008 || tea for two?

[lottato_prima]

Zack's strength of mind hasn't been at its peak lately, which may explain his absence from the consciousness of others.

As it was, the former SOLDIER was secluded in a web of emerald wisps and crystals, cocooned in the center by an even thicker web and two white wings surrounding his form. His eyes were closed, head bowed, the rest of his body also concealed by the maze of webs. So he... hasn't been able to meld himself entirely cohesive yet, but he's getting there. There's no telling what the rest of his body looks like, trapped in that mess.

If you dare to approach, he'll glance up briefly, quietly. He's studying you, wanting to know the reasons why you would come deep into the Lifestream like this, to talk to a forgotten, deceased SOLDIER.

And he'll welcome the company.

Comments

[lottato_prima]

"Maybe the Planet can take you in, if there's nowhere else to go."

And Zack would welcome her company, even if they have only just met. It was just the way he worked. "Everything's connected somehow. Even if you're a computer program, if you have some kind of spark of life, some sense of consciousness... I really don't see the issue."

As for her other question... "Isn't it obvious?"

Yes, now his form was tattered and incomplete. He had only been in this plane of existance for about a year, if not more. But he went the way he wanted, and he went peacefully, in the end, in the presence of someone he trusted with his dying breaths. Seeing Cloud before, the life he'd created for himself in the future; that was enough.

"I wouldn't have things any other way."

[isomorphology]

Her eyebrows raise. "it can do that?"

She looks around for a place to sit down. Common courtesy and all of that. Instead she just sits down on her knees where she's at, hoping it doesn't seem too awkward or silly. "Because I wasn't programmed. I just... happened. Others had problems with my kind. It didn't end well for anyone."

Then Quorra just tilts her head. "People always talk about death like it's a bad thing. I didn't think anyone would be happy about it."

[lottato_prima]

Zack notes this, understands this, and one hand moves into the inky black Oblivion to expand and stretch out behind her, forming into a chair that should have been a human hand. Probably even more awkward than just squatting like she had been, but being dead did not constitute a lack of hospitality. She was visiting his realm, after all.

"With enough willpower, anything can be managed. We can breathe new life, or take it away. We give a place to rest, when they have nothing left or nowhere left to go. And we make everything okay again." Around them, a field of flowers bloom out of the darkness, bright and beautiful and illuminating an otherwise dead and gloomy environment. "We give sanctuary."

But then... his wings move, to reveal the broken, twisted and battered body underneath. He knows he's incomplete, being eaten away by the very same Lifestream he claimed to have saved him, but the smile never leaves his face. The flowers never wilt. And his optimism will never, ever be quelled.

"People always said I was a little weird."

[isomorphology]

She eyes the chair and gives a bit of a nervous smile before taking her seat. "Thank you."

Despite sitting down, Quorra leans forward ever so slightly as she listens to what he says. "If you can do all of that.. does that mean you can come back?" Death for Users and De-Resolution seem to be so different in her mind. If Users can exist after their bodies stop working, could they come back? Or would they be stuck in this 'Planet' forever?

Her hand reaches out and gently touches the flowers that bloom around them. Her eyes then raise to look at Zack before her mouth drops at how broken he is. She almost jumps up to ask if he is alright. Then she remembers that no. He's dead. He can't be in pain anymore.

"I think we're all a little weird."

[lottato_prima]

"...yes and no."

The bright blue eyes falter just slightly, trailing down to the wings splayed over the endless webbing and stretched-out flesh, examining his own 'body'. "To be pulled out of the Lifestream that forcefully, you need to really be messed up. Some people just end up as restless spirits, the others as... monsters."

Which was why he didn't want to come back. To be resurrected as an insane, uncontrollable abomination of nature... he couldn't put that on Cloud's, or anyone's conscience. So he would remain here, and accept his fate, while still managing to help on the outside in his own miniscule ways.

"The world is more diverse that I thought. Hearing the stories these spirits have to tell, looking on at their memories, their lives... it's morbidly beautiful."

[isomorphology]

A small frown works her way on her face, and her eyes drop. So, he was stuck in this Lifestream for the rest of.. ever? Time? She doesn't even know if this Lifestream is held by time or anything like that. She's read of the afterlife in stories that Flynn re-created for her, but none of them were quite like this.

"Some stories shouldn't be told." Quorra notes softly.

[lottato_prima]

"But they should be heard. Wouldn't you agree?"

His tone is kind, inviting. He wants to hear what she might have to say, having not been a more... natural form of life as everything else on Gaia. And it intrigued him, that she was so different and the reasonings for why she was different.

The sky brightens up, the blackness dissipating more into an open field, surrounded by flowers and the broken, twisted, feathered SOLDIER's body melding into something more natural. The chair is a real chair time time, and he stand above her.

"Go on. Everything stays between us."