just a day in the life.

[mostlycloudy]

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!)

Comments

[mostlycloudy]

As always, it seemed, she was able to run circles around him. While he paused, trying to figure out how best to broach the subject of Hojo, she'd already successfully, at least for the moment, changed the subject.

"I...he did?"

[cetrary]

"Yup," she smiled as she realized she'd definitely thrown him off track. "Remember our high five?"

[mostlycloudy]

He frowned at her question, crossing his arms. He definitely did remember, now that Rhy had pointed it out.

"Yeah."

[cetrary]

"He gave some tips, maybe I can offer them to you. I think my high five was pretty close to perfect," she said with a wide grin. "He did say he thought it was kinda cute. Not sure if he meant you or me though."

[mostlycloudy]

"Great." He breathed a sigh, shaking his head. He wanted to get the topic off his ineptitude fast.

"I saw one of yours, too."

[cetrary]

"Well, that didn't work," she said with a little shuffle of her feet. It'd worked for a time, but not nearly as long as she'd thought it would. She let out a sigh and looked over at him hesitantly.

"What did you see?"

[mostlycloudy]

"Hojo." He spoke the name through clenched teeth, giving a subtle shake of his head. "And what he...planned on doing with you.

He's a psycho, Aerith. I'm sorry." It sounded lame, putting it that way, and like a supreme understatement, but it was what he had.

[cetrary]

"Oh," her voice was suddenly small, smaller than it ever had before. "Did you see what happened after?" Had the memory only shown him her brave front while Hojo was there or had he seen her cry when he'd walked off? For some reason she really didn't want him to have seen that and yet something told her she already had her answer.

She shook her head and put her hands close to her chest, almost as if collapsing into herself she could protect herself from the memory.

"I didn't know he went back for her." But she shouldn't have been surprised. He was cruel and twisted, he would do anything to get his precious data back.

[mostlycloudy]

He wasn't sure what he'd hoped to achieve by confronting her with this revelation, that he'd seen how strong he put herself forth has and how scared she was of the man. He didn't know what to say, but he did know he wanted her to know she wasn't alone, and that Hojo made him feel vulnerable, too, for reasons he couldn't even fully remember. He was starting to wonder if he'd forgotten on purpose.

He wished he could make her forget, but he knew that was impossible. He wished he had the words to express his feelings, but he'd never been good at that, either. All he had was himself, and so he'd use that.

He stepped toward her, uncertain and hesitant, before he awkwardly pulled her in to a hug. He didn't know if it would help, but it was what he had.

Ultimately, he said the first thing that came to mind, too. "I will never let him have you again."

[cetrary]

"Oh," she let out a small gasp as he pulled her in for a hug. It was so unusual for him to do something unexpected that she wasn't entirely sure how to react. Strangely it felt more like a Zack thing to do and well that thought was a Pandora's box that she didn't want to open. Reflexively she relaxed into his arms and smiled up at him.

"Thank you," her voice was gentle and small. "But nobody should make promises they can't keep. He still has a role to play I think and so do I. One that you can't protect me from." But it was a nice thought to think maybe he could.

[mostlycloudy]

"Do you?" He pulled away from her, hands still on her shoulders, enough to look in her eyes. "I thought you said you didn't know what was ahead anymore." He didn't know how she'd known in the first place, but she was a Cetra, and that meant maybe he wasn't supposed to know.

[cetrary]

"I know that much." She tried to give him a smile but it was weak and there was still something that was obviously haunting her behind it. "I don't know everything for sure like I used to. But I think there are still some things that may have to go a certain way. I warned you for a reason." Well, she'd given him her warning for a lot of reasons.

[mostlycloudy]

"I don't care." It was past his lips before he really had time to evaluate the statement, but one he'd said it he found it to be true. He didn't care that she had some cosmic destiny or whatever, or about the world Sephiroth eluded to they're creating. He wasn't sure about much, he couldn't even trust his own memories most of the time.

But he was sure about one thing: he would die before he let any harm come to Aerith. "I just...care about you."

[cetrary]

"Do you?" She moved back and tapped his forehead with a small smile. There was a sadness in her eyes that she tried to hide by brightening the smile. "Or is it something else?" Maybe that wasn't quite fair to ask. No, it definitely wasn't, but somehow she felt like it needed to be said.

"I'm sorry. I just...I don't want to see anymore people get hurt."

[mostlycloudy]

"Neither do I." Not his new friends, or his old friend, or Aerith. He'd seen enough people being hurt. He was done with it.

"But...shouldn't we enjoy the time we have?" That's what Watts had said, and something about that resonated with him.

