Seaside Getaway?

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cissnei, Zack
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Cissnei drops by and visits Zack because she's a little worried about him
Location: Luca
Date: January 10, 1805
Warnings: Fluff, more than likely.

This place was so strange to Cissnei. She liked the beach, no doubt, but this... even in civilian clothing (a chunky knit black sweater over a white tank top, skinny jeans and combat boots) she stuck out from the crowd, something she wasn't exactly used to.She noticed the women were rather gratuitous in showing skin and had more than enough laces and ribbons criss-crossing their chests and the sides of their legs. In her messenger back was trusty Rekka, leftovers from the food she bought from Wutai and something that maybe Zack would be vaguely interested in.

She flipped open her Sky Phone and dialed Zack. He shouldn't be very hard to spot, but she'd like to know where exactly he was.

Comments

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

Zack really wondered if he should be smelling something, anything that would trigger a reaction like Cissnei's. He sniffed again, but smelled just the normal sea salt. Something was definitely up and he didn't know how to react. It started to worry him.

The question took him by surprise as well. Never had they been this close before and yet she was asking what he assumed was kind of a personal question. Still, even if they weren't terribly close, Zack considered Cissnei a friend of sorts, especially after all the strings she pulled to let him and Cloud escape.

He nodded. "Ex-SOLDIER's honor."

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei took a deep breath. The only other person who knew was Reno and that was because he was trying to find what he could bribe her with when she first joined the Turks. "This conversation or whatever you want to call it stays between us." She wasn't asking, she was telling. If this got out... well Zack could use his imagination.

She rubbed the temples of her forehead, wondering where exactly should she start. This was already seeming like a bad idea but if this was some kind of deep, psychological trauma she wasn't aware of, she had to start somewhere by addressing it. "I'm going to regret this," she muttered. "Okay, when I was... younger I guess would be the right word, there was a boy that lived nearby who would almost every week give me a bar of dark chocolate. He was too sweet to me and his parents hated that he would play with me. I keep smelling dark chocolate like the one he used to give me and I keep thinking of that and I have no idea why besides me losing my mind." There. That was it. Zack didn't need to know the finer points of the story.

Cissnei sighed deeply. "I can't believe I just told you that." As proud as she was for having told someone else besides a fellow Turk about herself, Cissnei was still upset with herself.

"Great, that didn't work," she snapped when she smelled the dark chocolate. "That was useless."

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

Contrary to his carefree attitude, and tendency to share too much about himself, Zack could keep a secret, and he knew what Cissnei would tell him was something that was even more secretive than a normal secret.

So he listened to her and didn't laugh or anything. All Zack did was hold out his hand to her.

"Maybe it'll go away if we get some." It was worth a shot, after all.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She furrowed her eyebrows slightly and pursed her lips, eyeing his hand and being slightly surprised that he didn't say anything else about the matter. Cissnei underestimated him. "You think so?" She took his hand loosely. "I'm really sorry for... all of this. I promise you I'm not ever like this."

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. I've heard that when some people get a song stuck in their head the only way to get it out is to listen to it again. So maybe this is like that."

The realization of what he had done only sank in after he curled his fingers around hers a little. But he couldn't very well pull away, that would be terribly rude, so Zack accepted it.

"Don't worry about it. Just think of it as you having an off day." He paused. "You...do have off days, don't you, Cissnei?"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Uncomfortable with his hand actually holding hers, Cissnei pulled her hand back. This was too much human contact for her, way more than she was used to on a daily basis. Why did she even take his hand in the first place? Probably whatever was getting into her, or so she wrote it off as.

"These days, it seems we're always off," she said. "Well, not anymore I guess. We've got issues to deal with when I get back to Lindblum."

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

He didn't take her actions personally, or at least tried not to. But it still felt weird, suddenly having an empty grip. Zack flexed his hand and brushed it off. It wasn't a big deal.

"What's up in Lindblum?" Duh, Zack, like she'd answer that.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"I think you already know," she answered, hands in her pockets. "So, you know this place better than I do. Mind leading the way?"

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

...Right, Sephiroth. "Mm, I do." His pleasant smile faded as he thought about the other SOLDIER again.

"Yeah, just this way." He took a few steps and made sure she was keeping up. Being so tall meant his stride was ridiculously long and Cissnei was...well, shorter.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She purposely lagged a little behind him and tried to sort out mentally what was going on. The smell hadn't left or lessened, but at the very least she didn't have to act so strangely, or well, more strangely. Years it had been since she last thought of that, so why now? Why here? Too many questions, not enough answers and she was pretty used to it by now.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

Zack could tell she didn't want to match his pace, but he still walked slowly, not wanting to leave her behind at all. But as they walked, he couldn't help but think back on what she had told him. She was really human underneath, which he knew, but hadn't ever really felt.

