shinra soldiers need not apply

[wingenvy]

Who: Zack Fair / OTA
Broadcast: Yes!
Action: the Caprine
When: Now!


( action; caprine )
[...Alright, so that was. Weird. He was totally just on the Marsiva, but now he's on another ship, apparently! With confetti, and... pudding, which gets set aside for now, because he's sure as hell not trusting random food thrown at him willynilly.

He's more interested in the new ship itself, so he'll be exploring the place, poking his head into whatever room he comes across unless it's locked. Apologies in advance?]



( video; fleetwide )

[Have a Zack! Pulling bits of confetti out of his hair. He looks about as confused as any newcomer, though perhaps not as disturbed. He has officially Seen Some Shit, as one might guess by the semi-glowing blue eyes.]

Testing, testing... okay, we'll pretend this works. It's kinda different from standard issue ShinRa PHS, but it doesn't look that complicated...

Anyway- hey there, fellow space people. Name's Zack. Am I crazy, or are the voices in my head legit when they say I'm on TV? 'Cause, uh. I'd kind of prefer that, at this point. Not really a fan of the random voices concept.

...Aerith? Where'd you end up?

[TRIES VERY HARD NOT TO BE WORRIED]

Comments

[moseyin]

...yeah. [It's kind of disappointing, but not too much; honestly it was what he'd half-expected to hear. He was a trooper, Zack was a SOLDIER, First Class. Opportunities to hang out would've been few and far between, and not just because of their equally busy schedules of vastly differing importance. It makes sense that they were more like workplace acquaintances than actual friends.

It just kind of makes the fact that Zack risked life and limb to get him out of those labs, put his own freedom in jeopardy and then died for him all the more incredible. Zack really is the stuff heroes are made out of.] Guess we'd better make up for lost time, then.

[wingenvy]

[...He didn't deny it. Maybe he doesn't remember, either, but that alone is enough to get Zack to grin. He'll take it. God, will he ever take it. Cloud's awake again, they're all alive somehow, and ShinRa can't touch them way out in friggin' space. What more could he wish for?

He offers his arm out to Cloud, curious and inviting.]

Hell yeah, I'm up for it. You gotta fill me in on what I missed!

[moseyin]

[Stares blankly at that arm before it comes to him suddenly, arm up almost before he actually remembers. The smile that crawls over his face is slow and small, but genuine, pressing his arm against Zack's.] I'll do my best.

[Maybe even the hard parts.]

[wingenvy]

I'll hold you to that. But not right now! No point in rushing.

[He leans back and does one of those kick-jump to his feet, lifting his arms up for a stretch.]

More importantly... hey, you mentioned a sword? Are you getting one?

[moseyin]

Hopefully. [Though he doesn't sound especially hopeful.] I gave some drawings and stuff to a guy who has a forge, but he's like...he has to make it all out of scrap metal. It's probably not going to be the best.

[wingenvy]

Ugh.

[SO missing the Buster now. Giving it away on his deathbed is one thing - it's like, Buster tradition now apparently - but being alive and unarmed suuuuucks. All his instincts are out of whack.]

Guess it's time to brush up on hand-to-hand. If it's that much work to make one sword two'd be a nightmare.

[moseyin]

[TELL. HIM. ABOUT IT.] There's these things on the ships for people to take, usually. [Gestures to the pistol he'd set down.] But. Y'know, they're practically useless.

[wingenvy]

[Zack glances down at the pistol for a moment, expression shifting to one of distaste, and nudges it closer to Cloud - and subsequently further away from himself. No thanks, take it back home with you, buddy.]

Not really a fan of guns right now. I'll stick with my fists.

[Maybe it's the whole getting-shot-to-death thing.]

[moseyin]

[It takes Cloud a second, but his eyes widen when he realizes what he'd done and he shoves himself up to his feet, snatching up the pistol and disappearing back into the shuttle bay. He chucks the gun back into the shuttle and seals it back up, returning over to the crates with his head down low.] Sorry. I- [Forgot.] -wasn't thinking.

[wingenvy]

[His departure was so abrupt that Zack is on his feet when Cloud comes back, and when his reason for doing that sinks in Zack smiles idly and reaches out to cuff his shoulder with a fist, shaking his head.]

Hey, don't be like that. I don't want anybody to be tiptoeing around it, or me. It happened, it's done, and I'll get over it. 's not your fault.

[He hasn't really sorted out what "getting over it" consists of, exactly, but he doesn't want to spend his whole second chance at life just moping over the fact that he died. And the last thing he wants is to guilt Cloud over something so innocuous and unintentional.]

[moseyin]

I don't like them either. [Not enough to avoid using them if he has to, but even just handling Vincent's guns when shopping for weapons or finding pieces scattered across the world had left a bad taste in his mouth. It's too much a reminder of a more terrible time.]

