And The Night? [complete]

[andredemption]

Character(s): Cloud Strife, Naminé Aune
Content: Cloud broods over ghosts and monsters, and meets someone new.
Setting: The Hajimaru (deck)
Time: Early Monday morning; about 7am.
Warnings: None in particular.

Comments

[artistemuette]

All right, that was a horrible night's sleep, and Naminé was regretting getting on this ship. First, she meets Axel before getting on the ship, hears strange noises throughout the night next, and ends up getting next to no sleep because of mass paranoia that Axel had given her away. The blonde sighed and scratched at her head a little, pulling on her jacket around her before starting to tie up her hair as she walked out of the room with her hat hanging out by the bill between her teeth. She didn't think anyone else would be awake, so found it safe to be doing this. As she was walking out onto the deck, however, she took notice of someone sitting on one of the cannons

[andredemption]

The squeaking noise that was made gave the other's presence away, and Cloud watched the ... person ... out of the corner of his eye as they quickly tied up their hair and covered themselves up, just in the field of his peripheral vision. Well, that wasn't at all a shock - he wasn't going to be making educational guesses aloud or anything, but he would bet that the young boy who was apparently now drawing was actually rather more a young girl. Not his business, but it could become a pretty nasty business if the kid wasn't careful. So

[artistemuette]

"..." Naminé flinched at hearing him, frowning a little to herself with her back to him and that enormous sword. She was hoping he hadn't noticed, and played it out like she hadn't done anything, but apparently people were more perceptive than Kai. Erasing something on the page in silence after he spoke, she frowned down at the book a little before peeking up and over her shoulder. She wasn't going to ask any stupid questions like 'you aren't going to tell him?' or something like that; if he was giving her 'advice,' then it was doubtful he even cared. A lot like Axel, except he said quickly he didn't care about her

[andredemption]

Cloud continued to clean the sword, wrapping as he went; he heard the question as it was asked, and contemplated the answer. Once, it had been very heavy indeed, and far too big - admittedly, it was still far too big in length, in a sense, but he had learned to deal with it and that certainly wasn't the kind of thing one admitted to someone they did not know. Plus, he was perfectly good at wielding the sword as far as his needs were concerned - but he did remember when he first started attempting to use it. He'd actually managed to knock himself out with it, and had been lucky that the flat of the blade was the part that struck him on the head and not the sharp edge.

He flicked a glance toward the girl on the railing, silent for a little longer, and then answered:

"Used to be," His voice was non-committal. Having finished cleaning the sword, he replaced it on his back, and stretched; arms, legs and the wing, which was particularly responsible for all sorts of lethargic feelings. He supposed he didn't really think about whether the

[artistemuette]

Naminé stayed quiet as he cleaned the sword, once in a while glancing up with curiousity to see how far he'd gone before returning to her drawing. She'd pulled out the colors by this point, and was slowly starting to color in the sketch as she thought about being caught. By Axel, and now by this man here. Neither were going to say anything, yet, so she didn't bother with it too much. Frowning a little, she had to sharpen one of the pencils before she could continue, swiping the shavings off and tucking the sharpener into a pocket again.

Then he spoke, and she looked up when he spoke to her. "I don't think I'd ever be able to lift it," she said lightly, eyes moving from his face to his wing as it stretched. She didn't react like one would expect a small girl to react, simply frowning and looking sympathetic before she wiped the look off her face before he saw it, looking back to her sketchbook.

[andredemption]

Cloud didn't see the look on her face, mainly because he wasn't looking at her. With the sword now aside, he drew his legs up onto the cannon, loosely contemplating getting some exercise or ... something. While it was early, so there weren't too many people around to stare at his particular attributes.

When the girl spoke again, he gave her a critical glance. Would someone that size and shape be able to lift his sword? Most likely not. But then, people had said that about Cloud, too, since he wasn't exactly blessed in the height department either. But then, the girl didn't look like she would have any particular want to lift it either, so it was a moot point.

"Probably not," He answered, somewhat off-handedly, "Unless you really wanted to."

[artistemuette]

She'd seen a lot in her life, whether as a human or a... Nobody. The wing didn't phase her too much, but she did feel a bit of compassion towards him for an abnormality that he couldn't quite control. Naminé scribbled at something with a dark blue, probably the sky, before leaning forwards a little bit to press her booted feet against the railing somewhat to keep her balance and not go falling on her face or into the water. That wouldn't be fun.

Glancing up she tilted the brim of the hat back a little to get a look towards the other blonde, smiling a little in a quiet manner before shrugging a delicate shoulder. "I don't know how to fight anyways," she said, turning a pencil between her fingers thoughtfully. "That's why I joined this ship. I wanted to learn how." There were reasons, of course; it would help keep her safe from the grasp of her once-captors, if she had no choice...

[andredemption]

Cloud looked at her askance, for a moment, as she spoke; that seemed a bit strange, a girl her age and size wanting to learn how to fight. What did she have to fight for, anyway? What was she here for? He shrugged one shoulder, seemingly unbothered, then lifted the metal claw that was resting beside him on the cannon up; he began to bench each finger on the claw expertly to check for dirt. Weapons maintenance was the first thing you learned, before how to actually fight; if you had a broken weapon, knowing how to use it wouldn't help any.

Of course, the claw wasn't so much a weapon that one learned to use as one that he would dig into flesh if he got half a chance. Cloud wasn't an honourable fighter, and he wasn't particularly nice.

"Why?" He asked her bluntly, glancing at her once with an almost-flash of green in his eyes as he spoke. He was actually interested in why, although he sounded far more non-committal than intrigued - Cloud just wasn't very good at emotive speaking, was all. He wasn't good at emotion at all.

[artistemuette]

Naminé blinked at the expression on Cloud's face, swinging her legs a little before she easily lifted them up onto the railing, despite the risk of falling. She'd sat on a lot of ledges before, she was pretty good at it now. Pulling an eraser out, she started lightening things up around the moon and sails, thinking on the expression that he gave her that asked her a question. She wasn't quite sure how to answer it, and had to consider it

[andredemption]

There was dirt underneath one of the layers of metal; Cloud used his sword cloth to get rid of it as he contemplated this. Alright, so he wasn't very good with people; young people, still less. He pulled one of his own legs up on the cannon as he placed the claw aside, looking at Naminé now with a degree more interest than he had moments before. He didn't completely comprehend what she was discussing, and yet