For quiet_storm. Continuing from TFLN

[potato_powerhouse]

[Well. She had told him. She's made a proper nest on his bed, using her blankets, his blankets, and every pillow she could find. It's better to make a nest, just with both the size difference, and the limited materials for a proper pillow fort.

So, when he finally arrives, she's there, sitting in his bed and wearing one of his shirts and her hair down into two simple plaits. And the moment he closes the door, she stops hugging her pillow and lifts up her arms, beckoning him to come get his hugs.

And she won't let him leave until he talked...or they fall asleep. Which ever came first.]

Comments

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud rests a hand gently on her back.]

Sounds kind of exhausting.

[He wouldn't have thought so, except that Shoshosu seemed to find it difficult to talk about. Cloud didn't understand how it was supposed to work and that didn't bother him, he was used to being at the mercy of mysterious forces beyond his comprehension. Still, it seemed that Cloud was more familiar with the ones affecting this planet than she was.]

But if the Lifestream can talk to me, it can probably talk to you. Maybe I can introduce you to some people.

[potato_powerhouse]

You...aren't afraid or suspicious of me now?

[She felt sure that...well in the end, she was right about Cloud being kind. Not that she'll tell him that right now.]

On the one hand, it's like Shoshosu was deemed a very good person, capable of trying to help everybody...on the other, helping more people means I am dragged around more than I want.

[She gives a small sigh, nuzzling against Cloud's neck again.]

Now we just need to see if it wants you to know...But Shoshosu really wants to meet your friends.

[quiet_storm]

Huh? Why would I be afraid of you? Or suspicious?

[Cloud was honestly puzzled about that. Considering how many people had been wandering in and out of his head over the years, it really wasn't a big deal. She should be the one suspicious of HIM, for having a virus that reads other people's minds whether Cloud wanted it to or not.

He smiled, a little, at the idea of Shoshosu meeting his Lifestream spirit friends. Cloud had never spoken about them with anyone else, and it was pleasant being able to share something that felt positive to him.]

I think you'd get along. One of them is Zack, but he's not the one in charge down there. That would be Aerith.

[The way Cloud said her name, a name he spoke so seldom that it the sounds were unfamiliar, was soft and reverent and impossibly heavy with emotion.]

[potato_powerhouse]

It's...invasive. More than reading thoughts or feelings in the now. Some people would rather have how they see their past intact, and not have somebody see it how it really was.

[Even if somebody has grown, they also don't want others to see the person they were...

But that doesn't really matter. What matters is now Cloud is smiling again, even if it's ever so small.]

Aerith... she sounds like a goddess they way you say it...

[quiet_storm]

I guess she kind of is, now? She used to be just a normal person with some weird abilities, at least when I met her.

[The smile faltered.]

I was there when she died. She doesn't blame me for it. Nobody does. But I still feel guilty about it sometimes.

["Isn't it time you do the forgiving?" Some of the tension went out of Cloud's shoulders.]

Even though I know I shouldn't. It's just... hard, sometimes.

[potato_powerhouse]

Seems to be a trend around here, doesn't it?

[She's...just going to touch his face again, nuzzling her cheek against his. The side with her purple butterfly tattoo.]

I think that kind of feeling really can't be helped. Even when we finally learn to let it go, it's going to creep up in us. Shoshosu...has a few people she feels that way about. As much as I try, millions of "what ifs" fill my head.

[Hum.]

One day, if you promise to be the happy one, Shoshosu will be the sad one and tell you all about it, yes?

[quiet_storm]

Yeah. I can do that.

[Cloud ran his hand over her back in a reassuring way. He didn't get mopey that often these days anyway and being told he had a soul was a good start.]

It would help if I knew where I really came from. Then I would know what else I don't have to feel guilty about... Don't feel bad if you can't figure out what's going on in my head. Tifa did say that it's kind of a mess in there...

[potato_powerhouse]

Everybody's head is a mess. Even if the ones who are perfect at organized thought.

[She pulls back and taps her head, sticking her tongue out.]

I have taken a lot of hits. I gotta lotta things jumbled because of it. I don't even really remember the things that happened when I got my dragon bite scar.

