[A glance away. He tilts his head slightly, clearly considering every word of his answer. Because his answer's precarious. So much of what's running through his head can't be proven, can't be verified, and so much of it sounds terrible without proof, without context.
He should be more transparent. He should fully mention the reactor bombing. The fact that lessons had been learned from it- that Barret- in general- learned from it. That the death of bystanders outweighed taking out a target that was causing harm.
But he can't. Not with him. He wouldn't understand. He'd judge on what had been done, and he couldn't be blamed for that.]
...At the end of everything, they're not looking to harm civilians. There's no crazy plan to kill everyone on the Planet, to make them return to it to make it stronger. Instead, they're going for the Shinra itself.
[Which is crazy in its own way. But...]
That's how they're different, and ...That's all I can say without proof. I know it makes us enemies because you're still with 'em. You're SOLDIER- It's your job to protect the Company. But you've got to understand, the Shinra's putting its financials above human beings. Look into it when you get back if you want.
[That should be an 'If' he gets back. But if anyone could force a way out of whatever this world was, it's him.]
That's all I can say.
[It's not enough. He knows it's not enough- but it's all he can give. As he steps forward it's automatic, and he follows silently, quietly, still turning things over in his head. ...Did he do the right thing by mentioning it? He had to. He couldn't have mentioned Aerith- why the Shinra was interested in her- without mentioning the Planet. Which would have meant he'd had to have mentioned AVALANCHE anyway.
He's only really brought out of his thoughts by Sephiroth's revelation.]
...You have?
[What? His eyes widen, and... ... They move away when Zack's name is mentioned, shifting several shades darker in realisation.
Oh. It's. kind of rare that he can be dense. Most occurrences, actually, are being willfully so. And with Aerith... It. Was willful, yes. Not thinking about things, like why she'd run out of Zack's parents' house in Gongaga in tears, not reading too much into what she'd said at the playpark on the outskirts of Sector 5 about some boyfriend. SOLDIER, First Class. Eyes like his.
Not thinking about it too hard, not getting it, it was preferable to connecting the dots and knowing that he was a piece of shit for being attracted to his friend's ex, even if Zack himself had been the one to ditch her.
And doubly being one for that, alongside everything else.]
Oh.
[His voice is distant. And for the first time, it sounds unsteady, as if he's actually trying to conceal something.
But when they return to Sephiroth's face, he's frank. Even open.]
Yeah. Sector 5, originally. She lived with her mother there. Adoptive, of course. Her real mother escaped a Shinra research facility with her when she was small. She didn't make it. But the woman that took her in figured she'd be safe there. She wasn't.
[The Turks knew, of course. Could anyone really be safe in Midgar?]
Anyway, The Turks monitored her for years. Let her grow up in that house, but they watched her. Something changed- the President started pushing his Neo Midgar plan, and the Turks brought her in. We got her out of the Headquarters, and we've been travelling since...
[Since the Temple of the Ancients. It feels so long ago. But it's complicated, there. It's dangerous to talk about it, and he's ashamed, besides that.
...He can't.]
Hey. Did Zack talk about her a lot? Because he left her. ...His parents in Gongaga hadn't seen him either.
[For anyone else, the obvious answer would mean that they were dead. But it's Zack. It feels impossible. It is impossible. To him, anyway.
Because even if his disassociation, the desperate act of a damaged psyche in protecting him from a truth too hard to bear was finally dispelled, he still can't remember what exactly happened between collapsing at Nibelheim's reactor and Midgar.
The last remnants of his defences won't let him.
Because out of all of it- the murders of everyone he'd ever known, the destruction of Nibeheim, the madness and the betrayal of someone that he'd idolized, human experimentation, knowing that he was changed, altered, and could never return...
Zack's death was the most painful of all of it. So his mind hung on, clinging to what it could still veil to protect him from that pain, at the very least.]
He's probably hiding out somewhere. I know what happens to deserters.
[Going after Shinra, and not considering innocent bystanders as mere collateral damage in their on-going campaign. That is better by barely perceptible shades, because it would still put them at odds, given his role in the Company. Sephiroth was a SOLDIER (still with them, Cloud had said, verbiage that sticks in his mind like a needle) with an obligation to Shinra, the same he’s been under his whole life. He should not even humor this explanation.
But lately, Shinra’s cracks have shown the ugliness beneath the shiny veneer. The consequences are hard to miss when they've extended so close; Genesis, Angeal. Treachery brought on by the classified, experimental whims of the Science Department. The politicking, the red tape, the bottom line — and now mention of a Neo Midgar, more machinations that might be only an undercurrent in his time, but in which the Company is trying to make a reality in Cloud’s own.
There’s much to think about, much he could say, but Sephiroth rarely speaks unless there’s assurance behind each word. There would be none now, his own doubts about Shinra beginning their slow fester again, and so he remains silent on the matter. In a way, the conversation trailing towards Aerith and Zack is related, and it’s easier to follow this for now.
(Aerith’s and her mother, escaping a research facility when she was younger? He wonders— with the right set of coincidences, circumstances, would have seen either of them in passing, years ago? Empathy almost brushes across the surface of mind, but he banishes it away. Now’s not the time for thoughts like that.)
Something wavers in Cloud’s look at the mention of Zack. He sees it in his face, but it’s passing shadow, there in one instant and gone in the next. Sephiroth’s own expression twitches into a frown, the query unexpected.]
That isn't like him. To leave like that.
[It isn’t. Of all the statements he’s spoken, straightforward, brusque, or anything in-between, this sounds the most like a truth that cannot be so easily dislodged.]
He’s too honorable. [Even Sephiroth, who forges connections with such difficulty, likes Zack. Finds his sincerity, earnestness, steadfast and honorable nature too infectious to not. Would even label him as a friend, if he were to be open about it.
