(no subject)

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

...what is this? Bugenhagen's machine...?

[Cloud frowns, and anxiously tugs at his gloves to tighten them just in case. He takes a brief walk to explore the area, though his eyes are drawn to the sky several times and he can't seem to concentrate. As a sort of nervous habit -oh Holy help him, if he's stuck in his own head again- Cloud began to mutter to himself as he started for a nearby bar.]

I was in Midgar...went to sleep in a tent outside. Tifa was there, Cid was there. Barret's in Kalm with Marlene. There was that building...

[Cloud pauses; that building. He'd written it off as exhaustion, residual hallucinations. A memory that wasn't quite what it was supposed to be. But- Wait, he'd gone back inside. ...why had he done that?

He stops just as he passed through the door, a hand to his forehead and brow furrowed in confusion. Damn.]

Comments

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{Diva stares for a moment in surprise, but steps closer to peer at him carefully}

...Wait, you are... Your name is Cloud, right? Mm, it doesn't sound like you remember, though.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[What. Cloud stares, trying to make a connection; did they meet in Shinra, or somewhere in Midgar, oh crap...]

...Yeah, that's...

Who're you?

[madamemoiselle.livejournal.com]

{She smiles}

I'm Diva. I bet you don't know me, but that's alright. It happens here sometimes.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

What happens here? Forgetting people?

[pactum.livejournal.com]

[Emil watches the interesting blonde guy from a reasonable distance.

Man, he has a huge sword. And he looks kind of agitated. Maybe Emil shouldn't bother him.

But what if he's lost? He looks kind of lost... Maybe he needs help. But Emil isn't very good at helping people.

... Damn it.

Okay, he'll just stand here uselessly for a while.]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud's not sure, but-

Okay he tends to err on the side of paranoia, but he's pretty sure that someone is staring at him from a reasonable distance. So he takes a look around the room and-

Blond kid at twelve o'clock, looking at him. So Cloud will look right back.]

[pactum.livejournal.com]

... H-he's looking right at me!

Maybe I should say something... no, I should definitely say something.

[He sighs and slumps a bit while... yes, still mumbling to himself.]

Just say something!

[EMIL, STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF WHILE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING.

Anyway, he straightens and tries to think of something helpful to say.]

I... um. Hello?

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud presses his lips into a firm line to avoid smiling, and turns to face Emil fully with his hands on his hips. That behavior is extremely familiar. Good Lord, did he look that...well, pathetic when he was that age?

Anyway.]

Hi. You okay over there?

[oliverplus]

[from the bar, Oliver turns and waves at the unfamiliar person standing in the doorway looking confused] Hey! New here, I take it?

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Uh...yeah. [Cloud decides to head over since this is the first person who isn't staring at him or recognizing him from some imaginary place.]

Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

[oliverplus]

What, coming to the Plane or new people coming to it?

[sheepishly] Or maybe I should ask if anybody's explained where you are first.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud points at him at the final suggestion.] The last one would be great, actually. Since the answer's "no."

[buckingbronco.livejournal.com]

[Confused person wandering around the Plane? Dino can think of several causes of that, but he'll go with the most obvious] This is your first time here, isn't it?

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Sweet Shiva, did he have "newbie" written on his forehead or something? Though at least there's people here. Cloud probably would've been a lot more frazzled if he'd poofed into some creepy ghost town.]

Yeah...guess it's pretty obvious. Do you have any idea what exactly is going on?

[buckingbronco.livejournal.com]

[Dino's just knows what that brand of confusion looks like] Well the short version is that we've been dragged here to be part of an experiment. What the experiment is for, we don't have a clue. You can return home anytime you want by just thinking about it but it's still connected to here. You come back the same way, just by thinking about it.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud immediately bristles at the mention of experiments. He folds his arms and shifts his weight defensively.]

So if I never think about coming back here again, I won't?

[lamb_of_gold]

[He recognizes the face, but the passing of time and seeing the young man so confused, it's easy for Mu to push that aside now]

Should you wish to return, you need only think about it.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[What-

Oh. Drive-by advice. Cloud is familiar with this type of conversation.]

Um- thanks. But how exactly does that...y'know, work?

[lamb_of_gold]

[Just FYI. I read your app and nearly choked on my water I was laughing so hard]

I, unfortunately, do not understand the mechanics behind it.

[virginaesthetic.livejournal.com]

[Haruhi pauses, going off the Plane and then coming back. She thrusts out a bottle to Cloud with a smile.] Aspirin. It should help your headache.

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[THAT GIRL (or was it a boy?) JUST VANISHED-

Oh now she's back. And- uhhhh. Cloud takes the bottle and looks at it. ...aspirin indeed. He should probably thank her, but he's still a little weirded out by her blinking in and out of existence like some kind of faulty dimension-hopping Christmas tree light.]

...right, thanks. [Because he does have a headache. Except he can't dry-swallow pills.] How...exactly did you do that?

[virginaesthetic.livejournal.com]

[Haruhi doesn't think to explain important things. She focuses on things like "that guy seems to have a headache."]

Eh? Oh. I thought about going back home and then I left. You must be really new then. I'm Haruhi.

[boxtheotaku.livejournal.com]

[This is a fanboy staring, and since Box knows all this is real it's just more moe.]

K-Kitaaaaa! You are Cloud Strife right?! Like the real one, the one, you are Cloud Strife right!?

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Whoa that is a WEIRD scream- Okay and someone is screaming at him. And knows his name. Which is peculiar, because usually if someone he doesn't remember screams his name at him it's because they want to take his head off his shoulders.]

What- Yeah, that's my name. [The unspoken "who the hell are you" remains as such.]

[boxtheotaku.livejournal.com]

[Jumps excited and moves a bit closer though keeps his distance.]

Oh my God, I never thought I'll ever meet you! Even if I'm not really a fan, but seeing you like this-- You look even more girly! I so want to take a picture but they all came out blurry the other day too...