Cheer up, emo Cloud

[mako_memories]

Cloud had been on the island nearly a week and he still wasn't sure what had happened. He was alive - he knew that much, Aeris and Zack had made sure of it - and this definitely wasn't the Lifestream or any other form of the afterlife he'd had time to imagine. No, this was something way out of his league

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[sgmitchell]

His hut was finally finished, and he'd be moving in some time today...but the lack of hands-on work left him feeling restless, and gave him entirely too much time to think. About Jackson and his group of 'friends', and about Sam...and home. It was hard to be patient without anything to do. He considered threatening McKay with something citrus to try harder to find a way off the island...but he wanted to be sure McKay wouldn't still be whining about phantom hangover symptoms before approaching him.

So instead of thinking, he ran. The jeans and t-shirt Jackson had found him worked well enough, though he'd have preferred more suitable jogging attire. It wasn't as hot as leather for running, at least, and the beach was clear enough to let him run uninterrupted. It was working pretty well, actually. Right up until he came upon an unfamiliar figure ahead, directly in his path.

He pulled up short, frowning slightly, and forwent a greeting in favor of catching his breath.

[mako_memories]

Footsteps on sand were kind of hard to distinguish over the rush of the waves on the shore and the sound of the wind in the trees, but Cloud heard them anyway. He lifted his head, slowly, and turned it to look at the man approaching him. He didn't look familiar at all, but that wasn't a big surprise. Yuffie had said there wasn't anyone else they knew here.

"..." Cloud watched wordlessly as the man stopped to regain his breath. He supposed he should say something, but he really didn't feel like it.

He hardly ever did.

[sgmitchell]

His first approximation of the man as unfamiliar was not inaccurate, so much as not all-encompassing. Cameron had seen some pretty strange looking people in his time--this guy's hair ranked up there with Adria's flame-colored eyes.

He considered the man in their mutual silence a few moments, before shrugging slightly. "Cool emblem."

Okay...that wasn't the best greeting in the world, but the first thing that jumped to mind was a comment about how warm it had to be in that suit--and Cameron had never considered himself quite so openly hypocritical.

[mako_memories]

"Emblem?" Cloud half-grunted. He glanced to the metal pad at his shoulder and the wolf's-head badge he wore on it.

"You mean this?"

It wasn't actually all that warm in the vest, or the pants, or the trench-tails, but he had to admit the harnesses at his back for his swords were annoying him, but only because it was empty.

[lily_ofthefield]

It's taken a while, but now when Lily walks she gets all the way down to the beach, sometimes stays there for a while before heading back to the Compound. It's hot as hell in the sweatshirt she still wears, to cover the scars on her arms, but it's still better than the alternative, and anyway, once she makes it through the trees, it's easier not to worry about what else might be out there.

Today, there's someone sitting where she's walking, and rather than stepping around him, she sticks her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and manages something of a smile. "Hey," she says. "Mind company?"

[mako_memories]

Cloud blinked up at the woman. Why would she want to sit next to him? There was plenty of room elsewhere, and the view was the same all down the beach. She didn't look familiar at all, either, so he couldn't think of a reason she'd want to talk to him, but maybe she was just lonely. Cloud knew the feeling. And it wasn't like he could say no and not feel like a jerk about it.

"Go ahead," he said, gesturing with a sweep of his arm. "Pull up some sand."

[lily_ofthefield]

"There is plenty of it to go around," Lily remarked wryly as she sat down, slipping out of her sandals to slide her feet through the sand. It was one thing she had to give this place; she'd loved Toronto and she'd loved New York, but the beaches especially here were beautiful. It had just taken her a long time to see them.

The breeze was nicer, now that she was out of the jungle, which made it easier to relax now that she wasn't quite so overheated. That was one of the nicer things about making it all the way to the beach, the slight sense of relief that came with it. "I'm Lily," she added, almost as an afterthought.

[mako_memories]

"Uh-huh," Cloud agreed, staring out at the sea again. He continued to stare until the woman spoke again, and he looked at her in faint surprise as if he'd forgotten she was there.

"Cloud," he said. "I'm Cloud."

[guardiaknight]

There were days he walked the beach without Rohleod, working out the ache in his muscles that came from the training he'd been doing with the Task Force. As much as he was in shape, the strange exercises were still ones he was getting used to, and the woman in charge didn't hold back.

He was on such a walk when he noticed a stranger sitting on the shoreline. Deciding he'd walked enough for a while, he decided to approach.

"Greetings," he said, with a slight bow of his head. "'Tis a fine view, aye?"

[mako_memories]

Woah, where was this guy from? Cloud had never heard anyone speak like that before. He almost reminded him of Cait Sith, except the guy wasn't a remote-controlled stuffed cat. Obviously.

"It's okay," he said. He looked the guy over, noting the sword-sheath at his hip. It only served to remind him how much he missed his swords, not to mention everything else.

Cloud wasn't used to feeling homesick.

[guardiaknight]

The expression he spotted on the other man's face was something he knew too well. He wondered if he was intruding, though the man did not speak in a way that hinted at such.

"Do ye mind if I sit here for a bit?" he inquired, giving him ample chance to tell him to leave.

[mako_memories]

There was plenty of beach, and Cloud wasn't sure why the part next to him was so popular all of a sudden. But he shrugged noncommittally nonetheless. It couldn't hurt to make nice with the locals, though Cloud doubted this guy was local what with the "ye"s and "thee"s and stuff.

"Be my guest." Besides, he had to admit he was a little curious about the sword. So far he hadn't met anyone else with a sword...not that he had one, any more.

[wutaiheart]

"Clouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud~~"

Okay, it wasn't like she wasn't putting it on a little bit. Yuffie was still elated to see him, but she knew he wasn't exactly elated to see her. Nobody was ever elated to see her, not even Godo. Just the price of being so incredibly...

...herself.

But she would have approached him in a wedding dress if she thought it would get a reaction, and so she flounced over and laid in the sand at his feet. "Hi."

[mako_memories]

Cloud, being Cloud, probably wouldn't have noticed had Yuffie been wearing a wedding dress.

His default expression of...well, not having an expression...changed briefly to one of acute pain as he heard Yuffie screeching his name, but otherwise he made no reaction, at least not until she threw herself down at his feet and there was no possible way he could pretend he hadn't noticed her.

"Hi," he grunted, as neutrally as possible. Which, from him, was very neutral.

[wutaiheart]

"I love it when you have no flavor in your voice," Yuffie said, and it sounded a little like she'd been in the mushrooms again. Which she HADN'T. It was just something she'd picked up.

"Don't pretend you're not happy to see me," she instructed.

[mako_memories]

"...I'm supposed to pretend I am happy to see you?" At least Cloud's sense of humor was intact. Such as it was.

He was glad Yuffie was here, honestly. It was better than being alone. But being alone with her was just a little too much for him to handle.