When Fred backs away, Cloud's eyes narrow slightly and his jaw tenses. Something's wrong. He relaxes again with a quiet breath when she comes close again. "Seems that way," he agrees.
He steps out and locks his door before walking alongside Fred, taking care to keep pace with her even if it's slightly slower than he usually walks.
"Wonder what happens if we get too far apart...nothing good, I'm sure." If this is a warden-inmate thing, then he hopes Sephiroth went to find Yunlan instead of being stubborn and stupid about it. But probably not. Sephiroth also may not be a huge fan of Cloud staying close to Fred until whatever this is ends...well, they'll cross that bridge when they come to it.
"Um...what're we gonna do after our shifts in maintenance are over?"
"We'll have to test how far we can go. Or wait until someone mentions it on the network, I suppose, but I always think running your own tests is the best bet. Maybe we should wait until there's someone to watch us? I dunno. If this has hit everyone, there might be a lot of call-outs today."
Her hair is falling in front of her face- she didn't have time to braid it today. So she sweeps it back as best she can and fidgets with the ends. "That'll inform how we continue, though. I'd like to give you as much space as I can. But if my guess is correct, we'll probably be sleeping in the same room for a week. Sorry, Cloud."
"Mm. Yeah, testing it ourselves is best. Might as well do it now, so we know what we're in for." Cloud shrugs. "Sleeping in the same room doesn't bother me. Just a little worried about Sephiroth. He uh..." His gaze is fixed somewhere on the floor ahead of them in slight embarrassment. "He can get...pretty jealous. Over nothing. Hoping it won't be like that this time, since he'll probably be hanging out with Yunlan anyway, but just in case, I'll check in with him later. Don't worry," he adds hurriedly. "Even if he is, he's not gonna come after you or anything. Just sit and sulk in the dark until I go kick his ass about it."
He stops, then. "Okay. You stay here, I'll start walking backwards. I'll keep going until you say stop, or until I can't. Ready?"
"I'll do my best to not give him reasons to worry, or reasons for you to kick his ass," Fred asserts with a small smile and a nod. She doesn't look worried. She understands over-protective and jealous, at least a little. Especially considering all they've been through. She's hardly going to take it personally.
The experiment, then! She nods as he explains it, and lets him step back away from her. The distance immediately makes her feel queasy, but she bears with it until he's a little over 20 feet away. "Okay, stop! Stop stop. I don't think it's going to...to max out or whatever." She's leaning against the wall at this point, using it to keep her upright as she walks back towards him. "Think it would just knock us out if we went too much further...urgh..."
With each step Cloud takes, it feels like claws scraping louder and louder against a chalkboard inside his head. By 10 feet or so, there's a kind of static behind his eyes that's making him feel dizzy, but he puts a hand out to steady himself against the wall and keeps moving. He grits his teeth as his head pounds, but he's not giving up until Fred gives the word. They have to know their limits.
She finally tells him to stop and he does, letting himself stagger against the wall and squeezing his eyes shut with a quiet groan until she's close enough that it lets up some. He lets out a breath of relief and frustration both at once as he starts moving toward her, too.
"Probably, yeah. Not too much room for error, then." When she's almost within reach, he holds out a hand to shorten the distance more quickly and help steady her, if she needs it.
Fred takes the hand and- oh. The awful vertigo dissipates entirely. "That...well now, that feels a lot better. Thanks. And...sorry. I really should've called it off sooner. I thought maybe it'd reach a max discomfort at some point, but I should've known. That's not how floods tend to work. Are you all right?"
She knows he'll probably say he's fine, but Cloud's body has been through a lot. There might be a lingering headache or something.
Cloud blinks as, indeed, a lingering discomfort he didn't even realize was there just vanishes the moment Fred takes his hand. "Huh." Then he shrugs without letting go and, predictably, says, "Fine. Had to push it to its limits or it wouldn't be much of a test."
Then there's a pause that's only a little awkward. "Guess we should just...hold on, for now. While it's easy, might as well."
She nods a bit when he says he's fine. If she just leaves that bit of hope open, maybe he'll actually think it over, eventually.
"That works for me, if it works for you," she says, squeezing his hand gently. "I'm guessing this is hitting the whole ship, so no one's gonna think the wrong thing about us holding hands." Probably not even Sephiroth, although the jury is out on him. "We're probably doing better than most, considering we work together already. But, um, let me know if you need some space- like, mental space. I promise I don't have to be talkin' all the time."
