InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't get smart...."

☁ (onewolf) wrote in silverage,
@ 2011-07-27 12:46:00

Entry tags:

!log, cloud strife, zack fair

ouija boards are useless
Who: Cloud Strife + Zack Fair
What: The good kind of a reunion, the kind where no one dies.
When: Lunchtime
Where: Starts at the Welcome Center
Rating/status: ~G/finished.

Cloud had been plagued by the effects of a mysterious chest box since it arrived yesterday. He was already closing shop that time when in his packing up, he'd passed an old chest waiting for him just beneath the window of his office without a note of any address. In recollection, he figured he should have already realized it to be a dangerous piece but then he'd had to crouch close and open it. And out popped a behemoth.

He hated monsters-in-a-box. The monster had left deep wounds against his walls, his windows had been replaced by plastic sheets, paper and scotch tape and he sustained some damage himself -- a cut on his cheek near his ear, a scratch on his left arm and several bruises for when he was sent flying to his desk.

He spent the entire morning cleaning up debris and replacing documents and his desk which was tedious tasks in themselves but it gave him something to do as he thought. In response to his PSA, a good friend -- his best friend -- had replied to him and he was someone he hadn't seen in about 8 years...because he had died. And now, he was alive in this strange city of New York. It was possible, entirely possible -- but then he had never expected it.

And now he realized...that all those people who died...could come back, again...

Cloud cleared his mind as he drove Fenrir out of his office building and towards the Welcome Center although he carried no parcels this time. It was not a very long drive, perhaps a little less than half an hour and when he got there...he waited. He didn't know what to do. He thought he could just wait outside until Zack came out but the lack of a cell network made it all more difficult. He could strut in, but he didn't know how he could find Zack in there and what if Zack was still getting ready? He didn't want to rush him, not when he had time, again...

When Zack does come out, Cloud will be there waiting for him -- this was his final decision. So he let Fenrir sleep for the moment as he straightened his back and went about fixing the strap of his riding goggles behind his head.

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herosheart
2011-07-27 02:25 pm UTC (link)

For his own part, Zack wasn't nearly as antsy as Cloud. It wasn't in his nature, and he wasn't exactly the one greeting a person long thought dead. In fact, Zack had no idea that he'd died, or would die, at all. Granted, he'd known that the odds were poor. One SOLDIER against that many Shinra grunts? The chances of him walking away from that fight had been astronomical. The chances of him even being able to save Cloud, still largely catatonic from Mako poisoning, had been just as bad.

Zack could hardly be blamed, however, for thinking that being brought to New York meant that he didn't die. How was he supposed to know any better until someone told him? Sure, he was a little perplexed that Cloud had recovered, and not just recovered, but regained enough function to run his own business, but that didn't translate into figuring out that Cloud was years ahead of him, and he himself had not survived the battle on that cliff outside of Midgar.

Dressed in his old SOLDIER uniform (he didn't have anything else), minus the belt and sword harness since he'd learned not to haul the Buster Sword everywhere he went in New York, Zack strolled through the doors of the Welcome Center right around noon and grinned when he saw his friend.

"Spike!" He launched himself at the kid for an exuberant hug, making sure to mess up that wild, chocobo-style hair with one hand when he did.

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onewolf
2011-07-27 02:38 pm UTC (link)

Cloud had just finished making his goggles comfortable when Zack had almost literally exploded at him and before he knew it, he was already hanging onto Zack by his right arm looped to the then-older man's back if only to keep himself from falling over to the other side of the motorbike. He had to admit, he hadn't quite expected his friend's entrance -- and that made him wonder if it had really been that long.

It was useless but he bowed out of Zack's frantic hand and shook his head as if it would fix his hair. "Hey," he said finally to him, the corner of his lips peeking up shyly as his eyes drank in the brunet's features and the joy that was practically etched on his face. It was surreal to say the least...

Lifting a hand, he placed it on Zack's shoulder.

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herosheart
2011-07-27 03:34 pm UTC (link)

Ambush out of the way, Zack settled down enough for the more manly practice of shoulder-clasping. "Hey," he echoed, the grin still pulling at his lips. "How've you been?" He leaned in for a closer look, eyes narrowed, and thought as he did that something wasn't quite right. Cloud looked ... Well, he looked older. He looked, dare Zack say it, mature.

"Did you grow?"

The kid had. Zack could swear he had. Oh, he was still shorter than Zack, but he looked like he'd filled out or bulked up or something. Cloud looked like it had been years since Zack had last seen him instead of days.

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onewolf
2011-07-28 04:49 am UTC (link)

Well, that was definitely something Cloud couldn't deny or hide no matter what he did. He was 16-years old last he saw Zack and now, he might already be of the same age as he was.

"Yeah," he said simply with a lazy shrug from his shoulders and a movement of his right hand. "I did a bit of growing up on my part." And that was as much as he wanted to talk about his age difference.

"I guess you're hungry." And so was he but no one should be surprised by how much he fails with invitations. Still, he started back to Fenrir with a gesture for Zack to follow him as he put his goggles back around his eyes. "We'll have lunch and then we'll get you something decent to wear," a glance at Zack, "Something that doesn't make you look homeless." He smirked a little at this.

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herosheart
2011-07-28 03:40 pm UTC (link)

"Hey! It's not my fault these clothes have seen better days," Zack protested good-naturedly. He hadn't had much time to try to find supplies when he and Cloud had been on the run, not between finding safe places to hide and looking after his catatonic friend. He hadn't minded, really. There were worse things than only having one set of clothes, and Cloud hd been a priority. The priority, really. Zack had felt somewhat responsible for getting him into the whole mess in the first place. If he'd convinced Cloud to run instead of fighting Sephiroth, maybe Hojo wouldn't have gotten his hands on the kid.

