paradisa | o5 | Dictated

[Cloud Strife]

Hey. You around?

[/Cloud Strife]

[Zack sounds a little tired and a little detached when he opens the journal. He's holed up in his room, wrapped in blankets as if he'll forget at any moment what it's like to be warm. For the moment he's escaped Angeal's ~~mother chocoboing~~ watchful eye by promising the man he won't go anywhere, that he'll just rest a while -- rest, and catch up on the journal. It's still a bit of a shock to think of how much he'd missed, how long he'd been trapped.]

I should probably thank anyone who took a whack at that hunk of ice in the lobby. And, uh, apologize for missing all the excitement, I guess.

Back home, I remember our chopper going down in a blizzard, side of a mountain. Me and some other guys, we survived. Started trekking through the snow. Ts-- [A pause, and a slight change in direction of the narrative.] I had point, more often than not. I remember going to scout ahead, another guy telling me how cold I could let myself get before I hit danger zone, passing out and hypothermia and all. It was really fucking cold.

This place, this castle... I wonder how it kept me alive in there.

[Because two weeks or thereabouts spent in a block of ice is certainly grounds for some wondering on the part of one's own mortality. He'd missed his own birthday even, spent it immobile in the lobby without even conscious awareness of the time passed. He supposes it doesn't really matter though: he's dead back home anyway no matter how much time he spends in Paradisa; that won't change.

It does make him put up another filter though.]

[People who are dead back in their own homes]

Hey. Anyone out there?

[/dead people]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't remember it, but--that's what everyone seems to say, anyway.

[Also he has that tombstone in the graveyard here.]

That might be a good thing, you know.

--What, that I don't remember it?

[Cause it's probably not a good thing that everybody says it, really.]

I remember mine. It's not that pleasant.

--Yeah. Okay, that would probably suck more.

Last thing I remember is stepping into a teleporter to go to the place we were going to be fighting. But everyone pretty much agrees on the outcome of that.

[Not that he's bitter.]

'Long as I don't have to, uh, live it again.

I'm sorry to hear. [He is; Zack doesn't like bringing up unpleasant memories for others, and death really can be kind of a sensitive topic.] Is that when the Castle brought you here, too?

Yeah, no. Nobody wants that.

[It can, and it's why York will never bring up his in-Paradisa death unless he absolutely has to. That one he remembers all too well.]

Yeah, exactly. It's more common than you might think at first.

[The nightmares were bad enough, but we're not going to mention them. Nope, nope, nope.]

Seems kinda common to me because it's how I got here, but I guess everyone's default is what he knows with his own experience. [Angeal had been brought here at point of death too, so that made two out of three SOLDIERs.]

Lucky for...well, most people, I guess, there are a lot of people here who get to return to regular lives. Hopefully with plenty of time left.

I hope so too. Me, I don't really mind being here. Can't, when it comes down to it. Not exactly anything to go back to.

Exactly how I feel. This is what I have, so I might as well make the most of it.

And really, it could be worse.

Exactly.

[Like, you know. They could be stuck in his world.]

Which does of course beg the inevitable question of what's next, but you know? I don't think I wanna know.

[Yup. They could be stuck in this world with nothing to eat but combat rations, and nothing for entertainment except accordion music.]

Yeah. Better to enjoy what we have as long as we have it.

Along with the knowledge that the Castle is bound to pull something weird out of its ass, but yeah.

Well. That's just the price of living here.

Good friends though. [That's totally guy speak for "next time we get fucked over by this place let's find the nearest bar and just. yes."]

That's what really makes it worthwhile.

[Yes. All of York's yes.]

And if nothing else, experience I guess. Don't think I've ever run a training sim as crazy as this place is.

[Probably not what Carolina initially had in mind for this whole alliance thing.

Oh well.]

Nothing beats time in the field. Besides, we can always make new sims about things we've done here.

[Hey, if she gets more people who are half as awesome as York ~~thinks he is~~, it's a success.]

Hey, you mentioned infiltration once. Any of that include... I don't know, hacking technology?

[~~Well, York is very awesome, she might have to settle on a quarter as much.~~]

Course it does! You can't really get anywhere if a simple encrypted lock is going to stop you.

Some of us just force the door. [Griiiiiiin.]

But yeah, I kinda forgot about this because it's useless here. But I had access to some of the programs from home through my PHS... If you think you can, I don't know, pull any of that data, you're welcome to try.

Works well enough if it's an actual door. [And not, like a piece of system information.]

You know, it probably can't hurt to try. Is it anything you can copy, or do you have an interface to work with?

[Dead Filter]

bustered - 2012-12-17 05:37 (UTC) - Expand

encryptedlock - 2012-12-18 05:02 (UTC) - Expand

bustered - 2012-12-18 05:32 (UTC) - Expand

encryptedlock - 2012-12-18 05:43 (UTC) - Expand

bustered - 2012-12-18 06:17 (UTC) - Expand

encryptedlock - 2012-12-21 04:09 (UTC) - Expand