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Kunsel in FFVII-97 SOLDIER 2nd coloring.

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That's all you're getting from me.

Kunsel lets the sentence fester in his mind for a scant few moments, but it's clear in the way that his brow frowns ( man he's gonna get wrinkles at this point ) that he did not find that answer anywhere near enough, not after all the time spent searching and worrying and splitting himself in two between working for Shinra and yet working to undermine them.

But… this is a starting point. Sephiroth burned down Nibelheim - another first class losing it. Man… he really didn't want to be promoted, the prospects so far are NOT in his favor, but you can only be so unassuming for so long before your helpful reputation catches up to you.

"Cloud, look, you can't just end it at that. Not with me, not after everything I went through trying to find out what happened in Nibelheim on my own. It's been years and I was still waiting on news from you two." Cloud and Sephiroth, who else would it be? Zack. Zack. Zack. Zack. Zack. Za—

Aerith cuts through the noise in his head, timid and toeing on tipsy, and he relaxes his frown again, lifting a hand to rub at his eyes now that they were uncovered.

"If you two are worried about me, don't. I know the risks. I'm one foot out the door, I'm just looking for the right opportunity." Means he to say that he's been paralyzed by indecision, aware of the reach he has within Shinra and how he'll loose his networking the moment he turns against them. "One wrong move where I am right now, and I'll be labeled something much worse than a deserter." Traitor, betrayer, unlike the others smart enough to leave he'd be easy to corner in and catch given the circumstances at hand.

@heartinhands

Cloud stiffens immediately; the mention of Nibelheim makes a shadow pass over his face, receding into himself like his namesake. He swallows, lips thinning. Talking about Nibelheim is hard for anyone for a variety of reasons / he's glad Tifa isn't here. He raises his beer can to his lips and presses it there, considering. Cloud trusts Kunsel. But Kunsel is still SOLDIER and Shinra and getting him too involved is dangerous; Kunsel is still SOLDIER and Shinra and Cloud knows better than anyone how much Shinra paints Sephiroth as their golden boy, how desperate they have been to avoid talking about it because it'll be a genie in a bottle they can't put back and Cloud already doesn't want to put down his old comrade in the way he's going to have to. But that's how the cookie crumbles. That's what happens when you're the hero. You kill your old friends and defend your honor. Something like that.

He shakes his head; in a manner too brusque to be described as apologetic or maybe because it's Cloud it's the perfect amount of stand-offish and sorrowful at once. "I'm not giving you all the answers. I'm not putting you in danger..." he pauses, the word suddenly foreign when he follows up with, "buddy." A taut frown. Cloud turns his cup around a few times in his palms and tries not to think about it too much.

"Sephiroth isn't dead. But he's..." glassy-green-blue eyes focus on nothing except a small shiny artificial halo blooming on the edge of his can. It's terrible. I really admired him. Putting this in the vaguest possible terms so Kunsel will feel satisfied without making him want to learn more is going to be difficult. "Something happened to him and I have to stop him. He burned down Nibelheim, Kunsel, and he's not gonna stop there." A determined sip of his drink. "Don't ask anything else about it. That's all you're getting from me." For your own good. He gives Aerith a sort of similar look, one that's not quite begging but that implores them to try and be a little confidential about it nonetheless. There's a lot Cloud doesn't really remember about it anymore but he'll never forget those flames and their heat.

@spirestar

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WEIRDLY SPECIFIC BUT HELPFUL CHARACTER BUILDING QUESTIONS — @heartinhands

14. How do they put out a candle?

Blows it out, doesn't really think about it too much. Might pinch it out if he knows his company freaks out at it, which he thinks its a little funny.

27. What’s the worst gift they ever received? How did they respond?

Novelty underwear with an animal print on the front from one of his squad mates. Yes he had to wear them as part of a bet. No he didn't live it down for a while. After the novelty wore off he chucked it in the depths of his wardrobe and never saw it again.

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"Someone's got to keep the program running after everything that happened." Kunsel offers a half shrug, mostly joking but also not really, not at all, taking on way too much responsibility onto his own shoulders to protect the guys left behind. "Shinra parades us like show dogs and they're running us like a kennel."

Because Shinra doesn't care about them, never has, not on an individual level - but that's where Kunsel finds himself, stuck on his vantage point of all that he knows… and what use has it gotten until now? All of his knowledge amounts to nothing tangible, Cloud standing right there in front of him was proof enough of it.

His eyes then flick between Aerith and Cloud, catching onto her slight permission to pose his questions… and he takes it, taking effort to be mindful of Cloud's uh… whole deal.

"I could talk about myself all you like, but you know me," or think you do, he thinks, "all about work all the time. Are you planning on filling me in at all on what happened in Nibelheim? Spent a couple years going crazy trying to figure things out."

