Therapy and Bartending
Opening another bar, even calling it Seventh Heaven, wasn't such a bad idea. At the very least, the little stitched-together family Tifa somehow acquired had a place to sleep and a source of income.
It was more than she could say for some of her customers.
"Used to work for ShinRa." The man at the bar mumbled into his drink. He still wore a white dress shirt, or what might've been white under all the stains. There were so many it was impossible to tell what all had caused them. "Had a pension, insurance, a house. All from ShinRa. Fat lot of good they were."
Tifa nodded with the detached interest of a practiced bartender. But when the man held his glass out for more, she shook her head. "I think you've had enough. But if you'd like anything to eat, I'd be happy to fix something."
The man snorted. "You mean I'm drunk. Of course I am. And I'm going to be a lot more drunk before I let myself sleep. Helps keep the nightmares away."
That last sentence had been so quiet, Tifa couldn't be sure she heard right.
Only one way to find out. "And sometimes drinking can make the nightmares worse."
"Yeah, true." The man chuckled grimly. "Were you in Midgar when that thing, WEAPON I think they said, attacked?"
"No. But I was close by."
"I was in the ShinRa Building." He sighed at his still empty glass. "I was a library technician on the 62nd floor. Didn't even know we were under attack until the building shook. One of the book cases fell on me. Must've been stuck there for hours. No one came. No one cared. Heard later that the president went missing and no one even bothered trying to find a body." He shook his head and sighed again. "People really do show their true colors in a crisis. Selfish, the whole lot of us. Couldn't care less about anyone or anything unless it affects us directly. Kinda makes me wonder why the planet bothered saving us at all."
Tifa couldn't say anything to that. There wasn't anything to say to that. Experience as a bartender told her that sometimes, just being there to listen was the best anyone could do.
And he wasn't the only one. People who had pulled themselves out of the rubble left from Meteor only to find their friends and family hadn't been so lucky. ShinRa employees who suddenly found themselves out of work and with skill sets that didn't fit what anyone wanted or needed. Others who had to watch as loved ones succumbed to Geostigma. Still others who endured two or all three of the above.
She listened to all of them. The nightmares, the fears, the memories they all wished would go away and never come back.
Who was she to think her life was hard in the face of all that? She had Marlene and Cloud, even if he wasn't around as often as she'd like he was still there. She had a, mostly, successful business. She was blessed far more than she deserved.
So she lent an ear. And wished there was something, anything, she could do besides that.