He shook his head, trying to forget what she had told him. He wouldn't dwell on it, as a sort of condolence for her since she didn't want to let that much slip in the first place. This was a day between two friends who were just trying to get over the crap going on recently.

And soon enough, Zack stopped in front of a small vendor and waved Cissnei over. "Get whatever you want."

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Big spender now?" she teased him as she passed by. "Don't worry about it though."

Cissnei scanned what was available for purchase. She picked up a bar of dark chocolate hesitantly. "You want anything?" she asked then fished out a small bag of gil. She didn't want him to pay for her, especially after that lapse of sanity. No way.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

"Nah, I'm good." But once he saw that bag of gil come out, Zack frowned and pulled it out of her hand, quickly dropping the coins on the counter. He turned to the cashier and grinned. "I tip, she doesn't."

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Zack!" she shouted shrilly at him. "That is not true, give me back my money and let me pay!" She punched his stomach lightly, seeing as that she really couldn't reach any higher. He was so stupidly tall it almost annoyed her. "You are not paying for me, I already told you!"

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

But at that moment the person at the counter took his money and just shook his head at them, probably assuming things they really shouldn't.

Zack watched this happen, all while keeping a short woman out of reach of her money and taking abuse at the same time. It was okay. He could take it. "Well, too bad, looks like you lost." He gave her a smug look before dropping her money bag next to her chocolate.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Wipe that smirk on your face." She thanked the vendor and collected her things then threw her money bag into her messenger. Cissnei shook her head at him. She could never really stay mad at him because it was impossible. Annoyed? Sure. But not mad.

As they walked away, she broke off a piece of the chocolate and offered it to him. "Least I could do."

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

His mother wouldn't have let him let a girl pay while he was there, but Cissnei didn't have to know that. It was more fun this way. And his smile stayed on his face, much against her wishes.

He took the proffered chocolate and ate it, probably too quickly, but he had always been like that, even as a kid. "Thanks."

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"No problem," she said with a laugh. Cissnei broke off a piece and nibbled on it. It wasn't exactly the same but it was good enough for her. She hadn't eaten chocolate in ages and didn't want to inhale it like Zack just did. She looked around and absorbed the sights of Luca. "No one ever looks worried here," she commented.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

"You noticed that, too, huh." He put his hands on his hips and tipped his head back, letting the sunlight wash over his already tanned face. "Sometimes I think they just don't have the same issues we do."

There were times Zack wished he could forget. Sometimes he still woke up in the middle of the night, checking to make sure Cloud was still less than two feet away, still alive, before he realized where he really was and that Cloud wasn't with him. He wished he could relax like everyone else and pretend that life was okay.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"We're all human, we all have the same issues," she began. "It's how they deal with it." Everyone looked so happy, whether alone or with each other. Life was idyllic and perfect.

She too had nightmares, but not of the past, but of the future. Things she couldn't control but that she might have to see. Time and reality suspended wasn't Cissnei's idea of a good time. Life wasn't okay, she knew it first hand. She was trained to distrust everyone.

For a moment, a brief moment, she wish she lived here, not as a Turk, but as a person. But it was only fleeting. Cissnei's life was her job, and her job was her life. She had nothing else, for better or for worse.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

He looked down at her. "Yeah, human issues." And then looked away, kicking some of the dirt on the ground with his shoe. "Not everyone has our problems, though." Which he was glad for. Not everyone could take it, or take it well. Sure, it sucked that he had to step up and lose his freedom in more ways than one, but if it meant keeping others safe and happy, then he'd do it all over again. He was capable of that strength.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She looked down at the chocolate, realizing why it was so important to her; it was one of the few comforts she had gotten before she was recruited. "We're too screwed up to have normal problems," Cissnei said quietly. She wrapped it up and put it away to save it for later, a rainy day.

When she looked over at him, Cissnei noticed that he was very interested in the dirt. "As long as we're here, we're all we have." She put her hands in her pocket and looked straight out without any focus on anything. It was true. They'd make friends and allies, even enemies, on this world that weren't from their Gaia, but they'd never understand what they lived through.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

We're all we have.

That was the truth. Zack learned that brutally when he took care of Cloud that year. With Cissnei's help. He turned back to her, voice quieter than usual. "I can't thank you enough. Seriously."

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "It was the right thing to do." Cissnei put her hand on his arm and gave him an encouraging smile. "You don't have to thank me, really. It was the least I could do." And she meant it.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

"You didn't have to do anything, though." He looked at the hand on his arm and gently covered it with his own. "So I'll thank you all I want." Because he wouldn't get a change to do it back home.