Open!

[i_love_squats]

Who: Zack Fair i_love_squats, OPEN
When: Today or tomorrow.
Where: Zack and Angeal’s home.
Format: Paragraph or action, whichever you want. Feel free to hop in an already established thread or start a new one for new guests who want to arrive at a different time. Either or. :D
What: For anyone who wants to come and visit Zack and make sure he doesn’t escape

Comments

[i_love_squats]

Zack's injuries were proudly there displayed, bruises and cuts with stitches, things he refused to have healed with Cure and other skills. He wanted them to scar. He wanted to remember. He didn't want the convenient couple-minute-fix, only wanted the pain and the penance.

Still, a good many of them were internal, the bruise on his chest from a few snapped ribs. The discolored shoulder from where it was dislocated. The jagged cut down behind his ear and over his neck deep in his hair which had bled like a bitch. He wondered how much of these Cloud caught wind of, how much of it was obvious in every move he made.

"If I had been there quicker, I might have been able to get her out of the way." Or taken the bullet, but he didn't voice that aloud, having a rather certain feeling that Cloud wouldn't take that well. He refused to blame Elena, though; it was Yazoo's fault. Yazoo, and his.

His blue eyes settled on the ceiling, watching over his friend's head, staring at poorly done paint. Legs and feet moved over, giving Cloud room on his bad if he wanted it. "I have too many limitations. Way too many. I need to get rid of them and push past these speedbumps."

[mirageof_deceit]

Cloud's eyes raked over the various injuries with a long hard glance before he set his lips against the frown that wanted to form. It wouldn't do anyone any good to be scolding his friend, especially when he wasn't so certain that the injuries could have been avoided. He wasn't at the fight, so he only knew by the injuries that it had been bad enough to tear down a SOLDIER.

"You should have your injuries tended and bandaged. Wearing them like a brand won't make the fight any different," he murmured softly. He was generally forced to tend his injuries so as not to worry other people.

"The battle is over, and what's done is done. Taking the blame will only make you miserable and make the girl's sacrifice meaningless." He had struggled and still did at times with the death of Aerith and even Zack. He knew what it was like to say 'if he had been stronger or faster', and he knew that this was very difficult. "That girl died for a reason, so don't belittle that. She died to show the rest of us what Yazoo is capable of."

Shifting the Ultima Weapon off of his back, he set it aside to lean on a wall before seating himself in the spot Zack's legs vacated. "If you remove your limitations, you'll just become like Yazoo. That's not you at all. You're a good man and a good fighter; what you fought for is worth it."

[i_love_squats]

A brand. He wanted to say that he was surprised that Cloud picked up on it, but he really wasn’t. After all, Zack had done this before, had done it for years now; the scars on his face proved it, that almost perfect X from two different times, two different places. He could have had that healed, could have made that go away, but it was too much like sweeping something unsightly under a rug, letting it be forgotten.

And maybe that scared him. Forgetting. Forgetting a life. Forgetting the sacrifice.

“But she shouldn’t have died for that. No one should have.” His jaw tightened, eyes closing for a long moment. “That’s not a good enough reason. She barely had a chance to live, and she had to die to prove…what? That there’s a maniac among us? It’s like saying that Nibelheim was a sacrifice to show us how crazy Sephiroth was.”

He winced at the words, at the harshness that came with them, and whispered a near-silent, “Sorry, man, I-- didn’t mean that.”

Opening his eyes, he pushed himself up with his elbows, wincing at the movement. Long legs folded in front of him, crossed, and he picked at an errant thread poking defiantly from the blanket. “Yeah, I know. I know you’re right. I’m just talking out of my ass right now. Ignore it.”

[mirageof_deceit]

"But she did, and nothing you or I can do will change that," Cloud replied simply. There had to be some justification for the death or things would never get better here. "Don't forget her, but don't let her loss bog you down from protecting others like her."

He went still at the mention of Nibelheim, not actually expecting it to come up in conversation. He neatly folded his hands together in his lap and stared off across the room at the wall for a few moments, just dredging up old memories of that time and place. It had been a long time since he had actually thought about the events that lead him up to being here, the sacrifices made so that at least ShinRa knew what had been unleashed on that day.

"Nibelheim was the sacrifice," he murmured softly, doing his best to keep emotion out of his voice. "However, the powers that were chose to ignore that sacrifice and cover it up instead... forgetting the memories of it. We can't do that with the girl."

Slowly, he turned his gaze on his friend and shrugged his shoulders. "You're allowed to mope for a little while, but not too long. You'll waste your potential if you let it eat at you for a long time."

