paixaorpg | Merrily, merrily, strolling along. Kind of. [Active/slightly backdated]

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Merrily, merrily, strolling along. Kind of. [Active/slightly backdated]

Character(s): Cloud Strife, Demyx, Squall Leonhart, Zack Fair
Content: The trio runs into ‘Eddie’ while walking back to the hotel
Setting: Somewhere along the road from Vanaheim to J7
Time: Afternoon, day before this post.
Warnings: None at the moment

Well, okay. Losing Reno had been a sort of strange business, as Zack hadn't missed the way the lanky and way too underfed man had promptly made his excuses the moment he checked the screen of his journal unit. The man was up to something, Zack was sure about that much at the very least. And although he was more than used to dealing with Reno's 'Turk-ish' nature, Zack made a note to not let the man slide the next time they met.

After all, he still wasn't sure about the man's intentions towards him and Cloud.

Squall, on the other hand, seemed to be a good sport about lugging the two of them around. Really, the man was all heart, even if he wouldn't admit it. People like that were hard to find, and even rarer was the kind that didn't try to drown Zack after a full twenty four hours spent in his company.

Just for that, he was moving in next door to the man.

Which, if the direction they were strolling (or in Zack's case, bouncing) side by side in was any indication, Zack was about to get to do that pretty soon. Now if only he could get them to stop for food. Again.

"Spike? Are you hungry?" He'll be asking Squall next.

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Domes, domes, domes, pretty paintings, shiny fake plants, domes... there really wasn't much to look at, in this place. Turning his head this way and that, Cloud thought that the displacement was jarring, even more so than Midgar. While Midgar had a lot of pollution and more than enough amounts of metal to make anyone allergic to it suffer conniptions, it was tolerable, at some level. It was polluted, yes, but at least it was relatively natural.

Here, though... Something just felt really, really off.

It didn't help that most people in this place were blonds. In his life, he'd only seen a handful of blonds. His mother, for one, the pictures of Vice-President Rufus Shinra for another and his own reflection in the mirror. Even in Midgar, a sprawling metropolis, there were hardly any blonds to speak of.

It was really, really weird.

Blinking, confused but not quite as shocked or surprised as he was only a few minutes ago at the fact that he was being spoken to, Cloud turned his head back to his CO, embarrassed mostly at being caught unaware.

Spike? Who did Zack think he was talking to? He should really look in the mirror before calling anyone names. Sighing, knowing that he was the only one around with spikes - Squall had perfectly normal-looking hair, not that Cloud's wasn't natural, he nodded. "Just a little," he admitted, wondering if this man had a mother hen complex. It would explain a lot.

'Puppy' seemed to suit him better though. He was bouncing. What grown man bounces?

To be fair part of the reason that Squall hadn't attempted harm on Zack's person was because he was sort of used to having to deal with annoying people. That and he didn't really want to bother with using any of his spells or summons to do it. He didn't really have a good way to the former back, and the latter were likely to cause more destruction then was worth the trouble.

Not that he was particularly interested in playing tour guide any longer than he had to, though. It was just that he'd grown used to having to deal with a wide variety of things on the scale of 'annoying' over the years. Besides, he still didn't really have anything better to do, so it wasn't like it was hurting anything. At least not yet, anyway.

It hadn't been too hard to find Zack, when all was said and done. Being one of the men in black could have its perks around here. Granted, the term had gotten more figurative than literal lately; between Demyx's blue jeans and denim jacket, he didn't actually have a scrap of black on him at the moment, which was very deliberate. If this idea he had was going to come to anything, his real affiliations were going to have to stay ambiguous for a while.

Upon spotting the group, he started walking casually toward them, as if he'd just happened to be on the same street by coincidence. A little closer and he waved, feigning surprise. "Oh, hey, Zack!" he greeted the one of the three that he recognized. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Yeah. Me too. I could sure use a stop at another restaurant. Test out the local fares, you know?" Zack asked no one in particular. As long as food was involved, he was good to go.

