aterat | just a day in the life.

Entry tags:

just a day in the life.

Who; Cloud Strife (

mostlycloudy) and you!
What; Making his way downtown; some memory threads/catch-all
Where; Multiple Locations
When; Throughout January
Warnings; Only what may come up in memory threads; will update accordingly

Cloud's occupation took him many places in and outside the city, and he wasn't about to let the snow impede his progress. What was his occupation? Nothing in particular, and yet everything. He did odd-jobs for people around the city: clearing out direrats, eliminating giant roach infestations in the Docks, whatever someone might be willing to pay him for, really. Today he'd been lucky enough to have been near a merchant's stall when he'd overheard the man grumbling about needing some textiles delivered to the noble district. He knew there was a delivery service around town, but Tommy had enough clientele to share and Cloud could use the coin.

Later, his delivery made, he's making his way back south towards the markets when a glitter catches his attention from a small drift of snow and he stoops to retrieve it. He'd been paying enough attention to the network to know what it might mean, but curiosity won out in the end. A sharp intake of breath sounded as his fingers touched the crystal in the snow and images flooded his mind.

(OOC: If you'd like Cloud to have found one of your character's crystals, just let me know! You can PM this journal or hit me up on discord (vikael#0221) or plurk (

vikael. If you'd like to simply run into him for general threads, feel free to start a prompt below!

Some prompts are closed for planned shenanigans! Also, if you'd like to have anyone find one of his memories, they're right here!)

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Cloud could do little to hide the surprise on his face as he looked back down to the handkerchief in his hand, wrapped around what was a much more precious memory than he'd originally thought. There were large pieces of his memory missing, but that? That he remembered vividly.

He didn't look up from the handkerchief as he spoke. "It was a dream. Aerith..." He trailed off for a moment, not sure how to explain. "She was kidnapped, but...she has...abilities." He shook his head. "I don't know how they work, but she was in my dream that night."

Llewellyn was quiet, studying the man’s reaction carefully as he looked down at the handkerchief. Clearly it was an important memory, though he had already figured it would be having seen it. But the confirmation just made it feel more so, and he was glad he could return it to Cloud… Things as precious as that? They belonged with their owner.

He listened, though, when Cloud began to explain, a small frown crossing his face to hear she’d been kidnapped. “Mm… She’s mentioned a little about her abilities, but that seems… Very special, that she’d visit you that way.” It was definitely something she hadn’t mentioned to him before. All he knew about was her connection to plants and the world. “You clearly care about each other a great deal.” He added, observation slipping out. “You saved her, though, I presume?”

"I don't know of all Centra could do it. I don't think we ever will." She was the last of her kind, after all. Even if...if she were to have children, their abilities probably wouldn't be as potent.

"We've been through a lot together." That wasn't completely true. Something had drawn him to Aerith from the first moment he'd met her when he'd bought a flower from a wandering flower girl for 1 gil. "Yeah...with...with our friends."

It was weird to say. 'Friends'. Who would have thought?

“Yes… She indicated her abilities were unique compared to people from your world.” He responded with a small tilt of his head. It had made her seem a little awkward about explaining them, like she was used to being the weird one. Which had honestly made him a bit sad to think about what that might’ve meant for her growing up, and probably part of why he’d found himself rather drawn to friendship with her.

Llewellyn nodded lightly. He got the sense of that from talking to Aerith and observing Cloud… They seemed like they had been dealing with a lot from how she described things, and the memory crystal only cemented that. Noting the awkwardness in his tone when he said he’d saved her with friends, he offered Cloud a smile, “Good friends certainly make serious endeavors easier. Though… complicated at times.” He hummed lightly before continuing. “I’m glad you were all able to get her back, though. Did you um- ever get to talk to her about that night again?” Nosy Detective really shouldn’t be so nosy… But he was.

"...I'm impressed she talked about them." Though nothing about what Watts had said suggested she'd mentioned to him her ability to communicate with plants. He found himself wondering if the plants here had learned how to speak to her, as hers at home hadn't. He'd threatened them, but he suspected it probably wouldn't help all that much.

He shook his head at Watts' question, still looking down at the bundle in his hand. "No. We...didn't really have any downtime back home, and here...I've never found a good time." Or had any idea what to say.

“Mm… It seemed like a sensitive subject, so I admit I was touched that she would tell me more. Though I um- do have a habit of asking questions when something catches my attention.” He shrugged slightly. It was who he was. Made for a good detective, but sometimes a pushy friend. He… worked on it, at least somewhat, to be less abrasive about it. They had Rhy to thank for that… But he still was constantly asking questions without much forethought. His mouth tended to open before he’d finished, considering his words.

Llewellyn hummed a little at Cloud’s response. It made sense that they might not have had time in their world… It sounded like there was a lot going on, and that always made stopping to talk difficult. But at the notion that Cloud was waiting for a ‘good time’ to bring it up, that gets his attention. “I see…” He’d put things off at the Sphere for a very long time… And one accident made him realize that perhaps waiting for a good time that might never come meant missing out on a lot. “In my experience, there may never be a ‘good time’ presented to you. Sometimes you have to make the decision to make that time yourself, before you lose the chance to have the conversation at all.”

"You should be." the response came out a bit more agressive than he'd intended, but he didn't move to correct it. He was protective of Aerith, and that protection went beyond having been hired as her bodyguard. Was he falling for her? He wasn't sure he had enough experience to know for sure, but it felt right.

When she'd given him the warning, it had felt almost...afraid, either for herself or for him. She'd known things, things she'd had no business knowing, but maybe it was something about hearing the voice of the planet.

"Shouldn't I...care about what she wants, too?"

