video (feel free to move to action)

[losthere]

[The screen flicks on to reveal a serious faced young man with hair that has little interest in the laws of gravity and eyes that glow a faint, eerie green. The background behind him appears to be a fuzzy lime green.

Except for the velociraptor sitting at the table wearing a top hat and monocle and delicately sipping tea from a very fragile looking cup, one claw carefully extended.

Cloud seems to be ignoring everything but the screen.]

I need a motorcycle. If anyone can help me find one, I'd appreciate it.

Comments

[tomboytendo]

Kind of... I had hoped my family would be here, but it seems that the ones that do show up are the ones I'd rather hadn't. Except for Ranma, anyway.

[ video ]

[obfuskate]

[ Good. He might even be able to save Cloud in the process, but he's not going to go particularly out of his way. Shadow wants to go home at any price, even if it means using this guy and betraying him in the end. Why not? He already did that to Eggman and it almost ended in success.

That was when he remembered... her promise.

Mm, not something to think about. ]

Excellent. Consider it done, Strife. We'll be in touch.

[7theavenbartender]

Y-Yeah, I've been here for a while now trying to get use to the country here.

[There's something different about Cloud. It's as if he isn't responsive--more pensive than he usually is. She can see the face of someone whose hurt--almost as if he was stunned by something. She knows something is eating him up, so she tries to dig.]

..Are you okay?
[She asks in a simple tone. The way he gazes into the camera is a bit abnormal. His mako eyes shows what he's feeling.]

[defaming]

I see. Are you an admirer of music, then?

[Kristoph doesn't have a great deal of empathy (if any), so if Cloud gives any sign that he's feeling pain from his half-forgotten memory, it goes unnoticed.]

Not at all. There is the understanding that I will give it back if asked, but I've been able to keep it with me and practice as much as I like. I also let them know that I'd be willing to play for them, if they so desired.

Video; When it comes to puppydog eyes from Cloud, even Reno isn't immune.

[reno4prez]

[Okay, now he knows something's up. Cloud is surly and difficult on a good day, but as far as Reno knows, he isn't actually touched in the head, nor is he the type to troll his friends acquaintances on purpose, just for the lulz.]

Dude, are you fuckin' with me? [He gives cloud a perplexed look.] Did you seriously forget all about that time I totally helped you guys save the fuckin' planet? [Exaggerate? Reno? Nah.]

[OMG YOU KNOW HE TOTALLY DID]

[losthere]

[Except she doesn't treat him like an enemy and it makes everything harder. She didn't treat him like the enemy the last time they met either, even though she should have. He'dtold her to. But she'd just looked at him with those bemused, concerned eyes and never once seemed to believe him.

She makes him weak. He loses track of who he's supposed to be when she watches him with those dark eyes.]

I don't want to fight. [Blunt, his mouth works without a filter. As usual.]

[ video ]

[losthere]

[Cloud gives a grunt in response and watches the feed die. For a long moment, he simply stares at the empty chalkboard.

Then he marks down the ID number to save for later. Help is help. Something tells him he's had stranger in his forgotten past. When he finds anything, and he will find his answers, he'll share. The sooner they go home, the better.]

Video; they're his REAL final limit break. He's been practicing since he was 16

[losthere]

[The eyebrows stay low and the look in Cloud's eyes isn't any more friendly. But the tremor goes down through him, somewhere deep and dark and buried. This... guy. Thinks he knows him. And Cloud - can't remember. Trapped in the Cycles he was the same as everyone else. Just as sure of who he was as they were. Just as memory blank as they were. He was even ahead of the Cosmos side, little bits of memory like glints of broken glass that sometimes jerked inside him in the darkness. Here though -

He doesn't like the way it feels and somehow dislikes the vulnerability even more in front of the man on the other side of the screen. He'd remember, if the red head had been in the Cycles. He would. Right? So the words come out bitten off, a raw wound poked too close.]

I don't know you.

mystery solved ;) Now if we could just figure out where Cloud's half skirt came from

[losthere]

[It's a sore spot for Cloud but one he wants just the same and he doesn't know why. It's confusing and he doesn't like the feeling. It feels too helpless. Too... familiar.

But he still wants to hear the music.]

I - like music.

[It comes out reluctantly and, to him, sounds stupid. What's so special about notes of sound?

do-re-me-ti-la-do-re-do]

I dream it. Sometimes

[Which is even stupider and he shuts down wherever that's trying to go with a scowl.]

So it's just a trade for service. [That doesn't sound too bad. That sounds familiar. He can manage that. Something inside him feels comfortable with the notion of fetching things in exchange for an item or working small jobs.]

[losthere]

[Sounds familiar. Cloud couldn't say the last place he'd been stuck in had been filled with people he'd wanted to hang around with for the most part. Have a slight head lift from where his chin had been sinking toward his chest, distracted from his own thoughts.]

Ranma?

[tomboytendo]

A friend from home - he and his father moved in with my family some time ago.

