WHO: Vincent Valentine, Sephiroth, Lucrecia Matthews.
Where: Lucrecia's Cave.
Why: The family is insane, need more be said?
Date of Log: 9/13/00
Yet again one can find Vincent Valentine outside the homey cave of Lucrecia's. He really doesn't like enclosed spaces for too long, and sleep doesn't come to him easily, and probably never will again. So here he is, outside the came altogether. The cloak billows around him with the chill winds, the metal clasps held fast around his throat to keep his neck warm, as well as the lower portion of his face. It may be cold, but he's not paticularly caring at the moment, merely needing the outdoor air, and space. It is evening, and the sun is setting, reflecting off his pallid features and crimson cloak with a purplish hue. The brassy metallic arm is actually shines with the reflection of the sun as it disappears to sleep beneath the arch of the world. A stoic moment for the former Turk. The first sunset he's witnessed since long before his imprisonment. It is a wonderous thing to him, as most of the world is now. He never paid much attention to the little things, and now that is all he really wants to see. Such things he used to take for granted.
It doesn't start out as a noticeable thing for it begins with incredible slowness, but as the minutes slide by the stone beneath you begins to warm. Beneath you as well as to the walls of the cave mouth behind. Not anywhere near enough to burn, but with it warming, heat radiates upwards to lend you a bit of respite from the chill. It can do nothing to still the mountain winds, but at least there is a source of something. How is this possible? Sephiroth's doing truth be told. He can effect the life stream in small ways, and with the wealth of materia in this mountain range, and especially this cave, he can do things here that wouldn't be possible elsewhre. The effort to warm the stone beneath you was more than he expected, but then again he's never tried anything like this before either. Tried to talk the life stream into doing somewhere when he normally just bullies it around. The man never was much good at diplomacy, and now he's having to learn. Sephiroth sighs faintly behind you, just inside of the cave, but he doesn't remain kidden for long. Instead your son moves out quietly, boot heels sounding, and joins you on the ledge. Sorry about not asking, but he's getting the idea from you that he doesn't need to. Todays attire is far more covering, and certainly warmer looking. Too bad he doesn't produce enough of his own heat to be able to stay warm in this weather. A turtle neck sweater beneath a heavy leather coat with a wide collar that hangs down to mid thigh. Knee high boots that had dark woolen trousers tucked into them. He steps out, and sinks down on the very edge, allowing his feet to hang. ~Good evening.~
"Good evening," Vincent offers quietly, not quite ready yet to respond inwardly over the bond he seems to share with you and Lucrecia. The gradual temperature change was eventually noticed, though the former Turk was far too lost in thought to realize it at first. He assumes this is somehow your doing, though he can't quite say -how- he knows this, or how you managed it. But, cold stone mountain ranges don't just suddenly warm up like that. No, you don't need to ask for invitation, the former Turk has accepted you, and those he accepts may approach him at will. Crimson eyes turn toward you as he watches you sit on the ledge itself, not overly concerned since you've managed to warm it. However, he does worry a little, inwardly. A strange, parental urge that he recognizes, but never realized was there. "Are you warm enough out here, Sephiroth?"
Sitting on the edge of the area before the cave mouth, Sephiroth leans forward briefly to look down the mountain side, and then folds his hands into his lap and looks for all the world like he could be sitting on some park bench somewhere. All he needs is some bread crumbs to be able to feed the pigeons and the image would be complete. Of course he'd probably want to kill those birds more than feed them, but this is neither here nor there. Sephiroth had started looking towards that sunset which is still coloring the sky in brilliant hues, but is pulled out of his thoughts by the other man's words. Green eyes are turned towards Vincent even as the white head cants to one side. (As a side note, Sephiroth managed to talk the life stream to warm the stones out here. This cave is chalk full of materia and all..) For a moment there is silence, but then the SOLDIER gives off a purring chuckle faint enough to get stolen by the chill winds that he warmed the stone to be able to protect against. "I doubt I shall be, but it will bring me no lasting harm. I do not have the means to produce my own body heat." Shoulders rise and fall to suggest that this is something he doesn't much worry about. The cold can't at all kill him, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.
"Then perhaps we should go inside," Vincent replies with all the emotion of one of those chill mountain breezes. The sunset has all but ended, the last sliver of the sun having disappeared to leave the world shrouded in night's trail, chasing off the daylight in favor of the first stars winking up above. He spares a glance up at those stars so black and cold above, then turns, crisply walking back toward the cave and its relative warmth within. Reaching up with his human hand, he unclasps the first of the metal fasteners around the cloak, inhaling the warmer air. His lungs are grateful for the change in temperature. Why did he decide this suddenly? For Sephiroth, of course. Even if his son cannot really be permanently harmed by the chill outside, he would rather not let the man suffer needlessly, or be made uncomfortable.
The cave is warmer, by degrees, and Sephiroth's subtle talk to the Lifestream. Even Lucrecia has noticed it, though it has not stopped her work within the lab area of the cave. What is she working on? It's hard to say, really, as she glances over what seems to be the remains of some... specimen. Gruesome looking, really, but it isn't what has her hrming softly to herself. It's the limbs of the beast that allowed her to catch it in the first place -- strong legs look nearly wilted. She's not sure what caused it. And that's what has her back within a mode that would seem familiar to one man that enters. "I've never seen anything like this." Limbs wilting to vestigal, without any other means of transportation? Odd. And unnatural. At least she gave the animal a quick death, after finding it half-gnawed by something else. But it is when the others come in that the scientific thoughts are forgotten altogether.
They even move alike, at times. Even though Vincent is getting used to that metal arm, still, there are simularities in grace to both men, enough to give the woman that was once studying pause. Could he....? Hojo never told her one way or the other. Sephiroth told her that he was the scientist's son, but looking at the both of them now... she doesn't know what to say. So she doesn't, only moving around the table where the dead creature sits, pulling her gloves off her hands. "The mountain winds seem to be the worse through here."
Go inside? ...but he just went through all of this effort to warm the stone so that he wouldn't get cold and you wouldn't have to leave your perch.. Sephiroth can only sigh faintly as you get up and walk inside. After all of his trouble to try and comprimise. He doesn't mind looking at the nighttime sky, and it wouldn't have done him harm to sit out in the cold. Ah well. Not arguing, for that would be rather pointless at the moment, the SOLDIER pulls up his legs, rises to his feet and follows his father into the cavern. With his pale skin and silver hair there is no mistaking the man's location no matter the shadow. He just wasn't made to blend into the darkness. Especially not with those eyes. Pulling his heavy leather coat around him, Sephiroth comes into the warmth of the caves and just like the day or so before goes to curl up before the fire. There is no need to be intimidating here, to preserve pointless pride, so he does as he pleases and plays cat in the warmth. Hmmmm. Warm. Legs are drawn up and he wraps both coat and arms about, to sit on the hearth. (If there is one... Baka player didn't even remember to read desc and check. >.>) Eyes half-lidding with all of this he listens to his Mother and although doesn't seem interested ..honestly isn'y. Sorry, mum, but it's dead. Killing things interests him. Once they are dead.. nope. "What are you going to do with it?" Wasn't Hojo into playing with dead things? Ew.
Moving toward Lucrecia, Vincent feigns interest in her project, though really he is too much like Sephiroth in this regard. He doesn't really understand the fascination in studying something that's already gone. However, being a freak himself now, he sometimes wonders about the scientific mind, why someone would care to understand these intricacies he has never wanted to. Crimson eyes stare at the dead creature for a long moment, gaze unreadable as always. He looks up at Lucrecia, asking, "What bothers you about this?" He will at least ask, and listen, and attempt to understand it. Such is the love he feels for Lucrecia, to want to understand what it is that drives her.