Thing is... here, now? Maybe not the place. And somewhere else, later Kunsel can't be because he's still... SOLDIER. He's still Shinra. But his answers are right there, just waiting to be spilled. His PHS beeps again with another message, and Kunsel huffs as he holds up a hand as is signaling "hold that thought", pulling out his phone with practiced ease and checking what was up. An alert to let him know he was back on duty in about 45 minutes. He pulls a face - he's kind of being put on the spot here.

"Sorry, again, work."

@heartinhands

By the time Cloud wanders back he's really not sure how much time has passed. The bartender had tried and tried again to get his attention, succeeding only for him to sink back into a reverie of nothing and everything. The mako, huh, the bartender said, sympathizing, shaking her head a little sadly as she put some free shot of something in front of him, That stuff does crazy things to your body, right? Cloud remembers the shot burned but he doesn't remember what he had said in reply.

After the shot did its work he suddenly realized Aerith had sent him on a mission and the hero had abandoned her--mako-blue eyes lighting up, bartender flashing a cheeky little smile at him when she realized the alcohol had done Something, Anything-at-all to the SOLDIER she was hoping to make a great tip off of. The smile became more cheeky when he requested a pink umbrella in the strawberry basil gin fizz he decided to order for Aerith. The hero rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively and blushed a little. No it's not for me he'd said, gesturing with his head at the huge sunhat bobbing in the distance talking to the other-SOLDIER and the bartender had said that's a cute hat and the hero hadn't said anything else because he's Not Interested.

He closes his (really it's his and Aerith's) tab and returns with their drink and some sort of mango pale ale for himself, setting the cup gently into Aerith's open hands. "Here you go."

(Cloud has forgotten being sent / away or being / angry or anything before / is glad to see / Kunsel and Aerith hanging out and notes the tired expression in his buddy's gaze / and that Aerith's shoulders are stiffer than before.)

Now that mako-infused look flits up to Kunsel and his bad case of helmet hair. Someone else says, "You don't look half-bad even though Shinra's running you ragged," through Cloud's mouth.

@spirestar

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Everything he says seems to have an adverse effect, Aerith's expression a myriad of complicated emotions barely held at bay. This is just… so complicated, this wasn't how he saw his day going but now it's not like he can just drop this now.

"… Fine. I can work with that. I won't hound him." A concession, Kunsel inhales deeply and sighs deeply again, attempting to cool his nerves and not get ahead of himself. Both hands raise and he reaches for his helmet, dragging it and the balaclava below off of his head, a hand moving to ruffle flattened curls back to life before running over his face.

His expression is now fully visible, and it softens at the sight of her now face to face. The mess of his emotions isn't on Aerith, he's tried to not lean too hard on her with the depth of his heartache or to take out his frustrations on her. He can trust her enough to share what she knows in time, right? He used to be able to be patient, where did that go?

"It's good to see you. Haven't said that yet, have I?" He sets the helmet down on the table behind him and leans against it. "I'm glad you're seeing the world... even if you're following what's supposed to be a dead man."

@heartinhands

Aerith doesn't know what might hurt Cloud. She grimaces--Kunsel is the one who's being hurt, clearly, with the quiet shift in his demeanor, that sad flash in his gaze and a sigh that makes them feel like they're both teenagers again. "I know," she mutters, lifting her wrist to her forehead anxiously. He does deserve answers. She's wanted them, too, but Aerith is willing to be patient. Aerith believes in right times and right places and finding them anywhere. She believes she's here for a purpose, even if she's making the reason herself.

"I've been trying to tell you because I talked to both of them, I was--" They frown again but this time it's at themself. "You're my friend too. I don't want to--You're all--" What? Important? You all deserve something that none of you will get out of this. She can't say that. It's not her choice. "I want you to know, too. But..."

This is becoming another one of those scenarios that Aerith feels an audience too rather than a player. Times that she feels so out of her body and far away and useless. She hates those. But Kunsel deserves answers and she can't stop him, not really. She can only try to protect her friends in the ways available to her. "I'll help you talk to him. But if I tell you to stop something, you have to. Or I'll be very mad at you. And I'd do the same to him." They know Kunsel knows them well enough to believe they mean it. He heard Zack call her stubborn too many times, has sat with her too many hours to believe she'll simply wilt away and watch them talk.

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Kunsel crosses his arms again, a physical attempt to stop himself from spewing more questions, more unfounded accusations-not-accusations, and he lets himself stew in Aerith's words. Because he's listening, yes, but is he listening really? To what she's saying, to what she's implying, to the spaces between what is said and what is not?

He's good at that, usually. Why is it so hard now? … He doesn't bother answering that to himself, eyes falling to the glint of the Buster Sword in the hot sun.

Kunsel doesn't deal so good without answers to his questions.

