001 ► product of a broken home

Entry tags:

001 ► product of a broken home

Characters: Loz and ANYONE
Setting: Starting in the hall outside room 4-02. Will presumably move out from there?
Format: Prose, but either is fine
Summary: Discovering the tower! Hijinks to ensue.
Warnings: Loz is going to cry. Possibly a lot. I dunno what else.

Loz had woken up, laid in panicked silence and stillness for far longer than he would have preferred, and then gotten the hell out of the room he woke in. If anyone else had been in there, he hadn't paid attention to who--or what--for long enough to care. If not for the sleep paralysis he might have been more likely to explore his surroundings better, but all the Remnant knew by the time he could move again was that he was somewhere he shouldn't be, something was around his neck, and he was alone. He had to fix as many of those as possible, as quickly as possible.

He tugged at his collar to no avail, stopping not far outside the room to focus on the impossible task. He pulled and tugged and tried to wedge his fingers under it, tried to pull it up high enough to bite, but nothing worked. He wasn't sure he wanted some foreign thing in his mouth anyway, but he definitely didn't want it on his neck either. He felt strangled. But...But if it couldn't be helped, it couldn't be helped. He could fix his clothes in due time--the realization that they were missing, replaced by something tight and weird and white of all colors--was an odd one, and he wondered how whoever took him here even got them off.

...What even happened to his clothes when he took them off? He'd never tried before, it was a weird thought.

"Stop bein' stupid, figure it out," Loz snapped at himself, closing his glowing green eyes and muttering half under his breath. He was no longer in the room, but he was still somewhere he shouldn't be. He couldn't do anything about the thing around his neck. He was still alone, maybe he could fix that?

Stretching out his senses, Loz felt like a rock had been dropped in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't feel a hint of Kadaj--of course he couldn't, he'd felt that cord go taut and then just snap when he died--or Yazoo. The latter worried him most, as they had been together last he knew anything, and they were leaving together, they were going to stay together--

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and blinked rapidly. Not gonna cry, not gonna cry. Couldn't let Yazoo make fun of him when he finally found him. He had to be here somewhere, right? Of course he was. He had to be, because they were going together, no matter what Loz's senses told him. Maybe Big Brother was here too. Maybe this was where they were trying to go.

Loz leaned against the nearest wall and tried to figure out what he was supposed to do, now that he was here. He'd...never been alone before, and it showed in his face, his stance. Beyond anything else, Loz looked distinctly lost.

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Reno is doing his usual stalking of the halls, and at the sight of Loz he stops and tilts his head because... why the hell did Sephiroth cut his hair? And stop wearing that ridiculous leather coat? And look like he might cry? It was downright freaky, in a way that he'd only ever seen on the boat.

"You alright there?" He asked casually after a long moment, hands casually tucked in to the pockets of the jeans he wore. He rarely actually wore his uniform outside of when he needed to look some sort of official.

The voice was familiar, and set something off in Loz instantly. He whirled on Reno, eyes narrowing and flashing. "You." It didn't really mean anything, it wasn't a threat per se, but it made it very clear that Loz knew how Reno was, and wasn't going to put up with him.

This guy--this stupid, gangly, red-haired weirdo--had gone and blown up an entire highway not once, but twice, to get rid of Loz and Yazoo. Definitely not who he wanted to see.

But wait...if the Turk was here, did that mean they'd really lost? Even with the materia, Loz's gun and Yazoo's aim, they'd lost?

"I don't wanna talk to you," he spat, folding his arms and looking away, scowling.

Okay, way not Sephiroth. At all.

It takes him a moment to think of how to phrase things, and he just studies Loz for the time it takes. He certainly looks like... well admittedly between the voice and everything the guy looked like someone had gone and tossed Rude and Sephiroth's genetics together and spat the guy out. Weird.

"I'm guessing you know me from Gaia." He sighed, or Sparky had gone and pissed in the man's cornflakes. Oatmeal. Whatever. "Unless you already ran across me here, which is bound to happen. I've never met you Dude, much less killed anyone's family in the past...six months."