Glancing once toward Sephiroth, Vincent seems momentarily pleased to see him inside, enjoying the fire. The catlike poses no longer seem odd to him, having accepted that this is merely the way the white haired man is. If only he could see how similiar the two of them are, almost like photo negatives, one dark, the other light. But he can't, and that leaves the burden of comparison on Lucrecia's shoulders. Certainly Sephiroth seems to possess more traits that relate to the former Turk then he does to Hojo.
Yes, it's dead. And normally, Lucrecia wouldn't bother with it. She's found too much enjoyment at looking at other things, new theories, learning /more/. But the comment she gives is simple enough. "Basically... this animal could barely move. I'm amazed it lived as long as it did." Does the reactor have something to do with it? Or.... "It's not... natural." It's all the woman can give on the subject, on such a fleeting analysis on something she found while hunting for food. It was interesting enough to bring home... but biological sciences, in their natural state, have always been her forte. Her thoughts, a dream of making a better world, is what got the best of her.
But thoughts are far from that, as she watches father and son unwittingly -- at least in the true knowing of the relationship. They move, and look far too alike. Jenova's touch removes the coloring, perhaps, but with Vincent's hair so long, her gaze can not help but to look between the two occasionally, though Sephiroth brings a slight smile, as he curls near the fire. But her steps take her close to Vincent, and pause there, before she muses, "And to think... for years... I thought you both dead." This doesn't seem real, tugging just a touch on that fragile sanity that she's been able to hold onto.
Not natural... those words of Lucrecia's bring back memories of five years ago and a time before he was driven insane. Seems it runs in this family, although none of you went mad, you were all driven past the ability of your minds. There is a difference no matter if the end result is the same. A soft and rumbling purr is issued as the man is warmed to a degree where he stops feeling the chill of the outside and instead basks in the warmth given here to excess. "Five years ago I was sent to Nibelheim to look into a problem with the monsters in the area. There were unnatural things coming out of the mountains and they were terrorizing the populous." He pauses for a moment, eyes still half-lidded although the glow to them has increased slightly with the telling. "In the reactor Hojo had been growing monsters. Turning people into horrific things." Into terrible things and all against their will. ~It made me question everything I had been told about myself.~ Sephiroth isn't even truly aware that he's speaking silently.
About to respond to Lucrecia, though honestly he had no idea what he was about to say to her. The creature is dead, after all, and unless its death would somehow harm Lucrecia or be detrimental to her in some way, it didn't all that much matter to him. Sephiroth, however, does garner his attention at the mention of monsters. He could have told either of you as much, had he not been trapped in that coffin for all those years. He was Hojo's first foray into such terrible, dangerous experiments. The metal arm is testament to this, but the eyes, and the beast that resides within his psyche are the true monsterous traits. The legacy the mad scientist left behind. It's a wonder Hojo didn't just destroy Vincent rather then just imprison him. He surely realized what kind of monster he had created. Then again, perhaps he didn't. Or maybe pride or malace kept him from euthanizing his creation in the end.
Without comment to Sephiroth, he looks back toward Lucrecia now, "I was dead. Or I may as well have been." Emotion seems almost alien coming from this otherwise passionless man. But he is speaking the truth now, and cannot help the almost tremble to his voice as he speaks softly to the delicate flower of the woman he still loves. "Thanks to you, I am alive." Nothing more after that, the blanket of his stoic silence surrounding him again.
The comment from Sephiroth raises brows, physical and mental, before her hands move together, almost trying to rub away some sort of pain. Lips are pulled taunt, before she glances away -- not from Vincent, or Sephiroth, but from something that entered her mind, and something she's trying to push back once more. Deep breath.... just one. ".... that sounds right. He worked up to it, after all." A cryptic comment, though she is pretty sure that each of them know their part in the experiments that the man has taken here and there. Hojo.... will always be willing to hack something up to see how it ticks, to let it go to see how it works in the world. That sounds like the very thing he'd do... but on people? At the reactor? Even that... is just too horrible. ~I.... I see.~
Lucrecia pauses, before glancing up at Vincent, the comment that he was dead bringing a sharp gasp... but she knows the reasons why, the feelings all too well... why one would think they were dead after such events. The tremble within his voice is heard, but not expounded upon; instead, she only whispers, "I think, bit by bit, we will be whole again." Even she knows better to think they are now, just by being together, but she doesn't say it. "But.... what will you do now?" Will he leave? Take revenge on Hojo? Or worse?
Sorry, but the fire is taking its toll on Sephiroth and out of no where the man yawns widely. All he needs are some pointed teeth and ears to lay back and he would be the perfect image of a cat content and warm. No where else does he allow himself to relax like this, and if he were to think on the subject he'd probably just get upset worrying about it. Just why does he feel he CAN relax here in this place and with you two? The first few times he was here this didn't happen, but the more he spends time with you the more it seems to happen. No need to hide, no need to push away.. just Sephiroth and a fire he's enjoying. Your voices are somewhat dim where he is, and since he can't feel Lu's emotions, well he's rather out of the link unless you pull him into it. This also makes him less of a third wheel when it comes to your relationship. Out of sight and maybe out of mind.
Also drowsing before the fire allows him not to think about five years ago. To him this is a very good thing indeed. No memories of that time means no Jenova to come in and want to play games. Let's not bring her into this, eh? That would be bad. She already controls enough of his life. Well, that and she's a little irked that she can't control Vincent. That makes her stay away for the moment.
Oh Vincent has plans, make no mistake about that. But he is a patient person, not one to boldly, blindly and stupidly rush forward into taking his revenge on Hojo. The scientist will pay, and pay -very- dearly, for the pain and suffering he inflicted on the two of you, and on himself (as an afterthought). But not until the moment is right. Not until Vincent is certain that he can handle such a monster in human-esque flesh. He knows you both suffered by his hand. Possibly longer and worse then the former Turk did, seeing as most of Sephiroth's life was spent as an unknowing victim of Hojo's obsessions and he does not know for certain how long Lucrecia was his experiment and he fears asking, afraid the beast might find a moment of weakness to surge forward and command control of his body again. The scars are there, on the entire family.
After inhaling softly, the former Turk replies, "I must go to Dr. Ido, Sephiroth has suggested the he may help me understand what I have been left with," he gestures toward the mechanical arm that still hangs somewhat abjectly at his side. He has regained much of his strength, the atrophy gone for the most part, and seems able to hold the arm in a more natural manner now, but it still seems alien to him. He can't feel it. "I will never leave you. Not unless you ask me to." Even then, it's doubtful he'd do so willingly. He didn't thirty years ago either. Sephiroth is somewhat forgotten for the moment, all his concentration on Lucrecia.
Aww. Just like a big cat. All he needs is a catnip toy and... erm... nevermind. Lucrecia won't continue down that path.... nor pull the man back into the conversation. He seems content to curl up and rest, to relax in an environment that seems comfortable for him... so she lets him have it. Instead, her attention turns back to Vincent, gaze softening just a touch. She won't fidget, at least in front of him, over the thoughts of experimentation. The physical scars are long gone, disappeared with the brunt of an idea brought to fruition. Almost, save for that glowing gaze, a gaze that now falls to the floor for just a moment.
