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WHO: Vincent Valentine and Arkady
WHAT: Dealing with the executions
WHERE: Common room on floor 3 - Their dorm room
WHEN: Just after the broadcast
WARNINGS: Discussions of violence, more in necessary

The Shinra Corporation, even at its worst, had never sunk to public executions. He forced himself to watch as they proceeded, as they were allowed their rants and incitement, their calls for revolution. It was in this broadcast that the truth of this government was laid bare. He'd known for some time there would be a reckoning, but he hadn't expected it to be revealed like this.

He clenched his jaw, arms crossed as the proceedings concluded and Dualis TV network resumed its regular programming as though nothing had happened. It was sickening. He should contact Cloud, they needed to organize a response sooner rather than later, but first he needed to make sure Arkady was alright.

She wasn't the most stable, and he found he was more worried about her than he was his friends. They had managed for quite a time without him, and they'd survive this fallout without him also. She had a way of finding him when he was looking for her, but he started off to do so anyway, starting with their room.

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He shook his head, inching closer but not reach out to touch her yet, even though he wanted to. "It doesn't always have to be you."

He looked thoughtful for a moment before looking back to her. "...the executions?"

"But it can be me. I can handle it." Could she really though? No. Not really. It's all starting to pile up inside. Bubbling to a surface of anguish, loneliness, and helplessness. The loneliness is the worst though. It stabs into her like a knife and twists deeper in the longer she's here. Now it's a constant pang that reminds her of how alone she is.

Back home someone would have told her to go somewhere safe by herself if something bad was happening. At first she'd thought there was a certain novelty in that not being the case here. Finally she got to do things! She got to participate! Nobody worried about her or fretted over whether she could really handle it. Novelty's fade. Now there's just this emptiness that's threatening to consume everything. She misses them. No matter what they had always been there for each other.

Tears sting her eyes and she blinks to keep them from coming out. Maybe he won't notice. She hopes he won't.

"I think that's what I saw." You've already said that. She thinks to herself and then shakes her head. "Yes. Maybe? I've been trying to see so much." And drinking a lot with it. Speaking of. "Do you want a drink?" She does!

Edited 2020-02-28 15:46 (UTC)

"But it shouldn't be." And she didn't have to. He glanced down at his clothing, removing his clawed gauntlet, his cloak. He looked so much smaller, tall and thin, without the bulk of the cloak hiding his narrow frame. He moved to her bed, sitting on the opposite end, far from her, but closer than he usually did.

He didn't say anything for some time, even after her question, wanting to comfort her and not knowing how to go about it. He shook his head gently in response to her offer, and instead offered commiseration. It was all he could think to say.

"It bothers me, too."

"A lot of things that are shouldn't be. But they are, sweets," she replies with a very brief, and very forlorn, smile. Too many things are that shouldn't be, but it's a situation that is what it is. What a horrible expression. Did anyone even like it?

She sighs and then scooches herself closer to him until she's leaning against him. "Does it?" She leans her head against his shoulder and then reaches for his hand. "They killed those people for show."

"I don't have to like it." And she didn't have to settle for it, either.

He stiffened when she leaned against him but didn't pull away. He liked it, and he appreciated her level of trust in him, even if he wasn't sure he deserved it.

"I know they did."

"No, you don't, but you shouldn't mind it. I'll be okay." She won't. She already isn't okay but she's going to try as hard as possible to make a big show of how okay she is.

"We can't do anything here." She intertwines her arm through his and squeezes his hand in an attempt to comfort herself more so than him. "It's like home. We couldn't do anything there for a long time and it just got worse. This is just getting worse." Worse and worse. Was it their fault too?