ⅷ ┆ . . .

[shrugs_a_lot]

[There is some soft knocking on Zack's door, and if he's not in his room, Cloud will be sitting in front of it until he gets there. He could have just spoken to him over the journal, but this had to be in person.]

Comments

action forever~~

[bustered]

[Zack is there, but he's in the shower, oops. Déjà vu? Maybe, with the tables turned, though he doesn't know it yet. So, the knocking is noted, responded to with a shouted out statement:] Showering!

[And he does hurry it, at least, coming out with tanned skin a little pinked from vigorous toweling, pants hastily pulled on and a towel draped over his shoulders to catch the drips from his hair.]

Coming, I'm coming-- [And the door is opened!



And promptly closed again at the sight of the blond sitting in the hallway. But Zack's voice follows a moment later, hopefully to soothe the offense of the action by recalling their first meeting in the castle.] What's the password?

[Because aside being half-naked, the past week had just been weird and Zack still needs a moment or two.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Cloud does hear the shout from inside, good, Zack's there. He doesn't mind waiting so, he leans against the door for a moment and lets himself slide to the floor, after all he's not sure how long he'll be waiting.

He looks up when he hears movement but there is not even enough time for him to get up when the door is opened when it is closed on him!

Cloud blinks, not once, not even twice, but thrice--what?! What was that?!


...


...


...


Seriously?]

Huh... Tan? [Because woah, man! How long did you spend in the tanning bed?]

[bustered]

[Yes. Seriously.]

Ha ha. [Slides to the floor; Cloud can probably hear him settle down with his back to the door. Zack just is a mess of jumbled thoughts and memories and false memories and he's not quite sure right now what's going on.] I know you can do better than that.

[shrugs_a_lot]

[He should be getting dressed? Whatever, Cloud leans against the closed door. And he goes a bit silent while he thinks about it. He tries to make a connection to what he just saw, the Zack (he was the same, wasn't he?) form his not-so-made up memories had gone in some sort of vacation himself... Hmmm...]

Bikinis... [Nah, that one was bad.]

[bustered]

[You know the sad thing about bikinis? The people most often wearing them are ones who really, really shouldn't be. But that's mean to say, and Zack keeps it to himself.]

Mmm, nope. Keep going. [And yeah, he should be getting dressed the rest of the way. But hair is still pretty damn wet; Zack's working it with the towel while he sits.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

[He's been lucky with those...]

Adamanta--[Wait no, what was the name?] I mean, turtle! Palm tree!

...

Am I even close?

[bustered]

[Lucky. ;; ]

Heh. [Cloud can't see it, but Zack's looking over at the small chest of drawers, and the cloth bag on top. Well, he'd get to that soon enough, yeah. He thinks, at least.]

Mmm, I don't know. None of those sound like good passwords to me.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Hmm... [Think, think, think... Winnie Pooh pose.]

ShinRa High--no wait, [That was a bad, bad password! But he remembered.] ... Roommate?

[bustered]

Yeah. [sounds of shifting; Zack stands and opens the door, stepping away to toss the towel over the bathroom doorknob and grab the shirt he'd left on the bed. He trusts Cloud to close the door behind him after he's entered.] Took you long enough.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Déjà vu... [Stands up and gets into the room, closing the door behind him.

Why was he here again? After the whole password thing he kind of lost focus.]

[bustered]

Something like that. [Shrugging on shirt and tucking into pants before going for the doubled belts. And yeah, he's tan, darker than his normal skintone and no tan lines visible waist-up. It's a definite sign of sun exposure, a good week's worth of it. And he's trying to hard to keep this casual, but it's weird.]

So. [So... yeah...] 'sup?

[shrugs_a_lot]

Huh... Just... Checking on you? I think. [Shrugs.] It was a weird week.

[bustered]

Yeah, you're telling me. [Because what was that cruise even. The sea turtles were really neat, as were some of the other animals and sights, but he's got the strangest set of doubled memories to accompany it all. Things like growing up (again?), high school, football... things that don't make sense at all.

Things like...] Heh. Roommates, huh?

[shrugs_a_lot]

Do you remember?

[bustered]

I...

[Pauses, and sinks down onto the edge of the bed -- it's still just a small room, very plain; Zack hadn't wished it into anything else. He doesn't have the need; no one really visits him or anything, so it doesn't much matter.]

I want to say yes, but it's all jumbled up. It doesn't make sense. [Or, it makes as much sense as the little braided band tied around one wrist. He runs a hand through his hair, a slightly agitated motion.] I don't know what to think anymore.

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Leans against the closed door, crossing his arms upon his chest.]

Chill. [Don't think he hasn't noticed the colorful bracelet, but he's got no idea if it's part of the whole thing yet.]

What do you remember?

[bustered]

[Sorry Cloud, it's just a bit disturbing to know something's messing with your memories.]

Gongaga, but it was... different. Midgar too. [A slight stumbling over the next words, because they, and the concepts behind them, are still a little weird.] I remember high school and football and-- and college, too.

[shrugs_a_lot]

[He knows, but he's simply more used to it. Sadly got used to it before even coming here...

He nods and after a pause in which he seems to be considering things:]

Does a family reunion ring any bells?

[bustered]

Yours, or mine? [Half a smile, because... well, he's still not sure how the memory got there, but it's not entirely unpleasant...] 'Cause I remember you inviting me, but I couldn't go.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Both.

[A beat.]

It seems connected.

[bustered]

Yeah. Wish I knew how though.

[Flops backwards on the bed... but jklshfjkhafdljh his arms flew above his head with the motion and he caught sight of that braided band, and it reminded him...]

Hey. I got you something.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Huh? [Tilts his head, simply looks at him.]

[bustered]

Yeah. [Sitting back up again, rolling with the motion to stand. Zack crosses to the dresser again, scooping up the little cloth drawstring bag and moving over to Cloud, to give it to him. He's got to do it quick, before his brain tells him it's stupid and he should forget about it.

Inside is a braided bracelet similar to his own, and a little glass turtle figurine.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Takes whatever Zack is giving him into one gloved hand, closing it gently before really looking at what he was given. He doesn't open his palm until Zack moves away.

And he can only stare at both things.]

[bustered]

[And he just... doesn't say anything, because what is there to even say? Small mementos, souvenirs purchased on a cruise for which his memories had been altered; he doesn't know how to justify them now.

But there is the small thread of hope that maybe Cloud will like the gifts.]