towerofanimus | Endgame: Gathered on This Beach of the Tumid River

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Endgame: Gathered on This Beach of the Tumid River

Characters: open
Setting: all around the Tower from the 25th of May to the 1st of June
Format: any
Summary: A general mingle for all characters throughout the Tower.
Warnings: Standard Animus warnings; please note anything specific in the subject headers of your threads

[The Tower is stagnant, the only signs of activity confined to the second block. There isn't much time left; it might be a good idea to rest and do whatever strikes your fancy before the timer hits zero.]

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[There is very little Nesir can do to stop Sephiroth from feeling that particular jolt of acid to the back of his throat whenever his failing is brought up. Never mind that he's spent an enormous amount of time going over and over it again subconsciously. He narrows his expression accordingly but manages not to scowl further than that.]

You're right. I hadn't understood Zo, most of all.

Didn't stop me from trying, and for as temporary as it was- I did succeed.

You did be. [She nodded] And others might be succeeding, if only for a moment, it do be being better than nothing.

[Still he tries to keep that scowl away. Oh how he hates being lumped together with everyone else. Did they still not get that he was so much more different in substance than everyone else.

Despite the glaring similarities, still stubbornly holding on to differences.]

That depends on the definition of success.

Exactly. [She smirked at him] Everything do be depending on what definition you do be using. [Good, evil, right, wrong, failure, success, hope. They all meant different things to different people. And to people in such a uselessly helpless situation as there's the definition of success was very broad indeed.]

[Sephiroth wasn't smirking, not by a long way. He's inspecting Nesir's face in a similar way that he did when they first met. As if he's seeing a side of her he's not seen before.]

So what is your definition of success? Defeating the administration? Going home?

[There is a silence before she speaks, if he was anyone else she would probably just scoff and refuse to answer, or turn the question on them. But it's a serious question from someone who, despite everything, she still respects. So she speaks] To be showing them that we do be being more than their playthings. That despite all their power they do no be controlling us. [And if that meant going down in a blaze of anger and defiance then so be it.]

[Such defiance. In the face of all of the circumstances, Nesir still stood up tall and clung on to that which she valued. Control, over herself, would be hers to the last.

There is a long pause with Sephiroth just looking at Nesir, it's clear that it's not an angry pause though. In fact, quite the opposite. He is proud that Nesir has such constitution, despite the fact that she is only a human, and the scowl that threatens to take over his face is completely and totally all at himself. Not her.

He should be much stronger than this. Than Nesir. Than all of them. Sephiroth's hold around all of himself that is left should be second to none. Regardless of how an admin may have ripped it apart...

Lips twitch in what could have been a reply- but no words come out.]

[Nesir met his gaze but the intensity of it made her look away first, look around once more at the roofs of her childhood and then back to him. He was still looking at her and she smiled softly realising that he wasn't angry. At least not at her] I might be being just a tool and a weapon but I do be having my own will I do no be being a puppet.

[Maybe it was because he was a god that he found it so difficult.] When you do be being the only person who do be believing you do be having worth then you do be having to be believing it all the harder.

[Although he knew the illusion of Jenova behind him wasn't real, Sephiroth felt a distinct pull towards it nonetheless. Almost as if it were watching him still. Judging him. Blaming him. He hadn't been strong enough to fulfill the Destiny laid out for him.

A sour ball of guilt coiled around fiercely behind those flaring eyes and Sephiroth had to look away then. Away from Nesir and to the floor between them once more. He wanted to turn around, to stare his Mother in the face and prove that he was still forever the being she made of him - but he knew it wasn't true. All Jenova cells had died when the Planet had died. It was only the illusion, and the power that he still held in the depths of his core.

He took a steadying breath, before even attempting to calmly reply to Nesir.]

I did not need to believe it before. It simply had to be.

[Still, trying to put words to something he has never had to explain before is difficult.]

[She nodded slowly, understanding] Maybe that do be being why you do be finding it difficult now. [Her tone is gentle.]

