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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: 2013-06-29 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.