@better-half-vani​​:

“It’s part of the job description,” Vanitas playfully replied. Eyes like honey sifting up and down the taller male. “My purpose…? Who knows anymore…” he responded with a shrug.

Shaking out his wings with a quietly amused sound, he folded them in carefully.  “Someone still tugging the strings without telling the puppets what they mean?”  The tone of the words might have been airy enough, but there was something... deeply unamused in Sephiroth’s expression.

In some sense, he was able to perceive nearby Keyblade wielders.  For the most part, that mattered little; Radiant Garden seemed to attract a small group of them, and the comings and goings were rarely his business.

Rarely.  Not never.  After all, it did get tiresome at times, irritating Cloud.  Some days were almost too easy, and others Cloud decided to give in to deep unfairness and involve the flower girl or the little lion.  Or, worse, the fighter.

Wings wrapped irritably close, Sephiroth’s “Keyblade wielder sense” seemed a great deal stronger than before.  Peering out from his spot on a partially-rebuilt tower, he spotted the boy who could only be Sora.  Intriguing indeed; only in part because it seemed he had grown into his shoes a slight bit more, but also...

Yes, whatever that sense was picking up on certainly detected something stronger.  More powerful, though not necessarily more refined.  Too interesting to deny, and a pleasant change to his mood.  Whether or not the feeling was mutual was irrelevant.

Taking flight just as the Keyblade wielder seemed content to settle in to an open position upon which he could watch the town as citizens and travelers alike settled in to sleep, Sephiroth’s descent was nearly silent and feather-soft, taking a moment to observe Sora from closer up.  Had it really been so long?  Time did move strangely between worlds.

Much as he appreciated tormenting Cloud (it was a lifestyle more than a hobby), it was occasionally a bit nice to get away from him.  Not for long, of course; just long enough to get Cloud to feel a little bit hopeful, or drop his guard just the slightest bit, and then Sephiroth deeply enjoyed the disappointment his presence would bring all over again.  It was the little things.

Sometimes it was a world with a beach.  Stretching sand, crashing waves.  Sun, shade, seabirds you had to hide your food from, and those colorful drinks with little umbrellas.  Sephiroth, a being of greatly pale skin, had to slather himself with sunscreen as he was perhaps mildly allergic to having to wear shirts for too long (and one just more shorts to a beach, that was how it was), but the effort always felt worthwhile just to wander for a bit.  Enjoying being literal worlds away from--

He stopped short, staring.  Lowering his sunglasses, then raising them again.  Cursing under his breath, wondering if he could just sneak away but...

He hadn't particularly been looking for a conversation partner, but since the usual moody blond was lacking presence here--

Ah, that wasn't entirely true. He hadn't alighted near this one due to any particular absence, hair color or otherwise. Knowledge in the Organization's business was vague at best, but matters of hearts, darkness and light were all very close to him. Separate beings born from one were a fascination.

(And if he was also intent on being a bother to someone different, that was neither here nor there.)

The sarcasm was very familiar, in any case. "I've been watching, you know." One gloved hand raised in a vague circular gesture. "Not everything. Bits and pieces from the shadows of Hollow-- Radiant Garden." That would take some getting used to again. "A good many spoke of what was happening. Worries for allies. Friends. How they spoke of one whose will was to dominate everyone else's. A man who would destroy. Remake. Everything." He trailed off for a moment, almost reminiscing.

Then his wings drew in closer, folding tightly along his legs and back. "I remembered wanting the same. Unable to achieve it, in this or any form, and yet-- Perhaps I have gained some strategic insight and decided I preferred existence." As if it were so simple a thing. So easy a realization to make, like the one that he didn't particularly need Cloud to exist on his own.

‘80s Lyric Starters, part 1 | accepting but slow

Eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he made a quiet, low hum, Sephiroth didn’t make any effort to hide the way he was inspecting the Nobody.  He’d had his own doubts as to whether or not the being before him could even have been described in that way, but he was.  Enough.  Enough to sense, and yet there was very much something else beyond Sephiroth’s experiences.

A great many things were, unfortunately.  Being free to roam, but also tethered.  Sometimes held back from exploring on his own at all.

It was more than the scar.  That was the clearest indication of time and--it was to laugh, honestly--strife, but there was more in and around that individual which--

He didn’t know.  He couldn’t know.  And yet his curiosity made demands against his better judgment.

He should have walked away, disinterested.  Disappeared, vanished.  Left and not taken the bait.

Red Dead Redemption 2 starters | accepting but forever slow

@starfish-caelum

Sephiroth gave a dismissive snort, turning away; but not leaving.  He could vanish at a moment’s notice, hardly with any effort.  Or fly away for impact, if need be.  Return with dramatics and magical circles, but...

If he wished to do so, he could also simply fold his wings and tuck them in close against himself.  Electing to tolerate the company.  “Just because I see fit to stay out of business that has nothing to do with me, hm?”

Truthfully, there was only one person he was ruthless toward, merciless about, forever picking and taunting.  The rest... well, Keyblade wielders could be handfuls, certainly.  But beyond a bit of friendly sparring (most often ending in his own victory), he saw no reason to stand in the way.  Just a bit of teasing now and again, pestering.  And perhaps, perhaps, there was a very select few that he may have even felt the slightest bit favorable toward.  Though admitting that, or to helping them in any way, would simply never happen.

He was real.  If... different.  Bonded but separate.  Something which “should not have been”, he was told.  Unreal.  And yet... perhaps they had a good deal in common, the two of them.  In a way.  “You waste your time out here.  You should be inside before the rain starts.”

An amused smirk lead to an observing glance; not so long as to be uncomfortably obvious, but clearly there was thought behind it.  Otherwise, the wing at his back was tucked against the man’s side, the other two partially folded to either side of his legs.  Relaxed rather than poised or posturing, even if there was no doubt of his readiness.

“You hadn’t seemed to mind.”  He responded, airy and nonchalant, looking off into the distance as though there were something much more interesting out there.  “At least, you certainly haven’t let on that such things concern you.”  Not that he knew, he supposed.  He simply enjoyed observing; what actual business any of them had was of little concern to him.

He stared up at the sky long enough to have made anyone watching think he’d been there for ages, planning perhaps never to move.  It felt like that, letting the vastness of what was above him overwhelm, trying to wrap his head around it all.

“How many other worlds are there, I wonder...”  He whispered mostly to himself; presences around him came and went, and he paid little attention to any that he wasn’t immediately seeking.  It was the way of things, moving in and out, thorough darkness and light.