RP Numeral 2

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A man had been watching the group ever since they had put him off his beer, Gambit was his name and he was mildly annoyed.

"That was all... somewhat entertaining..." Megan said.

Reno put a hand on Megan's shoulder. "I would agree with you on that but we are on break so let's forget that big oaf and those damn idiots for a bit and have another round of drinks," he said.

Megan glaced at him from the coner of her eye, "And I belive I said to REMOVE your hand from my shoulder..." she said in a calm yet dark tone.

Reno's hand slowly moved away as sudden movements may startle the animal causing it to attack. "Well how about those drinks? This round is on me," Reno said calling for more drinks.

She nodded, "Fine by me."

"What'll it be?" asked the barmaid.

"A nice hard ale for me," Reno proclaimed.

"And for the lovely lady?" the barmaid asked Megan.

"The same as him." she said simply.

"I figured you for a nice old fashioned beer," Reno said. "Anyway, so other than aggravating big, dumb, idiots what have you been doing in your free time?"

"Waiting for you to get here. Which may I say you took your sweet time doing so." She said with a very slight smirk.

"Well tell that to the several dragons in the Neibelheim mountains I had to fight," Reno protested. He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "One almost singed my hair"

"Oh you poor sweet innocent thing." She said with sarcasm in her voice.

"I may have taken a little detour at the Gold Saucer for some chocobo races. I made quite a bit of money," Reno admitted.

Megan rolled her eyes, "I knew it..."

The man looked over at Reno when he Mentioned the Dragons,"You fought the dragons?" he asked.

Reno turned to look at the man. "Yeah, I fought and defeated six or seven that I couldn't avoid. They weren't much problem but they did slow me down a bit," he responded.

Red sighed after being ignored and returned to Cloud and the others.

The man peered at him closly,"Whats your name son?"He asked.

Reno put a mockingly regal face. "It's mannerly to give yor own name first," he remarked with a smirk.

---

Cloud sighed and looked at Barret. "So, what are they doing here?"

---

The man chuckled,"Right you are, the names Gambit: sword for hire, at your service."

---

Barret glared at Cloud "There on break."

"Don't look at me like that Barret." Cloud said returning the glare.

"Come on guys..." Tifa pleaded. "Let's not start fighting again..."

Barret growled "It doesnt matter what they are doin Cloud, its the fact that they are here!"

Cloud nodded and sighed helplessly. "I suppose, you wanna go kill them, huh Barret?" He asked slowly.

Barred gave him a look "Is it that obvious?" He rolled his eyes "OF COURSE I WANNA BLOODY KILL EM!"

Imagine how he'd be if h found out about Lex. Cloud thought as he looked out of the corner of his eyes to the spot where Lex was. No worries, I'll protect him if he does find out and want to kill him. "Fine, just not right now."

Barret rolled his eyes again "What are you on break too?" He scoffed and started to change his rocket launcher for the machinegun again.

"Tell me Barret.Is our group now an invisible little army?" Cloud asked coldly.

Barred scowled "It aint my fault they want to eat with filth."

"You maybe should've stayed incase something were to happen." Cloud said with a long yawn following after.

Lex came over and draped his arms over Cloud's shoulders, smiling cheerily at Barret. "Maybe I can beat you now without that rocket gizmo."

Barred cocked the gun and pointed it at Lex's head "I dont think so." he said and started to walk back to the bar "Fuckin turks." He mumbled to himself.

Lex stared at him un-understanding why he was getting so irritable all of a sudden. "Barret...I was, just kidding." He said quietly while dropping his arms from Cloud's shoulders.

Cloud glared at the man walking away. "Insensitive."

Barret yelled back "JACKASS!"

"Yeah, that may be but I don't hurt innocent people's feelings when they are just playing, huh?" Cloud asked.

"Cloud, did you tell him?" Lex asked quicklt, wide-eyed and small pupiled.

"Yeah right, you'd be dead while you were over by the rocket." Cloud said with a low sigh.

Lex ran off after the man, still wide-eyed, but ready to tell him the truth. "Barret!"

Barret stopped and growled "What is it!?"

"Please, don't hurt me.." Lex said, covering his head with his arms quickly. "But, you see...The truth is...I am what you hate the most." He held his breath, expecting to be shot, or hit, of even slaughtered with Barret's bare hand.

Barret frowned "You're a vegitable?"

