closed 🌠 pick a star on the dark horizon

[starshower]

Who: Tifa & the ex-SOLDIER boys
What: Closed catch-all for October.
Where: Around
When: October
Content Warnings: N/A for now, except for maybe the horrifying cactuarbears.

𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. ♫

Comments

[starshower]

[Working materia would be nice, and him pointing it out has her looking down to her own gloves, where the broken orbs remain nestled safely in their slots, waiting to be used again, before her eyes are drawn back to the gem between her fingers.]

It does sort of remind me of a slot machine... Hopefully we'll at least get something useful out of it.

[Collectible figures are totally useful! They're always cute and can be put just about anywhere!]

Make sure you win something for me, okay? [No pressure, Cloud!] On three, then. One, two...

[She pauses her countdown to peek over at him to make sure he's ready before—] Three!

[Tifa pops her gem into the slot and turns the crank, and lo and behold, a capsule comes tumbling out!! NEAT!]

It worked!

[memorate]

What, you gonna win something for me, too?

[ He doesn't look back as he smiles, but he knows that she's watching him, which means he doesn't dilly-dally as he turns the crank on his end, too.

Success! He reaches for his capsule to pick it up, but it appears to be stuck in the mechanism. Uh-oh... ]

...Why isn't it coming out?

[starshower]

[Maybe she will... and she's about to say as much as she prepares to pop the lid off her own capsule but pauses when Cloud doesn't have his. They're supposed to open them at the same time, too!]

It's stuck?

[She sets hers down on top of the machine.

Her smaller hands might be able to free it if she can wriggle it into the slot, but... the worry of it getting stuck is very, very real. It's upsetting... she just wanted to see what they would win, not try to fix a broken machine...!]

We can try shaking it a little? See if it rolls out that way.

[Between the two of them, it might work, and it's less likely to break, too.]

[memorate]

[ This doesn't bode well for his gacha luck, does it? ]

I saw Barret punch a vending machine one time. How are your gloves holding up these days?

[ Hey, it's her chance to win him something! But he's fine with just taking the shaking route, too, if they have to... ]

[starshower]

[It's definitely not as good as some people's...

Tifa raises her closed fists to show them off.]

Better than ever, coach. [Minus the broken materia, but that's neither here nor there.] Maybe if I just punch it gently, though...

[She doesn't want to break it!

With that said, she nudges Cloud aside to get into a better position. On three, she tells herself in her head, and she bounces on her feet as she counts herself down before—WHAM!

Lo and behold, after a few seconds of silent anticipation, the small capsule comes tumbling out of the machine and drops to the floor... and then another, and then another, and then... The glass case of the machine cracks and shatters, letting loose dozens and dozens, if not a hundred, small plastic capsules all over the floor.

Tifa watches as they cascade down like a waterfall and make a mess at their feet. Uh oh.]

Maybe a little too good...?

[At least she... won him something????]

[memorate]

[ The real reward was seeing Tifa beat the crap out of a gacha system - those things had it coming for a long time! This was for all the nerds out there who couldn't pull their desired SSR prize. ]

You call that gentle? I'd hate to catch you on a bad day.

[ His tone is ambiguously flirtatious as usual when he's around Tifa, but he's really just thinking of ways to sound cooler than he really is. He thinks it's oddly emasculating having her technically win both of the prizes, but that's not going to stop him from picking a capsule that he thinks is a winner!

He rummages through the capsules around her feet, finally rising back up when he thinks he found the one he likes. ]

How about this one?

[ Yeah... this is the one, he's feeling it! ]

[starshower]

[Hopefully the machine will be magically fixed by the time the next person comes around...]

That one looks like a winner.

[With her own capsule in hand, she lights up with excitement the moment he shows her the one he's chosen. That's definitely the lucky one! This is it! Whatever is inside these capsules is going to be great, no matter what it is. She knows it's not going to be anything big, but the real fun is in getting them.]

On three again? One, two— [And when she pops the lid off of hers, her excitement quickly droops into disappointment.] Oh. Nothing...

[And such is the life of gacha... Throw yourself at it as hard as you can and get nothing.

She peers over at Cloud's expectantly, waiting for something bigger and better.]

[memorate]

[ Likewise, he shares her disappointment when he reveals that his capsule doesn't contain anything either. Not that he was expecting much in the first place, but failing to win her anything is starting to feel like a personal failure. They were so sure that this was the one!

Quick to hide his indignation, he squats down again to open up a few more of the capsules, but so far every one of them is turning out to be worthless. ]

The hell is this? Some kind of scam?

[starshower]

[Tifa does the same, pocketing her empty capsule to free up her hands for pulling more. One, two, three, four, five... She's guessing that they're all the same too, and she drops them back into the pile, but her disappointment is quick to wane as an amused laugh comes from her side of the capsule heap.

She lifts another and grabs Cloud by the hand, slapping it into his palm.]

Could be, or maybe we just used up all our good luck.

[Or someone got to the winning capsules before they did! At any rate, she's still having fun and that's what matters, right? And neither of them had to spend a single gil to do it.]

Hold onto this anyway. Maybe something'll show up in there later, kinda like the fridge at Strife's Bites.

[memorate]

Yeah, well, I never relied on luck anyway.

[ A true SOLDIER gets by on their skill alone! Nevermind the fact that he's definitely survived some things by sheer luck. ]

Everything I ever won was by my own hand.

[ From Jules' challenges to Rhodea's... earrings... but she doesn't need to know about any of that. ]

[starshower]

[Well, she doesn't have to know about it, sure... but she does.

Tifa's hands clasp around his for a moment before she steps away, careful not to slip on any of the "prizes" covering the floor, her grin only widening as she looks away—anywhere but at Cloud.]

By your own hand? [ ... ] Not your hips?

[memorate]

Huh?

[ Since he has no reason to suspect she's referencing that incident, he appears to be confused as he checks his own hips after her comment. Is there something going on with his hips?

He would ask her, but that would mean admitting that he doesn't know what she's talking about. He never likes to admit that he's clueless! ]

What kinda merc do you take me for?