nanakithewarrior

[nanakithewarrior]

[nanakithewarrior]

"My head is spinning." From Cloud.

p!nk lyrics || Always Accepting~

"Stop fighting it and sit down. Two legs are too few to keep going when you're feeling dizzy." Red XIII put himself in front of the mercenary to block his path, making his point clear.

This wasn't the first time he noticed Cloud acting strange. In fact, something similar had happened on their very first meeting. Which wasn't that long ago, either.

"Rest up. I'd rather not have to carry you again. Your sword is heavy."

[nanakithewarrior]

MarkiplierTV Starters

“Let me explain myself.”

“I’m sorry… you’re dying.”

“Bad dog.”

“Mountains… the secret killer?”

“Still dry.”

“Bubbles!”

“Uh, no. wait, what?”

“Alright, if you say so - i mean it makes sense to me.”

“He asked me to do it!”

“And all of the badgers, thankfully, died.”

“*mumble mumble* help me *mumble mumble*”

“So… whatdya think?”

“Shut up, shut up, _____’s taken enough shit from you guys.”

“I feel like it deviated from our primary objective.”

“I was supposed to be the host of that game show segment.”

“This is revolutionary!”

“I think we’re missing the bigger picture here!”

“Trust you me.”

“Take 90 off, actually.”

“Look, ____, I respect you, I always have.”

“What do you think ___?”

“Whatever you say, you little scamp.”

[nanakithewarrior]

"I don't believe in soul mates." From Cloud

p!nk lyrics || Always Accepting~

"Somehow, that's just the kind of answer I expected from you." Red XIII said with a half-chuckle that almost sounded like a low bark, head low and relaxed as they continued to walk along at the rear of the group.

Their destination was nowhere in sight, but at least they had a direction. No need for his nose for the moment.

"You're easy to read, Cloud. And I haven't even known you for that long." The creature continued. "You don't seem too taken by Barret's speeches either, from what I've noticed. Does that mean you don't believe in Planetology, as well?"

[nanakithewarrior]

[nanakithewarrior]

"Ah... I see." Red XIII had stopped at a distance from the rickety food stall made out of what looked like an old bus. At least, he thought it looked like what a bus should be, based on pictures he'd been shown by a friend in the past. "It's a food stall."

That posed a few problems. He doubted either of them had any money to actually buy those juicy-looking sausages that were sizzling on the small grill behind the open window. Maybe there was a possibility the vendor would be compassionate, but communication would be necessary to even verify that.

The creature looked between himself and Aileth, with concern. With the girl barely able to talk, and Red looking like something that should not be speaking at all, there were indeed a few challenges to their predicament.

Of course, he could try to run for it and steal the meat, but he'd rather avoid his shoulder the anguish of another race, if possible.

After lingering for a minute, he looked up at her. "I have a plan." He told Aileth. "But I need your help. Do you think you'd be able to repeat after me when I talk? I'm going to guide you and make you speak to that man."

He sat down, giving her a nod.

"Give it a try with me now, before we approach." Red XIII asked. "'Hello, how do you do?'"

However temporary the shelter had been, just being able to rest, out the wet had helped the fugitives mostly recover. Exiting safety, the two stayed close; unassuming, their red and black shapes winding through the shadows and bright lights. Easily keeping up with the eager search and uneven pace. Again, not understanding the words aside from ‘follow’; something relaxing slightly at receiving a clear command.

Thin steam rose from the ground; stray humans barely giving the pair a second look. If anything, the ones that did notice seemed to give a little more space despite the narrow halls; the experiment considering keeping the dark cloak if it meant people stayed away.

Their quest slowed, only for a moment- thanks to an unexpected crowd; the strangely loud and… unsteady humans were preoccupied with struggling to open a door. Swiftly moving to his other side; weapon between Handler and the potential threat.

Smoothly passing in the packed space, it had been brisk and without incident, yet she became closed off; cold expression hidden beneath the hood, a sourness lingered even after leaving them behind in the rather annoying maze. Trashed, rusted metal… crushed and broken rubble, familiar if… unclean; more… brown coating the floor and thinly over everything it seemed.

A growing bitter taste continued climbing her throat; glancing around, the walls weren’t overly tall, scalable structures were plentiful… more efficient to go over or through. These hallways… were too small, sides confining yet felt too exposed under the endless ceiling overhead; mercifully it was only a few more corners before reaching the source of the growing smoky scent. Something else carried under the smell- new and not…awful she felt pain; stomach finally acknowledging how long the specimen had been left on its own. She hadn’t been sure what to expect, this lab had been so strange and large; looking to him for the next steps.

