sephiroth, “tol alien boy”, SOLDIER first class. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
supersoldier) wrote2019-07-10 03:06 pm
supersoldier) wrote2019-07-10 03:06 pm
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Mm. Between a bunch of Zolom-sized snakes and whatever that...thing was... [ A titan whose myth and legend evades him already. That was one hell of a showdown. ]
...
[ A cuffed breath surfaces past his lips. "Is something keeping you up?" What a loaded question; and yet Sephiroth hadn't foggiest clue, did he? The silence grows between them once more, and for a while, it seems like Cloud was content with leaving that question to die in the still of night. Or maybe he could flip it back around on the SOLDIER. If he were being honest, part of him still wants to- a biting impulse. But something's different this time...
In his eyes, no longer steeped in gold like before, conflict brews. And all he can think about are the words imparted to him by this very same man. None of them were subtle.
He realizes now the fleeting vulnerability that he's showing. All this time, Cloud has continued to shove everything down. Around Zack, around Tifa, around Weiss, even around his co-pilots whom became quite privy to some of his past sins. And just when it seems like tonight would be a repeat of their conversation over the network... ]
On our way here, when we were piloting the GIGA...my memories melded with my co-pilots. [ He meters himself, Cloud's gaze setting upon the town still. Why was he doing this? ] And I saw theirs too.
Can't say I didn't see it coming. [ They were told of the neural connection and what could happen at the start of the mission. His brow knits slightly. Cloud's scratching the tip of the iceberg, but...it's a start. ] Still...
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Nothing to be ashamed of, but still nothing he would want eking into the mind of another he didn’t know. Sephiroth keeps much to himself, and he often prefers it that way. He can empathize with the point Cloud is trying to make.]
Did you share a memory you would rather have kept to yourself? Or see something you didn’t like?
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Both...
[ A memory he would rather have kept to himself... He's very grateful that the images that were shared held a rippling distortion to them. Neither Marie or Sanson knew the identity of that blade. Only of what came next. His fingers curl tighter around the railing, flexing as he draws a breath. And exhales, the tension being cast from his shoulders by force. Knowing the fate of his Servant, how and who carried it out, leaves Cloud's hand itching beneath his glove where his Command Spells remain concealed. ]
Next time I'll just take the scenic route. [ And by scenic route, he means by foot. ...or via bike whenever he finally gets one. ] And what about you, Sephiroth? You're up late yourself.
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As for Cloud, he could pry. Yet being a private person himself, he is inclined to respect another man’s privacy, even if curiosity whispers against the grooves of his mind. Sephiroth wills it silent for now.]
…I’m always up late.
[Up late, up even earlier. Sleep is merely a small grouping of hours dividing night and day for Sephiroth, existing because his body sometimes wills it. Just another difference between himself and others, even if SOLDIERs were hardy by nature.]
But you also could say that I’m restless. I have been, ever since arriving in this world, and transitioning from one city to another hasn’t aided in sleep. [He pauses, sharp cat-like eyes trailing over the silhouette of buildings barely visible against a darkening sky.]
And that doesn’t account for other developments, either. Maybe you’re already aware, but Zack Fair is with us now.
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[ It's said more in jest as he shrugs. But Cloud listens when Sephiroth fesses to his own restlessness. There were times that the blond had been granted reprieve in the night. But the one-of-a-kind SOLDIER who stands at his side with an unyielding gaze towards the backdrop of the city... Day by day, it becomes clearer and clearer just how tightly he's been holding the keys to his chest. All these answers that elude him, and it's because of one blond whose illusions were...well, they held together.
How firmly though? Exactly. ]
Yeah. He found me when I got here. [ A beat. ] We went to try those donuts everyone kept hollering about.
[ Yet the web being spun only spans further, not a single thread treading straight lines anymore. Zack, Tifa, Vincent, Genesis (of whom he could have sworn he saw in passing before), Aerith...
And Cloud Strife. The spider at the center of it all, from the very moment they met again by the glow of a bonfire. His restlessness grew, is what Cloud was garnering from the statement about Zack. ]
When'd you run into him?
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Donuts again. Not surprising. He was very eager to try literal boxes of them.
[Sephiroth was not impressed by some of the selection, flavors mishmashed together that should never meet, but— well. That’s not really the point, nor where he intends to string the conversation around.]
We found each other soon after his arrival. [Finally, Sephiroth turns his gaze towards Cloud.] Courtesy of a malfunction with our apartment mirrors. But a face-to-face meeting was not that long ago, here in the city.
