He isn't sure what leaves him more completely surprised: the fact that warding the animal off actually seems to work or that he recognizes the second little gesture it drops before leaving. A little too well, actually. Either way, though, this time the relief's real, once the wolf has wandered out of sight - from the moment it leaves him alone on his newly formed island, in fact. And he all but collapses back to the paved asphalt ground once he's certain it isn't coming back.
He won't let down his guard (isn't capable of it, with that uncomfortable tension still built up high beneath his seemingly lax exterior), but he's just so tired. So long as there isn't anyone around, maybe it's okay-
The weird certainty that he still isn't alone sticks with him, clinging to the edges of his dull perception, but Cloud dismisses it as the same as that residual adrenaline. Peeling out of his bulky, constricting helmet, he digs his fingers into somewhat flattened blond spikes, stealing two seconds of actual respite as he closes his eyes and sighs for all he's worth.
"...What now? What'm I gonna do, now?"
(Get up. Make the first jump. Do something.)
"All right," Cloud mutters, unaware yet that talking to himself is a habit he'll never outgrow. Pulling his feet up underneath himself once more, the unmasked trooper walks to the same edge the wolf left from, before him - but the ravine into nothingness seems wider, now, and the other edge made of loose earth covered in snow. Even with a running start, even if he makes it- He can already see the ground crumbling between his fingers, sending him off into that blinding whiteness, and for a moment a phantom of himself really is there, really does take the leap. The voiceless ghost messes up the way he's suddenly too afraid to, though, and falls into infinite nothingness as he watches, the same quiet horror creeping back into his dream as darkness wells up in his shadow.
no subject
He won't let down his guard (isn't capable of it, with that uncomfortable tension still built up high beneath his seemingly lax exterior), but he's just so tired. So long as there isn't anyone around, maybe it's okay-
The weird certainty that he still isn't alone sticks with him, clinging to the edges of his dull perception, but Cloud dismisses it as the same as that residual adrenaline. Peeling out of his bulky, constricting helmet, he digs his fingers into somewhat flattened blond spikes, stealing two seconds of actual respite as he closes his eyes and sighs for all he's worth.
"...What now? What'm I gonna do, now?"
(Get up. Make the first jump. Do something.)
"All right," Cloud mutters, unaware yet that talking to himself is a habit he'll never outgrow. Pulling his feet up underneath himself once more, the unmasked trooper walks to the same edge the wolf left from, before him - but the ravine into nothingness seems wider, now, and the other edge made of loose earth covered in snow. Even with a running start, even if he makes it- He can already see the ground crumbling between his fingers, sending him off into that blinding whiteness, and for a moment a phantom of himself really is there, really does take the leap. The voiceless ghost messes up the way he's suddenly too afraid to, though, and falls into infinite nothingness as he watches, the same quiet horror creeping back into his dream as darkness wells up in his shadow.