001☆Intro

[first_class_asshole]

[He had hurried out of the Honey Bee Inn as quickly as he could without attracting too much (more) attention and ignoring the chattering of the crowd around him. His heart was still hammering in his chest and honestly he wasn’t entirely sure how he had managed his way through that. Dancing certainly wasn’t his forte and neither was… well, the dress. Or moving in it. The mercenary still wasn’t entirely sure how Aerith had maneuvered him into this little plot but… Well, if that was what it took to save Tifa, he supposed there wasn’t much choice. He needed a moment to catch his breath and possibly calm his nerves - the stage and all the eyes on him was almost overwhelming.

Finally he had reached the door, the lights practically blinding him - which was odd considering the stage had been much brighter. It had managed to completely obscure his vision and by the time he was able to see his surroundings… they were… completely different. His brow furrowed as he took a few steps further into the hotel lobby, his heels clicking against the marble floor. He reached back for his sword - only to remember that it was left back at the Honey Bee Inn.

Cloud turned, grabbing the handle to the door and attempting to open it. The damn thing wasn’t budging… Well, there wasn’t much else left to do but turn around and start towards the check in counter towards the back. Perhaps there was someone around who would be able to shed some light on this odd situation.

He really wished he wasn’t in this ridiculous dress and all this make-up right now…]

Comments

[onewinged_angel]

[Simply holding his box for now, he waits for the response he can see coming. It's clear that the words are painful, and they strike Sephiroth as distinctly specific. That low hum of attraction in the back of his mind pulls at him again. The tug is stronger this close to the blonde. It feels almost... right? No. Not quite. But nearly.]

"... We were just heading to the reactor. It was the first morning after our arrival."

[He recalls walking into the village the previous afternoon and nearly forgetting to give Cloud permission to visit family - a friendly family visit wasn't something Sephiroth ever did, after all - and how familiar the scenery looked and felt. In hindsight, perhaps that should've been his first clue something was about to go wrong.]

"Somebody wanted a photo, so we stopped by the gate to Shinra Mansion. That's the last thing I remember."

[first_class_asshole]

"Don't."

[The word was out before Cloud himself even realized it, almost as soon as Sephiroth mentioned that they were about to head to the reactor. Some part of him knew that nothing could be changed, that ultimately his warning would be useless but... He had to try, didn't he? If a simple word could prevent what happened to Nibelheim, what happened to him...]

"...Za...ngh!"

[No sooner had the thought occurred than another sudden blinding pulse of pain shot through his head, causing the blonde to actually stagger. The second part of what Sephiroth said more or less went unnoticed, caught up as he was in his own mental dilemma of the moment. The envelope slipped from his hands as they moved to clutch at his head and those heels suddenly losing their traction against the smooth marble floor, sending Cloud falling forwards Sephiroth.]

[onewinged_angel]

[He recognizes a warning when he hears one. Momentarily distracted from the box by the firm tone in that one word, he glances over to see the other man is still struggling with himself. Some sort of internal conflict. He's about to inquire further when the blonde staggers and slips.

Sephiroth's reaction is instantaneous.

He turns toward Cloud, catching his shoulder in his free hand and preventing the blonde from falling further than against Sephiroth's solid chest. With a soft, fluttering sound, Cloud's envelope lands on the ground at their feet.]

"Those shoes disagree with you."

[His dry humor surfaces a little, but the silver-haired man is nonetheless attentive to the the fine details of this conversation and the issues the blonde is having. Faintly-glowing green eyes study Cloud with interest. He wants to know more, especially about the Nibelheim comments, but he is taking the whole situation calmly, one step at a time. With the physical contact, the pulling sensation layered away in the back of his head becomes stronger. Curious indeed.]

"....What's wrong?" [Those fits don't exactly present the sign of health. Maybe the mako-infusion Cloud received...at some point...was also disagreeing with him.]

[first_class_asshole]

[For a moment, the blond doesn't seem to respond. He feels the tug in his mind amid the pain, jumbled memories and it takes him a moment to recover. He pulls away, shaking his head. It's clear that he's forcing the fit away, trying to ignore it in favor of keeping in the here and now.]

