[He can't help questioning it. Not when the recognition had been so one-sided at first. Just like Cloud can't help recognizing that the conclusion he comes to isn't exactly fair to Vincent (and that some part of him, nameless as the city, the island, takes him so easily at his word that they're friends, like this fact lives inside him devoid of all evidence).
His silence lasts for a long period before Cloud at last chooses to lean against a crumbling partition between a residence and a thoroughfare.]
[Found him? Vincent, that's begging for this kind of follow up question.]
Where? When? [He exhales in a frustrated huff. He can't know because it hasn't happened to him yet, is that it? So why is he so aware of where Vincent is at this moment, why care at all, why feel on any level a kind of... steadiness when he's around?]
[There's a soft creak when Cloud closes his fist and presses the whole line of that arm against the wall, his head turning in a shake to which he fails to totally commit, frustrated.
That's if they ever get back. Not all of the machines are helpful and the few he managed to ask about the teleporter seemed insistent that it only goes one way. This bleak revelation is one Cloud keeps to himself, knowing the contagious nature of low morale, not wanting to burden anyone else.
And he... misses them. Tifa's gentle sensitivity, Aerith's mischievous sincerity. He'd even take the second-hand catharsis of having to tolerate another of Barret's bellowing sermons, knowing someone else is as frustrated as he is.]
Find me one person who has no expectations. That guy doesn't exist.
[ vincent received similar discouraging answers, but he isn't so quick to believe the words of machines whose only prerogative is revitalizing their planet. they need living beings for eros energy, so it would go against their primary objective if they assist everyone trapped here in finding a viable way home.
no people, no cure to a rapidly decaying world. ]
I have no expectations for you because your life is yours to live. I'm only here to support you when you need me.
[Worded a little more vehemently than he really meant to. He realizes, it's why his head drops and he absent-mindedly shakes out the hand he had smacked against the wall in frustration.
Looking down at it, he flexes his fingers a few times as he gathers his thoughts. Accept it? That he somehow ended up with a mysterious friend who has handed him a blank check he can cash whenever he needs him?]
I-
[He's flying blind, here. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, where he goes from here. If there's anywhere to go to and if it's even worth trying. Zack and Vincent both exist and mean something important to Cloud, and both of those are tangled up complications for completely different reasons.]
[ he can't fault the kid for finding it difficult to accept or reckon with, not when he himself would react in the same way. (maybe a little less angrily, but he tends to give "keeping one's cool" a whole new meaning.) all the same, he isn't quite sure how to reassure him here. ]
You don't have to know what to do with it, Cloud. [ his tone is calm and steady as he offers a light shrug of his shoulder. ] Just let it be.
[ a thoughtful pause and then: ] There will come a day when you need me. When that time comes, you can then do something with it.
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His silence lasts for a long period before Cloud at last chooses to lean against a crumbling partition between a residence and a thoroughfare.]
How did we meet?
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You found me. [ a pause and then: ] I was... asleep for a long time and you woke me up.
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Where? When? [He exhales in a frustrated huff. He can't know because it hasn't happened to him yet, is that it? So why is he so aware of where Vincent is at this moment, why care at all, why feel on any level a kind of... steadiness when he's around?]
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You'll find out once we've returned to where we belong. [ yes, once; not if. ]
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That's if they ever get back. Not all of the machines are helpful and the few he managed to ask about the teleporter seemed insistent that it only goes one way. This bleak revelation is one Cloud keeps to himself, knowing the contagious nature of low morale, not wanting to burden anyone else.
And he... misses them. Tifa's gentle sensitivity, Aerith's mischievous sincerity. He'd even take the second-hand catharsis of having to tolerate another of Barret's bellowing sermons, knowing someone else is as frustrated as he is.]
Find me one person who has no expectations. That guy doesn't exist.
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no people, no cure to a rapidly decaying world. ]
I have no expectations for you because your life is yours to live. I'm only here to support you when you need me.
[ so, stop overthinking it. ]
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[Worded a little more vehemently than he really meant to. He realizes, it's why his head drops and he absent-mindedly shakes out the hand he had smacked against the wall in frustration.
Looking down at it, he flexes his fingers a few times as he gathers his thoughts. Accept it? That he somehow ended up with a mysterious friend who has handed him a blank check he can cash whenever he needs him?]
I-
[He's flying blind, here. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do, where he goes from here. If there's anywhere to go to and if it's even worth trying. Zack and Vincent both exist and mean something important to Cloud, and both of those are tangled up complications for completely different reasons.]
Don't know.
[stop overthinking? don't know her.]
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You don't have to know what to do with it, Cloud. [ his tone is calm and steady as he offers a light shrug of his shoulder. ] Just let it be.
[ a thoughtful pause and then: ] There will come a day when you need me. When that time comes, you can then do something with it.