Red and Cait hide behind an array of stalagmites, pressing into it and making themselves as small as possible. Red tries to keep his panting low while Cait Sith is starting to run hot, machinery whirring not yet loudly but definitely more audible than usual.
Both do their best to make as little noise as possible.
A loud crash rocks the mine entrance and dust and little stones are shaken loose from the ceiling, and the two somehow manage to huddle even closer. They wait about a minute until the angry hissing finally recedes and then wait two more just to be safe.
They sink to the floor with a synchronized sigh of relief. "They should 'ang up a warnin' for tha' beast!" Cait Sith yowls in exasperation. Evidently the cat decides that keeping somewhat upright is taking too much effort as he slumps forward, spread out on his stomach.
Red forgoes commenting in favor of getting some much needed air into his lungs, though he very much agrees. He is more than ready to leave the grasslands behind, and if he never sees that oversized serpent again in his life it will be too soon.
"This stew is worse than the one your friend made," Red deadpans.
"How dare ye!" Cait yowls from the kitchen, covered in scratches and burn marks. The potatoes are still on fire. The less said about the state of the kitchen, the better.
Cait Sith might be skilled in starting a campfire, but a cook he is not.
The lightshow during the funicular ride had already been breathtaking, and Cait cannot deny that he is very excited to be here. He had been practically vibrating in his seat the whole ride through. The moment the doors open the cat jumps out, bouncing on his feet as he waits for his friend to exit after him at a more normal pace. "C'mon, c'mon!" He tries to get Red to match his energy. "The biggest amusement park in th' world! Ye have tae experience it at least once!" And this is supposed to be his workplace one day, gotta look around!
Cait scampers off, actually running on all fours, through the hallway connecting the funicular with the main entrance. "If I lose you in the crowd I'm leaving you behind," he hears Red call after him, amusement clear in his voice.
"Nah," the cat calls back with a grin, "I'd find ye before ye could even make it tae th' entrance! Ye're not gettin' rid of me tha' easy!"
They do soon encounter a slight problem before they even make it to the entrance. Overstimulation.
Cait has no issues with the bright lights and loud music, but Red's ears keep flicking, he starts to shiver and he does a full body shake. A paw comes up to rub at his eye. The two friends decide to backtrack through the hallway and into one of the rooms until it passes. The eventual journey to the park entrance is taken as slow as Red needs.
——————————————
They make it through the entrance without problem because people assume they are either animatronics—which, in Cait Sith's case, isn't even necessarily wrong—or very dedicated employees in suits, and employees don't need to pay for entry, that would just be ridiculous!
After studying the map—"Th' maps are moogles, Red! An' they talk!"—the two decide to first check out the Chocobo Square. (Cait notices Red's tail swish just a bit faster than usual and his grin impossibly widens even more. His friend is just as excited to be here as Cait is, there is no hiding from him!)
——————————————
"Why do they serve corn juice?!" Red exclaims as he scans the menu.
Cait has to hold both his hands in front of his mouth to keep from laughing.
——————————————
He doesn't even work here yet but Cait is already a huge hit with children and he thrives on their delight at his various dances or impromptu comedy routines. It might mean that it takes them longer to see everything, but children (and even some parents!) are laughing thanks to him and hugging him.
Cait can't wait for the day his moogle is done and he can start working here properly. This place is paradise.
——————————————
"And you really want to work here?" the beast man asks quietly. They are currently hiding in a staff only room so Red can recover from another bout of overstimulation. "I admit that it's a lot of fun—the things I can actually get to do anyways—but it's so bright and loud. How will you manage a whole work day without going mad from it all?"
Cait huffs a little laugh. "Entertainin' people is my purpose, I was lit'rally made for this!"
Red gives him a blank stare. "You're a surveillance bot."
"I told ye, I can be both!"
——————————————
Red's ears pick up as he reads a poster. "The Battle Square is holding a double battle tournament today. The winners get a gold pass for the park, from Dio himself apparently, whoever that is."
"Tha's th' owner o' th' park," Cait explains and then pretends to think about it. "...ye got 'nuff energy tae clobber some folks?"
Red's smile is all teeth. "We do have some materia that need leveling."
Cait grins like the cat that got the canary.
——————————————
They win easily, the poor people in the tournament had no chance. Red gets the gold pass and Cait takes the chance to speak with the owner for a bit. Why not make a good first impression and get to know his unknowing future employer?
It's the middle of the second day since they made it through the mines. The bare mountains and dry ground glowed red in the sunlight, and the beast man couldn't help but be reminded of his home. The Junon area couldn't hold a candle to Cosmo Canyon, but the similarities still drowned him everytime his thoughts drifted.
A whisper in the grass and Red remembered running through the canyon with his mother. Wind blowing through the mountains and he could swear he could hear his grandfather's laugh. Workers gossiping around roadworks and the beast man expected Cosmo's marketplace around the corner.
Stars, he missed his home.
A sharp curse next to him brought him back to the present and he turned his attention towards Cait, who had stopped walking. The robot cat looked genuinely angry, ears flat against his skull, eyebrows drawn in a glare and a hiss on his tongue.
Red's ears flicked and for a second he didn't know what to do. He had seen Cait jovial, frustrated, even sad when they came across a stray kitten in Kalm. He didn't know how to deal with an angry Cait Sith. "...What's wrong?" Red asked carefully, giving his friend companion his full attention.
"They're belittlin' 'im again!" Cait spat and started pacing. "Laughin' at 'im for caring! Shootin' 'im down at ev'ry turn! Even Palmer's--!" Suddenly the cat stumbled a step backward with a shocked expression, before it dissolved into actual growling. "An' now 'e shut me out!"
