residentflorist

[

ah. she is just...not going to address that thought right now, packing it away in a nice box to privately deal with later. this is about cloud and things that have obviously disturbed him, so she shakes her head to his question.]

Everyone's okay. No one died, and we're all still here. Just like this morning before you left.

[ STOP DEALING WITH THINGS PRIVATELY HIS BRAIN IS TOO SOUP TO REGISTER HER REACTIONS ]

... None of it was real. [ he sounds a little unsure about that but that's fine let's not get into reality and not reality right this second. they are now at the apartment building because they have walked enough ] That's... good.

[unfortunately she is going to count on his soup brain for a moment. we will head up to the apartment and she's unlocking the door to let them both in, closing it behind her.]

It's good. Everything that happened out there wasn't real. [...] You're safe.

[and with that she lets go of his hand, and she's moving to the drawer in the dresser she's designated for some of his comfier clothes. she's not making him sleep in whatever he's currently wearing, and she frowns briefly at the way his hair isn't perfectly blonde right now.]

...let's get you cleaned up and settled, okay? [offers clothes.]

[ well, he doesn't need the reassurance that he's safe, because he spent zero minutes worried about himself in that place, but before he can respond to that she lets go and--the pain's gone? he's staring down at himself in bewilderment, flexing his hand as if to flex it. there's pain elsewhere, sure, the wounds aren't fully healed, but... it's not as bad.

is it over...?

it takes him a bit to register the clothes offering because of that and he looks at them dumbly before looking at the remains of his stupid white outfit. it is mostly pink at this point. from blood and water. ]

Right. [ he grabs the clothes ] Wait, my--

[ HAD A SUDDEN THOUGHT BUT-- there's the buster sword. nicely left behind in aerith's bedroom. he immediately relaxes ]

[the sword is there and she sets the baby chocobo down to let it explore the apartment, listening to it wark and ruffle its feathers. she catches that stray thought and again she thinks this is a question of making sure that nightmare's over rather than the weird pain.]

Looks like everything's here and accounted for. Good thing, too. I wouldn't have been able to carry it back my myself.

[the implication being she would not let him do it either.]

[ once again looking at the baby chocobo like Seriously How Did This Get Here, but he lets it happen and he turns away ]

I didn't have it. Back there. [ so it is. wild. that it's just waiting for him here, but it's fine. he is not going to question his good fortune. he kind of stands there holding clothes uselessly forgetting that he is supposed to shower ]

[byebye baby...it wanders off to go hop up on one of the chairs in the room. aerith is also suddenly forgetting that cloud's supposed to go shower because now she's just frowning.]

You mean at all? [how the hell do you fight then?]

... Yeah. Woke up without it. Kanda didn't have his, either. [ there's a pause ] I managed to get one.

[ i shouldve let him keep going without one it would have been funny ]

Well that probably pissed him off. [an idle thought, but she shakes her head.] I'm glad you got your hands on one later. But let's get you rinsed off and you can tell me more about what happened, okay? [we have remembered cloud should shower.]

... Right.

[ he still stands there staring blankly at her for a While before he seems to shake himself out of it and trudges off to shower. probably he won't drown in it, right? right??? ]

[he will not because she's just following him to hoist herself up on the counter and make sure he doesn't pass out, honestly. to her credit, she's not looking at him! she seems to be watching their new baby scrounge around and peck at the bookcase. but she's mostly here as a physical presence for him unless he kicks her out.]

[ probably normally he would at least make a comment about it, or feel embarrassed, but he barely seems to be registering her presence when he shucks off his clothes to shower, movements stiff and mechanic. just gotta wash off the remaining blood, right? this is tragic.

the good news is that he seems able to go through the motions of washing himself without any incident beyond some mild hisses when he has to wash off some wounds. they might be closed but that is about it, they are still kind of garish and could probably open again if i was feeling evil. i do not.

also he apparently decided to take this shower to near boiling levels going by the amount of steam aerith will have to contend with before he comes out. luckily it's not too long! he is a clean boy. a clean boy who comes out and gets dressed up ALL by himself, too. i mean he did a piss poor job of drying but by god is he clean and dressed. ]

[yeah she figures he's too out of it to care, so she's on the counter and letting her legs swing idly, heels kicking back into the cabinet softly. is it partially also so cloud can hear she's still there while he's showering? yeah. she doesn't mind the steam so much, and when he comes out and dresses himself she hops down and grabs a towel to gently dry his hair a little. you...tried.]

