Son of Seto

Disoriented by what had happened… or hadn’t- “…but I… wrong and …they… didn’t ….”

Among disjointed thoughts, all jostling for focus was concern for the beasts condition; other arm snaking up to hold lightly for a moment before giving in. Leaning into the supportive weight that pressed back; stealing a second of comfort. An action she had no name for, would have no way to know was called a hug.

Stiff limbs engaged by the gentle persistence; her swirling thoughts moved so much faster. N-nothing had happened -Why? Why? Why? Had done wrong broke rules but still- still… Silently overwhelmed to the point of her own skin felt uncomfortable; having difficulty processing the interaction. Everything was backwards and didn’t feel… real.

She could feel her stomachs twisting burn again from the thick foreign smells. Paying no mind on the short walk to the rattling iv cart rolling behind as the connecting lines pulled taught. Not noticing how one ankle rolling painlessly; leg numb from sitting too long on her knees.

Confronted with the strange collection on the tray; pale hand reaching for the slices that smelt the most familiar. Remaining confused by the brown paste, white liquid and metal tools- sinking down, somewhat curled; hand never losing contact with the only sure thing. Him.

Yet even that was lacking true solidity- incomplete and broken memories sewn with a fondness of the once much larger being. Seeming to loom over nearby specimen before he was moved from the professor’s personal lab.

Chin tucked behind knees, taking hesitant nibbles of the white slice, “this… it…” Back pressed against the corner made by the table with the tray and the too squishy exam table. She felt small, so small and disconnected. Distressed without experience without enough words to express it. Truly unable to anticipate what was supposed to happen anymore.

Voice shrinking, “n-nothing makes sense…”

It was hard to put together Aileth's words by the way she spoke. They were like broken strands, leaves blown far from the tree they'd come from, fluttering chaotically in the air until they fell aimlessly into the silence of her room.

The emotions her body exuded were far easier for him to grasp. Scent, body language, humans had all kinds of ways to communicate other than with their tongue, yet most of them seemed to do so out of their own control or even awareness. It had to be a difficult life to be one.

Far simpler to be on the receiving end, in this case. With a bow of his head, the beast moved closer and turned around, all but brushing against her side as he settled down against her leg.

1: Full name

2: Zodiac sign

3: 3 Fears

4: 3 things I love

5: 4 turns on

6: 4 turns off

7: My best friend

8: Sexual orientation

9: My best first date

10: How tall am I

11: What do I miss

12: What time were I born

13: Favourite color

14: Do I have a crush

15: Favourite quote

16: Favourite place

17: Favourite food

18: Do I use sarcasm

19: What am I listening to right now

20: First thing I notice in new person

21: Shoe size

22: Eye color

23: Hair color

24: Favourite style of clothing

25: Ever done a prank call?

26: What colour of underwear I'm wearing now?

27: Meaning behind my URL

28: Favourite movie

29: Favourite song

30: Favourite band

31: How I feel right now

32: Someone I love

33: My current relationship status

34: My relationship with my parents

35: Favourite holiday

36: Tattoos and piercing i have

37: Tattoos and piercing i want

38: The reason I joined Tumblr

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other?

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted?

42: When did I last hold hands?

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning?

44: Have I shaved your legs in the past three days?

45: Where am I right now?

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me?

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level?

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad?

49: Am I excited for anything?

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to?

51: How often do I wear a fake smile?

52: When was the last time I hugged someone?

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me?

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not?

55: What is something I disliked about today?

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

57: What do I think about most?

58: What’s my strangest talent?

59: Do I have any strange phobias?

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

61: What was the last lie I told?

62: Do I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

64: Do I believe in magic?

65: Do I believe in luck?

66: What's the weather like right now?

67: What was the last book I've read?

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline?

69: Do I have any nicknames?

70: What was the worst injury I've ever had?

71: Do I spend money or save it?

72: Can I touch my nose with a tounge?

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feets from me?

74: Favourite animal?

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM?

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is?

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it?

78: How can you win my heart?

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone?

80: What is my favorite word?

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say?

83: Do I have any relatives in jail?

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power?

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

86: What is my current desktop picture?

87: Had sex?

88: Bought condoms?

89: Gotten pregnant?

90: Failed a class?

91: Kissed a boy?

92: Kissed a girl?

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain?

94: Had job?

95: Left the house without my wallet?

96: Bullied someone on the internet?

97: Had sex in public?

98: Played on a sports team?

99: Smoked weed?

100: Did drugs?

101: Smoked cigarettes?

102: Drank alcohol?

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan?

104: Been overweight?

105: Been underweight?

106: Been to a wedding?

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight?

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight?

109: Been outside my home country?

110: Gotten my heart broken?

111: Been to a professional sports game?

112: Broken a bone?

113: Cut myself?

114: Been to prom?

115: Been in airplane?

116: Fly by helicopter?

117: What concerts have I been to?

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex?

119: Learned another language?

120: Wore make up?

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18?

122: Had oral sex?

123: Dyed my hair?

124: Voted in a presidential election?

125: Rode in an ambulance?

126: Had a surgery?

127: Met someone famous?

128: Stalked someone on a social network?

129: Peed outside?

130: Been fishing?

131: Helped with charity?

132: Been rejected by a crush?

133: Broken a mirror?

134: What do I want for birthday?

135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names?

136: Was I named after anyone?

137: Do I like my handwriting?

138: What was my favourite toy as a child?

139: Favourite Tv Show?

140: Where do I want to live when older?

141: Play any musical instrument?

142: One of my scars, how did I get it?

143: Favourite pizza toping?

144: Am I afraid of the dark?

145: Am I afraid of heights?

146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad?

147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end?