[nanakithewarrior]

Send "you are getting sleepy" for your muse to hypnotize mine! Send “I am getting sleepy” for my muse to hypnotize yours!

[nanakithewarrior]

It may be difficult to tell on a face that did not belonged to a human, but Red XIII was smiling a little. He was happy to hear her voice; it seemed that with each passing hour Aileth found better ways to express herself. How strange that of the two of them, the beast would be the one with the widest vocabulary.

"Yes, I'm hungry. You should be, as well." He nodded, stepping outside with caution. Making sure their presence wouldn't catch any undesired attention. All clear for the moment.

He then moved a few more steps forward, rising his nose to the air. Red inhaled deep, and sharp. He smelled mako waste before anything else. The oil used to keep that train from rusting. The lingering odour of wet concrete warming up in the daylight.

Then finally, something much more pleasant. He inhaled strongly, letting that prickly scent of smoke and meat fill his lungs. His stomach answered to it.

"Someone's cooking." He informed her, turning his head. "Follow me. Maybe they will share with us."

Subdued and somehow still grating, humans streamed by after the train’s noises quieted and slowed instead of roaring past; a new group of people headed towards where the others had come from, then there would be nothing. It was strange seeing humans dressed in so many… colours, so used to the White-coats and helmeted guards, these were… new. Cautious of any straying too close, curious of all the shapes and patterns and… perhaps textures? Unable to make out for certain from this distance. Yet an acidic tang underlies being near so many... foul creatures; dark whispering- so quiet, burning, prickling up her back and neck.

 Motion from the other room snapped the spiral, attention pulled away from outside; he had been so still, finally seeing him moving was enough of a distraction and eased the tension. He seemed… healthier, if at least dryer; nearly the reddish hue she remembered.

Head tilting seeing as random patches of fur remained sticking out in places after rising; that same tiny involuntary smile returning- a little bit shaky but a genuine expression sneaking out again.

Still resting on the crate, they were nearly level, and she resisted the urge to reach out, fix the coat.

Another unknown word, ‘sorry’ but his posture, and tone, it had a quality to it that made her own chest twist. If her ears could, they would have moved like his; unaware sleep had been expected of the experiment. It felt like failing, that wasn’t the right term, but it was similar enough with the same negativity.

Yet, she was slow to reply, staring again, contemplating, careful with each word “It was needed…” voice still quiet but steadier “for you to recover…”

 More than just an unpracticed skill, it was effort to defy the conditioning to not speak at all

“mm… kept watch, humans pass by in grou-” there was a concerning noise like a growl but… he was speaking… It was coming from somewhere else… from his sides? Did they share the same signs of hunger? that she could easily understand. “you are… needing rations?”

There should be a pause to all the people, that had seemed to be the pattern. Standing up to crack open the entrance, squinting hard, the empty path was unbelievably bright, like the exam rooms lights but emitted from the entire ceiling. Pale fingers ready to pull up the now dry fabric, she would be keeping the ragged garment if just for the depths of cloaks hood.

Holding the door, inhuman eyes turned back to him, “…orders?”

[nanakithewarrior]

[nanakithewarrior]

Red XIII did not answer right away. His tail swished gently with each step, as he mulled over that question, considering it. Thinking of what he'd want to say, as opposed to what he should. The feelings of a young creature were hard to tame.

"... If we go by the definition I was taught, then yes. You'd be considered a monster. Or a monstrosity generated by a sick mind, maybe." Not that he expected it to be a kinder answer.

However, he also did not hesitate to look over his shoulder and add: "Not any less than I would be, in any case."

“You… are correct that machines don’t think usually. When my scans are not active and I try to generate answers, I hear a voice that’s my own… But also not my own. I’m unsure if that’s what thinking is but it feels like there’s two versions of myself. My programming says to ignore it as it potentially gives incorrect answers… But it feels right to listen. Sorry if that’s unhelpful.”

CLOUD follows Red XIII as they explain mako, the importance it is to life but also the detriment of it when one is given too much. It calls a lot of the mako knowledge they had been programmed with into question, while they know that it is very toxic in high dosages but the articles on SOLDIER explain mako infusion as a necessity… Was it turning them monsters? Were all the monsters they saw human or normal animals at one point? Did the Ancients meet the same fate despite their attunement?

