herobydefault | [[Filtered to friends//90% Unhackable]]

[Great going, Cloud. As promised, there is a knock on his door around fifteen minutes later.]

[What's up door. Oh look, Raine's behind it. What's up Raine?]

Come on in. [Cloud shows her inside.]

Hello, Cloud. [Raine gives him a nod as she steps inside, and holds up a small bag afterwards.]

Thank you. What you want is in here; basically they're dried herbs, to best go in tea. I've written out the rest of the instructions, so you should be set.

[Blending and boiling tea and...yeah. He'll ask Aerith for help.]

Thanks, Raine. Make yourself at home. [...there's a blanket and a pillow on the couch. He's been sleeping in it, that's kind of embarrassing. Oh well, he's a man, he'll just toss it off to the side. That's okay, right?] I made some coffee, do you want any?

[She's not one to talk about good housekeeping policies, so she merely nods again and takes the offered seat on the couch]

Coffee? Yes, please. I could definitely use some.

[Couldn't they all? Cloud is a good host~~ess~~ and fetches coffee and sugar and cream and stuff and sets it on the coffee table. He's gonna stand as he drinks his, though.]

Before you say anything, I have to warn you; if it's something you don't want Jenova to know, you shouldn't tell me.

Understood. Although --

[She carefully fixes herself up a cup, going quiet for a moment, frowning.]

... Considering what it involves, she's likely to know in some form already.

[...sip.]

I'll do my best to keep it from her, then.

[She takes a sip. This is kind of embarrassing.]

It... has to do with the current experiment, actually.

[....]

Please tell me you didn't fall in love with Jenova.

[...]

What --? No, not her. It's -- Kadaj.

[COUGH, POSSIBLY WORSE]

[You think? Thanks, Cloud, now she's regretting saying anything to begin with.]

[...okay he's fine. Coffee mug is getting put down though.]

...I...I see.

[She sips slowly at hers, and sets it down, shaking her head.]

You know him better than I do. He seemed very confused, naive almost, once we realized what was going on.

[After a moment Cloud sighs, sitting on the armrest of the nearby one-seater and dragging a hand through his hair.] Kadaj is...almost like a little kid. He's lost and confused and doesn't know what he should be doing; I'm trying to talk to him, but his fixation on Jenova and wanting her approval is pretty damn strong. Which I can understand.

I see...

The way things stand now, he could be torn for a while. Until something snaps, one way or the other.

...I know.

... This is ridiculous.

[She takes a long sip of her drink again as a way to avoid saying that she's worried about him.]

Yeah, I know.

[Cloud pauses again.] ...It's just usually a lot easier to hate him than it is to pity him when you don't know everything.

People are complex. People often choose what they see as the easier path. It's easy to see what that is for him.

[almost absently.] He reminds me a little of Mithos, in that respect. Save he was largely in control of his actions -- Although I suppose there's no reason to discuss that at this time.

How have things been, aside from all of this?

Hectic. And... [What's a good word to describe what he was feeling?]

...stupid.

... it'll wear off in a few days, at least? I doubt this is something that'll stretch longer. Apparently I wasn't here long enough to see it the first time around.

Me either. Zack was, and he said it just lasted a week, so...presumably by Sunday things should be back to normal.

We can hope.

Out of curiosity, how long have you been here?

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