He cannot hide the cinch of his brow.]
I… don’t engage in personal conversations with others often. [He’s always been a highly private person, a consequence of both preference and not always knowing how to step over the line of familiarity.] We never spoke about her at length, and I never asked after the details. But he wouldn’t leave her without good reason. He liked her too much. [Sephiroth and Cloud share one thing in common — dead is not an option he wants to consider, either, even if going MIA for a lengthy period of time isn’t promising.
I know what happens to deserters. Something wry, self-aware, almost cutting lances through him. How Nibelheim might be his last mission. Maybe he and Zack shared more in common than he realized. Sephiroth swallows it down.]
[Zack's honour can't be questioned. That's true enough. But he does remember things that Sephiroth wasn't privy to- such as the way Zack had wavered in the inn room the night after the first visit to the reactor. The way he'd told him exactly what SOLDIER was- monsters- after he'd seen the makonoid.
He's not even sure if the first visit's happened yet for Sephiroth- probably not, since he barely seems to be distracted. But even if it had, he couldn't comment on it. Cloud had only waited outside, after all. Sephiroth wouldn't have any idea that Zack told him- because he really shouldn't have. Zack wasn't an idiot, of course. So he'd said nothing about Genesis. But the thing that broke out of the mako cooling unit, to flop around and die...
It was too disturbing to not spill.]
Last I saw him, he was hanging on. But he wasn't doing good- and it wasn't just Nibelheim that did it to him. [He's got no place to say it. But since Modeoheim, he'd seen him change. Rapidly. He'd never been told of any of the details of Zack's missions (Why would he?) but they were close. He knew a lot wasn't right.
His voice is sullen as he continues.]
Wouldn't blame him if he took off. He's not the type- you're right- but you know more than me about what the Company made him do.
[If he could have. He was so injured. But he had to. He wasn't just some asshole that got on the not being like anyone else was... the only way he could've got out of there. ...Right?] But, forget what I think of the Shinra.
I think he had to bail. Me and him were witnesses. You left, and the Company wanted to cover it up... and they did. I guess that's as good of an excuse as any. If we'd have been around, then...
[Then what? Subconsciously, his arm raises up to press the backs of his fingers to the scar on his chest- fortunately, concealed by his jumper. The one at his back aches as if in sympathy.
How did he survive that? Zack being strong enough to get out of dodge with a broken back and punctured lungs as well as, being real, a ton of organ damage, didn't begin to explain that.
There's other things, too. His link to Sephiroth- the way some fragment of him, years in the future, could control him. What Jenova had said to him... The colour of his eyes. And-]
...I don't know. But if someone like me could get out, [...How did he get out?] he's got to be fine.
[Yes. He has to be fine. A more cynical mind would try to tear away that hope with unkind hands, but even Sephiroth tries to hem away any notion of doubt sliding across the background of his thoughts. He had only just seen Zack, regardless of this future everyone else from Gaia keeps spinning for him. To think of him as permanently gone, dead— That would be the third friend, wouldn’t it, that Shinra had swept out from under his feet?
Sephiroth is silent. He continues to walk as if he might have nothing more to say on the matter, their path taking them closer to their destination. But just as the quiet settles like it might be something permanent, like he’s too lost in thought to say much else, he speaks up.]
I can think of a few reasons why. Shinra keeps a lot of secrets, even from a SOLDIER.
[And Modeoheim…]
There were some missions I should have taken on instead of him. But I’m sure even in retrospect, he’d disagree with me.
[Because that’s how Zack was. And even faced with a friend and mentor, he did what needed to be done. In some ways, he was braver than Sephiroth in those dreadful moments, who denied participation in that specific mission to avoid facing off against an old comrade.
Whatever emotion there was in his words, they drain away, dissolving. It’s easier just to move on.]
So what happened with you after Nibelheim? Disenfranchised by Shinra, you decided to join AVALANCHE, and the rest is history?
[Just moving on it is. There's still so much he doesn't know- and besides that, it wouldn't do any good to linger- to keep turning the same things around and around in his head and find no new answers. He's alive, he has to be alive, and that's all that's probable. Plausible. Maybe, if they do get out of here, he'll see him again, someday. Or maybe he'll stay wherever he is, laying low.
Sephiroth's question gives him pause, however innocuous. It sounded like something to fill the distance, to break the silence between them, to break the rhythmic sound of their steps, where even the accidental scrape of a sole on the cobblestones of the road seems too much. ]
...Don't know.
[Not a good start. But he doesn't elaborate on that. Admitting a fugue state wasn't exactly the best way to have Sephiroth believe he was playing with a full deck- let alone elaborating on it, trying to explain it from a whole lot of nothing in his head. So he sticks with what he does know.]
I arrived in Midgar and decided to work as a mercenary to make ends meet. Not like I could keep myself alive without money...
[He called himself First Class. He... shakes his head. No. He's not going there. That's full of questions, contradictions. The uniform on his back, his eyes. Things he can't address without the truth coming into it.
About the procedure. The aim to replace Sephiroth. The experiment. The failure. Him, the men in black cloaks. What Hojo had mentioned at the Northern Crater- Jenova's reunion. Why can't he remember it?
...He moves on.]
I met someone I knew, and she asked me to help her. That's how I met them- AVALANCHE. I felt like you did about 'em at the beginning. But it was money- and that was all I cared about. Then I met Aerith, and then it was about more than money.
[A whole lot more. His device suddenly beeps. He's grateful for it.]
We're here. You want to take point on this, or?
feel free to ask any ooc questions too! i figure we'll come back to this thread once the mods answer
[Maybe it doesn’t amount to anything. But it adds shades of color to Cloud’s character, his motivations, all of which are admittedly a small budding curiosity for Sephiroth. How can it not be, after the discussions they’ve had?
