when Aerith looked at her and smiled. "You like materia, don't you?"
◕
"You like materia, don't you?"
Tifa, sharing the tent with them, looked curious as Yuffie's face instantly brightened, like someone had just announced the winter solstice festival-- though when Aerith thought about it, she realized she didn't know if they would celebrate that in Wutai. "Hell yeah! Who doesn't like materia? Maybe morons who don't know how to use them. But of course, I'm... hey." She stumbled suddenly in her excitement, the gleam in her dark eyes slowly replaced by confusion. Aerith smiled and hastily hid her mouth behind one hand as a laugh crept out. The newest member of their group might act tough, but catching her by surprise exposed the youth underneath. Yuffie was a child after all-- and one who could quickly become flustered being laughed at, a flush darkening her complexion. "Hey, hey! Quit that!" she babbled. "It's just weird. I didn't say a thing about materia. What's with the sudden questions?"
"Only the one," Aerith promised, and loosed her braid at the bottom, letting her hair uncurl. "And, it was pretty obvious." Her hands reached up to the back of her head, slowly untying the worn ribbon on top. She had to be careful with both the fabric and the cargo it hid. "Most people don't spot the materia in my ribbon so quickly."
In fact, most people didn't spot it until she pointed it out to them, which had made Aerith quite baffled to realize Yuffie kept stealing glances at her. At first she'd nearly been convinced something was on her face, only to realize that didn't quite make sense with the angle of the looks. No, Yuffie was interested in something in her hair, and with such a tomboyish appearance Aerith doubted the ninja's fashion sense would be piqued by a ribbon.
Though-- "Wuh, wuh, whoa, you had a materia in there? Pretty cool," Yuffie said quickly, rubbing a finger above her mouth as she quickly found her composure again. "Yeah, I don't think anyone would see it under that old thing-- uh, nice ribbon. Yeah, nice ribbon."
Aerith raised one eyebrow at the teenager. Partially because she was buying none of it, but she might have also been a little offended to hear her treasured ribbon described as an 'old thing'. Just because the ends were fraying and she'd had to paint the edges over with clear nail polish--
Okay, it was old. It still didn't need to be called that!
And in that small stretch of silence Yuffie squirmed, rubbed her face again, and apparently decided to drop the show of disinterest about the shiny orb in Aerith's hand. In fact, she leaned toward it on one foot, and the flower girl had to fight a tiny urge to withdraw it. "What's it do? It's so tiny, and you're not even equipping it right. Like you'll get it to grow in that."
"There's no point in growing it. It doesn't do anything."
It was obvious from the change in Yuffie's posture, a cocky lean back with hands on her hips, what she was going to say: "You just don't know how to use it!"
Aerith was tempted to ask if she'd been taking notes from Cloud--
"Lemme have it!"
-- but that was new and unexpected, and Aerith very literally jumped back when the teenager suddenly reached out for the materia.
"Yuffie!" Tifa said. Warning. She knew what the materia was to Aerith, who was already puffing up in indignation.
"Excuse me, why do you think I keep it?!"
"You wanted something shiny in your hair?"
What a smart aleck. "It's a memento," Aerith huffed. She shoved her mother's materia into the pocket of her bolero and started to brush her hair very quickly, keeping an eye on the teenager. Honestly... "You wouldn't know how to use it either, so just forget about it!"
"That's what you think." It was said in an undertone, so hushed that Aerith wanted to think she was just imagining those specific words, but there was no imagining the gleam in the new girl's eye. She was sure of it now: Yuffie was interested in their materia... and possibly had less-than-honest ideas about them. Aerith exchanged a brief glance with Tifa and knew they were on the same page with the wariness in her friend's red-brown eyes.
Still, Yuffie was just sixteen, out on her own. A lot of the kids who pickpocketed in the slums really weren't bad at all, simply down on their luck, and they were kind to those who showed them kindness. Most people just wanted to be treated decently. For now, Aerith still wanted to give everyone in AVALANCHE the benefit of the doubt, and that included Yuffie. "Anyway," she said firmly, "I was thinking! Since you're interested in materia-- I'm pretty good with them, myself."
"Even though you can't use that one?"
"It doesn't do anything. Let me finish. Do you want to practice materia together or not?"
"Huh?" Yuffie looked genuinely surprised by the offer, her dark eyes widening in surprise before she smirked and struck a stance. "If you're not worried about being left in the dust!"
◕
Yuffie never did leave her in the dust in their materia lessons. No. When she left Aerith and the others in the dust, it was quite literally, in the grassy outback of the Wutai region.
All of their materia had been stolen, and they'd had to fight off a sudden ambush from Shinra with just their weapons. Aerith had been forced to get quite a bit closer than she normally liked in combat, but once the fight was over she was more concerned about other matters. The materia in their bangles, the materia in their weapons... Every last slot was empty. How had Yuffie even managed to snag it all? How had they not noticed her taking it? Cloud and Cid looked just as consternated, but they weren't saying anything— Cid probably didn't even have a clue what to think of the group yet anyway, and here they were being turned upside-down by a tricky teenager already.
To say Aerith was exasperated was putting it mildly. "I'm sooooo mad!" the young woman burst out, stamping her foot.
...And then she felt her ribbon unknot itself, jarred by that little temper tantrum, and her hair start to fan out of the braid. Startled, she put her hands to catch the falling ribbon, as well as her mother's...
