#baybeee marlene...... plus tifa meeting her new fav aunt :D

[a-vctlan]

“where am i supposed to go ?” -- morbid curiosity meme from tifa to barret but ok but hear me out.. pre-avalanche tifa trying to find her footing in sector 7 :’) -- @aicidos

New faces were not at all an uncommon sight in the slums, a sea of bodies that ebbed and flowed with the tides of time and fortune, but Barret could see past that -- a sense of loss that enveloped more than simply being lost yourself. He couldn't help but pry, reach out his hand in help, feeling worried for a young woman so clearly out of her depth and seemingly alone, with no one to rely on.

Midgar attracted those that hoped for a better life for themselves, and he'd often be the unfortunate gatekeeper to show them just how unreachable that goal was… but she wasn't here in pursuit of glory or comfort.

She just had nowhere to go. He'd been there, once.

"There's a woman just down this path, name's Merle." He shifts the toddler resting against his chest, seated on a prosthetic arm as she slept, his voice low and understanding, as if not wanting to bring attention to their conversation or wake the young girl's nap. "Got a small motel going, rents out one of the few decent rooms in this sector." Here, his good arm is raised to point toward the general direction from the messy starting quarters of what would be the town guard.

"Tell her I sent you, and that I'm calling in a favor. If she doesn't have a room, she'll know who does. We'll figure out payment after, yeah? Can't be getting too worked up in these things without a cool head on your shoulders… besides, Merle could always use a little help. We take care of each other down here, ain't like Shinra's going to do shit for the people below the plate." The name of the company is spit with so much disdain that it almost sounds like a curse, and he has to gently bounce the child he was carrying to soothe her back to sleep, spooked by him raising his voice suddenly.