148: What I'm really bad at

149: What my greatest achievments are

150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me

151: What I'd do if I won in a lottery

152: What do I like about myself

153: My closest Tumblr friend

154: Something I fantasise about

He felt his stomach drop into his feet when Red prompted him to look towards the cloaked figures staggering along the pathway ahead. Since the moment he'd set eyes on these strange, sickly people, there'd been a familial air about them, a baffling notion that he could relate to whatever blight was driving them towards their mysterious goal.

Familial with a sickening sense of impending dread.

Somehow, Cloud knew that wherever these cloaks were heading, nothing good was waiting for them, for any of them. He hadn't the foresight to truly know what dreadful thing they would encounter, but dreadful it certainly was. A feeling which was only exacerbated by Red's supposed intuition.

That he... ... was one of them.

He didn't want to believe it, but a part of him just couldn't deny that silent call drawing him closer; it was as if Sephiroth's own weight bore down, unforgiving and relentless, pushing him along.

Going through the motions as it were, when the fog would draw in, and his own sense of self would flutter along the fringes of his consciousness.

But he would look at Red in that moment, this strange fiery creature gazing up at him with an expression that Cloud himself couldn't translate, but with a tone he understood better than he would allow even himself to believe.

Just how was he feeling right then? Strife didn't really know, or rather, didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling following this latest outburst, of which he'd had no choice but to simply watch from figurative bleachers.

And he wanted to talk, he did, more than anything! To just get it out and have someone, anyone, offer an understanding ear, to tell him that it was all going to be alright, that all of this, this ever-waking nightmare would simply... go away. But he knew better, and it was with a gruff nasal grunt and a deep, irritated frown that he once again attempted to drive past the animal, questioning his own mind.

Humans were much easier to read, in certain aspects anyway. Watching Cloud going through the motions, Red XIII could clearly see his resistance, the way the blond's eyes bounced from nothing to more nothing, like a mouse looking for an escape. The beast might not have been able to know what exactly the other was thinking, but when it came to feeling, his perception was much sharper.

He saw that evasion coming long before the other even moved, and yet it was still so, so frustrating.

Cloud's kind loved nothing more than being deceptive and insincere. Something that Red was convinced sat at the very root of most problems in this world.

As the mercenary walked past him, he decided he would not have it. Ears pinned back against his neck, while Red, too, went through his own motions, and finally snapped.

While lacking a technician’s icy tone, the small reprimand sent the experiments heart racing; all his assurances already slipping away- not purposely, she was trying, so hard to quash it all down. Trying to suppress a cringe as objects clinked together on the tray.

Despite the unrushed entrance, the specimen was used to a ‘clear’ approach, being able to see the person coming through glass walls and loud electrical locks. Air, thick with sweet scents her guts twinged painfully and not recognizing the swirling mix except for one; draconic emeralds dared a quick glance. Pale brown paste, whiteish slices and some taller container… it seemed like a large amount of rations. Far more than she could remember seeing at once.

But it was a simple order, she could follow that- not wanting to give the human an excuse. After all… she… had already messed up. done wrong. sh-she wasn’t supposed to have moved, should not have moved… had not been told she could. would they take her somewhere else or make the burning come back?

Silently gripping the comforter at his unexpected noise and the increased scrutiny it brought; quickly looking directly at her lap with the attention. A slight tremor beginning in the girls frame, if it was out of fear or the chilled air from the greater house creeping in and the warm escaping out the open door was something she would struggle to say.

…

open door? Had left the…

Why would they leave the door open?

"Thank you. I feel like I haven't eaten in years." Red sighed heavily, running his tongue to collect any dribble that had involuntarily started to form in his mouth at that inviting scent.

He'd noticed the way Aileth had grown tense, though in that moment, he did not think too deep on it. Mere nerves from seeing a stranger with clarity for the first time, he guessed.

Nudging her with his nose, he worked to stand up, grunting a little as his bandages made the movement very stiff. When the woman did no more than walk back outside to return to the kitchen -- to come back with the promised food, he hoped -- he turned to look back at the young woman.

Shifting slightly as she continued drawing blanks; there were a growing divide it seemed- there was so much she had little or simply negative exposure to.

Not realizing the lack of noise in her own mind- he had her attention, absorbed with every word; even the hard ones she couldn’t understand or tie a meaning to like this ‘love’.  

Having nothing to draw from, she could only blink at him; the explanation seemed anything but ‘simple’.

Here, without constant surveillance, his reassurances of no experimentation… the anticipation of future reprimand remained; the hesitation to let herself ask the building list of questions

Nothing relating humans and her experiences. People… protecting? Didn’t sound… real. Seemed… flawed- impossible. A small amount of fatigue showing despite the continued interest, as her grasp of the conversation quickly floundered; he knew so much

"That's okay, Aileth. You don't have to understand right now." Red shook his head, keeping a solemn gaze on her. "Give yourself time. I am certain you will see what I mean, someday."

He then lifted his head when he heard a set of footsteps approach the other side of the door. The doorknob turned slowly, and as the door opened, the woman who had seen to their injuries came in, pushing her way through with an elbow while her hands were occupied with an heavy tray.

"Both awake, I see. Good morning." She greeted, not without an admonishing look on her face, pointed straight at the girl. "You should be in bed, Miss. I let you have it for a reason."

She moved further in to rest the tray on the nightstand nearby. It was loaded with bowls and a pitcher that smelled like fresh milk. Fresh fruits in one, the same apples they had found in the orchard the other day, and oats in the other, along with a spoon.

"Bryne said you like our apples, so I hope you will eat everything." She said, tossing a glance over her shoulder, looking at him next. "This isn't for you, but be patient, and I will bring you something too in a minute."