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"Ah, nice." Zack grinned as his character fought through the dark dungeon with ease, a big sword eliminating enemies left and right with precise strategy, keeping the second character behind him safe. "This is so much easier with your healing, Aerith."
Aerith, who was still a tiny bit confused on what to do when was entirely focused on the screen of her laptop, her lips pursed in concentration, carefully executing spells at just the right time. "I'm soon out of that blue stuff…" she murmured.
While she learned to enjoy Zack's favorite game a few weeks ago she still didn't feel like she totally understood all its mechanics. Or terms. Or strategies. Zack had been patiently explaining most of the rules and abilities to her, genuinely happy that she agreed to try his new favorite game.
A MMORPG called The Last Fantasy Online.
An open world multiplayer game that became really popular over the last two years. Zack had been enjoying it for a few months before he managed to convince Aerith to try it. Ever since then they would often play together in the evening, trying to level up her character to let her play the 'real multiplayer dungeons'.
Zack played on his carefully assembled computer, each piece chosen for high resolution gaming experience. Always sitting straight in his black and blue computer chair, playing on one screen, checking stats and strategies and changing music on a second one. She always liked to joke that if he was just a bit more serious about that he could easily make it his work.
Aerith on the other hand was just sitting more or less comfortably on his bed, right behind his chair. Cuddled up nicely in a big red sweater, her back against the wall, with the metallic red laptop on her thighs as her feet dangled over the end of the mattress.
"I do have some mana materia left to restore it, I'll trade it to you at the next safe point." Zack replied as his Knight was getting rid of the last monsters. She was only able to see the back of his head from her current position on his bed, his unruly black hair standing off in every direction, able to hide his face even if he looked to the side to check the second screen. But still, she knew he was smiling right now, she heard him smile when he spoke. "I'm sure you'll like that next area."
The fairly open world of the popular game consisted of lots of different areas, buildings, and dungeons to explore. Right now, the two of them were fighting their way through a dark path in the underground of an old building, leading into a tunnel. Zack did know exactly what doors and hallways to choose in order to get out of that labyrinth. Or maybe he had a map on the second screen.
Aerith had long forgotten which way they came from and she had never any idea where the exit could possibly be so made it her first priority to stick close to his character. His heavy armed Knight cleared the way for her cutely dressed Paladin to follow. The golden robes of her character were standing out, glowing bright in the trist dark area, until they finally reached the exit.
"Wooow."
"See? I knew you'd like it here."
They had reached a valley, it was small, bathed in sunlight and overgrown with different plants ranging from tiny flowers to strong trees. A great contrast to their last location. Everything secured by the surrounding mountains. Only a few NPC houses provided the absolute basics of what a player would need. Should be enough to get some mana materia, right? Only one issue left.
"He doesn't want to trade with me." Aerith sighed as she talked to the shopkeeper.
"It's a quest, talk with the old guy in the left house first."
"... uh, he wants me to get some.. what? Glittering mushrooms and a tooth of a behemoth? What's a behemoth?"
"A pretty good mob to farm some exp, top of the snowy mountain, you ready?" While he was casually explaining the quest that he obviously still knew by heart, his Knight was already climbing the way up, and Aerith's Paladin followed closely as she announced for the third time this evening that this will be the absolute last quest today.
The view from the top of the mountain had Aerith focusing back on the lovely valley, zooming in to take a screenshot while Zack was clearly focused on the other side, where the behemoth nest was supposed to be.
"Someone's already there..."
They agreed to wait, assuming the other two people were just trying to complete the same quest as they had in mind. Another Knight, looking very much like Zack's and a Thief, a female character with long black hair and an equally long black scarf.
But even after the team of two had cleared the entire area, they stayed, waited for the next group to spawn, and cleared everything again.
It was when their health bar slowly went down that Aerith caught their attention by casting a healing spell.
Teeef: oh hi
Teeef: sry didnt see you guys
Teeef: u here for the behemoth?
Zack's quick typing indicated that he was about to answer.
The_Dark_Knight: ye
The_Dark_Knight: the tinker quest for the village
The_Dark_Knight: why are you farming these guys anyway lol
Teeef: 'cause of the sword that can drop
Teeef: in the halloween event
Teeef: this guy wants it
With that Teeef moved to stand next to a character that looked very similar to Zack's. Except he was blonde, and the name was Cloud7. "He could be your brother." Aerith giggled but Zack was smashing the keys on his keyboard again, focused on something else entirely. Apparently looking up what sword they were looking for.