"You're a Turk. You took Mother." Still not looking at him, Loz's tone was dangerously familiar; he wasn't lying, not remotely, and his anger was equally genuine. After another second, though, he turned to glare properly. "You tried t'blow me up! With fireworks!" That had been, quite possibly, the dumbest thing Loz could imagine anyone doing. Ever.

Trying to kill a piece of Sephiroth. With fireworks.

They could make fun of him all they wanted, he had never been quite that stupid.

"...why the hell would I be stupid enough to blow someone up with fireworks?" Reno asked, it was an incredibly stupid thing to do. Now, if it had been a stall for time or a distraction... that was another story.

"I'd have to hold you down and make you eat them to even make it work and that'd probably blow me but too. Besides, I don't have a reason to kill you, or kidnap your mother." He shrugged. "I'm not the person you knew...know back home Dude, not anymore."

"I dunno why you'd do it, you're the stupid one!" Loz bellowed in return, angry and frustrated and taking it out on Reno even if Loz hadn't been the one to fight him one on one back in Edge.

He loomed over him, pulling away from the wall to glare down with brightly glowing eyes, teeth flashing as he all but literally snarled in the smaller man's face. "You're the stupid red Turk guy with the stupid red hair an' that's all you're ever gonna be 'cause you're stupid."

Eloquence, thy name is not Loz.

This was where everyone within this and the next few floors should be incredibly thankful that it hadn't been the other Reno that had run across Loz. There probably would have been a fight, but Reno was neither particularily intimidated by Loz or deeply offended by the insult.In fact he, more than anything, wanted the guy to calm the hell down.

"If that's what you want to think, fine. You're the one jumping down my throat for stuff I never did, you're from the future and I'm just trying to help you out here." He sighed, something he really found himself doing a lot when people from Gaia came within twenty feet of him. "The real idiots you should be mad at are the dumbasses in charge of this place, they're the ones who dragged you here."

Reno wasn't looking for a fight, and if Loz came swinging he'd just slap pyramid over him till he calmed dow enough.

Hojo was still exploring the tower, having not yet finished what he considered his preliminary examination. It could take some time to familiarize himself with his new environment to the point where he could push his understanding and his experiments further. There was so much to do! A scientist's work was never done.

At the sight of Loz leaning back against the wall, he stopped short, interest lighting his eyes at once. There was a strong sense of familiarity... The man's coloration and resemblance were unmistakable, for a start, and a few ideas did run through his mind, but he wasn't sure what to make of this at all. This--person. Who was he? Odd, how many of his experiments and related persons were here. Odd, and potentially useful. He wondered if it was yet another successful demonstration of the truth of his Reunion Theory. Now, that would be something.

"How intriguing," he murmured to himself, amused, before raising his voice and asking, "A new arrival, perhaps? Are you in need of assistance? I may well be able to help you." He smiled.

For a split second, Loz wanted nothing more than to bristle and hiss like an angry cat, and that was before he even turned to look at the man speaking. He'd never heard that voice before, never with his ears, but it was familiar regardless, set off bells in his head regardless.

Made him want to throw someone through a wall regardless.

He turned, eyes narrowing, and clenched his teeth. He did not know this man, pale and gaunt and noticeably slouched, had never seen the way light glinted off his spectacles or taken note of how much he needed to shower, but he knew it all anyway. The name was on the tip of his tongue, just beyond his reach. Somewhere Yazoo or Kadaj could have gotten to, but not him.

He'd never seen Hojo before, but he knew him, and knew he wanted nothing to do with him. He just had no idea why. The frustration of it, of being so certain without any reason, made the knots in his stomach tighten, that seizing in his chest grow stronger. He wanted to scream, wanted to go home. He wanted his brothers back.

"You don't help people," he said, and he was certain of it. His voice trembled a little anyway, thick with the emotion roiling about behind his eyes and deep in his chest. "'M not stupid, I know you don't help."

But what did he do, then if not what he claimed? And where did this sickening aversion even come from? Well, Sephiroth of course, but that wasn't the point. What was this man to Sephiroth that even Loz, the Remnant with the least of the General in him, knew to steer clear?

"Don't I? This is news to me, because I have done nothing but." As far as he was concerned, it was--if not technically true, then not untrue. Hadn't he improved humanity? Hadn't he tried to change the world for the better? Goals which were usually seen as positive. He believed his own words.

