...A REAL first date? [Aerith]

[mrcrazycakes]

"... Yeah. I guess I am; I'm a lot better a person since then," Cloud replied after a moment of thought. There was the obvious upside of meeting Aerith, but she knew that. He probably wouldn't have learned to use the Buster Sword as well as he could if he hadn't left, and he'd matured a lot outside the town. Aerith had helped him get over his problems plenty, though. Not to mention saving her life had given him a boost to his self-esteem that had gotten him to stay.

"You thought I was going to say you were the only thing I got from leaving Radiant Garden, didn't you?" Cloud asked, smiling at her and chuckling a little.

[Secret Agent Cat]

Aerith adverted her eyes some, "Um..yeah, sort of," she said a bit shyly, she wasn't usually shy but couldn't help but being so around Cloud, sometimes. She then looked up and Cloud and smiled, "But, it's good that you've become a better person." she added, happy for him. She then started to resume eating her dinner. (She had been nibbling on it some as they talked.)

Another question then struck her. Deep down inside she knew that they had known each other before the hospital incident. She bit her lip some as she looked up at Cloud again, "Er, haven't we met before the whole hospital incident?" she asked him. Yeah, she was determined to kind of prove him right. She just wanted to know if he was the boy she saw all alone. They just looked so alike. She looked down slightly and smiled, "Uh, sorry..we can talk about something else if you like," She didn't want to bring up something he didn't want to talk about. And if he didn't want her to know that they had 'known' each other before he saved her, then it was alright by her.

[mrcrazycakes]

"No, it's okay, but...I don't really consider it meeting," Cloud answered, shaking his head. "We didn't even exchange names. but, yeah... you were the one who gave me that yellow flower. The one I gave to you a couple of weeks ago. You wished me good luck and gave it to me a little while after the guard turned me down," He said honestly, looking down a little bit. He didn't like to think about those times. He wasn't like that any more. Mostly thanks to her, too.

"Yeah... I was the lonely blond kid who would never even get close to somebody. But... I've changed a lot since then." He finished, looking back up at Aerith and smiling again. He really had changed a lot; he never would have dreamed he would be somewhere like this with someone else the way he was before. Change wasn't always a bad thing...

[Secret Agent Cat]

Aerith listened intently to Cloud's answer, surprised that he was actually saying so. She knew she couldn't have been a hundred percent that that was him back then, but if he had lived in Radiant Garden before then surely she would have ran into him before he went away. She nibbled on her meal as Cloud spoke; telling her that he was indeed the one she had given the yellow flower to and he had returned it. She had only discovered one of those flowers before and had given it away to the lonely looking blond kid in the front area of the academy. She was glad that it had been him other wise she wouldn't have it now. She just guessed that things were sometimes tied together even though the two people may not know it.

She smiled, "Mm, its good to that you've come out of your shell," she teased, tilting her head as she smiled over at Cloud. It seemed that Cloud was becoming quite the person. "Hmm, well since we're sharing 'personal' stuff...I should probably share some too," she said to him. She didn't believe that she had ever told him what she was about to. Only really a few people knew actually.

She finished with a bite of her food and looked over at Cloud, "My mother isn't really my real mother, when I was too little to even remember my father owned an Inn called the Icicle Inn. One night it was set on fire and both my parents died in it, I survived and was adopted by Elmyra, my mother," she explained. Even though she did not remember it, she couldn't help but feel saddened by it. She looked down for a moment and then smiled at Cloud a bit weakly. "I don't remember my parents...but I wish I had. I heard that they were wonderful people,"

[mrcrazycakes]

"I'm sure they were, Aerith," Cloud answered. He didn't really know what to say about her losing her parents. He could kind of relate, with his dad having died when he was young, but he still had his mother. It was sort of a similar situation, actually, since she probably felt the same way about her adopted mother as he did his biological mother. It took all kinds of people to make the world (Or, worlds, as it should have been) go 'round. Regardless, he didn't really have any consolation to give her. "... Don't really know how to reply to that, honestly. My dad died when I was a kid, too, but I was old enough to remember him."

[Secret Agent Cat]

Aerith smiled at Cloud, she usually didn't get depressed or sad about losing her parents. Things happened and she still had her mother even if she wasn't her biological mother. She loved her non the less, so it wasn't that big of a problem. She just thought she'd throw it out there since they were getting to know each other better and were sort of on the more personal topics. "It's alright, I love Elmy like she was my biological mother, though somewhere inside does wish that I could have known my real parents, ya know?" she smiled, even though the conversation had turned some she continued to remain happy. That was Aerith for you. One thing, whether it was sad or happy, or what ever, her demeanor didn't change all that much. She remained bright; suppose that's why most of the people in town like her. She's like the whole package; friendly, happy, upbeat, sometimes sarcastic, caring and doesn't really let anything bother her.

[mrcrazycakes]

Cloud nodded in agreement. He'd have the same sentiments himself all things considered. He was about to say something when one of the waiters tapped him on the shoulder. "...Yeah?" As usual, his voice didn't hold much anger, even though he'd been about to say something. A little bit of frustration, maybe, but his voice was more or less curious in tone.

"Sir, would you kindly store that.... thing," He said, pointing to the behemoth of a blade he used. "somewhere our other customers cannot see it? You are going to scare away our other customers, sir."

"Uh... sure, but... Where exactly am I going to put it?" Cloud asked. The expression on the waiter's face at that was definitely worth the cost to get in here. Granted, it wasn't too extraordinarily expensive, but it was more costly than the rest of the places in town. The waiter hurriedly walked away, and Cloud had to put forth an effort not to laugh at the situation. "I think we should try to finish eating soon so we don't get thrown out."