[i_love_squats]

Zack smiled bittersweetly to himself. “When’d you get so wise, Spike?” Granted, saving the world could do that to a person. The poor guy had seen enough in his lifetime to have more wisdom in his pinky than most would have their entire lives, and Zack had forgotten for a bit there. None of this should surprise him, but it did all the same. It reminded him of the time difference. It reminded him of what happened. And it wasn’t all bad, not when he could look on his best friend and be proud of what he had turned into.

Still, his lips thinned as he listened to the statement of that fact, and he nodded slowly. Cover up. That was the polite way of putting it. And Shinra was good at covering things up, as he remembered rather fondly Tseng half in the copter, telling him to hurry up. Funny how things came ‘round full circle.

“How about I make a deal with you?” He stopped plucking at the string, and raised his eyes up to meet his. “I can mope in the bed. I won’t let it stop me from getting better, but I’ll use it to give me focus. The second I’m out of this room, I’m done moping -but not remembering, won’t be done with that-and I’ll dive right into making sure this doesn’t happen again.”

He stopped, then smiled a little. “The first person I want to train with is you.”

[mirageof_deceit]

"Being a few years older than you will do that," Cloud said humorlessly. He didn't want to say that it was because he had seen too much for one lifetime, but he had come to accept that some things were just out of his control. The sooner he accepted it, the easier that his life would be. "Don't worry, you'll grow up someday, Zack," he said, adding a faint smile at the corners of his lips.

He regarded Zack seriously, mostly because 'deals' were plots to embarrass him or otherwise make him uncomfortable. He hoped that Zack hadn't gone out of the way to invite Cara over to do something horrid to him. Still, Zack was having a rough time, so he decided that he would have to listen without passing judgement on this 'deal'.

Well, he supposed that deal was acceptable, and he eyed Zack as if waiting for an added 'bonus' to it. "Train with me? Why when you have Angeal to train with or Elena?"

[i_love_squats]

A few years--? Oh. Right. “Hard to remember that when you still look like a kid. Baby face and all.” Well, that and because it was unnatural; Cloud shouldn’t be older than him, not when he had been born a few years after Zack. Shiva, things were screwy here.

“Who wants to be a grown up?” he laughed quietly. “Don’t think the world could handle the awesome and perfection that would happen. Good thing I’m just young and pretty.”

And no, Cloud. No mean deals. Nothing cruel. Nothing embarrassing. Today, it was a please kick my ass into shape deal, the heavy feel of a deal that meant so much more than what was exchanged over beers are the nearest bar. It was clean, through and through, and if you wanted, he’d even shake ya on it.

The question caught him off guard; clearly he wasn’t expected an inquisition into it. “For one, you’ve fought the guy before and you’re still here. For two, I’m worried they’re going to go soft on me because of my injuries. And third,” he grinned, “I need to kick your ass for that ‘grow up’ comment.”

[mirageof_deceit]

Cloud shrugged his shoulders at the kid comment, mostly because others had commented on his looking younger than he was. It was part of the mako treatments that he had suffered under, and part that he aged well. It wasn't his fault he still looked sixteen sometimes. "That's probably why I don't get many dates; everyone feels like a pedophile."

Rolling his eyes, he allowed his friend's comment to slide off of his back and with a shake of his head. It was nice to see Zack having an arrogance attack, since it meant that his friend was feeling better. "Yeah, you still look sixteen too... act twelve though."

He wasn't so certain that he could teach Zack anything beyond what his friend had learned. Though, what made Zack think he wouldn't go soft? Nah, he wouldn't... he had too much of a competitive streak and a good reason to force Zack into defeat. It was only through it that his friend could learn. "You wish you could kick my ass. You'll be groaning on the ground if I take up the deal."

[i_love_squats]

“Start flashing an ID. Might get you some dates.” Yeah, their line of work was supposed to have made them old beyond their years; isn’t that what happened to most military men? But here were two young men with young faces, old souls, and some mixture of missing years in between them. Strange how things worked out.

“If so, how come I can still get more numbers than you when we go out?” And it was as much a dare as it was a challenge, because he preferred things a certain way, liked the familiarity in them. Banter was one of those customary roads. Straightening his leg, the knee popping noisily like a protester, he hid the wince behind a grin. “Folks are willing to break the law with me more than they are with you. Wonder what that means.”

Cloud hadn’t shot down his deal, but hadn’t agreed to it yet. Hmm, he was egging Zack on, though, and that was a good sign; it walked hand in hand with the idea of familiarity. Good. And besides, this was to help him, strengthen him up, get him better; competitive streak or not, this was going to be what Zack needed to get back to his A Game. “You think you got in the bag so easily, why are you stalling? Accept it.”

His smirk was striking. “Or are you scared of losing to someone younger than you?”