"No..Ima Turk Barret..."

Barret shook his head "No.... your joking with me... no way.." He looked at him frowning "Your joking right?"

Lex looked up at him through his arms. "I wish I could redo my past, but I can't..." He said quickly. "I'm not lying..."

Barret moved without warning, punching him as hard as he could straight into Lex's ribs.

Lex pupils shrunk from the shift blow from the man, knowing for sure he had at least a couple broken ribs. He landed on the ground holding his ribs and looking at Barret. "I...des-served that...I g-guess..." He managed to force out past the pain. He slowly began to make his way up off the ground, a few moments passing till he was actually standing.

Barret looked him sqare in the eye "Thats for not telling me earlier." He said "You aint no Turk. Well at least. Not now, as far as im concerned, you in the Avalance group."

"I didn't say anthing earlier because.." He rubbed his rib cage roughly and sighed. "I thought you would surely kill me..." Lex grumbled to himself as he turned away from the sun and opened up his cloak to check his chest. He lifted his shirt to get a better look, and sure enough there was already a bruise the size of an softball and two lumps coming from his ribcage. He took a deep breath and let it out into a low sigh. "Ow."

Barret laughed and winked "Thats gonna hurt in the morning."

Lex smiled to himelf, happy that Barret didn't consider killing him. He dropped the sides of his cloak down andturned around nodding to Barret. "Yeah, I knew that I was gonna be in some sort of pain...Thanks Barret, I mean for not killing me that is."

Red sighed as he watched them.

Barret chuckled "I considered shooting you in the head but.... I thought that would be too painless."

Lex gave a wide grin and stared over at Barret. "I'd haunt you if you kill me."

Barret shrugged then said so Cloud couldnt hear them "Cloud's being haunted, it doesnt bother him."

"You don't know my method of haunting then..." Lex looked over at Cloud slowly, then back to Barret. "Hey, short stuff. What's he being haunted by?"

Barret glanced at Cloud then back to Lex "By Aeris."

Lex placed his elbow on Barret's shoulder and leaned most his weight against the man, starring at Cloud intently. "Really now? Hm..That would creep me out..I wouldn't like being the haunted, I'd rather be the hauntee." He joked.

Barret shrugged "Jus keep em away from me and everythin's cool."

"Aeris was a lovely woman." Red nodded. "I'm sure she wouldn't hurt anyone. Even as a spirit." The dog smiled.

"You act like he's the Black Death Barret." Lex chuckled and removed his arm from the man. "I would take the dog's advice."

Barred nodded at them "I know what you mean, she was great... It still freaks me out though."

"Well, I guess we have to wait for the others to come back before we can actually decide on a plan." Lex said calmly.

Red nodded in agreement and sat down.

Reno looked Gambit up and down and chuckled. "'Sword for hire'? Must be tough being a mercenary and competeing with ex-SOLDIERs like little old Cloud over there," Reno said cocking his toward the later mentioned swordsman. "Must be hard to get by. Besides, Shinra is keeping lots of these towns safe. Of course he has decided to go all 'Fight Shinra!' so he ain't competition for you anymore, I guess."

Gambit chuckled, "Well i support my self other ways too... none you need to know but i do this for fun."

"Don't we all, yo?" Reno responded with a grin.

Gambit nodded,"and who is this Cloud?"

Reno chuckled. "Chocobo Head? He's the guy with the blue shirt, blonde poorly styled hair, and the giant broadsword on his back. He is standing next to that big, dumb, black guy with the gun arm."

Gambit chuckled and pointed to his equaly large sword on the bar next to him,"That i can understand."

Cloud gave a slight yawn as he looked over to Barret and Lex. "hm..?"

Gambit paid for his drink and walked over to cloud,"They tell me you fight shinra."

Cloud turned to the man and stared at him. "And, what if I do?"

Gambit smiled,"You need to not take life so hard young Cloud, my name is Gambit...and I do as you do."He said as he motioned for another drink.

Lex walked over to the two men, tilting his head and smiling. "Oh, really now?"

Cloud looked at Lex and blinked a few times. "Feeling better then earlier, or did Barret do something to you?"

Lex smiled nervously and patted the spot which was bruised and broken gingerly. "I'm fine."

Gambit chuckled,"So fighter are you?"

Lex nodded and turned his gaze back to Gambit. "I guess you could say that, and yourself?"

