Somethin' Else [Clive, Lillian]

[Fate]

Back to This Place Again
Reviving Hollow Bastion by Yoko Shimomura.

[Dan, if you see this, feel free to jump in when you get back]

It had been a week since they had landed and Lillian was, to put it bluntly, bored. There was no better way to put it than that. The fight back in Olympus Coliseum had been good to get her back up and going, though she honestly hated the Heartless thing she had to fight. Her wrists were slightly banged up from that whole experience, but judging by a few new interior dents in her ship, she could still shoot just fine. Something was still in here and she couldn't figure out what it was. It was driving her nuts because she could sometimes sense it, but she could never see it. At this point, she thought that she was just starting to lose it.

That made it all the better to land now. Today's world of choice was Radiant Garden, one that she was pretty familiar with at the moment. She couldn't say that she particularly wanted to be here, but she wanted her ship fixed since it needed it. Elrick also deserved a break from flying and see the world if he wanted to. Though, if Lillian had her way, they wouldn't be staying too long and the ship would get fixed quickly.

She landed her ship and walked straight into the marketplace to try and find someone. Unfortunately, she just saw a lot of Moogles and average looking people buying stuff from them. There were others working in the town too, probably doing more rebuilding. This place still looked like a disaster, which was unfortunate since it had just been getting better before the huge attack. Maybe one of these workers could help her though and point her in the direction of someone who knew about Gummi Ships. She didn't want to go meandering around the town and search all day herself.

This is what prompted her to go over to one of the workers, someone about five inches taller than her and definitely older than her, and tap him on the shoulder to get his attention; she usually was this assertive when she wanted something done."Hey, excuse me sir, mind telling me where I can find someone to fix my ship?" she asked, getting straight to the point. It would just be a waste of time if she didn't.

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[Nothingness]

Not Killing Still Feels Strange

It had been about two days since Aerith (Clive still wasn't used to calling her by her name) had hired Clive to assist in the restoration of Radiant Garden. She had been overly kind to not only get him a job, but also a small place to stay as well--that was certainly something he wasn't used to after spending most of his time sleeping on the ground or in alleys and bars. He still wore his knife on his belt, as well as the bangle, but they were starting to feel unnecessarily heavy, while the hammer and pouch of nails had been feeling light. He'd just finished getting most of the support struts on the roof of a house done when he climbed down get one of the other guys to help with setting the panels.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far before he felt a slight tap on his shoulder. Instinct told him to whip around and slit the throat of whoever had snuck up on him, but he'd been doing a decent job of ignoring that reflex and didn't even flinch a finger towards his weapon this time. Instead, he turned around slowly and looked down to see some young woman asking him where she could find someone to fix her ship. It took him a moment of silent, subconscious debate before deciding that he was hired to repair this world, and if someone needed something fixed on it, he would do it. Asking flatly, and hardly paying attention to the young woman, he said "Where's your ship?"

He'd seen some of those "Gummi Ships", or whatever the hell they were called, and figured that they couldn't be much different from the pirate ship he'd been on those years ago. Or at least in their construction--materials weren't all that important to him. He'd spent the majority of his life putting things together, so how hard could working with "Gummi" blocks be?

[Fate]

Social Faux Pas

Well okay, that worked. If this guy could fix her ship and didn't have to go looking for someone else to do it, that was fine. He looked a little bit imposing, but Lillian was sort of used to that by now after the military and whatnot. "This way," she said, gesturing to outside of the marketplace. "It shouldn't need too much fixing up, but the engine should probably be looked at and I think one of the lasers stopped working. I should get a new paint job too..." She started leading the way, though made sure not to let this guy walk too far behind her. Her trust was limited now and she had no idea who this guy was. He didn't look like he was from this world even, though she didn't either.

How much do you want for doing this?" she asked idly, her hands going into the pockets of her coat. It was either she put her hands in her pockets and didn't move them, or she put her hands in a position so she could reach her guns. That probably wasn't a good idea since she had been using those too much lately and she didn't think this guy would appreciate getting shot at. Heck, the guy didn't even know her name! Well that was stupid of her not to introduce herself at the very least before telling him to do something. Better fix that now.

"Oh, name's Lillian by the way," she added quickly, "Thanks for taking time to come fix my ship. Hopefully it's not too much trouble... uh... what's your name again?" Oh wait, he never gave his name and she never asked. This is what she got for not socializing with anyone for a while and being stuck on her ship: drop in social skills. She was going to start talking to shadows on the wall at this rate.