...Yuffie had stolen ALL their materia. Aerith froze as she realized the final piece that was missing with her hand left empty, still waiting for a materia to drop into it. Cloud had caught her surprise and was now staring at her himself, his irate expression melting into one that would have been somewhat comical if she'd had the good mood for it.
She did not. That was part of the reason he was staring, recognizing that on top of his own line being crossed, several of hers had just been stomped over. "Aerith… we'll get our materia back," he said. Being the reassuring, soothingly confident leader as ever.
Aerith was having none of that. "Oh, we'll get them back all right," she bit out, tying her hair back up with hurried, clenched hands. "She went north! We are getting every last piece back from that little sneak!"
It was something of a shame. Before that moment, she would have said she and Yuffie were getting along well. She had really thought that was the case.
◕
Yuffie's experience with materia seemed a bit… eclectic, to put it nicely. Aerith had to wonder if she'd ever been trained with it, and worded her curiosity in a round-about way: "Self-taught?"
While she'd been able to put together some good combinations with the materia the group had loaned her ('loan' had been so heavily stressed by Tifa that a few gears could be seen turning in Cloud and Barret's heads, and Red XIII had discreetly but directly asked Aerith if they ought to be concerned about their newest member), Yuffie was also currently trying to pair an independent-type materia with a support, as though that would have any result. Aerith had a strong feeling that the teenager banked on picking up tidbits here and there, and experimenting for herself everywhere else. Perhaps she could be called an 'independent' type herself: Cloud had started to say something about the ineffective combination, always eager to show how much he knew…having never been prepared for the sheer tidal wave of sass and disregard that had quickly rolled back his way, and looking a tad disgruntled about the whole affair now.
Yuffie required a more indirect approach, obviously.
"You bet! Like any of the old farts could keep up with me." A look of distaste chased across the ninja's face then. "Besides, materia isn't that easy to find back home nowadays…"
"Since the war…" It trailed off tentatively. Aerith had heard the continuation of the war every day it was fought, part of how she had become accustomed to the nature of death. It happened all the time and had been happening in even greater volume during the war, even if it only struck home once. Once had been enough for her adoptive mother; now she was concerned about how often it had hit home for Yuffie. The girl was lively, but Aerith knew perfectly well that sometimes that was just a cover. "Mm, well, anyway! I'm self-taught too. I just have a knack for using materia. …Stop looking at my ribbon, I told you—"
"Yeah, yeah, doesn't do anything. Are you good with them 'cause of that 'Geezer' thing you guys were talking about earlier?"
"…Ancient. I'm an Ancient." Yuffie's education had definitely left something lacking. Or, as seemed more and more likely, she just didn't care about picking some things up.
She did care about materia though; under the guise of practicing together, and Aerith loudly correcting herself when she 'slipped up' for Yuffie to hear, she quickly got up to speed with the rest of the group. She even started asking questions.
"Why can't we summon more than one of those monsters at a time? Think how much faster we'd knock the enemy out!"
"And why do they all like Tifa, anyway? Is it her boobs?" ("Yuffie.") "Seriously, they always come quicker for her! She can snap her fingers and they're all 'yes MA'AM whose ass would you like me to flambé today?'"
"Why's Cloud's magic stronger than mine? I mean I guess it makes sense yours is great, being an Ancient, but he's not." Huffy, indignant… and yet the look she slanted Cloud's way said something else, and Aerith wondered quietly if Yuffie wasn't upset that Cloud was better at this for another reason.
" Were you looking to impress him?"
"Wh—Schyeah, right! He's such a know-it-all. Don't make me laugh. Nyuk nyuk, 'impress' blondie…"
Oh, Cloud certainly did have that bad trait at times. But he had a lot of good ones, too, and Aerith swallowed down a smile. This had to be a crush she was seeing, and she marveled that Cloud still seemed oblivious to any girl liking him at all.
"Think of how big a summon is, Yuffie. It might take a bit more energy for you to call it, but that's not nearly enough to form the shape it takes. Your energy calls its spirit, and its spirit draws on Lifestream in the area. That's why we can't do more than one at once— there's only so much at any one place in the Planet.
"As for why they like Tifa so much… You know? I think it's because they respect her. She's very respectful of others, and they can probably tell that. Don't you think it's easy to work with Tifa? She's a good comrade. I think the summons know that.
"Cloud was a SOLDIER," Aerith pointed out, as part of why his magic would be stronger, and Yuffie just snorted.
"So? Some SOLDIERs are knuckleheads. There was this one SOLDIER I knew 'cause I got his number and kept scamming him. He fell for it over and over! Seriously, what is it? He's got better materia, doesn't he."
As with all of Yuffie's stories, Aerith had to wonder how much of that little tidbit was strictly accurate. She shook her head at herself and moved on. "Materia is just materia. Crystallized knowledge from the Lifestream… from memories of the Cetra who lived long ago. Their power depends on how much power you feed into it. Without that, it's just a memory. It can't do too much on its own… though Shinra's found ways to feed them energy that doesn't require people." Rather, energy straight from the Planet.
Yuffie squinted at her suspiciously. The effect was a bit ruined by the number of spells she'd been casting both in battle and training; her eyes were starting to look glassy. "So Cloud's just more powerful because Shinra worked their science mojo on him?"
