[Action]

[wingenvy]

[Okay, so. He'd been en route to Midgar with Cloud. With a motorcycle, it had been awesome. And they'd been making good progress! Sure, he wasn't all that certain about directions, but being underground for so long can screw with a guy a little. There's no helping it. He'd been in a pretty good mood, though.

So if things had been going well for the first time in ages, why did he wake up this morning and find himself in the woods, alone and unarmed, in a fresh pair of white pants that didn't belong to him? It meant he hadn't been captured, since he wasn't in the lab, so... what? Seriously, what?

More importantly, where is Cloud!?

There's a sense of panic he hasn't felt since the troopers in Nibelheim had first started dragging Cloud away from him, so he wastes no time getting up and heading off to get a look around. If the military isn't responsible for this, maybe Cloud just wandered off (somehow) after whoever it was had taken Zack out. Man, so much for life getting easier...

tl;dr Zack will be ducking around the village early-ish in the morning, trying to make the most of the late November sunrise by doing his best ninja impression. He's trying not to be seen, but how effective he is at doing so? Really depends. SOLDIERs are sadly not ninjas.]

Comments

[trueknight]

... I wish I was. [ ... ] You woke up with a book near you, right? You still have that?

[wingenvy]

A book? I don't remember seeing one. [He's pretty sure he didn't have one with him before he got here...]

[trueknight]

[Yuri starts to open his mouth to say some snarky comment about him leaving the journal behind, but he manages to bite it back. Given how Zack reacted when he called out to him, he's not so sure he can blame him for not even seeing it.]

Guess it must be wherever you woke up. That thing tends to find its way back to whoever it belongs to anyway, so don't worry about it. [Or is that what happens if someone tries destroying it? Whatever. Probably in that guide thing he read maybe a paragraph out of.] Anyway, whenever you come across it, or if you manage to borrow someone else's, there's a guide in there that explains this place in much better detail than I can. It's kinda long, but it should answer any questions you could have about this place.

[wingenvy]

[Where he woke up? Crap. He's not sure of that one. Think, think, think...] I was in the woods somewhere... [Vague gesture in a vague direction. Eh-heh.]

[trueknight]

... Yeah, there's no way you're gonna find it. I'd just wait for it to show up on its own if I were you.

[wingenvy]

...Can it really do that? [Books can't teleport, dude.]

[trueknight]

You can talk to people through it, so it should. [SENSE MAKING! Sort of.] But if you happen to remember where it might be, then I guess looking for it yourself would take less time.

[wingenvy]

[S... sort of.]

I guess I should look for it... [Later, though. That's not important right now.] Oh! But have you seen a blond guy around? Kind of shorter than me, really spiky hair, kind of looks like a- oh, wait, you wouldn't know chocobos... [Hrrrrrrm.]

[trueknight]

Huh? [Blond guy? ... Well, there's only one blond guy he knows of who fits that description, and was a friend of Zack's from what he knew, so maybe it's--] ... You mean Cloud?

[wingenvy]

[AH-] Yeah, Cloud! You know him? He must be here, then!

[trueknight]

Yeah, he just showed up yesterday. [He'll just keep the fact that he trolled the guy to hell and back to himself.]

[wingenvy]

That's great! Well, kind of. I mean, it's better that he's here than- [The alternative, which is with Shinra. But he probably shouldn't mention that. Juuuust in case.] ...Anyway, do you know where he is?

[trueknight]

He's ... well, he's in town at least. ... Unless he ran off into the woods for whatever reason, but I sorta doubt that. [After all, he JUST got here -- why would anyone want to go out and do something like that the very next day?]

[wingenvy]

[but Cloud can be kind of stupid sometimes In town, he's in town! ...Wait, what?]

Ran off? You mean he's up and about?

[trueknight]

... Well, yeah. Why wouldn't he be?

[wingenvy]

[......]

Ah, no reason! I just haven't seen him for a while.

[trueknight]

Huh ... [Welp. Good enough for him!] Well, anyway, I'm sure you'll run into him at some point. It's not like he can really go much of anywhere, with the barrier and all.

[wingenvy]

What barrier? [Don't see anything...]

[trueknight]

[But how could he not know about the-- right. Right. No memories of this place. Adjust expectations, Yuri, adjust expectations.]

... Oh, right. There's a barrier that surrounds this area to keep us locked in here. You can't see it, but when you get close enough to it, you'll definitely know it's there.

[wingenvy]

[There there, Yuri. Give him some time.]

Whoever did this is a real class act, huh... [Is this some kind of doomed fate he's got? After that little taste of freedom...]

[trueknight]

About as classy as they get, yeah. [ ... ] I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. It's not like you'll be here forever, or anything.

[wingenvy]

Is there some kind of time limit on this? Because I'm pretty sure I've already had enough.

[trueknight]

If there is, then it isn't one you'll ever see any time soon. [That was kind of a downer. Let's throw this line out--] Besides, this place isn't too bad. Just ... think of it as a really crappy vacation, and you'll be fine.

[wingenvy]

...I don't know if I can see it that way. This place looks nice and all, but... I have somewhere I have to be. I promised someone I'd come back.

[trueknight]

Huh? [But isn't he ...

...

... He's got no real way of knowing for sure, but he's got a pretty good feeling that saying "HURR BUT I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAAAAAAD" isn't a good idea. Shutting that away, not mentioning it, and that's the end of that.]

Oh ... I see. Well, apparently time stands still back in your world while you're stuck here -- not that that fixes anything, but you at least don't have to worry about how long you end up stuck here.