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Cid tightened his grip on the wheel of the Highwind, fingers going white at the knuckles. He watched the sky with half of his attention-- not what he'd usually do, since his ship deserved all his attention, but gods damn it, it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter if he wanted to keep his sanity.
"Hey," he barked, his wandering eye finding Barrett hunched over a storage panel, poking at the contents inside. "Hey! Don't be touching nothin' in there."
The big man didn't seem to hear him, and Cid was just about to yell again when Cait Sith and Red went running by, diverting his attention. Two great bloody ridiculous cats playing tag like there weren't two-inch claws or heavy mechanical feet involved, making him wince whenever they came too close to-- well, anything. "You two, siddown and stop bloody running-- you crash into something and break your skull, I ain't fixing it."
They went past him and out the door-- not much comfort, since he knew they'd be back-- and Yuffie came staggering through in their wake. She wove an unsteady path towards the bow, where-- Cid's eyes widened in horror. "No, don't throw up in-- no, not in there! Aw, hell-- you're cleaning that up when we land, you know that."
Nerves fraying, Cid looked around, trying to keep track of them all-- and paused, eyes narrowing suspiciously as he noticed distinctly fewer bodies than he should have. "Did anyone see where Tifa and Cloud went?" His only answer was a slightly strangled snicker from Yuffie where she sat huddled against the wall, and Cid groaned. "Again? Sweet Shiva's frosty arse, those two are worse than chocobos in mating season."
He scanned the cockpit, looking for someone who-- ah, Vincent. Calm. Reliable. Good old Vincent. "Vinnie-- be a pal, go down to the engine room and hose them off, would ya?"
Vincent looked up, blinked, and glared faintly in Cid's direction before looking down again. He didn't move from his spot in the corner. Cid gritted his teeth. Fine, then, if the moody bastard wanted to play it that way, he could see how he liked flying himself across the damned ocean next time they needed to go back to Midgar. He looked around at the rest. "Barrett-- come on, man, I've told you that none of the stuff in there can plug into your arm, so would you just leave it? Go drag the lovebirds back up here. No, I said-- just go, would ya?" He shook his head and chewed on his cigarette as a grumbling Barrett left the bridge. "Gods-damned mercenaries and misfits, got no respect for the chain of command on a ship."
He raised his voice and yelled at the room at large, and damn but it felt good even if he was pretty sure no one was paying him any attention. "I am the captain here, you loons understand that? It means that you can tell me to kiss your arses on the ground, but on this ship-- oi! Watch the damned windows, would you please? For the love of--" He winced as Cait went by again, cheerfully screeching, careening off the wall with a grinning Red in hot pursuit. "Y'all are a bunch of two year olds," he hollered after them. "If I have to land this ship and come after you, you ain't gonna like it!"
Something crashed in the hallway, and he groaned. Closing his eyes for just a second, he slumped forward and rubbed an apologetic hand against the wheel. Even the end of the world couldn't be worse than this.