two.

[sicharia]

Characters: [AU9] Claudia Hortensia & OPEN
Setting: Room 3-03; outside the 100th Floor; Various (Floor 12, Floor 81, others)
Format: Action preferred
Summary: Claudia deals with the aftermath of the event.
Warnings: The first part contains references to suicide; this is likely to come up wherever her regain is mentioned.


[I. Room 3-03]
[The belt in her hands is just a belt; there's nothing outwardly distinctive or notable about it. Seated on the edge of her bed, Claudia runs it through her hands, the leather dark and smooth against her pale fingers. Unthinkingly, she seeks out the grooves left in the material, examining the places where it is worn from use with her touch.]

[...She can't say for sure. She never saw the belt for herself. But in this place, cool leather in her hand and monster written over her bed in blood, she thinks about the moment she heard that Kirei had hanged himself, and she then starts to cry.]

[II. 100th Floor]
[Claudia doesn't actually set foot on the floor itself, lingering outside on the stairs. She has no desire to see what will be there for her when she opens the door, and especially not after—after earlier.]

[So, then, why is she there? She almost wonders that herself. It's ridiculous. She knows nothing about the relative stranger she is looking for, just that she has met him once before on this floor. There's no reason for her to suspect that she'll find him here again, but—what other clue does she have? She needs to find him. She needs to apologize.]

[III. Various]
[The other person— He's stranger to think about, and he killed her rather than the reverse. But, even so, she feels it would be wrong to simply pretend it hadn't happened.]

[Of course, she knows even less about him. She spends some time wandering around the 12th Floor, but she doesn't really expect to see him there. She checks the 81st, too, which is even more ridiculous. She never even met him there, or at least not really. It's so strange to think that she had met someone both as a child and an adult here...]

[In the end, her searching is mostly aimless, directed purely by gut feeling.]

Comments

I.

[vermicompost]

[Kariya's looking for Claudia, and he figures he might as well try her room. Now that the mess with the monsters seems to be over, people can stay in their rooms again. He's looking forward to seeing her, a slight smile on his face.

He knocks on the door, hoping she'll be there and that he won't disturb her roommates.]

Claudia?

[sicharia]

[She bolts upright at the sound of Kariya's voice through the door. Oh no. She can't let him come inside—she doesn't want him to see the writing, or the belt in her hands—but she knows that if she opens her mouth and says to wait, her voice will break. She bites her lip, then stands, not even taking the time to tuck the belt somewhere out of the way before she starts toward the door. She simply drops it to the bed.]

[She tries to calm herself and dry her eye, but it only does so much good. When she opens the door, it's only partway, Claudia visible in the gap. Her eye and face are both the ugly red of someone who has been crying.]

He—llo.

[She can't even manage that one word without her voice hitching. She looks downward, as though doing so will hide that.]

[vermicompost]

Claudia!

[His smile fades, and his good eye widens at the sight of her. The last time he'd seen her, she'd been happy, but now--he can tell she's been crying, and he hates to see her so upset. He can't imagine what could have occurred, though it's hard to say, here. Anything could happen. He hopes it's not anything too serious, but whatever it is, he'll do his best to help her, and protect her if he has to. He moves toward her, though he doesn't go so far as to make to push the door open.]

What's wrong? Did something happen?

III. - Floor 81

[neverbeamemory]

[The 81st Floor is somewhere that Sephiroth generally doesn't linger on for very long anymore. This had been where the Glamour had dropped for him and he's not much interested in the stars anymore; that window is really just a wall. Just another well-crafted illusion that he'd allowed himself to believe. He's never going to get over that sick feeling of having allowed himself to be so completely ignorant - especially when he'd had his suspicions from his first day here.

However it is an elevator floor and the closest one to the Sauna (Floor 77); which, if nothing else feels as calming as it should despite the occasional flickering of the Glamour every now and again which just reminds him even more that it's not even real. Like he would ever forget. In turn, that only draws again his attention to the fact he must start to move to do something about all of this mess. Soon.

