#offworldlamb writes

It was like prying himself out of ice, but once he was partway free he could fight more and more against the everlong curse, out of the haze of feral rage and bloodlust. The cold of the snow cut sharply through his feet as he forced himself forward, the wind biting deep to the bone as every step forward was a step back to his usual form, until all the noises and urges were quiet and he was standing over Layton and staring wildly at these two men.

One farmer turned and fled the moment Morgan turned around but this other farmer turned to stone, his face as white as the snow behind him while his mouth hung agape. Wrapping a bloody hand around the barrel of the shotgun Morgan pulled it free from the old man's grasp with one short, sharp tug, and with only a strangled gasp he was charging away across the field after his friend, leaving them alone in the field once again.

Standing bollock-naked in a murky pool of blood and muddy snow the cold and wet him like a cannonball, the first proper deep breath he took stinging all the way down his windpipe and into his lungs. His insides were still tangled from the revelation-- it was hard to tell if he'd even fully changed back, chest heaving and head thumping as he tried to even everything out. It would take a while to recover, as always, but those bastard men were gone now and that was all the mattered.

Turning to look at Layton he found her still sat on the ground, staring up at him in a daze. As she stumbled to her feet he expected hesitance considering the state he was in, but she wasted no time in approaching as she pulled off her coat and wrapped it around his shoulders, pulling it tight across his front and asking breathlessly if he was alright. Despite knowing how filthy he was and not wanting to ruin her clothes he didn't quite have the comprehension to stop her, staring down into her flushed face and being stricken by the look of awe in her eyes.

A deep pull of hunger took hold of him again, burning down to his frozen fingertips and urging him to reach out and take hold. Layton was already close but he pulled her closer still and caught her in a desperate kiss, muffling a surprised gasp as it passed her lips and soon getting wrapped up in the warmth of her arms around his shoulders and neck, melting into the relief of her touch.

"You're not hurt, are you?" she eventually asked, breathless words against his lips, and he shook his head in response. She replied in kind when he managed to ask the same in a mumble, and let his head come to rest against her shoulder with a shaky sigh of relief. He only moved again when she suggested heading back to the B&B, feeling her rummage in the right pocket of her jacket for the stone or travel, before the field around them faded to the warmth of their room.

And cut. This was a scene I wrote a while back and they just bone down back at the b&b. WOO! \o/

"Yeah, well... who knows what's out there," he grumbled in response, and rubbed his own hand against Aeron's face soon afterwards in retaliation, announcing he was hungry and tired and ready for bed.

But when he moved to get to his feet Aeron caught his hands and kept him still. 'You love me, don't you?' he asked, and laughed at the wide-eyed shock on James' face, like he'd just been caught doing something questionable but not quite illegal. He floundered through a few attempts at defending himself without outright denying it until Aeron signed it again, and added 'tell me you love me', making James go all the more red in the face.

Opening and closing his mouth with every word he tried to say he eventually gave up with a frustrated sigh, sitting back on his heels and pulling half the blanket with him in the process, folding his arms childishly before unfolding them not two seconds later to furiously sign back. "What do you expect, being all nice and charming and pretty? Running off after every pathetic twat who has no sense of self preservation and making them care for themselves, because you care! And if you care then they have to care because they can't hurt you, not when you're making sure they stay alive."

Every sentence saw his hands slowing a little, until his head was hung and shoulders slumped, staring miserably at the ground between them. "You always look so worried. And happy, and annoyed and angry and... I don't think anyone's cared so much about me before."

Aeron was still smiling hopelessly at him, and signed once more, with a little more emphasis: 'say it'.

He grumbled and huffed, still a little pink in the face, but eventually made space for himself in front of Aeron and sat down, leaning back and pulling his arms around himself with the blanket. "Of course I love you. And I'm making it your problem now."

"That's the opposite of a problem," he replied now that James was close enough to hear him, but as he gladly buried his face in the side of James' neck he was forced upright again when James shook his head.

"Oh no you don't." Pushing the blanket out of the way James pulled Aeron's hands up into view. "You say it too."

