Title: The Sounds of the Great Outdoors
Fandoms: Final Fantasy VII
Rating: SFW
Length: 1370 words
Characters: Aerith Gainsborough, Tifa Lockhart
Summary: Aeris has trouble sleeping outside of Midgar.


For fourteen years, Aeris thought Midgar was noisy. Loud sounds reverberated off of the upper plate and mixed with the hum of electrical wires, the low rumble of the mako pumps in the reactors, and the people- So many people chattering, gossiping, shouting, living. Midgar was a city of noise and venturing outside of it could only lead to blissful pools of silence. She changed her mind when she left with Avalanche. Or rather, her opinion changed when they left Kalm. Before that the world had been far too full of wonders and sights to stare at (Real grass! Trees! Flowers! The open sky!) and even staying at the Kalm inn (a whole new town!) was so different she never noticed the noise.

But once the town lay behind them and the group made their way south, the near empty grasslands proved to be as noisy as Midgar ever was. If not more so. Or perhaps not quite as noisy, but unfamiliar enough to keep drawing her attention with the newness. The sounds of the wilderness were easy to miss during the day as Aeris and her new friends tracked through the fields. She could identify every passing tree and every passing flower much to Tifa's admiration. Tifa in turn related how the distant mountain range seemed so prosaic contrasted with the twisted heights of Mount Nibel. The two tended to walk side by side talking about anything and everything.

At night the grasslands got louder. Back home brick, wood and glass separated Aeris from Midgar’s noise as she slept in Sector Five. Those materials seemed to be effective in blotting out the hubbub of the city. Here there was nothing but a canvas wall separating her and whatever the hell was screeching in the middle distance. The canvas was pretty thick but- Aeris opened her eyes as she rolled onto her back and stared up. The peaked roof of the tent was almost discernible in the dim light. At least the Planet's voice was quieter at night.

Aeris yawned. Exhausted but that thing – whatever it was – was continuing its frustrating racket. Its absence would not have been a huge improvement; without what sounded like a large predator, the masses of chirping crickets infesting the thick grass would be quick to start up their singing again. Somehow people slept out in the wilderness like this for fun. They were in the minority and had reputations too; camping was not exactly a popular or sensible past-time given the inherent risk of venturing somewhere monsters roamed. Then again; Midgar was not wholly safe either. A number of varying sizes of unwanted pests lurked in the darkness beneath the plates.

She sighed and rolled over. Another long moment of sleeplessness; she pressed her pillow over one ear and her head against the groundsheet. A second, another second- The roar of the creature cut through her feeble aural protections and she threw the pillow to one side with a growl. “Can’t sleep?” Tifa murmured from nearby.

“No,” Aeris replied with a sigh. She rolled over to face her companion; Tifa was watching her, her chin propped on one hand. “Sorry if I woke you.”

Tifa shook her head. “I couldn’t sleep either. Been a long time since I was last out of Midgar-“ She cut herself short. Now was not the time to get into the odd holes in Cloud’s story; not least the moments after his confrontation with Sephiroth. But there also remained the question of how Tifa survived her injuries - and how she even wound up in Midgar. Cloud's words rang true enough; Aeris had caught sight of the scar running across Tifa's chest while they changed one night.

“You did this before?” Aeris asked as she fumbled for the zip of her sleeping bag; too warm right now.

“Oh sure.” Tifa’s grin was visible in the gloom. “I was a guide back home remember? More than once I got stuck up on Mount Nibel and had to rough it.” She sighed. “You’d think that would have me in better practice for this since I’m sure it was much noisier up there. And at least here there’s no risk of dragons here.”

“Dragons?” Aeris sat up and stared at Tifa. “You mean to tell me that you went camping when there was a risk of dragons? Was your tent made of steel or something?”

“Nope. Canvas; just like this one." She smiled. "It was fine! I lived to tell the tale didn’t I?” Tifa rolled onto her side.

“Amazing.” Aeris fidgeted and lay back down, mirroring Tifa’s posture. “Not sure I would want to do that.”

“It’s not easy to relax like that I admit.”

“Sounds worse than here.” Aeris sighed. “Still, some positives; at least we’re not sharing with the guys.”

“Definitely,” Tifa chuckled. “I still can’t believe how put out they looked.”

“Oh?” Aeris smiled. “You mean when I said this was our tent and they weren’t welcome?”

“Yeah; when you said ‘No Boys Allowed’!” Tifa sniggered. “Not sure what they expected the sleeping arrangement to be like, but I think Cloud and Barret never envisaged being forced to share like that.”

“As if we could share with them; keeping them out of this tent seemed like the most sensible idea. I mean; remember how much of a mess they got in on the way here?” She giggled at the memory.

“Barret looked like he’d been pulled through a hedge backwards!” Tifa noted.

“Yeah and how did Cloud get that covered with mud?” Aeris shook her head. “I think I might let Red off as the exception to the girls only tent.”

“Oh! Totally!” Tifa shifted a little closer. “He’ll be perfect if we end up going North. All that fur seems like it'll help in the cold.” She bit her lip. “Just as long as he doesn’t snore like Barret.”

Aeris shuffled a bit closer. “Is he bad?”

Tifa looked thoughtful, held her breath and glanced in the direction of the other tent. Aeris mimicked her, ears straining for any sound. Nothing beside the screeching monster. Wait, that wasn't Barret was it? She was on the verge of asking when Tifa continued. “I suppose he’s not snoring right now. Back in Midgar we all sort of slept in the same place.” She looked sheepish. “Too few rooms in the Seventh Heaven and no money for anywhere else. So we used the basement; that was our secret base.” Aeris smiled at her words. “Barret is like a machine gun when he sleeps though. Cloud is quieter but-“

“-he kind of whistles, right?” Aeris interjected.

“Yeah, he whistles.” Tifa blinked at her. “Wait. How did you know?“

“He stayed over at Mom’s house after we met.” Tifa’s eyebrows raised. “Not like that! We were in separate rooms,” Aeris added. “Still woke me up at something like five in the morning. First some vague mumbling and then this whistling noise.” Aeris let out a disgruntled noise as Tifa's shoulders shook. “No way I could get back to sleep after that.”

“Glad you don’t snore though,” Tifa said after her giggles subsided.

“You either.”

The roar of the nuisance creature interrupted Tifa before she could say anything else, but now it seemed distant. “I think it’s heading away,” she said as she glanced towards it.

Aeris flopped onto back. “Oh, that’s a reli-“ The crickets began to chirp. Groaning Aeris rolled away from Tifa and clamped her hands over her ears. “Next place we stop, I’m buying earplugs.” Something warm pressed against her back. Aeris glanced around as Tifa curled around her and slid an arm under her head. “Tifa?”

“Crickets I can deal with. You need sleep and I thought I could help,” she replied sliding her hand over Aeris’s ear.

“Thank you,” Aeris managed after a moment, wriggling closer to Tifa, her warmth comforting. The white noise of her circulatory system replaced the chirping insects and the tension in her back evaporated. “Thank you,” Aeris added, her thoughts drowsy as she stifled a yawn. Tifa murmured something in response, but Aeris's eyelids were too heavy and exhaustion soon overtook her. She fell asleep a moment later, cradled in Tifa’s arms.