[ whiskey sour is a thing, wow. too bad jason already ruined the orange juice.
cloud lets jason in and then stands there after he's passed by him to be a little bit of a blushy mess because casual affection still gets him. next week will be so much. anyway, he'll head back to the bed to settle on one side of lup. waiting patiently for jason to be a good boy and take his shoes off to join them thanks ]
[she immediately reaches out for the carton and takes a swig when jason hands it to her. when cloud settles down next to her, she pulls him closer and demands to be cuddled while waiting for jason to kick off his shoes.]
Think this suits the mood plenty, honestly. [lup says, amused. drinking vodka and orange juice out of a carton after a murder trial? yeah.]
[Yeah, the OJ has been ruined with a bunch of vodka. It’s fine. They can drink a screwdriver and a flask of whiskey separately.
Once the carton is taken, he works on getting his shoes off. They aren’t sticky, but they should come off anyway.]
Country boys always think the city ones should have the fancy glasses. I’m the bouncer usually, not the bartender.
[Lup will have to be the bartender with Tifa. He joins them on the bed on the other side of Lup, not exactly trying to be very careful so much as exhausted.
He has A LOT of opinions about today that would probably end up in an argument, so he doesn’t say anything after getting settled.]
[ he wraps an arm around lup when she demands cuddles, because that is just how life goes now? holding onto your girlfriend while your boyfriend climbs the bed after a murder trial? this is normal.
he also does not share his opinion on murder trials, because he's tired. he's taken out his flask so they can all drink responsibly (?) whatever they want, though he makes no move to drink himself yet ]
The country still has glasses, jackass. [ there's literally no heat to it, but he is serious. there's nothing BUT bars in country towns, fool. you get drunk and then go work at your nuclear reactor job. yay. ] Not that I know how to bartend either.
when jason climbs on the bed, she tugs him close too, settling against them both comfortably. after a moment, she opens her mouth - and then closes it, with a sigh. she is not quite sure she can feelings talk here, with how close to cracking she is, so instead she just takes another drink, and hands it to jason.]
[There would be too many arms, so he simply lies with his side flush with Lup's. He does put his closest hand on her thigh, though.]
Okay then, so both of you shut up.
[This is said very affectionately. The takes the carton to have a small additional swig, then sort of offers it to Cloud to see if Cloud maybe wants some. Sharing. Idly, as he settles his head back:]
[ cloud takes a small swig himself before handing it back to lup. he's not sure if she wants to talk or if they should be trying to make her, so instead they will just surround her in cuddles, he guesses. ]
Didn't have a regular school in Nibelheim. [ it's idle. ] I left to join SOLDIER, but most of the other guys around our age in town left for Midgar to get a job in the city anyway. Just how it went.
How are you able to just skip every other grade and go straight to college; meanwhile, I got the shitty ones out of the way, but never got to the good place? Tch.
[He doesn't sound mad at all really. Mostly playful. He glances around her to Cloud, but then turns his head a little in the other direction.]
...College might've been alright. But school was hell for a kid like me. So.
[So no, he didn't want to go to that kind of school even if he was smart. But he probably wouldn't have minded going to college. We cannot all be Bruce Waynes with about five PhDs.]
[ he says it almost conspiratorially to jason over lup's head. it's clearly a tease. but as for the rest... he shrugs. ]
I'd have hated it. Only thing I ever wanted to be was SOLDIER. [ there's something dry, there, because we all know how that ended up! except we don't, his swiss cheese brain. the point is shinra sucks, moving on. ] Too expensive, anyway.
[ they can all understand the struggle of being too fucking poor for things ]
[she makes a face. rude, it was a very prestigious... space wizard school...]
I spent like most of my childhood working in traveling caravans, my dude, college was a ding dang miracle. [she doesn't seem to be too upset about this, though, just sort of like, amused.] Expensive is right.
[a pause.] I'm not surprised you both hated school.
but despite the dubious look he probably shares with lup over jason being a perfect student, he'll add: ]
I told you, we didn't even have an official school. It was more like a bunch of kids learning from whoever was available at the time. What's there to like?
[ cloud hated most of the kids except tifa, so it was a GREAT GRAND TIME ]
[He looks offended when they both so blatantly do not trust his perfect student proclamation. Hello?]
NASA? Why does Mommy let you be an astronaut wizard?
[Wtf? He had to be a Robin? And she got the outer space wizardry? Life literally isn't fair.]
How did you not have at least a one-room schoolhouse with belt books and grades first through twelfth shoved in together? [To Cloud.] You have a labor industry or something? Like mining?