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[Nothingness]

Reply ad Minimum

Clive simply followed her, making note of everything about her. She was clearly disciplined, most likely military, in the way she walked. She carried two handguns at her hip, and when she was talking earlier, he caught a glimpse of "-tas Air Force" on what was showing of her tank top, confirming his earlier suspicion. However, she was being insecure with the way she put her hands in her pockets while she rambled on about stuff he'd find out later when he could see the ship. She was troubled by something, not doubt.

He didn't respond to anything she said until he asked her for his name, to which he gave a very curt reply of, "Clive." It wasn't that he didn't want to be nice to this young woman, but he also didn't like it when people would interrupt him in the middle of something, as well as talk too much for no reason. With Aerith, well, she was different to him and he didn't mind having a conversation with her, but that was another story. This woman, "Lillian", was just another client. He also didn't want her munny to begin with. He was getting enough cash to get by and already had a place to stay--what would he do with more?

As they reached her ship, he looked at its sorry state and felt a twinge of pain somewhere deep down. It was a nice ship, but it had been badly neglected, and in his old life he had hated to see run-down buildings. Who the hell let this kid fly this thing? How was she even military, anyway? Repressing the urge to let out a dismayed sigh, he paced around the ship and inspected it more thoroughly. He could feel a bit more of the craftsman in him coming back, and the killer within recede. Saying out loud to no one, but directed at the kid, he asked, "Do you have any spare parts?" If she couldn't even see the damage she wrought upon this craft, then he had his work cut out for him.

[Fate]

Just a Little Work, Eh?

The guy didn't say much of anything except for his name during her little ramble there, obviously not much of a conversationalist. Either that or he just wasn't happy that she pulled him out of the middle of his work to come fix her ship. It was a little rude of her to do she supposed, but she needed to get this done. She hadn't been able to land in some time and all of this traveling through jungles and whatever had taken its toll on her Falcon. Though, it wasn't too badly damaged from all of this, right?

When they got to her ship, her sense of denial faded as she actually bothered to look at the damage this ship had endured. It needed more than "a little work" and she wanted to kick herself for it. How did she let this happen to her ship? She was a freaking pilot dammit, a professional, and she let this happen. Hell, it was the only thing she took pride in... though she sort of crashed it into Agrabah for no reason. Yeah, this was just great. Clive was going to have to do more work than she thought he would have. She'd naturally help of course to make it go faster.

He asked her if she had any spare parts, to which she made a short reply. "Yeah, in the cargo hold. I'll get them." She started going in that direction, moving her hands out of her pockets now. Hopefully, the thing that had been hiding in her ship wouldn't choose this moment to come out and attack. Just in case though, she opened the cargo hold and pointed both guns at it. Nothing was moving, no shadows moving at all. Not yet anyway. She willed herself to put her guns back into their holsters and take out the parts as quickly as possible, delivering them back to Clive.

"Sorry about this," she said, looking away a bit, "I didn't think it'd be this much work. Guess I was just denying it or whatever." And here she was rambling again. This guy didn't need to hear her ramble. She held back a sigh and added, "Let's get this done then..." While most of her hoped this wouldn't take too long and her ship would look better, part of her was hoping this guy would see what was hiding on her ship. She needed verification that she wasn't losing her mind.

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[Nothingness]

Opinion Improved

Well, she was certainly being much more of a help than earlier. Not only did she have spare parts, but she was kind enough to offer her help and that certainly earned her a few points. Now if only she would stop rambling for more than five seconds, Clive might be able to tolerate her better.

Walking over to Lillian, he took out a few of the spare parts with her and set them off to the side. "First things first: the engine needs replaced." Carrying one of the engine gummis over, he found it surprisingly light. And when he removed the old one he found that it came off remarkably easy. Unfortunately, when he removed the old engine he found his feet covered by a deluge of sand that had apparently gathered in the back of the engine. Containing an irritated sigh, he set the new engine in place, impressed by how easily it bound itself to the rest of the ship. "Interesting," he muttered thoughtfully.