[Secret Agent Cat]

Aerith giggled slightly to herself at Cloud's question to the waiter, as well as the waiter's expression. She then smiled over at Cloud, she took another bite which finished off her plate. "Mmm, we could get dessert somewhere else," she suggested to Cloud, then looked around some and noticed that some of the customers were starring over at them. Well, not at them, but at Cloud, mostly his sword that set behind him. "Yeah.." she began to whisper, "It is a good idea to get out of here, I think we have a bunch of eaves-droppers," she said adding a wink.

[mrcrazycakes]

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that ice cream stand you took Kairi to when the two of you were spending the day together last. Probably better than what they have here, anyhow," Cloud commented, remembering Aerith's comment on her afternoon on the town with Kairi... Last week? Something like that, it was a couple of days after he took that basket of goodies to the young redhead for Aerith.

Either way, he got the check, paid for the meal, and led Aerith out (Though it was more arm in arm than one leading the other). "You'll get to lead me around now; I still don't know where the place you two went is. Unless you want to go somewhere else for dessert; up to you. So, what else would you like to talk about?"

[Secret Agent Cat]

Aerith smiled, "That's just where I was thinking," she explained to him. They did have good ice-cream there and there was a lot of flavors to choose from. She had only been there once before her time with Kairi. She had made it in her mind to try every flavor there and then eventually find one she liked. That would probably be a lot of visits with Kairi (maybe even Yuffie as well, and Squall who seemed to be avoiding them or too busy to hang out. At least Cloud was free.)

"Would you like to go someplace else? I mean you did surprise me with a date here," she said, walking besides Cloud. Her arm intertwined with his. Though she wasn't close enough to him that they looked like a couple, though it seemed that the people in the restaurant had probably already gathered enough to speculate that they were indeed dating. "I think..I've ran out of things to ask.." she said to him as they exited the restaurant. Though she did not know everything about Cloud, she had just run out of things to ask at that particular moment. It was hard coming up with questions to ask someone when you were trying to get to know them better.

"Here's a question.." she began, "What's your favorite dessert? If you answer me that, I'll decide on where to go to get dessert. That sound good?" she asked, looking up at him.

[mrcrazycakes]

"I... never really thought about it, actually. I can't say I have a favorite. I tend not to eat dessert foods too often," Cloud answered, caught off guard by the question. It wasn't that he didn't like desserts, or that he was dieting (Which he wasn't; carrying around the Buster Sword was enough a workout for anyone), but he usually didn't care for eating them, or didn't have the money to buy such. Cake, ice cream and cookies were about as far as he'd gone with such.

"I haven't seen Yuffie or Kairi in a while," Cloud noted, taking a look up at the sky, which was starting to change to an orange with pink highlights. He was planning to take her to the fountains when it got a little darker; the lights there were beautiful at night. Of course, she'd probably seen it many more times than he had, but the effect was one of those you could see a thousand times and never get tired of it. "Or Squall, but I think he's busy. I heard things have been hectic around the Bastion since the Storm. Hope everyone's doin' all right."

[Secret Agent Cat]

"Hmm.." she chimmed in thought. Well, since Cloud didn't have any particular dessert in mind she would have to think of something he might like. Though, ice cream did sound good.

"Yuffie bugs me every so often.." Aerith explained. But, she hadn't seen her best friend in awhile. "Yeah...Squall's pretty busy," she said, a bit sad about the fact that she hadn't seen her best friend in forever. But, she wouldn't let that get her down. She was with someone she cared about, someone who made her happy and nothing could ruin the mood. "We'll just go to the ice cream stand, I need to try another flavor," she said, smiling at him. She then rested her head on his shoulder/arm (since he was relatively taller than her) and began to lead him towards where she and Kairi had been a few days before.

[mrcrazycakes]

"Everything sure got back to normal quick. If it weren't for the damage to the buildings, you wouldn't be able to tell the Storm even happened," Cloud commented after a short while of silence. He'd let Aerith lead the way, her head on his shoulder, to the ice cream shop. Which they hadn't reached yet, probably because the restaurant they were coming from was in a weird place. It was kind of odd; he used to prefer being in silence, but now he found it a bit unnerving. "I'm glad you came with me; it's nice to have somebody to talk to about things that are goin' on."

[Secret Agent Cat]

"The community here is great...it's wonderful how everyone comes together to help," Aerith explained as she continued to lead Cloud towards the ice cream shop.

"I enjoyed..our little date," she said to him as they continued to walk. Within a five or so minutes they reached the ice cream shop that thankfully was still open, though they were closing soon. There were one or two customers there already. It was getting late and mostly everyone was inside. Most people had begun to stay inside during the night because of the Storm. But, mostly the entire threat of the Anonamly was gone.

Aerith walked inside, grabbing Cloud's hand and leading him inside.

[mrcrazycakes]

"Yeah. We're lucky to live in a place like this... And I'm glad you're having a good time," Cloud answered, smiling and letting Aerith lead him into the ice cream shop. It was a comfortable type of place, with a wide counter displaying many different flavors of ice cream. They all looked good (Except for one marked 'Bubblegum', which didn't look very appealing), but Cloud had absolutely no idea what to get. "Ah... I guess I'll try the mint. The only flavor I've really had is vanilla," He admitted, rubbing the back of his head nervously. He'd drawn a couple of looks from the people there, but they gave a greeting to Aerith and paid him no more mind except for the woman over at the counter marking down what he wanted.

((Blah.))