[jason wants to know why there wasn't a SCHOOL IN THE BOONIES]
[ he huffs an almost laugh at astronaut wizard, because it sounds ridiculous. but at the question cloud kind of... shrugs ]
... Uh, yeah. Mako reactor. [ he sounds a little distant, looking away, but it's not angst, it's brain issues ] Mako reactor outside Midgar usually means... Nothin' else out there.
[ he blinks and shakes his head. ]
It was at the base of a mountain. Not a lot of people would settle down there. Local inn had like, two rooms. Most interesting there was the old Shinra mansion. People used to say it was haunted.
[ and it was! by sephiroth's backstory! he does not say that. ]
[Damn, Cloud lives where I live except he had cool mountains. I'm sorry, son.
Jason is also kind of hm about Cloud's brain issues. Mostly because he remembers what that is like. Sort of. Whipped brain. My mansion CYOA...... (me voice) cloud is here.]
Don't really blame you for wanting to be a SOLDIER as a kid.
Yeah, it's what makes my eyes glow. All SOLDIERs are dosed with it. But get too close for too long, you're more likely to get a case of mako poisoning than anything useful. Most people don't wake up from that. They're just... left comatose.
[ so it's a very safe sane and healthy procedure ]
The reactor in Nibelheim was used for power, mostly.
[Whisper to Lup:] Nice. [About her very hilarious save. He seems amused, though, not mean.
Cloud is going to want to sink into the bed and disappear.]
Plenty of people where I'm from do military stuff when they're eighteen. Some of them don't have a lot of choice. Some of them want to try making a difference, want to have value. Sometimes it's both.
I think once they get in, they appreciate the discipline, but... come to resent the bigger values maybe. After they've done things not in a bootcamp.
[ her hilarious save makes him hide a smirk too, honestly. no, she's right, mako is bad. do not bathe in it.
he's looking curious when jason speaks though. it's not a track that's totally unusual, but it's not as common as plenty of people joining at eighteen. also, the idea of having a joining age! haha. ha. shinra is hell. ]
It was kind of like that for me. [ he squeezes lup's hand just because he can? and as a belated response to her. sure. ] I could've picked something else. There's a lot of jobs in the city. But I joined up to... make a difference. Be a big hero like we saw on the news during the war. [ he shrugs a shoulder ] By the time I joined up, they didn't need heroes.
[ and also the news was war propaganda, but that feels like he doesn't need to explain ]
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cloud lets jason in and then stands there after he's passed by him to be a little bit of a blushy mess because casual affection still gets him. next week will be so much. anyway, he'll head back to the bed to settle on one side of lup. waiting patiently for jason to be a good boy and take his shoes off to join them thanks ]
What, no fancy glasses? You're a lousy bartender.
[ it's a dry tease. ]
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Think this suits the mood plenty, honestly. [lup says, amused. drinking vodka and orange juice out of a carton after a murder trial? yeah.]
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Once the carton is taken, he works on getting his shoes off. They aren’t sticky, but they should come off anyway.]
Country boys always think the city ones should have the fancy glasses. I’m the bouncer usually, not the bartender.
[Lup will have to be the bartender with Tifa. He joins them on the bed on the other side of Lup, not exactly trying to be very careful so much as exhausted.
He has A LOT of opinions about today that would probably end up in an argument, so he doesn’t say anything after getting settled.]
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he also does not share his opinion on murder trials, because he's tired. he's taken out his flask so they can all drink responsibly (?) whatever they want, though he makes no move to drink himself yet ]
The country still has glasses, jackass. [ there's literally no heat to it, but he is serious. there's nothing BUT bars in country towns, fool. you get drunk and then go work at your nuclear reactor job. yay. ] Not that I know how to bartend either.
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when jason climbs on the bed, she tugs him close too, settling against them both comfortably. after a moment, she opens her mouth - and then closes it, with a sigh. she is not quite sure she can feelings talk here, with how close to cracking she is, so instead she just takes another drink, and hands it to jason.]
Me either. Unless you count college, but I don't.
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Okay then, so both of you shut up.
[This is said very affectionately. The takes the carton to have a small additional swig, then sort of offers it to Cloud to see if Cloud maybe wants some. Sharing. Idly, as he settles his head back:]
Never went to college.
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Didn't have a regular school in Nibelheim. [ it's idle. ] I left to join SOLDIER, but most of the other guys around our age in town left for Midgar to get a job in the city anyway. Just how it went.
[ he says "our" by habit ]
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What a weird mix. [she says, amused.] I didn't go to regular school, just college, so we're a smorgasbord of terrible schooling.
