( closed ) it's a new dawn, it's a new day

[amongstheclouds]

WHO: Cloud Strife, Jade Curtiss.
WHAT: Cloud makes a new friend, hurrah!
WHERE: SOME TEAHOUSE SOMEWHERE.
WHEN: Day 200something.

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[necroshmancer]

Noise was coming from the entrance of the teahouse... noise that carried with it a distinct note of anger. Someone was evidently not pleased and making sure the whole staff heard about it. A waiter rushed over, then two, adding to the commotion.

"But, Sir, I'm sorry, as you can see the teahouse is full and..."

A voice rose above the hubbub, the self-assured, strong voice of someone used to being obeyed and dismayed at the fact that he wasn't.

"I am Colonel Jade Curtiss, and I come every day at this hour like clockwork to sit at that table", he pointed to an occupied table imperiously, "to have a cup of tea. Every. Day. Which is why Liam keeps a table for me. I'm here now, I request to be seated."

[amongstheclouds]

It was rather hard to ignore the tiny commotion going on by the door when it was invading one's little zen bubble. Cloud's bright blue eyes curiously looked up to see what was happening and most importantly, if it would go away.

Jade didn't sound like the type to just go away, though.

Cloud silently continued to drink his tea.

The blond was not entirely familiar with the customs of Rivelata yet. Maybe he had at one time -- but the Cloud Strife who had that knowledge no longer existed. So, he found himself quietly wondering if they would seat Jade at an occupied table. That wasn't so uncommon in the 17th century, right? Although, looking around the teahouse, Cloud realized that if that's what they were going to do, they would likely put the man with him (seeing as he was by himself when most others had a friend or two).

Great.

It was true that Cloud was rather anti-social and quiet, but then, he also wasn't going to make a fuss over what may happen, either. The blond was content to just stay quiet.

Besides, he wasn't done his tea

[necroshmancer]

The commotion seemed to move into the teahouse, following a tall slender man with glasses who did not even attempt to hide an incredibly displeased expression. His face a thundercloud, matching his long black tunic worn over black pants, he loomed over one of the poor waiters, who was visibly shaking in his boots.

"Co-Colonel... there... there is an empty seat over the-there..." The terrified waiter was pointing at the table where Cloud was sitting.

Jade opened his mouth to argue further, then realised that he was just losing time and delaying the inevitable, since none of the patrons seemed to be ready to leave anything soon, and that at this rate he was never going to get any tea.

So, instead of throwing a nasty -and clever- barb at the waiter, he sighed, an exhasperated sigh, and walked towards Cloud's table and its empty chair.

[amongstheclouds]

While the waiters were busy being terrified of this Colonel Jade character, Cloud was busy just drinking his tea without hurry. The other man didn't look like he was going to be easily deterred from his goal of getting tea anytime soon.

Cup still pressed his lips but not drinking, Cloud's blue eyes glanced up to watch the man walk over to his table and sit down.

But then his eyes drifted away again barely a moment later. He continued to just stay quiet -- despite the fact that someone had sat down at the same table as him, the blond still didn't quite feel the need to say hello.

Yet, at least.

[necroshmancer]

"How can you tell if people do not have hearts anymore, if, somehow, they keep on living? This is all very confusing, but the academic in me is fascinated. You see, I used to do a lot of research, back in my world. I simply love to understand how things work..."

Ever since childhood, Jade had wanted to understand everything, from life and death -how many parts could he rip out of a monster before he stopped moving? is moving life? what is death?- to fontech machinery and the use of fonic artes. He always pushed forward into the unknown, with sometimes disastrous results... it was his creation of the science of fomicry which brought so much suffering to the world.

But white he liked to think of himself as a genius, there was one thing that he could not brush away... one thing that always eluded him...

"Things are so much easier to understand than people."

[amongstheclouds]

"Nobodies don't... really exist. There is Darkness, Light and Nothing. They're a part of the Nothingness." Only now was Cloud realizing how hard it was to explain the concept of Nobodies and Heartless to someone who didn't already know -- and especially to such as critical thinker as Jade. "It's complicated."

A small break to finish the rest of the tea in the cup.

"My powers are dulled, but I can still tell a Nobody from a normal person. There's a difference in their... aura, I guess." Cloud didn't really want to explain his affiliation with Darkness.

He placed the cup down on the table. "I'm Cloud, by the way." It seemed his name, however, was something he would offer.

[necroshmancer]

Jade drained his cup, and left it on the edge of the table, waiting for it to be refilled by the waiter.

"My name is Jade", he stated as he extended his gloved hand over the table, "Jade Curtiss. Colonel, 3rd Malkuth army division."

He paused then smiled ruefully, "Although it doesn't mean that much anymore... nothing really does, in this world."

[amongstheclouds]

"I gathered." Cloud murmured mostly to himself, having picked up Jade's name in the little kerfuffle the man had created upon arriving in the teahouse. He quietly shook Jade's gloved hand with his own when it was offered.

"We're all set back to zero when we come here." The warrior replied, blue eyes cast away once more. Cloud was never good with eye contact.

[necroshmancer]

"I see what you mean..."

Peony was always surrounded in light and laughter. He had gone through hard times, when Nephry was lost to him, but when he smiled... when he smiled the light was there, dimmed, but it was there.

Jade had never created his own light, he only reflected that of others, he was the moon to his best friend's sun.

"Necromancers live in the darkness... there is no room for them in the light. Which has its advantages", he added, his tone light, "Since it keeps sunburns down. When your skin is fair it was be a real nuisance..."

[amongstheclouds]

"A necromancer?" Cloud was unfamiliar with the practice they followed. It was considered dark, yes, but it was one part that Cloud had no interest in but somehow, it wasn't overly surprising to learn that Jade was. "I see."

The blond was still quiet (although that was a characteristic that probably would never go away), but he seemed to have relaxed a little by now. Jade wasn't so bad, and even though it was too early to really open up to or place a lot of trust in, Cloud felt that the older man could prove to be decent company in the future.

"I'm not involved with a lot of magic." He admitted. "Is that what you do back home, then? Necromancy?"

[necroshmancer]

"Back home..." Jade's voice trailed off, as his features took on that faraway look, quickly replaced with a smile, "Back home, I am a fonist and a Colonel in His Majesty's Peony IX's great army. Which means I command the Empire's flagship, the Tartarus, I give a lot of orders, and I hide in the cargo room to avoid any work sent my way."

Jade had a habit of belittling his powers, his life, his dreams: the lie was so natural it spilled from him as easily as the truth would have. What use was it to say that he could raise demons from dead carcasses or destroy entire platoons with a single spell? He remembered when he used to speak very casually of his powers... and how people reacted by shying away from him.

The lie was better.
And it wasn't a complete lie.
Even people with phenomenal cosmic powers could be phenomenally lazy.

"Although, sometimes Peony sends Aslan to catch up with me and make me fill forms. Aslan is very detail-oriented, and will track me down to the ends of Auldrant if I forget to sign a requisition form. It's quite

[amongstheclouds]

The blond silently drank some more of his tea. "I see." It was all he had to say to that at first, really. Cloud knew that he himself would never be able to do the job that Jade did, considering their differences in strengths, but he was able to respect it.

"Sounds demanding." He added on idly. Solo researching wasn't so bad, but Cloud still didn't have many responsibilities besides protecting his loved ones.