That's a little better. Come on. [let's go back to the bed. she's not going to sit on it, but she gestures for cloud to lay down.]

[ well. the towel isn't direct physical contact so no pain! just cloud blinking dazedly as he lets her do it. it's gentle, but it... feels like someone else did that not too long ago, and that weirds him out a little. let's not delve into that too hard maybe it is just nostalgia. ]

Feels better. [ it's not like the spring is more than Magic Water, but it felt cloying. (it was the blood not being washed off.) he follows her back to the room and sits down on the bed, though he doesn't lay down yet, staring up at her with his big ol' too glowy eyes. hey is his hair like. a little lighter right now? surely that's her imagination. ] You weren't there at all?

[ he's asked this before earlier, but he-- wants the confirmation again. just in case? ]

[on the bed he goes, and she doesn't follow him yet even as she stays in front of him to look him over. she is very much noting the eyes are glowing more than usual and his hair's skewing more platinum than gold, but...maybe that's just the light. the apartment's not the greatest. she takes a little breath though before she smiles faintly.]

No. I've been here all day. We woke up here together and everything.

[ he sags in on himself with a sigh at that, slouched at his spot sitting. that's good. that's--good. if no one else was real. ]

Right. [ he doesn't exactly remember waking up this morning, but that's not too weird. if cloud didn't hurt her, then... there's almost a smile on his face, suddenly, and he looks up at her with eyes wide ] We'll be okay. We're going home, no matter what we have to face here.

[ his stare is so sure it looks almost a little feverish. it's so over phase over WE'RE SO BACK!!! ]

[oh good, we've kind of entered the "cloud's brain is boiling soup" phase. but she nods anyway, slowly sinking onto the bed next to him but not quite touching him. just hovering...the baby chocobo runs across the room, hopping around their feet before aerith pulls it up to nest on one of their pillows.]

Of course we are. We're going to get back to Yuffie, and then we'll go home. The others will be waiting, and we'll go back to what we were working toward. [...] Do you...

[hm. no. what if she doesn't give him an option actually.]

Where did you go, Cloud? [gentle but prompting.]

[ he makes space for her and the baby chocobo to sit. theyre gonna need. a bigger bed. ]

Yeah.

[ i hate this but little flowers. yay hope!! they're gonna do it and aerith agrees!!!

they immediately wilt at the follow up question though ]

... An island of demon. We were signed up for this... tournament? Think we were just meant to be entertainment.

[ nood doods was, in fact. their team name. ]

[they sure are. she watches the flowers die and she immediately thinks i'm sorry... before brushing the thought aside. also she hates the idea of cloud being used for entertainment, considering.]

What kind of tournament? Demons? [what the hell.]

Fighting tournament. [ which made his missing sword hilarious. what was the name...dark? whatever. ] Whoever won got a wish. We were set up in teams of four.

[why is it always wishes, she's going to blow up the entirety of scawwy.]

Was it the four of you together...? Or were you guys separated even then?

We were on the same team. We had the option for individual matches, but... [ don't know if that'd have been worse or better. ] We didn't take it.

At least you were together. [but now she's thinking about some of the things she's heard from cloud's thoughts, and she's still frowning a little.] How many teams did you have to fight against? Did you recognize your competitors?

[she already has a feeling the answer is yes just based on the things she's heard from other people who go on these trips.]

We only did two. I don't think... the whole tournament was done when we got out.

[ not that i cared. but... her other question. he looks away. ]

Yeah. It was all... people we knew. They were being controlled by... different things.

[of course it was. why would it be anything more simple than that?]

...you did what you had to do. Right? If they were being controlled, then...it probably made the fights even harder.

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