However, when the former Turk mentions leaving, and Dr. Ido, her brows rise just a moment. "Ido... that's a name I have not heard in some time." Save for the man that is stretched out near the fire. "He will probably remember you." If not in that form, if for no more than the reason that Hojo seemed so snappish and rude. Well, other than that was the man's natural inclinations. Lucrecia shifts just a touch on her feet, before she nods once... and stops. What did he say? It's enough to color her expression, head shaking quickly, before she blurts, "I wouldn't ask you to do that, Vincent." Maybe it is good that Sephiroth seems content to sleep, than interject.
"He might," remember Vincent that is, "but that is neither here nor there. I need to talk to him." Hopefully he won't have to cajole or threaten. Sephiroth seems to idolize the man, so the former Turk is relatively at ease with the idea of speaking with Ido. Getting through the slums is the bigger worry, but nothing he doesn't think he is capable of handling. "It will be interesting to see if the slums have changed much in thirty years." The tone of his voice is wry, almost humourous, but it passes like a summer breeze giving way suddenly to a winter chill. There is a desire to touch Lucrecia's face, and he begins to reach upward, but halts himself. Something about her stance at the moment forces him to hold back, leaving him actually feeling awkwardly silent for a moment. So, he glances toward the sleeping Sephiroth, now surprised to see him resting there. Quietly, toward Lucrecia, he murmurs, "Has he ever relaxed like that before?" His few encounters with the man that is unknowingly his son has always made him wonder. It's little things like this are encouraging. Is it possible to heal some of the wounds Hojo inflicted?
Lucrecia doubts that either will be needed. Ido is a scientist not unlike herself, and more, he noticed the looks that the former Turk gave. Ido most likely knows now that Lucrecia is alive, still, so perhaps that alone will get him moving. Perhaps. But at the mention of the slums, brows furrow, and she does glance up, then. She catches just the tail end of Vincent's hand lifting toward her face, and cheeks color in response. But it is brief, as she muses, "You'll need something better than what you have now. I'll get something fixed before you go." What, let him go into the slums without some sort of protection? Lucrecia may not be able to use the bigger guns, but she's sure she can modify Quicksilver into something more... fitting. But, at the glance toward Sephiroth, her expression softens, before she nods. "Just once... when he realized who I was. I'm pretty sure Hojo told him I was dead. What's the use of worrying over a woman that doesn't exist....?"
Vincent nods as he watches Sephiroth a moment longer. Hojo made many grave mistakes, locking Vincent away, not worrying over Lucrecia's location. The former Turk has to marvel over the man's seeming stupidity. Then again, a scientist doesn't think the same way as a Turk. Hojo probably thought he'd someday return to his little experiment down in the basement of the old ShinRa mansion. Perhaps he figured someday Lucrecia would be recaptured. Who knows. Vincent would have merely eliminated anyone who might later prove to be trouble. Tsk. Seems Hojo didn't make sure to read the Rules for Evil Overlords. Glancing at the gun holstered at his side, Vincent considers it for a moment, then nods silently toward Lucrecia, withdrawing it from the holster to hand it toward her. It used to be his favorite pistol, but now there's another meaning to it, a last pot shot by Hojo. No joy in using it now, and since he's got no idea what's swimming around in the slums these days, it couldn't hurt to allow Lucrecia to provide him with something more fitting.
One would wonder if the man thinks at all. Or maybe he simply doesn't care, because he got the work he wanted done. There is no need to search for them anymore, to check on their progress. Or maybe Hojo is to the point that he knows something or someone is going to kill him -- he's just waiting to see who gets there first. Perhaps his son. His rival. His ex-lover. Or maybe from a new quarter altogether. Lucrecia's thoughts aren't on that, though, at least not in that capacity -- instead, she's loking down to the gun that has been handed to her, lips twitching just a touch. Oddly, she remembers the thing rather well. "A rifle would be better. But...." She can do something with this. And improve on it later on, when she has a chance. But for now, her thoughts are on getting Vincent something that will keep him safe in the slums. Then again... she hasn't realized anything about the true Beast within. Really, the slums should be wary of the man, not the other way around. "I should have something done before you're gone. I have a rifle already." Yes, in that dim hope that the former Turk would be alive, she made something already. But she has an idea now, that has lodged in, and not let go. Better.
"A rifle might be awkward, until I've managed to gain full control of this arm," Vincent responds, moving the strange appendage a bit, still trying to gain a 'feel' for it, something besides the surreal sensation that something is -missing-, namely his human arm. Then again, he is all too familiar with the demon-esque presence that clutches his soul so possessively (the one that refuses to allow Jenova access to Vincent's puppet strings), and isn't overly worried about the slums. Wary, yes. Worried, not really. To be fearless would be arrogant and stupid, as something will always come up to make you feel that fear. He learned this the hard way, over thirty years ago. He shakes his head then, tendrils of dark hair languidly sweeping against his cheeks with the motion. "I am not leaving right away. There is time. Don't trouble yourself over it." He still has things to grow accustomed to, and worries to overcome inwardly. The beast is too close to the surface half the time. It wouldn't do to lose his temper and have it take over suddenly. There's a reason why he attempts to remain passionless and stoic, and not all of it is because he likes it that way.
For a moment, he pauses, however, looking at Lucrecia in silence. "In thirty years, you hardly seem to have changed. You're as beautiful as ever." Sephiroth is thankfully asleep, allowing the former Turk a moment to prod at the affection he still feels for the quiet scientist near him now.
"I'll need time to work on it, certainly," is mentioned quietly, as Lucrecia continues to hold the gun in gloved fingers, hands gripping with a tight, but careful fashion. There will be no accidents with her, at least, as her expression blanks for a moment. Time. And more to compensate for the metallic arm that Vincent has.... ideas continue to click, before she glances up at the mention of not leaving just yet. That expression does brighten, perhaps in a change from that neutral countance, but soon enough, the action of letting her head tilt to one side nearly allows tendrils of hair to shadow her face. But the slight smile remains, none the less.
And grows, though the woman shakes her head at the comment that she has hardly changed. "Outside... no. And to think," is murmured, as she glances back to the gun, "I'd think you were silly to say such things." She does even now, though it is more modesty's sake, than anything. "But inside.... a lot has changed, I'm afraid. He doesn't know, though." Chin is lifted in Sephiroth's direction, before she adds, "He doesn't know who I was..." The former Turk does, however, and perhaps that might be the hardest thing to get over.
"You thought I was silly to say such things back then too," Vincent replies quietly, humor actually injected into that statement. It's a rare thing to see him smile, but he does so now, faintly. It is gone soon enough, crimson eyes following Lucrecia's gaze toward Sephiroth briefly. "Yes, much has changed..." but not how he feels about Lucrecia. Never that. Awkward, that about sums up how the former Turk suddenly feels. You could send him up against Hojo, make him wade through SOLDIERs with their Mako colored eyes, even stick him into a group of giggly teenagers and he'd be ok. (Relatively, anyway, it'd be risky to stick him in with kids, he'd likely want to slaughter them eventually for their inane babblings driving him further into insanity.) But, leave him near Lucrecia for a period of time and he'll eventually start second guessing himself. So, when feeling awkward, slip back into something familiar. "Take all the time you need, I will wait, I have time." Lots of it. All he's ever had is time. Eventually he'll grow restless, but for now he's content.