[Being her roommate, Cloud's probably seen it at least once, if only on accident. A huge bite mark, like her whole torso had been in the damn things mouth.]

So, don't worry about it. We'll all figure things out...though...you have to promise Shoshosu one thing.

[quiet_storm]

[The idea that physical trauma can affect memories still confuses Cloud. Combat is one activity that doesn't trigger memory jumbling for him. Or maybe it's just because he has such a hard head?]

At least it's a really badass scar, though?

[Don't worry about it? Cloud spent way too much of his life worrying about everything, and he knew it. Shoshosu was one of the few people who could say that to him and actually make him worry less instead of more.]

What is it?

[potato_powerhouse]

Yep. And it's a conversation piece!

[It makes her giggle and she reaches up, booping his nose with a grin.]

No matter what...always remember you have a soul...and even if it's hard...explain to people what you want. Or that you aren't sure what you want. Some may cry, some may yell, but if they've come to love the you that exists now as much as Shoshosu does, they will be behind you all the way.

I can't say don't brood. You will have times you have to think...just no letting it consume you, or running away.

[quiet_storm]

[Wow, she doesn't ask much, does she. Just everything that Cloud has never had the courage to do. Depending on what he might learn from this, some of that might even be impossible. Or at least they'll seem impossible.

Cloud closed his eyes and ducked his chin until their foreheads were touching.]

That's not gonna be easy.

Up to you how well this try works...And what Sho actually picks up.

[potato_powerhouse]

Nothing worth it ever is. Trust me. It takes a long way to reach it...but try your best.

[She hums, reaching up both hands to cup his cheeks as she rubs her head against his.]

For now, let's with getting one thing Cloud wants... Hear. Think. Feel.

[Another hum, and her eyes close as well as she tries to block everything out but the pulse of her friend's soul. Maybe with just Cloud being a magnet for two supernatural people might get her something... She's at least sure she can feel the energy of this world swirling in her head, teasing at her chakra.]

Hmm... :3

[quiet_storm]

Gaia's Lifestream was a gregarious sort of energy, thoroughly entwined with all living things on the Planet all at once. Though all of the beings with the ancestral ability to "talk to the Planet" were now part of the Planet itself, that just made the collective energy even more willing to reach out to the consciousness of the living.

When the Lifestream sensed that someone was Listening, it focused its joyful curiosity in Shoshosu's direction, celebrating this newest sense of connection. It spoke to its delightful and fascinating guest in its own native speech, the language of the Ancients that had first brought life here so many years ago.

We are honored to be in your presence, sacred life.

The Lifestream had no expectation that this being or any other in its web would understand the words as anything but the feeling of distant music, but it spoke them nonetheless.

Hoo boy.

[potato_powerhouse]

Oh!

For a moment, it is music. And even with her Echo helping her understand, the Lifestream sounds like many souls at once singing to her. Not like with Hydaelyn, who was one gentle voice, but a massive crystal filling her sight, head, and heart.

She has to take a breath, and force her eyes to stay closed. To not tremble and worry Cloud.

"The honor is mine...to be given your audience...f-forgive Shoshosu if she intrudes too much."

The Mother Crystal is often formal when she gives an audience herself, even if her Avatar is not. Best to try to be as well to the Lifestream of Gaia.

Re: Hoo boy.

[quiet_storm]

Maybe it was because this planet's Life energy is so young, so new on the galactic scale, that it had no sense of formality. It was a cheerful small child approaching a stranger and hugging before being properly introduced.

"This sacred life Shoshosu speaks with us!" The energy scintillated in wonder. "What does this sacred life like say to us? Does this sacred life have need of our energy?"

[potato_powerhouse]

Shoshosu almost has to laugh as the understanding comes over her, wanting to embrace it in return. She almost loves instantly as she hears it speak again.

"Shoshosu has a gift, from an old planet...though you seemed to have guessed that much," She hums a little. "It's a complicated request, but I'm hoping you can help, Gaia. I need to see my friend Cloud's past. He's worried about something, and I think looking there may help."

