open 🌠 hello world! i'm your wild girl

[starshower]

Who: Tifa Lockhart & YOU
What: December catch-all!
Where: Where the threads happen
When: When the threads happen
Content Warnings: N/A

𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳. 𝘪'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘹 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳. 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌 ★ 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖 ★ 𝚐𝚢𝚖𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚞𝚖 ★ 𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 ★ 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍 ★ ♫

Comments

✨ hammerhead book stop & garage

[starshower]

[A gas station truck stop feels more out of place than most of the places that have popped up in the world, especially considering functioning motor vehicles don't exist here, but she'll take what she can get. The garage has some interesting parts and tools in there and given the nature of the Void, the possibilities are endless—one day, they may just get a functional car or bike in here that could change everything.

Tifa makes a note of that before moving on to the mini mart, surprised to find nothing but books on the inside, with even a full library in one corner. Of course, the one thing that draws her attention is the section of cookbooks—shelves upon shelves dedicated to the art of food!? Call her old-fashioned but sign her up!

She might have gone a touch overboard with her collecting, with two stacks of books forming, one balanced carefully on each arm, and she reaches for another with what fingers she has left, trying to pull another book free with minimal success.]

'Scuse me, [she sighs to whoever has just entered the mini mart, and motions to a spine labeled Volume VII.] Could you grab that one for me? Please?

[thats_it]

I beg your pardon?

[you'll have to forgive him, Tifa -- he didn't hear you, a little thrown by the fact that this place looks like Hammerhead, while at the same time, not. he knows that happens around here, he's seen the Citadel mixed with whatever else, on Mount Silver, but it's still jarring]

[to his credit, at least, he's managing to keep a solid poker face]

[starshower]

[Tifa tries to nudge at the specific book with a hand, only to have the stack in that arm wobble, so instead, she kicks its spine with her foot.]

This one right here—volume seven.

[She offers him a sheepish smile, though the unfamiliarity is there. She can't recall ever seeing this man before now... and he's someone she would remember seeing.

But she'll get to that when she isn't trying to balance six books in each hand.]

I would, but... you know!

[thats_it]

Ah, of course. My apologies. [he leans to reach for the book she indicated, straightening as he pulls it free of the shelf] Here we are, then.

[a beat]

Did you need help with some of that? [since, you know]

[starshower]

Think I might've gone a little overboard...?

[She didn't think she needed help... until now, but she doesn't have so much pride that she can't admit that she could use some extra hands to carry everything.]

Wouldn't mind, if you've got a hand to spare! I saw some cookbooks and couldn't help myself!

[Despite the issues she's having, she's at least able to laugh about it.]

[thats_it]

No such thing.

[not where books are concerned, anyway! and he will gladly reach to take some of them from her, so she's not stuck trying to balance the load]

Fan of cooking?

[starshower]

Was I that obvious?

[Says the woman carrying five cookbooks in each hand.]

Guess you could say that. I'm on the hunt for some new stuff to serve down in Wall Market... if I know people, I have a feeling they'll get tired of meat skewers and sushi eventually! No matter how good it is.

[And when she's finally able to set them down on a nearby table, she heaves a sigh of relief.]

... Thanks.

[thats_it]

Only as a fellow cooking aficionado. [and not at all because of the near-dozen cookbooks she has on hand. no, not at all. he flashes her a smile, to highlight the fact that he's teasing, just in case]

[when it fades and once they have the books situated on the table, he nods once, politely (she's very welcome) and reaches to pick up one of the books of the top of the stack. he takes a moment with it, turning it over in his hand, before:] If the Takka that supposedly wrote these is the Takka I'm familiar with, you'll find mostly diner fare, here.

[which might be just what she's looking for, considering she mentioned sushi and meat skewers, but -- fair warning]

[starshower]

Diner fare?

[She flips through one of the cookbooks, skimming the text as the pages flash across before her.]

You mean things like burgers, fries? Wouldn't mind a real good burger right about now...

[Tifa does recall another conversation she had a long time ago about some delicious burgers. Best in town. Maybe with this, they can recreate that feeling here...

She pauses on one page, and looks up at Ignis.]

Behemoth meat...?

[Ew....?]

[thats_it]

[he hums to the affirmative -- ]

Exactly like.

[ -- then lapses into polite silence as she thumbs through the book. when she looks back at him, he makes another sound of agreement] A beast from my world. They're enormous and notoriously hard to kill -- so much so that the only reason there's precedent for cooking one, where I'm from, is because a friend of mine was loathe to see the meat go to waste. [Gladio, he means. Gladio thought it would be a good idea to butcher the behemoth they killed in Keycatrich Trench]

[either way, after a beat, he shrugs]

Its meat is good for simmering into a stew, if nothing else.

[starshower]

We have them too, but...

[Tifa's nose scrunches with disgust.]

They're more like science experiments. Really, really big lab rats.

[They could very well exist out in the wild, but she's not inclined to try some after the ones that she's seen. Thanks for ruining everything, Shinra!]

Sounds like your friend'll eat just about anything.

[thats_it]

We spent a good deal of time away from the creature comforts of cities and towns. [and, for the most part, very little money to their names, when they were in town. they got used to hunting and gathering] And while I wouldn't be surprised if Niflheim had used them as lab rats, too, ours were free range.

[a beat]

Though, speaking of -- [sort of] -- I don't suppose you're originally from Eos? Or Gaia, perhaps? [someone's been talking to Aerith]

[starshower]

Eos...?

[That name rings a very familiar bell, calling back to a conversation she had with Noctis when they'd shared memories with one another. He must be from there, too? A friend of his perhaps?]

I'm from Gaia. I take it you've met Cloud or Aerith? Or Zack?

[Hopefully not Sephiroth...]

[thats_it]

[he nods]

Aerith. [a beat] She's quite charming. [and another] We discovered we have chocobos in common. [it stood to reason, then, that if he and Tifa had behemoths in common, that she was probably from the same place] Seems our two worlds aren't too different.

[starshower]

In more ways than one.

[Tifa pats on the book's cover as she lets it fall closed on the palm of her hand.]

Besides the food and birds, I ran into someone else from Eos. Noctis—you know him?

[She doesn't want to assume that everyone from the same world know each other, especially considering how different Ignis is from his fellow Eos-resident, but it's a strong possibility!]