#nivuruheim

I don't think Ru pouts .. if at all. There are only a few expressions he uses.. depending on the company.

and she still had to write clud's down. and she still messed up. tsssssssskkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

❝ THE INK SMUDGED , THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME ! [...] I WAS TRYING TO REMEMBER IT ! ( you idiot , powder. you absolute --- ) ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU CLAGGOR AND I SWEAR TO GOD -------- ❞

SOLDIERS needed to be team players. the sort the company can train, who will blindly follow every order they're given. they need to be boisterous and overconfident, so certain that they are gods gift to man that they'll never stop and question themselves.

perhaps once they were the noble sort, the kind fair claims to be who boasts of dreams and honor, ephemeral things that hold no meaning in reality. while he may aspire to be the real thing, as far as nero is concerned, the rest all little more than restrictors waiting to happen.

the sable's gaze slides away, as if bored. it was true, he supposed. if cloud were trying to fit the mold like every other desperate soul wearing a uniform and begging to be noticed, afraid to live the way a tsviet did, then he would already be dead.

and nero would not waste his breath on a soon to be corpse. the only people in this strange, vulnerable world that merited his attention were those that took each breath like a thief. coveting that which would never be theirs one way or another. zack dreamed of honor, and cloud dreamed of glory. neither seeing to realize their concepts of were manufactured.

for all his inhumane endurance, the sable had lacked the raw physical stamina needed to traverse the treacherous landscape of modeoheim without making use of portals. something he'd been expressly forbidden to do where anyone could see. cloud had volunteered to take his place, amd nero had stayed behind with the ship. truthfully, he'd expected them both to die - they were decoys to his plan. sacrificial lambs so he could crush and collar the wolves.

but genesis had immediately clocked that the infantryman leading zack through the mountains was not the one who had previously fought him in banora. before nero had a chance to move, he'd been ambushed. the entire unit had been wiped out in seconds were ambushed - though whoever genesis failed to kill, nero swept up in his darkness.

( luckily for him, the slaughter had been attributed to the genesis clones. genesis had wounded the sable severely enough that it was not suspicious that he survived. those missing were rightfully declared KIA. )

heralded as champions for surviving an assault from two first classes, the two infantrymen were regarded as something special by their peers. it was an empty gesture, really. shinra didn't care. but it had surely noticed the flagging moral, the terror in its ranks meant they would flee at the slightest provocation. so it rewarded their hard work with an upgrade to a bigger suite for the both of them. a carrot dangling in front of all the rest, a promise that excelling would get them the same.

and now they were roommates. at least this unit had separate bedrooms... and for the first time in nearly five years, nero had a bed of his own... for however long shinra saw fit to allowed him to run free. a carrot, the stick, a promise that if he did his job then perhaps his brother could be brought up too. used to replace angeal and genesis, and the two of them could finally be free.

it seemed far more likely that the the failures would catch up to him and they'd give up. or genesis would kill him. in the end, there was no freedom. no ranks to rise through. only prettier cages.

signed, SAYJ

Rufus had purposely left Cloud in the dark regarding the Nibelheim incident. It was one of the darker secrets that Rufus enacted to have Cloud serve him. Though he did not light the flames that burned down Cloud's hometown and, subsequently, everyone he came to know, he did purposely go along with the ruse that the village was indeed the genuine one of his past-- even if the people were nothing more than paid actors.

The survivors of that time were few and far between. Most have been made silent if they somehow managed to survive. Tifa was one of those who slipped out from the clutches, badly wounded but still able to get some grounding and spark a new life. The tidbits he did get from Cloud upon their arrival weren't anything of significance. He had to do some digging himself to drag up any information she held: her birth parents, her last known whereabouts, and her occupation. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed. She held a lot of temptations, and though she was imprisoned in the slums below, she maintained a sense of freedom that Cloud didn't have.

Rufus had been at his newly appointed desk, the very one he had observed his father design in the living room of their Junon Estate. It was a grand masterpiece of architecture that Rufus was allowed to visit and examine the progress on some days. These days, it was a metaphor for finally attaining the rightful seat behind it. Without so much of a knock, Reno slipped on through, taking the red banner runner all the way up to where Rufus was seated. Rufus heeded no mind to the presence of him slinking up that pathway.