Sephiroth's hair is still slightly damp at the ends as he waits for the elevator. Otherwise he (most of the time) looks the same as he always does, with the occasional supervisor unit nearby.]

[sicharia]

[She catches the movement in her peripheral vision. Automatically, she looks up again, stepping forward and lifting a hand to stop him. Her palm settling against his chest, she tries to nudge him back so that she can step fully into the hallway, intending to shut the door behind her. She feels close to crying again, having barely managed to stop before she greeted him, but she would rather do that out in the hall than let him into her room now.]

I don't— It's—

[She doesn't know how to answer that. Did something happen? It's certainly nothing so dramatic. Is it even something she needs to bother another person with?]

[vermicompost]

[He allows himself to be pushed back, and she's stronger than he is. He wobbles slightly, unsteady on his feet, bracing himself with his good leg, though he doesn't go so far as to stumble. He'd had problems with his balance already, and they'd only worsened after he'd lost his arm.

He puts a hand out to rest on her shoulder, not to steady himself so much as to reassure her.]

It's all right. I'm here now. You can talk to me.

[sicharia]

[Claudia takes the elevator to the floor in question. She isn't really expecting to find Sephiroth there, so when the elevator's doors slide open and she sees him on the other side, she's surprised, to say the least.]

Oh! [Unthinkingly, she gasps,] It's you!

[sicharia]

Oh! I'm sorry.

[She hadn't thought that would be enough to upset his balance even a little, but in retrospect, she isn't terribly surprised that it was. It's strange, being stronger than anyone... She'll have to be more careful in the future.]

[She hesitates at the hand on her shoulder. What should she do? The idea of leaning forward and resting against him occurs to her, and she doesn't dislike the thought. Instead, she turns away from him to close the door behind herself.]

[When she looks back to him again, she bites her lip. Even though what he offers are just simple words of support, her heart beats faster when she hears them from his mouth. She—should lean on him, shouldn't she? This time, she does move forward, clinging to him as she presses her face against his collar.]

It's just—

[A sob chokes off the rest of her words.]

[vermicompost]

It's fine. [He's standing steadily now. He's a bit embarrassed to be so unsteady on his feet, but he's much more worried about her than his own condition.] I'm all right.

[When she leans against him and presses close, his chest tightens, his head feels light, and his stomach feels unsettled, but not in a bad way. He likes to be close to her. No, what's bad is how she's feeling, and he's still worried about her, especially as she hasn't said what's wrong. He puts his arms around her and holds her tight. He strokes her hair with his hand.]

It's okay. If you want to cry, then cry. But then you have to tell me what's wrong, so I can help you.

[sicharia]

Oh, it's— [She let's out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, titling her head for more contact. He's—being so sweet. She feels bad for worrying him like this.] There's nothing to help, I—

D-do they... Things from home?

[She realizes on some level that her response doesn't actually make any grammatical sense, but hopefully she manages to convey her meaning well enough.]

[neverbeamemory]

[The corner of his mouth twitches, concealed mostly by a shadow from one of the bangs that frames the sides of his face. A second later and his eyes already narrow at her, Sephiroth doesn't take a step back right away though even if it is tempting. He'll need the room for his sword if this is some sort of unwelcome confrontation.]

Oh? What do you want?

[vermicompost]

You're upset. It might help to talk about it, and then, if there's something to do, I'll do it. Even if it's just try to make you feel better.

[Even listening to someone is a form of help, isn't it? He would do anything to help her. He squeezes her, holding her tightly as well as he can considering the state of his arms. And he smiles, though his expression is still worried. He listens to her speak and is able to understand, basically, what she's asking. He nods.]

I think they do. I've heard of that happening, although it's never happened to me.

Did--they give you something? [He asks this cautiously. Whatever it was, it can't be pleasant.]

III - floor 12

[chainsawn]

[ Urotsuki is more or less just wandering the tower as usually - it's easier now the monsters aside from the regular ones are gone, either way. It's why she's on floor twelve, staring at the projection like her entire attention is being sucked towards it. But it's also why she isn't paying attention to anyone else who might be around.. and she ends up (gently) bumping into Claudia. ]

O.. ow.