An infantryman in Shinra’s army, loyalties thrown askew after the Nibelheim mission. Coming away from it with SOLDIER fatigues and that mako glow to his eyes — a story in its own right, likely related to the the latter. Related to his acquaintance with Zack. (That uniform looks like his.) Returning to work in Midgar as a mercenary regardless, and found himself in a place among a second AVALANCHE, where he learned the supposed truth of a dying planet.
There’s still so much to ask after. So many holes to pick at, to watch the tapestry unravel, because Sephiroth thinks he can see how weak the threads are held together, like there’s a shade of a story still existing in there, decaying them, whether or not Cloud realizes it. As a SOLDIER, he had been trained to fight and not to question; but as a person, he still sometimes thinks back to that man he hates, who had once told him with frustration carved into his features — and in not-so-succinct terms — to avoid accepting everything at face value. That every piece of the universe has a scientific or logical reason supporting it, and Sephiroth thinks if he were to bear down hard on rationale and pick at the parts of each unknown in each explanation, something would give.
But for now, there’s already too much to consider. And they’ve soon arrived at their destination, a more present way of gathering answers.]
There's a major difference between them. It's openness- Whereas Qrow seems to have little issue letting Cloud know about personal things of his strung up and about as if someone's been watching them, Cloud doesn't share the sentiment. And... honestly, it's not exactly the older man's fault. If anything, Cloud's the strange one in this situation. It's just...
Well. He's protective. While Qrow's personal items might have been a point of good memories for him, his weren't. If anything, they're a point of shame, and he doesn't want any attention called to them. That's the difference. ]
...
[He's tempted to lie. He's tempted to say all of the mirrors look just like the other, just for the excuse to move on, to work out for himself what exactly's going on. And he would have- a voice in his head tells him that he should have. But...
Going it alone's not going to cut it. The whole of the last few months away from here have been a gigantic, cheesy as hell Learning Moment indicating exactly that.]
...Look, I don't notice anything weird about that mirror. But I don't think there's any message. There's no point in 'em, whoever's done this has already screwed us up by taking us here.
[It's not that Qrow wants to share his personal effects with the world, but--well, here's the thing; he's paranoid, too. The people represented in his mirror are precious to him, and if there's someone who has managed to call them out specifically, to him and only him, then that's reason to worry. It can't be a coincidence that they picked out his nieces, his old team that fell apart over a decade ago, and Ozpin's inner circle.
He doesn't want anyone to know what weaknesses are available to prod at, but that's just it. If nobody else can see, then the contents of the mirror are directed at them.
Qrow shakes his head.]
No, there's a point. It's information control. If our mirrors were visible to everyone, the playing field would be level. Maybe you could say it's just a byproduct of whatever magic was used to kidnap us, because there'd be no advantage in it. They know everything about us, and they want us to know they can control who gets that information, and who doesn't.
[Honestly, he'd prefer to know. It's not just him here, after all- and of course, he's concerned for Aerith. That's... not entirely it, though. If something happened to him here, would there be anything of him left to go back to his world?
He needs to know the details. He can't get into the same sort of situation. Not when back home, he's got so many things to make right. And even if she says they're safe...
He's wary. Highly so.]
...So...
[Maybe he can ask another way?]
Has anything like that happened before? The people in the centre of the city, where the mirrors are... didn't exactly seem that friendly.
[He'd learn, bit by bit maybe. Caren has been informing a lot of newcomers what's up, if only because of the long term consequences of things that have happened, thanks to them.]
You mean in the Aristocratic District?
[She shook her head.]
They're always a little stuffy. But then again, that's the wealthiest section in town. They're always a little stuffy, but...no, no they're firsts.
[Hopefully. If not, he's pretty screwed. As such, he's responsive. Even inquisitive- Caren's proved herself to be a good source of information thusfar, and honestly? This place, all of it, has him at a disadvantage. He's all too eager to ask questions, shut up when needed, and learn what he can.
As they near the residential district.. ]
Right. I guess if there's a lot of us arriving, they're kind of in the right to be that way. It's not like the mirrors or whoever called us here's that picky about what kind of people they take in.
[Himself included, to be honest. He's... not exactly the best pick.]
[Yeah, things are kind of complicated. But she's glad that he's listening. She doesn't want him to get into trouble right off the bat, even if she wouldn't mind teasing him about one thing or another.
But that's about other things, not about things he needs to know.]
No, it really isn't. You'll meet all sorts. Robots, androids...spirit-like beings. And it can be quite the shock, even as we're adjusting too.
And too, we seem to progress as a rapid rate. Monsters especially. And that can make things a little...precarious during the Full Moon.
Have you been told about the Full Moon cycles yet?
It's not that. I don't give a damn what people are. We're all turning into the same thing, anyway. It's more...
[Sephiroth plays through his mind. And there's a pull somewhere in the back of his mind at the reference. Not wonderful. But regardless, how can it be said?]
There's people brought in that're a danger. Some of them [Sephiroth.] don't know it yet. Some [Kadaj.] do. It's not like people just turn up in different worlds, right? So someone had to have put us here. Has anyone got any idea who?
[Except, yeah. full moon stuff.]
No, not really.
[A shake of his head accompanies that, and as he hitches the bags up...]
You're worried about dangerous people from your world?
[She tilted her head. That was rather curious. But she had been expecting enemies and all sorts to come in. Though most villianish types she thought of them as more neutrals, still trying to find balance in this world.]
No one knows who or what has been bringing us here. We have far more questions then answers. Supposedly, the Coven has been trying to find out but so far, no answers.
As for the full moon...that's when for new monsters, some of the bigger transformations take place. It's also the chance for monsters to...well, submit to some of their baser urges.
Sometimes without choice, if they don't have enough magic.
[Damn, Caren. Way to see through it. Tellingly, he moves his eyes away- then back- as if to keep up some pretense. And.]