[His look is inscrutable and unwavering both.]
.
I take it you had a chance to catch up with him, then?
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Maybe it would have been easier if he did let himself laugh.That wouldn't stop him from dryly retorting either way. Low-key it's "roast Zack o'clock" ]He's fine. Probably burns it all off in squats alone.
[ Thinking of it now, a fond remembrance almost gleams in those mako-infused blues of his, when he feels Sephiroth's gaze upon him once again. ]
Yeah... Same way, actually.
[ It was so easy to read the malice in his eyes before. The anger in his brow in the heat of battle and the unyielding cold turn of his lips. But now? Cloud finds him impossible to read. There's nothing else that he can do but answer him truthfully. Though the small talk of what they were doing earlier lifts the shroud over them, it's only just that — lifted.
That tension still hangs, by his internal admittance, their last conversation fresh on his mind. Especially after the memories he was forced to share. ]
How was he? When you found him.
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That question, however, is one difficult to quantify with an answer. As seems to be the habit, meeting those from his world is never a straightforward, simple thing. Timelines make a mess of it all, leaving Sephiroth forever at the disadvantage.
Meeting with the other SOLDIER had been no different. Jarring in some of the revelations that graced him.]
He was surprised to see me. Just like you, he comes from my future. [For a moment, he may leave it there. Before he decides, perhaps a little unforgivingly, if not ill-intentioned, that he won’t.]
He told me he deserted Shinra. And that he had died as a result of it. Did you already know that, Cloud?
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.....
[ Ah, so Zack broke the news of his death. It's a grim reminder of what this world was capable of giving to the people that inhabited it. ...and what it could so eagerly and abruptly take away. Every time he walks the other way from his best friend, there's a discerning weight in his heart that tells him he needed to turn back around. That he needed to never let him leave his sight.
That it was the last time he may have seen him again. The very same thing happened with Aerith. One day, she was here. He waved goodbye...
And that was it. It hurts still. Having shared his memories of her, of what happened to her with not only Weiss, but Marie and Sanson... ]
... .... .....
[ Cloud's eyes feel heavy, blinking a little too firmly for his liking as he remembers how to breath again. He inhales through his nose, closing his eyes before letting them flutter open once more. That added pressure doesn't leave, even as he can feel its pace rising in his chest when he finally returns his gaze to Sephiroth. ]
Sephiroth. I...
[ It was time— ]
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Uh...?
[ The once distance yet now sudden disruption is less like cutting through the tension in the air, and more like clouding everything in fog. Whatever Cloud's train of thought? It's immediately muddled by the sound of taiko drums, flutes and various hoots and hollers of a dancing troupe being traversing across the bridge. And it's very clear as to the jovial and mostly vulpine crew, that they were waving at the two militant men that found solace on the railing.
"You're the Moonblessed who felled that Hideula, aren't you?! Ahahah~!" ]
Wha, uhm...
[ There were many who'd gotten involved with that...mountainous roadblock. It wasn't just him. Regardless, Cloud doesn't have much time to react before one of the Amegaharan folk slip up beside the blond and usher him along to join them in this impromptu yet melodious parade. ]
H-Hey! Hold on— [ Welp. Too late. Because it seems that now Cloud's being coerced along to join the merry crew. And don't think that they've forgotten about the taller, silver-haired man too. Whether they'd convince him or not (he seems less easy to nudge than Cloud) was another story.
But what about the look that Cloud shoots back to Sephiroth that practically screams,
"halp"? ]
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And then the music happens.
Of course the jovial troupe would decide to descend upon them in this moment, traipsing across this bridge. How unceremoniously they’re both interrupted when smiling, vulpine faces laugh their way into their conversation, drums beating and music soaring in the air, entangling in the atmosphere. Sephiroth doesn’t even have time to feel agitated; they sweep up Cloud so quickly in their festive on-goings that suddenly the blond is ushered away, giving him a uselessly pitiful look.]
Wait-
[A word that falls on deaf ears, lost in the swirl of melody. The silver-haired SOLDIER might not be so easily swayed into a troupe’s dancing, erratic parade, but the natives do not intend to persuade him with words, much less ask him at all. The rest, laughing, come up from behind Sephiroth and two natives hook their arms against Sephiroth’s elbows, one on each side, and continue their merry march forward. He has no choice but to walk, else he wishes to be literally dragged along. (Though the difference at this point would be hilariously small.)