Chuckling at James' insistence Aeron nodded, and allowed their hands to move together as he slowly and carefully signed 'I love you', before pulling him closer to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. That had James grinning like an idiot, and he happily sank into another warm embrace against his chest.

So now there were two teenagers at his desk, setting up this machine and getting it connected. They'd threaded cables in through the window (temporary solution, until someone could feed it through with the aerial) and set up a unit with a screen, which booted up with the same logo they were wearing on the backs of their jackets. He'd seen Barrett wearing a matching work vest last week; Marlene's was in the wash already. Something 'Net', with a moogle mascot holding a file. Too cute to be Barrett's idea, but he obviously liked it enough to keep it.

Leaning against the window sill Cloud wasn't doing much except supervising, nodding along as the boy explained how it worked and what it was for, while the girl typed away at the keyboard. He'd worked for ShinRA, he knew most of this already, but this kid clearly practised the whole thing to deliver to everyone they got onto the system, and it looked like it was the only thing he was doing while his friend did all the actual work.

About ten minutes in and Cloud heard the door down at the bar slam shut. Fluffy Junior, who'd been fast asleep on Kadaj's bed, was immediately awake and hopping down to the floor, hurrying down the steps and quickly hurrying back up as someone climbed up to join them. But as Kadaj was about to enter the room he spotted their two guests and stopped. The tech talk stopped too, and from under the desk came a distinct thud of a kick that was unmissable in the sudden silence of the room.

"They're setting up the access point Tifa mentioned," Cloud told him, getting a grunt in response. Tech boy gave his friend another smack-- this time to the arm-- and when she turned her head to tell him to knock it off he not-so-subtly nodded towards Kadaj, and soon enough both of them were staring at him. Did they recognise him?

Whether he noticed them or not he didn't acknowledge them, turning to leave the room without a word when Cloud beckoned him back with a firm 'wait'. "You've been gone for three days."

Kadaj bent down to pet the cat, who'd weaved between his legs over and over since he'd stopped. "So?"

"You stink. Wash up and get changed."

Standing up again with an agitated tut Kadaj scowled and Cloud expected some choice words, but was met instead by two discarded boots kicked towards his feet and a jacket tossed onto the bed. As Kadaj headed deeper into the building Fluffy disappeared along with him, only to return when the bathroom door clicked shut with her locked outside, and she settled for curling up on his jacket instead.

Tech boy was crouched next to tech girl now, muttering something in her ear with a glance towards the door every now and again. Cloud caught 'I told you' somewhere in the middle and raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and when he spoke up the boy shot bolt upright again. "You know Kadaj?" he asked, and as tech boy scoffed and shook his head his friend betrayed him with a snort of laughter.

"Just seen him around. Didn't know where he was from; he doesn't hang out with anyone we know," he explained with a not-so-casual shrug, before trailing off and mumbling something about needing to get work done and crouching next to his friend again. She was sniggering as she typed, mumbling a teasing 'what, so we know everyone around here now?', and no amount of begging her to shut up would get her to stop.

They were finished ten minutes later and, after handing Cloud a card with 'MogNet: Installations' on it and telling him to call if there were any problems, headed out the door with one final glance back up the stairs. Cloud had to sit down at the bar with a drink after that, and that's where Tifa found him when she walked in half an hour later with Marlene, staring through the wall lost in thought.

Asking briefly if Kadaj had turned up she confirmed the additional ingredients they'd bought for dinner, and as Marlene hurried them out to the kitchen Tifa gave Cloud's glass a curious look. "Was the set up that bad?" she asked, noting the card in front of Cloud and picking it up with a smile.

"No, it's up and running," he assured her, and rubbed a hand across his mouth with that same distant gaze. He had to be imagining things... right? He should confirm a few things with Tifa first, anyway... and when he realised he'd been staring off at nothing again for a few seconds and earned a concerned look from Tifa he let out a short sigh. "They recognised Kadaj. I think they've been looking for him."

"Wait, you mean from...?" With a frown Tifa did a little 'before' gesture with her hand, but Cloud shook his head.