There's some people from my world that're bad news, sure. But it's more if whoever summoned us here knew enough about us to use things important to us to do it- then it knows what it's doing by calling people that're more dangerous than useful.
[He half sounds mad, he's sure. The normal reaction to what he's saying would be that different circumstances provide different motivations, different actions, but with who he's talking about... it doesn't apply. Kadaj had already (perfectly happily) told him what this world was- no different to Gaia. A gift for his 'mother'.
His thoughts are pushed to what she mentions. Uneasily, sure. But it's a relief at the same time.]
[Yeah, she's been here for awhile, so she's seen her fair share of dangerous people, of one kind or another. Some just hide it better then others.]
You seem to be focused on the idea that it was someone, and not a something-or that it was, in fact, just fate. Until we know otherwise, we can only assume that it's just bad luck that certain people are here-and take measures.
[She doesn't think he's crazy. More that he's out of his mind with worry. The question was...who was he trying to protect? Himself? The public? Someone else? She didn't know.
Caren sighed, and moved to gently touch his arm, and squeeze it.]
[Well... yeah. Her look of horror is met with one of faint questioning. As if it's... totally normal. Couldn't be helped, really. Roughing people up, worse too,... was his normal. Had been for what felt like... always. Still, it's not like he wants to. The door attendants are a far cry from Shinra's mooks.
...They look even younger than them, too.
But- yeah. His name being misconstrued is a thing that sure happens, and...]
No. That's my name. I just told you it.
[He's short about it, and he's curt about it. Because... hey. His world afforded some pretty weird names. It hasn't struck him that others had their own conventions. But he turns his focus, quickly- to Cassie's suggestion. ]
Exactly what I was thinking. You wanna go first? There's two of 'em, so if we flood both rooms, then they've not no choice to both go sort it out.
[The ground's cold. It's wet too, but what's clinging to his skin feels more oily than just water. It's wet, sure. But it's like there's something else there too. Some kind of grease- brake fluid or fuel or... something.
It's not vitally important. It's irritating, slightly. But it doesn't burn him, nor does it smell too horrific. The fact that the ground beneath him is hard, that someone seems to be sleeping next to him? Well. That's weird.
He eases himself up to a sitting position, his eyes, as soon as they focus, widening. A narrow alleyway of a platform. Tracks, obscured by a hulking train at rest. Steam still rising from the red-hot brakes between the gap between platform and machine, almost obscuring the power cells glowing dimly from behind it all. Hissing from tens of hundreds of pistons from within it. And...]
...Wake up.
[He's standing before he knows it. He's staring and- This is Mako reactor 1?
The darkness is all-ecnompassing, until it isn’t. Until a familiar voice calls his name with a tinge of urgency — Sephiroth — and his consciousness forms itself into something more defined, something that can buoy up past the haze of sleep(?) and bring awareness back into his mind. His senses inform him of feeling (it’s cold and wet, oddly oily), of sound (a familiar hum of machinery at idle work, or the hiss of steam), and finally, sight— His eyes open, and he sees—
A range of a familiar sky. The silhouette of someone standing over him, taut with surprise. Sephiroth pushes himself up to attention, never one for being caught unaware and left vulnerable, and the whole world seems to shift for a moment as he takes in his surroundings. Silver hair falls over his pauldrons like rivers as he cranes his neck up.]
Cloud, what is…
[He’s up, too, on his feet before he knows it. Masamune is felt snug in his hand, gripped at the hilt; was it always there?
We're back home.
Breathless, it’s news so suddenly even he cannot form a proper response without fumbling delay. But there’s no doubt about it— he knows the shape of a building like his. This is Gaia.
This is Midgar.
(This is a dream. But in this dream, he cannot hope to be aware of it.)]
[His response is curt, guarded- a reflection of how tight his chest has suddenly got. Was it breathing Midgar's smog again which did it? Or was it the anxiety of being here, in an area he's starting to recognize as strictly personnel only, with who could more than likely be considered the most wanted person on any and all shitlists Shinra have already and could possibly compile?
...It does through his mind to ask after the other man, to check if he can stand, ask if he can walk, but two things stop him. The fact that it's Sephiroth, of course he's okay, and also that he's... well, he's up already.
Well, that's that.
He takes a few steps forward.]
This is a reactor. The loading bay of one, anyway. [The trains are mechanical. There's not going to be a driver, or even a cab to enter. Stowing away on it in the hope of that taking them away was pointless. Could be here all night. Might not be- but whatever mech came by to unload would be a problem. And just simply doubling back is pointless. The platform ends right behind them. The tracks are also charged.]
...We're gonna have to take the loading entrance, sneak past the guards, and take the staff entrance out. The walkway from there should take us topside.
[Basic. Just past outdoor storage, through the control rooms, and out.]
After that...
[He doesn't know. Just him? Get slumlevel, get out of Midgar. Make some calls, meet up with everyone, and then make some sort of sense of the past few months. But Sephiroth being here. That... Makes things different.
He can work that out later.
]
We need to find Zack, too. If we're here, he's gotta be.
[They need to get out of here. Zack, and then getting out. He can start there, fill in the rest as they go. He takes a few steps forward, his brows furrowing as some sense of deja vu strikes him.
...Can't be that. Reactors're mostly built the same, right? Down to the blueprints, the personnel, the shift patterns...
Weird, that no guards were here. The train's still hot. The brakes are still steaming. Must've just pulled in. Shouldn't it have attracted attention?
He turns his head.]
C'mon. We gotta go.
[And off he goes. He's tentative, as he makes his way from the platform to a section that vaguely resembles a station- of course, devoid of passengers. It's sort of a station. More built for transporting pallets of raw material in, materia out, than any kind of human footfall.
But...]
Where're the guards...
