007 | nothing else matters

[atouchofstrife]

Characters: Cloud and YOU
Setting: Floor 38
Format: starting prose but will match
Summary: Cloud is sulking thinking about such things as Sephiroth and the Tower and missing home while avoiding everyone else.
Warnings: Nothing at the moment but will warn if anything changes


So Sephiroth was here. Cloud sat in a chair, not really watching the fog and the clouds, but instead thinking over everything that had happened in the last couple of months. He hadn't been paying much attention to anything else going on in the Tower, instead spending his time going from hiding on this floor to the farmlands to his dorm in the kind of fog that deep thinking brought out in him. He should have been keeping an eye on Sephiroth and Reno, but he just didn't feel like he could.

How should deal with this one? The last one was a bit saner at least; he could have left him to his own devices and did. This one though, this one remembered the last time they faced off. He also still talked about JENOVA like it was a real mother. That bit worried him a little. What if the J-cells decided to start finding more people to infect? How could they stop it without help from the Lifestream?

Cloud wiggled further into his chair, looking very much like a sulking teen and not a battle-worn adult that he was suppose to be.

Comments

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos climbed up the Tower, exploring as he went. However, eventually, he did grow a little tired, and popped into a small room to rest and think for a moment. In the room sat a man with blond hair, thinking about something serious, by the looks of it. While he felt human, he also had two other pieces attached to his consciousness. Interesting.

Curious, and wanting to help, chaos carefully approached the man.]

Pardon me..but are you alright? What's bothering you?

don't mind me hopping in....

[neverbeamemory]

[It seemed that Cloud wasn't the only one drawn to the floors which opened out onto the world outside; or at least through glass walls. Sometimes coincidence just didn't explain enough, and similarities had to be out of the question.

He shot Cloud and Chaos a look before pointedly avoiding the lounge area in the middle of the floor; heading for where he usually stood to look out of the windows and ponder. On the way he took care to ensure that his healing left hand was tucked into himself in such a way that any usual way he was carrying it wouldn't be noticed very easily. Black leather gloves went a long way to camouflage when black leather was the ongoing theme of his attire.]

ah it's a sephiroth!

[atouchofstrife]

[ Cloud looked up at the voice, shaken by his thoughts from someone actually coming close and talking to him. Blue eyes - having that strange mako sheen of all SOLDIERs - blinked and then came into focus. How long had he been zoning out on the problem at hand and ignoring everything? It wouldn't be the first time he had spent months away from people and letting his own inner monologues go around and around in his head. ]

I'm... Fine. I guess.

[ His voice was a little hoarse but not too badly. Maybe it was weeks instead of months that he decided to shut people out. Cloud would have probably said something more but that was when he felt Sephiroth enter the room. He didn't need to look, even as the pull grew and the man came into view. He watched him for signs of aggression, but seeing none, Cloud turned his attention away from the former General and back to the person talking to him. ]

Sorry. What were you saying?

Now here's a chaos.

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos felt another person walked in and looked at him for a moment. This one wasn't quite human either, and it felt a little similar to what was attached on the man with blond hair's consciousnesses. Interesting. Were these two people friends or foes? Or both? However, he quickly looked back on the man with blond hair and smiled.]

I asked if there was anything bothering you. You seem troubled for some reason.

and a cloud

[atouchofstrife]

[ He glanced over at Sephiroth again. The guy seemed concerned but Cloud couldn't just mention Sephiroth and all the issues they had. For one, the former General was standing right in the room. He could hear every single word they said, even if Cloud tried to whisper. For another, it wasn't his nature to just tell people his worries, especially total strangers.

Cloud thought for a moment and then recalled the sharp recordings that showed up on the network before it all went offline. ]

Ah... those files brought up bad memories.

chaotic clouds?

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos caught the glance and put two and two together. That was the main source of his worry, but he couldn't talk about it with him standing right there. They must have been enemies then. It must have been pretty bad to have a piece of your enemy lodged into your own consciousness.

However, chaos had seen those files and the resulting conversation, so he nodded.]

Those files did sound pretty terrible..and this Ruana woman is a bit of a mystery. I'm sorry if this situation reminds you of your life back home. That must be terrible.

[And, lowering his voice, chaos quietly and quickly spoke.]

If Silver is bothering you, send me a message on the network. I can help.

[He hoped that this man would understand that 'Silver' was just a small nickname for the other man in the room.]

maybe~.^

[atouchofstrife]

[ Enemies was just scratching the surface when it came to them. Cloud would hesitate to call Sephiroth that even though they had a long history of fighting between them. He still felt that there was a little of the hero left in the General. ]

It's better than it was.

[ He stiffens slightly in his seat, wondering what could have given that away before mentally slapping himself. He really shouldn't look over at the man if he didn't want people to guess who he was worried about. But really, help him with Sephiroth? With the cells that were a part him as much as Zack? ]

I don't know... Who are you?

Yay!~

[lightofhumanity]

I see..hopefully you'll be able to go home soon then.

[What a terrible world this man had come from..chaos noticed the stiffening, but didn't comment on it, not wanting to further alarm the man or get him into a fight with the man standing nearby.]

My name is..chaos. How about you? What's your name?

Yay!~

[atouchofstrife]

You think the worlds still exist?

[ It had been a good world. Cloud had just ended up catching the attention of the wrong people. He took a deep breath and shrugged. ]

chaos? I'm Cloud Strife.

[derping]

[Meanwhile, Sora didn't have much of a reason for coming up to the thirty-eighth floor, except for wanting a place that wasn't his room to sit down and work on something. This floor was a little bit closer to where he had been before than the other media floor was, and he found it a lot easier to focus without the television screens everywhere. Maybe the view on this floor wasn't that great, but that was a given anywhere in this place.