"No, pretty recently, I think." He had to be imagining things. He was kind of scared to bring it up, and Tifa was giving him a suspicious look now as she folded her arms, but he didn't want to bring it up either. But he probably should...

He cast a wary glance of his own towards the stairs. Kadaj left the bathroom a while ago; he could be down any second, or he could be upstairs for hours, there was no telling. But the look alone made Tifa frown again. "Did something happen with Kadaj?"

A quick shake of the head eased that concern, but his stalling was trying her patience and she gave the bar between them an irritated tap. "Spit it out, Cloud."

"Do you think he'll make friends?" It was such a dumb question, but Cloud couldn't help his genuine curiosity. Kadaj wasn't strictly human, but then he wasn't just a clone of Sephiroth either, who did have 'friends' at one point. Kadaj had those memories, but the only people Cloud knew he talked to regularly were Cloud himself and Tifa, while everyone else got that cold glare. "He's different from... him. But I don't know how much of this is because of that and how much of this is just who he is."

Tifa softened considerably with relief, and even chuckled softly as she poured a drink for herself. "I think we just have to wait and see. Cut him some slack: he's come a long way already."

Agreeing with a nod Cloud gave his drink a swirl. Kadaj was getting better at interacting with them these days. Six months he'd been here now: it wasn't perfect, but when they engaged with him he'd respond consistently, if a little bluntly, and he hadn't had a serious outburst in over a month. There wasn't always a response when they addressed him but that was more reliant on his mood at the time, and while he'd be gone for days on end he would always come back. Cloud wasn't anticipating a fight, physical or verbal, whenever they interacted now, which was the biggest improvement of all, but he still couldn't help but worry about him interacting with people outside of the situation.

When Tifa asked what brought this up he nearly choked on his drink, and ran a hand down his face with a miserable little groan once he'd recovered. "I don't know. I think I was looking into nothing."

She held the card out to him. "Did he make a friend or not?"

"Not yet...?"

Could he? Should he? He wasn't just worried about Kadaj; would it be right to encourage any kind of relationship, knowing Kadaj's history? He was coping alright now, but...

It still felt too soon. They'd been here six months now, but Cloud still barely knew anything about Kadaj beyond the little they'd managed to drag out of him, and what Rufus told him before. He had Sephiroth's memories, but he was a teenager too: that difference was sharp and distinct, but there was no way to predict his behaviour from what he knew of Sephiroth.

But it couldn't be that bad, admittedly. All the times he went off by himself they never heard a word about him, and with the SOLDIER training he'd 'inherited' he was a force to be reckoned with, so no news was good news in a way?

He couldn't give Tifa a straight answer, but she looked a lot less worried than him as she promised things would be fine and headed off to the kitchen.

Kadaj was on his way back out not long before dinner, and Cloud caught him just as he was coming down the stairs. Those thoughts were still rattling around in his head and wouldn't leave him be, and thankfully when he asked if Kadaj was alright he hung around after muttering an affirmative.

He declined the offer to sit down, and stood with his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he waited. Tifa was right: he really had come a long way.

"How're you finding it here?" Cloud asked first, and when Kadaj shrugged and looked around the bar he shook his head and clarified: "I mean in the city. Are you doing alright?"

"...Yeah."

"Getting to know anyone? You're out a lot, couple days at a time."

Kadaj narrowed his eyes, and spied the card still sitting on the bar as he mumbled a wary 'no' in response. "Why do you care?"

"Just taking an interest, like a good big brother," Cloud replied, before sliding the card along the bar towards him. "I think these guys wanted to get to know you. If you're interested."

"I'm not," came the sneered response, and Cloud accepted that with a nod before letting him go when he asked. He'd tried, that's all that mattered.

He pinned the card to the board, and was pleased to see it missing a few days later.

But she'd been hiding away for the past few weeks. Where she used to hang around the bar after breakfast she scurried away back upstairs once she'd had her fill, and for hours there'd been no sign of her. With all the people that stopped by Tifa wondered if maybe she'd had a bad experience with someone, but finding out who it might've been was impossible when she never came downstairs. It was only when everyone else was out that she'd wander back down to sunbathe, accepting all the love Tifa had to give and then some as she lounged around in her bed, and by the time Tifa noticed she was gone again everyone else was back too.