[It's a rhetorical question in the sense of the fact he's murmured it. It's small, more to himself than anything, and it's certainly not one he expects an answer to. As he crosses the goods area, there's not a single soul to be seen.
...However unsettling, it's kind of a blessing. Makes getting around a lot easier for a start, and before long, they're stood in front of the reactor proper.]
Reactor 1?
[Bright eyes move to Sephiroth.]
...But-
[This place is toast. He moves his gaze back. It's unsteady.]
Forget it. We need to go.
[He continues down the walkway away from the reactor, to a large, mechanical doorway. ...It doesn't open.]
Shit.
[Now what? They can't go back. They can't go past. But staring at the Reactor...
...Are the doors open?]
It's gonna be risky. But we can swipe an ID card from one of the guards in there. We force this door, who knows who'll be alerted.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
February 2020
Sephiroth; we in long tag country now boys
[A glance away. He tilts his head slightly, clearly considering every word of his answer. Because his answer's precarious. So much of what's running through his head can't be proven, can't be verified, and so much of it sounds terrible without proof, without context.
He should be more transparent. He should fully mention the reactor bombing. The fact that lessons had been learned from it- that Barret- in general- learned from it. That the death of bystanders outweighed taking out a target that was causing harm.
But he can't.
Not with him. He wouldn't understand. He'd judge on what had been done, and he couldn't be blamed for that.]
...At the end of everything, they're not looking to harm civilians. There's no crazy plan to kill everyone on the Planet, to make them return to it to make it stronger. Instead, they're going for the Shinra itself.
[Which is crazy in its own way. But...]
That's how they're different, and ...That's all I can say without proof. I know it makes us enemies because you're still with 'em. You're SOLDIER- It's your job to protect the Company. But you've got to understand, the Shinra's putting its financials above human beings. Look into it when you get back if you want.
[That should be an 'If' he gets back. But if anyone could force a way out of whatever this world was, it's him.]
That's all I can say.
[It's not enough. He knows it's not enough- but it's all he can give. As he steps forward it's automatic, and he follows silently, quietly, still turning things over in his head. ...Did he do the right thing by mentioning it? He had to. He couldn't have mentioned Aerith- why the Shinra was interested in her- without mentioning the Planet. Which would have meant he'd had to have mentioned AVALANCHE anyway.
He's only really brought out of his thoughts by Sephiroth's revelation.]
...You have?
[What? His eyes widen, and...
... They move away when Zack's name is mentioned, shifting several shades darker in realisation.
Oh. It's. kind of rare that he can be dense. Most occurrences, actually, are being willfully so. And with Aerith... It. Was willful, yes. Not thinking about things, like why she'd run out of Zack's parents' house in Gongaga in tears, not reading too much into what she'd said at the playpark on the outskirts of Sector 5 about some boyfriend. SOLDIER, First Class. Eyes like his.
Not thinking about it too hard, not getting it, it was preferable to connecting the dots and knowing that he was a piece of shit for being attracted to his friend's ex, even if Zack himself had been the one to ditch her.
And doubly being one for that, alongside everything else.]
Oh.
[His voice is distant. And for the first time, it sounds unsteady, as if he's actually trying to conceal something.
But when they return to Sephiroth's face, he's frank. Even open.]
Yeah. Sector 5, originally. She lived with her mother there. Adoptive, of course. Her real mother escaped a Shinra research facility with her when she was small. She didn't make it. But the woman that took her in figured she'd be safe there. She wasn't.
[The Turks knew, of course. Could anyone really be safe in Midgar?]
Anyway, The Turks monitored her for years. Let her grow up in that house, but they watched her. Something changed- the President started pushing his Neo Midgar plan, and the Turks brought her in. We got her out of the Headquarters, and we've been travelling since...
[Since the Temple of the Ancients. It feels so long ago.
But it's complicated, there. It's dangerous to talk about it, and he's ashamed, besides that.
...He can't.]
Hey. Did Zack talk about her a lot? Because he left her.
...His parents in Gongaga hadn't seen him either.
[For anyone else, the obvious answer would mean that they were dead. But it's Zack. It feels impossible. It is impossible. To him, anyway.
Because even if his disassociation, the desperate act of a damaged psyche in protecting him from a truth too hard to bear was finally dispelled, he still can't remember what exactly happened between collapsing at Nibelheim's reactor and Midgar.
The last remnants of his defences won't let him.
Because out of all of it- the murders of everyone he'd ever known, the destruction of Nibeheim, the madness and the betrayal of someone that he'd idolized, human experimentation, knowing that he was changed, altered, and could never return...
Zack's death was the most painful of all of it. So his mind hung on, clinging to what it could still veil to protect him from that pain, at the very least.]
He's probably hiding out somewhere. I know what happens to deserters.
just exchanges long ass tags with you
But lately, Shinra’s cracks have shown the ugliness beneath the shiny veneer. The consequences are hard to miss when they've extended so close; Genesis, Angeal. Treachery brought on by the classified, experimental whims of the Science Department. The politicking, the red tape, the bottom line — and now mention of a Neo Midgar, more machinations that might be only an undercurrent in his time, but in which the Company is trying to make a reality in Cloud’s own.
There’s much to think about, much he could say, but Sephiroth rarely speaks unless there’s assurance behind each word. There would be none now, his own doubts about Shinra beginning their slow fester again, and so he remains silent on the matter. In a way, the conversation trailing towards Aerith and Zack is related, and it’s easier to follow this for now.
(Aerith’s and her mother, escaping a research facility when she was younger? He wonders— with the right set of coincidences, circumstances, would have seen either of them in passing, years ago? Empathy almost brushes across the surface of mind, but he banishes it away. Now’s not the time for thoughts like that.)