"Get some of those wing parts over here." He said, his back to Lillian as he began to remove and unceremoniously toss the ruined wing parts aside. It was just then that he thought he caught a glimpse of something inside her ship, or at least he thought he did. It looked like a shadow, but maybe it was just some trick of the light, or one of those weird things you see in the corner of your eye. Still, he couldn't help but feel this strange sense of being watched. He asked her casually, "Do you have a guest?"

[Fate]

You Could Say That...

While Clive went over to the engine, she went over to the laser block that hadn't been working correctly. These ships were a lot easier to work with than the ships back home, which required all sorts of different handling and tools and whatnot. With these, all one had to do was replace blocks and the ship would work again. It was incredibly simplistic and almost anyone could do it, though not everyone did. She was still surprised that ships could be built like this too. She took the non-working laser block out, set it aside, and put the new one in. That one should be working fine.

Without a word, she obeyed and got the wing parts he asked for when she was done. As she was walking over with the parts, she swore she saw him looking at something in her ship. She moved the parts into one arm and her hand went to her gun as she saw that familiar shadow flicking. However, it was gone within the next second before she could even get her gun out of its holster. The question was whether or not Clive could actually see it. If he could, this wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

Well, it seemed he could since he asked if she had a guest. She approached him and handed him the winged parts. "So you can see it too..." she mumbled, then spoke up a bit, "Yeah, one I can't see. Been there for a while now." She shifted her weight and put her hands in her pockets again. The feeling of being watched wasn't something she easily got used to, even if it had been over a month since she'd been flying with something in her ship. One would have thought she would have seen it by now.

"I'm going to... see if I have any paint." She turned and started walking into her ship. Her hands immediately went back out of her pockets and held her guns, though they did not come out of their holsters. Whatever this thing was, it had better come out of her ship. Though, it probably wouldn't and would just hide again like it always did when she specifically went looking for it. It was aggravating to say the least.

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[Nothingness]

Not too Shabby

Well, that was certainly interesting, to say the least. She had an unwanted, unseen guest on her ship. That would explain her insecurity, as probably why the ship had been looking so derelict. If he knew a way to get rid of something like that, he'd certainly have no problems killing whatever was inside her ship, unless she wanted it alive or to kill it herself. "No, stop thinking like that. Your job is to rebuild, not kill." It certainly would take a long time for him to adjust to this more peaceful line of work.

Taking a few steps back to see just how much a few replacements to the ship had done, he was quite impressed. It didn't look nearly as bad as when he first looked at it, and it hadn't taken much time at all. It was certainly faster rebuilding these ships than it was rebuilding a house. He did agree that the ship needed some new paint, what with scratches, smears, and various other marks along the nose of the ship. Still, it was certainly looking more space-worthy.

When Lillian came back with the paint, Clive took a bucket and brush and started to get to work. As he began to paint, he asked Lillian gruffly, "For someone who's military, you don't seem the type." His memories of soldiers were, needless to say, not the most pleasant. Most of his memories involved beatings by them or shoving his knife into them.

[Fate]

Definite Improvements

Nothing on her ship, just like she thought. She was getting really tired of this. Though, at least she knew she wasn't crazy now since Clive could see it, right?... Yeah that didn't make her feel too much better. Once she left Radiant Garden and started flying again, that thing would be in her ship and stalking her and then disappearing when she turned around to shoot. She was getting tired of looking over her shoulder and then not seeing anything when she was sure there was something there. It was also scaring her a bit and making her a little... okay make that very paranoid, but she could deal with that.

She brought out the paint and took her own paint brush and bucket. This was the only part about ship maintenance that hadn't changed and she was used to doing this. Her ship back home never got this banged up, but she was used to giving it a new paint job every now and then. The last time she saw it, it was this particular shade of dark blue with a small falcon insignia on it. That was the name of her ship after all. But there was no way she was going to paint that on this Gummi Ship; took way too long to do something like that.

Though, Clive didn't seem to think she was the military type, which was... sort of true. She definitely didn't look the part anymore, though she had when she was home. Was military, actually," she said somberly, looking down and continuing to paint. "World got destroyed about a year and a half ago so I'm not anymore. Definitely miss it though..." There was something to say about the military life that she liked. She had good friends there, she got to fly a lot, and she did like the routine of it all; just not the politics she guessed. And of course, the world was something to miss. But all of that was gone so it was pointless to reminisce, or at least she told herself that.

