[log] it's in the air and it's all around [closed]

[devoutish]

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Emily Kaldwin, Royce Melborn, Tifa Lockhart
Location building 241 and building 242, then ???
Date: morning of 162 through ???
Summary: rescue, hallucinations, eventual mourning of dead people; it's gonna be a party for sure
Warnings: n/a; will edit if anything comes up

Catch-all for EVERYTHING - rescuing the blind gangster asshole, dealing with the event-induced static, etc. Top-level and tag as you see fit.

Comments

[powersouls]

Do you actually care?

[bywolves]

[ Another long pause, like he isn't going to answer, and then he looks over at her, slowly. ]

Yes.

[powersouls]

[Tifa chews on her lip for a moment, hard enough to hurt. She doesn't really know if she wants to talk at all. She doesn't know if she trusts Royce not to be an asshole about this. She studies him, tugging the blanket a little more tightly around herself.]

Aigis messaged me. She said... She said Nathan got locked out.

[bywolves]

[ He has to make a conscious effort not to be an asshole. It's hard. ]

When?

[powersouls]

[Tifa is keeping her voice very quiet, afraid it'll start shaking.]

She called me just before we left to get Alfie.

[bywolves]

[ He's not in a good enough place to help. He shouldn't try. He doesn't want to try.

Royce drags himself to his feet, slowly. Pulls off his cloak, and moves to Tifa, dropping it over her. He can't convince himself to sit down next to her. It's too much, and he's feeling too much, and he's not stupid. He knows it might not be a good idea to let her close to him right now. ]

He'll come back. [ Is what he offers. ]

[powersouls]

[It's far more than she expected, and her chest tightens as she pulls the cloak close, letting her head drop so he won't see the tears in her eyes. She should just leave it at that, nod and say of course he will, but what comes out instead, shaky and weak, is:]

Cloud hasn't.

[bywolves]

You don't need them. [ It gets out before he can stop it. He grits his teeth a little. What does he say to this? He's no good at helping. ] They're better off not being here.

[powersouls]

[Better off not here, maybe, but certainly not better off dead. Tifa shakes her head firmly.]

No, I do need them. I need you, too. I can't... I can't do things like this on my own. I'm not like you and Alfie, I'm...

[Her breathing hitches, and she bites her lip again, hands curling into fists in the fabric of his cloak. She's so, so sick of crying and so sick of feeling this helpless.]

[bywolves]

You can. Give yourself more credit. [ To his credit, he manages to just sound annoyed rather than rude. ] If you didn't have us you would make it fine.

[powersouls]

[He doesn't get it, she thinks. She's never really been on her own, and even the thought of it terrifies her. Tifa's not really sure she's strong enough to get through things alone, but she doesn't want to fight with him, either. It takes her a bit to respond, and when she does, she just sounds exhausted.]

I don't know. Maybe.

[bywolves]

[ There's a pause, because he gets that he's screwed up somewhere, but he doesn't have the patience to fix it. He's about ready to crawl up the wall as it is. He sighs shortly, and gives up, moving back to his little cubbyhole he's made for himself with the boxes.

He lets Tifa keep the cloak, though. ]