Very possibly. Aerith thought there might be other reasons behind it, too. "Cloud's really good at connecting with the materia. I don't know how to describe it… it was surprising to me too at first. Even though he was a SOLDIER, I didn't expect him to be good with Fire materia… you know? But that's what he's always carried."
Cloud's fires weren't hesitant at all like she might have expected from someone who'd had his life so devastated by the element. When he tapped into the fire materia, flames sprang up instantly, enveloping his target.
It worried her, sometimes. Sometimes, it felt like his hometown must still be burning inside him. "You have to be able to reach out to the materia's memories, connect with them. …And Cloud seems to be good at using memories." In a number of ways. She shook her head; now wasn't the time to be thinking weird things like that. "Don't worry about Cloud! If you want to get better, you have to focus on yourself. Just keep practicing."
"Yeah! The Great Ninja Yuffie'll—Aerith!" The teenager looked almost devastated when she looked at her suddenly empty hand to her frowning friend, holding the fading glow of the materia.
"I didn't mean today. You have to rest, too. There's only so much energy you can give before you need time to recover." She let Yuffie swipe it back though; hopefully the younger girl had gotten the point. If not, well, a headache was innocent enough and would drive the lesson home. Sometimes misadventure seemed to be Yuffie's best teacher.
◕
In the end, Don Corneo had gotten to Yuffie first. And Aerith really had a hard time feeling angry toward anyone who had to deal with the Don.
She'd still made sure to get her mother's materia back, though, rounding on the girl as soon as she was back on firm ground and had had a moment to appreciate it. "Yuffie—"
"I know, I know!" the girl exclaimed, and she really did seem to know how urgent it was: Aerith would have guessed her materia was in the bulging bag at Yuffie's hip with all the others, but Yuffie instead reached into… her…
"Yuffie! There?"
"Shaddup, I knew I wouldn't lose it that way!!"
"Uh," Cloud said. He suddenly seemed hesitant about demanding the rest of their materia back. Cid had half-bitten through his current cigarette in surprise and didn't seem to know whether to laugh or swear up another blue streak.
"I know it's important, all right?! So I kept it safe for you."
Aerith sighed as she accepted the materia back, quickly tucking it into her ribbon. "Kept it safely from me, too…"
"Yeah, I guess." Yuffie scratched her chin awkwardly. "It reminded me of— my mom used to wear Leviathan kind of like that. It was part of the ceremonial dress. So I just wanted to see…" She flushed, then, unexpectedly, and quickly changed tack at a speed that would have been surprising for anyone else, but was normal for the ninja. "Whatever! It really is good for nothing. Couldn't get it to do a thing. But since it's so special to you I don't mind giving it back."
"We want the rest of it back, too," Cloud said, finally finding his voice again. His eyes were resting on the bag Yuffie had, probably reassuring himself that none of his materia had made the same trip as Aerith's.
"But—"
"Now, squirt," Cid grumped.
Yuffie sighed, and set about emptying her bag and pockets.
Hunting materia, there was one thing to always keep your eyes peeled for: the glint of something shiny.
Yuffie could tell she'd hit the jackpot because these guys were loaded with glinting things. First there was Cloud's slab of metal, the hunk of boring junk right up until you reach the sparkling beauties nestled in its materia slots. Tifa's wrists and the back of her hands would throw small but gorgeous rays of light when she smashed things with her fists (and boy, had Yuffie so quickly resolved to stay out of the path of those). Booming Barret was more boring with the simple array he stuck to using in his gun arm, which he was no fun for refusing to talk about, but hey, Red XIII had been characterful enough for both of them-- not only was he a talking wolf-cat thing on fire, he totally had some fun combos in his comb. Weird as it was for him to be wearing one. How the heck did he even pop the shinies in, let alone work the comb into his fur to stick? Totally weird!
Aerith would have been somewhere in the middle of this--boring, typical weapon, some sweet combos but she liked to hold onto healing materia, which was even more boring whether or not it was practical—practical for schmucks maybe. Yuffie was a devious ninja too wily to be injured. Usually. So Yuffie would have put her at about the middle of the scale. Except then there was the one other thing... a glint in her hair ribbon. A tiny one that probably wouldn't even have been caught by any but the trained treasure hunter's eye.
Yuffie couldn't even be sure it was materia at first. It was just a small glint against the drab pink of a ribbon that had obviously seen better days. Had ribbons ever been in fashion? Yeesh. But the arrangement sort of reminded her of something-- a materia kept up top, not in weapon or armor but something more decorative... It was hard to remember though, and she kept sneaking peeks at it before making herself look away so they wouldn't suspect anything about her. Oh, she was going to figure out what it was all right; these guys were so ridiculously loaded, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't steal every last one of their materia. The pride of Wutai depended on it! She could practically hear her ancestors begging her to clean out these suckers.
That little materia was what nearly busted her. They were getting ready to sleep, changed into pjs and all, when Aerith looked at her and smiled. "You like materia, don't you?"
"You like materia, don't you?"