"Ayo, boss. Your boy found his long-lost love." Of course, Reno would do anything to stoke the coals. The bait was set, and Rufus latched on by lifting his eyes off the paper before him. Reno took this opportunity to press on. "Yeah, caught him with the chick from that burned village. You told us to look into it but not send out any information and all that jazz." Reno barely remembered attaining any details on it. It showed how much he cared about that particular mission. "Thought you should know and all, given that you're all-powerful now." That brief meeting ended on a sour note. Reno knew he had sabotaged an evening.

It wasn't until Cloud finally stepped through the threshold of his flat that he bothered to speak of it. The wine bottle had already been opened, and a glass spent. Rufus says nothing at first as Tifa's name is echoed in the house. It causes a flash of heat to rise on his neck, a raising of his chin as he pours himself another drink. Wine usually placated him, but tonight, he's finding the flush rising quickly. "Is that so.." he begins, calculating his next set of words. "Rekindling a flame?" The bottle hits the table harder than he expected.

Eyebrow raised, it isn't too often that Cloud opens that mouth with a handful of hostile words. However, when he does, the tides shift, and Rufus counters even if it is the many cases of him speaking in between lines.

"First off.." he starts, wondering if he should pour himself a glass of wine before going into one of these sessions. "… No one would ever get the respect that Dark Nation receives." Not even the Turks. Dark Nation loves Rufus unconditionally, the only creature on the godforsaken planet that would. He knows this well.

The world melted away in the background. She was pretty sure people were still chatting…there was this quiet noise of people in the background trying to figure out what to do next, where to go, what path to take. It was nice, to feel life around you, to find solace in other people. So much so that even in a world like this, you felt safe enough to close your eyes around them. 

Even the smell of fire wasn’t really enough to keep Yuffie awake right now, she knew it meant lunch was on the menu but it was a while away, right? She definitely had time for a nap first? She needed it, Yuffie had stared at the stars all night last night, unable to deal with the uneasiness in her chest, and she hadn’t even been sure what it was over. Just this constant state of on edge that had lasted the last few days, maybe she’d just had too much sugar? Was that even a thing? 

Not that it mattered, she was too tired. Crossed legs on the ground, an elbow sat on her leg, head propped on her hand as her entire body slowly leaned to the side. Her head came to rest against the blade of her shuriken. One point buried into the ground far enough it was somewhat stable, at least it provided something to learn against. The moment she closed her eyes she was out, as if someone had flipped a light switch off inside her mind. 

@nivuruheim // Clud // Unprompted

The Turks were grateful for Cloud. Even if they would never express it. There were bleeds in the cracks, slowly bubbling just enough so that it was known. Cloud's presence seemed to calm Rufus, though distractions came with it. They need not worry too much when leaving out the door. This holiday held no immense significance to any of them. Their work came before anything else. It was Elena who usually dabbled in helping. However, in this case, she was there for the taste-testing leftovers, blessing Cloud for taking up cooking those years ago.

The cake excelled, and Rufus, fed and ideally pampered, fell back into the routine of soaking up Cloud's warm fingers against his skin. Their affections were slower now, soaking in each minute as if it were their last. The totality of it all was just that-- how much longer did they even have? Would this be the last holiday together? Such thoughts often invaded the sweetness of the day.

After the labored breathing had finally regulated, Rufus felt his leaden arms in folds of warmth, limbs encasing his body, ending with the softness of silken sheets up the both of them. Cloud was right to latch on to normalcy, to ache for the desire to be where they were years ago. The sheets were a comfort of that life, which Rufus thought was the pinnacle of his agony. How far off he was back then.. naive, even.

Those words that Cloud hesitates almost fumble off the tip of his tongue. He swallows it down, just like Cloud did. There's no need for it, he assures himself. Cloud knows of his place.. he's certain of it.

".. Thank you." These were the only words that made it out. Genuine to the core, it sent a small smile to his face.