"... It's... nothing. I'm fine."

[There's another shake of the head. This wasn't the time for this. He had to keep it together. He decided to focus on Sephiroth's other comment as he bent down to pick up the envelope.]

"...I disagree with the whole outfit. Anyways, we should probably focus on finding out where we are."

[onewinged_angel]

[Sephiroth looks at Cloud for a long moment. Ultimately, he doesn't pursue in questioning the blonde's health at this time. He waits patiently for Cloud to open his envelope, though he already suspects its contents match his envelope. While Cloud is doing that, he finally opens the box with his name on it.]

"It's possible Shinra is involved."

[More than possible. He's nearly sure of it, at the moment. With the box open, Sephiroth finds a phone inside which he takes out to inspect. It's already on, so he flips it open to look at what's programmed inside.]

[first_class_asshole]

"...I would be more surprised if they weren't."

[He frowns a little, finding (just as Sephiroth suspected) the same as the other man. He looks at the note and the keycard. He turns over the keycard, examining it closely. 'Hotel Nexus'... Well, it was no hotel he'd ever heard of but that didn't mean too much. While Sephiroth may not have been surprised that they'd had his picture, Cloud was. He wasn't quite Sephiroth-level when it came to celebrity.]

"But wh--"

[He was suddenly cut off by the sound of a Chocobo... coming from the little box with his name on it. He turned a baffled gaze on box. Well, it definitely wasn't big enough to have a Chocobo inside...]

"...Ah?"

[That was more or less his way of asking if Sephiroth had heard that too.]

[onewinged_angel]

[Yes, he definitely heard the distinctive call of a chocobo from that other box. He had been keeping an eye on the contents of the other envelope, seeing they matched his. The keycard with Cloud's photo is yet another inkling of Shinra's involvement. Surely there weren't too many people who had that kind of information about the other man. Giving a little shake of his head, Sephiroth then looks pointedly at Cloud's unopened box.]

"Open it."

[first_class_asshole]

[Cloud obeyed without even thinking about it, immediately reaching for the box and starting to open it. Inside he found a flip phone, black and sleek. A small display on the front displayed the time, his name and that he had one message. His brow furrowed at that as he carefully opened the device to reveal a rather nice looking touchscreen. Accessing the messages of the device, he found the following text: ]

'Mr. Strife,
We welcome you to the Hotel Nexus and hope that you have a pleasant stay. Questions can wait until morning, for now we suggest resting for the night in the room we have provided you. Your room number can be found in the upper right corner of the notification bar on this device and also on the keycard you have been provided.

Thank You,
Hotel Nexus'

"...'Hotel Nexus'...I've never heard of it. Have you?"

[Mako blue eyes moved away from the screen and back up to Sephiroth. He assumed the other man to be quite a bit more travelled than himself. But at least this explained the Chocobo sound - he assumed it must be the device's notification sound.]

[onewinged_angel]

"....No."

[Hotel Nexus is a new name to him. The welcome message was in his inbox as well, but did little to answer any of his questions about the situation. The phone he was provided started on silent, so he switches it to vibrate in case something else comes through. He discovered there was a series of browsable information on the hotel network, including a list of residents which contained only two names: Cloud Strife and Sephiroth. He wonders, not for the first time, whether they are the only two here, and what the purpose is for this whole arrangement. For now, he pockets the phone and studies the area again.]

"Nothing about this is familiar."

[Moving away from the desk, Sephiroth heads toward the area beyond the desk where there is another hall leading to elevators, committing it all to memory. All of this space, empty seating, high ceilings, and no people. He is vaguely aware of the faint presence of....something; as if he expects to turn and see somebody there. Despite the feeling, no others make an appearance. He has decided to see if any other clues are in the room supposedly provided to him. One black-gloved hand presses the button to call the elevator.]

[first_class_asshole]

[There's a sigh from the younger man at that. Well, he should have expected as much - something was just not at all right about this situation. He felt the same uneasiness as Sephiroth but lately that had been a fairly common feeling for him. Ironically due to the silver haired man himself. Cloud looked up, watching Sephiroth starting to walk off before moving to pocket his own device... And remembering there were no pockets. There's a soft barely audible sound of frustration from the blond as he just held the phone, keycard and note for a moment before remembering something he had seen women do before and attempting to put the phone into the neckline of his dress.