"Aerith - I'm not going to hurt him, not if he doesn't do anything." He cuts her off, a single hand raising to gesture placatingly, a sigh escaping him as he shakes his head, hating that he has to reassure her of his intentions. "But I need to know what he thinks happened. I deserve that much after all this time trying to find out on my own, c'mon." Here his voice turns softer, quieter, almost pleading - his turn to whisper now. "Especially when you're saying there's someone else that can corroborate his version of events."

@spirestar

"Yes, and it's--" Aerith chews on her cheek and lets her hands drop to her sides again, balled into fists that press her nails into her palms firmly. "I trust him because he couldn't have made it all up. There's too much detail but not enough because of--" Whatever's happened to him. She shakes her head to shoo the thought away; "And someone else who was there confirmed it. As much of it as she could." Again she thinks of Tifa, of her teary eyes and how the story in the air made Aerith feel like she could smell the smoke. They feel too protective for a moment to even consider explaining her involvement further, so they storm past the idea and add, "Cloud is from Nibelheim, he lost people."

He wouldn't make that up. Aerith gets that fierce look in her eyes again, her frown a challenge. She's not sure any of them will like whatever answer Cloud can give to Kunsel's questions. But Aerith knows, too, that there's only so much she can do to protect him without point blank running away--That Cloud would follow her, yes, but she'd lose another friend as soon as her feet turned her around. Caught between a rock and a hard place but what is a god&@#$ hard place?? She can't think of Kunsel as an obstacle that way, not after she already had to do the same with the Turks.

"I think you can tell that'll be a bad idea, Kunsel. I've told you as much as I know from what he can remember, and that was when things had happened to, to--" They hesitate for a second. How can they describe what's been happening to Cloud? He's not usually open about it unless she catches him clutching his head, can pull him out of space long enough to get a pained half-answer. He's scared of worrying her, or just plain scared. "To bring it up."

As Kunsel's PHS beeps, Aerith's eyes flick wide for a moment, the sound familiar enough to make her heart jump just once. There can't be anyone else coming, right? Their head turns on a swivel quickly enough to spy Cloud's seated figure and nothing else out of the ordinary. No suited silhouettes or echoing beeps from other Shinra staff's. She gives a puff of an exhale / It's impossible for her not to keep on edge when it's just the two of them talking, Shinra a constant topic of conversation and fear, and maybe that's why her voice raises just a bit, squeezing tight in her throat. "Kunsel had better not hurt Cloud, I don't want either of you to--"

@sentmail @heartinhands

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There's a few moments of silence after Aerith leans over and whispers in his ear. Sephiroth is what happened to Nibelheim. Sephiroth. Kunsel couldn't see it, and yet he also could? Especially considering what happened around that time with Angeal and Genesis, and how much that affected the normally stoic SOLDIER. Zack didn't tell him much, but he often shared he wished he could do more for the man, that it was hard to give him any sort of support due to how closed off he tended to be. At the time Kunsel could have understood it, the man just lost his two closest friends… but hearing what he heard now he feels almost angry.

What could she mean Sephiroth was what happened in Nibelheim? What? Did he just lose it? With Zack right there? Is that why Zack was in hiding?

Kunsel stands there silently for a few moments more before his head turns to look to Aerith, and then to Cloud, only to look back at Aerith. It's clear that he's stewing in his thoughts under that helmet of his, and he bites his lip to stop himself from stewing all the questions that spring in his mind. Like a hound dog, he wants to chase the leads placed in front of him, and he has half a mind to go over to Cloud and shake the answers out of him.

"Cloud's told you what happened in Nibelheim?" His voice is clipped, almost hurt, but he reminds himself that Cloud also thinks that they're friends, so not the most reliable narrator. "… How can you trust what he says?" He doesn't ask it to be mean, a genuine question from someone who just had a mess of conflicting truths handed over to him. "When he gets back I want to talk to him."

It's not the time or the place, but he wants the truth, and he wants it now, he's been searching for it for the past half a decade… his job entirely forgotten even as his PHS beeps twice in the alert of a message.

@spirestar

Aerith isn't exactly apt to handle it either--Or she doesn't feel like she is. They're trying their hardest to do it anyway. To be a good friend to everyone they're traveling with, to willingly give trust to people, to believe when even they aren't sure. Aerith, for as genuine as her kindness is, knows that there's a degree of a well-intentioned persona that guides some of the way she interacts with people. They care too much to always show when they're afraid or sad, they get the monopoly on worrying!

