Out on your own (Closed)

[de_faulty_hero]

Characters: Cloud Strife (de-faulty-hero) & Kurapika (ih8spiders)
Where: Hallway of the 7th Floor
Rating: PG
Time: August 1st
Description: Cloud returns after a hard day of hunting around for Crane, and he finds Kurapika lurking around on the 7th floor searching for something. Conversation ensues.

Comments

[de_faulty_hero]

His eyes narrowed at the way that Kurapika could change his eyes from blue to red, and they were... quite different from what he was used to. It was amazing what people did for money, and he frowned at the thought of murdering an entire clan of people just to take their eyes from their heads. It seemed so... pointless to him

[de_faulty_hero]

Cloud squinted a little bit as that name seemed to ring a bell in his mind. He swore that he had heard it somewhere, but it felt like some time. Then a face flashed in his mind, and he snorted. "Oh him... he's a little stuffy," he replied off-handedly. "We already sized each other up. I can train fine by myself." It was how he made it through the military.

He glanced at Kurapika and sighed, leaning back on his hands regardless of his wrist. "Yeah well... he's been hailed as the best since he was born. It has to go to his head... but he is a bit of a beast to fight." He gave Kurapika a look. "You can fight him if you'd like an idea."

[ih8spiders]

"Stuffy is a bit of an understatement," he murmured, more than a little amused to hear someone coming right out and saying it. He hadn't talked to Kanda lately, although he was getting the feeling that the swordsman's attitude probably hadn't lightened up any after what happened with Adachi.

Kurapika slowly shook his head. The thought of him sparring with Sephiroth... "If I absolutely have to fight him, I would, but I wouldn't seek him out on purpose. He creeps me out," he confided in a slightly embarrassed tone of voice.

[de_faulty_hero]

Well, at least someone else found the guy on the stuffy side. "Yeah well... I don't spar with stuffy people unless I have to. I do better by myself," he replied and shrugged his shoulders. He had nothing against Kanda, but he liked someone else to contribute to conversation with more than a grunt.

Raising an eyebrow at the admittance, Cloud snorted and smirked at the corner of his lips. "He does give the creep impression well," he replied. "I think he creeps on you particularly to keep Kuroro from thinking anything could happen. Two possessive men don't share after all. Though... Sephiroth is better with that then your meister."

[ih8spiders]

"Better at sharing, or better at being creepy?" Kurapika hunched his shoulders and shuddered at the general thought of Kuroro and Sephiroth colluding at anything remotely questionable. Although to be honest, he was far more wary of Sephiroth since he knew Kuroro better, and there was the risk of Kuroro damaging their compatibility if he did anything skeevy. Sephiroth, on the other hand, had no such compunctions.

"I'm sorry, but you must understand--them and 'sharing' in the same sentence sounds like the stuff that fuels nightmares."

[de_faulty_hero]

"Better at being creepy," Cloud clarified and tilted his head to the side as he considered Kurapika. He couldn't see Sephiroth and his blonde friend actually being able to resonate with each other. "Sephiroth insists he doesn't share well with others," he added dryly. "I don't know Kuroro enough to make an assessment on his ability to share, but he doesn't creep me out."

Snorting softly, he shook his head. "No, putting them and resonating would be worse. Imagine them forming a unit? It would be far worse than the thought of them sharing."

[ih8spiders]

"He hasn't shown any possessive behavior like Sephiroth has, so I wouldn't really know, but the fact that he won't leave me alone..." Kurapika let the sentence trail off, unsure as to where it would lead if he continued it. But he vaguely remembered Kuroro wording his proposal for a truce in a way that gave him the impression that he was free to seek out another meister without consequence. Of course, he had no guarantee that it was genuine, and that was half a month ago. Things might have changed since then. He himself had changed.

"Should we be glad that they seem to be too fixated on us to think of bothering with anyone else, then?" he asked wryly. It was a thought that he came back to occasionally, but never seriously considered because he couldn't claim to know the individuals concerned well enough. Sephiroth partnering with someone weaker than Cloud, for example. Or Kuroro getting up to all sorts of mischief without him around to keep watch.

[de_faulty_hero]

"Well, if you ever made a move towards trying out another meister, I'm sure you'd get your answer to the possessiveness," Cloud remarked dryly. He suspected that Kuroro would be serious about such an attempt just as Sephiroth was. It was all laughs until the object of attention shifted away after all. "For instance, if we tried to resonate, I'm fairly certain the door or window would be blown in within minutes." Whether it would be Sephiroth or Kuroro or both would be decided only if such an action came to pass, which he was certain would not.

"I don't know. Don't you find the constant feeling of being stalked bothersome at times?" He had a friendship with Sephiroth that made it acceptable for them to spend time together excessively, even if it might just be training. He still couldn't tell if Kurapika and Kuroro were friends. "You know he does stuff you wouldn't approve of when you're not around. So does Sephiroth."

Sorry, got swamped with work earlier. ;;;

[ih8spiders]

Kurapika shook his head and looked at the door. He was fairly certain that Sephiroth and Kuroro were both somewhere far away from the Communal, but he knew that Sephiroth had barged into someone's room on at least one occasion, simply because he got insulted over the network. It wasn't difficult to imagine that the man might have a bizarre sixth sense telling him if someone was threatening to encroach on what he believed to be part of his territory.