"Waaah. I haven't looked at the Halloween drops yet! That sword is so cool!"
The_Dark_Knight: i'm in
The_Dark_Knight: lol
The_Dark_Knight: I want that
The_Dark_Knight: Buster Sword
The_Dark_Knight: so cool
Cloud7: right
Teeef's character made an exaggerated gesture to show annoyance before moving closer to Aerith's.
Teeef: u need the tinker quest?
Teeef: want me to help
Teeef: 'cause this stuff is gonna take awhile
Zack, who was still reading the chat, turned around in his chair to face Aerith, with that apologising smile he was capable of, wordlessly asking if it would be alright with her since he had promised to level up her character with her. Aerith just smiled back.
Flower_Girl: Yes please~
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Aerith liked to describe herself as a cheerful person. She was usually a social butterfly, the sweet smile permanently there even without her trying. Whenever her good mood affected others in a positive way she felt happy and proud of herself.
However, her usual joyful nature was a bit hidden on this saturday morning, or maybe, she was just a bit sleepy. Or very.
"Did you sleep like… at all this night?" Zack asked when Aerith slowly sat down at the kitchen table opposite of her friend who was already eating his breakfast as soon as she got hold of a cup of coffee. It was a rare occurrence that Zack had been the first person in the kitchen, meaning she played for longer than she would usually sleep. She sighed, that was just further reminding her of her urgent desire to go to bed.
"Did some quests…" she explained with a yawn, reaching for a slice of bread and some butter. "Got seven levels and a new outfit, it's cute." And truth be told, that could have been done within two to three hours but there was so much typing involved. The chatting had been the best part of the night.
"With that other guy from yesterday?"
"Mh hmm." she commented absentmindedly.
"She seems pretty nice."
"Are you sure it's a 'she'? Wouldn't be the first guy with a female character, lots of guys play female characters, the armor is usually a lot, uh, prettier."
"Alright then, Teeef seems pretty nice, better?"
"Yeah. Just… you know… be careful with strangers and all that stuff." he shrugged, he would never stop feeling protective over her.
Aerith was probably the only human on earth who could still have that lovely smile while rolling her eyes in slight annoyance at his comment - and while feeling half dead from sleep deprivation.
"Don't worry about me, I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."
"... Sure." Even though she liked to say that often, she knew that in his eyes Aerith was far from being a 'big girl'. She wasn't sure if she liked that or not. Yes, when it came to her height, she was pretty small, some people would call her delicate, physical strength was not really her strong point. However she always tried to appear mature and understanding. Her smile might be present nearly all the time but it was easy to hurt her feelings.
Zack knew that.
Because Zack knew her for six years, and had been her boyfriend for nearly four years.
They got to know each other in the last year highschool. She liked to remember it often, how it felt, how much it resembled one of the many teen movies that were popular at that time. The tall and cool Zack showing interest in the girl most people tried not to notice. Having him as a friend and later as a boyfriend greatly improved her self confidence.
When he got accepted at the college in Midgar after highschool she thought that was it, that her first relationship would come to an abrupt end. But it didn't. Zack asked her to come with him, and she didn't hesitate to agree.
Her mother was so proud of her, living in a fairly large apartment in the big city of Midgar, getting a job at a flower shop. As it was her dream to work with flowers. She really felt at home here, her life was perfect.
But eventually they ran into a problem, things changed, slightly and slowly, but they changed. And Aerith would forever be proud of how they handled it. Leaving them as some not really ordinary close friends, that still enjoy each others company greatly.
They kept the apartment that they personalized the last few years. Although now with separate rooms.
"For now."
That statement was now ten months old, but neither of them felt like changing anything. Living together as friends was cheaper, less lonely, and with their rooms being separated by the living room and the kitchen, privacy was not a problem. Which is also why Zack didn't know that Aerith had played nearly the entire night with the person called Teeef. Good thing she didn't have to work today.
"I think I'll go back to bed…" she murmured when even the coffee mug felt too heavy in her hands, ignoring Zack’s chuckle.