Tifa, sharing the tent with them, looked curious as Yuffie's face instantly brightened, like someone had just announced the winter solstice festival-- though when Aerith thought about it, she realized she didn't know if they would celebrate that in Wutai. "Hell yeah! Who doesn't like materia? Maybe morons who don't know how to use them. But of course, I'm... hey." She stumbled suddenly in her excitement, the gleam in her dark eyes slowly replaced by confusion. Aerith smiled and hastily hid her mouth behind one hand as a laugh crept out. The newest member of their group might act tough, but catching her by surprise exposed the youth underneath. Yuffie was a child after all-- and one who could quickly become flustered being laughed at, a flush darkening her complexion. "Hey, hey! Quit that!" she babbled. "It's just weird. I didn't say a thing about materia. What's with the sudden questions?"
"Only the one," Aerith promised, and loosed her braid at the bottom, letting her hair uncurl. "And, it was pretty obvious." Her hands reached up to the back of her head, slowly untying the worn ribbon on top. She had to be careful with both the fabric and the cargo it hid. "Most people don't spot the materia in my ribbon so quickly."
In fact, most people didn't spot it until she pointed it out to them, which had made Aerith quite baffled to realize Yuffie kept stealing glances at her. At first she'd nearly been convinced something was on her face, only to realize that didn't quite make sense with the angle of the looks. No, Yuffie was interested in something in her hair, and with such a tomboyish appearance Aerith doubted the ninja's fashion sense would be piqued by a ribbon.
Though-- "Wuh, wuh, whoa, you had a materia in there? Pretty cool," Yuffie said quickly, rubbing a finger above her mouth as she quickly found her composure again. "Yeah, I don't think anyone would see it under that old thing-- uh, nice ribbon. Yeah, nice ribbon."
Aerith raised one eyebrow at the teenager. Partially because she was buying none of it, but she might have also been a little offended to hear her treasured ribbon described as an 'old thing'. Just because the ends were fraying and she'd had to paint the edges over with clear nail polish--
Okay, it was old. It still didn't need to be called that!
And in that small stretch of silence Yuffie squirmed, rubbed her face again, and apparently decided to drop the show of disinterest about the shiny orb in Aerith's hand. In fact, she leaned toward it on one foot, and the flower girl had to fight a tiny urge to withdraw it. "What's it do? It's so tiny, and you're not even equipping it right. Like you'll get it to grow in that."
"There's no point in growing it. It doesn't do anything."
It was obvious from the change in Yuffie's posture, a cocky lean back with hands on her hips, what she was going to say: "You just don't know how to use it!"
Aerith was tempted to ask if she'd been taking notes from Cloud--
"Lemme have it!"
-- but that was new and unexpected, and Aerith very literally jumped back when the teenager suddenly reached out for the materia.
"Yuffie!" Tifa said. Warning. She knew what the materia was to Aerith, who was already puffing up in indignation.
"Excuse me, why do you think I keep it?!"
"You wanted something shiny in your hair?"
What a smart aleck. "It's a memento," Aerith huffed. She shoved her mother's materia into the pocket of her bolero and started to brush her hair very quickly, keeping an eye on the teenager. Honestly... "You wouldn't know how to use it either, so just forget about it!"
"That's what you think." It was said in an undertone, so hushed that Aerith wanted to think she was just imagining those specific words, but there was no imagining the gleam in the new girl's eye. She was sure of it now: Yuffie was interested in their materia... and possibly had less-than-honest ideas about them. Aerith exchanged a brief glance with Tifa and knew they were on the same page with the wariness in her friend's red-brown eyes.
Still, Yuffie was just sixteen, out on her own. A lot of the kids who pickpocketed in the slums really weren't bad at all, simply down on their luck, and they were kind to those who showed them kindness. Most people just wanted to be treated decently. For now, Aerith still wanted to give everyone in AVALANCHE the benefit of the doubt, and that included Yuffie. "Anyway," she said firmly, "I was thinking! Since you're interested in materia-- I'm pretty good with them, myself."
"Even though you can't use that one?"
"It doesn't do anything. Let me finish. Do you want to practice materia together or not?"
"Huh?" Yuffie looked genuinely surprised by the offer, her dark eyes widening in surprise before she smirked and struck a stance. "If you're not worried about being left in the dust!"
Yuffie never did leave her in the dust in their materia lessons. No. When she left Aerith and the others in the dust, it was quite literally, in the grassy outback of the Wutai region.
All of their materia had been stolen, and they'd had to fight off a sudden ambush from Shinra with just their weapons. Aerith had been forced to get quite a bit closer than she normally liked in combat, but once the fight was over she was more concerned about other matters. The materia in their bangles, the materia in their weapons... Every last slot was empty. How had Yuffie even managed to snag it all? How had they not noticed her taking it? Cloud and Cid looked just as consternated, but they weren't saying anything— Cid probably didn't even have a clue what to think of the group yet anyway, and here they were being turned upside-down by a tricky teenager already.
To say Aerith was exasperated was putting it mildly. "I'm sooooo mad!" the young woman burst out, stamping her foot.
...And then she felt her ribbon unknot itself, jarred by that little temper tantrum, and her hair start to fan out of the braid. Startled, she put her hands to catch the falling ribbon, as well as her mother's...
...Yuffie had stolen ALL their materia. Aerith froze as she realized the final piece that was missing with her hand left empty, still waiting for a materia to drop into it. Cloud had caught her surprise and was now staring at her himself, his irate expression melting into one that would have been somewhat comical if she'd had the good mood for it.
She did not. That was part of the reason he was staring, recognizing that on top of his own line being crossed, several of hers had just been stomped over. "Aerith… we'll get our materia back," he said. Being the reassuring, soothingly confident leader as ever.