[cetrary]

"Strange," her voice was light and managed a hint of cheerfulness. There was no getting rid of that sadness in her eyes though, it'd seemed to have frozen itself there for the time being. "That sounds like something someone else has said recently. Hmmm...is Cloud actually listening to someone else's advice?" That was definitely surprising and she couldn't help but tease him about it.

"You mean the time here?"

[mostlycloudy]

He uttered a soft tut before shaking his head. "So what if I am?" Watts seemed to know what he was talking about, which was more than Cloud could say. "He's a good guy. I...think he works for you. Uh...Watts?" He said he did, at any rate.

"And...yeah. I do."

[cetrary]

"Mmmhm, very good worker!" She pinched her finger tips together. "Little bit nosey but that probably comes from his profession back where he's from. He's a detective you know?" Which meant he was a bit too good at observing things.

"Sooo...what would you suggest we do to enjoy the time we have here?"

[mostlycloudy]

"No, I didn't." Cloud was terrible at talking to people, especially when it came to learning things about them. Of course, the first step on that road was caring about whatever their responses to questions might be.

His thinking had never gotten this far and he frowned, blinking and looking down. "I..." He trailed off. He didn't have an answer. "I...don't know." That could mean many things: he didn't know how they could enjoy their time here, and he also didn't know all that much about enjoying time.

[cetrary]

"You know, surprisingly that's not really that surprising," she said with a giggle. He wasn't exactly the best at talking to people. It was one of the things that made him distinctly different from Zack.

Her smile faded pretty quickly though and she looked down. Somehow that also wasn't that surprising. "But it was your idea, silly."

[mostlycloudy]

Surprisingly not surprising.  Sometimes the way she worded things got to him, but most of the time, it was just so Aerith he couldn't help but smile. This was one of those times. Though he couldn't remember, that contrast of personalities was exactly why Zack had essentially adopted the cadet when they'd met.

"I..." He breathed a sigh, looking down. "I know. I just." He shook his head, gritting his teeth for a moment before looking back up. "I've never had a girlfriend before." And then he looked back down, and away.

[cetrary]

"A girlfriend, hmmm" she bent to the side and tilted her head. "Is that what you want?" That wasn't really that surprising given everything. A part of her actually found it...nice. There was guilt tied to that though, both about missing Zack and about the things she knew. Maybe Watts was right about telling him. It seemed like such a terrible idea and she knew she couldn't tell him everything. But...maybe she could tell him something. Let him in just a little bit. Then maybe he'd understand why this wasn't a good idea.

"Cloud...what I knew..." she straightened herself back up and bit down on her lower lip. "I know--knew I guess is more accurate now, huh? I knew a lot of things about the possible future. Things I shouldn't have known. Sephiroth does a lot of harm." That was an understatement. "I think," well think wasn't really accurate, but she wasn't sure how many details she wanted to give at this point. She looked down and took a sigh. This wasn't a good idea. Her voice fell to barely a whisper. "I think...he ends up killing me and I think it has to happen in order to stop the destruction of our planet." Well, there. She'd said it. One of the many things she'd been keeping to herself all this time.

[mostlycloudy]

What else could that have meant? He'd meant it when he'd said he'd wanted a choice in whether or not he fell in love with her, that it didn't seem fair to him that she was make the choices for both of them, but before he could interject, she finished her story and he frowned.

"That won't happen." It was automatic, a demand more than a promise. He would do anything and everything in his power to keep that from happening. "He...Sephiroth knew too. He...knows more than he should, I think." He looked over to her, eyebrows lowered. "Like you." He blinked. "I...went somewhere, after we took out the spirits. It was...far, but really close, I think. We fought. He said we were...seven seconds from the end, and then...I was back, with you and the others, and we left. I don't....know what he meant, but he wanted me to join him in...whatever it is."

[cetrary]

"I knew you'd say that," she said with a bittersweet smile and almost chastising tone. "You shouldn't promise things you can't guarantee, you know. It just ends up hurting more." That she knew from experience. From Zack.

"Mmm, I guess we all kept a few things to ourselves, huh? Seven seconds..." she trailed off and then said something, mostly to herself: "Meteor?" Then she shook her head. "There's nothing we can really do about that here, is there? So maybe there isn't much point in trying to think about what it might mean."

[mostlycloudy]

"Meteor." He hadn't seen anything careening through space, but he'd been busy. "Maybe. We were...not on the planet anymore. At least...it didn't look like it. The terrain was barren, and the sky was nothing but stars."

He shook his head, though, in answer of her question. "We can't. All we can do is enjoy what we have." More parroting of what Watts had said, but it felt good. Right.