[she takes a sip of the horrible carton of booze.] ... Did you two want to go to school?
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[He doesn't sound mad at all really. Mostly playful. He glances around her to Cloud, but then turns his head a little in the other direction.]
...College might've been alright. But school was hell for a kid like me. So.
[So no, he didn't want to go to that kind of school even if he was smart. But he probably wouldn't have minded going to college. We cannot all be Bruce Waynes with about five PhDs.]
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[ he says it almost conspiratorially to jason over lup's head. it's clearly a tease. but as for the rest... he shrugs. ]
I'd have hated it. Only thing I ever wanted to be was SOLDIER. [ there's something dry, there, because we all know how that ended up! except we don't, his swiss cheese brain. the point is shinra sucks, moving on. ] Too expensive, anyway.
[ they can all understand the struggle of being too fucking poor for things ]
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I spent like most of my childhood working in traveling caravans, my dude, college was a ding dang miracle. [she doesn't seem to be too upset about this, though, just sort of like, amused.] Expensive is right.
[a pause.] I'm not surprised you both hated school.
[this is teasing.]
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[He says this in the exact same tone of voice Cloud says it kinda. They are bullying her over the top of her head.]
What's that supposed to mean...? I was a perfect student.
[He was not. He made good grades when he tried or showed up. But he was not a perfect student.]
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[ he confirms, judging fantasy nasa.
but despite the dubious look he probably shares with lup over jason being a perfect student, he'll add: ]
I told you, we didn't even have an official school. It was more like a bunch of kids learning from whoever was available at the time. What's there to like?
[ cloud hated most of the kids except tifa, so it was a GREAT GRAND TIME ]
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[she does in fact share a dubious look about the perfect student thing with cloud, though. of course she does.]
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NASA? Why does Mommy let you be an astronaut wizard?
[Wtf? He had to be a Robin? And she got the outer space wizardry? Life literally isn't fair.]
How did you not have at least a one-room schoolhouse with belt books and grades first through twelfth shoved in together? [To Cloud.] You have a labor industry or something? Like mining?
[jason wants to know why there wasn't a SCHOOL IN THE BOONIES]
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... Uh, yeah. Mako reactor. [ he sounds a little distant, looking away, but it's not angst, it's brain issues ] Mako reactor outside Midgar usually means... Nothin' else out there.
[ he blinks and shakes his head. ]
It was at the base of a mountain. Not a lot of people would settle down there. Local inn had like, two rooms. Most interesting there was the old Shinra mansion. People used to say it was haunted.
[ and it was! by sephiroth's backstory! he does not say that. ]
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[... she also looks concerned about cloud's brain problems, as usual.]
That sounds like every small town I've been to. [she says, a touch teasing.] Not a bad place, I guess. Even if all the people moved away from it.
... Mako's the stuff that makes your eyes like that, right? [she's gotten such a disjointed explanation of things.]
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Jason is also kind of hm about Cloud's brain issues. Mostly because he remembers what that is like. Sort of. Whipped brain. My mansion CYOA...... (me voice) cloud is here.]
Don't really blame you for wanting to be a SOLDIER as a kid.
[Will blame you for abandoning our Tifa maybe.]
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anyway, he leans back a little ]
Yeah, it's what makes my eyes glow. All SOLDIERs are dosed with it. But get too close for too long, you're more likely to get a case of mako poisoning than anything useful. Most people don't wake up from that. They're just... left comatose.
[ so it's a very safe sane and healthy procedure ]
The reactor in Nibelheim was used for power, mostly.
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... Okay, so that's terrible. The like, poisoning. Not your eyes. Your eyes are very pretty.
[...] I guess I don't blame you either, like Jason said. It was a track out of there, I guess?
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Cloud is going to want to sink into the bed and disappear.]
Plenty of people where I'm from do military stuff when they're eighteen. Some of them don't have a lot of choice. Some of them want to try making a difference, want to have value. Sometimes it's both.
I think once they get in, they appreciate the discipline, but... come to resent the bigger values maybe. After they've done things not in a bootcamp.
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he's looking curious when jason speaks though. it's not a track that's totally unusual, but it's not as common as plenty of people joining at eighteen. also, the idea of having a joining age! haha. ha. shinra is hell. ]
It was kind of like that for me. [ he squeezes lup's hand just because he can? and as a belated response to her. sure. ] I could've picked something else. There's a lot of jobs in the city. But I joined up to... make a difference. Be a big hero like we saw on the news during the war. [ he shrugs a shoulder ] By the time I joined up, they didn't need heroes.
[ and also the news was war propaganda, but that feels like he doesn't need to explain ]