She can't help but to laugh at that, a soft, fleeting sound, that's brought on by an absent thought... the first time Vincent said it, really. "That is very true," the woman gives at length, smile never fading, as if spurred by the brief flash of emotion upon Vincent's features. Never change on his feelings? She thought he would have, considering if he had not shown any feelings toward her, he would probably be whole. Not what Hojo made him, not becauses he expressed feelings toward her. And while she would feel saddened by that loss, if it did occur, she could not blame him. At least, that's what she tells herself, as her gaze moves back to the gunman in earnest. "I will. I have an idea, but that will take quite a bit of time. In the meantime, I can make modifications to the rifle I can't use." All that knowledge is only so good -- if she can't handle the rifle, she will give it to someone that can. "It won't take too long." The awkwardness seems to go both ways, as her cheeks tinge with color, but no other words escape.
Vincent does not blame Lucrecia for anything that happened to him. Hojo turned him into what he is now, and it will be Hojo who will feel his wrath. One cannot help their emotions, after all, and the memory of Lucrecia was all he had to keep himself sane while spending thirty years in a constant land of nightmares and dreamscapes. No, the quiet scientist has her own personal guardian, as well as a man enamoured with her no matter what the circumstance. He nods to her finally at the statement regarding the rifle (guns are such safe topics for him), noticing the coloring of her cheeks, yet not being quite sure how to interprete this. It's at least encouraging. No comment about what she might be up to that would take so much time, but that's mostly because he figures she'll tell him when she's good and ready to. "Thank you."
That is the amazing thing. And when she realizes that Vincent doesn't blame her, even now, she will wonder what she did to gain such devotion. She is only a former shell of herself, unable to be that innocent young woman that the man knew thirty years ago. It's impossible. That youthful naievty has been ripped away, with a part of her soul that is only haunted with needles and blades, of pulled skin samples when she was awake, and worse when she didn't answer his questions. But that blush remains, even as she murmurs, "It is the least I can do. You tried to do so much for me, back then... but, I guess that's youth." She was only just out of her teenage years... and well... foolishness abounded. Lips quirk, before she mentions, "Oh... I forgot to mention... through the back, there's a bath." Why she thought of it now is anyone's guess, though mostly that the man has been stationary for the past thirty years. It's only then that she remembers the arm, before shoulders slump. "I'm sorry. I forgot...."
Vincent doesn't even understand why he feels the way he does toward Lucrecia. He had thought about it, or attempted to, back when he first felt such strange and alien emotions toward the innocent scientist he met as he was transferred to the Jenova Project. He had no answer then. He has none now, the difference is merely that he's chosen to accept it. He does not realize that she is not quite the same, no longer so naive and innocent, though there are a few things noticable. Even then, she is still Lucrecia, still the delicate flower he fell in love with decades ago. Woe be to any individual who so much as implies an insult toward her. Canting his head to the side slightly, his expression becomes perplexed, "I only wish I could have done more, Lucrecia." And then he glances toward the back. That makes him actually chuckle, "Is that a hint?" Humor again, twice today.
If she had simply thought of it in that fashion, then perhaps.... but that is a road of what ifs, and something she simply shouldn't travel down. Instead, luminous gaze flickers up to the gunman for just a moment, before she replies, "What's done is done. We simply have to move on." Or so her son tells her. He has found it, at times, the easiest, having no past life destroyed. But in other ways, Sephiroth has a harder time because he does not know how things could have been. If Vincent were his father, rather than Hojo. If he had been there to raise him. But for now, that smile only grows at the chuckle, the mention of her comment being a hint brings a shaking of head. That ponytail shivers, as she retorts, "No... but I thought you might, considering your confinement. I think that was the first thing I did when I escaped." Tried to wash everything away. But, quietly, a hand reaches up, to brush away a lock of hair should the former Turk not move, before she comments, "It was never so long before."
Vincent follows Lucrecia's movement with his eyes, allowing her to move the lock of his hair as he remains immobile. Indeed, he had considered cutting it, but decided against it in the end. She may not be the same inwardly, but neither is he. It's merely the first step toward accepting what it is he has become. "I'm not quite the same either," he responds softly, not necessarily meaning just his hair length, or even the noticable arm replacement. Nothing Hojo touches is the same afterwards. A gloved hand lifts, the human one of course, brushing at her hand, making contact long enough to merely touch without grabbing. Though he felt the same before his imprisonment, he is aware that for Lucrecia time kept going, and he remains uncertain how she might feel toward him. As for moving on, he wonders aloud, "Did Sephiroth say this to you?" Somehow it seems like something he would say to her.
Lucrecia continues to let a hand finger a strand of raven locks, almost marveling at the texture. Everything Hojo touches is eventually twisted, brought into a paradox of living, but never quite the wat that one started out with. She's beginning to see that, bit by bit, though speaking upon it is another matter within itself. "I know. Things.... change, over time." Did her feelings? One would think it would be hard to say. She has lived for thirty years, while one man she had cared for abused her, the other 'dead' in all senses of the word. Or so she was told. But when Vincent's hand touches her own, it shivers, blush darkening in hue... but she doesn't move away. Instead, there's a nod, before she retorts, "He did. And while I can understand it.... it's very hard. The nightmares...." And she is glad he is asleep now, unable to feel that tenuous tie that mother and son hold, "... they never go away." In her insanity, they were simple memories... but that lucid nature has asserted itself for the moment.
"The nightmares may fade, in time," is all Vincent can offer, unwilling to take his pessimistic outlook on life for Lucrecia. If Sephiroth can find himself comfortable enough here to relax, then there is hope for the future, somewhere, though the gunman isn't sure how exactly. He watches her reaction to his touch, the darkening coloration of her cheeks. She may have changed, but not entirely, and the same goes for him. "I still love you, Lucrecia. Somethings may never change." How long has it been since he's admitted this? Once he swore such things vehemently, in the days when he feared for her safety and loathed Hojo's obvious possessiveness of her. Even recalling his words to her then. 'He wants to possess you, like a painting, or an ivory box. He doesn't love you.' The fact that he was right about all of it is cold comfort, however.
If they have not in thirty years, they will not now. But the reasons that caused it are not said, instead, the woman glancing down to her feet for just a moment, before Vincent finally speaks again. It is enought to make her mouth open, lips curved in a delicate 'O', unable to speak. It's almost a trigger, finally shot off, as her head bobbles once, unable to really give some sort of reply. But then, it's a reply within itself, isn't it? "...... I did not think you would. I thought.... if you were alive, that what Hojo might have said was true." That once you found out what happened to her, you would loathe such used goods, a freakish creation of her own design, though not entirely. The idea was hers, yes... but its implemention wasn't something she was willing to try so soon. After more tests, maybe... but not so soon. If she could hear the words in your head, she would cringe.... but even she knows they're true now, so she can give nothing further on it.
"I... I was right in coming to you, that night. My folly was going back to the lab the next day." The spy that sent back information to Hojo in the meantime, of the suspicions the jealous scientist had were true. "I... I heard you. The night the two of you were arguing. But I wasn't able to come out in time." Lucrecia's head hangs a touch, before she adds, "I wanted to help you... but I wasn't sure. There were only so many things I could make out, and then..." She was pulled away. It had to happen, eventually, since she was not suppose to near the lab at that particular hour. So she never heard the gunshot, the resulting experiments.... nor can she tell you the fact the man stopped experimenting on you was to move on to lover and 'son'.
"Don't blame yourself, Lucrecia, none of it is your fault," Vincent replies. "I made my decision, and it was my folly to have gone in there unarmed." After all, who expects a scientist to be armed? Regardless of Lucrecia's actions that night, he cannot blame her, not for any of it. He reaches for the woman's shoulder, wishing he could actually hold her with two hands instead of one. (He would never even consider touching her with the clawed hand. Not Lucrecia.) "I thought there was a chance that Sephiroth was mine, and I did what I had to. You were in no position to aid me, and Hojo was smart to keep my whereabouts secret." The true villian is Hojo, as far as Vincent is concerned. Somehow he didn't doubt that the man would have hunted them both if he had managed to convince her to leave with him, to escape the horrid, wretched project.