Kunsel is someone who they've always done the same with: Zack was gone and Aerith refused to play the lonely girl part even if Kunsel, of everyone, would have understood it. Doing that would mean Zack was really gone, that of the few people she was connected to, even fewer were still alive. It hurt too much. And now there's Cloud who they can only hope can be saved from... Whatever happened to Zack. Cloud was there. He remembers what he remembers, the bits and pieces handed over to she and Tifa and the others filled with holes and pauses and his frustration with recollecting. But Sephiroth, he--

"Kunsel," Aerith frowns seriously. They've always been honest with Kunsel, regardless of the things they did to protect their own heart, and they're not going to change that now. Her voice lowers further, each word like a bomb she's trying not to jostle too much and set off, and she scooches onto her tiptoes to whisper closer to his ear, "Sephiroth is what happened to Nibelheim."

This is probably the wrong venue to be saying something so serious: Her hat flops stupidly in the gentle beach breeze and the salt in the air smells fresh, will likely leave Aerith's hair wavier than ever when they head back to their lodgings. There shouldn't be giggles and laughter and sweet drinks around when she breaks something that'd been kept from both of them for so long. She'd like to forget everything and start this over; Kunsel should get to enjoy his time in Costa del Sol. Not have her pummel his peace to death. "He's not... Whatever he is now, he's not right. He was in the Shinra Building and the people I've been traveling with--" He knows who, she reminds herself, no need to risk saying their names here, "we've been following him."

About this, there is no room in their expression for doubt. Sephiroth is responsible for what happened five years ago. Sephiroth who should have been dead like all the others on Shinra's list of unrecovered bodies. Kunsel may have very few reasons to trust it, but she adds, "Cloud saw it happen," anyway. She trusts him. Tifa remembers it too, even if she won't say more without making a face so sad it breaks Aerith's heart. And suddenly she remembers something else. They start to worry one thumb over the other, their gaze casting down to the sand again. Sephiroth knew Gast, she thinks, stricken. It's something that no one else will understand, that she does only because of her mother's stories. How could he do all of this? To people? To the planet? "That's why," she says firmly. She can't afford to get angry about it all now. Not when they so badly want Kunsel to know they're telling the truth.

@sentmail

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Not doing it on purpose. Genuinely believes what he's saying. It paints a grim picture of Cloud's mental state.

This is a delicate situation then. Kunsel wishes he could convince himself he was apt to handle it but at times he knows he has all the subtlety of a power drill when trying to get to the bottom of something. He'll have to… What? What can he even do right now to find out more? Follow after them? After years of paralyzed inaction the thought feels daunting, unreasonable, he'd just be painting a target on himself and telling Shinra to come get him.

… He's a coward, a thrum of ache going through his chest. He should've deserted all those years ago, when Zack first went missing, maybe then he could've found him, done something.

Kunsel swallows his thoughts and sighs wearily, gaze falling to the side, watching the waves in the distance as he gathers his thoughts - more things to be sorry for. Cloud saved me. All the while Kunsel had no idea what was going on until it was all over with, stationed in Junon away from the action, left to read the mess of reports after the fact.

"Aerith, I --" He wants to hurt Shinra too, Kunsel wants to say, he does it in his own way, leaking information to anti-Shinra cells and protecting independent journalists as much as he could. But his thoughts are entirely interrupted as his mind catches up with Aerith's words.

Sephiroth. Sephiroth? He's alive? Another thread, another lead. Yet one more person "dead" running around.

He's dumbfounded for a few moments before he can find his voice again, lowering it to a conspiratorial whisper - he's heard of sightings but they were all insubstantial, evidence less, easy to discredit.

"Sephiroth..? You mean he's also out there? Why would Cloud want to hurt him?" The Sephiroth he knew was a bastion of stability in the program, handling way too much responsibility since he was way too young, but doing it with a grace that was to be aspired to. He truly has no idea what transpired in Nibelheim, not fully.

@spirestar

"No, it's not your fault, it's--" They shake their head when he apologizes and let their hands fall back in front of them, clasp their fingers together tightly.

Aerith doesn't blame Kunsel. In truth, he and Zack knew each other much better than she was ever able to know him. Even when Zack first went missing she hadn't been jealous of that. It made her happy. Zack had people who cared for him and were holding onto him. He wouldn't disappear from memory because Shinra wanted it. And now she's glad for the same thing for Cloud--Whatever's happened to him, she's certain now that he was almost erased too. Not SOLDIER, was part of the very same mission as Zack, steeped in Mako and lost. There's no real way for her to know the truth unless Cloud tells her, but she and Kunsel both know that Zack would never leave anyone behind. He'd only done that to them because he was in danger. Right?

