herobydefault | [Video]

[Video]

[This video starts up in a tree; there are a couple branches in the way and some ridiculously pale person with blond J-pop hair pacing around in a circle. He does this for a moment before squinting up at the camera.]

...what are you?

[He disappears from view, then the camera shakes violently following a dull THUD.]

Ow. That hurt.

[There's another thud and the camera shakes again before the journal topples out of the tree and onto the ground. It doesn't stay there for long; it's lifted and shaken out, and Cloud's face is captured for a moment until the camera settles on his chin instead.]

...when did I buy this thing? [And the book snaps shut.]

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[What the heck is a dollar anyway.]

Dimensional...nexus. [What.]

What's this thing? Guide? Is this supposed to be some kind of brochure?

Only if you think it's even anywhere close to normal for Hell to have a brochure. [...] Not that this is Hell--I mean, I didn't mean to say that you're dead. You're not dead, despite the dinky wings. [Then with mounting horror and a snowballing social kamikaze mission, Buffy remembers the issue that had surrounded Zack. What Shiki deals with daily. What she has felt, before.] Unless...you haven't died, right? It's not like you totally just bought the farm right before showing up here? [That is a very visible wince.]

[You're going to get a lapse before Cloud responds again because thankfully someone else just pointed out the wings. You were lucky Buffy. You weren't the one to blindside him with that info.]

No, I didn't. I-

I'm pretty sure I didn't. I was definitely alive the last time I checked.

[More quietly:] It can go both ways. Alive, dead. Somewhere in between. This place is complicated. People are here from all kinds of somewheres. They come and...and they go.

[You probably shouldn't have used that mysterious voice Buffy, because Cloud totally bought it hook, line and sinker.] ...so I'm dead.

You're saying I just died. [THIS DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THE LIFESTREAM]

No. [P-p-p-panic!] I'm saying...God, I don't even know what I'm saying. I've met some people who died where they're from but now there here but if you don't remember dieing then...then I'd say with bushels of confidence that it's very much non-applicable to you.

[WHAT IF SOMEONE KNIFED HIM IN HIS SLEEP

Okay so that's very unlikely.]

Look- Don't do that, would you? If people who've died come here, then isn't this the Lifestream?

People who've died and come here are getting cheated out of an afterlife. So, no--this isn't the Lifestream. [She remembers Aerith describing the concept to her.]

[Of course, it doesn't occur to Cloud that someone wouldn't know about the Lifestream, so.]

I don't understand. This...how do they get people here? With a rocket?

My personal guess? Magic. Or at least something magicesque.

Magic. [This is a completely reasonable explanation.]

Sorry, uh-

...what did you say your name was? [It sounds like Yuffie's.]

Buffy. [A smile! Because the doom and gloom is a bit too much and if she doesn't smile she's just gonna get a pout on for just how forgettable she is.]

Right. I'll remember, it sounds like my friend's name.

Just- all this stuff to know. [RUBBING FOREHEAD.]

I think the worst part is that you eventually get used to it. I've been here for over a year.

I can't stay here that long. Tifa must be worried sick already, I was supposed to call her.

Tifa...[Gut reaction repetition, but to cover it up she quickly phases into:] If it's any consolation, I've heard a few rumours about how time kinda...stops back home, for us. That when you go back you'll start off right where you left.

Edited 2010-11-05 04:01 (UTC)

Well that's convenient. [Cloud doesn't sound like he quite believes that, but he probably doesn't believe half the stuff he's been reading either.]

That's one word for it.

Do you know if my phone is somewhere? Like wherever these people put my other stuff?

If it's anywhere, it'll be at one of the shops.

Right... [He has to visit them anyway.]

...um, yeah. Thanks for your help. I guess you're all used to this kind of thing.

[It was almost laughable. Cloud, to Buffy, had always been one of those in Luceti who was a quintessential vet of the place. Here before she was, settled. To have the shoes on new feet? Well, it's weird.]

Anytime. And--I mean that, really...anytime you need some help or whatever. Just ask. You can hit me up over the journals or...or I work at a local watering hole called Good Spirits. Unless it's within the next week then I'm totally on vacation but--[talking too much!] Let's just say I'm used to enough to provide excellent assistance.

...we were friends before, huh?

[Oh, what a tense pause.] Is my supreme awkwardness that easy to read? [Of course it was.] But--uhm, I'm not sure if friends is the right label. Maybe proto-friends. Maybe if...maybe we could have been friends. I'd like to think that.

[A little bit, but it was more that she was being so damn NICE.]

I'm sorry I forgot you. [Cloud has a feeling he'll be saying this a lot.]

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