Gambit nodded towards his huge blade on the bar,"Might say that..for over 30 years now."

"Geez, you're old enough to be my dad..." Yeah..dad.. Lex looked over at the blade and blinked a few times. "Which reminds me, I never did get to finnish my water."

Gambit nodded and turned back the Cloud,"So, what are your reasons, if you dont mind my asking?"

"Must I really explain myself to you?" Cloud asked.

Gambit shook his head,"Not if you dont want to...I heard about your last...encounter with shinra and their prouducts...what is it this time?"

"When did this turn into an interview?" Cloud asked sceptically.

Lex came back over with a bottle of water and smiled towards the two. "Now Cloud, thats no way to speak t-"

Cloud turned and walked off with his hands in his pockets.

"What was that all about?" Lex asked Gambit.

Gambit shook his head,"No clue...all i know is that youngster has a lot of problems this time...and not just Shinra."

"We all have problems." Red said shortly as he glanced at Gambit and trotted after Cloud.

Gambit smiled to himself,"You have no idea Red 13, none at all."

Lex patted Gambit's shoulder lightly and sighed. "He's got problems, yes..He's a good guy though, once you get to know him." He took a sip of his water and watched the two go off.

Gambit said nothing and picked up his sword, buckling it around his back and waist,"Where is your group headed?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Barret that...I just sort of popped up, don't have a clue what we're doing. I just know that I can calm Barret down." Lex chuckled and looked over to Barret. "Big cow."

Gambit looked over and nodded,"Gun arm right?"

"Cloud! Please wait." Red called as he began to run after the man. The dog didn't really want to be around this new 'Gambit.' He talked about Shinra too much.

"Yeah, thats him." Lex said with a small nod.

Cloud looked back at Red and stopped walking. "Hm..?"

Red slowed to a stop beside him and smiled. "I had a feeling you wanted some company. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but he was asking a few too many questions." Cloud looked down to the dog. "I'm fine."

"I know." Red nodded. "Well, I know that trying not to think about Aeris is difficult, but we need you, Cloud. Really."

Cloud looked up, peering at a few kids run by. "Don't you wish you could go back to those days at times Red? The days where you weren't constantly worrying wheather you'd live another day, or die fighting?"

Red thought for a while before replying. "Of course I do. I miss those days. I made so many friends. I changed so much. So did you, Cloud."

Cloud sighed and looked down again. "Yeah...I know."

"In a good way, my friend." Red nodded. "You have grown into a true and strong man."

"I've grown into a mercenary, Red." Cloud said.

"A worthy mercenary. A strong soldier." Red said quietly.

"Yeah, but the only thing I see going for me is death if I make a wrong move. I used to not have to worry about that when I was a kid, just a few bad words..." Cloud crossed his arms and looked behind him slowly. "I wonder how Barret was as a child..."

"Ah, probably a little worse than he is now. He's more ahem, mature now I suppose. But that's the way he is, we just have to like it." Red sighed. "He and I do have our fallouts now and again, but we are alright."

"If thats mature, I'd hate to see childi...Nevermind...I've seen it already.." Cloud said blandly.

Red just smiled.

Cloud turned and looked back at Red. "Come on, no telling what kind of trouble they'll cause with that guy around."

"I wondered when you would decide to head back." Red chuckled softly and walked on.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Cloud asked with a turn of his head.

The dog looked up at him. "Mainly because we can't afford to be split up from the others for so long."

"Yeah, thats true." Cloud agreed with a small nod.

Barret looked at Gambit "Dunno were we are goin, all we know is that Shinra will be lookin for us, we have to get far away, and closer to that freak Sephiroth." He said examining his gun arm "What we really need is a plane or summat."

Lex nodded slowly and tapped his chin. "But, where would you get a plane?"

Barred rubbed his forhead trying to think "I dunno... Maybe we should ask that Cid guy? He knows the place."

"Yeah, that'd probally help." Lex began to twist his body around as he examined the grounds. he suddenly came to a complete stop and looked at Barret. "Hey, who's Cid?"

Barret grinned "Cid, that smoking guy at the rocket."

Gambit chuckled,"That cant be too smart."

"Oh! I knew that!" Lex said as he grew a bit red of embarrassment.

Cloud scratched the back of his own head as he came to a sudden stop. "He's still here."
Red carried on walking as the others finally came into view.