He watched Loz, still smiling, taking note of all his reactions. The emotion--that was different. "I do not recall stating that you were 'stupid'. You know me, do you?" That, too, was of interest to him.

Loz was clearly much stronger and larger than Hojo, but he had no fear of him. He had no fear of anything--not now. He was immortal here, wasn't he? Nothing could interfere with his work, with his goals. In spite of all the threats that had been leveled at him by those with limited minds. No, no, they could never stop a man of vision. He could see clearly again. He could even see past his failures. (Hateful failures, at times he did almost hate himself for them.) There must have been more to his own results than he knew. Looking at this man, he saw that.

"No, you're quite wrong, what I want is to aid you, no more. But--we haven't been introduced, have we?" He laughed. "That would be a start."

"I remember you," Loz replied. "I--I don't, but Sephiroth does, so...so..." He scowled and looked away. "He didn't like you, so I don't like you either!" It took a great deal of willpower to keep from adding "so THERE" or sticking his tongue out at the professor.

Kadaj and Yazoo would have been so proud.

"And 'm not gonna tell you my name."

"Sephiroth, ah..." So, he'd been correct to believe the two were related. It confirmed his hypothesis. And their memories were connected? Well, that was unlike a standard S-Clone. No, there was a difference, though he still didn't understand it. "Sephiroth and I have had our difficulties, our differences, it's true. I am not sure what you remember--or think you understand. You are most welcome not to like me, if that is your preference."

He continued to study Loz with the same interest nonetheless. "Names aren't relevant, I suppose, are they? Not in the face of greater matters. In any event, we are here, together, now. Do you usually take your cues from Sephiroth?"

Loz's scowl deepened, becoming less of a caricature of Sephiroth's expressions of anger and frustration. "What's that even mean Take cues..." He knew what the word meant, once he'd said it. The definition wasn't clear in his head, but he had an understanding of the meaning nonetheless. It was something like remembering the emotion of an event rather than the event itself.

"It's not 'cues.' Cues are things you take from people not things you're made with so just stop asking stupid questions." His voice shook a little--thinking about everything, where they'd come from, where they were supposed to be going, it hurt. It had been so recent for him, after all, just a matter of hours, since he lost everything. He blinked back tears, and had to reach up to rub at one eyes. "S' not cues, it's everything."

"Made..." Now that was very interesting. "Made with. Sephiroth." Ah, now that was certainly different than an S-Clone. Something made from Sephiroth.

"Everything."

Sephiroth was his, his creation, his son. Hojo laughed. His creation had gone on, then. As he'd hoped, it had been resilient. It had adapted. This was yet another one of his results. All Gaia had become nothing so much as his result, what remained after his experiments had concluded.

Even if he had failed, that would always be true. A kind of consolation. But he wouldn't rest on his laurels here. Not while there was yet work to be done, failure to be made up for. Now, this was an interesting subject, if difficult to converse with. Clearly lacking in some respects, but wasn't he used to that? "I only ask questions so that I can better understand how I might help you."

With nothing much else to do, Kota was left with scouting out the tower... Although with someone who had just woken up, Kota himself didn't exactly know how to get around places and only ended up wandering around instead.

And aimlessly wandering around only led to being lost.

"Nooo... I can't be lost!" Kota cried, hands at his face as he stopped walking. "Where am I!?"

That was when he noticed an intimidating-looking man standing off to the side. He looks just as scary as Tsubaki... Did he somehow make the stranger angry? He didn't want to die just after getting to this tower!

"Oh, um..." He gave a small, uneasy smile at the man. "Hi..."

Loz was getting all kinds of attention, and he wasn't particularly interested in any of it. He looked at Kota sideways, pupils momentarily tightening into slits at the change in light, then flaring back out again to something closer to round.

"...Hi."

Kota gave a gulp. Out of all the people residing in the tower, he just had to run into one of the more threatening people. Seeing the narrow pupils reminded him of a Vajra. Was he an Aragami in human form, like Shio? But then again, his skin was too tan to be like Shio... That was when he realized he was staring at the other a little too long.

"Oh, uh..." Kota looked for words as he waved his hands around, "hi mister, uh would you happen to know where we are? I was wandering around and I got lost..."