"I wish too." She reaches to pat Kunsel's arm softly and then folds her hands again. It would make the explanation a lot more straightforward if Zack were here. Why can Cloud do so many things a SOLDIER could? How can he possibly know Sephiroth if Zack was the one--? Aerith shakes her head. Too many moving parts. She doesn't want to speculate on her own anymore while using Shinra's version of events that Kunsel relayed to her years ago for reference; They sigh softly and it wobbles their bangs. "But I know he's not doing it on purpose. Cloud is too--"

Vague in the quiet? Shell-like when he isn't fighting, and even sometimes when he is? Clearly hurt by Aerith sending him away but not able to say it? He's too different from Zack to be trying to be him fully. They poke at him too much to not see that, and even Kunsel must have spotted that strange, faraway look on Cloud's face as he left. Aerith wants to scrub her hands up and down her face roughly and stomp her foot. There's a weird anxious pressure in her chest. "Cloud saved me," she exhales and it doesn't help dislodge it. Makes it worse. But still, a small smile finds its way back onto her face.

"He's a good friend. He doesn't want to hurt anyone but Shinra, Kunsel. And--" she hadn't even thought to mention, but now he's on her mind again, too, flashing bright and all wrong and Aerith swallows, her eyes going wide for just a split second, not sure how much Kunsel already knows about what's happened, how much the corporation documented AVALANCHE and the escape and Hojo and, and--they take another step closer, adding quietly, "and... Sephiroth."

@sentmail

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"Aerith… that's not what I'm saying." Sure, but it is what he is thinking, isn't it? Maybe, but Kunsel is allowed to have his thoughts and stew in them until he comes up with a better explanation, no? He can see Aerith's just trying to keep him from immediately jumping for the worst conclusion possible, mind making connections from the view point of someone that's been in the trenches of Shinra's conspiracies - he is extremely biased, can't be helped.

And now he has here this random guy, apparently believing he was friends with Kunsel all along, carrying the Buster Sword, acting like he was an ex-SOLDIER… Basically taking over Zack's life. How was Kunsel supposed to think anything other than he was doing it on purpose? Because if Zack had helped him like Aerith's suggesting… why isn't he around? Would he just ditch the Buster Sword?

"Maybe he didn't steal it… but he obviously took it." Kunsel chews on the inside of his cheek and has half a mind to berate himself for letting his mind wander there immediately, doubting Aerith's trust in the guy... But Zack's his best friend, still. He can't help but protect the idealized image of him he's grown to have. "Sorry. You're right. Zack probably set him up and helped him. I just wish I knew where he was, it'd make this way easier to figure out."

If she knew anything… She'd tell him. They spent enough time together in the uncertainty of waiting to understand the ache it leaves behind.

"Look, he wasn't SOLDIER, not when I knew him, not when Zack went to Nibelheim. Whatever happened in that last mission… he's clearly gone under the enhancement procedures." The mako glow in his eyes is unmistakable… although a little sickly green looking.

@spirestar

"I don't..." Aerith's face falls as Cloud turns away and she worries the fingernails of one hand over the brim of her sun hat. Her bangs tousle when she shakes her head, sadness and hope intertwined in the way her eyes catch the bright sunlight above them. "He was?" Friends with Zack? It's a comfort--They thought he must've been, practically knew it, but to have it confirmed and set in stone, that they haven't been unfair to Cloud seeing things where they aren't or connecting his stories to things that have nothing to do with him. Her mouth curls up into an incredibly weak and pinched smile. "I think he believes it."

Aerith is sorry, too. But not like Kunsel biting off the impulse to apologize for honesty. Aerith is sorry she doesn't know more. She's never had the answers about anything. Cloud is her friend, though, and Kunsel is too. "He must've killed Zack, or stolen it from him..." They put on a slightly gruffer imitation of Kunsel's voice when they say it, waving a finger. Any other day it would be funny. Now it just makes Aerith's heart hurt. "That's what Kunsel is thinking, right?" They cross their arms over their chest uncharacteristically fierce. Defensive. There's no coldness, she wouldn't know how to aim that at Kunsel, but she's firm. Maybe it's unfair but she'd fend for both of them if they needed her to. Cloud is just the one being suspected now. "I can't believe that. I can't." She swallows. Her shoulders curl up around her like a cage.

"Zack, he... Wherever he is, he must've helped him. Cloud. Something isn't right with all of it, but he's not. Cloud wouldn't--Not if they were friends." Cloud is lonely. Cloud is hurt. Cloud thinks Kunsel is his friend and Aerith has only seen that familiar look of recognition in his eyes a few times, his words skipping and stuttering. Kunsel is lonely. Kunsel is hurt. Kunsel is isolated and suffering and Shinra has taken everything again and again. Aerith is lonely and that's never been new. They're worried and afraid and want to help and know they can't do a single thing--And they don't say any of those feelings out loud.