Something wavers in Cloud’s look at the mention of Zack. He sees it in his face, but it’s passing shadow, there in one instant and gone in the next. Sephiroth’s own expression twitches into a frown, the query unexpected.]
That isn't like him. To leave like that.
[It isn’t. Of all the statements he’s spoken, straightforward, brusque, or anything in-between, this sounds the most like a truth that cannot be so easily dislodged.]
He’s too honorable. [Even Sephiroth, who forges connections with such difficulty, likes Zack. Finds his sincerity, earnestness, steadfast and honorable nature too infectious to not. Would even label him as a friend, if he were to be open about it.
He cannot hide the cinch of his brow.]
I… don’t engage in personal conversations with others often. [He’s always been a highly private person, a consequence of both preference and not always knowing how to step over the line of familiarity.] We never spoke about her at length, and I never asked after the details. But he wouldn’t leave her without good reason. He liked her too much. [Sephiroth and Cloud share one thing in common — dead is not an option he wants to consider, either, even if going MIA for a lengthy period of time isn’t promising.
I know what happens to deserters. Something wry, self-aware, almost cutting lances through him. How Nibelheim might be his last mission. Maybe he and Zack shared more in common than he realized. Sephiroth swallows it down.]
Why would he have left? Do you know?
these two are perf for long tags!
[Zack's honour can't be questioned. That's true enough. But he does remember things that Sephiroth wasn't privy to- such as the way Zack had wavered in the inn room the night after the first visit to the reactor. The way he'd told him exactly what SOLDIER was- monsters- after he'd seen the makonoid.
He's not even sure if the first visit's happened yet for Sephiroth- probably not, since he barely seems to be distracted. But even if it had, he couldn't comment on it. Cloud had only waited outside, after all. Sephiroth wouldn't have any idea that Zack told him- because he really shouldn't have. Zack wasn't an idiot, of course. So he'd said nothing about Genesis. But the thing that broke out of the mako cooling unit, to flop around and die...
It was too disturbing to not spill.]
Last I saw him, he was hanging on. But he wasn't doing good- and it wasn't just Nibelheim that did it to him. [He's got no place to say it. But since Modeoheim, he'd seen him change. Rapidly. He'd never been told of any of the details of Zack's missions (Why would he?) but they were close. He knew a lot wasn't right.
His voice is sullen as he continues.]
Wouldn't blame him if he took off. He's not the type- you're right- but you know more than me about what the Company made him do.
[If he could have. He was so injured. But he had to. He wasn't just some asshole that got on the not being like anyone else was... the only way he could've got out of there. ...Right?] But, forget what I think of the Shinra.
I think he had to bail. Me and him were witnesses. You left, and the Company wanted to cover it up... and they did. I guess that's as good of an excuse as any. If we'd have been around, then...
[Then what? Subconsciously, his arm raises up to press the backs of his fingers to the scar on his chest- fortunately, concealed by his jumper. The one at his back aches as if in sympathy.
How did he survive that? Zack being strong enough to get out of dodge with a broken back and punctured lungs as well as, being real, a ton of organ damage, didn't begin to explain that.
There's other things, too. His link to Sephiroth- the way some fragment of him, years in the future, could control him. What Jenova had said to him... The colour of his eyes. And-]
...I don't know. But if someone like me could get out, [...How did he get out?] he's got to be fine.
[He's got to be.]
no subject
Sephiroth is silent. He continues to walk as if he might have nothing more to say on the matter, their path taking them closer to their destination. But just as the quiet settles like it might be something permanent, like he’s too lost in thought to say much else, he speaks up.]
I can think of a few reasons why. Shinra keeps a lot of secrets, even from a SOLDIER.
[And Modeoheim…]
There were some missions I should have taken on instead of him. But I’m sure even in retrospect, he’d disagree with me.
[Because that’s how Zack was. And even faced with a friend and mentor, he did what needed to be done. In some ways, he was braver than Sephiroth in those dreadful moments, who denied participation in that specific mission to avoid facing off against an old comrade.
Whatever emotion there was in his words, they drain away, dissolving. It’s easier just to move on.]
So what happened with you after Nibelheim? Disenfranchised by Shinra, you decided to join AVALANCHE, and the rest is history?
no subject
[Just moving on it is. There's still so much he doesn't know- and besides that, it wouldn't do any good to linger- to keep turning the same things around and around in his head and find no new answers. He's alive, he has to be alive, and that's all that's probable. Plausible. Maybe, if they do get out of here, he'll see him again, someday. Or maybe he'll stay wherever he is, laying low.
Sephiroth's question gives him pause, however innocuous. It sounded like something to fill the distance, to break the silence between them, to break the rhythmic sound of their steps, where even the accidental scrape of a sole on the cobblestones of the road seems too much. ]
...Don't know.
[Not a good start. But he doesn't elaborate on that. Admitting a fugue state wasn't exactly the best way to have Sephiroth believe he was playing with a full deck- let alone elaborating on it, trying to explain it from a whole lot of nothing in his head. So he sticks with what he does know.]
I arrived in Midgar and decided to work as a mercenary to make ends meet. Not like I could keep myself alive without money...
[He called himself First Class.
He... shakes his head. No. He's not going there. That's full of questions, contradictions. The uniform on his back, his eyes. Things he can't address without the truth coming into it.
About the procedure. The aim to replace Sephiroth. The experiment. The failure. Him, the men in black cloaks. What Hojo had mentioned at the Northern Crater- Jenova's reunion.
Why can't he remember it?
...He moves on.]
I met someone I knew, and she asked me to help her. That's how I met them- AVALANCHE. I felt like you did about 'em at the beginning. But it was money- and that was all I cared about. Then I met Aerith, and then it was about more than money.
[A whole lot more.
His device suddenly beeps. He's grateful for it.]
