Refresh: Extras 2

Pride - Cypher and Cloud

    "I'm going out," Cypher called to his family. One thing he liked about Refresh, it was always so quiet at night. Especially in this area. There was always something going on in Capital City back home. He got sick of it sometimes. He missed the cave. There it was only him and Pete. Pete was pretty good company.

   "Be safe!" Cypher heard his father call. 

   Cypher shut the door and headed out. It was nice out. Early summer was always Cypher's favorite time. He liked the lightning bugs. 

   Cypher looked up when he heard a yelp. Some guy was climbing out a window when he fell. Cypher reacted on instinct. He tugged some of his strings away and went to catch him effectively leaving him dangling over a tree branch. 

   The kid sighed. Well. Not really a kid? He might be Cyphers age. He was really tall. Maybe older than Cypher. "Thanks for that!"

   "Don't mention it. Why are you sneaking out?" Cypher wanted to get to the root of this. He lowered the guy to the ground. 

   He rubbed the back of his neck and picked the strings off. "I wanted iHop but my parents are asleep." 

   Cypher stared at him and blinked. "Really?" 

   He nodded and looked at the shorter male sheepishly. "Hey I know you! You were with Crayola at the parade today! Cypher? That makes you a prince right?"

   Cypher flinched. "I guess? Not really. My dad gave up the throne..." He wrapped his arms around himself. 

   Cloud sighed. "Yeah I know how you feel. My family is like super rich. My dad inherited the fortune so now I kinda dunno what to do cuz everyone expects me to be a rich kid..." 

   Cypher stared at the other again his gears turning as he tried to figure him out. "I guess that makes sense. You know in another universe you're a prince."

   Cloud blinked. "Really?"

   Cypher nodded chewing on the edge of his glove. Probably not the best topic of conversation.

   "Neat! I'm Cloud by the way." He grinned.

   "Yeah I uh... I know." Cypher muttered.

   "So what are those line thingies?" Cloud asked as he started walking.

   Cypher's feet started moving on their own. He kept at pace with Cloud. "It's corrupted code."

   "Ouch?" He raised a brow.

   "Yeah it hurt pretty bad." Cypher shrugged. He dealt with his whole 'almost dying' pretty well. occasionally he had nightmares but he was pretty nonchalant about it. 

   "You seem pretty relaxed about it." Cloud put his hand in his jacket pockets.

   "I guess? I got them following the best course of action so it doesn't really matter. My father was pretty worried about it..." Cypher hummed. 

   "Best course of action? What's that about?" 

   "Well its uhm..." How to put this in a way someone else could understand. "A video game..." Not that Cypher knew a lot about video games. Crayola had shown him some. "There are choices. I make the choices that will lead to the best outcomes. Sometimes I'm seen as selfish for that." That's how Crayola had explained it once. 

   Cloud frowned. "That doesn't sound selfish. You're doing it for the greater good right?"

   Cypher nodded. 

   "Well that's that. You just think different." Cloud smiled. 

   "Yeah. That's what my dad says." Cypher didn't get that. Of course he thought different. Didn't everyone? But his father had said he was hyper-intelligent. He was on a whole different level than most people's brain power. 

   "Your dad sounds pretty smart." 

   Cypher looked down. "He is..."

   "Oh geez. I didn't mean to upset you!" Cloud made a face.

   Cypher looked up. "Huh? I'm... not upset. Well... I guess I am. But it isn't you. I just don't understand my father sometimes."

   "Oh?" 

   "It's complicated."

   "Dang. My dads are so open about everything its hard to not get them. I don't have many people besides them. I never see any of my older cousins." He sighed.

   "Crayola?" Cypher hummed.

   "Well yeah him but I get that he's busy. I get that they're all busy and I'm just the baby cousin." he forced out a laugh. 

   "Crayola doesn't think that. He talks about his family here all the time, including you." Cypher had no time to think about these words before they came out. It's like talking to Cloud put him on autopilot. It was nice not thinking every consequence of every action through. 

   "Really?" Cloud seemed a bit shocked. 

   Cypher nodded. 

   "Huh." Cloud looked down at his feet. "Do you want some pancakes?"

   "What?" Cypher looked around. They were now in the iHop parking lot. "When did we-?" 

   Cloud chuckled. "You didn't notice? We were walking that whole time."

   Cypher flushed lightly in embarrassment. "No. I guess I didn't notice..." He rubbed his arm lightly. Gosh he was freezing. 

   Cloud chuckled again. "Come on. My treat. It'll warm you up?" He gave the puppy eyes with a small smile. Oh gosh does everyone in this stupid family have puppy eyes. 

   Cypher sighed. "Alright..." 

   Cloud smiled. "Great!" He opened up the door. "After you."

   Cypher gave a half smile and headed inside. "Thanks."