"You don't look like you're from around this world either though." The subject was changed deliberately, as per her custom; she didn't like to talk about Libertas getting destroyed that much.

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[Nothingness]

Not Much Bonding

Well, at least that solved the mystery of where this soldier came from, though he still didn't believe that she could be a soldier, what with the state of the ship. He had to admit, though, that it cleaned up very nice--he could hardly recognize it from that wreck of before. When she mentioned that her world was destroyed, Clive muttered a small, "Shame." Before continuing to paint as if nothing ever happened. He didn't need to hear sob-stories, and he was pleased to not hear her go on about it.

When she mentioned that he didn't look like he was from this world, Clive couldn't help but let out a gruff "ha" and continuing to paint. After completing a few brushstrokes in silence, he decided to give her a definitive answer of, "I'm not." And then promptly returned to painting in silence, lest she interrupt him again. Yes, he had initiated the conversation, but that didn't mean he couldn't stop it when he wanted. Mentally, however, he really wished that he could get over this misanthropic kick he'd been on for so long, but some part of him just couldn't let go of it. "Whatever," he thought, "It'll go away on its own, I guess."

[Fate]

Stay Quiet For Now I Suppose

"Hmm." So he wasn't from this world either, an outsider just like a lot of people she knew. He didn't go into detail, though Lillian sort of expected him not to. He didn't like to talk a lot, which was just fine with her. It was a little awkward for her since she was used to meeting with conversational people and ones that didn't act gruff towards her; heck, the Heartless she met loved to talk to her... not so good of an example to compare to. Clive was much better company than a talking Heartless any day.

She put her brush and bucket down for a second and took off her coat, tying it to her waist before continuing to paint. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to say next. It was really obvious that this guy didn't like talking, especially with the limited amount of words that he said and the sort of rough-around-the-edges air about him. Should she try to initiate more conversation and just get more awkward responses that showed he didn't really want to talk, or just stay quiet and let him talk when he wanted to? It would probably be better to do the second option.

With that in mind, she continued painting, being as precise with her brush as possible. The ship was really looking so much better already. The new coat of paint would look even better and it would never look like she had let it go. Admittedly, she wasn't as attached to this ship as her old one, but it was still something and she needed it. She was determined not to tread on Elrick's hospitality anymore than she already had. Besides, that thing would be off of her ship one way or another.

"Looks a lot better already," she mused out loud, not expecting an answer, "The town is too. Nice of you to help this world out." It was getting there at the very least. Though, she wasn't going to linger too much on that thought either. That thought involved the Champion, or at least that's what Elrick told her was his name now, and the fight they all had here that caused all of their hearts to be tainted. Yeah, not a pleasant thought.

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[Nothingness]

Silence Broken

He'd fallen into a bit of a rhythm with the brush strokes; a kind of song and dance between himself and Lillian. The swishes of the brush's contact against the ship, the fluid motion of his arm as it swept the brush up and down, and his steady breathing. He could hear a counter-melody with Lillian's more precise, delicate strokes in contrast to his very quick and sharp strokes. As she stopped, Clive took the solo until she continued, at which point he passed it on to her.

Setting the bucket and brush down, he ran the back of his hand alongside his forehead. It wasn't that he was terribly hot or sweating, but just that he needed a quick break. And it felt nice--being out in the sun again, and doing simple work like that. It was something that he could fall back into as long as he didn't think about what he really was. He could pretend that it was just a bad dream, and he'd been doing this months. He could lie to himself and say that he never did any of those terrible things, and that it was just some large fantasy he enjoyed to play out in his mind.

"Fool." He thought with disgust. Why should he try to ignore his past? As bloodstained as it was, his past was where they were, and as long as he had them with him he could keep going. Picking up the brush and the paint, he fell back into that rhythm, dispelling all of his thoughts. Only when Lillian started to talk did he snap out of his reverie. She was thanking him? Complimenting him for what he'd done? He stopped for a moment, the silence seeming to last forever. His mind whirred at the sheer impossibility of that--being told he was "nice?" At the end of the infinite pause, he said plainly, "Thank you." And continued to work.

[Fate]

One of These Days...

It took him a while to respond to this one and give a curt reply. She wasn't sure if it was modesty or something else, but he seemed like an okay guy; maybe it was modesty and he wasn't used to being thanked or something. Lillian was much too trusting to let her thoughts say anything else besides that, so she went with it. She let a smile onto her face when he said thank you, then returned to the painting. She was too much of a perfectionist to go at it quickly, even though it was slower. This ship had to look perfect when they were done, which she figured it would. If it didn't, she'd do it over again until it was.