Look, this... [Runs a hand through his hair.] This is gonna be weird. I don't remember much, but I want to remember more about you, at least. And sometimes, with me- it's rough. [He never had to explain this to any of the others; they had front row seats to how ugly he could get. Granted, Zack had dragged him around for who knows how long when he was comatose, but that's a little different from raving lunacy.] Just, I want you to know what to expect.

[wingenvy]

[Zack scrutinizes Cloud's expression, not entirely sure of his meaning- there's not a whole lot he knows about what happened after he died, obviously, just smatterings of Aerith's "adventure" with him, his falling through the church roof, becoming her bodyguard, saving the world, apparently. There are a ton of holes in that story, and he'd been too preoccupied to ask more questions, but Cloud makes it sound a lot worse than she let on.]

...I'll try to keep an open mind, [is his response, finally, still not sure but wanting to trust that Cloud'll tell him what he needs to know, eventually. Weird, he can handle. Rough is just second nature by now. It's never been too tall a task to help his friends.] And I'll be honest with you if you be honest with me. That's a promise.

[moseyin]

[How to find the words that he's at least partially responsible for Aerith's death?

...nope. Not happening.]

Okay. I'll...try my best. As long as I remember.

[wingenvy]

If you don't remember, just say so. That's still being honest in my book.

[see? easy-peasy. but yeah maybe don't mention that part just yet]

[moseyin]

...alrighty. But, if we're going for honesty, I'm gonna ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly. [Because Zack seems like the type of person to lie to protect someone's feelings, and Cloud really wants to know how he feels about this.] Why...did you take me from the labs?

[wingenvy]

Why...?

[Zack frowns at that, his brow furrowing. For Cloud to ask for honesty and then to ask that makes it sound like the truth would be something to hide. And that, frankly, makes no sense to Zack.]

There is no "why", Cloud. It wasn't a choice. Leaving you there was never gonna be an option- we made a promise to each other from the start that we'd escape together. If I left you there what kind of lousy friend would I be?

[moseyin]

We promised each other...? [That's news to him...but at the same time it isn't, not after what they saw in the basement of the mansion, the scratches in the glass, took forever,had to hid e them from the techs and by the time Zack could finish an answer he was already too ] -far gone, [Cloud says distantly before shaking his head and frowning at the familiar disorienting throb.] I- I musta been too far gone. I don't remember.

[wingenvy]

[Zack shows no surprise, merely nods as he crosses his arms over his chest. Cloud had done his best, that's for sure, but with all the experiments... plus his injuries... it was just a bad situation.]

You held out for as long as you could, but... yeah. They overloaded us with mako, and since you hadn't had the SOLDIER treatments before, it was too much. Hell, even I lost it a few times. Didn't even know how long it'd been.

[moseyin]

Mm... [This is not a good train of thought to be on, not with memories of Zack already bubbling up to the surface like this. The last thing he wants to do is have some kind of migrane meltdown right in front of Zack and maybe trigger something for him, too.]

...they, meaning Hojo and his lab flunkies. [Cloud's voice takes on a decidedly satisfied tone.] I don't know how much this'll be worth to you, but he's dead. Hojo is.

[wingenvy]

[Hojo... geez. Zack purses his lips, not quite sure how to feel. He likes to think of himself as a good person, but he's not-good just enough to wish he'd been there- and had gotten to play a role in the man's demise. What a loathsome human being he was.]

...Was it you?

[moseyin]

[And while Cloud isn't exactly bloodthirsty, he can say with all confidence that he's not nearly as good a person as Zack Fair. He killed Hojo and even if he hadn't quite relished it, he'd felt his fair share of relief at watching him die.] Yeah. And my friends; Tifa, some other people he'd experimented on...

I just thought you should know. We made sure he'll never do to anybody else what he did to us.

1/2

[wingenvy]

[.....Well.]

Good. Good riddance.

[So Tifa survived after all? And Cloud found her? Or maybe she found him. He makes a mental note of that. Maybe poke that lion when Cloud's less emotionally charged; he remembers Cloud having a lot of trouble facing her before.]

[wingenvy]

...You know, I actually saved his life once? Ungrateful bastard didn't even care.

[moseyin]

He probably complained about the nuisance of being interrupted, right? Slimy piece of... [ugh fucking hate hojo] The Planet's better off without him. He doesn't even deserve the Lifestream.

[wingenvy]

Yep. At the time he was droning on and on about how his great scientific mind would be a huge loss to the world and how meatshields are only good for protecting the smart guys like him. I used to help him all the time with his weird monster experiments during downtime at HQ, but I'm pretty sure he forgot who I was.