Lucrecia can't help it, in all honestly. If Vincent hadn't fallen in love with her.... there's that what if, again. It chips at that fragile core, bit by bit, unless it will once more break into madness. But not now. Not with that touch on her shoulder. But it does break the emotional reign she had kept on herself. Perhaps because Lucrecia sees that he can not hold her with two arms... but she could... for him, couldn't she? "Hojo says otherwise. I don't know who to believe." She could test. The thought occurs to her, oddly, even as her head bows, expression hidden under masses of dark hair. But her arms do seek comfort, to wrap about the man that she has for decades thought dead, to hold him just once... if never again. She still can't believe, on some levels, that this is real. "He simply said that you no longer wanted me." And at the time, she didn't believe it. But the days of the former Turk's absence grew into weeks... and for all the world, it seemed true. And that fragileness grows, even as she whispers against his shoulder, "You won't go, will you?"
Crimson eyes slowly close as he feels Lucrecia draw near to him, pressing his cheek against her head in a quiet embrace, his human arm now moving around her shoulders if permitted, hoping to comfort as well as reassure her. "Hojo lied to you, Lucrecia. Not one day passed that I did not think of you, worry for you, love you. He held me below, and knew my frustrations that I could not free myself to protect you, or Sephiroth." And if Hojo lied about that... it leaves one to wonder what -else- he lied about. Everything he touches is either changed forever, or hidden behind massive amounts of lies and half-truths. "He told me Sephiroth was his, though I had prayed it wasn't so..." and even now he questions that, though even Sephiroth seemed to believe it now. And, lastly, "... he went so far as to tell me he would take your life." The final blow to a man already defeated as he laid in that coffin, about to be sealed away for three decades. To be convinced that he would lie there helplessly as the woman he loved was murdered by Hojo.
Crimson eyes slowly close as he feels Lucrecia draw near to him, pressing his cheek against her head in a quiet embrace, his human arm now moving around her shoulders if permitted, hoping to comfort as well as reassure her. "Hojo lied to you, Lucrecia. Not one day passed that I did not think of you, worry for you, love you. He held me below, and knew my frustrations that I could not free myself to protect you, or Sephiroth." And if Hojo lied about that... it leaves one to wonder what -else- he lied about. Everything he touches is either changed forever, or hidden behind massive amounts of lies and half-truths. "He told me Sephiroth was his, though I had prayed it wasn't so..." and even now he questions that, though even Sephiroth seemed to believe it now. And, lastly, "... he went so far as to tell me he would take your life." The final blow to a man already defeated as he laid in that coffin, about to be sealed away for three decades. To be convinced that he would lie there helplessly as the woman he loved was murdered by Hojo.
Lucrecia would not push the man away, even if she thought about it. And she certainly isn't thinking about it now, caught in his one armed embrace. "I had hoped, one day, you would return, that you would come back for us... but... I didn't know what to do." The last of her naviety, really, stripped right then. But when the gunman mentions the fact that Hojo also told him that the child was his, her shoulders slump. Lips purse, before she shakes away that negative thought. "I'm going to test," she motions to the lab, and then glances up to Vincent momentarily. "But.... I'll need your help." To test will take having a sample of her son's and the former Turk's blood... hopefully.... it'll be a match. A foolish dream? Perhaps, but there are worse fates, worse things that can some of such dreams... she's got to hope that perhaps the lies that Hojo spun did eke into the realms of paternity.
Drawing back again, for fear of spooking Lucrecia's fragile sanity, Vincent nods. "You have only to ask and if it is in my power I will do it." This almost sounds like something out of a twisted version of 'The Princess Bride'. If he ever starts saying 'As you wish', then worry. The testing idea doesn't seem ludicris to him. Instead it will finally answer the question for him, ease his doubts, or at last leave him with the bare truth. However, he isn't quite aware of Sephiroth's astral projection abilities. This could prove to be interesting, indeed. He decides to drop the previous subject also. There was no way either of them could possibly have been aware of the other's situation. Hojo did well to make sure they were equally lied to and fully separated. The beast stirs somewhere beneath the surface, prodding as it feels the gunman's anger flaring briefly. He inhales then, forcibly calming himself. Someday he will need to confront this creature, or somehow master his own emotions. Neither will be easy.
Lucrecia does forget about things now and then, and the sudden dismay that crosses her features proves it. "I... I forgot. I can't test him." Shoulders are unresisting to the slump that causes that look of utter defeat, before she explains. "He's not here. At least, not in the physical sense. It seems one of his powers is astral projection. His body is far from here, injured. That happened about.... five years ago." Absently, a hand frees itself, to nearly rub at her abdomen, before she stops herself. It wasn't her. She didn't die that, and neither did he. "He's caught within a rock made of pure materia." And the pinched expression on her face clearly shows what she thinks of that. He won't let her go and find him. With good reason, of course, but that never exactly stood in the way of a mother's intuition. "He's in a very dangerous prediciment.... it's just so hard to forget, because... he's here." In every way but physical, the person stretched out in front of the fire is her son. Their son? She doesn't know, but she knows what she wants to believe.
Now, seeing as Lucrecia is obviously worried, this in turn gets Vincent's worry mechanisms going. Even if Sephiroth is not his biological son, he still feels that paternal need to protect the child that is Lucrecia's without any doubts. And that means, "If he will not allow you to aid him, perhaps he will allow me." At least, once he is capable of it. The beast likes this idea, for it may mean a chance to rise to the surface and release chaos and aggression and destruction. It likes the thought of that, yes. Idly he also inquires, "What happened to him? Who or what injured him?" He doesn't realize the danger in asking such a question, having never know the legend of Sephiroth, or the circumstances surrounding his supposed death. He won't let this go easily either, even if Sephiroth refuses to allow the former Turk to seek out his true body and free him.
While Sephiroth's power is emminense, his body is still trapped within a rock, unable to free itself, without the threat of actually feeling a true death. He is protected... and caught, all at the same time. The rational part of Lucrecia's mind hates that, though if she had only remembered the strange man in paint heading to Midgar.... does her son know? Does he know who it was, or that she ran across him? Probably not, and the insane recesses of the scientist's mind is what ran across the poor painted fellow. If Tomo ever figures out what a clown is, he'll probably be insulted. But that's later, even as the woman shifts a touch within Vincent's embrace. "He was at the reactor, five years ago. That must have been when he was sent about the monsters. They were rampant then. Sephiroth, by that time, was in SOLDIER. A... group of men implanted with Jenova's cells.... infused by mako." She remembers the few papers she recieved upon it, her son's promotions... but that isn't what was asked. "So much of it is jumbled... but I remembered... I felt it. Someone stabbed him. Right through the abdomen. .... Blonde, hair?" She doesn't remember clearly. "But I think he was a SOLDIER too. I don't know. It was just a flash." A painful one that broke the last hinges of sanity.
Vincent listens to Lucrecia quietly as she explains what she knows of Sephiroth's 'death', idly stroking at her hair in small, comforting motions. Whomever attempted harm to the former General of Midgar will have to steer clear of Vincent now too, should he ever discover the identity of this blonde haired SOLDIER. What a twist from the original game, no? "But he does still live..." the gunman muses. He must, or there would be no astral form to project. And he knows of few ghosts capable of forming actual physical forms like that. The urge to rub his eyes is there, but he can't, his human arm still around Lucrecia, and the robotic arm hardly trustworthy for such a delicate motion. Someday he'll be able to do that and it'll be damned disconcerting. Just not yet. There is so much he has left to learn, so many things Lucrecia mentions as if he should know already and yet he doesn't and isn't so sure he wants to ask.