[reno4prez]

[His brows draw together even more at that response, and he just stares at Cloud for a few seconds. Then, abruptly, his entire demeanor changes; his joking, carefree attitude disappears completely, replaced by a much more serious countenance.]

Cloud, seriously... what's going on with you? You really don't know me?

1/2

[7theavenbartender]

Fight..? That's a silly thing to say. We would never fight over anything.

[Cloud, you're worrying her. Cloud is even more of an introvert to her and something seems even more off. Tifa moves her head to the side in curiosity of his current behavior.]

[7theavenbartender]

[She notices as well of his different clothing despite only having a face shot. Are those..clothes SOLDIER wear?]

Do you know who Denzel is?

[Shes testing him. Maybe not everyone is from the same timeline, she thought. Is that why he's more hostile..? But she can't recall a time that they would get hostile with one another.]

[losthere]

Hn. And he's here?

[losthere]

[It's the way the other man's face changes, something in his eyes, that has Cloud not shutting off the screen the way he'd been prepared to do. The way his thumb had already been moving to do, anticipating mockery or more nonsense. They're too close to where he feels vulnerable, too close to a flaw that runs all the way through him and his first instinct, his strongest instinct, is to deny it and ignore it. To protect it.

And yet his thumb hesitates.

no. today we're off duty]

Who are you?

[losthere]

[That's... not quite the right answer. The reason he'd gone after Chaos the way he had was so that it would all be over before she remembered. Before she lost her will to fight.

Had she - remembered? Or... was it just for him that she believed in a permanent truce? It was true. He'd never be able to hurt her. Not even if they had to fight for her own good. But - it wasn't safe for her to think that way. To think she was safe around him.

He's still dealing with that when she speaks again and his eyes snap back up to focus on her through the screen.

...

Who?]

Is that a new warrior of Cosmos?

[reno4prez]

The name's Reno. [For all that he seems dumbstruck by such a question in the first place, he answers plainly enough. Weird shit always seems to be happening to people - to heroes - like Cloud, so for now, he'll have to just roll with it. Hell, in the big picture, having to fill in a few memory gaps for the guy probably isn't even all that extreme.] Of the Turks.

[He pauses, tilting his head slightly as he watches Cloud through the screen, eyes sharp for any minute sign that he might be triggering some memory.]

I work for ShinRa Electric Power Company, owned and operated by Rufus ShinRa. You and your people... well, let's just say we didn't always see eye-to-eye, but that's in the past now.

Any of this ringin' a bell?

[defaming]

What kind of music do you enjoy?

Music can be very moving, very powerful in its way. Especially where the mind and emotions are concerned. I don't doubt its ability to affect the subconscious. I've had dreams with music in them myself.

Yes, you could consider it so. [Really, it was Kristoph talking and manipulating as he likes to do, but he's not about to go into that.]

[tomboytendo]

Yeah. [ THough she doesn't see him much so ... she's not sure he's still around. He's probably off training or something. ]

He showed up about a week after Kodachi and I did.

Don't shoot me for the late tagging. ;;

[7theavenbartender]

[Did he hit his head or something. Denzel was a part of our his family. Tifa is sure that this isn't the same Cloud as back on home. Was he some sort of copycat with no memories or. .? But it is him. There is no mistaking that. Tifa is just gazing aimlessly into the camera. Her eyes look like they are filled with a sense of melancholy.]

No. Denzel is--[She thought for a moment. Cosmos. She has never heard anyone with that name ever.]

Whose Cosmos? ..Did you lose your memory?
[She tried her hardest not to approach him so strongly. But she needed to know what happened to him. Her dearest friend.]

[losthere]

Hm. [a short nod.] So you're - not alone.

[losthere]

[He's really not sure how the conversation ended up being about music. He - hadn't realized it meant anything to him at all until the other man had started talking, pulling up fragments and broken pieces inside him. But he listens when the blond talks about music, taking his words as truth, letting it settle. In the echoes in the hollow parts of him music feels... soothing. And lonely. His brows are down when he looks back up at the screen.]

I don't know. I - don't remember. [It confesses to much more than just notes of lost music but he's still just talking about the music.]

[losthere]

[He listens, letting it sift down through him and there are glints in the broken darkness, reflections he can't catch. kidnappings. assassinations. DON'T STEP ON THE FLOWERS!

A head shake to rattle bits back together, before he drifts, before - whatever would happen if he let all those broken shards out at the same time. A frown. Flat denial.]

No. [it should be a full shut down.

...except Cloud's blue eyes come up again and fix on the screen, stubborn refusal that doesn't quite hide the lost feeling.]

Why is it in the past now?

I'd have to shoot myself too ;) I'm more than fine with slow tagging :D

[losthere]

[His eyes widen a little, blue flares of alarm before he absorbs her words completely. She - doesn't know Cosmos? But - they're born into each cycle already knowing their chosen god and its mirror half. If she doesn't - the last half of her sentence goes entirely over his head for a moment.]

You don't remember?

[And he can't tell if he's relieved or concerned.]