What about himself? CLOUD was full of Mako, it was his blood…

“…Do you consider me a monster, Red XIII? If Mako is the indicator and… I’m full of it… Would I be lumped in the same category?” The android looks to Red XIII similarly to a student looking to their teacher, the other seemed to be knowledgeable in this subject and surely must be the best person… creature (?) to ask about it.

[nanakithewarrior]

Possessed!AU

(My muse) has been acting strange lately, and (your muse) is becoming increasing certain that this isn't really (my muse) anymore. How do they bring the real (my muse) back?

[nanakithewarrior]

He was stirred awake by the passing of another train. It had been a little while since the last one he remembered disturbing his sleep. It was possibly a sign that the city was awake on this side too now. Red could only make conjectures. He had no idea what a city worked like.

Stiff and tired, he stood up from his sleeping spot and stretched. His shoulder still hurt, but not as bad as last night. His fur felt wrong everywhere, but he'd have to leave self-grooming for later. His stomach commanded his full attention.

When he stepped by the door and found Aileth, he felt a bit less dejected. Misery truly loved company.

"Sorry, I think I fell asleep without meaning to." He said, ignoring the next rumble coming from his sides. His ears tilted back, in shame. "Did you sleep well?"

Disheveled and beggarly, her head tilted in confusion, turning the overall appearance into something more approachable. Tired and still so close to his strangely calming presence, the experiments inquisitive nature was showing again- transfixed by the growing glow; barely piecing together that ‘moon’ had something to do with the grey ceiling outside before her attention came fully to the gentle light. She could…almost make out a sound as each tiny spark glittered into and out of existence.

Caught in awe, the experiment was truly startled when the brightness lifted from his fur and drifted across the space.

Conditioning to remain still failed, unsteady and physically unwell; not meaning to react, she accidentally bumped the short stack of boxes by the door. Bare heel hitting a small wood crate, minutely cringing for the coming correction yet there wasn’t more pain… it was more… like the first breath of air after being submerged too long. It wasn’t much but the dizziness from small rush was enough to break her frozen crouch, sitting on the small crate under foot.

Sleeve falling back to staring at the injured arm; the bleeding had slowed long ago yet despite it being relatively small the sight was grisly up close. Sickly mottled burns over torn skin, that went too deep in some spots exposing the muscle shrank; smaller portions quickly, if uncomfortably knit together. Pain eased but not removed; dulled simply thanks to it no longer being concentrated to the lesions. Black veins seeming to fade but had spread further, glowing draconic eyes intensified as even the sclera darkened slightly. Burning sensation climbing and growing separately from the fading gold warmth; a rosy flush rising to her cheeks with a sigh.

This part was so like His infusions; each heartbeat feeling like a dense scalding wave but eventually the marks and fever would fade as chemicals were absorbed…  how an enemy could cause a similar effect was beyond consideration.

~ Never being taught anything beyond what was needed to be a weapon, the experiment could not tell time but understood cycles of light and dark and creatures need of rest for healing. Remaining dutifully stationed by the entrance, senses stretching for anything that might come too close to the exterior of the building. Inside, sights were on the exhausted Handler; idly musing the few clearest, broken memories that sluggishly came and went. Wheeled into an empty lab once more, the other containment unit dismantled and the contrast to the bright feeling now, observing him resting on the strange fuzzy floor.

That slowly building draw felt different now, a hesitance in the undeniable pull after what the two experienced; perhaps this would be different as well. An inexpressible emotion, wanting to follow.

[nanakithewarrior]

Send 💔 for my muse’s reaction to feeling/hearing the last beats of your muse’s heart.

Alternatively, send 💔 Reverse to feel/hear the last beats of my muse’s heart.

[nanakithewarrior]

"You are losing blood." Red said, not quite getting up, but shifting his weight to rest on his belly, like a sphynx, and look at her straightforward. His eye observed her, with particular concern at the red and black staining her skin after she'd wiped it.

He had to help, somehow. But with what little they had, there wasn't much he could do. When his gaze left her to look in longing instinct at the window, he sighed softly.

"This is not going to do much without the moon... but let me try something." He said, lowering his head and closing his eyes in concentration.

The moon might not be there, but being able to at least see the sky's glow made it easier for his mind to recall its form. The shape, the soothing light, the coolness of the night breeze in the canyon. After a few moments of silence, Red XIII's body started to glow with a pale golden aura.

It intensified just a little, making his fur appear yellow for a few seconds, and then it spread out. Leaving the beast's body, it radiated all around, enveloping Aileth and reacting with her own aether. Her stamina would be strengthened. Her energy recovered, at least to a moderate amount.

