Yadrolla System Mingle

[lacyprincess]

Who: EVERYBODY
Broadcast: Yeah, sure, I guess
Action: The Fleet and the Yadrolla System
When: 4/29 - 6/8

[Hey, hey, look, we have a new system! Let's go compete in stuff and root for sportsball teams! System info is here!

GO WAVES!]

Comments

[moseyin]

[Goes a little quiet, then:] Yeah, he is. [One way or another. Even Cloud's breakfast scramble of a brain couldn't completely forget Zack Fair.

Maybe it's sunstroke or something, but now seems like a great time for Cloud to blurt out,] Did you know you were my phone background when I was in basic?

[wingenvy]

What, seriously? Everybody I knew had Sephiroth on their phones. Big damn Wutai war hero, talk of the town.

[FOREVER SALTY ABOUT THAT. He fought too, okay!!]

Why me?

[moseyin]

I did at first. [Sorry buddy] But after a while...I dunno. I don't remember what I was thinking. [And that is a l i e] But I remember cuz my mom- [pause.] ...my mom asked me who that was on my background, and that's when I invited you over to meet her.

[wingenvy]

[Shrugs. It's normal to want Sephiroth, that's why this is so surprising.]

Y'know, usually when you take somebody special over to meet your parents, you'd have asked them out already!

[moseyin]

Shut up, maybe I was workin' up to it! How about that! [Reaches over to try and dunk Zack's head under the water]

[wingenvy]

[Zack could avoid it, but instead he just lets it happen with a gurgling underwater laugh, giving a thumbs-up above the surface. He's not too bothered by the idea of that, as a matter of fact.]

[moseyin]

[Lets Zack up so he doesn't drown but karate-chops his head lightly

Fair. You dumbass]

[wingenvy]

[heheheHEHEHEHE he's blushing.

Zack's a bit redfaced as he surfaces, scratching at his nose as if that'll help at all.]

Now would I have said yes... hmm...

[moseyin]

I'm gonna guess no? Because you had Aerith, and I was crushing pretty hard on Tifa at the time. [Duh, dude]

[wingenvy]

I bet if I'd asked Aerith if I could bring home a hot guy she'd have been at least curious.

[moseyin]

Yeah, and then you show up with some scrawny little twig and she breaks up with you on principle. [Splashes]

[wingenvy]

You weren't that scrawny, you just had room to grow. And please, she'd have wrapped you up and taken you home even back then. Who could say no to that face?

[moseyin]

Like a stray cat. You're probably right. [Shrugs a shoulder] That's basically what you did, isn't it?

[wingenvy]

What kind of question is that? I took you with me because we're friends.

[And if Cloud means taking him from the lab, it's also because he's not fucking heartless.]

[moseyin]

No- I mean when we were in Shinra, Zack. Having someone to talk with on a boring mission, I get that, but you kept texting me after. Like adopting a stray cat. [See, he's not putting himself down because like, adopting cats is nice or

something]

[wingenvy]

[oh, well, in that case-]

Um, no, like being a friend. That's how friendship works.

[ANSWER IS UNCHANGED]

[moseyin]

Well- yeah. [snags a bit of drifting seaweed to toss it back into the water] After. I know that.

[wingenvy]

Not after. I met you at Modeoheim. We got along, you kept up just fine, we helped each other out, I liked you. In my mind, we were friends starting there.

[Probably the only reason he didn't immediately start to pester Cloud outside of work is because of how poorly that mission ended. He'd been in the wrong mental state to go chasing after new friends.]

[moseyin]

[Looks...not confused, but like he doesn't entirely believe Zack.] Sure. Yeah, we got along okay, I think. I remember that. [Doesn't remember all their conversations, but remembers leaving them with a lighter heart.]

[wingenvy]

[Stubborn little shit.]

Cloud, what's your definition of a friend?

[It might be a bit nitpicky, but this feels like an important difference between the two of them that he ought to know.]

[moseyin]

What- [heaves a sigh, splashing his hands into the water,] No, c'mon. Don't do that psycho-analyzing BS on me.

[wingenvy]

[STUBBORNLY SPLASHES BACK]

It's not psycho-BS, I'm serious! It's fine if you thought we weren't friends yet, but why are you so determined to believe that I was the same way?

[moseyin]

I- [Scowls at Zack before looking away, over toward the shore.] I dunno. I guess, I dunno, it's not like we talked a ton or hung out a ton. You were busy, and I was a nobody. Nobody else would think of that as friends.

[wingenvy]

Well, I did.

[Zack falls silent for a long moment, leaning away to float on his back, legs kicking aimlessly.]

...I was gonna call you, y'know. I really liked you. But then the mission went the way it did, and... I dunno, I didn't feel like doing much of anything for a while.

[Losing Angeal had been hard, a lot harder than he'd wanted to admit to anyone. And it would have been absurd to call up some poor trooper he barely knew just so he could blubber pathetically about it. Bad enough that he'd done it to Aerith so soon after meeting her.]

[moseyin]

[Cloud rubs the back of his neck. Yeah, he...doesn't remember much.] How long's a while?