We're here. You want to take point on this, or?
feel free to ask any ooc questions too! i figure we'll come back to this thread once the mods answer
An infantryman in Shinra’s army, loyalties thrown askew after the Nibelheim mission. Coming away from it with SOLDIER fatigues and that mako glow to his eyes — a story in its own right, likely related to the the latter. Related to his acquaintance with Zack. (That uniform looks like his.) Returning to work in Midgar as a mercenary regardless, and found himself in a place among a second AVALANCHE, where he learned the supposed truth of a dying planet.
There’s still so much to ask after. So many holes to pick at, to watch the tapestry unravel, because Sephiroth thinks he can see how weak the threads are held together, like there’s a shade of a story still existing in there, decaying them, whether or not Cloud realizes it. As a SOLDIER, he had been trained to fight and not to question; but as a person, he still sometimes thinks back to that man he hates, who had once told him with frustration carved into his features — and in not-so-succinct terms — to avoid accepting everything at face value. That every piece of the universe has a scientific or logical reason supporting it, and Sephiroth thinks if he were to bear down hard on rationale and pick at the parts of each unknown in each explanation, something would give.
But for now, there’s already too much to consider. And they’ve soon arrived at their destination, a more present way of gathering answers.]
I’ll get us started. Chime in, if you want.
[And so he will.]
Qrow;
There's a major difference between them. It's openness- Whereas Qrow seems to have little issue letting Cloud know about personal things of his strung up and about as if someone's been watching them, Cloud doesn't share the sentiment. And... honestly, it's not exactly the older man's fault. If anything, Cloud's the strange one in this situation. It's just...
Well. He's protective. While Qrow's personal items might have been a point of good memories for him, his weren't. If anything, they're a point of shame, and he doesn't want any attention called to them. That's the difference. ]
...
[He's tempted to lie. He's tempted to say all of the mirrors look just like the other, just for the excuse to move on, to work out for himself what exactly's going on. And he would have- a voice in his head tells him that he should have. But...
Going it alone's not going to cut it. The whole of the last few months away from here have been a gigantic, cheesy as hell Learning Moment indicating exactly that.]
...Look, I don't notice anything weird about that mirror. But I don't think there's any message. There's no point in 'em, whoever's done this has already screwed us up by taking us here.
and now i'm the late one lol
He doesn't want anyone to know what weaknesses are available to prod at, but that's just it. If nobody else can see, then the contents of the mirror are directed at them.
Qrow shakes his head.]
No, there's a point. It's information control. If our mirrors were visible to everyone, the playing field would be level. Maybe you could say it's just a byproduct of whatever magic was used to kidnap us, because there'd be no advantage in it. They know everything about us, and they want us to know they can control who gets that information, and who doesn't.
Caren;
...Right.
[Honestly, he'd prefer to know. It's not just him here, after all- and of course, he's concerned for Aerith. That's... not entirely it, though. If something happened to him here, would there be anything of him left to go back to his world?
He needs to know the details. He can't get into the same sort of situation. Not when back home, he's got so many things to make right. And even if she says they're safe...
He's wary. Highly so.]
...So...
[Maybe he can ask another way?]
Has anything like that happened before? The people in the centre of the city, where the mirrors are... didn't exactly seem that friendly.
no subject
You mean in the Aristocratic District?
[She shook her head.]
They're always a little stuffy. But then again, that's the wealthiest section in town. They're always a little stuffy, but...no, no they're firsts.
no subject
As they near the residential district.. ]
Right. I guess if there's a lot of us arriving, they're kind of in the right to be that way. It's not like the mirrors or whoever called us here's that picky about what kind of people they take in.
[Himself included, to be honest. He's... not exactly the best pick.]
no subject
But that's about other things, not about things he needs to know.]
No, it really isn't. You'll meet all sorts. Robots, androids...spirit-like beings. And it can be quite the shock, even as we're adjusting too.
And too, we seem to progress as a rapid rate. Monsters especially. And that can make things a little...precarious during the Full Moon.
Have you been told about the Full Moon cycles yet?
no subject
[Sephiroth plays through his mind. And there's a pull somewhere in the back of his mind at the reference. Not wonderful. But regardless, how can it be said?]
There's people brought in that're a danger. Some of them [Sephiroth.] don't know it yet. Some [Kadaj.] do. It's not like people just turn up in different worlds, right? So someone had to have put us here. Has anyone got any idea who?
[Except, yeah. full moon stuff.]
No, not really.
[A shake of his head accompanies that, and as he hitches the bags up...]
What happens?
no subject
[She tilted her head. That was rather curious. But she had been expecting enemies and all sorts to come in. Though most villianish types she thought of them as more neutrals, still trying to find balance in this world.]
No one knows who or what has been bringing us here. We have far more questions then answers. Supposedly, the Coven has been trying to find out but so far, no answers.
As for the full moon...that's when for new monsters, some of the bigger transformations take place. It's also the chance for monsters to...well, submit to some of their baser urges.
Sometimes without choice, if they don't have enough magic.
no subject
[Damn, Caren. Way to see through it. Tellingly, he moves his eyes away- then back- as if to keep up some pretense. And.]
There's some people from my world that're bad news, sure. But it's more if whoever summoned us here knew enough about us to use things important to us to do it- then it knows what it's doing by calling people that're more dangerous than useful.
[He half sounds mad, he's sure. The normal reaction to what he's saying would be that different circumstances provide different motivations, different actions, but with who he's talking about... it doesn't apply. Kadaj had already (perfectly happily) told him what this world was- no different to Gaia. A gift for his 'mother'.
His thoughts are pushed to what she mentions. Uneasily, sure. But it's a relief at the same time.]
They're- We're- dangerous, right?
[Shit.]
no subject
You seem to be focused on the idea that it was someone, and not a something-or that it was, in fact, just fate. Until we know otherwise, we can only assume that it's just bad luck that certain people are here-and take measures.