Zack sidled up to the other man in their party, eyes declaring quite adamantly that he hoped Squall's answer was the same. "Squall, are you--"

Now it was quite understandable how Zack had overlooked Demyx's approach. He didn't miss the man, as SOLDIERs were trained better than that, but had dismissed the man as a not quite immediate threat upon spotting the mop of possibly native blond hair. Evidently, Zack hadn't drawn two and two together to get four lines.

"Heee~ey, how you doin', pal?" Zack waved enthusiastically at the stranger with an arm overhead, possibly displacing Squall and having absolutely no idea who this was. Then again, he'd spoken to quite a few people over journals since his arrival. This could have been any of them.

Edited 2008-04-11 19:55 (UTC)

Who would call for Zack here? Stopping for a moment, Cloud looked at the man - teenager, it seemed like, with outrageous hair (not that he could say much about it without being a hypocrite, though his was perfectly natural) just a few years older than himself and then turned his attention back to the SOLDIER being called in the first place. They looked like normal friends meeting by chance in a busy street. The blond man seemed to home in on Zack easily, recognizing him and Zack looked like he was just ...

He wanted to test his theory. "Sir, is he another friend of yours?"

While Zack might have overlooked Demyx's approach, Squall hadn't - true, the guy looked like a native of the place, but that didn't neccesarily mean he was one. After all, there were blonds that weren't natives in the city - Cloud proved that much at least. But at least his arrival had kept him from answering the question at hand.

If he was lucky, the new person would even manage to keep Zack occupied long enough the let him have some time that didn't involve answering questions or straining his not-that-great social skills even further - especially if the guy was one of Zack's friends.

Besides, it would give him some more time to start figuring this new guy out - at least as to whether or not he was a threat.

Edited 2008-04-14 17:49 (UTC)

"Not bad, not bad," Demyx replied, oblivious to the fact that Zack didn't recognize him. After all, he'd double-checked. He was sure he had the right guy. Naturally he was sure... His expression flickered briefly as he got a sudden urge to triple-check, but he pointedly ignored it. No, this was the right guy.

"Course I am," he answered Cloud, without giving Zack a chance to. "Name's Eddie. We talked over the journals the other day, remember?" he added casually. (Did that count as triple-checking? So much for getting out of that habit.)

"Hey! The more the merrier, right?" Zack answered them both, somewhat sidestepping the whole 'Is he really a friend?' spiel. Cloud, though, might be getting the right idea. Which, if Zack knew what was racing through the other's mind, would make the SOLDIER grin like a lunatic at the idea of Cloud acclimating himself to Zack and his...quirks so quickly.

Lucky for Squall, 'Eddie' did capture a good portion of Zack's attention.

At the announcement of who the new arrival was, however, Zack's expression lit up even more. If that was even possible.

"Eddie, pal! Oh man, what are you doing out here alone? I mean, weren't you all for steering clear of shady characters?" Concern skittered across Zack's expression. After all, he wouldn't want any harm to come to his new friend.

If anything, Zack barely sidestepped that spiel as it was. Cloud leveled a dry look at his notreallyitcouldn'tbefriend superior officer, oddly finding the action easy and natural. He put that realization aside to keep his gaze unwavering. Zack so haven't met this guy before.

Figures.

He drew his attention back to the blond guy, giving him a small nod and an even smaller smile, keeping quiet in the face of a first meeting.

Shady characters? He looked between both men, his brow furrowing in concern and curiosity, glancing back up at Squall's silent form in question.

Zack... wasn't seriously considering this guy to be his friend, was he? After merely talking to him over the journals? That wasn't a good way to get a good idea about anyone's personality - it was far to easy to be somehat les than truthful that way.

But hey, if Zack wanted to make that sort of assumption about people he wasn't goung to call him on it. And for now he'd put 'Eddie' into the not-an-immediate-threat column. Tentively.

As for the remark about shady characters, he had no more idea as to whom it was intended to refer than Cloud and said as much - although given that it's him 'saying as much' is little more than a slight shrug at Cloud's questioning look.

Demyx had to raise his eyebrows at Zack's question, and looked briefly between the three of them. "Shady characters? Didn't know you guys counted," he said with an amused shrug. "I mean, I haven't seen any." At least since the last time he'd looked in a mirror. Aw, but that didn't count, he wasn't shady at all, really. Larxene was shady.

