oo4 ❄ An ancient puzzle piece

[anonfantry]

[ On the outset, there's nothing really sinister about the little mountain town. Cast in the dull, grey-green daylight filtering down through a summer-thinned cap of fog, it may seem eerie - especially mountainside, where the winding trails begin and the shadow of that grand, abandoned manor looms (if asked, of course, the locals will tell you it's haunted; about this, the children are quite serious, and the adults only moderately less so). But it is a safe haven away from the badly mutated monsters that roam the countryside freely and before the equally bloodthirsty spires of the nigh impassable range beyond.

There is a cozy inn, a well-stocked general store, and a small population of drably-garbed villagers bustling about. The shouts of the town's few children racing to and fro echo through the crisp, clear air; nearer to the center of the town's miniature main common, the steady flow of water in the towering well adds to the calm, almost sleepy atmosphere that pervades this simple, scenic little wide spot in the road.

On the surface, there's nothing wrong at all. Unless, that is, you happen to spot the lone resident here who seems the least bit out of place.

He looks just like a native: a pale, blue-eyed child with blond hair that stands up adamantly in messily arranged spikes - even at the ends, where it's been pulled back into a short ponytail. His clothes are a little big for him - a boy of no more than seven or nine, give or take a year or two if he's small for his age (and he is) - including the scuffed up, clunky brown boots on his feet. There are grass stains and ground in dirt in dark patches on his shirt and shorts, both a little threadbare. And he is insubstantial to the point of transparency, a shadow in the shadow of the well with his half-corporeal hands clasped around something obscured just enough to be of no shape at all, hidden in his grip where it hovers just before his chest.

He seems anxious, as children attempting to keep obvious secrets out in the open often are, but not bothered by the fact that no one else here appears able to see him. Whenever a villager drifts close, they always abruptly change course, or stop, as if remembering some other forgotten errand, and promptly trace their steps back. Nobody glances in his direction except to look past him to some other point in the distance. (If asked, of course, he'll say it's normal, and with all due sincerity, too.)

With one last furtive glance cast over the house across the dusty little plaza from him, he rolls the object over in his hands and comes to some crucial decision. Setting out determinedly from the safe spot beneath the water tower, Cloud skirts past his own home, giving it a wide berth, and forges determinedly on toward the twisting path that leads out of town - and up into the Nibel mountains. ]


[ ooc: no theme, just horrible!! childhood dreams. B[ i have no excuse. responses will come from justskinnedknees unless/until Cloud reverts to his usual self. ]

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[justskinnedknees]

[ He jumps at the sound of his name, but in the end it only serves to strengthen his unpleasant resolve. His hands ball into fists a little firmer, and again he stands on the precipice of simply taking off ahead, up his treacherous mountain path. ]

I don't know. What's a dream got to do with anything?

[waterfell]

[She considers how to answer. Finally, she settles for simple truth, whether it might be believed or not.]

You may not remember it; however, we've met before now.

[But while she can't quite let him completely deny it, neither does she want to hear his continued refusals if she keeps going.]

It doesn't matter - if it was a dream.

[justskinnedknees]

I guess.

[ Which puts a strange end to this equally strange conversation, as far as he's concerned. It's getting late and the light's already poor; if he wants to make it all the way up to the reactor before nightfall, he'll have to go quicker, the longer he waits.

Shuffling his feet as he turns back toward the threshold of his dangerous venture, he shoots for determined and only comes up impatient and indecisive. ]

...I gotta go.

[waterfell]

[Guess who's walking that way, too? Must be a coincidence.]

We're going, then!

[justskinnedknees]

[ If he wasn't too busy being sullen, he'd get suspicious!

But he is, so he doesn't - just looks surprised that she's going to go along with him so (seemingly) cheerfully. Instead of trying to answer, he only nods his head a little and starts on his way, accompanied by the quiet rattle of natural gravel rolling out from under his determined footsteps.

And his unwelcome entourage, at whom he steals only what he believes to be the stealthiest of glances. (Though, at his age, stealth is not an art he has mastered.) ]

Why do you wanna go up there?

[waterfell]

[She notes the look, but remains unperturbed.]

Because, it's somewhere I haven't seen yet.

[In a large part of her, it really is that simple. New places, new sights, new experiences, are all something she hungers for - the further away from what she wants to leave behind, the better.]

[justskinnedknees]

It's not a good place.

[ People die there. (People die everywhere.) The unprepared rarely make it through. The path is unstable, and the weather gets inclement fast. The bridges necessary to pass are old and rotting, and could give way completely in as little as another day (or a week, or a year) of twisting in the icy wind. There are monsters - and not just Nibel wolves, but dragons and great birds and slithering beasts that don't look anything like the life from which they've mutated.

It's a bad place. And a part of him knows it spells doom, even if he goes on, anyway. ]

[waterfell]

I'm not worried about that. [She has confidence in her own power and strength. She does.]

I can fight for myself.

[justskinnedknees]

There's lots of monsters in the mountains.