___________________________
Teeef: this guy
Teeef: has a really cool quest
Teeef: will give you a new weapon
As always Teeef was two steps ahead of Aerith’s character, standing next to whatever was their next objective. Since Zack and Cloud7 would be hunting for the rare weapon for the remainder of the event time - or until both acquired one - Teeef was helping Aerith to level up. And that was surprisingly fun.
She was sitting in her own room this time, already in her pyjamas, focused on the game, clicking through the dialogue of the villager person with the new quest.
Teeef: flower
Teeef: where you need to go
Flower_Girl: oh
Flower_Girl: you dont remember that?
Flower_Girl: (x
Teeef: lol
Teeef: no
Teeef: cant remember everything
Flower_Girl: the mountains
Flower_Girl: defeating a lord… something.
Teeef: urgh
Teeef: that guy from shinra?
Flower_Girl: yep
Teeef: thats gonna be pretty hard
Teeef: the guy has some really weird attack patterns
Teeef: hard to explain
Teeef: uhh…
They tried, and failed. While Aerith was a bit frustrated with the outcome Teeef just joked about that before explaining patiently while they got wiped out, and asking for a second try, which ended in a second defeat.
Teeef: uh
Teeef: you know
Teeef: might be easier in vc
Flower_Girl: vc?
Teeef: voice chat
Flower_Girl: oh
Flower_Girl: well
Flower_Girl: lets try that?
Teeef gave her the contact info for a voice chat, while Aerith made sure that the door to her room was closed and Zack wasn’t in the living room. For some reason it felt like breaking the rules, she thought and grinned, it was really exciting in its own way. Reaching for her headphones before she sat back down at her desk.
“So, mh, hey?” A very nice sounding female voice asked and Aerith smiled realizing she had been right, Teeef was a girl.
“Hello!” She greeted in her usual cheerful voice, happy to hear Teeef chuckle on the other side.
“Well, third time’s the charm, right?”
“Yeah, let’s try that again.”
Throughout the entire fight Teeef was explaining Aerith what would be the best thing to do, and while Aerith knew half of the mechanics by now - it was their third try after all - she didn’t even think about stopping the other girl from talking. Teeef’s voice was just really nice to listen to.
“Maybe it would have been easier for you to try it alone, the dungeon was a lot harder because of my high level character, but I kinda wanted to fight with you rather than waiting outside.” Teeef admitted eventually when they managed to defeat the boss. “Also your constant healing is really cool, it lets me try a lot of new combos.”
“Yeah,“ Aerith giggled, “Zack says that a lot.”
“Zack?”
“Mh, yeah, you know, the one that was leveling with me? He’s now trying to get some cool sword?”
“Oh! The dark knight guy who’s been grinding with Cloud?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“Cloud told me that your friend was quite reckless, picking too many fights at once and that his health would go dangerously low at times, guess he’s too used to your healing.”
They shared a giggle as the characters just ran around aimlessly in the cleared boss room.
“So, Cloud’s your friend?” Aerith asked when the call became a bit more quiet again.
“Mh, yeah, ever since middle school.”
“But you call him by his in-game-name? That’s funny.”
“Yes and no?” Teeef laughed. “Well, you see Cloud’s not the most creative person under the sun, so he just picked his own name for his character and a number because ‘just Cloud wasn’t free anymore’.”
“Mhmm.” Aerith hummed, navigating her Paladin closer to Teeef’s Thief until they stood next to each other to take a nice screenshot. “Meaning that Teeef isn’t your actual name?”
“Is that your way to ask for my name?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, Flower, but you’ll have to me yours too then, deal?”
Once again, Aerith giggled. This turned out to be a lot more fun than she would have imagined. Though instead of agreeing to the deal she just answered the unspoken question.
“Aerith.” she said, sure that one could hear the smile in her voice, “My name’s Aerith.”
“Well then nice to meet you, Aerith!” The ingame version of Teeef did a bow that had both of them laughing again. “I’m Tifa.”
___________________________
“So, apart from the Lord Shinra quest, did you manage anything yesterday?” Zack asked, leaning against the counter of their kitchen as Aerith was making some coffee. The amusement was clear in his voice after Aerith had been proudly telling him about her new weapon that now allowed her to use ice magic beside her variety of healing spells.
“Don’t comment on my speed, you’ve been killing the same monster for four consequetive days!” Aerith poked his arm once for each of the last three words.
