Eyes - Sephiroth/Zack Title: Eyes Authors:skeren and icedark_elf Characters: Sephiroth and Zack Fair (matched as above) Fandom: Final Fantasy Seven Theme Set: HW1 Theme(s): Moody 30 Warnings and Notes: Grumpy boys in this part.
Zack: *is exhausted and aches. Was not the best place to spend the night, and hadn't gotten any real sleep. Hoped Sephiroth woke up in a slightly better mood, or else this was going to be a long, long walk back to camp. Oh, look, sun was coming up. Reaches over again and shakes the man's foot*
Sephiroth: ::twitches a little and cracks his eyes open, not even bothering to say anything and instead just -looking- at the teen::
Zack: Sun's coming up. *throat -hurts- and that is just the cherry on top of this wonderfully fucked up day*
Sephiroth: ::makes a rough sound of affirmative and shifts to push upright, slow to avoid smacking his head, which finally ached less, though the pain seemed to have gravitated to just behind his eyes instead::
Zack: *listens carefully, and then crawls out into the open, slow and aching.* Don't wanna do that ever again. *makes sure has the restore and tucks it away, standing stiffly and trying to not curse at how much he hurts*
Sephiroth: ::watches him intently before giving him a sound that could have meant any number of things::
Zack: Spring is this way. *starts for it, keeping an ear out for any signs of pursuit*
Sephiroth: ::grimaces, but moves to follow, more settled after rest, though he was disgruntled the man hadn't allowed him to sleep through. No point harrying about it now::
Zack: How's your head? *moves to where he found water last night. Would be light out this time, and maybe he could get rid of the feel of grime and blood and possibly catch some fish*
Sephiroth: ::squints as light gets in his face, following at a decidedly slower pace, but at least he could move fully under his own power now:: Better.
Zack: *nods and pauses to collect a few of the larger leaves he found, and a few slimmer ones. These would be useful*
Sephiroth: ::ends up leaning on a tree once they reached the water, struggling to get his eyes to stop reacting so violently to the light. It was annoying, and it made it harder to observe what the teen was doing::
Zack: If you want to wash up at all, now is the time to do it. *crouches at the edge of the water to at least work on getting the blood off his arms. It was itchy and he didn't want to smell tasty to anything that ate meat in these woods*
Sephiroth: ::glowers in his general direction, then moves away from the tree, cautiously picking his way to the water to kneel and follow the advice::
Zack: *washes, then moves a little upstream, where there is a nice little pool. Stretches out on a rock, and lets his hands dangle in the water*
Sephiroth: ::pries his gloves off to wash his hands and face, trying to get everything back in working order, though he listened to his surroundings as he grimaced and started on some of the blood from his initial wounds::
Zack: *aaaaand a fish. Moves quick and manages to flip it onto shore. Winner! Moves and tosses it a little farther back, so it can't flop its way back into the water before going back and settling into his spot again*
Sephiroth: ::tilts his head, pausing to listen, determining what the sound was about before humming and going back to his grooming, determined to get all blood and char off him now that he started the process::
Zack: *only catches two more before the actions drove the others away for good, and settles next to them, one eye on Sephiroth, and started to carefully shred one of the leaves. Sets the fishes on one of the larger leaves, rolls it around them, and uses the thin shreds as thread to tie it shut.*
Sephiroth: ::leans on his knees, tilting his head to focus on Zack as he felt the excess water drop back off. Not as clean as he wanted, but he wasn't certain it was wise to strip here either. Not that the water was even close to sanitary, but there was no help for that::
Zack: *uses one of the nine billion belts that came with the uniform to carry the fish at his side. Can eat these later. Finds some nice, sharp rocks and pockets them* Whenever you're ready.
