[He'd been certain he figured it out. More lies and rumors invented by his 'caretakers', the way they came up with everything else. An easy, simple explanation, no matter how annoying or upsetting it is. It fit what he knew, what he couldn't get used to but was at least resigned to. Anything to make the new SOLDIER program seem stronger, better, more dangerous - the reality of it didn't need to get involved in a good campaign of disinformation!
But this stranger isn't listening, or at least has chosen to ignore everything he's said and double down instead, and it answers nothing. It just raises more questions, ones he'd thought settled. The click of the magnetic lock and threat of a weapon that isn't ... quite pulled draws his gaze, the threat that boils down to don't do anything I don't like or else, and he ... does nothing, aside from teeth-grinding frustration.
He has no weapon himself, but that never made him defenseless before and it's an automatic calculation that follows, whether or not he could potentially fend off someone like this. No, of course not; an adult SOLDIER would reasonably outstrip him in ability, except-
Except this one seems convinced he can just.. do things to people. And even the odds that way.
It's a great setup, isn't it? And maybe Cloud does know something of his nature after all, as it is incredibly tempting to do just that, especially in the face of the unsubtle hostility. Try it out. See for himself. Prove one way or another if it's true, if he can reach something outside himself, sense something beyond the physical. I know exactly what you're capable of
Sephiroth is hard to intimidate outside of specific scenarios that mostly resemble laboratories. It isn't the threat of the enormous blade at Cloud's back that brings him up short, or the curt malevolence of being told he'll be killed if he tries anything. People can't do that kind of thing. Better than you. People couldn't, but monsters might.]
But..
[Cloud has sealed both of their fates, hasn't he? Now that his hated enemy knew the possibility existed, sooner or later, he would try it.
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Date: 2024-05-19 10:16 am (UTC)But this stranger isn't listening, or at least has chosen to ignore everything he's said and double down instead, and it answers nothing. It just raises more questions, ones he'd thought settled. The click of the magnetic lock and threat of a weapon that isn't ... quite pulled draws his gaze, the threat that boils down to don't do anything I don't like or else, and he ... does nothing, aside from teeth-grinding frustration.
He has no weapon himself, but that never made him defenseless before and it's an automatic calculation that follows, whether or not he could potentially fend off someone like this. No, of course not; an adult SOLDIER would reasonably outstrip him in ability, except-
Except this one seems convinced he can just.. do things to people. And even the odds that way.
It's a great setup, isn't it? And maybe Cloud does know something of his nature after all, as it is incredibly tempting to do just that, especially in the face of the unsubtle hostility. Try it out. See for himself. Prove one way or another if it's true, if he can reach something outside himself, sense something beyond the physical. I know exactly what you're capable of
Sephiroth is hard to intimidate outside of specific scenarios that mostly resemble laboratories. It isn't the threat of the enormous blade at Cloud's back that brings him up short, or the curt malevolence of being told he'll be killed if he tries anything. People can't do that kind of thing. Better than you. People couldn't, but monsters might.]
But..
[Cloud has sealed both of their fates, hasn't he? Now that his hated enemy knew the possibility existed, sooner or later, he would try it.
How could he not?]
... I'll try.