She follows his gaze toward the bar and asks Kunsel while watching Cloud almost disappear in front of her eyes, "But what you're saying... So he's not SOLDIER?" Then how--? They tear their eyes back over to try and meet Kunsel's but of course can't find them under his helmet. It only makes them feel more defeated and look it, too. Maybe if they weren't out in the open, were back in Midgar in Sector 5, everyone hiding and forgotten, maybe she'd know how to handle this. Something familiar to ground her. As it stands, Aerith lifts both her hands and holds them up helplessly at the sides of her face, so lost in the logic of it all that she forgets how to smile in the face of it. Her eyes drag to footprints in the sand. They shouldn't stare Kunsel down while they disappoint him. After all the times he's tried to share information with her, the one time he asks for some back she comes up empty. "Kunsel, I don't--Then I--"

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Kunsel watches Cloud leave with apprehension, an awkwardness that only leaves him once the blond turns his back on them and shuffles off towards the bar like a dog shooed away. He almost feels bad, but those feelings are secondary to the whirlwind of thoughts that rush through his head, mind making connections and assumptions with what little he knows and has seen - but he can't rely on them, not when there's clearly much more at play here.

Aerith looks almost guilty she not so subtly asked Cloud to leave the two of them alone, but Kunsel is glad she did, they needed a moment.

Mostly to ask what the hell is going on.

Once he's sure they're out of earshot, Kunsel sighs, the sound clipped and somewhat uncomfortable, turning to face Aerith with an unreadable expression. "… I don't know him, not like that at least." He confesses, and he almost has a mind to sound apologetic but what was there to apologize for? The truth? "He was actually Zack's friend - there wasn't a department where he didn't have at least one friend, you know? I met Cloud a couple times, I think… but it was work related, we weren't buddy-buddy."

Kunsel crosses his arms again, eyes glancing at where Cloud sat at the bar - catching the barman trying to get the 'ex-SOLDIER's attention. There's clearly something up with him… but where Kunsel's gaze lingers is the Buster Sword.

"… That's Zack's sword." He says, quietly, and looks at Aerith like they might have the answers. "Is he…" What is he even trying to ask? Does Aerith think he's acting? Is this a case of stolen valor? He's heard the reports, he knows Cloud has done some feats only expected of SOLDIER… but that just leaves more questions than answers. "Do you think he believes what he's saying, or do you think he's just playing?"

@spirestar

Aerith kind of wants to close her eyes. Cloud smiles and he's hardly ever done that since she met him, too locked up in whatever is happening to him, to all of them. I want to meet you, but where is he? She won't dare to ask how they know each other, not yet, not when she'd never heard of Cloud before they met, when Kunsel's never mentioned him and she knows everyone else Zack cared about is long gone, the living and the dead.

Kunsel is searching her face and he finds a meek sort of smile. A promise to make good on his patience. She breathes a small laugh when he holds out the umbrella and takes it between her fingers gingerly, like he or she or all of them might be made of fragile glass. "I've been practicing, too," she adds softly, knowing that to Kunsel this might even sound like a dangerous fact--she's running with AVALANCHE after all, after all this time trying to stay hidden--and turns to Cloud, leaning into his personal space so his chin is almost on top of her head.

"See, he's not so bad!" Her voice springs back up like when she first tried to sell him a flower, bright like sunbeams, "Maybe you've known each other longer, but you don't get to hog Kunsel!" And they hold out the umbrella for Cloud to take, "Will you get me a new drink? We can put this in it!" For a second she searches his face, too, that recognition swimming in his glowing eyes so clearly that Aerith feels like she could feel it under his skin too, more feeling than she's seen in his face for a while, clinging to him like the sweat they're all feeling in this heat. Or maybe he's grabbing onto it with white knuckles. She doesn't know Cloud well enough. She wishes that was different. "Kunsel can have my old one." Right? She tips her head slightly and her hat slidessss toward the SOLDIER a little.

They hope Cloud can see that she's going to explain: They hold his gaze forcefully, willing him to find in the fondness and concern there and know that they're not trying to hide things from him to be mean. Even if she feels terrible--How could they have met before?? Even if he doesn't feel like she's been lying, or any of his concern over it is now being eclipsed by whatever memory he's mentioning to Kunsel; Her teasing tone lilts the same as ever. "You have to pick what I get this time, Mr. Cloud."

@heartinhands

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We don't know. Don't know? How can he not know what happened, why is Aerith cutting in and answering for Cloud? Cloud was there, in Nibelheim, he should know what went down - unless he's hiding it from her on purpose… but Aerith is more perceptive than that, there's not a thing you can hide from her if she has her mind set on wringing it out of you.

They're similar like that.

She seems to trust Cloud, stands between the two of them to keep peace. Every second that passes fills Kunsel with an uneasy uncertainty that he doesn't know how to handle, gripping his arms tighter, hugging them against himself for a brief moment before relaxing as Aerith tries so hard to lighten the mood again - she's uncomfortable, and he hates that him trying to pry is making her so sad. He's getting the hint that this is something they should talk about alone, without Cloud there.

