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]

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.

[cetrary]

"Hmm... that's...interesting." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and shook her head. "I wonder what he's planning." The words were whispered and spoken mostly to herself instead of him. That was there though. They were here. Nothing they could do.

"And now we're back to the first point we were at, huh? We're good at going in circles." She always had been, it'd been easier to go in a circle and hide things. "I think maybe...maybe it's really time for you to think about what you want. All on your own."

[mostlycloudy]

"I don't know, but I doubt it's going to be anything good." He heaved a sigh. "Or that we've seen the last of him. I don't think he liked my choice." Which had been to leave.

"I know I want you to be safe. I don't have to think about that."

[cetrary]

"If the choice wasn't to help him, he wouldn't like it." Her tone took an extremely serious turn with that comment. "We'll see him again. Like I said, Shinra isn't our real enemy." But that was really all she wanted to talk about that for the moment.

"That's very sweet of you Cloud. But is that all you really know without having to think?"

[mostlycloudy]

Her words confirmed what he'd been suspecting since Sephiroth appeared in the Shinra building and he took a breath. "It's him, isn't it? Whatever he's become, after..." after they'd fought, after he fell in the reactor. No, he wasn't there...was he? He shook his head. Memories of that day were jumbled at best.

"No." This was something he knew with certainty. "I want you to smile more." And maybe I want to be the reason you smile more?

[cetrary]

"Yeah, it's him." She said quietly but with a firmness that said she also didn't really want to talk anymore about it.

"Is that so," she gave him a weird little forced smile and shook her head. "Hmm, are you going to get really corny and say you want to make me smile?"

[mostlycloudy]

"No." Even if he'd been planning on saying it, he definitely wouldn't be doing it now. He frowned, though, uncertain of where to even begin. Aside from being competitive and loving flowers, he's beginning to realize he doesn't really know that much about her.

Maybe that was something. "But...we could do...things together. What...what would you want to do, if you weren't running for your life?" Because that was an important distinction from how their interactions had been back home.

[cetrary]

"So you don't want to make me smile?" She put a hand to her chest. "That hurts." Maybe that was a tiny bit mean of her to keep teasing him. Somehow she could imagine Watts giving her a look for it.

She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "That's a good question. It's not really something I've ever thought too much about. My life wasn't too bad all things considered."

[mostlycloudy]

He made a frustrated sound in his throat. "That's not what I said." Nor what he'd meant. Sometimes, it felt like she did these things on purpose.

"Okay, so...what did you like to do?"

[cetrary]

"Kiiinda was close!" That's because she did, Cloud. That's because she did.

"Hmm," she scrunched her eyebrows up thoughtfully. "I liked taking care of my flowers, but I already do that plenty here." Truth be told she wasn't entirely sure how to answer the rest of the question. Any other answer she could think of involved mentioning Zack and she was trying not to do that for both their sakes. "I liked helping everyone in the sector!" That doesn't count, Aerith.

[mostlycloudy]

His eyebrows rose slightly at her answer, and he remembered something Jacob told him that evidently applied to Aerith, too. They apparently both needed hobbies.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking about what they could do, and then he remembered something they'd discussed before.

"I know it's weird, for...doing things together, but what about the arena? That was fun." And he meant it. He'd been hesitant at first, but she'd really held her own, and not only that, they'd worked really well together.

[cetrary]

Aerith looked both surprised and excited at his suggestion. "Are you sure you wouldn't be too worried about me?" she bumped him with her hip and gave him a grin. "Lets give it a try."

[mostlycloudy]

"Of course I will." And that wasn't a lie. He'd wanted to protect her from the moment he'd met her, but he couldn't protect everyone, and Aerith was actually capable of doing a lot of protecting of her.

"But that doesn't mean we can't do it."

[cetrary]

She smiled and took his hand. "Sounds like we have our first real date then, huh?" Someday they'd have to talk about other things too. Like why there was a certain amount of sadness in her eyes even as she smiled. But that wasn't a concern right now.

[mostlycloudy]

"Yeah, I guess so." He smiled slightly, to spite himself. It was a weird date, at an arena, joining a battle as a team, but somehow, it seemed appropriate. The sadness in her eyes went unnoticed in his own confusion.