"I never figured you for a motorcycle guy," he said as he hopped on behind Cloud, teasing gently. "Did you get over the motion sickness finally?"

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onewolf
2011-07-29 01:00 am UTC (link)

"A little," Cloud admitted as he swung a leg over his motorbike although he figured that in reality, it wasn't just a little if he could break the speed of light on Fenrir when he needed to. "It's the only thing that doesn't come with four walls." Then turning to Zack behind him, he shared, "I named her Fenrir." He wanted Zack to know how proud he was of her.

Then as he brought Fenrir to life again, the bike making a purr a little less enticing than he was used to, he held onto her grips and advised to Zack, "Hold on."

Not that he gave his friend much time to digest it, seeing as he sped off the moment he ended his sentence.

OOC: Take them somewhere, anywhere!

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herosheart
2011-07-29 01:07 am UTC (link)

Wow. Cloud was good. Zack was caught a little off-guard by how quickly the motorcycle took off. He supposed he should have expected it, though. That mako glow was still in Cloud's eyes, exactly like a SOLDIER, and from the looks of him, Cloud had been working out like a SOLDIER, too. How much time had Zack missed?

Zack stopped worrying about it when it became clear he'd have to pay attention to stay on the bike. Cloud definitely drove like a SOLDIER. In fact, he drove better than Zack. The bike was clearly a custom job, suited perfectly to Cloud, and Zack found himself a tiny bit jealous.

By the time they reached a little pizza place on a corner, Zack was thoroughly impressed. He climbed off the bike, shaking his head in wonder. "You have got to tell me where you learned to drive like that, Spike." As much as he'd been glad Cloud hadn't made it into SOLDIER, once he'd found out about all the funny stuff going on the with the program, Zack found himself thinking that Shinra had wasted an opportunity by not letting the other man in. He was clearly a natural.

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onewolf
2011-07-29 04:56 am UTC (link)

Cloud was quite happy with the results of his drive. Zack had been impressed, he was in awe and that was an approval from the man that he admired.

Although it was not very obvious, it could be seen in the peak of Cloud's cheeks that he liked what he heard when he turned to look at Zack, slipping his goggles off. "I think you already know the answer to that," he said to him before he patted his friend in the arm and pushed the door open.

"The people in Midgar and Edge are crazy," he said anyway as he followed a young man -- about the age of a high school student, maybe -- over to a booth for two five steps away from their massive window. He slipped onto a chair as he received the menu. "There was really no choice but to learn to drive that way."

As he parted his menu open, he added to Zack, "You can take her out for a spin if you want." Zack had that unique privilege.

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herosheart
2011-07-29 04:29 pm UTC (link)

"Edge?" Zack echoed. "Where's Edge? I don't think I've been through it." He took the menu offered to him with a smile of thanks and slid into a chair across from Cloud. He ordered a water when the kid asked if he'd like anything to drink, and then waited until he and Cloud were alone again before continuing the conversation. He understood, after his talk with Susan, that this world wasn't theirs, and certain things were going to raise eyebrows in very uncomfortable ways. Thankfully, most people didn't seem to notice the glowing eyes. That could have gotten awkward.

"Thanks, man," he said in response to Cloud's offer to take Fenrir out someday. "Might have to take you up on that. But first ... What are you doing driving around Midgar in the first place?" Zack couldn't imagine how Cloud got away with that. "Shinra can't have given up already." Though Zack had a sneaking suspicion that more things had changed than just Cloud since they'd be separated. Susan had said something about people being pulled out of different times on top of different places, and the more Zack thought about it, the more he found himself wondering if Cloud were years ahead of him instead of months. It was an eerie possibility to contemplate.

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onewolf
2011-07-30 01:37 am UTC (link)

Cloud's brows knitted vaguely and he pressed his lips invisibly. What Zack was asking him was the part that he never lived to know, and as it was when he was cleaning up his office, he worried that Zack would ask him what happened to both of them in the future, to Aerith, and to everyone else they knew. And he didn't still know what to answer if the question ever did come up...

He had to check himself. He'd already slipped with Edge. "Midgar...was the closest place..." he could go to, he meant. Cloud wanted to say that it was the only place he and Zack could go to but he didn't go with Zack and he didn't want to lie to the man. "And anyway," he shrugged a little, "it's not like Midgar's the only place Shinra's got their eyes on. It's no more different than anywhere else."

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herosheart
2011-07-30 07:21 pm UTC (link)

"Oh no. Don't you try to pull one over on me, Cloud Strife," Zack responded, leaning over the table and fixing his best friend with a steady, glowing stare. "You look about, what, two years older? Three? Since I last saw you. You're walking, talking, driving a bike, and when I got pulled here, you couldn't even feed yourself. I'm a big boy. I can take whatever you have to tell me about how you wound up where you are."

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onewolf
2011-07-31 03:27 am UTC (link)

Cloud backed up a little with his shoulders when Zack leaned closer to him. Seven, eight years later and Zack still knew his every flinch. Had he really grown, he wondered.

"It's true what I said," he began with still the same tone. "Midgar was right in front of us. I didn't think of Shinra, I thought of shelter. And food and all that. It all turned out okay in the end." At this point, he was wondering how he could be vague as a fog and yet clear-cut truthful at the same time. It was harder than he thought.

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herosheart
2011-07-31 06:56 pm UTC (link)

Zack shook his head, sure that Cloud was telling the truth, but equally sure that Cloud was leaving something out. "Okay. I buy that. I know Midgar was right in front of us. I mean, there were an awful lot of Shinra grunts between us and the city, but ... "

Something clicked, then, in Zack's brain. There had been Shinra grunts. Shinra grunts between them and the city. "How'd you get past them? You couldn't have. You weren't in any shape to handle those guys. I was having problems handling those guys."