"...Nope." It was Loz's only response for a long moment, the reality of it all sinking in again as he truly process Kota's question.

He didn't know where they were. He was lost too. And he was alone. Kadaj was dead. Yazoo was...probably dead. Mother was gone--and from the look of things, she'd never really wanted anything but Sephiroth to begin with. They'd always known that Sephiroth was her favorite, her firstborn, but to think that finding her meant Kadaj had to die, take the injuries meant for his eldest brother in the fight against Cloud...

Loz sniffled a little.

Everything he'd ever known and loved was gone. And he was here, in this weird place, with these funny clothes and this stupid thing around his neck and he was lonely and scared and didn't know what to do.

So he did the only thing he could do, one of the few things he did better than his brothers.

He cried. Loz reached up to wipe at his eyes--bare hands, that was strange, he'd worn gloves for so long--but it didn't help. He choked and whimpered and his great square shoulders shook with the force of it.

What was he going to do?

For a split second, Kota thought the stranger was going to get angry at him or something; he covered his face as he quickly took a step back, with a series of "I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!!" But when he realized there was no yelling, he looked over at the other to see him...

...Crying.

Kota stared at Loz for a while, not knowing what to say or do. Seeing a grown, older man breaking down in tears wasn't something he was expecting.

"Um... S...sorry...? D-did something happen? Please don't cry..." Kota managed to speak as he slowly got closer in attempt to calm him down.

Loz would have laughed at Kota's appraisal of his age, if he'd known; calling him a grown man would almost have been insulting, given the youngest Remnant's opinion of adults at large. As it was, he was too busy crying, and when he spoke it came out in broken little shakes.

Something about his brother being dead, issues with his mother--"an' he's gone 'cause of Mother an' she didn't even WANT us"--and something about his collar--"it's too tight and I don't LIKE IT and it won't COME OFF"--and something equally fragmented about a motorcycle--"Big Brother cut it IN HALF and we worked so hard on 'em and he just cut it up!"

Kota had opened a floodgate on the emotional reservoir that was Loz. He would apologize for flipping out later, but right now he just hurt too much.

"Least--Least 'm not the only one lost..." he said at last, still fighting back sobs.

Cue more fretting from Kota's side. He could handle this better if it were his little sister that was crying before him, but a grown man... He did his best to listen to the other speak, trying to understand what he was going on about. He could only pick up about his mother and the collar though.

"No mother takes her child's life! That's just not right!" Kota blurted out, somewhat angry to hear this. His own mom was so kind and nice, she told him that no matter where they lived, she was happy to live together with Nozomi and him... That was how a mother should be like. "But...you're still alive like this, right? Maybe your brother is somewhere around too?"

And when he heard the last bit, he froze for a moment. "So...you say that you're lost too...?"

Great.

[Your roommate, Loz, on the other hand, took the time to dress properly. Honestly that white monstrosity should have never gone anywhere near him. He woke up a little after Loz left, and set about reading the letters, exploring his trunk and settling out to battle. Which means that by the time he comes out of the room, he's a little over four feet of armed for war dwarf. He's taking things really well, all things considered... that is to say he thinks the letters are bullshit and he needs to regroup and figure out whose ass he's gotta give a spanking with an axe here. No biggie.

Axe in hand, he looks around until he spots a certain tall individual nearby. He's tall, sure... but he looks kind of unimpressive, for a guard. It's the bad posture, probably.]

Oi, you there. Are you friend or foe? Gimli, son of Glóin demands an answer!

[Well, Loz's clothes are mentally generated, when he calms down enough he'll make 'em. For the moment, he'll deal with being in skintight white.

Gimli probably looked a lot more frightening in it than Loz does.

He turns when Gimli speaks, then blinks and looks down. And down. A little further down. Loz stares for a long, long second.]'

...Why are you so small.

[Gimli's expression goes a little dark, by degrees, as he puffs up a little.]

What did you say, boy?

[He tilts his head slightly, confused. Is it harder to hear from way down there? This guy's even shorter than Big Brother, and that's saying something.

Loz raises his voice a little, just in case.]

Why're you so small? R'you okay?