There have been numerous times in Maintenance when she hasn't said much at all, in fact. She will get extremely focused on one project or another. But being actually tethered together makes this situation feel a little different.
Cloud Strife, think over whether he's actually fine or not? Next she'll be wanting pigs to fly...
"Sure," he confirms, squeezing lightly back. "Don't much care what anybody else thinks about it." Except Sephiroth, of course, but that's a given. He'll get in touch telepathically in a bit and head that off at the pass, just in case.
"Good point. Might be the only ones still working today." Which is fine with Cloud.
He glances over at her at the offer, brows slightly raised. "Even if you did, I don't mind." Granted, he would definitely mind if it was a lot of other people. But not Fred.
"Really?" She asks, smiling a bit as she takes that in. Cloud could tolerate a lot, but he wouldn't say so unless he meant it. "Thanks. Looks like it's gonna be an okay week for us, then. I know a few people are probably going to have it tough."
As they're walking to the office, she thinks over what they have waiting for them. "Y'know, I bet we could probably hold down Maintenance ourselves if we had to. There's not as many projects as there have been in the past. Of course, no one's come around messing up the place either, recently. It's practically serene, compared to what I'm used to."
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He steps out and locks his door before walking alongside Fred, taking care to keep pace with her even if it's slightly slower than he usually walks.
"Wonder what happens if we get too far apart...nothing good, I'm sure." If this is a warden-inmate thing, then he hopes Sephiroth went to find Yunlan instead of being stubborn and stupid about it. But probably not. Sephiroth also may not be a huge fan of Cloud staying close to Fred until whatever this is ends...well, they'll cross that bridge when they come to it.
"Um...what're we gonna do after our shifts in maintenance are over?"
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Her hair is falling in front of her face- she didn't have time to braid it today. So she sweeps it back as best she can and fidgets with the ends. "That'll inform how we continue, though. I'd like to give you as much space as I can. But if my guess is correct, we'll probably be sleeping in the same room for a week. Sorry, Cloud."
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He stops, then. "Okay. You stay here, I'll start walking backwards. I'll keep going until you say stop, or until I can't. Ready?"
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The experiment, then! She nods as he explains it, and lets him step back away from her. The distance immediately makes her feel queasy, but she bears with it until he's a little over 20 feet away. "Okay, stop! Stop stop. I don't think it's going to...to max out or whatever." She's leaning against the wall at this point, using it to keep her upright as she walks back towards him. "Think it would just knock us out if we went too much further...urgh..."
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She finally tells him to stop and he does, letting himself stagger against the wall and squeezing his eyes shut with a quiet groan until she's close enough that it lets up some. He lets out a breath of relief and frustration both at once as he starts moving toward her, too.
"Probably, yeah. Not too much room for error, then." When she's almost within reach, he holds out a hand to shorten the distance more quickly and help steady her, if she needs it.
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She knows he'll probably say he's fine, but Cloud's body has been through a lot. There might be a lingering headache or something.
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Then there's a pause that's only a little awkward. "Guess we should just...hold on, for now. While it's easy, might as well."
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"That works for me, if it works for you," she says, squeezing his hand gently. "I'm guessing this is hitting the whole ship, so no one's gonna think the wrong thing about us holding hands." Probably not even Sephiroth, although the jury is out on him. "We're probably doing better than most, considering we work together already. But, um, let me know if you need some space- like, mental space. I promise I don't have to be talkin' all the time."
There have been numerous times in Maintenance when she hasn't said much at all, in fact. She will get extremely focused on one project or another. But being actually tethered together makes this situation feel a little different.
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"Sure," he confirms, squeezing lightly back. "Don't much care what anybody else thinks about it." Except Sephiroth, of course, but that's a given. He'll get in touch telepathically in a bit and head that off at the pass, just in case.
"Good point. Might be the only ones still working today." Which is fine with Cloud.
He glances over at her at the offer, brows slightly raised. "Even if you did, I don't mind." Granted, he would definitely mind if it was a lot of other people. But not Fred.
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As they're walking to the office, she thinks over what they have waiting for them. "Y'know, I bet we could probably hold down Maintenance ourselves if we had to. There's not as many projects as there have been in the past. Of course, no one's come around messing up the place either, recently. It's practically serene, compared to what I'm used to."