realityshifted | (no subject)

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final fantasy vii (d1) cloud strife

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...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.]

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

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?

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.

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

Oh! Well, in that case, welcome to the Astral Plane. It's basically a place where a bunch of universes come together and lots of people get to visit. Irving wrote this great information brochure that you can find at a kiosk, but... [starts fishing in his pockets] I might have one around here...

Anyway, uh, basics! You go home by thinking about it, time doesn't pass at home while you're here, there are crazy experiments that go on. Oh, and it's never rained like this before. Most things here are temporary, so hopefully it'll stop soon. [makes a face at the thought of the very unpleasant rain. then his expression brightens as he pulls a crumpled brochure from his pocket] Hah! Thought I'd left it in there. Here you go. [passes over the brochure]

[Yeah that had been...disturbing. Luckily Cloud had managed to find the bar before it really started coming down. The word "experiments" gets his hackles raised, and it's with a scowl that he peruses the brochure.]

What kind of experiments? You mean on people?

[sighs. he's really glad he's not making eye contact with Cloud right now because from the young man's expression, Oliver doesn't think he wants his ability to let him know how Cloud feels at the thought of experiments]

Yeah... It's the down-side to coming to the Plane--experiments happen, out of nowhere. Sometimes to everybody, sometimes just to certain people. All sorts of things--losing your voice, turning into kids, getting trapped somewhere weird, losing some memories. It could be anything, really. But! It's always temporary.

[He taps his fingers against the brochure, clearly agitated. The entire thing is absolutely insane. ...but he'd swallowed crazier things before. Why should this be any different?]

Couldn't I just go back home and never come back?

You could give that a go, if you wanted. The Plane might bring you back somehow, but I don't really know. I've never tried it.

Why would you want to stay here if people are doing experiments on you?

Because of everybody else who's here! You can meet all sorts of people. It's really a great place, aside from the experiments.

[he's looking at Cloud directly now, not because he wants to find out what Cloud's feeling but just because it's natural to make eye contact. depending on Cloud, he might get a dose of his feelings because of that]

[Natural for people with healthy self-esteems maybe. Cloud glances up to meet his eyes but flicks them back down to the brochure uncomfortably. Maybe a few months ago he'd have held it.]

No offense or anything, but couldn't I just not come back and avoid making friends here to come back for?

[frowns] Like I said, if you want to try it, you can. But...I think you'd be missing out.

Hm.

[He folds up the brochure and stuffs it into his pocket.]

Anyway, thanks. For the brochure and stuff. Are you the welcoming committee?

[laughs] Nah, I just like meeting new people! [which is basically like being a welcoming committee, really] Oh! I'm Oliver, by the way. How about you?

[Yeah that's pretty much the same thing. This guy reminds him of someone though, but he can't put his finger on who it is.]

I'm Cloud.

Nice to meet you, Cloud! Welcome to the Plane, for what it's worth. The bar restocks itself, if you at least want to stay for a drink?

Yeah, I'll probably get a lot of use out of this place if I do come back. [He hesitates for a second.] Not that I'm a drunk or anything.

[laughs] You don't have to justify yourself to me! This is one of my favourite places on the Plane.

Right.

[Cloud slides onto a bar stool.]

And you come here for the people. Even with experiments and...stuff going on. [He gestures to outside of the bar.]

Yeah, that's me in a nutshell! What's the point in coming to a meeting place between universes if you don't want to meet people from different universes?

...wait, don't answer that; you might not want to come back. Uh...how about I get you a drink first? What would you like?

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