“Of course you should.” Llewellyn responded with a small rise of his brow, thoughtful for a moment. “But if you both don’t sit down and have a proper conversation, you’ll never really know what one another wants.” What one wants and what one thinks they should were two different things, after all.

From what Llewellyn had seen and experienced with his friend… Aerith seemed to care a lot about other people and less about herself or what she wanted, at least based on the rather… Contradictory way she viewed things, telling him to work less and spend more time with people he cared about while seemingly deciding that didn’t include her. That it was fine for her to keep working and keep to herself rather than trouble people around her, even if she might want to.

Clearing his throat, he tried to think of a good way to put it. Actually taking time to think, which meant sorting through the very constant flurry of thoughts that all seemed clamoring to get out. “I’m not saying that you should go up to her and make demands or insist that things be a certain way… I’m just saying that you owe it to each other to have a proper, full conversation about how you both feel in a place where everything going on in your world isn’t going to interrupt or get in the way.” He rubbed the back of his neck lightly, humming a bit while the other hand gestured around them. “These worlds… For all that they’re a complicated mess, they’re also a chance for things that we wouldn’t get the opportunity to even consider, let alone have in our own worlds…”

Often to his discredit, Cloud didn't put much stock in the speeches of others. All the better that Watts' words didn't come off as a speech. He didn't respond immediately, crossing his arms and looking down instead, thoughtfully. It was no secret he was terrible with words, often letting his actions speak for him, though even that was dubious as he often pretended not to care as much as he did.

Watts didn't need to know that, of course. Maybe these worlds did give someone the chance to have what they couldn't in their own, but with how easily they'd come here...

"Maybe. Is it worth it, though?"

Llewellyn hummed a little at the question, making himself stop and think about it for all that he knew what his instinctive answer was.

Because Cloud’s question deserved the consideration rather than a hasty answer. So after a moment or two, the detective finally nodded. “In my experience? I believe it is.” He rubbed the back of his neck lightly, a softer smile on his face as he thought about the last two years. “I know that it could all end one day…” As much as he doesn’t want it to, nor does he really want to go back to his world at this point. “But everything ends eventually. Whether we are in this world or our own…”

And having been Rhy’s friend before their relationship shifted… He knew he’d been a little anxious about shifting its focus, between his own insecurities and not wanting to risk hurting the man who had already been through a lot himself. So he could understand perhaps not wanting to risk a conversation that might make things awkward, but… “I know I can’t speak for Rhy completely, really… But I think we’re both happier for having taken the risk than we would have been if we hadn’t.”

It was true one of Cloud's concerns was making things awkward between the two of them, but he also had absolutely no idea how to go about romance. All he knew was fighting, or at least some form of it, as Rhy so pointedly illustrated. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

"...how?"

Wasn’t that a great question? Llewellyn hummed a little and rubbed the back of his neck a bit awkward. “Well…” He considered Cloud for a moment, taking into account what he knew of the man (as little as it was) and having a hard time imagining him going about it in several ways… He even opened his mouth to say one thing, then thought better of it by seconds (be proud). “Hm…”

“I think for you… The best thing you can do is just speak plainly from your heart, Cloud.” He offered thoughtfully, “Knowing Aerith, I think she’ll appreciate that as much as any fancy words or gestures.” He smiled a little. “Those can come after you’re both on the same page, I think.” That had been one of Llewellyn’s problems, if he was being honest. He had over complicated quite a lot when speaking plainly to explain himself to Rhy would have helped a lot earlier on than his flustering with ways to explain how he felt.

Fancy words and gestures would, most likely, never come, at least not without prompting. He had no idea where to even start with something like that. Aerith was also a girl from the slums with whom he'd tromped through actual sewers with. She loved flowers, but...

...well, she also liked dressing up and being treated like a girl, didn't she? Just speak directly from the heart? What did that even mean?

"Uh...right."

‘Such a confident response.’ Llewellyn couldn’t help but muse to himself at the rather vague, uncertain reply. Given what he knew of Cloud, it wasn’t entirely surprising. “I know it uh- sounds difficult, I know it often seemed it to me before… But you’ll find once you start talking it’s not as difficult as you think.” He rubbed the back of his neck lightly. “I would find a moment you both won’t be interrupted, and perhaps a spot you’re more comfortable having the conversation. Going somewhere that there are people or uh- the chances of distraction just make the idea more difficult to approach.”

That was a whole nother concern, actually. What if he started talking and just couldn’t stop? Where would they be then? He’d never known himself to be a rambler, of course. It was more his style to just leave when he started getting awkward, but he couldn’t do that to Aerith. Not to her.

“Maybe…her garden?” She was always comfortable there, and maybe he could ask her about her flowers.

Llewellyn, of course, couldn’t provide advice on not rambling if Cloud had asked, anyway. He never really figured out how to stop himself from going off on tangents when they happened, though in his experience it meant things that needed to get out, did. Even if it just… took a while to get it across.

He smiled a little. “The garden is probably a good place, perhaps after she closes up shop for the day.” It was a quiet, peaceful setting in his opinion… And Aerith seemed very at home there, so perhaps that would help Cloud with his own nerves.

It seemed like they'd had all their important talks in gardens. He supposed, considering her abilities, it made sense.

"Yeah. I think it does." He took a breath, turning to leave, then turned back. "Uh. Thanks."

“You’re quite welcome, Cloud.” He responded, offering the man a small nod in parting. They both had things to get back to, and hopefully Cloud would keep this conversation in mind and have a talk with Aerith. “Good luck, and good day.” He added with a small wave, before resettling his hat and heading off down the road again.

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just a day in the life.

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