[quiet_storm]

"The life of Cloud is worried about something? Which of us is the life of Cloud? Is he here with us?"

Complicated, yes, but not because of seeing the past. That was easy. The whole Planet's life history was recorded in the glow, overlapping a trillion times over as living things shared their existence. Finding a single thread in the thickly woven tapestry was a strange thought. Like finding a piece of water in the ocean.

[potato_powerhouse]

"I don't know if it helps...I used him to help contact you. He rests with the physical body of Shoshosu. He has friends who are with you. Aerith and Zack. Does any of that help?" Though she and all the souls in the Lifestream understand enough to speak to each other, but she is trying her best not to take for granted concepts that she thinks everybody should understand.

"He's one of the ones the bad thing, Jenova, hurt."

[quiet_storm]

"Aerith!" The excited sound echoed from multiple directions. There was a tidal change in the energy, and as the echoes finally died away a single white glowing presence emerged. Instead of the language of the Ancients she spoke in the human language of Gaia. Her individual personality was a little more mature than the combined young souls of the Planet around her, but her heart was just as light and accepting as the part of the Lifestream that first greeted Shoshosu.

There was a warm amusement in the flower girl's voice. "You've come to say hello, then? It's nice to meet you, Shoshosu. Thank you for taking such good care of Cloud for us!"

[potato_powerhouse]

"Shoshosu is pleased to meet you. I would have come sooner if I thought I could...and had been a little less worried about how invasive the Echo might be," At most the change is a little moment of how she first heard things, before she understands once again. She's getting it now, and embracing the presence of Aerith like she tried once she understood the Lifestream. "I'm trying my best...but he has a worry, and...well I am taking it seriously, as you see. The Lifestream has been very willing, but it's...different from Hydaelyn, so I don't know how to find Cloud's past and find the answer."

Or if she'll even completely understand the answer when she finds it. "So, I hope it won't be a bother. Cloud seems to think you have gotten a big job now, so I wouldn't want to interrupt it."

[quiet_storm]

"An answer from Cloud's past, hm? What's the question?" There was a light, silvery laugh. "And don't worry about being a bother. This IS my job!"

[potato_powerhouse]

"Is he really the Cloud that was Zack's friend? From Tifa's childhood? He thinks he's a different person that just sort of wound up in the original Cloud's body when he died..." A soft hum on her end. "Because his memories before that...only involves Zack and Tifa, and a lot of other stuff, like what Jenova did to him...Shoshosu has her own theories, but telling him any of that won't give him peace of mind."

If there's a variant of clinging to Aerith's dress, Sho is doing it right now. "I know he's going to be...always a little sad and confused...he's been through a lot...but I want him to have less reasons to run? If you get what Shoshosu is saying?"

[quiet_storm]

Aerith does the equivalent of crouching down and reaching a hand out to hold Shoshosu's.

"Jenova has created a dark place inside him, where his memories have been locked away and twisted into lies. The truth isn't just hidden from sight. It's been destroyed, and that was the only place it ever existed. Some questions no longer have an answer."

[potato_powerhouse]

"I had a feeling that was part of the problem..." Leaning in to rest her head on Aerith's shoulder, and in the waking world, she's holding Cloud tight. "Is he the Original. Even if he can't remember because of all the damage that was done, is his Soul still Cloud? Would I find if I went back to the day he was in the tank...that he's not there? That's what I want to find...so Cloud won't worry he's pretending and forgetting again, like with Zack-ack."

There she goes, nicknaming people before she even gets properly introduced.

[quiet_storm]

In another dimension Cloud tilts his head, watching his roommate curiously. Aerith rests her hand gently on Shoshosu's back.

"The Jenova virus can sense someone's desires. It can show you what you wish to see, changing the past again and again. The original Cloud's memories will never return to the Lifestream. Whether they were destroyed when his still-living body was submerged in dead mako, or they survived only for Jenova to twist them beyond recognition, we who are part of the Lifestream will never know. If the virus touches one of us then it touches us all."

Aerith pulled back enough to seem as if she was looking her guest in the eyes. "But maybe... just maybe... someone attuned to Hydaelyn instead can see past Jenova's lies."