The Lunatic High wasn't something he could do on a whim. It was a technique that succeeded only on the height of emotion. This small push alone was all he could muster for a while.

Red XIII sighed again, and looked back at her, ears tilted back. "Sorry, this is all I can do, I'm afraid."

The sudden cut off the all the noise with the shut door was already a relief; being out from the wet and covered from the endless grey ceiling made the sound overhead oddly soothing. Hood falling back with a cautious glance to the nearby street, short fabric coverings over the glass obscuring their presence; this area could be defended if discovered but… how an empty space could smell so… smothering. A layer of filth covering the scattering of strange objects throughout the space.

Attention pulled away from the weird collection as he settled further from the door; he was in pain and there was a – want… want? to have some way to ease it. However, he did not seem as agitated or to be critically injured. No visual damage or scent of blood. The watching experiment beginning to calm as well, yet that made the pain harder to ignore. Venomous whispers gone silent, replaced instead with a steady spike behind the eye.

The injuries from the creature… the arm that had held it back, the opposite shoulder and side impaled in the grotesque things desperate flailing. It burned, burned like His sludgy infusions but more potent and centered in the deep wounds that seemed to resist it- her accelerated healing. Blackened edges already retreated, leaving only the thin, dark, creeping veins in the depths of the open gashes and punctures.

Finally wiping away the slowing nosebleed, staring, unconcerned with the reddish black trickle, its colour familiar; the spreading burning sensation intensifying and easing with every heartbeat. Not answering immediately; drained, thoughts were still muddled, except for the attachment to him.

“Damage… slow, is… repairing” Safe, he was safe… handler…it- she would keep watch, and follow. “Can still function.”

[nanakithewarrior]

[nanakithewarrior]

Gratitude as well, huh? Quirky machine indeed.

So much humanity had been put into it... Cloud could call it 'learning', but Red wondered if that was not just another very human-like word the android was simply built to call what boiled down to the mere act of performing in ways that were always possible. Could machines 'learn' things, beyond the scope of what a machine could actually do? Could a car learn how to fly, or to understand human language, without being built to do so from the start?

On one end, he really didn't want to know. On the other, it was really ironic to see. Particularly when Red had been on the receiving end of ShinRa's care. In the labs, creatures like him were treated like machines, forced to execute given commands and then discarded once broken.

He wished he could find that irony funny, instead of enraging.

"Thinking doesn't come naturally to a machine." He said, brooding but calm despite it all. "For that matter, it seems to not come naturally to some humans either. But you are not far off from the answer."

He led Cloud back by the road, slowly as they walked and talked.

"You shouldn't use aggression as an indicator. The doe might run, but what of the bear protecting her cubs? She would attack you, yet she is not a monster. The answer is the mako, as you've mentioned." His voice softened a bit, and the beast sighed, calling back teachings he'd once found so awfully boring. "The aether that flows in the Lifestream is the energy that makes all things. Me. The doe. The trees. The very ground we're stepping on. Even the things you're made of come from it."

He paused to look back, making sure the blonde was listening.

"Knowing this, you'd think mako would not harm us. Maybe you'd even think that the more one has, the merrier. But that is a lie."

A lie that ShinRa will not put to rest.

"The truth is that we are all meant to have only what we were born with. When you get more... you become a monster. Animals who get too close to mako springs become monsters. Animals who are injected with mako become monsters... And so do human beings."

[It's not so much programmed but something I've learnt from Tifa.]

The android thinks back to the first few days of his activation in the Sector 7 Scrapyard.

[Before I would say an answer as soon as possible based on information I come programmed with or nearby connections to ShinRa's internet. Turned out that I would say something very unhelpful or even unrelated if I didn't understand a question. So she told me to [listen and think] before answering. Was this helpful?] CLOUD looked to Red XIII when asked the next question, another that required a bit of thought to understand.

[I suppose an easy answer would be the mako density within the body. Monsters have a higher level of mako than most creatures. I'm unsure why but that's what the scans tell me. However if you want... my input outside of a scan... what I think... I think the aggression of the creature is a factor. The deer had more of a fear response where as a monster would have more aggression. Otherwise I'm unsure. Was this--] CLOUD caught themselves, remembering they're trying to break that habit.

[Thank you for these questions Red XIII, I... don't usually think like this.]

[nanakithewarrior]

Put the most emotional and explosive way your Muse would break up their friendship with mine into my Ask. I’ll write a drabble in response.