“And I finally got my sword!” he announced with a big grin, leaving the smaller Aerith to look up at him with slight confusion.
“Huh? When did that happen? You didn’t tell me.”
“Yesterday evening, now, only Cloud needs one. And I didn’t tell you because I could hear you giggling through the door.”
“I.. was just - “ Why could she feel her cheeks heating up? She had just talked with Tifa for a few hours! Well, it was kind of long, and really nice and they did abandon the game a bit… She really wanted to wipe that stupid grin off his face with some witty reply but she ended up fishing for words for too long and eventually gave up. “I had fun, okay?” she said with a pout.
“Mh hm, I heard that.” The stupid grin was still there. As if he knew something that she didn’t.
“She really is a nice person.”
“Mh hm. I’m sure she is.”
“You’re being weird today.”
Zack just shrugged at her comment, “Not really.”, but didn’t really stop looking absolutely pleased with himself for the entire duration of the breakfast.
___________________________
“Zack got his sword yesterday.” Aerith told Tifa in the late evening of that very day. Even though there was no hard quest in sight and they were just doing some side quests to get Aerith a few levels and some crafting materials for later, they ended up on voice chat minutes after starting the game.
“Yeah, Cloud told me, he’s been pouty about it the entire day. There’s only today left for the event since tomorrow is already Halloween.”
“Huh, but I thought the event will last until tomorrow evening?”
“Mh, yeah. It will. But, we won’t be able to play tomorrow as some friends from highschool come to celebrate.” Oh. While they’ve been only playing together for less than a week it already felt like some sort of routine and Aerith found herself a bit sad about playing on her own tomorrow.
“Celebrate… Halloween?”
“Yeah.” There was a short pause from Tifa before she continued. “It’s a big event in my father’s bar, you know.”
“Huuh.”
“And, you know, uh,” Did she just sound nervous or was that Aerith’s imagination? “Cloud told me that you and Zack are from Midgar too, so I was wondering, if you maybe want to come?”
It took a lot longer for Aerith to answer than she would have wanted but grinning like an idiot obviously had been higher on the priority list - for whatever reason. She was never really the person to go to parties or bars but she couldn’t deny that she was kinda excited by that invitation. “It’s here, in Midgar?”
“Yeah. So, uh, would you come?”
“Mh, sure! Sounds like fun.”
“Perfect! Uh, I mean, yeah, will be fun.”
___________________________
“Alright, how do I look?”
Zack only chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. “For the third time, Aerith, you’re good.”
Her eyebrows furrowed as she kept inspecting herself in the mirror next to the apartment’s front door. “I mean… It’s my favorite dress, but, maybe it doesn’t really fit for Halloween?” Her hands ran over the soft rose-colored fabric, only being stopped when Zack draped her red jacket over her shoulders.
“I’m sure she will like it.” With that statement, her cheeks matched the fabric’s colour in no time.
“...Tifa has nothing to do with that.”
“Mh hm. Sure. And I might have believed that before you spend an entire hour curling your hair.” Zack’s smile only grew brighter when Aerith started putting on her jacket with a pout. Sometimes it was really frustrating how easy it was for Zack to read her.
“She really seems nice.” Aerith defended herself weakly.
“You said that already.”
“Hm.”
She never had any close friends growing up and as excited as she was about the invitation to meet Tifa, with each passing hour, she got more nervous. They got along so well in the game, what if Tifa ended up not liking her in person? Through the mirror she glanced up at Zack who - of course - had been invited too. By Cloud. If he could do that, so could she, right?
She took a deep breath and nodded to herself as she made up her mind. “I’m ready.”
___________________________
They arrived at Seventh Heaven when the party had already started. As expected a bunch of people were dressed in theme for Halloween which had the duo dodge a few zombies, mummies and vampires in order to make it into the building.
The inside was dimly lit, the walls decorated with fake cob webs and skeletons, each table had a small glowing carved pumpkin in the middle. Lots of small groups were gathered at the tables, some eating, most of them drinking, all of them talking and laughing.
“What now?” Zack asked a bit louder than usual as laughter and chatter was filling the room.
“I dont know, maybe ask at the bar?”
