OOC ❦ Memory (3)
Even though Cloud was renting a room in the Spa now, he still liked to sleep outside while he could. Winter was fast approaching; the chill in the air every morning was a sharp reminder of that. Cloud shivered a little as he folded up his blankets. He would have to bow to the facts very soon and just start sleeping in the Spa full-time, but he could put it off a little longer for now, as long as it didn’t look like it might rain in the night.
He started toward the bridge to the Bazaar, planning to grab some breakfast before dropping off his blankets in his room on his way to the Clinic. But as Cloud walked under one of the trees, he felt something hit him in the head, hard. Biting back an exclamation of pain, he put up his right hand to rub the place, and caught whatever it was had hit him instead. He had a split-second to realize he was holding a memory crystal, too late to stop his fingers closing around the metal ‘cage’ that surrounded the thing. One finger brushed the crystal, and his surroundings faded.
**************
Cloud cursed himself mentally. He hadn’t wanted to touch that damn thing, memory crystals always brought more trouble than they were worth. Well… no choice now. He might as well try to relax, and get as much information out of this as he could.
He could see in this memory. He was walking up the side of a gently-sloping grass-and-stone-covered hill, carrying something heavy and… warm. His hands were down at waist height, with the elbows crooked a little and hooked under… legs. He was pretty sure he was carrying someone on his back. Whoever they were, he wasn’t having any trouble with their weight-either a kid, or a small, light person, perhaps a woman. The air seemed oddly silent, but it wasn’t until he felt a slight vibration against his back that he realized his hearing had been blocked in this memory.
Cloud felt himself say something-felt his lips shape the words, and his vocal chords vibrate-but again, he heard nothing. It was a little frustrating. Was that all this memory would be, him carrying someone up a hill, and talking?
Apparently not. After almost five minutes of walking along, it seemed they reached their destination. He approached a rock, turned to let the person on his back down onto it carefully, and then took a seat on the ground at their feet without looking back. Someone he knew, then, from his life before…? He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it and inhaling deeply. Cloud was distracted from his curiosity about the person he had just carried here briefly, mildly disappointed that for the second memory in a row his sense of smell wasn’t working.
The person behind him apparently said something. He turned slightly, seeing them for the first time-a woman, with short, dark hair and a kind face. She was wearing a purple kimono and laughing. Cloud’s memory was giving her a long, measuring stare, which he was grateful for. He drank in her appearance, hoping he would keep looking at her for a little bit longer, as her mobile face became more serious-this was the first memory he had seen someone he recognized, and apparently… he didn’t know what to think. But she wasn’t just ‘some woman’, he knew her.
It was too much to think about in the small time he was able to look at her. His memory turned away, spoke. As the memory faded, he felt himself laugh.
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Cloud’s eye snapped open, though he didn’t get up from where his knees had dropped him to the ground just yet. He could see the memory crystal now; it had rolled a short distance away but still within reach. There was a white square of paper attached to it, but he couldn’t see if anything was written on it from this angle.
That woman… he wished he could have heard her voice in the memory. She was definitely someone he knew… maybe even… cared for…? He shook his head slowly, reaching out to pick up the crystal. It was too much to assume that based on one memory, no matter how much he wanted to see the woman again. He didn’t even know her name… that stung, a little.
Cloud turned the crystal over, snorted softly at what the paper said-TOUCH ME-and stuffed it roughly into a pocket. Getting to his feet, he gathered his blankets and started to walk towards the bridge once again-
His right leg jerked up, snapped out, and he took a long, lunging step. Then he did an odd sort of skipping step, stepped to the right, the left, back, skipped forward once more, and stopped, utterly confused for a moment. He tried again, with similar, though slightly different results before stopping once more, this time with a resigned sigh.
It looked like the next few days were going to be very entertaining for anyone who happened to catch sight of him walking around.
[[ooc: Slightly forward dated to the early morning of Nov. 2
Senses are sight/touch. His punishment for the memory is to walk everywhere in a very silly manner. This punishment will last for 3 days.
This memory was taken from chapter 7 of the manga, here to here]]