skyagain: (180)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
[ cloud doesn't answer, partially because jason asked for this, he doesn't have to continuously reassure him, and partially because they're taken in a swirling of shadows.

it's a quaint town, the older style of architecture at odds with the various ugly pipes running through the town. also the wildlife is fucking barren i forgot that. i don't know why i'm linking these to you when you've played the game.

the sky is clear and it's night. the houses are lit but there's no one around, and cloud looks around, something bittersweet written on his face. even if it wasn't, jason can probably sense it, because they are now connected and this was a terrible idea.

cloud turns to him ]


... Want the grand tour? [ it's wry, because there's not much to tour. ]
skyagain: (166)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ to be fair. he said one mountain but it's fucking huge. he rolls his eyes and walks in-- they'd started at the entrance of the town, and if jason looks back there's a forest and probably some more fucking mountains, i don't know, i don't remember everything about this location.

the water tower is clear in the center of town, but he doesn't look at it as he points at various buildings as they walk. there's nothing but the sounds of nature around them. ]


House. House. House. General store. House. [ he's being a dick, a little, but there's also... a sense, almost like he's a little lost himself looking at these houses and not remembering who lived there. ] ... This one was Tifa's. Her dad was the mayor. [ but he says that one with certainty. ] He hated my guts.

[ including that part. ]
skyagain: (144)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
We weren't...

[ flustered, and he elbows jason lightly for that joke. no!!! no fun. and of course jason says that and there's a long pause. ]

... I didn't like the other kids. Feeling was mutual, so I got into fights a lot. Most of the adults thought I was trouble. Tifa was... nice. She was the only one I could stand.

[ he's looking up towards the mountain, eyes a little unfocused as he tries to think ]

... Her mom died, when we were little... She was... upset. She thought if she crossed the mountain she could see her again. I saw her go, so I followed. She fell off and I tried to catch her, but I just fell alongside her. She went into a coma for a week. I got... scraped knees. Everyone blamed me for it.

[ there's a stray thought that tells jason the obvious: that cloud thought they were right. he doesn't say it, though, shakes his head lightly and starts walking again ]

There's the inn.

[ LET'S MOVE ON, says cloud, ]
skyagain: (144)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 01:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ same hat! same hat!!

this is a horrible hat, but the stray thoughts mean cloud glances over at jason. something that filters as both a bit of a surprise, regret and gratitude, all roped in one. that they've got that in common for the first two, and that Jason gets it. it's not a story cloud shares, normally.

and he does like the joke better, lips quirking up to one side ]


Hey, we had at least four beds. For all the tourists. [ it's a deadpan voice. for now cloud keeps walking, climbing a hill to get to another house. ] ... This one's mine.

[ he makes no move to show Jason the inside, though he does peer at him like he can guess he probably wants to ]
skyagain: (109)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ if the bed can fit zack it can fit jason, please

jason trying to peek in like an idiot gets a huff out of cloud, though it's easy enough to tell it's amused. ]


Yeah, well... A lot easier to keep 'em out here in the country. [ but jason sounds genuine, which is what makes cloud grab his arm to tug him in towards the door, opening it. ] It's the middle of the night. My mom was asleep. C'mon.

[ it's a nice enough house, and cloud's bedroom is apparently right next to the kitchen which is killing me. anyway, it's small and cozy! there's nothing much to see there but cloud will let jason explore. which is a mistake because there is at least one picture of fourteen year old cloud, shitty ponytail included, with his mom. making exactly that face. jason gets both blackmail and the knowledge that cloud's eyes really did use to be a darker shade of blue... wow... incredible... i wasted so much time finding links ]
skyagain: (207)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ cloud is indeed syncing with jason. it doesn't make him any better at addressing the feelings when they're clearer, but it means he walks over and nudges his arm with his own gently.

he's got his own sad, conflicted feelings looking at the picture of his mom, but he's not acknowledging them. it's just a loop of sad boys thinking about their dead moms except one was a much worse mother, and we both know which one, ]


I was trying for cool back then. [ he manages to say it in the kind of wry tone you always reserve for your middle school self. ] I'm not letting you peek into my mom's bedroom, though, so... this is pretty much it. Wasn't that much, but it wasn't bad, either.

