dualislogs | [closed] dreams must end

WHAT: late november bump-ins eyyy
WHERE: Around the city
WHEN: late november, early december
WARNINGS: dumb physical fighting w/ squall, some alcohol use implication+violence with nida, more to be added later.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It did sound kinda drastic, or like some full out fight being described when the guy had brought up before shelters, food and drink. A bigger or more violent brawl than what Hank had got into, and he hadn't been sugar coating anything. Not when there was talk about scooping through brains, anyway.

Probably has to do something with the soldier thing, which Tidus can't relate to.

"I'm saving up. I can't do much either but fight," so it's not like his plans in the grand scheme of things didn't also align with what it seemed Squall was readying for, "but Hank wanted me to help find places 'round the city that're safe. That's all I've got to offer," he says with a shrug.

Everything's about fighting for survival when you're a mercenary. It's a mindset Squall doesn't know how to shake.

"Seifer can make you a weapon. If you use a sword, you can have one until you get your own. He'll probably want to push you around in exchange. He's an ass but he's not a bad guy."

He rests the back of his head against the wall, half stares up at the sky.

"Cloud works for the mafia. We might be able to get untraceable duos there. I can get things from Premium Foods if I ask. Another hideout wouldn't be a bad idea. There's the underground and the bars."

He holds out a hand and pulls up his sleeve to show off the ice symbol on his right arm.

"My friends and I bought the spell tattoos." He shrugs. "The Head took away our summons so we can't use magic. I wouldn't risk it if you still have yours."

"Woah woah woah..."

It's a dumbfounded way of asking for Squall to slow down, despite the relative calm he was going from one point to another. Still--

"I get what you're saying... kinda? I mean, this kind of stuff is pretty new to me."

Just because he knows how to fight doesn't mean he knows anything the untraceable lifestyle Squall was easily listing off like there was a checklist in his head. It really felt like he was being thrown into this idea, though it isn't like he's being forced or intimidated. It was difficult to fully understand just what he was getting involved in.

"How do you see all this going down? Other than collecting resources, what's the plan for going up against the Head?"

Oh. Is Tidus a civilian? Guess he'll have to dial things back a little, though that may not mean much by Squall standards.

"Hank wants to take control of the clones. Or deactivate the chips to give us an advantage."

"Right. If we do, they can't be used against us. That just leaves the uh...ritterations? Iterations?"

Something or other?

"The way Hank explained it, if we don't do those two things, we're outnumbered. A girl I met too... she says they aren't many non-clones around. About a hundred, maybe."

"Iterations," he confirms. "I'm not sure there aren't more with the Head's one-year timeline. There are a lot of people I haven't seen again since I arrived."

"But Hank's right. The whole city could be turned against us, so there's a lot we can't do out in the open."

Annoying. If that near-permanent frown is any indication.

Maybe it's the combination of the sour face and a hopeless situation, and soaking in a similar misery with a frown of his own, but Tidus gets sick of it before long. Straightens his back, makes his features firmer, more resolved.

"But we can do something. And if it isn't targeting people 'cause of what they're up to..." Considering how a guy like Hank could be working with David but still be around. But his thoughts switch gears, prompted by that mention about the one year.

"Do you really think it takes a year for it to make a new person?"

He turns his head slightly to look at Tidus, watching that shift. He hears him but it's hard to hold on to a resolve when he's just sitting here, hitting one dead end after another, left to his own thoughts every night.

He tilts his head curiously at the question.

"What do you mean?"

"People have been taken before they've had a year. Yuna wasn't here for a year," Tidus explains. "We weren't even here for a month. Why do we think that's true when everything else has been a lie?"

Was Tidus missing something? Because he wasn't seeing what gave the time limit credence despite everything else.

Squall leans forward to turn his body towards TIdus better, eyes slightly wide.

"You saw her?" She didn't go home. What is he even asking. Of course no one did. He's suspected. Guessed as much once more of the truth came out but he didn't want to acknowledge it.

Tidus is right. They don't know. It's an artificial timeline. His surprise turns grim. He hates this place so much.

He didn't tell Squall? No, of course not; but he nearly forgot, the story told too many times (a story that shouldn't exist), exhausted in him.

Regardless -- Tidus shakes his head.

"I went to the Head." He knows it may get him judged, but he's not going to stop or care. He's looking at the ground as he repeats the story -- one still fresh in him. "After she disappeared. I asked them about it -- the year. It told me they made a mistake -- she'd been here before, so they sent her back. You remember the other thing, don't you?"

He looks at Squall then. "The reason for the year: because it takes that long to get us back home again."

Tidus had forgotten for a while, but after everything, it clicked back into his mind. Another lie to the pile. But with it said, Tidus looks away again.

"It showed me a recording as proof that she'd returned. It was home -- but it was from her perspective. I heard her, but it was like...seeing from her eyes."

It had been baffling, but his mind had been a fog at the time. Wanting to believe, grasping for false hopes.

"I went back, and a few days later...I found her. In the city. It was exactly like her. It had her voice, her face...everything was...her." Think about it, his mind urges, but Tidus refuses. Refuses to be anything but monotone, repeating a script he's gone through before. "I thought it was her, until she -- her voice clipped. Like a TV skipping. It wasn't..."

He stops. He won't say anything more or try, staring transfixed at the same spot on the ground.

Squall nods. He remembers. Didn't quite believe it back then either though it was something to hold on to. One year to get things done.

The rest of Tidus's tale though sinks a heavy stone in his stomach. She was turned after barely a month? It changes some things, especially if her being here before was a lie too. He balls his hands into fists as he folds his arms tighter against himself. He's not picturing Seifer, Nida, or Rinoa in that situation. He can't.

"We have to take it down. Find a way to end this." Frowning, thinking. "Police officers who die can be brought back human. And robots are supposed to replace us so she's... everyone who went missing. They could be somewhere."

Hopefully.

It's an attempt to offer hope that Tidus wants nothing to do with, not now. Too weak a possibility when they knew for sure what happened to those that were targeted, how the clones dealt with them. But another point Squall brought up lingers in Tidus's mind, and so he doesn't have to think or focus on that.

"Police officers -- what do you mean? The police are all human?"

"I don't know if they all are but if they die on the job, they get sent to a 'factory' and come back a few days later. The more it happens, the more different they are. Maybe memories get taken."

This is a stupid world they live in, Tidus.

"So the Head brings people back when they get here, and then... if they die here too, it does it again?" What? "Why? Why not switch them?"

Is he missing something here?

Squall shrugs. "I don't know. It doesn't make sense there are people who have lived here for years who are still human if cloning us is his end goal."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[closed] dreams must end

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