She actually couldn't complain much about this day. It was sunny out, but nowhere near as hot as Agrabah was. That was the day she had learned to never wear her boots while traveling again, or least not there. Clive seemed like a decent guy and was helping her ship get back to what it needed to be. Radiant Garden was even looking better after the attack from the Champion. Things were really starting to look up, or at least she thought they were. She was a dreamer sometimes, which led her to be a bit more optimistic.

This side of the Gummi Ship was getting finished up rather nicely right now. Deciding to go over to the other side to start on that one, she stopped painting and wandered past the door to the interior. Of course, her optimism had to be ruined by what she thought was a shadow in the ship again. She didn't move for a second, watching it carefully. Her right hand, the one that wasn't holding anything at the moment, went to her gun. It never left its holster, but she didn't move. The shadow then flickered out of sight again, leaving her to make an annoyed sigh.

"One of these days, I will get that thing out of my ship," she said, though it was more of just a statement of fact. She wasn't about to ask Clive to go get it since he was helping her enough already. This thing was fast, whatever it was. She'd take care of it herself sooner or later. She'd catch it... hopefully. Right now though, she needed to stop standing around and continue painting. She switched over to the other side and started painting, this time going faster.

"If you don't mind me asking, what got you to help repair this world?" she asked. She really hoped that she wasn't being rude by trying to talk to him. Sure, she could be brash when she wanted to be, but she didn't want to be right now.

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[Nothingness]

You Shouldn't Have Asked. Seriously.

This woman just couldn't let him work in peace, could she? Just as he was coming full-circle into the rhythm of work, she interrupted with some damnable question. And of all the questions, she had to ask the one that he knew she'd rather not know. Whatever, it was her fault. Sighing, he gave her his answer in the same gruff manner, but with a rather nonchalant air. "I was an assassin by profession until my previous client let me go. Aerith hired me to help rebuild the world instead of being a killer like everyone else hires me to be. It's an interesting change of pace, to say the least."

Yup, just your average water-cooler conversation. He wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly freaked out and started shouting that he was a murderer or something and tried to get others around to save her. Then again, she was a soldier, so maybe she'd finally shoot those guns she'd been fidgeting with and land a bullet between his eyes. Didn't really matter--not like she'd last long if she tried to kill him.

[Fate]

Okay, I Can Stop Talking Now...

Well Lillian, that was a smart move. This guy was just trying to help and she had to say more. She knew she could have kept her mouth shut, but she had to ask anyway. Clive did end up giving a more elaborate answer than anything he had previously said, even using more complete sentences. Though, what he ended up saying was not what she was expecting. This was just great though. She now knew who had helped her fix her ship and was now painting it. Yep, nothing better than letting a trained assassin help and have over your shoulder. This was such a comforting thought.

She stayed silent for a few moments, just continuing to paint and trying to figure out how to respond. It was definitely shocking and her paranoia definitely went up. Was she really too trusting of people? Lately, almost every person she had met lately turned out to be either a stalker or a killer. Elrick didn't fall into either of these categories, though he definitely had the skills to stalk. Otherwise, it was true for everyone else besides Emi and Castle.

Right now, she didn't know what to do. It'd be stupid to run for help or freak out over it. He was being nice right now, not trying to kill her. Though, knowing that he could at every second was not something she liked to think about now. However, he was helping rebuild this town. He was doing something good for this world, not killing people. Aerith, who Lillian knew of, had asked him to help build this world. That was a good thing, right?

"I... see," she said, unable to hide the little bit of nervousness that came into her voice. She attempted to make that stronger the next time around, mostly succeeding. "I bet it is too. Again, it's really good of you to help out this world. This place has seen enough trouble."

She paused, holding her paint brush after she finished a stroke. She put the paint brush down and walked back over to the other side to face him. "I'm sorry for bugging you. You don't have to help me anymore; I can take it from here." Honestly, she just didn't like that she had provoked him to say that and put him on the spot. He didn't need to let her bug him anymore and he could go back to his work. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some munny. "I know it's not much, but it's the least I can do after you've put up with me and helped me out. Thank you."

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