"It's bothersome, yes, but..." He trailed off and took a moment to gather his thoughts. These were all difficult considerations for him, half-baked and crazy even to him. He'd say it out loud now because he had a feeling that Cloud might understand, and this was a chance for him to air them out and check if he was still sane.

"Have you ever thought that... because you're both from the same world, because you two were enemies and you know what he's capable of, that you're somehow responsible for making sure that he doesn't bother anyone else?"

[de_faulty_hero]

Cloud raised an eyebrow at the trailed off emphasis, waiting for Kurapika to finish the thought. He had a feeling that it was going to be something that he could relate to, though he couldn't say why. The way that they thought and had had similar pasts was probably the reason for that, but he dared not say such outloud.

His lips downturned into a bit of a frown as he looked towards the window and tried to think on how to answer that. Would it make him a bad friend? "Yes, I've thought along those lines," he replied slowly, tasting the words as they left his lips. "Sometimes I feel like if he focuses on me, he won't have the attention span to hurt other people."

He sighed and folded his hands behind his head. "And then I remember how little power I have here and know he's off doing whatever the hell he wants anyway," he muttered. He tried not to let the vast frustration enter his voice. He hated this feeling of powerlessness.

[ih8spiders]

"You could always try talking to him," Kurapika suggested blandly. "I mean, not that it works for me,"--he always had difficulty getting Kuroro to understand exactly what he wanted, and more often than not they ended up arguing needlessly over misunderstandings--"but it might work for you. If he values you enough to want to partner with you, he should at least listen to what you have to say."

Speaking of--

"You were looking for him, earlier?" Looking for Sephiroth looking for Crane, presumably, and it was obvious from Cloud's movements that he didn't like what Sephiroth was trying to do. But Cloud was the meister in that pair, and while he understood the other blond's feelings of powerlessness, he also didn't understand why he couldn't just grab more control, seeing as he was the one who could move in battle and possibly dictate more terms in their partnership.

Like Kuroro saying that he'd do everything, all the adjusting, if only Kurapika would let himself be wielded.

[de_faulty_hero]

He offered Kurapika a bit of a withering look, mostly because he had spent a considerable amount of time talking to Sephiroth. He never seemed to get anywhere with the man, and regardless of how much progress they made, he was always being shut out. In the end, he was still forced to be a matter of convenience for the silver-haired man, and he was shut out when the topic was unfavourable.

"He listens, but he never speaks in return," he replied simply. "He hates not knowing something about me, but he doesn't reciprocate... which makes conversations rather unbalanced at times." Maybe he should just give up on talking and just concentrate on 'doing'; he was good at that.

Shaking his head, he didn't know what to admit with regards to that. "No, I was looking for Dr. Crane." It was a race to find the man between him and Sephiroth, and he knew what would happen if the silver-haired man happened to find the good doctor before he could. "Sephiroth... we haven't seen each other since the day he was attacked. Crane is more my concern right

baaaaack~

[ih8spiders]

Kurapika made a mental note to ask if Cloud needed help in searching, but for now he wanted to concentrate on the other blond's frustrations. He had to keep reminding himself that the other two were also enemies--easy to overlook that when most of the times he'd seen Cloud and Sephiroth together were during fights or missions.

Of course, it was also possible that he was looking at this from a weapon's point of view--from the point of view of the person being wielded, and it seemed that Cloud didn't particularly consider his control in mid-battle to be that important. But the communication issue was rather problematic. He'd be pissed, too, if things were one-sided in Kuroro's favor.

"When you two resonate, can you sense Sephiroth's thoughts or feelings?"

Welcome back. :D There has been discussion of a foursome slumber party in your absence.

[de_faulty_hero]

It was very odd speaking of his frustrations with someone other than the friends he had back on his world. Yet, even in talking to them, their ability to understand was actually quite limited. He and Sephiroth had a very twisted up past, present and probably future, all of which probably involved frustration.

Maybe he just sensed that Kurapika had a chance at understanding where he was coming from? They were awfully similar with their partnerships and pasts, and they had been getting along surprisingly well for just meeting the first time. He was almost at the point already of just inducting Kurapika into his category of 'trusted friend'.

Ah, that was a complicated question. "Sometimes... but I can do that outside of resonating as well. The emotions have to be strong." How was he supposed to explain their connection? "When we resonate, we're usually doing it for battle, so we don't talk much."

;;; Yeah, I heard. They are ironing out the details now.

[ih8spiders]

"I guess Kuroro's just really talkative in battle, then," Kurapika muttered. Even so, what Cloud said about being mentally connected to someone like Sephiroth outside of battle, maybe 24/7 sounded pretty horrifying. It felt worse than the mental link that occurred during resonation

Does it involve pizza, alcohol and possible cross-dressing yet?

[de_faulty_hero]

He didn't think that anything was going to help his cause but increasing the amount that he exercised and pushing the limitations of his body. It was the only way to force himself to perform at a higher level, and it was something that he would do once this business with Crane was over.

"We don't resonate much," he admitted casually. He didn't really think that it was necessary, and he didn't particularly like the sensation either. It seemed like something a bunch of flower-touting nancy-boys did in their spare time to flaunt love, peace, harmony and all that crap. "I doubt our souls could really synchronize as we are now. As for miscommunication, there can't be any if we don't communicate, right?"

Ah, yeah, there was that thing about morning training, wasn't there? "He only needs me so that he can find those kishin things. They make him stronger." He wondered what would happen if he ate one. "Maybe we should share that prize."