[This is a bearded axe. This is the blunt, handle-side of an axe poking you in the chess, Loz. Hard. He wants to see you stumble, you ridiculous man-child.]

Because I'm a dwarf, you ignorant simpleton!

[Shove.]

And I will be perfectly fine once you stop asking nonsense questions and answer mine.

He was back at mapping out the tower again in his head, trying to figure out the safe spots and the weak points. He had to know what would happen if something - or rather someone - decided to go along and destroy the support on the various floors. He didn't know if breaking a floor would make the rest collapse. He just had to be sure.

Though given that he can cut through metal and steel with his own blade, Cloud wasn't sure that planning out how to keep the tower together would work with someone like Sephiroth around. The former General could be surprising from time to time.

Cloud stopped and sighed, shaking his head. He was over thinking things again. Instead of focusing on making sure that Sephiroth couldn't bring the tower down, he should have been keeping an eye on him. He couldn't stop him if he didn't see his next move. He was acting like the hero Cloud knew, but Hojo was here, and Cloud knew that somehow he would find a way to do something. That something could be anything which was why he needed to stick close to Sephiroth.

Plan in mind, Cloud turned around to head back and stopped because coming towards him was someone he had hoped to never see.

"Great."

Loz stopped. Just...stopped, completely still, and stared. He hadn't been reaching for a while, too sick with the emptiness that he found, and hadn't really felt Cloud's approach.

But that was definitely Cloud. No matter what the stupid red Turk said about people being different, Loz knew few things with such intimate certainty as his family.

"Big Brother?" His voice was quiet, like he was afraid to scare him off. He almost was. Maybe more than almost, he couldn't say.

But Cloud was here. Regardless of the Clone's feelings for him, they were brothers; Loz wasn't completely alone. Honestly, he'd take fighting Cloud over wandering the halls any day.

Finally, Loz smiled. "You didn't die!" And he sounded sincerely happy about that.

That... Really wasn't something he had expected to hear from any of the Remnants. Cloud just stood there, blinking, his one hand paused in mid-air in an aborted grab for his sword's hilt. He had expected some kind of anger, or sudden pain or even yelling and screaming. He did not expect any of them to ever feel relieved about his continual living.

Only when a small part of his brain told him that he looked like a stunned chocobo did Cloud drop his pose and cleared his throat. He scratched at his head and then huffed.

"I guess I didn't." He frowned a little and dropped his hand. "I didn't expect to see you here."

[Zidane is, especially compared to Loz, a short guy. But he gazes up at him undaunted as he passes him in the hall. He's heading out from his nearby room to look for Kuja--or anyone he knows from home--but it's impossible for him to ignore this large man who looks like he's trying not to cry.

He doesn't blame the guy for being upset, not in a place like this. He's upset himself! He also can't just leave him here.]

Hey, you okay? You just wake up here, too?

On first sight of Loz upon rounding a hallway, Kohaku has to raise her sleeve to her mouth to stifle an impromptu giggle - an admittedly rude one, especially for someone with a maid's training in their background. It's just rather amusing seeing anyone in the tower's... particular way of dressing new arrivals.

That over with, though, she realizes the fellow looks distinctly bereft. It's rather pitiful. Usual smile turned a bit more patronizing, she slowly approaches - wooden sandals giving a distinctive 'clack,' as an advance warning.

"You don't look like you're having a very good day."

"You must be new here, young man."

Xehanort pauses, hands clasped behind his back in his trademark stooped posture, eyeing Loz curiously with his own luminescent yellow eyes. It's obvious to him that Loz is new, and confused, and quite distraught, and that means a prime opportunity to make an acquaintance that the others would not even consider. After all, who is he but an old man to everyone else?

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001 ► product of a broken home

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how about in a hallway?

hallways are fabulous

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some other hallway

Re: some other hallway

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sorry Kota you set him off D8

faelfkj Kota is very good at setting off things but this... 8'D

Loz needs to carry a sign that warns for the giant crybaby man thing.

Yes. Although there's no guarantee that Kota will be attentive enough even with the sign :'D

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Oh dear god, why. LMFAO

because he doesn't know better 8(

oh please, allow Gimli to show you better

some where in a hall

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WOW I WROTE THE WRONG NAME THE FIRST TIME...

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