IC Inbox for Empatheias

[nofarplaneyet]

Messenger Bird/Voice/Image/Action

*If you want to harass an old man, feel free. Expect dry humor in return if you're trying to be smart.*

Comments

[nofarplaneyet]

So you're going to worry enough for everybody on the chance he might appear?

[sonicblade]

I...

[That wasn't what he meant but when put like that, he didn't really have much of an answer aside from a meek nod.]

He's not... anyone's problem but my own.

[nofarplaneyet]

That so? I think Sora and Leon would disagree with you. Not to mention the people from your world who aren't here. [Auron sips at his tea before placing his cup down.]

You're also forgetting the people here. If this Sephiroth started causing trouble, he might be strong. Probably stronger than I am. Doesn't mean I'd just let him do what he wanted here or let him take free shots at you if I could help it.

[sonicblade]

It's not that he might be strong. He is strong. 'Bout as strong as me, if not more so.

[He wasn't trying to tell Auron what to do, but he didn't want anyone involved. He felt like he was repeating himself at this point, given it's what he said to Aerith.

He sighed and sipped his tea.]

He would just mess around with you until he found me and... no one else needs to be involved because of my mistakes.

[nofarplaneyet]

[Don't get involved in a mistake? Oh, Auron's told himself that about a thousand times and more. However, he also knows that what he thought before was ultimately not true.]

So if he got here, he'd try to use all of the people you know to get to you and start a fight. That basically it?

[sonicblade]

Maybe... I don't... I don't know.

[Sora was the closest thing and that was because Sora just ran in.]

[nofarplaneyet]

So you're basically setting yourself up to be a target not because of what you know will happen, but because of what you think might happen.

I understand the guy is dangerous. That's why you face people like that in groups. Getting you to fight him one-on-one is what people like that want.

[sonicblade]

I've always fought him alone. You might understand he's dangerous but you don't know him like I do. He's me.

[If he gripped the cup any harder, he might shatter it, so he let it go in favor of bringing his hands up to his face, clasped together as though in thought.]

That's why only I can fight him.

[nofarplaneyet]

["He's me." Well. That would certainly leave a man restless and unable to sleep. He hasn't known Cloud very long, but he sensed they were a lot alike in some respects. Cloud must have felt the same way. Otherwise, why was he even here.

Auron finished off his tea, giving Cloud a moment to compose himself.]

You want another?

[sonicblade]

[Probably because, aside from Leon, Cloud did feel the same sort of kinship. But he wasn't as close to Leon so it wasn't as hard to discuss this. Although there was more to it than that and it was hidden underneath the sleeve he made sure to always have if a regular long-sleeved shirt wasn't available.]

...yeah. Thanks.

[nofarplaneyet]

[Auron sets both of them up with more tea and then sits down, letting it cool a little first.]

I made mistakes before. Very costly ones. We thought we were making the right decision at the time, but it wasn't. Because I didn't do enough to stop the decision made, we paid a terrible price.

[sonicblade]

You always think you're making the right decision at the time.

[Until it's too late does someone realize it's the wrong decision.]

[nofarplaneyet]

It's true. The thing is, with our kind of decision, other people would keep on making the same incorrect choice. Forever and ever in Spira, always stuck believing there was only one choice.

So I had to fix it.

[sonicblade]

Did you?

[nofarplaneyet]

I did but I wasn't really the one who came up with the idea. Between me and a friend, we realized that this problem was bigger than the both of us. So we had to get help and get more people involved to find a better way.

I'm not saying you can't solve your problem your way, Cloud. But I am saying that sometimes you can be so absorbed in how you see something that you make yourself think there's no other solution.

[sonicblade]

I guess.

[But he didn't believe it. What other solution could there possibly be? He did try to control the Darkness and look where it got him. Keeping it suppressed was the only way.]

[nofarplaneyet]

[Not like he can help a man solve his problems in one shot. Still, he hoped that at least he gave Cloud something else to think about. Even if it took a while for him to accept.]

Just wanted to give you options, that's all. There's probably a lot more people than you think willing to listen to you if you wanted to ask for more help.

Don't ignore it. Lecture over. [Now his tea's at the perfect temperature to drink.]

[sonicblade]

[Cloud just gave Auron an unamused look over his tea, but he really was thinking over those words.

It wasn't that he didn't want to ask for help, he just didn't want anyone involved.]

...thanks.