The feel of a blade slicing within one's innards... the smell of blood making it to one's nostrils... it was horrifying for a woman who had escaped violence so long ago. But the motions are soothing, at least enough that Lucrecia can continue to speak. "He does. But he's trapped until he heals. He should have been dead by that wound." She felt like she had died, and she was a good deal away from the actual action. "But I have no idea where Kutou is from here. Close enough, perhaps, that the astral projection doesn't drain him, but... but... he's unable to get himself free." Or he would have by now. Or maybe Jenova just likes to toy with that country, until she can eventually destroy it. But the thought of the test now is aborted, gaze shifting up to watch the gunman for just a moment. "And you're probably tired." He looks it, even as she pulls back just enough to take in his expression.
Weary is a better word for it. He's slept for thirty years now, and rest doesn't come easy anymore, nor will it ever again. When he closes his eyes, he sees Hojo, and a host of horrifying visions thrust at him via the beast that resides within. "I've been asleep for practically thirty years, Lucrecia, no, I am not tired." Liar. But, his mind is elsewhere. Kotou, Kotou, Kotou. Yes, after seeing Dr. Ido, it may be time to make a trip to Kotou, to find wherever Sephiroth is trapped and free him. He is unaware of the control Jenova has over his son, though it wouldn't surprise him. He has his own would-be puppeteer to contend with. "I will be going to Kotou then, I will find him." He says this softly, but with a definate conviction. Oh those poor citizens of Kotou.
It's amazing just how much taint Hojo leaves here and there. Nightmares and physical results, yet he managed to get through the brunt of his work unstained for the past thirty years. His days are probably numbered, considering that now Vincent is awake, Sephiroth knows that his mother is alive.... it's just a matter of who gets there first to collect on his hide. But it is the weariness that she hears, before she mentions, "Soon... in time. You've got a lot to get used to... and I've a lot to catch you up on. A lot of things have changed since you've been asleep." But the comment about heading to Kutou is heard, before her head bobbles just once. "You have been gone a long time.... some things have not changed... but a lot has."
Hojo's days are most definately numbered. Somehow his terrible experiments will come to a very slow and unpleasant end. He lost the right to a quick death the moment he laid harming hands on Lucrecia and Sephiroth. He shakes his head, not having meant that he'd leave anytime soon, "No, not yet. You're right. So much to learn." He turns now, actually needing to find somewhere to sit. Loathe to sleep, he feels much more mentally tired then physically so. "Perhaps it would be better to save explanations for later." He does finally rub at his eyes now, with the gloved human hand. Glancing up, he remembers Sephiroth, who is sleeping and watches him in that strange, catlike position. No need for a family pet here, it's almost as if the son and the cat have been combined into one.
Moving across the room in any fashion brings a green pair of eyes to open and the man to look over. He's been cat-napping as it were, more asleep then awake, but not totally asleep. When Sephiroth sleeps he disappears and his consciousness returns to his real body. Because the astral form is still here means... obviously he's not truly asleep. The combination of the fire and being left alone for this long is a great temptation and he very nearly dropped off completely. Nearly isn't having done it though and so now as Vincent mvoes to take his seat someone is watching him. Someone wrapped in a heavy leather coat, warming himself before that fire. Yes, he is very much like a cat, but if you call him the family pet he's going to have to hurt you. Blinking eyes too slowly to be human, Sephiroth lanquidly looks to Vincent for a moment and then to Lucrecia. There is something of an unspoken question - Yes? Drowsey indeed and totally comfortable. He's never felt this way before. Tis nice.
Perhaps that is what brings a slight edge to her movements, even as Vincent finally moves away to take a chair. She follows afterwards, of course, before she nods. "A lot.. though even I admit I am out of the loop with a lot of things." And with Vincent himself. But the Beast will show itself, one way or another. And Lucrecia, oddly, will know the process a whole lot better than when Hojo bumbled through it. At least, enough, for the woman to give the man some sort of advantage. Or hope to, even as she takes a nearby chair. It's only then that she spies the green eyes that are so like, yet completely different to her own, before she gives a touch of a smile. "Didn't mean to wake you," is given, rather sheepishly. "We were just discussing things." To say the least... to the point of the parentage of the man that rests on the floor.
Sitting on the edge of the chair he selects, Vincent nods toward Sephiroth solemnly. The mechanical arm drapes itself over his knee, a sign that he is starting to become accustomed to it. Or at least he is remembering spontaeneously to move it when necessary. "My apologies if we've woken you." The voice is dispassionate, almost as if he didn't mean the apology, but he always sounds that way. Glancing back toward Lucrecia, he nods, finishing their conversation quietly. "I have all the time in the world. And there will be plenty of it spent listening."
Sephiroth shrugs fluidly to show that neither of you need to apologize at all. He honestly shouldn't have been dropping off here. Later on he will have to think about the whys of it all, but that hasn't occured to him yet. "I know." He responds quietly yo Lucrecia. Finally beginning to move after this long period the SOLDIER rolls his shoulders and then unfolds from his seated position. How he could nearly sleep seated there with arms wrapped around legs.. oy. Legs are folded tailor fashion and he lays his hands into his now formed lap. The heavy coat drapes about his lean figure, obscuring a good deal of him and giving a bulk that he doesn't hold on his own. Too much like his father to be beefy with muscle. "Shall I go and give you some alone time?" Thanks to the fire and his comfort, Sephiroth is nearly purring out the words. Get close enough and you will find that he is actually purring - albeit quietly.
Lucrecia doesn't worry about it anymore then, after that shrug has dismissed the matter. "You don't have to go, no." There's a pause, before she mentions, "We were think, actually. Hojo's lied about so many things.... he could have lied about that test he took.... that proved you were his son. But....." There's no way to check. And there's nothing more that she can say on the matter, even as she stretches. And absent thought comes, brought on by the glowing baubles about her wrists, before she mentions, "Materia.... I forgot." She's got plenty, evident from the way this place runs. "You'll need some, Vincent." In a way, if Sephiroth were newly dead, she would have a simple way to bring him back, and whole. Heck, if he were here, she could place a powerful cure on him. But.. he's not... and that is the problem.
Glowing crimson eyes now look toward Lucrecia at the mention of the tests she's wishing to perform. He had not thought she would voice this so soon, but so much the better perhaps. The former Turk is still doubtful that Hojo fathered Sephiroth. And since Lucrecia seems to wonder also brings back that sense of hope he had dashed before when talking to Sephiroth. And then, on to Materia. Vincent has no intention of using the little slots within his mechanical arm for any sort of Materia, not until after he has spoken with Dr. Ido, and made sure Hojo left no little surprises within the mechaincal wonder. But, that doesn't mean he cannot use Materia at all. "What do you suggest then?" He could probably figure it out on his own, but is too weary to want to think about it right now. Since his awakening, he has slept as little as possible. This has begun to take its toll.