Aerith was having none of that. "Oh, we'll get them back all right," she bit out, tying her hair back up with hurried, clenched hands. "She went north! We are getting every last piece back from that little sneak!"
It was something of a shame. Before that moment, she would have said she and Yuffie were getting along well. She had really thought that was the case.
Yuffie's experience with materia seemed a bit… eclectic, to put it nicely. Aerith had to wonder if she'd ever been trained with it, and worded her curiosity in a round-about way: "Self-taught?"
While she'd been able to put together some good combinations with the materia the group had loaned her ('loan' had been so heavily stressed by Tifa that a few gears could be seen turning in Cloud and Barret's heads, and Red XIII had discreetly but directly asked Aerith if they ought to be concerned about their newest member), Yuffie was also currently trying to pair an independent-type materia with a support, as though that would have any result. Aerith had a strong feeling that the teenager banked on picking up tidbits here and there, and experimenting for herself everywhere else. Perhaps she could be called an 'independent' type herself: Cloud had started to say something about the ineffective combination, always eager to show how much he knew…having never been prepared for the sheer tidal wave of sass and disregard that had quickly rolled back his way, and looking a tad disgruntled about the whole affair now.
Yuffie required a more indirect approach, obviously.
"You bet! Like any of the old farts could keep up with me." A look of distaste chased across the ninja's face then. "Besides, materia isn't that easy to find back home nowadays…"
"Since the war…" It trailed off tentatively. Aerith had heard the continuation of the war every day it was fought, part of how she had become accustomed to the nature of death. It happened all the time and had been happening in even greater volume during the war, even if it only struck home once. Once had been enough for her adoptive mother; now she was concerned about how often it had hit home for Yuffie. The girl was lively, but Aerith knew perfectly well that sometimes that was just a cover. "Mm, well, anyway! I'm self-taught too. I just have a knack for using materia. …Stop looking at my ribbon, I told you—"
"Yeah, yeah, doesn't do anything. Are you good with them 'cause of that 'Geezer' thing you guys were talking about earlier?"
"…Ancient. I'm an Ancient." Yuffie's education had definitely left something lacking. Or, as seemed more and more likely, she just didn't care about picking some things up.
She did care about materia though; under the guise of practicing together, and Aerith loudly correcting herself when she 'slipped up' for Yuffie to hear, she quickly got up to speed with the rest of the group. She even started asking questions.
"Why can't we summon more than one of those monsters at a time? Think how much faster we'd knock the enemy out!"
"And why do they all like Tifa, anyway? Is it her boobs?" ("Yuffie.") "Seriously, they always come quicker for her! She can snap her fingers and they're all 'yes MA'AM whose ass would you like me to flambé today?'"
"Why's Cloud's magic stronger than mine? I mean I guess it makes sense yours is great, being an Ancient, but he's not." Huffy, indignant… and yet the look she slanted Cloud's way said something else, and Aerith wondered quietly if Yuffie wasn't upset that Cloud was better at this for another reason.
" Were you looking to impress him?"
"Wh—Schyeah, right! He's such a know-it-all. Don't make me laugh. Nyuk nyuk, 'impress' blondie…"
Oh, Cloud certainly did have that bad trait at times. But he had a lot of good ones, too, and Aerith swallowed down a smile. This had to be a crush she was seeing, and she marveled that Cloud still seemed oblivious to any girl liking him at all.
"Think of how big a summon is, Yuffie. It might take a bit more energy for you to call it, but that's not nearly enough to form the shape it takes. Your energy calls its spirit, and its spirit draws on Lifestream in the area. That's why we can't do more than one at once— there's only so much at any one place in the Planet.
"As for why they like Tifa so much… You know? I think it's because they respect her. She's very respectful of others, and they can probably tell that. Don't you think it's easy to work with Tifa? She's a good comrade. I think the summons know that.
"Cloud was a SOLDIER," Aerith pointed out, as part of why his magic would be stronger, and Yuffie just snorted.
"So? Some SOLDIERs are knuckleheads. There was this one SOLDIER I knew 'cause I got his number and kept scamming him. He fell for it over and over! Seriously, what is it? He's got better materia, doesn't he."
As with all of Yuffie's stories, Aerith had to wonder how much of that little tidbit was strictly accurate. She shook her head at herself and moved on. "Materia is just materia. Crystallized knowledge from the Lifestream… from memories of the Cetra who lived long ago. Their power depends on how much power you feed into it. Without that, it's just a memory. It can't do too much on its own… though Shinra's found ways to feed them energy that doesn't require people." Rather, energy straight from the Planet.
Yuffie squinted at her suspiciously. The effect was a bit ruined by the number of spells she'd been casting both in battle and training; her eyes were starting to look glassy. "So Cloud's just more powerful because Shinra worked their science mojo on him?"
Very possibly. Aerith thought there might be other reasons behind it, too. "Cloud's really good at connecting with the materia. I don't know how to describe it… it was surprising to me too at first. Even though he was a SOLDIER, I didn't expect him to be good with Fire materia… you know? But that's what he's always carried."
Cloud's fires weren't hesitant at all like she might have expected from someone who'd had his life so devastated by the element. When he tapped into the fire materia, flames sprang up instantly, enveloping his target.
