Grand Opening! [Open]

[Iris|Kairi]

“Be-bop…Shooby do-wap...Nn nn nn…”

A young woman clad in black leather was shaking her hips to an odd beat, her feet shuffling about the brand new hardwood floor behind the shiny, untouched counter lined with silverware and glasses. The rubber soles of her sneakers made annoying squeaking sounds against the recently finished wood, but they fell upon deaf ears. Her back was turned; she was collecting placemats, and upon the turn of her head the mystery of her odd behavior was solved. Ear buds were lodged down into her ear canals, some sort of music being pumped from a small square device in her pocket, through the thin black cord, and into her head with a beat so irresistible she couldn’t help but let her body move to it. Tifa thought herself to be alone and unobserved in the café entrance of her brand-spankin’ new inn, thus her slightly awkward dancing was meant to be a private affair. Who’d have thought dancing would be a weakness to a woman whose body was so fine tuned and at her control?

The 7th Heaven had finally been completed, her dream actualized on this quickly rebuilding world. She had a home. She had her inn. She had a new family, all of which had helped her in her 7th Heaven obsession. All was well! The smile on her full lips betrayed her excitement, as well as a sort of girlish innocence that seemed both at home and foreign on the face of a woman her age. The martial artist had every right to be jaded considering all she’d been through, yet she seemed clear of it of this moment. She was shameless in her happiness, setting aside her usual selflessness to indulge in something /she/ needed. Tifa was so used to being there for everyone, she’d neglected herself. The inner Tifa had been shrinking, turning pessimistic and insecure, downtrodden and relying on other people’s needs to overshadow her own. She’d made herself obsolete. It was amazing what some self examination could do. Working herself hard to worry for Cloud and others less (they were grown ups and could take care of themselves, right?) and pushing herself to open up and form connections with others had really paid off in her psyche. Her doubts were less in number, and she was becoming more confident in areas other than just her strength. She’d gained a true mothering side with Marlene, while also controlling her fear regarding letting other see the tightly guarded aspects of herself she’d been hiding so well in fear of rejection. Some argued she was even more kindhearted than before, and that sadness in her eyes that so much effort was wasted on masking was lessening. Tifa may have her struggles and irritations, but none of those mattered right now!

It was opening day! Finally!

She continued to sway and mamba across the floor, performing the last few tasks to make sure everything was perfect. The sun started to peak above the horizon and leak its citrus glow on the townscape seen from the expanse of quaint windows that made up the whole front, downstairs wall of the inn. What? Tifa up before breakfast? Or maybe she’d been too excited to sleep at all… that wouldn’t be such a stretch, considering all of the numerous rooms upstairs had freshly made beds, a task left undone the night before. None the less, she was certainly energetic enough, and her face showed no signs of fatigue. One hour before opening time. She could already imagine all the smiling faces that would greet her. All those who’d helped her build it…the folks she’d befriended, newcomers weary from travel in need of a nice rest and some rockin’ food. Oh! And her tea could certainly not be forgotten. It was her own special concoction…

Without warning, a sixth sense kicked into high gear. There was a sudden presence somewhere behind her…though on the inside or outside of the locked door, she couldn’t say. Tifa turned on her heel in a fluid, sweeping motion with deep brown eyes wide, hands still performing the motion of polishing a glass and music still drowning out her sense of hearing. Seconds later, another sound she couldn’t hear, but could certainly /feel/ sounded. The sound of glass shattering then quickly being muted by sharp ends digging into soft flesh and grinding against each other glazed the space and christened the floor. Against better judgment, her eyes darted down to her hand, which had just effortlessly crushed a poor, unsuspecting juice glass.

[seraph]

"What do you mean no vacancy!?" roared his usually calm voice. Hands gloved with dark green slammed on the wooden counter his ice blue eyes glaring directly at the unsuspecting moogle. Whether the poor thing was hovering or shaking with those little purple wings was something Clovis could care nothing about. "Well...uh, you see...kupo" the vertically challenged creature tried to intervene settling on his usual stool with its small feet. Clovis wasn't going to give the little guy an inch to speak. After a hard night searching for Tranquility materials ( which were quite hard to obtain considering the dangers one must endure ) beneath the caverns of this world, this just had to happen to him.

Grunting in frustration, his arms folded in front of his chest as he began to tap his foot as a method of easing his anger. "Mikain! It's booked under Mikain! I come here at least twice a week and you can't even reserve a room right!?" With each passing sentence his voice grew louder and louder as the rage spilled into his vocal chords. Each time he raised his voice the terrified moogle winced as if he were to suffer a beating from a baseball bat. "I'm sorry kupo but there's a market sale today and..."

That was it.

His anger had reached heights even he thought was incapable of himself. "This isn't the end!!" the dirty blond man warned pointing his right index finger right in the face of the moogle. To the synthesis hunter he looked so smug and arrogant behind his desk but in truth he was terrified. You'd of thought Clovis working for a group of moogles in Traverse Town would have granted him the experience to read they're facial expressions correctly. For a split second he felt like he'd draw his dagger and cut off that ridiculous pom pom and force it down his throat. However he started to gain hold of himself a bit.

Spinning on his heel, nearly doing a complete spin due to the force behind this movement, he marched to the oak door. Clasping the iron handle he wrenched it from its lock. Taking another few forceful steps through, still holding the circular handle, the hunter slammed the door with incredible force. On the inside of the hotel a picture had fell on the floor smashing, granting another wince of nervousness from the Moogle. However once this door was shut he seemed to calm down and try to clean up what had occurred.