No. [Sephiroth shakes his head firmly at that spot on the floor he's scowling at.] I-

I had no doubt before. There is no need for faith when all the facts, and the power that comes with them, stack in your favor.

[There is quick look up to Nesir, something of an epiphany prickling just beneath his attention. He still doesn't sound convinced as he carefully, slowly draws out the words to fit his pondering.]

All there is here, is ignorance.

[It was something Nesir had never known, everything stacking in her favour. For most of her life, at least since she had left Gauig it had felt like most the world was against her.

Perhaps it was just her age but she felt a little envious that Sephiroth had ever been able to be so sure of himself, of his power, of his worth.

But he had lost it now, perhaps it was better to have to fight for it hard right from the beginning.]

Ignorance do be being very prevalent here. [She keeps words to a minimum to draw out his thoughts.]

[He has worked, tirelessly in this life and the one before it, to put himself in such a position where confidence was just as natural as breathing. Even though he had let go of much of his previous life, it didn't matter to Sephiroth, he remained so sure of himself-

Until the Tower took that and started chipping away at it. And then there was the shattering of his soul-]

Hm. [He agrees but thick eyelashes offer Nesir no further purchase into his gaze as he still glares into the floor. Whatever happens here, however it ends up now, Sephiroth will have to carry the knowledge that he was broken apart.

Along with it, he seems to have lost a grip on what it was that gave him such certainty. Talk about being brought down a few pegs. As the seconds tick by though, it's becoming more obvious that his thoughts are starting to frustrate him and eventually he shakes his head as if he might be able to make himself unthink them.

No. He needs to keep it together. Can't let them have their victory.]

But I still have to be. I owe it to her. No. I owe it to myself.

Exactly, the only person you do be owing it to in the end do be being yourself. [She gives him a wry smile] Be remembering that.

How could I ever have forgotten; it's the Destiny that was handed to me, not instructed in how to take it.

[He mummers, but a little more solid in his tone than it had been a few moments prior. Eventually he nods something of a resolution and gradually raises his head to look at Nesir again.]

You're right-

[And she is only a juvenile human. Who'd have ever thought?]

Of course I do be being [She grins, smugly. She's pretty sure this will be the only time she ever hears those words from Sephiroth's mouth.]

[He certainly doesn't speak those words often, at all. Even if someone elses correctness were worth an acknowledgment, he'd usually only silently take it on board and then carry on passed the fact.

The smug grin isn't taken very well though and Sephiroth narrows his eyes again at it. There. There is the arrogance, a hint of the quick temper that defines him.]

I guess you to deserve to be right this once.

[There is even the most fleeting flash of a small grin, in return to her.]

[Nesir thought for a moment that she had blew it, that he would be angry at her and ignore what she had just said. But then he smiled, a rare thing and she grinned back, a real smile this time not a smirk.]

[If it had been anyone but Nesir, his anger would have been justified. But she did deserve that fleeting grin.

Sephiroth seems resolute in the aftermath and even nods at Nesir as he takes a step towards her, thoughts turning now to what else he could do instead of wasting away what could be their final hours wrapped up in a hologram of his past.]

We should move on from here.

We should be doing [She followed it was strange since it seemed to her she walked off the roofs into the air floating there.] Where do you be going?

[For what it's worth Sephiroth hasn't looked back to the projection of his Mother which is still behind him, either. He seems to have settled his gaze on the doorway leading to the stairwell.]

I might sweep downstairs for a while, see what might be going on.

[Nesir nodded] Be needing company? [She won't push if he needs to be alone, but she will happily follow along if he's alright with it.]

I won't stop you.

[There is something else hanging on the end of that sentence and it's slightly bitter. Nesir had been up there on that hidden floor as well, she had to have her reasons for being there but Sephiroth has resolved not to have anything more to do with them now.]

If you don't have anything else more pressing to be attending to.

I do no be having. [She smiled at him again, she guessed what he was thinking and in her mind she had already explained herself. She was going to see this place come down and if that meant working with light addled idiots then so be it. If they got the job done, it was enough.]

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Endgame: Gathered on This Beach of the Tumid River

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