It worried her, sometimes. Sometimes, it felt like his hometown must still be burning inside him. "You have to be able to reach out to the materia's memories, connect with them. …And Cloud seems to be good at using memories." In a number of ways. She shook her head; now wasn't the time to be thinking weird things like that. "Don't worry about Cloud! If you want to get better, you have to focus on yourself. Just keep practicing."
"Yeah! The Great Ninja Yuffie'll—Aerith!" The teenager looked almost devastated when she looked at her suddenly empty hand to her frowning friend, holding the fading glow of the materia.
"I didn't mean today. You have to rest, too. There's only so much energy you can give before you need time to recover." She let Yuffie swipe it back though; hopefully the younger girl had gotten the point. If not, well, a headache was innocent enough and would drive the lesson home. Sometimes misadventure seemed to be Yuffie's best teacher.
In the end, Don Corneo had gotten to Yuffie first. And Aerith really had a hard time feeling angry toward anyone who had to deal with the Don.
She'd still made sure to get her mother's materia back, though, rounding on the girl as soon as she was back on firm ground and had had a moment to appreciate it. "Yuffie—"
"I know, I know!" the girl exclaimed, and she really did seem to know how urgent it was: Aerith would have guessed her materia was in the bulging bag at Yuffie's hip with all the others, but Yuffie instead reached into… her…
"Yuffie! There?"
"Shaddup, I knew I wouldn't lose it that way!!"
"Uh," Cloud said. He suddenly seemed hesitant about demanding the rest of their materia back. Cid had half-bitten through his current cigarette in surprise and didn't seem to know whether to laugh or swear up another blue streak.
"I know it's important, all right?! So I kept it safe for you."
Aerith sighed as she accepted the materia back, quickly tucking it into her ribbon. "Kept it safely from me, too…"
"Yeah, I guess." Yuffie scratched her chin awkwardly. "It reminded me of— my mom used to wear Leviathan kind of like that. It was part of the ceremonial dress. So I just wanted to see…" She flushed, then, unexpectedly, and quickly changed tack at a speed that would have been surprising for anyone else, but was normal for the ninja. "Whatever! It really is good for nothing. Couldn't get it to do a thing. But since it's so special to you I don't mind giving it back."
"We want the rest of it back, too," Cloud said, finally finding his voice again. His eyes were resting on the bag Yuffie had, probably reassuring himself that none of his materia had made the same trip as Aerith's.
"But—"
"Now, squirt," Cid grumped.
Yuffie sighed, and set about emptying her bag and pockets.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-26 10:39 pm (UTC)I do like that Yuffie really has made off with every single piece of materia including that one (a point that it does feel the game missed commenting on; after all as you insinuate not only has she popped materia out of all their weapons and the bangles and any other container they have with them, getting it out of Aeris's ribbon should be no trouble for her) - and the foreshadowing that she has seen materia used like that somewhere before. I just the little note that she's nowhere near as subtle as she thought she was when she spotted the White Materia (and when contemplating the major theft), and that Aeris is in no doubt about what has attracted her attention. And it does seem in character that unlike Cloud who accepts Aeris's word that the White doesn't do anything, Yuffie really has tried this and found it seemingly contains no spells (actually, I'm wondering if the White is in some weird half-way state. Since a materia could without its ability to give the user the knowledge of the Cetra would basically be a crystal or a very shiny rock, is there something about the White which makes it clear it is materia but still doesn't do anything? I was thinking if there was a mental sensation on contact with the sphere and the knowledge follows from that... and the White Materis just fails to do anything at the second point). And I was laughing at Aeris filling in the script with Yuffie echoing Cloud's response to her claims about the materia but Yuffie is so very, very hands on.
Very amused at Aeris being angry before figuring out just how far Yuffie did go with her thievery, and then she's really mad. And the stress on loaning, and how Yuffie's experimentation goes to the point of combinations that make no sense/will simply not actually do anything. This could break down into little bits and pieces I like at this rate; things like repeatedly telling Yuffie to stop staring at the ribbon, or Yuffie replacing 'Ancient' with 'Geezer' (on that note, that feels like it could be a translation mix-up on her part if Wutai did have a completely separate language. Yuffie's fluent in both, but isn't above using a familiar/less respectful word in place of the correct one).
I really do like how you have Yuffie sounding; the not quite controlled dismissal of wanting to impress Cloud with all the implications that entails (and Cloud not noticing that attraction either...), her reasoning for why Tifa is better at summoning... rofl at the Zack inference and how that has coloured her impression of the organisation. (and yet, its sad how close Aeris came to finding out that other facet of Zack's life, simply because she's never sure how much of what Yuffie says is true). And I do like that spell casting is taking a noticeable strain on them; especially Yuffie - and Aeris will let her push it that step too far to get across that it is taking a toll.
Aeris's surprise how easily and well Cloud can cast fire is a nice touch too - I think the only fic I can remember having that kind of connection made was Heart Less Love (the follow-up to Love Not Often), but that used fire as a phobia/nervous tick that both Cloud and Tifa had wound up with - not one that there seems to be a basis for from in-game actions (would have expected an exclaimation after the first reactor exploded and Wedge was slightly on fire). And oh! And Cloud seems to be good at using memories." In a number of ways.. I really like this line - the idea that Aeris is getting some ideas about how Cloud's head is working - and how true it is, with using his clear memory of Nibelheim to keep him pursuing Sephiroth, with the constructed Zack memories to present himself as a SOLDIER - and that as a side-effect of his unique nature he winds up extremely good at casting.