[sicharia]

Oh, you're— You're so sweet. [She laughs again, pulling back enough to smile up at him, even if her eye is still wet. She takes a breath and tries to calm herself. It's just—hard. She feels like she's being condemned for her lack of action, and right now, it's hard not to let her guilt get the better of her.]

I...don't know. It's... It's just a belt, but—my husband—

[She breaks off again. Even if it isn't that belt, she knew well enough the look of the ones Kirei had owned, and she can't imagine what other point there would be to giving it to her, if not to make her think of that.]

[sicharia]

[She moves toward him, her steps just a little hurried. She certainly doesn't look threatening, small and slight as she is, and her expression isn't a hostile one, either.]

You're Sephiroth, aren't you?

[He must be the same as that child, but she finds herself asking anyway, just because it's so strange to her.]

[sicharia]

Oh! [She automatically turns in reply to the impact, however gentle it is, her surprise softening to faint concern when she sees who it is.] Oh, excuse me. Are you okay?

[The way she speaks to Urotsuki is perhaps more appropriate for someone younger than she is, but she had reminded her so much of a child the last time they met...]

[neverbeamemory]

[If there is anything raw in Sephiroth's mind, these days it's that seeming is not being. It doesn't help that he's not trusting by nature and very anti-social. For someone to come up to him like that, so directly, puts him on the defensive right away. Or at least, the more cautiously aware.

However, first impressions; this girl doesn't seem all that much of a threat. He's fairly confident he could dispatch her if she were to start something. Sephiroth relaxes his stance a little.]

Last I checked. Answer the question.

[Only he can answer a question with a question. Other's must answer his first.]

[sicharia]

Oh, I'm sorry, it's just... There's a smaller one of you running about, did you know that? [She's sure she can't be the first person to mention this to him, if they haven't already met, but... She shakes her head.] It's so strange.

...A-ah, I'm sorry, I still haven't answered your question! [She laughs nervously, because the truth is, she isn't sure what it is that she wants to say.] Ah, hm, it's just that I think you...killed me?

Floor 81

[lightofhumanity]

[chaos usually came here to watch the stars, as they were quite lovely..even if it was an illusion. However, when he sensed someone walking into the room, he turned towards them, smiling.]

Hello. If you do not mind my asking, have you come here to see the stars?

[neverbeamemory]

I am aware, yes. [Is spoken as if it might be the most natural thing in the world. It's not and little-Sephiroth confuses the adult version a great deal more than he'd like to admit; on account on their mismatched memories more than anything. Though it's hardly important, given the fact that they aren't on Gaia.

Nervous laugh over, finally she gets to the point. Sephiroth pauses for a long moment, narrowing his eyes a little at her while behind green eyes he connects the dots. He doesn't recognize this girl at all, and he would remember if he'd killed her recently. That is unless the Administration was yet again playing games, always a possibility.

There was a game on monsters, however. He had killed more than a few.]

...so you all remember everything...

[chainsawn]

[ It's okay, she really basically does act like a little kid most of the time.. so it's not like she even minds being talked down to, instead she goes along with it, nodding a little. ]

I'm fine. It wasn't that bad. [ SHe's had worse. Hasn't anyone here? ] .. Were you in a hurry..?

[sicharia]

...Mm. [Her expression sobers some, the faint smile that does remain in place a sad one.] I'm afraid so.

[She takes a breath to say something else, but then she simply exhales it as a sigh instead.]

...I'm sorry. I'm not really sure why I'm telling you this. [She certainly isn't expecting an apology.] It's just— It seems wrong to act like nothing happened, so...

[sicharia]

Oh, no, not really. I'm just—looking for someone, but I'm not sure where to find them. I'm sorry, I should have been paying more attention.

[sicharia]

Oh! [She isn't expecting to be greeted, but after the momentary surprise wears off, she returns the greeting, smiling faintly.] Hello. No, I... I was just looking for someone, that's all.

[lightofhumanity]

I see. Whom are you looking for, if you do not mind my asking? If you wish, I could help you locate him.