[ his home life was never the issue is what he is trying to say. ]
skyagain: (pic#15751811)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Both.

[ he can admit it. look. he was fourteen and uncool! now he is a soldier! (shakes head slowly)

also, if jason made that kind of joke about cloud's dead mom, he would have to break up with him. just. absolutely. instead he is sappy and cloud's filled with something bittersweet yet fond while staring down at the ground. ]


... C'mon. Only got like two things left to show before I can finally learn what you wanted to tell me in Nibelheim of all places.

[ takes jason's hand this time. shut up. don't look at him. ]

skyagain: (144)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he's going, he's going, even if he's peering at jason curiously. it's not a surprise because they're in sync, but there's definitely still the undercurrent of why in there ]

... You could've just asked without an excuse.

[ he doesn't think it's a big deal to ask or show. jason's seen a lot more personal memories than this without his consent! and vice-versa. this seems benign comparatively. and not as triggering.

but he'll keep showing up, walking a little further into town until they reach a mansion off behind everything. ]


Shinra Manor. There's always been all kinds of rumors about it, but it's off-limits to anyone not Shinra personnel. This is where...

[ there's just the stray thought finisher of "where he found out" that jason will get, because cloud's looking at it a little vacantly. he's in sync with him! so jason can probably feel the conflicted confusion like there's something he's forgetting and also the gut feeling of not going in there. it's all fine. ]

... Can show you inside if you want. Only time I went in there was when I was sixteen, as a SOLDIER.
skyagain: (100)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)
... Mission related. Sort of. We were sent back here to check out some issues with the reactor. [ he points up the mountain, a bit ] There were monsters showing up in there. It was because of a broken purification tank. But we found... other things there. Experiments.

[ he's going to keep walking back to the middle of town in silence for a bit, trying to figure out how to word it ]

... One of the doors there read Jenova. Sephiroth had been told that was his mother's name. Shinra scientists used to stay in the mansion, so Sephiroth went and looked for answers in there. He spent days in there, researching. What he found out... that's what made him snap.

[ he says it in a weird detached manner. it's fine. he's coping. SO ANYWAY THAT'S A FUN STORY FOR FRIENDS wow here they are at the water tower ]

C'mon. Let's climb up.

[ and not talk about more human experiments. ]
skyagain: (160)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-20 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Shinra's always loved human experimentation. We found an entire secret lab deep underground in Midgar. Wasn't pretty.

[ anyway :) cloud is just going to start climbing. enjoy his ass which is absolutely not why he did that ]

... I know he used to be normal. We were friends, too. [ he doesn't expand on what sephiroth found, because he's still not sure he gets it entirely, and also because he is tired of sephiroth being in this pc. and it's partially why they went up here; once cloud gets up he checks to make sure jason made it up alright and then he points at the sky.

it's very pretty. ]


Here. That's what I wanted you to see the most.
skyagain: (207)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-21 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
City boy.

[ it's lightly teasing from where he went to sit down near jason, legs dangling as he looks up himself, glancing at jason out of the corner of his eye to look at his reaction. he sounds and feels fond both. it's terrible and gross. ]

Midgar's as polluted as it gets, but... even in other places in the country where I'd end up going as SOLDIER. Nothing felt quite like seeing the sky from here.

[ there's a shooting star! make a wish jason. mine is to know what the fuck he wanted to tell cloud, but cloud isn't asking yet ]
skyagain: (53)

[personal profile] skyagain 2022-07-21 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ he likes the fond amazement. it's why he doesn't point out that if he hadn't left he'd be dead like everyone else here! it's fine. instead he looks at Jason looking at the stars and feels fond, which is worse. a loop. ]

Yeah, well, not like I was ever gonna cut it as an inn runner. [ it's teasing. ] Can't afford to be rude go one of eight customers out here in the mountains.

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