And it's not like Cloud looks too happy to be dealing with him, no doubt feeling pressured by the sight of a proper SOLDIER First Class, daring to even scoff at his implication that Cloud wasn't the real deal, giving Kunsel atitude even as Aerith plays peace keeper.

Until she says Kunsel's name.

He was looking at Aerith when a sudden exclamation breaks free of Cloud's lips, tone completely diferente from the sulking one used up to this point. The expression that greets him is oddly… familiar, almost surprised, like he hadn't recognized Kunsel until now. Which was fair, as the rare times they crossed paths in the past Kunsel was Second Class.

But… The way he's talking is too animated to belong to the guy that had been staring daggers at him since the start of this conversation. It's like he thinks they were friends once.

He tries to mask his confusion, helmet thankfully hiding the deepening furrow of his brows, but the silence that stretches on after Cloud speaks is telling - until Kunsel glances at Aerith. Something was up here. Something she knows.

"Right… I don't hold it against you, buddy." Kunsel speaks it as a means of placating the conversation, not wanting to immediately pull the rug from under the guy and start arguing that he doesn't know him, but it's clear from his tone an edge of uncertainty is there, his eyes lingering on Aerith before he finally meets Cloud's way too familiar gaze. "Lots of things happened while you were… gone."

When the distraction of the drink umbrela is given, he gladly takes it, uncrossing his arms and reaching behind him for his caipirinha and picking out the decorative toothpick, offering it to the two of them. "Won't catch me saying no to Aerith - she hits hard." He offers a slightly unsteady smile, playing along only because he does't have the full picture yet. Kunsel takes another sip - he needs it.

@spirestar

Kunsel keeps the smile on his face, not wanting to sour the mood immediately, but a pointed stare is sent in Cloud's direction at his commentary. 'He's still SOLDIER' is a great input that isn't immediately obvious. And who asked, exactly...?

"The guy passing as ex-SOLDIER." Kunsel adds on to Aerith's introduction of him, nodding in slight recognition. He's been hearing a lot of things... and feeling immensely frustrated that he's pulled away from the action every single time. Seems like he caught a lucky break, finally.

"For work they'll happily send me anywhere, I'm just still overdue a proper vacation. Don't remember what it means to relax at this point, got them breathing down my neck every moment of the day."

Cloud squints at him funny. Kunsel does too - taking in the full details now that they were face to face and — the sword. That's... there's no way around it, that's the Buster Sword. The reports were right. No doubt his expression turns somewhat cold at this point now, a frown to the brow hidden behind a helmet but his lips form a tight line as he finally has an opportunity to ask the questions that have been driving him mad.

What happened? Where's Zack?

"Where did you —" They speak at once, and he snaps his mouth shut at the question directed at him, momentarily stunned by the bluntness offered. The boyfriend...? How clueless is this guy? He can't seriously not know. "... No. No we never dated." Although there might or might not have been a moment of weakness where he was charmed by the idea - not that he'd ever confess that now, his gaze briefly glancing at Aerith fondly. "We became friends after Zack went missing." The name slips from him easily, why shouldn't it? He looks at Aerith with a slight tilt to his head, questioning what she had and hadn't told Cloud, crossing his arms idly.

@spirestar

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Kunsel keeps the smile on his face, not wanting to sour the mood immediately, but a pointed stare is sent in Cloud's direction at his commentary. 'He's still SOLDIER' is a great input that isn't immediately obvious. And who asked, exactly...?

"The guy passing as ex-SOLDIER." Kunsel adds on to Aerith's introduction of him, nodding in slight recognition. He's been hearing a lot of things... and feeling immensely frustrated that he's pulled away from the action every single time. Seems like he caught a lucky break, finally.

"For work they'll happily send me anywhere, I'm just still overdue a proper vacation. Don't remember what it means to relax at this point, got them breathing down my neck every moment of the day."

Cloud squints at him funny. Kunsel does too - taking in the full details now that they were face to face and — the sword. That's... there's no way around it, that's the Buster Sword. The reports were right. No doubt his expression turns somewhat cold at this point now, a frown to the brow hidden behind a helmet but his lips form a tight line as he finally has an opportunity to ask the questions that have been driving him mad.

What happened? Where's Zack?

"Where did you —" They speak at once, and he snaps his mouth shut at the question directed at him, momentarily stunned by the bluntness offered. The boyfriend...? How clueless is this guy? He can't seriously not know. "... No. No we never dated." Although there might or might not have been a moment of weakness where he was charmed by the idea - not that he'd ever confess that now, his gaze briefly glancing at Aerith fondly. "We became friends after Zack went missing." The name slips from him easily, why shouldn't it? He looks at Aerith with a slight tilt to his head, questioning what she had and hadn't told Cloud, crossing his arms idly.