I liked the unseen in-game scene as well; that as soon as they got Yuffie down from the Da Chao statue she demanded the White materia back... and just where she had stored it (much to the other's surprise - and Cloud seemingly derailed into thinking that she's storing it all there *smacks Cloud across the head* - no wait its in her bag). And again, I like the idea that Yuffie really did try to use the materia unlike everyone else who takes Aeris's word, she has to see it is an oddity; a materia that does nothing.
Thank you again for this! I really enjoyed it!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-27 12:21 am (UTC)I wouldn't be surprised if there is some kind of "feeling" to materia that lets it be identified that way; maybe the white materia has a feeling of warmth and comfort to it, but yeah... no go on the magic. But Yuffie's not buying that a materia is useless, materia is supposed to be this awesome thing that'll let her rebuild Wutai! Surely Aerith just doesn't know how to use it...or, when she sees Aerith really is good with materia, she starts to think the white materia does something special that she's keeping secret. (...So the funny thing is depending on how you view Aerith's knowledge throughout the game, Yuffie could be right. And even if Aerith doesn't know, Yuffie's hunch that it must be an awesome materia is in the end correct.) And yeah at first Aerith is just thinking oh another materia enthusiast, like Cloud--YUFFIE NO GRABBING
Haha I think I just liked the mental image of everyone being angry after having their materia taken, and then Aerith notices the white materia missing and it ratchets up that much more with her teammate being a bit 'ohhh dear' 'cause it definitely takes something to get Aerith that mad.
This could break down into little bits and pieces I like at this rate
Funny enough this kind of describes how I wrote; I originally had a loose plot idea, or, really, a "point A"/"point B" of plot without knowing how to get there, and I started at point A and then kept thinking "oh! This seems fun to use" and thinking of various things. So there's a number of things that crept in here just because I found them enjoyable, and I'm glad you did too (on the other hand, there's a number of things that didn't, which is why I might be rearranging/adding onto this later; the Clear Tranquil/Great Gospel limit breaks were something I was thinking of tying in, for example, and then didn't quite figure out how). 'Ancient' / 'Geezer' probably is a matter of language or just what Yuffie's comfortable with: she doesn't remember the exact word they used now! It has something to do with being old! Surely 'Geezer' is close enough, geez Aerith at least she doesn't think you're diseased (lol Barret, what).
Ahaha, I suppose it is kind of sad that Aerith misses that chance to find out about another part of Zack's life... I was brushing up against using a Aerith&Yuffie fic I'd been writing before, but wasn't sure about it; it became tempting as this one started brushing up against a 'memory' theme, but in the end it seemed like too much of a diversion.
The relevant part of that fic, if you're curious (I don't think I've shown you this before?):
...And as you can see, the idea of Aerith being aware from early on that Yuffie has some devious plans has been in my head for a while. XD And yeah, I can see Aerith thinking that really, Yuffie is plenty old enough and independent enough that she can't insist on her listening to them--as long as the consequences aren't severe ones, she'll let Yuffie go right ahead and figure out why some ideas are bad ones.
The phobia/nervous tic from 'Heart Less Love' would make sense--if, yeah, it was supported by in-game portrayal. Cloud clearly doesn't have a phobia. Though at the same time I slightly goofed too as the whole reason I even thought of this was believing that Cloud starts the game with a 'Fire' materia: his starters are Ice and Lightning. This was probably influenced by me looking at the trading card game in which his element IS fire sometime back, or by Dissidia with him having a fire based attack. ...Given those I don't feel bad about keeping this in with him having started using a Fire materia very early in game. And haha yeah I was kind of imagining Cloud as being extremely empathetic/'open' to foreign memories which can be both good (good materia casting!) and bad (oh boy you have NO mako tolerance because you just soak that stuff up, personality confusion ahoy!).
Hahaha yes Cloud is so easily derailed by just where Yuffie put the white materia... wait is the rest of it in there? Oh PHEW, the bag, right.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-27 12:14 pm (UTC)Interested as to how you will integrate the limit breaks later on, and I do like all the little fun bits and pieces that you integrated.
Ah! I don't think you did show me that fic. I like how Yuffie thought Aeris was cool until the scene in Gongaga (and that she's mystified at Zack's parent's logical leap) - but that she is aware that Aeris is the biggest bullshitter of the group - and that she admires her for that. I do wonder though if Aeris would truly believe Yuffie after that though - we know she met Zack and she has pin-pointed him, but in such a vague way that it could be conjecture from what she does know. Not sure why Aeris would think Yuffie would make it up admittedly. Very much like the sort of apology for Wutai - and hey, in the end it didn't matter.
I was thinking about the magic/materia comment - Cloud doesn't start with fire this is true, but Aeris wouldn't see him using magic until after he falls into the church, at which point Cloud can have picked up a fire materia from the shop in Sector Seven, so as far as Aeris is aware he really has been using fire magic the entire time. So it seems perfectly fine!