[ But it doesn't slow his careful, determined pace, any. Just a casual warning. ]

They're bad. Even if you can fight.

[waterfell]

I won't let my guard down. [An answer as simple as his explanation.]

[justskinnedknees]

[ There's nothing to say to that; he's done his part to warn her away, and at his age (and size, and nonexistent strength), he knows he can't do much more. Turning his single piece of materia over in his hands, Cloud puts his focus instead back toward the path ahead of him.

As they round the first narrow bend, the way begins to thin, steepening drastically on the side not shortened by the sheer slope of the mountain. Going up at a nearly ninety degree angle, there's no climbing in that direction, either. They're walking on the edge of a cliff, and it's kind of a miracle he doesn't trip over his own feet, still.

But the only signs of life other than theirs have been passing, so far - the scattering of dirt that rolls down from higher altitudes as they pass, kicked up by something unseen. The shadow of a beast that only barely resembles a bird coasting smoothly along an updraft, distorted by the looming cap of dark grey fog above. Maybe it's because he's traveling with a party, now. ]

...Why did you come here, anyway?

[ Here, on the mountain or here, as in Nibelheim - he doesn't stop to clarify. ]

[waterfell]

[Whether the mountains or Nibelheim, both have the same answer. Mercury eases herself along their path, her step firm and confident, but careful. If Cloud hesitates or falters, she waits for him.

It might sound a bit unbelievable, but she tells him anyway.]

Who knows? I happened this way by chance. When I saw you, you were familiar when nothing else here was.

[justskinnedknees]

[ He isn't very quick, and he'll always be short for his age, but if he notices her hanging back for his sake, he doesn't mention it. It's probably that he doesn't, anyway - too absorbed in his own miserable version of the world.

Which doesn't include strangers recognizing him out of the blue, a concept he has yet to quite fit his head around. ]

Do you know my mom?

[ A friend of the family? Maybe that's it. ]

[waterfell]

No. [This suffices as an answer while Mercury navigates a particularly narrow passage. It doesn't really tell Cloud anything. She continues once she has her footing steady.]

The one I know is you. We've met before now, several times.

[She turns it into a joke, but there's something that suggests it's not entirely humorous:]

How rude of you to forget! [No one would like being forgotten.]

[justskinnedknees]

Why do you keep saying that?

[ He doesn't go on entirely unchastised by that reprimand, but it's not enough to scold him out of his firm belief. ] I don't know anybody from outside town.

[waterfell]

[Because it's true, and because she likes rejection now no more than she'd ever liked it as a child.]

Think again. Remember your dreams.

[justskinnedknees]

I don't remember you.

[ He says with a huff and a glower, and a renewed fervor for moving forward.

From here, the way winds up to a massive rope bridge, lined with old, weathered boards longer twice over than he is tall (not that that's saying much). And just beyond that - the rising grey spires of the summit. At their very highest, the mountains disappear into the stormy, low-hanging clouds, but their shadows stand out starkly still, and it's clear there's no point in attempting to reach the very tops of any of them. Even Cloud, at his present size, would have marked trouble trying.

Not that he seems likely to let any of that stand in his way, at his current pace. The destination he's aiming for is only a little lower than the mountain's highest reach. ]

I will laugh if she transforms into a mountain climber... XD

[waterfell]

[Mercury has more trouble with the words than the route. A part of her says she's being needlessly... emotional. Expecting to be remembered when she's nothing more than a dream, just as the people she meets at night are nothing more than dreams to her world.

Part of her wants to make him remember her.]

Decide about that after we finish climbing to the peak.

lmao oh no not again!!

[justskinnedknees]

[ He favors her another decidedly wary look - but doesn't add another denial. If the first five didn't work, the next fifteen probably won't; even a little kid knows that (sometimes).

He does pause long enough in his dogged forward march to shake his head, however. ]

I'm not going all the way up there. [ No, their destination is a little lower, though it still hangs over an impressive altitude. The reactor built into the mountainside. ]

/snicker. she'll behave this time. really.

[waterfell]

To there, then. [It's the same point, Cloud: Give it time.]

[justskinnedknees]

[ At the foot of the last bridge - the longest, and steepest, arches up impossibly high toward that looming, metallic monstrosity perched on the last flat plateau before the summit - he hesitates. ]

...Why do you wanna go there?

[waterfell]

[Cloud, don't make her say these things. Don't make her sort through those muddied half-impressions to find out her true feelings.]

Because... It seemed like somewhere someone shouldn't go alone.

[In short: to accompany Cloud.]

[justskinnedknees]

I go everywhere by myself.

[ Including up dangerous mountain paths, and through monster-infested caves, and to the river where he likes to play at fishing, and down into the foothills where most of the other kids spend their afternoons. ]

I don't need anybody.

[waterfell]

[Oh, Cloud. She, of all people, knows that no one wants to be alone.]

I never said 'need'.

[What about want?]

[justskinnedknees]

I like to be by myself.

[ As if to prove his point, he steps ahead onto the steep, swinging rope bridge without looking back. ]

I'm not like those stupid little kids.