June catch-all (open)

[angealwings]

WHO: Andrew Hughes and you
WHERE: The Open Book, the beach, around town.
WHEN: Throughout June.
WHAT: Catch-all. Andrew gets SOLDIER strength/speed/vitality at the worst possible time (for what he's trying) and also dealing with that.
WARNINGS: Possibly no more than a bit of angst and potentially violence, will update if anything more comes up.

Night of the 1st.

There was another Zack on the app.

There was another Zack on the app, and his Zack - their Zack, since he was certainly no less there for his cousins, or other friends, but the point stood - was out of town. Unreachable. Years of having each other's back, memories of people they weren't anymore but, from what Andrew was seeing, they might be becoming more like.

It wouldn't be bad that Zack was off the app, especially if it got to keep him a little safer. IT wouldn't be bad if Zack was out of the city, even, the normal kind of leaving.

But there was another Zack on the app, and Andrew knew far too well that it was a different Zack and... he looked a lot like the Zack he'd known for years. And if he looked like the Zack he'd known, and Zack Fairweather was gone from the city, and this Zack was on the app...

God.

Andrew told Gen he was going to be back later, put on his training clothes, grabbed some weights, and was off to the beach.

In a way that would be probably very familiar to Eren, should he chance to go by the beach, he was running along the length of it, with weights.

Once.

Twice.

Trying to get his body to be too tired for his mind to work.

Except just when he was getting there, he took in a breath and. And he was not tired at all. He could barely feel the weights. And he was running even faster.

(Zack had had too much strength, before he lost the app. They were from the same world...)

Fuck.

Andrew punched into the sand, first with one fist, then the other. Then faster, though it didn't do any good. And then... faster.

No, his usual habit of exhausting himself into oblivion was really not going to work.

The Second and... whenever later is possible

The Open Book was a bookstore on the ground floor of a residence house, with Andrew and Genesis living on the second and third floors (not respectively). So if anyone in the store had a sharp enough sense of smell, or was coming up to the living areas, they just might be able to tell that Andrew was spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Determinedly working on making miso soup.

From scratch.

By the time Genesis closed the shop on Saturday, Andrew had some for Gen to taste. If that worked, well. He was going to make enough of the stock so they could make it pretty easily.

He was even smiling a bit, whether anyone came to see him or Genesis was done with work. For all that he hadn't really slept last night, he was energetic and steady, too. Somehow. And he may be a little proud, for handling the kitchen carefully enough that nothing got broken.

This far.

Night of the 2nd, probably. For Zephyr.

For all it may have sounded like it, a little, Andrew's goal was not to get hurt, or anything like that.

It was to stop thinking. His usual ways were not going to work, so he was just going to... try others.

Wildcard.

More prompts may be added as needed, but if you have an idea / something to do with Andrew, just tag in. If you would like a starter, let me know @ kikibug13

Comments

[quiet_storm]

This was a little different than when Zephyr got his sword. It belonged to Andrew not just in his other life, but he was already attuned to it in this one. Was it a feeling, or just an intellectual knowledge from some kind of pleasant memories?

It was also exactly the same. The design and craftsmanship were beyond anything that could be accomplished by mere mortals. Though Cloud suspected that he would never be allowed to touch this one, he was strangely okay with that. It was with its true master, and interfering with that synergy in any way would seem like a sacrilege.

"It's beautiful. What's its name?"

[angealwings]

Annnd here was Andrew blinking it Cloud.

"Name?" Uh. All right, it did feel like a pretty important weapon. Except. "I guess I don't remember that. Just doing this, and a sense of commitment. And peace." He almost, almost smiled.

"Sorry. I thought I'd try and see how it feels. Mind holding it for a bit? It's pretty heavy."

What was that about not being allowed to touch it?

[quiet_storm]

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Cloud grasped it by the handle and steadily but easily took all its weight in one hand. Yeah, it really was heavy. And beautiful.

Suppressing the urge to start swinging it around to test the balance, he rested the flat of the blade on his fingertips so he could examine the edge close up. It was just as unworldly in its masterful crafting as Zephyr's Masamune. Cloud marveled at the feel of it in his hands, the heft and center of gravity. It was so unlike traditional sword design.

"It's... perfect." Strangely literally perfect in Cloud's hands. Yet it was unquestionably Andrew's sword. How? They were completely different in height and build, it shouldn't fit both of them that well.

[angealwings]

Beat.

"I see that I shouldn't worry about you falling behind out there." Then he shrugged, frowning at the sword as he shrugged on the harness. He didn't know if it was beautiful, or perfect. It just was, and maybe he was imagining it, but it felt like a center of gravity for him, something that set the world right. Just a little.

He let Cloud observe it for a little more, then held out his hand. Let's check if that harness thing works.

[quiet_storm]

Falling behind? Cloud wasn't sure what that meant. He rotated it so the grip was in front of Andrew in a convenient grabbing orientation.

