[Cloud's mirth isn't interrupted. He wasn't the first mistake Sephiroth made, but he was the most important. So much had hung on the man's knowledge and cooperation, and it had been all too easy to allow stories of saving the world over and over to let him believe the constraints of normal human behavior simply didn't apply to someone like Cloud Strife.
It's not the first time he's been laughed at, but it stings anyway, no matter how much he deserved it. He shouldn't listen to stories, especially ones like that. Heros weren't real.
He doesn't look at Cloud again as grinding laughter rolls on like poisonous thunder. He just sets the items back down, pulling in on himself, humiliation bitter and unpleasant and all the encouragement he needed to leave. He didn't try to throw off Cloud strangling him, and he doesn't try to stop this either.]
I'm sorry for scaring you.
[It's quiet, pitched to not interrupt the amusement. Maybe Cloud should have tried derision on the older one, it seems remarkably effective at warding this one off.]
no subject
It's not the first time he's been laughed at, but it stings anyway, no matter how much he deserved it. He shouldn't listen to stories, especially ones like that. Heros weren't real.
He doesn't look at Cloud again as grinding laughter rolls on like poisonous thunder. He just sets the items back down, pulling in on himself, humiliation bitter and unpleasant and all the encouragement he needed to leave. He didn't try to throw off Cloud strangling him, and he doesn't try to stop this either.]
I'm sorry for scaring you.
[It's quiet, pitched to not interrupt the amusement. Maybe Cloud should have tried derision on the older one, it seems remarkably effective at warding this one off.]