You were thinking about the test Hojo took so long ago? Just saying that brings up a wealth of memories and the man before the fire goes still even as his features lose all in the way of expression. Should one look closely the chest beneath that obscuring clothing doesn't even rise and fall. It's what he does when something startles or bothers him, and all unknowing it makes him look like Vincent, so seems to be wearing much in the same of expression. Sephiroth remembers just the other day when Vincent told him that he didn't see anything of Hojo in him. This has to be why you are wondering, and the SOLDIER quickly makes the connection as to whom the two of you believe might be his father instead. Luminous eyes turn to Vincent and remain there. However then Lu has to go and start talking about Materia. The subject change is so sudden that it leaves Sephiroth reeling for a moment before he can get his mental thought processes shifted around. "I'm willing to bring you things from Midgar if you wish, Mother." No, he purposely doesn't say anything about that test, and did wait until after Vincent had replied before offering.
Lucrecia hadn't meant to change the subject so soon.... but it all seemed but hopless to her. Still, there's a pause, before she glances over to Vincent, a smile just quirking her expression. "I've got too much for me to use... too offensive in nature." But that doesn't mean that /Vincent/ can't use it for the time being, and then some. She can only use a few at a time, and there's no need to hoarde it all. So she doesn't, instead giving the gunman that slowly smiling countance. "I'll make it so that they can be placed within your arm. They should be more than protected there." Too many mistakes, Hojo... she couldn't have thought of a better protective sheath for such delicate baubles. However, at Sephiroth's comment of bringing materials, it brings a mote of surprise... and then relief. "Wonderful. I want to know for sure." She wants /one/ thing to come out of this mess untainted by hate... this has to be it. "Because... I see moe of Vincent in you than I ever have seen of Hojo." At first, she wondered about the rage, the seething anger that seemed to sear... but even Hojo wasn't like this. No, Vincent's awakening as remindered her just where she's seen such an emotion before -- from him.
Fiddling with the mechanical arm, Vincent draws the panel open again to gaze at the slots there, left for materia apparently. He has to wonder -what- in the -world- Hojo was thinking to have attached something this powerful to the body of a man he hated. The only thing he can deduce is that Hojo didn't intend for the former Turk to retain his free will somehow. Or, perhaps the beast within was another experiment that failed for some reason, and rather then destroy his work, he buried it for later perusal. Or something like that. "I am uncertain of this arm, Lucrecia. Which is why I wanted to speak with Dr. Ido. I do not know what purpose Hojo had for it, or what failsafes he might have included in with it." And he knows he doesn't want Lucrecia to be hurt by any backlash from it.
But, that thought passes as Lucrecia mentions seeing more of him in Sephiroth then Hojo. He wondered as much, but unable to make such a comparison, he had nothing to go by. This has him curious now. He looks now to the man he hopes somehow is his son and gazes at him with masked wonder. Could it be?
More of Vincent than of Hojo. Still not seeming to breath, for he doesn't need to in this body, Sephiroth continues to sit there before the fire. Out of no where (At least it seems for him) the man gets confused. Not that his face shows this, and little do either of you yet know that when he grows truly bothered the less emotional he becomes. Of course it will perhaps make him look all the more like his father as Vincent seems to do it too. Now.. what's he so upset about? Memory. The faint hope he had clung to all of his life that had been shattered all unintentionally by Ido who told him that Hojo was his father. A truth that drove him to destruction, and to the loss of an area of the laboratories that Hojo worked in, inside of the Shinra building in Midgar. That broken hope was nearly too much for Sephiroth to be able to handle and is still a wound inside of his heart. He just hasn't shown it to anyone since he found out.
Now the two of you are suggesting that all of that pain might have been for nothing. Just another of Hojo's many lies. Sephiroth now wonders when he is going to finally learn not to believe anything that man says. When are you going to learn not to let Hojo hurt you? Not finding anything to say, your son merely looks into the fire and half-lids his eyes. He wars with the urge to leave you both, but that won't get him anything either. It can't change the hurt. Because of the nature of the man's thoughts he is caught in their whirlwind and is mostly unaware of your presence. None of this is easy for him.
It just might be. Might be, beyond Hojo's less than kind attempts to make it otherwise. Which hurts even more, if Lucrecia ever knew that part of that was what drove Sephiroth over the edge. She'd hate that it all happened over another bold-faced lie, all to keep in charge. Or worse, to see what the lie would have Sephiroth do. He likes to say things to get reactions, and then tally the results elsewhere. He's like that, just like he decided to put materia slots on Vincent's arm. Maybe he wondered if the man would do so, and come and kill him. Or maybe find Lucrecia, Sephiroth, anyone from ShinRa... or simply decend into madness. A shame... the man is brilliant... if only shortsighted by his own meglomania.
".... Sephiroth?" Lucrecia is worried, at that stoic countance that comes through, before she glances at Vincent once more. The coloring is abjectly opposite. Was it a bleaching out by Jenova herself, as she saw what happened to his father? Or maybe to keep Hojo guessing? Most likely it is a simple freak occurance, and nothing more, as the woman shifts a touch in her chair. "I... I just think it's best for all of us if we knew." She can not even say her next words, and perhaps, she has forgotten that Vincent can listen in. But the words are for her son, the one that grows more confused by the moment. ~I would rather like to know if you are the child of one true instance of love, rather than months of hate. You are still my hopes, my dreams, my son, either way. You know that.~
Yes, 'like father, like son' seems to fit in this instance as it has in many others. Vincent has felt his own emotions tugging him toward that whirlwind of confusion inside his thoughts. He dare not give in to that either. No longer in the dreamscape of his stasis slumber, he can avoid that maelstrom for the most part. And as he does this, his gaze only seems to become that much more unreadable. Damn Hojo for all of this, he broods privately, not sensing the beast's presence as it slyly begins to influence his thoughts. He rises to his feet suddenly, the mechanical arm creaking in protest as the panel is left open to swing with the motion. He snaps it shut rather suddenly, crimson eyes trained on the metal thing that is his arm, not willing to look up at the moment for fear either of you may notice the flaring of his eyes' glow.
However, Vincent does hear Lucrecia's voice through the link he hardly understands. His chin snaps upward to look at her, the glow dimming very suddenly as the beast is denied any chance to influence him further. He says nothing, for indeed, what could he possibly say after hearing that? It is more then he could ever hope for.
~Stop it...~ It should have been a shout for all the words are mental, shared through that link which ties you all together even more than your blood does. Hands are gripped to head and Sephiroth closes his eyes tightly. None of this is because he doesn't want to be your son. In fact he wants to be Vincent's son very much indeed, but the pain is too new still to be easily put aside and isn't the only reason that there is a problem with it all. No, most of the problem comes from Jenova. She is a very jealous being indeed and claims Sephiroth as her own.
All out of no where he shares this through the link, never meaning to share it. A flood of images, of memories.. all wrapped up in emotions that seem oddly distanced from it all. Sephiroth just can not feel things as strongly as a normal human. Everything seems dim, half hearted, even though for him this is a maelstorm. He's used to being cold and calculating. Not feeling.
The memories you get of the terror five years ago when he gained proof enough to realize what Hojo had done. Proof that had woken Jenova inside of him. The promises she whispered of Godhood, the madness she brought with her.. and how she crouches over him now, seeking to control him. There is a very fragil wall that holds her back. Something outside of Sephiroth that denies her the tool she wants to use.
The problem Sephiroth is having? He would rather be Lucrecia's hope than Jenova's tool. Lu represents comfort and love. Jenova represents power, but at a price Sephiroth is finding he doesn't want to pay. Thanks to a combination of people he's managed to piece together what the alien is doing to him. How she is controlling him; and he knows that he can't do anything about it at all. Most times the man doesn't even know he was controlled until after she's done and leaves him to pick up the pieces. Not exactly the best in relationships.