"Maybe it represents an ideal or is part of a respected legacy. Something your past self truly believed in. A religious order or a band of knights, maybe. Or something you earned for valor."

He could easily believe that any of those things applied to Andrew.

[angealwings]

The enhanced strength, that's what he meant. But that was all right.

Andrew took the sword, carefully, then swung it over his shoulder, going half by intuition, until it ended up solidly attached against the magnetic area at the back of the harness.

"Huh." That did work.

Then he shook his head at Cloud. "I might not remember it, but I don't think he was much into religion. Dreams, and honor. Heroes, I think, too." Knights did not fit quite right, but it didn't not, either, not with that memory of a ... lecture? That he'd given the Genesis of that world. "I'd say that feels familiar, but I'm not sure I want to get that comfortable with his memories."

[quiet_storm]

How did you...

[Cloud circled around behind Andrew to have a look. Yes, it really was resting securely on Andrew's back for no visible reason.]

What's holding it on?

[angealwings]

Magnet, I think. The ticket said something like 'sword and magnetic harness.'

[ So he's assuming. ]

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud came back around to face Andrew, hesitating a little.]

I know its name. It's called the "Buster Sword"... and I - the other me - ... It was my sword, too. I don't know how.

[angealwings]

... what...

[ Andrew frowned a little at the blond. He hadn't had any memories, he truly hadn't, and yet... ]

This sword, apparently,, signified... Angeal's family honor.

[ Not Andrew's. But in its way, close enough.

Why would a family heirloom belong to someone else? Andrew was pretty sure that he would have known, had they been related.

Wouldn't he? ]

[quiet_storm]

An... ge-al?

[The name meant nothing to Cloud, but it was obviously important anyway. So was the sword. That it could represent honor - ANDREW'S sense of honor - made it suddenly seem a thousand times heavier than it actually was. And it was already heavy.]

Maybe I wasn't born yet? When it was yours.

[Cloud looked NOTHING like Andrew. Besides, what could the lunatic he'd nicknamed "Stormcloud" have possibly done to earn something like that? Maybe he had managed to redeem himself despite everything? Just imagining it made Cloud feel bizarrely... grounded.]

[angealwings]

Mm. Angeal was close in age to Sephiroth. Closer than Zephyr and I are, in fact.

[ So much easier to keep the distance from the other people when even the names were different. ]

And Zephyr mentioned that you had memories together.

[ Neutrally said because if Cloud didn't need to get upset, then Andrew wasn't going to make him so. ]

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud's brow furrows in annoyance.]

Zeph also said he wasn't exactly human what we knew each other. Who knows what that means, in a world with magic and super-soldiers. He might have been a lich-lord by then.

[angealwings]

[ Andrew's flinch is... almost imperceptible.

Almost.

Not exactly human.

Monster... ]

Let's go try to clear those roads a little.

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud looks at Andrew's sword harness again with a critical eye.]

Do you think that thing would stay on your back if we take my bike? There are some obstacles lying around on the major streets and it's a LOT more maneuverable than a car.

[angealwings]

Hmm.

[ And then Andrew is sprinting, only enough to be able to do a running leap and air-roll, leap and roll-twist in the air. The sword doesn't budge at his back. He turns back to Cloud, walking at a brisk pace. ]

I think it'll be fine.

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud's eyes go wide and he starts laughing.]

Icy Shiva, that was awesome! Come on.

[There are various swords of different shapes and sizes clipped securely to the sides of the motorcycle, none of them truly remarkable, some in better condition than others. He hadn't been wearing his helmet when he got there, but it was in a storage compartment on his bike along with a jumble of tools and spare parts. Cloud pulls it out and offers it to Andrew.]

[angealwings]

Heh. Thanks.

[ Listen. If he's going to have the energy, might as well make use of it. The smirk fades away fast, and he takes note of the exclamation Cloud uses. From all the gaming and stuff that he knows of the blond, it might be something very this-world based. Or it could be a shard of memory, slipping by unnoticed.

He squints a little at the swords, giving them a quick scan, rather than a detailed examination, but he swings on the bike readily enough, taking on the helmet and strapping it on. ]

You should stay in the habit of wearing this, you know. [ Just a remark - and he can explain why, if Cloud asks - but he doesn't try to push it on the younger man now.

Instead, he taps the side of a sword handle. ]

Taking your work with Zephyr seriously?

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud IS going to ask, looking up over his shoulder ]

How come? It cuts down on visibility. Besides, my own head is harder than the helmet now. Literally, instead of just figuratively.

[angealwings]

Because, unless things stay very, very wrong, there will be people who may stop you for not wearing the helmet. Not to mention the kind of example you're setting for those whose heads are not anywhere near as durable.

[ Current emptiness of the city aside... not existing in a vacuum. ]

But it doesn't matter that much now, no.