Clovis wouldn't have been so mad if he hadn't been sliced by a Lancer heartless, or shocked by a Machine heartless. That was a usual day for him to be honest. What had occurred was an anger spell from a Spellbinder in the caverns hence his uncontrollable rage. He didn't even know about them, not many people did to be honest. Upon leaving the cavern he headed straight for his usual hotel to get his head down and recover the good old fashioned way. He hated the taste of that awful lime green liquid. Like soil mixed with coleslaw. It proved to be the only thing that would work at the moment as his arm was in serious pain, due to the blood stain and torn cloth. His head pounded uncontrollably due to his head on ram with electricity.

Power walking to the store, the little duck seemed as he might have a bowel movement any second. The look on his somewhat handsome face told it all. Plus the amount of blood didn't help either. "Hi potion...please" he said rather quietly but with obvious frustration in his voice. Almost dropping the vial the duck handed it over as Clovis slammed the munny down with his un-injured arm. "Thanks..." he muttered as he strode off. Bracing himself for the god awful taste, his face screwed up. Within a few seconds his arm was fully healed and he felt...better.

Apparently the potion had removed his anger 'problem' as well. Taking a walk towards his usual spot for dumping his Gummi Ship, his eyes caught a poster. It wasn't particularly eye catching it wasn't normal. The poster wasn't normally there you see, and this stood out to the hunter. Keen eyes these material hunters have you see. "7th Heaven huh? Food and drink & rooms for rent...sounds good" he muttered aloud with a now calm and cool aura about him. With a sigh he moved on to where the newly constructed building was.

A few minutes went by as he found his way to the bar. Approaching the door he could of sworn he heard singing. Hesitating for one moment as to eavesdrop, he decided that he needed to stop being so nosy when he wasn't on the job. Gripping the handle he was a little shocked to find the door locked. Well maybe it wasn't opening time. Calmly knocking on the door with a renewed left hand he spoke through the door. "Hello...you open? With that he waited for a few seconds. If there was no answer he'd knock again. He was in the mood for a drink after spending all night in the caverns.

[lysander]

"UwwaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"[/i][/b][/color]

---

In this world some things happen with such amazing synchronicity that to doubt them would be to doubt them would be to doubt the very forces of fate which turn with relentless conviction.

Today was not exempt.

For, what other than fate could have brought a treasure hunter to town only to find by odd chance that there was an inn nearby? And what other than fate could have him knock upon its door at only the most perfect time with which to embarrass its proprietress? And what of the man in the pink coat who-? Ah, but we are getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we. The fabulous tale of Lysander's happening upon this chance circumstance begins exactly one day earlier.

-The day before-

Fresh from Agrabah, and laden with the embarrassing weight of empty pockets (the people of Agrabah have notoriously sticky fingers), Lysander was ready to test his mettle against the wonderful people... of Radiant Garden. A bunch of hardworking people with tight wallets, but he didn't run a high risk of losing anymore munny than he'd started out with, as he had in the desert town.

Which is why he found himself in the residential districts of Radiant Garden, barking out to the populace, claiming to the best marksman in all the worlds. Capable of shooting anything from anywhere. He'd take any challenge from anyone, and for the first few hours no one paid him any mind, but one child stopped and prodded at him to do something interesting after the school let out, and soon he had a whole following of kids surrounding him, asking him to do some fancy gunplay and basic magic tricks. But for the most part it was simple kids stuff, and didn't hold the same subtlety as the more intricate and impressive abilities in his repertoire.

But, having received the lunch munny's of many small school children, he went off to find a bed for the night.

-earlier that day-

With yesterday's experience's still in mind, Lysander was quite willing to sleep in a while, and by the time he awoke it was already afternoon. The perfect time to go get more munny. It is at this exact moment that fate itself conspired against Lysander.

Upon rounding a corner in a hurry, he tripped over a middle aged woman who was also in a hurry, sending them both to the ground. Well she yelled at him for a few moments, before declaring him a no-good vandal. Lysander, being the kind averse to drawing attention to himself, took off with all the blazing speed of a wild stallion with its tail on fire. But the woman was nimble for her age and managed to keep in distance of him. Unfortunately, she knocked over a fruit vendor, whom followed in a rage, which led onto attracting a group of school children, and their parents, and anyone concerned with the well being of the children; or those frustrated by the boisterous presence of a mob or anyone irritable enough to be dragged into chaotic whirlpool of trouble. And Lysander kept running, and wailing to high heaven the entire way.

"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"[/color]

He kept running until he had reached the town square, and fell, and the woman he had tripped caught up to him.

"Now I've got you-" She said only to be interrupted by the stall vendor, to be interrupted by a school child's parent, to be interrupted by a musician seeking peace, and so on and so on, until everyone was riled up and angry with each other that shouting came and next screaming, and then of course, at the final culmination of the day's events, a massive cartoon cloud. Though no one came to blows, there was plenty of frustration and tension, and they might as well have been with the things they were saying.

And by that time Lysander had conveniently slipped out of the combat, and snuck off down a side street, seeing a man knocking at a door, he thought to himself, now there's as good a place as any. "Scuuuse me, sir."[/color] He mumbled to the man standing at the door. Standing just so the lock was out of view, his dextrous fingers, and the aid of his telekinesis allowed the door to open as if by maaaaaaagic. Spooky.

He stepped inside with out a second thought. "Oh don't mind me. The door was open, I thought I'd just let myself in."[/color] He muttered with a wave, before ducking low onto one of the bar stools.[/size]