weartearrust | IC Inbox.

Tell me about sephiroth

[Yeah, that's...that's it. No leadup, no further explanation. Just that, out of nowhere, around 10pm.]

It looks like you and I are paired for the month. Do you need anything? [Avalon knows they should say something else, considering they have no idea who Angeal is, but their mind is blank. After a moment of staring into the camera, no obvious expression on their face, they cut the feed.]

Good day, Angeal.

My name is Thrawn. I work alongside you on custodial duty. If you are interested, I have a one-day experiment for us. Should it succeed, it may reduce your workload there, in half the time. It may also - and this could be either a warning or an additional incentive - irritate Richter Belmont.

Are you interested?

[Avalon has no idea what to think of being paired with the same person twice in a row. The first time that had happened, Ruka had disappeared, but the second time, Rawne had become their permanent Warden. Perhaps the Admiral is watching either them or Angeal.]

You and I are paired again. What was the request that you wanted to make last time?

There are some people offering forms of help that I may not be able to give, but do you need anything from me?

[ A text appears somewhere before the announcement about port. ]

Angeal. You were fond of plants weren't you?

Archer and Angeal are, coincidentally, both in the kitchen when the announcement goes up. Archer considers it with all due seriousness but waits until the work is done to mention it.

"It seems we've been paired for the month."

Yes, good, getting right to the point.

"Is there anything I should know, or that you'd like to know about me?"

Do you know which areas of the Barge need the most work, and do you need help doing repairs anywhere?

Edited 2024-11-04 06:29 (UTC)

I got paired with two of you this month, and the other guy's called "the Dark Urge". You're name's a lot less descriptive.

[A pause.]

Probably less descriptive. Are you an angel?

Well, that was a surprise.

[It's dry, but it's her baseline level of dry, rather than anything that hints at actual annoyance or displeasure.]

Got a minute?

Avalon pauses when they see Angeal in the hallway, looking through him more than at him for a moment. Their thoughts on him are more complicated now: the last time they were paired with someone more than once, it had become permanent, and they had almost been expecting that again. Angeal is also the reason that Shaw is still here, and they like that they have more time with her.

It makes no sense to say any of that, so instead they ask, “Do you need help staying warm? I can turn into an animal if you would rather not touch me as a person.”

Hey, Angeal, you seen Zack lately? Tried calling him a few times but he hasn't picked up, and he didn't walk Zeke at the time he usually does. Kinda worried.

Shaw is dressed in workout clothes when she comes into the gym, but it's not the weights or the machinery that she heads for: she beelines for Angeal instead. She won't get too close to what he's doing, especially if there are moving parts involved (no one wants an accidental medicine ball to the head), but it's clear that he has her full attention.

"Hey. Time for take two."

It takes a while for Zack to motivate hunself to do this. The initial conversation with Aerith helped, and he’s done a lot of thinking since then.

He doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to say…but he also doesn’t feel like he can put this off any longer.

Because of that, sometime in the evening, he walks over to Angeal’s cabin…and knocks three times.

(Maybe he should have texted in advance, but part of him thinks he’ll just lose his nerve if he gives himself the space to.)

[There's no text with the message Angeal receives from Cloud. Just a photo he took with his communicator. Two familiar black-haired fellows, one having wrapped his arms around the other, just...standing there in the middle of the deck.

That's right. Vincent Valentine is getting hugged. By the sunshiniest man on the planet.]

My warden item tells me if you're dead, but not if you're injured; check in.

[After going through about as much of Sheehan's most recent network post as she can stand, Shaw is restless. She paces in her cabin and stares daggers at her warden item, keeping a close eye on Angeal's little tracking dot - and the moment she sees that he's anywhere but a private cabin or the kitchen area (that is, not working, and also somewhere public), she heads out to find him. Once she does, she positions herself nearby (seated a few feet away if he's sedentary, or falling into step beside him if he's not), and says without preamble:]

What were your favorite and least favorite things about working for Shinra? I'm thinking one of each, but if you've got more, hit me with 'em.

[Cloud was not originally going to include Angeal on this little tour of weird personal announcements, but he remembers Angeal's attempts at helpfully meddling, and back then he'd said some things that make Cloud think he might like to know the, uh...developments. And considering circumstances, he also thinks Angeal is one of the least likely to have a problem with those developments. So...]

Hey, Angeal. You got a minute? Got something I want to tell you. Figured it's the kind of thing you'd want to know.

Hi. We haven't met, but I was talking with Aerith and she mentioned there's a new Banora apple tree in the greenhouse. She said you might have a good idea of what we can do with the fruit when it grows. I'm only familiar with Earth apples, so I wasn't sure if these would cook the same way.

Hey. You're Angeal right?

Sephiroth directed me to talk to you about something, if you're okay with it.

Hey. Have you done any exploring yet?

[Shortly after the spider fiasco starts rearing its ugly head--]

I'm not going to pretend it's glamorous or exciting, but let's play pest control

[This is her assuming that he's been out enough to notice the problem on his own; if he hasn't, then, well. What a wild message to receive without the proper context, huh?]

Shaw has never had so much as a cold here outside of death tolls, and given that she hasn't just recently died, she is highly suspicious that something is up when she wakes up in the morning and feels like absolute crap. Hauling herself out of bed and splashing some water on her face does nothing; neither does having some leftover white rice for breakfast. The steady undercurrent within her that's urging her to Go, go, go is the only other anomaly, and she quickly finds that when she listens to it (by approaching the door, by opening the door, by stepping out into the hallway), the malaise decreases by degrees. She may not know the why here, but the what isn't hard to figure out. God. Fine.

Without bothering to change out of the tank top and sweatpants that she'd slept in, she slips on some shoes and heads down from Level 1.

Edited 2025-06-13 20:37 (UTC)

[drunk text time]

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Audio, after pairings

Text, after the Flood

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extremely backdated to pairing day

Audio, backdated to the 10/29

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