@spirestar

"You're here?" Aerith only half-squeaks the words out before she finishes off her dash over with a barreling sort of hug, doused with immediate relief that she hasn't messed up again, hasn't dragged Cloud with her into another dangerous confrontation, and that--"I didn't either!" She thought he might be dead! What must Shinra have been saying all this time about what's happened? About Avalanche and the Turks? And Hojo? Aerith tries not to bristle at the strange sort of deja vu that suddenly makes her throat go bone dry. Oh man, she thinks.

"Oh man.." and the words come out loud, too. Hahhhh, how weird! Her smile doesn't fall short of a beam all the while, though, and she lets out a little laugh of delight as he greets her, not even sure where to begin. Aerith's heart feels like it might burst for how glad they are not to have lost anyone else. "I'm just--Oh!" She turns halfway to motion toward Cloud who is looking particularly on guard and, well, that just makes sense doesn't it. They pat the side of his arm gently like that might get him to take a breath (and not just make him more embarrassed or confused, which is likely incorrect). "This is Cloud. He's been helping me since--" Aerith wobbles a hand in the air like leaves in the wind. Since you know. Because Kunsel must, she's sure. Some of it at least. He's First Class and Sephiroth is involved--But there's no way Kunsel would turn them in. The possibility never crosses her mind, all of them standing in Zack's shadow. She nods back at Cloud with a twinge of an apology in her smile and adds, "It's okay, he's a friend!" Then she whips around, a flower stem leaning in the breeze, "You got to come home? I thought you said they weren't letting you--?"

@heartinhands

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Fun fact! The reason Kunsel is always wearing his helmet in Crisis Core is because he is considered so beautiful, nothing would get done if anyone knew what he looked like. He is strictly forbidden from ever removing the helmet, lest the world grind to a halt as everyone basks in his beauty.

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First Class SOLDIERs are few and far between, have always been, and their work is often specialized towards a particular occupation.

... Or well, once upon a time it worked like that — now instead of working in the Intel Division and Stealth Operations, Kunsel's stuck working some babysitting mission to a big name CEO partying in Costa Del Sol. They're just keeping him busy, he knows.

So in a brief moment of respite, he's sipping a caipirinha against the shaded side of the open air bar, a nice image of someone that doesn't seem like they want to be bothered, no doubt having been cut loose for only a few hours before he was back following Guy Smith or whatever his name was around. Still, a couple starry eyed kids pass by him here or there, especially when he too was a local. Someone from Costa Del Sol made SOLDIER First class! A point of pride!

... Not. Kunsel hates the feeling of their eyes on him, the kids aspiring to be just like him; if only they knew the horrors he would come to learn... but he just smiles and pets them on the back before shooing them off.

And it's this feeling of being watched that has him glance around the bar a couple times before his eyes settle in on the couple making shifty eyes at him - not unusual, SOLDIER inspires just as much fear as it inspires awe, but something about their behavior was more squirrely than that... until the girl in the hat meets his gaze and suddenly he can see her under the brim of her hat — that's...!

"Aerith?" The slight shock but audible fondness is audible in his voice, and for a moment he's awestruck by her presence, focused entirely on her as he opens his arms in a familiar gesture, getting off of his bar seat and facing her fully. He sees the guy following behind her, and his training doesn't let him ignore his presence long, and he's already feeling an off sense of recognition, mind filling in the blanks of what he knows happened in Midgar even if he wasn't there himself. "I thought I'd never see you again."

When she's close enough, he leans in for a kiss at each cheek, as they've done many times before. @spirestar

"Well, you can't charm 'em all, Mr. Cloud," she winks and her cheeks, rosy from feeling more sun on their skin than they can ever remember, bunch up by their eyes when they smile. "Maybe the bartender was jealous you got me my drink!" Aerith leans in to grab at her straw and make an obnoxious slurping noise as she lets her gaze follow the path of Cloud's--Aw. So that's why he brought it up. If seeing that helmet again didn't make her think about things she'd rather not, if they were anyone else, she'd have half a mind to try and trade umbrellas. Well...

Aerith turns a little in her seat and her hat does a pretty good job of blocking her face as she keeps making the annoying noise with her drink and pushing ice cubes around. Mostly to see if it bothers Cloud. But also to gauge if the very second this SOLDIER sees them, they might go on high alert. She is scared. It's a risk; Shinra is more than just after them, this isn't like the Turks or the others they've met as they travel, but it's not like any of them are supposed to be here... "At least you got a blue one! Maybe I can trade mine for--" She reaches over his arm to poke at his umbrella, too, and then snatches up her own and twirls it between her thumb and pointer finger as she tilts her head enough to catch a glimpse of the SOLDIER after they've turned. !!! "Wait--" That can't be--? Aerith pops out of her seat, drink forgotten, and her arm slips away from Cloud's as she scuttles through the sand, her feet slogging as she heads toward the SOLDIER--

@heartinhands

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