She'd never shown preference over Marlene or Denzel, despite their best efforts. They'd try and get her to follow them up to their room but she barely turned her head, and over time they learned attention was on her terms or not at all. When Cloud came by he'd stopped and pet her if he happened to be passing her in her little sun spot; sometimes she'd follow him, get under his feet, but once she was fed it was straight back in the sun. Maybe she'd sleep on his bed if the door was left open, but that was about the extent of her affections.

For a little bit Tifa worried that Kadaj's arrival upset Second Fluffy's peace. Looking back she remembered Fluffy's disappearance in his first week here, just the same as when she'd first been brought to the bar and hid under Tifa's bed for a week, but when she started exploring and investigating again she didnt think twice about it. The only reason she noticed her absence now was because it was an amazing day outside and the sun was in the perfect spot, but her bed sat empty on the window ledge.

No one else was here, so Tifa went to hunt her down. She's missed the little cat's company more than anything, and if something was wrong she wanted to know, but a thorough search of her own room and Marlene and Denzel's room brought up nothing, not even a stray toy. The bar itself was empty too even down in the little nooks and crannies behind the crates underneath, and eventually Tifa resigned herself to checking the office.

It used to be Cloud's room but he was out so much she got used to going in and answering the phone for him. The door was always open right up until Kadaj turned up, and Cloud didnt think twice before offering the room to him instead, sleeping on the floor of the kids' room for two weeks while they all adjusted (and found a spare bed). So Tifa hadn't been in much since then without express permission, but Kadaj was out right now and as long as she left everything alone it wouldn't be a big deal, right? He wouldn't want a cat in there anyway, so where was the harm in going in to look?

Well, the door was open...

Just a crack, but still open, and Tifa accounted herself with a gentle knock just in case before opening it up the whole way. With the blinds partly drawn a lot of the room was cast into shadow, thanks in part to the partition they'd put up to split the room, with a single sliver of sunshine making it in through the window. It fell across the foot of Kadaj's bed tucked up in the corner behind the door, and curled up right in the middle amongst crumpled blankets and a discarded shirt was Fluffy. Clearly Tifa was worried over nothing.

With a smile and an incredulous shake of her head she went and scooped her up, questioning the little fluffball's choices as she carried her out of the room and closed the door behind her. She hadn't expected Fluffy Two to have a soft spot for their latest addition and considering her track record with everyone else it really didnt make sense, but she questioned it no further as she placed her on her sun-warmed bed and went about her work.

That's where Fluffy stayed, fast asleep for hours, until the purr of an engine woke her up later that evening. She was awake before Tifa heard the bike herself, sitting over by the door in the blink of an eye with her tail sweeping back and forth in anticipation, watching the door handle intently. Tifa had to stop what she was doing and watch, smiling in amusement as the door opened and Fluffy instantly tangled herself around Kadaj's feet, completely oblivious to his obliviousness as he walked in and headed straight towards the stairs.

Cloud followed not long after and greeted Tifa with a curious tilt of his head, asking if she was alright as he came to join her at the bar. They'd been gone for three days down in the ruins and it showed, their clothes covered in dirt and dust, but like before Tifa didnt pry, simply welcoming them back before nodding towards Kadaj stopped halfway up the stairs.

"Someone was sorely missed," she said with a chuckle, and even Cloud smiled at the sight of Fluffy blocking the way by sprawling out across one of the steps, blocking Kadaj's way.

"Didn't think he'd be such a magnet for them ..." he said, and took a seat at the bar as he started explaining 'midnight visitors' during one of their camp-outs. One cat quickly turned into four cats when food was shared out, and Cloud joked about bringing them back before realising two cats at the bar was enough, with a pointed look towards Kadaj.

He'd stepped over Fluffy without comment, but the second time she blocked him at the top for the stairs she earned herself an irritated pet, and a grumble about cat hair and never getting any peace before he moved her to one side and carried on upstairs.