Sephiroth: ::resists the urge to nod and instead gives a bit of a shake to make sure the water was off, hand reaching to collect his gloves so he could pull them back on:: What did you catch? ::pushes upright after asking, flexing his hands into the gloves before swishing them in the water to make sure there wasn't any blood on them.::
Zack: *pauses* Sephiroth, how many fingers am I holding up? *holds up his hand*
Sephiroth: ::glances over at him, pushing to his feet. Yes, it was much too bright to get a clear look. Just looks at him in annoyance instead of answering::
Zack: Right. How far can you see? *sighs softly*
Sephiroth: Far enough
Zack: *snorts and turns* Right. Let's go. *got to keep an eye out for both of them now, and make sure the man doesn't walk into things*
Sephiroth: ::keeps an ear out for him and tracks him mostly through that and movement, avoiding tripping or running into anything on his own, pace as slow to follow this time as it had been on the way there::
Zack: *doesn't move too fast, and tries to keep the man within arms reach. Is keeping track as best he can, but is going to have to get a bearing sooner or later on where they are*
Sephiroth: ::picks up on what he's doing, distance wise, but doesn't say anything. If the man wouldn't make it obvious, he wouldn't get offended. It was easier to ignore when he wasn't in as much pain::
Zack: *oh, clearing* Wait here a second.
Sephiroth: ::narrows his eyes a little, but moves a bit to the side and listens to the request, tipping his head::
Zack: *climbs up a tree at the edge of the clearing, trying to see if he spotted anything familiar*
Sephiroth: ::tilts his head, paying more attention to their surroundings as he determined where Zack went, leaning against the tree as he closed his eyes to close off that distraction::
Zack: *is up a tree* I can see the coast.
Sephiroth: Close?
Zack: Couple of miles.
Sephiroth: ::leans his head against the tree and waits for him to come down. They could use that as a guide::
Zack: *drops down, landing lightly* Seriously, how far can you see?
Sephiroth: ::hears the movement and opens his eyes to look in that direction, focusing a bit:: A few yards.
Zack: How's your hearing? Muffled at all?
Sephiroth: No. It's the light causing the issue.
Zack: *hums* I'll keep us from falling into traps if you'll focus on keeping an ear out for any trouble.
Sephiroth: ::quirks an eyebrow and moves away from the tree:: Acceptable
Zack: Head for the shore and go from there?
Sephiroth: ::affirmative noise::
Zack: Right. I got fish for when we want to stop to eat, because we'll need more than just what I got last night. Might as well do it during the day so a fire doesn't attract undue attention.
Sephiroth: We should move while enemies and animal life is somewhat inactive.
Zack: It's a jungle. Pick one. Animals or enemies. If we want to avoid human hunters, we should be moving at night.
Sephiroth: Just walk.
Zack: *snorts at him, laughing to himself just a little, and does so, angling it so they were aiming for the shoreline now*
Sephiroth: ::glares after him, but starts to follow::
Zack: *pauses here and there to collect various food things. Some he passed back to Sephiroth, some he kept for himself, munching idly on them*
Sephiroth: ::ends up nibbling, though not immediately, just listening to their surroundings while he followed the other man, pausing when he seemed to get randomly sidetracked on the food hunts since he wasn't about to smell out what caught the man's attention::
Zack: *keeps them moving steadily going towards the shore, not moving fast at all, given he was tying his rate of movement to what Sephiroth seem able to do*
Sephiroth: ::a bit frustrated with his slowed pace, but wasn't eager to aggravate his injuries either, so stuck to it. Even if it bothered him::
Zack: *seems to take forever, but finally can feel the breeze and catch a gleam of sunlight through the trees. Pauses, and then moves a little closer to Sephiroth, looking at his eyes*
Sephiroth: ::blinks at the abruptly well focused Zack, coming to a still at the sudden action;:
Zack: *hums* I don't think we want to get any closer to the beach at the moment. Lack of shelter.
Sephiroth: ::glances past him and nods just slightly before looking back, blinking to get his eyes to refocus. He could feel the not quite controlled reactions to the light in them, and it was annoying at best::
Zack: Eat now, or wait till later?
Sephiroth: ::tilts his head and listens turning his head a little to make sure:: Now, while it seems we have best opportunity.
Zack: *nods, and looks around to find a decent spot* There. If you start a small fire, I'll grab stuff to cook the fish with.
Sephiroth: ::narrows his eyes a little and turns slightly to follow his gaze, waiting until he was sure he had the right place before humming agreement. That, at least, he had his materia for. Though after this he would be keeping the restore at his wrist instead of one of the others::
Zack: *leaves the fish with him, and goes to get more leaves, and some sticks. Could cook some of the tuber he had found earlier, as well*
Sephiroth: ::sets up an area to keep sparks in. Just because the fire might start magically didn't mean it would stay that way, and he got it going. It made his head twinge, but not as bad as he had been concerned it might::
Zack: *dresses the fish and sets them up before bringing the good part back to the makeshift camp*
Sephiroth: ::makes sure the fire is fine before settling into a defendable position absently, gaze following the other male as he kept his attention mostly out of the small area::
Zack: *sets the stuff up to cook before settling to rest against a tree* Gods, I'm tired.