Behind the wooden counter of the bar, a young woman in tight black jeans and an equally dark tight fitting shirt was serving customers with cocktails. Her black hair rivaled Aerith’s in length and tied up by a single hair tie in the lower half. A small drawn black cob web under her left eye was the only hint of today’s event, half hidden by the black bangs that were combed to one side.
“Hey.” she smiled sweetly as she approached Aerith and Zack, no sign of knowing who they were, “What can I get you guys?”
Her voice had been the last hint for Aerith to be sure that this must be Tifa, so she actually managed to speak up before Zack could order anythng.
“Hey,” her courage leaving her as soon as the greeting was out, but she just smiled shyly as she added, “I’m -”
“- Aerith.” finished Tifa, and then smiled back when Aerith nodded. Remembering their friend, she looked up at Zack, obviously thought about extending her hand in greeting then changed her mind and pointed to the table in the corner of the room, “Uh, the other are over there. Cloud is too.”
“Gotcha.” Zack shook his head with a deep chuckle before he exused himself.
“That wasn’t really nice of me, was it?” Tifa sighed after a few seconds of silence when she watched with worry as Zack left to meet her friends. “Mhhmmmm,” Aerith hummed, following her gaze, “Don’t worry about Zack.” They watched him reach the table, greet the few people there and someone cheered when he was done with his introduction, instantly included him in their group. “He has a talent of getting along with everyone.” she explained as she climbed onto one of the bar stools.
Tifa nodded slowly as she watched the scene before her dark red eyes focused on Aerith again. “So, can I get you something?”
Aerith tried, really tried to keep the eye contact, but it slowly made her nervous until she looked away, giggling at her own behaviour, before glancing up at Tifa again. Happy to find her with a soft blush and an amused smile. “Surprise me?”
“Sure, I mean, I can do that.”
Only a few costumers came to the counter while Tifa mixed something for Aerith, some of them only paying for previous drinks before heading outside.
“Huh, people are leaving already.” Aerith commented when Tifa placed a colourfull liquid in front of her on the counter.
“Well, you two arrived here quite late.” she commented with a soft voice while pushing the glass towards Aerith with two fingers, her eyes completly fixed on the motion. “I thought you might have changed your mind.”
“What? Oh.. no.. It’s just, I really did not know what to wear.” Aerith admitted, reaching for the drink with both hands, her fingertips running over the ice cold glass. When she looked up she found Tifa looking at her.
“For what it’s worth, I think it looks good.” Tifa said, scratching her neck nervously.
“It’s not really Halloween-y though.”
Tifa chuckled. “I’m not really Halloween-y either.”
“Yeah, but you have this little…” Aerith lifted her hand to point to the tiny cob web on Tifa’s cheek when she realized how close they were. It wouldn’t take a lot of effort to actually touch Tifa, so, after half a second of hesitation, she did. The dark haired girl was completly frozen when Aerith fingertips touched her face, moving the few long strands of her bangs behind her ear to completly expose the tiny drawing on her cheek.
“Now you’re a little bit Hallooween-y.” Aerith giggled.
“See I told you it would look good.” A third voice said, which had Aerith’s hand snapping back at lightning’s speed. She turned to the owner of the voice, a young woman with brown hair, completly decorated in different Halloween bits and pieces. Tiny pumpkins in her hair, black spider drawn onto her cheek, her torso wrapped in these decorative fake spider webs. She stood at the end of the counter, both elbows on the dark wood, her chin resting in her palms. Her posture indicating that she had been watching them for quite some time.
“Jessie!” Tifa hissed.
“Aw come on, just wanna see what’s the fuss all about.”
Aerith stayed silent as she watched the two of them, assuming that Jessie was teasing Tifa in the same way Zack liked to tease her. It was far more enjoyable though watching Tifa. Suddenly Jessie was at Aeriths side just a second later, cheerful like Aerith, just in slightly different way, she pulled at her arm.
“Come on, the others are curious too. You two lovebirds can continue later.”
Jessie was already pulling her down from her seat and Aerith looked at Tifa with an apologetic smile when she reached for her drink.
“Maybe we can talk later?” Tifa offered, shooting Jessie a dark look. “A bit more … you know... alone?”
Aerith nodded with a bright smile and before she whispered “It’s a date!” with a cheerful giggle, enjoying the blush on Tifa’s face as she was dragged to the table in the far off corner.