Alas, his cleavage was insufficient and the phone falls through only to be caught uncomfortably midway, caught on the under corset of the dress. He sighs heavily, shakes his head then starts to walk towards where Sephiroth had gone. Not that he got far before feeling a slight twinge in one ankle, sighing again as he stopped, removed the shoes and started towards the hall with the elevator.

He started to go for the stairs but his ankle was already complaining. It wouldn't have been a great idea. He wondered vaguely how he managed to fall from a reactor, through a roof and be fine... but one little stumble and his ankle was sore. Ridiculous.

He pauses there, glances back towards Sephiroth, then the door to the stairwell... then went through the door. He'd take the physical pain over the awkwardness of being stuck in an elevator with Sephiroth...]

[onewinged_angel]

[A ding signifies the arrival of the elevator in no time. As he steps in, he turns and spots Cloud going for the stairs. He hadn't expected the other to separate from him, but makes no protest. He has the feeling he will be seeing Cloud again. They both seem to be stuck here for the moment.

Sephiroth makes his way to the 19th floor, 97th room, and tests the keycard he was given. It works. With senses on high alert, he enters the room and..... it's empty. What appears to be a suite, as he notes multiple rooms and living spaces, taking his time to inspect the entire area. He pauses when he pulls the curtain aside from the row of large windows at the far wall of the main area.

Through the glass is Midgar. There's a glass door which he tries - it opens, and Sephiroth steps out onto a balcony, eyes fixed on the city before him. Everything from the heavy air to the sounds makes him feel as if he's there, but he knows - somehow - it's not real. Still, Sephiroth finds himself standing there for a while, studying what looks like Midgar.]

[first_class_asshole]

[It takes Cloud a considerable amount of time longer to make his way up, given that he was taking the stairs. There's some measure of relief when he does reach the 19th floor - despite his mistrust of the place the idea of getting somewhere he could sit down a minute was one to be relished. He pauses a moment as he exits the stairwell to catch his breath before making his way down the hallway. He pauses in front of the door marked with the number '1997' and swipes his card. The door unlocks and he opens it to find himself in a hotel suite - not a huge surprise there, considering where he was.

No, the surprise came in the form of what he could see outside the glass door in the main common area. Sephiroth was a mildly unpleasant surprise but not as big of a surprise as the landscape beyond. His brow furrowed and there's a moment of hesitation before he decides to head towards the balcony. His curiosity was enough that even Sephiroth's presence wasn't enough to stop him.]

"...Midgar...?"

[It's not really clear if he's talking to Sephiroth or himself as he heads out onto the balcony.]

[onewinged_angel]

[The chirp of a keycard opening the door alerts Sephiroth to another presence and pulls him from his inspection of the "city" off the balcony. Calmly, he watches as Cloud approaches, then shakes his head.]

"We're not in Midgar. There is no building of this size at the location that would allow this view."

[He adopts a pensive expression and folds his arms across his chest, reflecting on Cloud also being sent to this particular room. Of all of the rooms in this hallway alone. What did it mean? It's time for some answers.]

"Cloud. What's the last thing you remember?"

[first_class_asshole]

[Cloud moves over, resting his arms on the railing of the balcony to gaze out at the faux cityscape beyond. It would have been nice to have been able to disagree with the silver haired man - being in Midgar would make things much easier to figure out... But he knew he was right. A building with a view like this would have to be big enough to rival the size of Shinra HQ and while he didn't know his way around Midgar as well as many, he at least knew that wasn't possible. He sighs at Sephiroth's question, frowning softly.]

"...I just left Honey Bee Inn in Wall Market - a friend and I were on our way to save Tifa from Don Corneo. She'd been selected to participate in some sick 'contest' to become his next wife. Men can't really get in there easily... So... my friend had an idea..."

[He motioned to the dress, his tone edged with embarrassment.]

"....Right after all that... I walked out... and that's when I appeared here and ran into you. I don't normally dress this way."

[He seemed to want to make this pretty clear.]