Squall
As Squall stepped over the threshold he cast his eyes around the homey surroundings. The room they had entered appeared to be a comfy den, which struck a sharp contrast with the darkened streets outside. A small fireplace protected a blaze of flickering flames. There were several intricate landscape woodcarvings that hung from various positions. A pair of them framed a window, which’s smooth glass panes revealed a darkening cobbled town square on the other side. The walls inside were covered with a pleasant tan-colored wallpaper, which seemed to absorb the dancing light from the fire, glowing with a rosy hue.
The furniture consisted of a large vacant couch along the side of the room opposite the fireplace. A dark wooded rocking chair stood in the furthest corner from the doorway. The latter was occupied.
A woman in her late thirties sat knitting. Her shoulder length dark hair amber in the firelight. A slumbering white cat with black spots was curled up at her feet. As the group stepped into the room and the man closed the door behind them, the clicking of needles stopped as the woman looked up. Her expression did little to conceal her surprise at the five men who had just strode into her house.
“I’m sorry,” The man began, chuckling and scratching his head. “We haven’t made the proper introductions yet. I’m Patrick and this is my wife Elizabeth.”
The woman had overcome her initial reaction and now stood, nodding at the four strangers. “Hello travelers.” Squall guessed she had drawn the conclusion from the worn clothing that the group wore. “What brings you young warriors to this town?” Her eyes flickered over Cloud, Tidus, and finally settling on Squall. (Raifer I believe your weapons are concealed at the moment? I might have remembered wrong) Squall shrank a little under her gaze. She reminded him of his mother.
“They’re soldiers Liz,” Patrick corrected his wife. “The Council hired them to be part of Lancaster’s guard. They were passing through this town and couldn’t find a place to stay so I invited them here for the night. I hope you don’t mind?”
The woman’s eyes softened. “Oh! The Council? That’s fine. Of course they are welcome to stay.” She turned back to them. “You guys must be hungry from traveling through the forest, I was just about start cooking and it looks like we’ll be having guests for dinner then. We hadn’t had visitors in quite a while.” She smiled and turned towards her husband. “Can you make sure May gets to bed early for me? She’s going to need to be up early tomorrow.” The man nodded.
The group thanked the couple profusely as the woman turned and left the room through a hallway opening. Squall turned to his friends, in time to see Raifer relax his face from the most disarming smile he could manage. They thanked Patrick again but he waved them off. “Lets find you guys a place to sleep, follow me.”
The others fell in step around him. Squall was stunned that they were allowed to carry their weapons further into the house, but didn’t comment. The man led them through the room, and then through the short hallway, turning left at the end into a doorway. The opening gave way to a small room with a staircase to the right, with which they ascended to the second floor.
The wooden ceiling of the ground floor creaked below them as they stepped into a medium sized bedroom. Patrick lit an oil-lamp that rested on a counter by a twin-sized bed.
“This was our son’s room. We still haven’t gotten it cleaned out yet even though he’ll be living in the city now.” The man enlightened them. “You guys can stay here. I’ll leave you guys to settle in, dinner should be ready soon.”
After Patrick had left the room, the four were silent for a moment while they examined their surroundings and relieved their bags from their bodies. The three sword-bearers slipped off their bulky weaponry, uncomfortable already at been allowed to bring the arms upstairs.
Leaning his blade against the closet door. Squall turned to see Tidus hopping across the room. “The bed’s mine!” Tidus yelled, jumping onto it with a smack, making the springs groan under the unfamiliar weight.
Raifer smiled evilly at Tidus. “Are you sure you want to sleep in that bed?”
Tidus frowned, “Why not?”
“Cause if you do... something… ahh, unfavorable might happen tonight. You better let me sleep on the bed so I can deal with it.”
Tidus caught on. “Oh hell no! I haven’t gotten to sleep on a soft bed like this for ages! Back off, I claimed it first! The bed’s mine!”
“I haven’t slept on such a nice bed for six months!” Raifer rebutted. “That’s way longer than you left your home. Three days ago in fact!”
“So? That doesn’t mean that you deserve it more!”
“Oh come on Tidus! This bed is so much better than you! I bet you won’t even get laid…”
“Don’t bring my sex life into this!”
“What sex life? You’re special humping tree?”
“Aww you little…”
The two bickered back and forth throwing threats and insults at each other, until, to Squall’s relief, Cloud interrupted. “Neither of you will have it tonight.” Then with a smirk, he added: “The bed’s mine.”
Silence.
“I never slept in a real bed before.”
The other threes’ jaws dropped. Then Raifer laughed out loud. “Oh jeez you serious?” Cloud nodded. “FINE! Haha, Cloud should have it then.” Raifer finished, a bit edgy. The others nodded, still in a bit of a shock.
“Well Tidus? You heard it! Get you dirty little ass off of that bed!” Raifer sneered at his friend. Tidus sent back an icy glare and moved his stuff to the floor. Cloud started to settle down in the vacancy, a smug expression on his face.
“Don’t get too comfy.” Squall spoke, grinning. “We got to go downstairs for dinner soon.”
“Oh yeah!” Tidus piped up, forgetting the bed incident in an instant. “I’m hungry!”
Raifer raised an eyebrow at Squall at Tidus’s sudden change of demeanor. Tidus interpreted it differently. “What? That beef jerky I had for lunch wasn’t too filling!”
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