Of course, that didn't mean he trusted them or anything. True, Zack seemed harmless, and Blondie was just a kid; Scarface McSilentTreatment, on the other hand, looked to be taking this all very seriously, and Demyx made a mental note to keep an eye on him. Just in case.

"So, you gonna introduce us?" he added to Zack.

"Are you kidding? Of course we don't!" Couldn't Eddie see that they were the good guys? Well. Squall might be a mercenary or mass killer or something, Zack hadn't really checked to be sure, but look at the man! Look at that face...with the scar...and the really painful looking sword strapped to his back...

...Zack decided at the last minute not to voice his thoughts.

"Yeah." Zack ruffled his hair once, taking a step back to sling his arm around Cloud's neck. If he manages that, he'll be dragging the poor kid towards Demyx, grinning broadly all the while. "This is Cloud. Best dang friend anyone could ask for, especially a hick town boy like me. That's Squall," Zack continued, pointing at the silent man, "aaaaand this is Eddie, guys. He's cool." Zack wasn't entirely sure about that yet but he was one to give the benefit of the doubt to strangers.

And it wasn't like he wouldn't be watching Cloud carefully.

If anything, anyone with blond hair and odd clothes would be suspicious considering the way they just didn't seem to notice them at all. It wasn't even avoidance. In actuality, it just gave him really bad vibes.

Wondering just when he'd become some sort of Zack's prop during introductions, Cloud didn't even squeak when he was hooked and sufficently dragged into limelight. The attention was embarrassing though.

"Hi." He muttered, coloring brightly and reaching out to shake Eddie's hand. He didn't know where Zack got the 'best dang friend' part and wouldn't ask but he did understand hick solidarity.

Of sorts. He didn't even know that Zack was from the country.

If Zack trusted this guy, Cloud would give him a chance. It wouldn't hurt to have more friends.

Something a good deal closer to 'mercenary' than 'mass killer' actually. It's just he'd never gotten into the habit of being terribly social. Or at least not to people he'd only just met.

He was, on the other hand, picking up a good deal of information about Cloud through osmosis, as it were. Being silent and attentive had its advantages from time to time.

"Nice to meet you," he offered in Eddie's general direction, although he made no attempts at anything past that, not even for something as simple as the handshake Cloud had offered. As far as he was concerned what he'd offered was enough for now.

((ohgod epic latefail I'm sorry))

Demyx accepted Cloud's handshake, mentally filing away the best-dang-friend thing for future reference. Maybe this would be easier than he'd thought.

"Pleasure's all mine," he replied. He almost reached his hand out to Squall as well, but on second thought the guy didn't really look interested, and he lamely disguised the discarded motion as a roundabout path to scratching his head. "You three're all from the same world, then, huh? Lucky break there," he commented.

"What?"

Zack looked in fleeting confusion down at Cloud, then at Squall after Demyx's observation, but drew the possible similarities a moment later; Sword, hair, copious amounts of leather and straps and laughed. "Aw, no. Spi-- Cloud's from my world." Though older and much more damaged there. Zack continued quickly, shying away from that thought for now. "Squall I met at the train station. Tried to tempt the guy into feeding me but he's a tough nut to crack. Didn't even pay for a thing! I feel used," Zack teased, grinning at the silent swordsman.

Hmm? He glanced over to the SOLDIER at his side before turning his attention back to his fellow blond. The stutter was strange, since he was sure Zack was going to abuse that nickname forever, not that he was complaining.

Cloud ducked his head, privately rolling his eyes. In his opinion, if Zack wanted to freeload in the first place, he would be the user. But that was just him.

"You were the one who ate most of it," Squall commented. That and he'd never really been much inclined to charity in the first place. Maaaaaybe he'd have been willing to chip in if it had been on the meal.

But as Zack had mentioned, he wasn't from the same world, and thus... was only really getting to know him. But if this conversation was any inclination it might just be worth it to hang around Zack more often; he'd hardly had to say anything so far in this conversation which was a nice change of pace.

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Merrily, merrily, strolling along. Kind of. [Active/slightly backdated]

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