❦ 13th Record

[iattractmushi]

Valeth-san, Target-san - I'm fit for duty again. Hope nothing dire happened while I was [slight pause] unavailable.

Sniper, Youth, Smoke, Snake, [pause] Silvar [little ink blot] you guys ok?

Lea, Castor, Pollux - [long, long pause] thanks.

[[Yeah, he pretty much booked it out of the Spa as soon as he regained his sight, lol. Now somewhere on

Comments

[longnosedliar]

Cloud! You're okay too! Man, I'm glad, I--

[There is a small pause here as he tactfully moves his head away from the journal so it's not terribly obvious that he is bawling in relief.]

I'm doing great. I mean, better than I've been for the past few days. I thought we were definitely blind forever, but it looks like we're all back to normal, and that's... such a relief.

[No, that drip on the page definitely isn't a tear. It's probably snot.]

[iattractmushi]

[He's actually. Really effing relieved to see Sniper's writing.]

Yeah, I'm fine. Good thing it was just temporary, huh.

[longnosedliar]

Yeah.

[He is so glad to see Cloud's writing too. The rest of them being okay is kind of a bonus too. But now that the fact that he's no longer blind has sunk in, he's thinking srsbznss.]

So... that was a memory, huh?

[iattractmushi]

I saw one, yeah. You too?

I guess that makes about as much sense as anything else... [Which is to say none at all, but then again he was glowing and blind for three days, so.]

[longnosedliar]

Yeah. Did we see the same one? I mean...

I have no idea what happened. Can we even talk about it over these things?

[iattractmushi]

[Paaauuuse.] It might be a better idea to talk about this in person.

[longnosedliar]

You're probably right.

So should we do that? Talk about it in person, I mean?

[iattractmushi]

Yeah, if you have the time. [Slight pause for thinking.] It'd be better to do this tomorrow. Where do you want to meet?

[longnosedliar]

Do you want to go to the Wilderness? I want to check out a few things up there, anyway.

[iattractmushi]

Perfect, I can meet you there after my shift ends.

QUICKLOG

[longnosedliar]

[Just as they had discussed, Sniper marched straight from the scrapyard to Access Point. He was covered in a fine layer of dust and he had grease stains dribbling down the front of his overalls, but aside from that he looked as pleased as anything. After being blind, everything looked so vivid, and his senses were caught in the amplification that so often comes with having one taken away. This would fade, he knew, but it was marvelous while it was here. How hadn't he noticed the textures of the rubble in the scrapyard before? Or the bright leaves on the tree?

The only thing that would make it perfect would to have Prince here so that he could share the memory. He was never particularly close to Prince, but him being gone felt like his last lifeline connecting him to his previous life had been cruelly cut away. Pessimistic as always, he had no hopes of actually finding the man, but one last look in the Wilderness couldn't hurt.

Okay, so it could hurt, in the way the Wilderness so often did, but... well, best not to think

QUICKLOG

[iattractmushi]

[Cloud was leaning against the side of the elevator, waiting for Sniper. He'd just had time to stash his box in the Adventurer Headquarters before coming back to meet the other guy--it was a little easier to move around without it. He didn't think they'd need a med kit down there, or at least he hoped not... this particular Wilderness seemed safe enough, considering it was a part of Edensphere. As long as they kept their wits about them and didn't act dumb, they'd be fine. Though there was something funny about that castle... Cloud couldn't bring himself to trust any place the staircases seemed to have a mind of their own.

He straightened up from his slouch and lifted a hand in greeting as he saw Sniper approach.]

Yo. Good to see you.

[In every sense of the phrase.]

QUICKLOG

[longnosedliar]

[Once Cloud was in sight, Sniper charged happily over before reaching out and giving Cloud's shoulder an experimental poke.]

Hey, Cloud! Looks like we don't go spreading things around, either.

[He grinned. Being somebody prone to hanging off of other people's shoulders, grabbing people, punching people, hugging people, poking people... well, the fact of the matter was that he wasn't happy being completely self contained for so long.]

Come on, let's go. We can talk about... all that when we get up to the Wilderness. What is it this month?

QUICKLOG

[iattractmushi]

[Cloud tolerated the poke with a mildly amused expression.] I'm a little sorry I missed seeing myself glowing purple, but yeah.

[Turning to face the elevator, Cloud hit the button to call it.] It's a huge stone castle, and a few acres of ground around it. Pretty big area; it'll keep us busy mapping it for as long as it's here, probably.

QUICKLOG

[longnosedliar]

[Sniper frowned.] You know, that's one part I didn't get. Why would we glow purple if--ah, whatever. We won't ever find out why, anyway.

[Once the door opened, he stepped into the elevator and got right to business.] So, about what happened there... did everybody see the same thing? [He shifted from foot to foot.] I haven't spoken to many people since.

QUICKLOG

[iattractmushi]

[Cloud stepped in with him, moving to lean against the back wall with his arms crossed comfortably across his chest.] Neither have I... Sylvar mentioned something though, that her real name is... [He paused, unable to remember without looking what name she'd written in her comment. After a moment, he waved one hand dismissively.] ...that she'd heard her real name, in a memory. But that's the only person who said anything about it to me.

[He raised one eyebrow at Sniper, wondering if the guy was going to talk about his memory now, or if he would change the subject and talk later.]