The idea of Cloud being open to foreign memories and the complete lack of mako tolerance is now making me think that the mako poisoning at Mideel might be less to do with his exposure to the mako, and more that his head is now crammed full of disparate, fragmentary memories that he picked up from his trip through the Life Stream.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-27 05:28 pm (UTC)Hmm. You know, from the rest of what I wrote, Aerith is so distracted and Yuffie the one going on about this run-in that it could be read as though Aerith's a bit doubtful about whether this meeting genuinely happened or whether it's Yuffie's way of being nice to her.
So yeah, without them getting into more detail it'd be easy to think of this as Yuffie's weird attempt at cheering Aerith up (as even though it IS true, this is her way of trying to cheer Aerith up, telling Aerith about ridiculous tricks she pulled on Zack so she doesn't feel bad about not being with such an obvious idiot anymore. In Yuffie's mind).
I think mako poisoning always was related to someone's head being too crammed full of memories? It's a natural consequence of the mako exposure and the doctor in Mideel talks about it: "An immense amount of Mako-drenched knowledge was put into his brain all at once......" So I imagine with mako tolerance it's like, some people are more naturally able to put memories as "this is me, this isn't me" and keep their sense of self, and some people find out that unfortunately yeah they just soak this stuff up and get too lost in the memories and start forgetting "that's what makes me me" until their conscious mind is kind of a mess.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-27 06:05 pm (UTC)Ah! I'd completely forgotten about that line from the doctor - that's interesting that it really is Cloud being overcome with too many foreign memories like that - and that would be especially problematic when it happened as his sense of identity is at the lowest ebb it will ever be as he's been shown the (highly subjective/accurate but misleadingly/mistakenly framed) evidence that he is a construct - so not only would he be unable or willing to trust the contents of his head anymore, he's got no clue where to begin with which memories are his when he gets the influx.
Tangentially this could help explain why Tifa does come out of the Life Stream with no ill effects; we're used to Aeris as a guide/assistant to maintaining her in a circumstance that should prove severely damaging - but this would suggest that Tifa has a very strong sense of self and can hang onto her memories securely and reject the invasive ones. Sephiroth would seem to be similar but rather then just hanging onto the ones that make him him, he's also taking on the other memories...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-28 03:59 am (UTC)Haha, very true! Cloud's head already being messed up when he fell into the Lifestream probably made it guaranteed that it'd get messed up again, and he likely is very lucky to come back to a semblance of normal.
To be honest, though I do think Tifa has a good sense of self, I still think there's likely some kind of help for her. After all, the opening scene of her in the Lifestream shows her not coping well with it at all: she gets scared of the voices, pleading with them, starts to hold her head and is then shown spinning and collapsing. Like, I think she would have coped with the SOLDIER process fine because that's more controlled, but the Lifestream is kind of here have ALL THE KNOWLEDGE and that's harder to deal with-- the doctor has no way of knowing Cloud's mental state was impaired before his dunk and he's saying it's a miracle Cloud's alive, so I'm pretty sure a pure Lifestream dip is supposed to be pretty damaging for anyone, even people with strong wills. Even for Cetra, or Sephiroth, in fact: they do MUCH better at resisting and last for a much greater stretch, but it's canon for both the Cetra and Sephiroth that they've lost things over time (the Cetra at the temple losing the ability to speak in the original game, then being on the verge of diffusing in Lifestream White; Sephiroth losing memories of Angeal and Genesis, his appearance, and having to rely on Cloud as his core in Lifestream Black). Because of how Tifa is initially overwhelmed and never shown getting things back under control on her own before ending up in Cloud's mind, Aerith is tempting as an explanation for helping her friend, and Maiden did go with that; and then again there's the explanation of Cloud being the one to help her even when he couldn't help himself, which the High Affection Highwind seems to suggest (though then his confusion in the LA version muddles things a bit).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-28 05:49 pm (UTC)Heh - true, it is definitely easier to say Tifa did have help in the Lifestream after suddenly being dropped in, and it makes a lot of sense for Aeris to be the helper - as you say, she really doesn't cope well at first but then after that things are much calmer. Definitely agree she'd cope with the SOLDIER process (another tick for the Tifa enrolls in SOLDIER concepts). Ah that's interesting about the Lifestream memory loss - or at least that that's the specified point where Sephiroth loses his memories of Angeal and Genesis (little convenient, but I can see it).
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-29 02:05 am (UTC)I kind of like to headcanon that at some point Angeal has tried to talk sense back into Sephiroth in the Lifestream and he just got so thoroughly blown off and :( sadness (maybe he shouldn't have made Zack kill him. Maybe.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-29 12:49 pm (UTC)The head-canon of Angeal in the Lifestream is neat, and I can definitely see him really trying to get through to him and outright failing as that's not the Sephiroth he knew anymore. I do wonder how much Angeal would be aware of from the Lifestream in the end; we know Aeris has somewhat omniscience, but Sephiroth certainly didn't seem aware of everything that happened on the surface - though he was a different case...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-30 01:01 pm (UTC)I think Angeal would have some awareness thanks to his copies out and about, as they seem to have always been following his will (versus the Sephiroth copies which are triggered years later, seemingly the night of Sephiroth/Jenova's massacre at Shinra HQ). Though that still does leave the question of what exactly he's aware of.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-30 05:10 pm (UTC)That is a good point about the Angeal copies (which seem a lot more lucid/coherent then the Genesis ones who seem kind of mindless), so it does feel he'd have a pretty good idea of what transpired after he died in certain areas at least.