[ For future reference, if helpful: Nanami would either not be at all uncomfortable in such a silence, or, do an excellent job at not showing it, instead suppressing it. Silence in and of itself he generally welcomes. Cloud should feel entirely at his own liberty to respond in kind.
Though — resisting the feeling of discomfort brought on by his own terse reserve isn't equivalent to enjoying it. It's never his intention to cause another person that experience, that awkwardness. Far from obliviousness or deliberate insensibility, he tends to be conscious of it, but it's a matter of principle. To speak for the sake of speaking, of filling silence; to compromise and share something difficult after a handful of conversations — ultimately, it would be a disservice to the both of them.
Or, that's just some self-serving bullshit in conscientious tissue paper, already torn from the wrapping alone.
Returning to the short of it: Cloud obviously didn't have to answer. Nanami had given him a painless out, the permission slip already written and signed. He'd reserved any expectation, still unwilling to make any firm conclusions about his character — but, after watching the younger man stare the bottom of his cup (or the beer sloshing within), expression almost sulky, he is a little surprised when he gets an answer.
Not unpleasantly. ]
Yeah, I also don't recognize it. [ Needless to say. ] Since you've tied our ignorance to place, I assume SOLDIER was reknown worldwide.
[ It sounded military, and even with his own profession that sourced de facto soldiers at a high school, his thoughts leaned national until "the company" gave it a corporate tinge. If corporate, a private organization that was itself for hire, and Cloud had gone into business for himself?
A number of assumptions in that. Right now, he doesn't need that much detail. That smile's enough, shaped by simple pride. ]
Might as well keep doing what you have more aptitude for. Just for hire for tasks that need someone armed?
no subject
Though — resisting the feeling of discomfort brought on by his own terse reserve isn't equivalent to enjoying it. It's never his intention to cause another person that experience, that awkwardness. Far from obliviousness or deliberate insensibility, he tends to be conscious of it, but it's a matter of principle. To speak for the sake of speaking, of filling silence; to compromise and share something difficult after a handful of conversations — ultimately, it would be a disservice to the both of them.
Or, that's just some self-serving bullshit in conscientious tissue paper, already torn from the wrapping alone.
Returning to the short of it: Cloud obviously didn't have to answer. Nanami had given him a painless out, the permission slip already written and signed. He'd reserved any expectation, still unwilling to make any firm conclusions about his character — but, after watching the younger man stare the bottom of his cup (or the beer sloshing within), expression almost sulky, he is a little surprised when he gets an answer.
Not unpleasantly. ]
Yeah, I also don't recognize it. [ Needless to say. ] Since you've tied our ignorance to place, I assume SOLDIER was reknown worldwide.
[ It sounded military, and even with his own profession that sourced de facto soldiers at a high school, his thoughts leaned national until "the company" gave it a corporate tinge. If corporate, a private organization that was itself for hire, and Cloud had gone into business for himself?
A number of assumptions in that. Right now, he doesn't need that much detail. That smile's enough, shaped by simple pride. ]
Might as well keep doing what you have more aptitude for. Just for hire for tasks that need someone armed?