Sephiroth: ::tilts his head to study him:: You haven't rested.
Zack: *hums agreement with that comment.*
Sephiroth: ::hums but says nothing else, just leaning forward a little to make it easier to see him::
Zack: I don't think I have to keep waking you up tonight.
Sephiroth: Good. ::relaxes just a fraction hearing that and turns his gaze to the fire::
Zack: If we're where I think we are, at our rate, it'll take about two days to get back to camp.
Sephiroth: You'll need rest before then ::looks back in his direction::
Zack: Figure we can take watches tonight.
Sephiroth: ::hums slightly:: Ideal.
Zack: *rubs his eyes tiredly* How's the fish coming?
Sephiroth: ::takes a deep breath:: Almost cooked.
Zack: Good.
Sephiroth: ::eyes him, tilting his head slightly, but stays quiet::
Zack: *waits till he's pretty sure they are cooked and snags one* By the time it takes to eat these, the other things should be done.
Sephiroth: ::slight nod and picks a fish off the fire to start picking apart::
Zack: *isn't exactly all that hungry, but does make himself eat* I can't wait to get back where there are potions and decent restores.
Sephiroth: Indeed. My potions were... emptied in the crash.
Zack: *finishes the fish and pulls the Restore out, rolling it along his fingers* And this is near worthless.
Sephiroth: ::doesn't need to guess what it was:: Yes. With the amount of use it's receiving I wouldn't be stunned if it leveled.
Zack: Be nice. I'm beginning to think someone doesn't like me.
Sephiroth: ::arches an eyebrow::
Zack: *chuckles softly* Guess I should be happy I got a Restore at all, hmm?
Sephiroth: They aren't typical to shipments.
Zack: *hums*
Sephiroth: ::picks at the fish considering. The teen seemed to be moderately useful. He'd keep it in mind::
Zack: *moves closer and uses a still to draw a rough map of Wutai* We started out here...and the last definite location I knew we were over was here, and we were heading this direction. *marks all the spots on the maps* If we're where I think we are, we're just about...here.
Sephiroth: ::tilts his head and studies the map, then nods slightly:: Agreed.
Zack: *nods, then uses a stick to roll the hot things out of the fire for them to eat*
Sephiroth: ::waits for them to cool slightly before picking one up to work at it, his attention focusing in on the teen for a long moment::
Zack: What? *wasn't totally oblivious*
Sephiroth: Hmm
Zack: Oh, thank you. So informative.
Sephiroth: ::blinks at him::
Zack: *gives him a look of "Well?"*
Sephiroth: ::clearly not sure what the man was looking for::
Zack: You were looking at me and I was curious if you had something to add.
Sephiroth: ...To?
Zack: *shakes his head* Never mind. *collects his food and settles into eating it*
Sephiroth: ::just eyes him for a moment before turning his attention to the food::
Zack: *eats silently until he's done, and waits patiently*
Sephiroth: ::finishes the food before looking back to the teen::
Zack: Whenever you're ready.
Sephiroth: ::affirmative buzz and eyes their small campfire. It was almost burned out::
Zack: *stands. Time to start for camp. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long as he expected.*
Sephiroth: ::watches the movements, then gets up himself, glancing over things before blinking a few times to clear his eyes for attempting a bit more distance and gestures the teen to go::
Zack: *makes sure the fire is going to die soon enough, then starts for the direction of camp*
Sephiroth: ::watching him intently, though keeping enough attention to his surroundings not to cause himself more issues, he summoned up the teen's name. Hmm. He'd keep it in mind. This one, at least, seemed to have potential::
Zack: *settles back into a pattern of traveling, still making sure to keep within a few steps of Sephiroth's location*
Sephiroth: ::satisfied, for the time being, he turned his attention back outwards. Simply because he couldn't see terribly well at the moment didn't mean that he was going to rely entirely on the other man, not by any stretch. Time would tell anything more::