Day 58: Arts & Crafts (Fourth shift)

[immortale]

Firo was glad to see the end of lunch, if only for the fact that in a few more hours, the day would be over. Night was the only time he had any real freedom of movement, and it was the only time he could do something worth doing, instead of just sitting around

Comments

[zack_fair]

A life that wasn't his. Zack didn't know what Max meant specifically, of course, but he could at least understand the concept. He had always tried to make his own way, but in the end he realized that Shin-Ra had owned him to a large extent. Angeal had fought for freedom and paid the price. Zack realized that he had, too. Wings to fly, and yet the only real release was death. It was all far too morbid when he was busy trying to console a made-up person.

"Why wasn't it yours?" he couldn't help asking, if only because it would move the conversation along. "And who's waiting for you?" It wasn't like he could give any advice about how to get the soldiers to listen to the guy, and more than that, he didn't really want to. That might lead to this Max thing being a permanent fixture and to ZEX disappearing from this place, and there was no way that Zack wanted to be responsible for that.

Either way, it seemed like Max already trusted him, which was a nice feeling even if it wasn't necessarily real. In the end, Max was a little easier to speak to than ZEX if only because he wasn't being flirted with the entire time. It was just a teeny bit distracting, though in the end he preferred that to something fake.

[wantsyourzex]

"Uh, well..." Max tried to think back. His memory seemed to have suffered somewhat while he'd been here... even when he was ZEX, it had gone a bit spotty. That, and maybe he was trying to avoid having to put it into words so quickly. The whole thing was very complicated. Really. "Just... my parents wanted me to marry someone... I didn't want to, but I didn't... it sort of wasn't my choice, at that point..." Did he look as awkward as he felt saying that? He wasn't very good at self-reflection. "Lot of stuff was that way for me..."

The other question, that one was somewhat easier. "Oh, uh, my... I guess you could say bodyguard. It's sort of weird to think of him that way though..." With a bit of a nervous laugh. Dexter had always referred to himself that way of course, but that didn't mean Max thought of him that way in return. "He used to take care of me back out there... he wants me to get out of here already. I feel kind of bad for keeping him waiting... he's probably pretty angry about how long this is taking, ha ha." If he was here then none of this would even be a problem... surely Dexter would find a way to fix everything. That was what he did.

Although, if he could fix everything, then Max probably wouldn't have ended up here.

want to start wrapping this up?

[zack_fair]

Being expected to marry someone he didn't want to? Zack frowned when he heard that, realizing right off the bat that he would have never stood for something like that. His parents hadn't ever questioned his choices, though. They probably hadn't liked the idea of him running off across the world at such a young age, but he hadn't been the sort of person who had given them the chance to put their foot down about the issue.

Not to mention he'd been pretty good about staying in contact with them, which he figured counted for something. Of course, thinking about them now hit him with such a wave of guilt that he knew he couldn't dwell on it for too long. He'd gone and gotten himself killed and he could only hope that Cissnei or someone had gone back to Gongaga to explain things.

It was easier to talk about this so-called bodyguard that Max had. Zack wondered how that translated from ZEX's own life to this made up one, but he couldn't get that kind of information now. He had to be pretty important to have a bodyguard, didn't he? "Look, if he's really your friend on top of all of that, he'll wait as long as he has to for you to make your way out of here, right? Don't worry about it too much." And in the end, he couldn't help but ask: "But why do you need a bodyguard, anyway?"

yeah sure

[wantsyourzex]

Guessing from his expression, Zack didn't approve of the story he'd told him. Good, Max didn't much care for it either! Really, no one understood how unfair the whole thing was. Maybe he could have handled it better but really, it was all terribly unfair and not his fault. Mostly.

"I hope he does wait... or does something to get me out of here anyway. This place is getting old." It looked like the nurses were starting to lead people away. That at least would save him from having to explain a little too much about himself. It was a little embarrassing. "Uh... well, my parents thought I needed one really... back when I was a lot younger, actually, you know... just to keep an eye on me, mostly." Not that Max was a kid anymore! He'd just never really gotten the hang of taking care of himself. That wasn't so bad, was it? Still, it was a little awkward to say.

"It was nice talking to you though!" Max didn't want to leave him just yet, but the shifts here were pretty strictly enforced, and the staff would make sure he moved on in one way or another. "Hopefully I'll see you again sometime..."

[zack_fair]

The idea of anyone being able to break into this place and save them or help them was pretty much ludicrous, but Zack didn't need to tell Max that. He didn't know how long ZEX would be like this or if it would end up being permanent (which was really a horrible thought, that someone could lose themselves like that) but he didn't need to go around crushing the guy's hopes either way.

If his parents had been able to afford a bodyguard purely because they'd been worried about their son then that probably meant that they were pretty well-off. Zack knew it didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things -- it was all one big farce -- but he couldn't help settling on some of the details anyway.

Luckily, he was saved from having to fake his way through much more of this. He didn't have anything against Max (how could he, when the guy was a construction?), but he did hope that this would get cleared up soon. The soldier stood and nodded. "Yeah, same. Make sure to take care of yourself tonight, okay?" With any luck, Max would stay in his room.