[She doesn't think he's crazy. More that he's out of his mind with worry. The question was...who was he trying to protect? Himself? The public? Someone else? She didn't know.
Caren sighed, and moved to gently touch his arm, and squeeze it.]
Breathe.
We'll talk about it more once we're inside.
Cassie;
[Well... yeah. Her look of horror is met with one of faint questioning. As if it's... totally normal. Couldn't be helped, really. Roughing people up, worse too,... was his normal. Had been for what felt like... always. Still, it's not like he wants to. The door attendants are a far cry from Shinra's mooks.
...They look even younger than them, too.
But- yeah. His name being misconstrued is a thing that sure happens, and...]
No. That's my name. I just told you it.
[He's short about it, and he's curt about it. Because... hey. His world afforded some pretty weird names. It hasn't struck him that others had their own conventions. But he turns his focus, quickly- to Cassie's suggestion. ]
Exactly what I was thinking. You wanna go first? There's two of 'em, so if we flood both rooms, then they've not no choice to both go sort it out.
September 2020
Sephiroth; dream sequence
It's not vitally important. It's irritating, slightly. But it doesn't burn him, nor does it smell too horrific. The fact that the ground beneath him is hard, that someone seems to be sleeping next to him? Well. That's weird.
He eases himself up to a sitting position, his eyes, as soon as they focus, widening. A narrow alleyway of a platform. Tracks, obscured by a hulking train at rest. Steam still rising from the red-hot brakes between the gap between platform and machine, almost obscuring the power cells glowing dimly from behind it all. Hissing from tens of hundreds of pistons from within it. And...]
...Wake up.
[He's standing before he knows it. He's staring and-
This is Mako reactor 1?
It can't be.]
Sephiroth.
[His voice is more urgent.]
Wake up. We're back home.
no subject
The darkness is all-ecnompassing, until it isn’t. Until a familiar voice calls his name with a tinge of urgency — Sephiroth — and his consciousness forms itself into something more defined, something that can buoy up past the haze of sleep(?) and bring awareness back into his mind. His senses inform him of feeling (it’s cold and wet, oddly oily), of sound (a familiar hum of machinery at idle work, or the hiss of steam), and finally, sight— His eyes open, and he sees—
A range of a familiar sky. The silhouette of someone standing over him, taut with surprise. Sephiroth pushes himself up to attention, never one for being caught unaware and left vulnerable, and the whole world seems to shift for a moment as he takes in his surroundings. Silver hair falls over his pauldrons like rivers as he cranes his neck up.]
Cloud, what is…
[He’s up, too, on his feet before he knows it. Masamune is felt snug in his hand, gripped at the hilt; was it always there?
We're back home.
Breathless, it’s news so suddenly even he cannot form a proper response without fumbling delay. But there’s no doubt about it— he knows the shape of a building like his. This is Gaia.
This is Midgar.
(This is a dream. But in this dream, he cannot hope to be aware of it.)]
How is this possible?
no subject
[His response is curt, guarded- a reflection of how tight his chest has suddenly got. Was it breathing Midgar's smog again which did it? Or was it the anxiety of being here, in an area he's starting to recognize as strictly personnel only, with who could more than likely be considered the most wanted person on any and all shitlists Shinra have already and could possibly compile?
...It does through his mind to ask after the other man, to check if he can stand, ask if he can walk, but two things stop him. The fact that it's Sephiroth, of course he's okay, and also that he's... well, he's up already.
Well, that's that.
He takes a few steps forward.]
This is a reactor. The loading bay of one, anyway. [The trains are mechanical. There's not going to be a driver, or even a cab to enter. Stowing away on it in the hope of that taking them away was pointless. Could be here all night. Might not be- but whatever mech came by to unload would be a problem. And just simply doubling back is pointless. The platform ends right behind them. The tracks are also charged.]
...We're gonna have to take the loading entrance, sneak past the guards, and take the staff entrance out. The walkway from there should take us topside.
[Basic. Just past outdoor storage, through the control rooms, and out.]
After that...
[He doesn't know. Just him? Get slumlevel, get out of Midgar. Make some calls, meet up with everyone, and then make some sort of sense of the past few months. But Sephiroth being here. That...
Makes things different.
He can work that out later.
]
We need to find Zack, too. If we're here, he's gotta be.
[They need to get out of here. Zack, and then getting out. He can start there, fill in the rest as they go. He takes a few steps forward, his brows furrowing as some sense of deja vu strikes him.
...Can't be that. Reactors're mostly built the same, right? Down to the blueprints, the personnel, the shift patterns...
Weird, that no guards were here. The train's still hot. The brakes are still steaming. Must've just pulled in. Shouldn't it have attracted attention?
He turns his head.]
C'mon. We gotta go.
[And off he goes. He's tentative, as he makes his way from the platform to a section that vaguely resembles a station- of course, devoid of passengers. It's sort of a station. More built for transporting pallets of raw material in, materia out, than any kind of human footfall.
But...]
Where're the guards...
[It's a rhetorical question in the sense of the fact he's murmured it. It's small, more to himself than anything, and it's certainly not one he expects an answer to. As he crosses the goods area, there's not a single soul to be seen.
...However unsettling, it's kind of a blessing. Makes getting around a lot easier for a start, and before long, they're stood in front of the reactor proper.]
Reactor 1?
[Bright eyes move to Sephiroth.]
...But-
[This place is toast.
He moves his gaze back. It's unsteady.]
Forget it. We need to go.
[He continues down the walkway away from the reactor, to a large, mechanical doorway. ...It doesn't open.]
Shit.
[Now what? They can't go back. They can't go past. But staring at the Reactor...
...Are the doors open?]
It's gonna be risky. But we can swipe an ID card from one of the guards in there. We force this door, who knows who'll be alerted.