Palmer. Another executive mentioned by name. Red is starting to wonder just what position Reeve holds in the Shinra hierarchy. But he tucks that thought away for now, Cait Sith takes priority right now. The cat looks about ready to actually start throwing rocks.
"Does that happen often?" the beast man asks carefully. "The belittling?"
"Urban Development is the laughin' stock of th' entire company," Cait explains darkly. He is still pacing. "Why care for th' city when there's still land in Wutai? Why invest in security for the reactors when there's robots tae be built, materia tae be researched?! Why fix roads or build houses when they could always use more troopers instead!"
Red regrets asking, frowning as Cait talked himself into a frenzy. He sat down and watched as the cat kept clenching and unclenching his hands, nostrils flaring with each heavy breath Red knew Cait didn't actually need. Neither of them spoke for a while.
Finally Cait Sith sighed, his ears drooping and, mirroring Red, sat down heavily on the ground. The anger left him as fast as it had come. "...The wors' part is tha' 'e won't even let 'imself get mad," he muttered, his tail anxiously gripped in both of his hands and hunched over just a bit. "'e knows there would be consequences if he ever dared tae talk back. At best they would replace 'im wi' someone who cares jus' as little as they dae, at worst they would go after everyone under 'im instead.
"So 'e doesn't."
Red stared at the sad cat for a bit, his ears flicking and his tail lightly thumping against the ground in contemplation. Then he stood up again, walked over to Cait and curled up around him without comment. Cait glanced over at him in light surprise. "...do you miss him?" Red asked quietly.
Cait looked down at his hands, still gripping his tail. "...dae ye miss Cosmo Canyon?"
A bearded smile, a hand in his fur. "Nanaki—"
Red flinched and turned away. Silence for a minute.
"...o' course I miss 'im," Cait finally muttered in response. "Ev'ry day. I wish I was there tae cheer 'im up. I wish I was there tae bite their ankles for not listenin' to 'im. But..." The robot cat finally let go of his tail and leaned back, nestling into Red with a little smile, ears perked up again. "I wouldn't give 'is freedom up so easily either. Travelin' the world wi' a friend, not havin' tae be careful not tae be spotted by anyone, actually seein' th' stars ev'ry night!"
Red smiled at his compa-- his friend's returning enthusiasm and shifted his tail so it laid lightly over one of Cait's boots in response.
"An' ye never kno'," said friend continued with a pointed hand, "when we're finally in Upper Junon maybe I can pull some strings, get ye some honest to Odin stew after Reeve's sad attempt!"
"For someone who clearly doesn't cook all that often it wasn't that bad," Red defended with an amused huff, and they stayed on the ground for at least another hour, chatting over nothing but forgetting their problems for a while.
He still deeply missed his home, but Red figured that this was okay in the meantime.
------------------------------------------
"Heehee..."
"...?"
"'e apologized for cuttin' me off without warnin'."
Red returns to their little makeshift camp to see his companion sit contendly next to the fire, leaning backwards on both his paws and swaying his feet softly, a stick to stoke the fire with laying next to him in the grass. The robot cat is humming a catchy little tune that the beast man doesn't know.
He has to admit, Cait is ridiculously good at setting up a campfire. A ring of stones is arranged neatly around the perfectly selected burning wood. If Red had been in charge of the fire it would have taken at least half an hour to gather the wood and half an hour more to get it burning, not to mention he would have left out the stones entirely. But what would have taken Red an hour Cait manages in less than 15 minutes. (Opposable thumbs probably help with that.)
At the sound of his footsteps Cait looks up from the fire and his ears perk up in delight. "Ye're back early!" the cat tells him with a grin.
"Didn't need to hunt," Red explains, walking up to his travel companion and laying down next to him. "The people from the Chocobo Ranch saw me skulking around and offered some food."
"Well, how 'boot tha'. Sure was nice o' them," Cait replies and starts humming again. Red lays down his head on his paws, closes his eye and absorbs the warmth of the fire.
After a few minutes of content silence Red speaks up again, curious. "What are you humming?"
Cait Sith chuckles. "Jus' summat Reeve's assisstant lass likes listenin' tae lately. It gets on 'is nerves a bit, but I like it well 'nuff."
That surprises Red a little and he looks back up at the cat, flicking an ear. He had always thought that while Reeve had full access to whatever Cait sent him, Cait himself was limited to data on a server.
And since Reeve didn't seem like someone who would put a recording of a song he apparently didn't like, least of all with a comment stating that, on a server for Cait to look at. So that leaves only...
"...your connection goes both ways?"
Cait stokes the fire lightly, sparks shooting up into the falling night. "Does tha' surprise ye?" he asked, seeming amused. "How do ye think we evaded all them Shinra security folk? Did ye think I hacked Heidegger for the routing schedule?"
Not wanting to admit that was exactly it, Red lays his head back down and doesn't respond.
Cait laughs, reading the non-reaction correctly. "Well, Reeve did hack 'im, so ye're not exactly wrong, but tha' wasn't me. I jus' followed his directions."
While Red is mulling that revelation over in silence Cait goes back to humming. After a few more minutes of that, Cait chuckles again, surprise clear in the tone. "What is it?" Red asks, looking up again.
Cait shakes his head and looks over at the beast man in mirth. "He jus' told me tae knock it off! Says I'm disrupting his concentration!"
Red only had a moment to take in the man during their grand escape, but imagining him frustrated at Cait's antics admittedly made him chuckle. "Well. I think if he's still working at this hour, that seems like his own problem."
Cait yowled in delight at his response and Red's tail wagged once in pride. "Ye hear tha', Reeve! Even Red thinks ye should go tae bed already!"
They spend the rest of the night teasing Reeve until the man finally and reluctantly clocked out of work, their laughter at his expense following the two companions into their own slumber.
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