It wouldn’t be difficult for Sephiroth to detach himself from this inanity, but it’s a bit like being swept up in a storm, or a spell. At the tail end of the troupe, a cadre of crystalline foxes lope and yip, trailing the group happily. Moved by the enthusiasm of the natives and the warm bodies at his back, he feels a gentle tug at his… hair.
"Oh, your hair is so long! How do you keep it untangled? It this a trait of the Moonblessed?”
“Have you ever tried putting it in a braid? I wonder how long that would take you, ha!”
“Let me try! I can do it! Mom, let me braid his hair, I have some flowers we can put in it, too!”
The moment four sets of hands dive into long, silver locks, pleating it into sections to be loosely braided, a little girl giggling over the assortment of flowers she has in her basket, Sephiroth has momentarily, officially, absolutely, forgotten about Cloud. Have fun doing whatever the heck you’re doing up there, buddy, he has people pawing at him.
Why this.]
no subject
[ The sight of his
oncesworn enemy being coerced along, arm in arm with two eccentric Amegaharan townsfolk? Consider his world flipped upside down, because he can't think of any time even in the past where anyone was capable of hauling the man along on such a wild ride. The environment, perhaps, played a part in this all. There's a lot of things Cloud himself wouldn't have considered himself doing; but this world, in the wake of a past calamity, has turned their entire lives on their heads.And it shows as one of the burlier members of the troupe starts tying a long bandanna around the blond's forehead. Long flowing tails of fabric trail down his back before he gets his hair ruffled.
"Ooh! I wouldn't have guessed those quills you call hair would be that soft! Heey, you're looking sharp with that on your head! Now we just need to get you on some taiko drums and--"
Gaia... Minerva? Whatever deity would listen?
Not you, Sephiroth.Just as he's ready to shut this all down and tell them that he's "not interested", the subtle glow in his sapphire eyes glances back over his shoulder to quite the marvel. His hair, being braided whilst flowers were slowly but surely being adorned upon his majestic mane. Of course he seems nonplussed.This is the stupidest thing that he's seen in a long time. And it's because of the man on the receiving end of it. ]
... .... .....
[ Yet... ]
No other way around it, huh?
[ He shrugs as dancers seem to take that as a sign that, yes, Cloud would be participating! The parade leads them past the bridge and through the streets below as the blond effectively finds himself marching and trying to keep up with the various children whose tails swish happily and curiously up at him. And with his face turned from the silver-haired SOLDIER, even Cloud was unaware of the very subtle curl of his lips that forms a smile.
It seems that they just wanted to bring the two along. There is a destination in mind, and it seems that whenever they reached this clearing, they'd be smack dab in the center of their culture, with front row seats to boot.
Maybe just for a little bit... ]
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It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been adulated by an audience in this way, but the proclaimed war hero has always stood an arm's length from it. Never really engaging even with his apparent “fan club” back on Gaia, just aware of its existence, and as long as he continued doing his job, Shinra did not expect a man like Sephiroth to be outgoing. Social. To be swept up in a parade like this, with people laughing at his side, ears filled with music, fingers in his hair and the scent of flowers catching in his nose—
It’s alien. Like everything else on this strange and surreal planet.
A soldier’s march is easy. But this is not ordinary march through the streets, and occasionally he thinks he can still spot a head of spiky blond hair in the distance, indicating that Cloud has not escaped this fate either. He takes a small amount of consolation in that.
It’s only by the time the parade slows down at their destination does Sephiroth finally catch up to Cloud. At this point, the whole length of his hair has been put into a loose braid, still impossibly long despite that, with crystalline-like flowers entwined the whole way through. No longer accosted by hair-braiding natives, the first thing he does is tug his hair over his shoulder so he can work on undoing the whole thing.
Not even looking at Cloud while he works at it, but his tone is so, so dry.]
I don’t see how it’s fair that you didn’t get a free hairdressing either.
[PROBABLY BECAUSE YOUR HAIR IS LIKE 5 FEET LONG SEPHIROTH…]
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.....
[ ... .... ..... ]
Snrk— [ HE QUICKLY COVERS THAT UP WITH A FORCED COUGH. But in his head? Ohhh no. His lip is very stiff right now, breathing out so his cheeks didn't just start puffing up like an idiot. This wasn't supposed to be funny. Watching the Amegaharan troupe perform so jovially as good vibes flowed through him (not sure about Sephiroth, but,); he's side by side with a man he considers his enemy.
... He did. ]
Not as much to work with. [ Okay, he's good. Even if his cheeks might be turning a subtle shade of red. But to Sephiroth's dry protest, ] They put some pin in my hair at least.