So, for a little while, he was keeping to himself for once, scribbling notes on a few pieces of scrap paper. He hadn't seen Zack in a long while, and was pretty sure that he was...gone from the tower, however that happened, so he had finally decided that it was about time to get back to work on this whole map project anyway. He tried to make a list of what floors he could think of off the top of his head, what he could and couldn't remember, and where he needed to go look.

...and, after about ten minutes, it got way too boring for him to keep focus. Planning and writing notes had never been Sora's thing.

So, now that he's noticed that he's not alone on this floor, this person that he doesn't recognize has caught his attention...even though it didn't really look like he was here for company. Not that that had ever stopped Sora before. He stands up, gathers his notes, and moves to sit down in a chair closer to Cloud.]

You don't look like you're having much fun.

[In fact, Cloud, you kind of look like you're sulking.]

[atouchofstrife]

[ He was thinking SULKING so when someone came up to him and started talking it took him a few seconds to realize that they were speaking to him. Mako-blue eyes focused on Sora and blinked, Cloud's face scrunching up a little as he registered that there was someone in the room and not a piece of a memory. ]

This place doesn't really give rise to too much fun.

[ What with all the death and torture and reminders about a life spent under the hands of a mad scientist and missing out four years of his life. That there was only a few of them left from Gaia and one of them happens to be a very powerful enemy did not help the spiral of his thoughts to less than pleasant activities. ]

Sorry.

[derping]

Yeah, you're right about that.

[Sora was about as far from cynical as a person can get, but he's been stuck in this place for nearly a year now. He knows that "fun" isn't exactly easy to come by in the tower, unless there's something very wrong with your definition of fun.]

Nothing to be sorry about. You just looked like you needed someone to talk to.

[Maybe Sora wasn't always the best judge of that sort of thing, but that didn't stop him from trying.]

[atouchofstrife]

I've been told I think too much.

[ If Tifa was here, she would have already dragged him out telling him it was for his own good to do something that did not include thinking too much. Just what that could be in this place Cloud wasn't sure. It wasn't like he could go driving anywhere. ]

Not really. I don't want to burden people with my thoughts.

[derping]

[Luckily for you, Cloud, Sora's kind of gotten used to having friends who spend a little too much time thinking. He's been trying to figure out ways to drag them out of that habit, too.

He actually laughs a tiny bit at that last part, though, but not in a mean way.]

Burden? That sounds a little dramatic.

Seriously, though, keeping everything bottled up sounds like it's gonna hurt more than help. So what are you thinking about, anyway?

[atouchofstrife]

[ He's the main protagonist from a Square game; they tend to be a bit dramatic. Cloud sighed a little and shrugged, looking around for a certain silver-haired swordsman. He thought he was here, but maybe he was reading the pull on the J-cells wrong. ]

Home. [ Another shrug. ] Sephiroth.

[derping]

You miss your own world?

[Because that's a topic where Sora can relate; he can even understand being a bit mopey about it. Or, well, more than a bit...especially recently.]

And who's Sephiroth? A friend? Or...well, not a friend?

[attheclocktower]

Xion usually came to Floor 38 to read. She liked heights, though after some of her near misses on them meant she was slightly more at ease with a wall between her and a too-long drop. That was part of what made Floor 38 perfect though.

She spotted Cloud sitting on a couch nearby. They'd spoken over the network of course, and met some at Reno's training sessions. She made her way over.

"Hey... can I sit here?" she asked quietly. The book her hand would hopefully bespeak the fact that she wasn't going to talk much, it just... in the Tower it was better to do things in groups, rather than alone, given how dangerous everything was.

[atouchofstrife]

He shook off some of his thoughts and looked up, smiling a little at seeing a friendly face. He could feel the tug of the J-cells that meant Sephiroth was nearby somewhere but since he was not here, that was a bonus in Cloud's mind.

"Sure."

[midgarhorizon]

Floor 38, huh? Well, have Reno appear, hauling a small box of his homemade booze ready for the bar.

The bottles were all mismatched as usual, but the difference was that the liquid looked sort of... orange?

What the hell did he do?

[atouchofstrife]

Cloud blinked at the sight of Reno and then remembered that this was where he had that bar. Now that there was only one of them, he had to wonder if the bar was a lot more work or if he needed a hand... But Cloud just shrugged to himself and wiggled further into his chair. He wasn't going to think about it at all. He had other things on his mind right now.

[midgarhorizon]

Really? Is that how it's gonna be, Cloud? You're gonna leave him high and dry balancing that box full of bottles like that?

Cruel, Cloud.

Still, Reno had no trouble handling the box, walking swiftly over to the shelves and setting the box down.

"Hey, Cloud." Don't think he didn't notice you, lounging around like that. "Ya hear what happened?"

[atouchofstrife]

"What happened?"

Yup, he is just going to sulk a little more in his nice comfy chair. He'll even slouch further and wished that he chose a different place to think. He forgot the bar was here.

"Besides you getting killed, and Sephiroth returning with the memories of the last time we fought."

[midgarhorizon]

That set Reno a little bit aback, but he continued his work with only a moment's pause. "Nah. I mean where he chased Shion with a sword. Ya want something to drink?"

[atouchofstrife]

"...He's acting weirder than normal."

Because he could see no real reason for Sephiroth to go chasing after Shion. Usually the former General had better control of himself than to randomly attack people without a real purpose in mind.

"No, I didn't know that. A drink would be nice."

[midgarhorizon]

"I don't think we got the one that came in with Zack that one time." Reno replied, sounding alert and energetic while he shifted through the bottled until he found one, half empty.

He came over with a light step and grabbed Cloud's hand, slapping the bottle into it. "He scared the kid shitless. I'm the first one to admit that isn't hard with him, but it's the principle, man."