So right now he fights against her and her jealousy. Hunching there before the fire, his whole stance says pain, finger lost amid firelight touched silver hair. ~I...~ And with it Sephiroth knows that something will happen if he doesn't leave... so he leaves. Better to stay away for a little while then to have Jenova do harm to either of you. Or attempt to do harm is perhaps better to say.
They say a tie with mother and son is strong. Perhaps, between mother and father as well? Or maybe it is simply the Lifestream's influence, added that Vincent is oh so close. She felt him move before he did, a woosh of something making a shiver dance down her spine. She didn't mean to evoke such a response, but she meant it when she said what she hoped Sephiroth was, instead of what Hojo wanted them all to believe. That the man was something that he could not create, even as the years went on and he found that eventually he couldn't control his 'son'. Eventually, he knew he would die, probably by his 'child's' hand, and no one would have blamed him for it.
But instead, Lucrecia's attention, her very thoughts, are assaulted by the images that bursts forth from Sephiroth's mind. Her tie to the Lifestream isn't that strong, but her tie to her son is that and then some. Enough that years had passed, that while she knew he was alive and probably well, being an adult, he had escapred the nightmareish thoughts that she had kept of his abuse by Hojo's hands. No, she wasn't there to see it, but she knew it happened. So, to see that Jenova herself has done a good deal of the mental damage is stunning.
Stunning enough to make the woman pale, fingers clutching the sides of her chair involuntarily -- she's.... alive? In every cell? Why hadn't she known it? It's simple, really. Jenova considers the woman a rival for Sephiroth, though not over the same goals -- to the first, her son is power.... but to Lucrecia, he is the little boy that she never got to hold, never got to help when he got scraped knees, never got to teach in the manner that her parents taught her. And that hurts. But not so much that she doesn't see the pain flickering across her son's features, or the fight that seems to war within. It is only when he disappears that she is finally set free to move, crying out far too late to stop him. It falls into a choked sob, even though her movements only take her a few steps from where she once sat. "No.... you promised...." He wouldn't go. He said he wouldn't leave her.
And finally, that sanity just... snaps. It was a fragile thing to begin with, and the sobs that escape Lucrecia's shuddering frame begin to change, begin to bubble forth as soft childish giggles that come at odds with the tears streaking down her cheeks. Damn pergatory. She should have known better than to trust her 'judgement'. Always been bad from the get go. But... they're all dead, so, eventually, she's got to run across his soul again. The thought doesn't stop her from laughing; in fact, it seems to spur it on, dispite the fact that the woman's legs seem to no longer want to support her, allowing her to fall to her knees, tithering giggles echoing within the cavern.
"Sephiroth.." Vincent says in that still steady voice of his. Inside he is alarmed, and the beast has clamoured forward, sensing in the white hair man the threat that is Jenova. Another predator who wants control over its rightful property, namely the dark haired father of the alien creature's claim. The flood of torrid memories freezes him in place suddenly, blinking glowing crimson eyes repeatedly as if somehow he could force them from his mind. Good lord, what did Hojo do to the child? He takes a single step forward, though Sephiroth disappears before he can do anything at all to either help him or peice together everything that's suddenly happened. Too quickly, it all raced by him too quickly.
And the beast rages in the background, crimson eyes aglow with the its sudden insecurities, threatened by the creature that is Jenova and jealous of her supposed desires and wants over its hold on Vincent. He turns out of concern for Lucrecia, brow furrowing to see her fall to her knees, giggling and tittering suddenly like a child, or a woman who's lucidity has suddenly abandoned her. This is the first time her madness has manifested in front of him. Yet, even as disturbing as it is, he walks toward her quietly, kneeling down to look at her, reach out toward her with the human arm. "Lucrecia?" This has caused quite a stir. The quiet scientist lost to the giggles of her insanity, Vincent teetering on the edge of his control over the beast. Just one more thing, just one more little push and he'll go over the edge. The beast hungrily demands release, but for Lucrecia, the gunman must deny it. He has to consider where he is, and who he is with. "Lucrecia?" He repeats, softly, almost afraid from the slight tremble in his voice.
"Silly me, silly cow.... I thought I was alive there for a moment. It makes sense now, it truly does. I knew I'd only see you in death, and here you are." It's a lavish, if somewhat 'off' smile that Lucrecia bestows upon the man, green eyes brightened by nothing that has to do with mako enhancement. No, there is nothing but pure madness there, even as Lucrecia shifts just enough to let Vincent reach for her with that human arm. But that wasn't her intent, as her own arms reach out, to settle upon the gunman shoulders. Should the former Turk move, he'd find a scientist attached to him. Those manicial eyes lid, if slightly, as she comments, "But now death seems a welcome thing, don't you think? You're here now, with me, that man good and done with the living.... I prefer it that way." Something Lucrecia would /never/ do, given the circumstances. Heck, she'd blush even if she tried something like this, and then probably chicken out. Now? The woman all but purrs. "Forgive me for being silly, back there?" What? When she was thinking she was alive? Of course.
With the beast pacing around in the back of his head, this sudden latching of Lucrecia onto his person is distracting. "Lucrecia?" he says softly, though his voice is strained, the inward battle proving to be distracting. "You're not dead." He'd want to say so much more, but the words seem to tumble right out of his head as the beast howls. He winces for a moment, wanting so badly to get away from this, to leave the cave and give the creature release far from here. It will not wait much longer. Of course, now that she's suddenly attached to him makes it that much more difficult to get away from her. "Lucrecia let me go, I don't want to hurt you." He doesn't want to leave her, but the consequences of remaining her much longer could prove detrimental to her. He has no control over the beast when it takes over his physical body. Nor does he want her to -see- whatever form it chooses to take.
"I used to think that, but then, I was seeing people who should be dead here and there... and I knew better. Eventually, we'll go to heaven or hell.... but now, I really don't care which it is." It is a good thing that the Lifestream is a fleeting thing through the woman, and nearly neglilgent unless Sephiroth is around. Lips quirk, just momentarily, before they tug slightly until a frown. Who knows what Lucrecia was thinking in those few seconds, but the fact of the matter is that Vincent has made his intentions clear. If she heard the rest, past letting him go, she doesn't comment upon it, only letting herself drop dully to her feet. "Of... of course." Nothing else is said, hands pulled into one another, as she turns away. Madness is never a pretty thing -- had hurt, and it gets worse by the moment.
Rising to his feet, pausing to look at Lucrecia, desperately wishing he could stay, stay to see her back to lucidity again, Vincent leaves the cave with the cape fluttering behind him, barely reaching the mouth before the beast snatches him up and tosses him into the maelstrom, leaving his subconcious to float there while it leaps in to take over the former Turk's body. The lean, dark haired form slowly changes shape to a purple scaled, horned creature, howling into the mountain winds as it leaps along the path, seeking in the darkness for things to destroy, hapless creatures to kill. Anything to toss its brand of chaos at. If you see him again by morning, all will be well.
One can hope that the green chocobo that seems fond of Lucrecia is not on the list of Vincent's things to destroy. But then, the woman hadn't expected the man to say anything when he left -- however, there is barely time enough for a sniffle as she glances back to hear... a howl? Does she see the change? Will it matter, considering her insanity is a jealous thing, wanting to keep its precious memories to itself? Not at the moment, as she begins to laugh again, going over to the workbench where she keeps her tools. Tools? Why, of course. She promised to make something better for Vincent, in the days that he would remain her getting used to himself. "Hee. Such a wonderful idea, Lu. But you need a name for it. Hmm. Death seems to be a common thing around here." She begins her work, humming to herself, before she finally mutters, "Death Penalty." Pause. Perfect.