Cloud

[residentflorist]

code

Lilium
Derived from Latin lilia, which may have come from a corrupted
pronunciation of a word from an extinct Eastern Mediterranean language
Humility, devotion, restored innocence after death

"Lovers used to give these when they were reunited."

Comments

[residentmerc]

Yeah. [ he... shrugs? ] Those two stood out the most. They were in a box and a jar.

[ so they were at least not just. hanging out. free ballin'. ]

Dunno how we got back, but I don't know how we got there in the first place either. I know there was fog, though. [ stupid magic fog. he adds: ] Last week, Nona described the same place. Vin and Gojo got some different items.

[residentflorist]

I'm getting really tired of this fog...[tch. but she seems curious about the rest.] You think it's the exact same room then? Like we have to go because we can only take a few things out a time for some reason.

[residentmerc]

Maybe. I don't know, I never got to hear from the other groups if they got something too.

[ because. we died. alas. ]

Could be something we can check with the others.

[residentflorist]

Gojo mentioned it to me the day before we left. [i.e. died.] That the first group who went found something, so Geto probably told him. We were talking about following up and asking, but...might be up to him now. I can try to write him another letter later to ask.

[residentmerc]

Mm... Should see if they can even write back first.

[ he raises a hand and pets the baby chocobo because he is not made of stone. he has chosen to believe they received the letters because they have vanished and :) optimism :) etc ]

[residentflorist]

[the baby is happy for its pets!! also aerith has optimism in general so she does believe the letters were sent.]

Might take a few days. Ours didn't disappear until yesterday and I wrote all of mine on Sunday.

[residentmerc]

Right. So... we'll see.

[ pets the baby chocobo some more. he'd offer better plans but. honestly he is tired. there are still so many holes in him that are simply closed up now. this is fine. ]

[residentflorist]

[cloud does not need to offer more, and instead she leans forward just enough for the very, very lightest and quickest kiss to his forehead.]

...you should probably eat something and get some sleep. We can figure out letters and everything later on when you're more rested.

[residentmerc]

[ ow, except he doesn't even think it and just kind of grimaces at the mention of food? ]

... Just... sleep'll be fine.

[residentflorist]

[hm...]

Water at least. Is that okay? [your hydration...]

[residentmerc]

[ long as it's not sea water again... ]

Yeah, sure.

[residentflorist]

[...]

Sea water...?

[residentmerc]

[ can thought week leave him alone for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES ]

... We started off on a cruise ship. They served us some... weird food. And the water was sea water.

[ "how was the food weird" cloud is pointedly looking away from her ]

[residentflorist]

[...she thinks about the gore that was on cloud's face when he came out of the box and thinks about how food probably isn't a great thing to talk about right now, actually, so she shakes her head.]

Right. Sorry, you did mention an island. [with that, she's getting up from the bed and crossing the apartment to open up a cabinet to pull out a bottle of water.] I don't want further clarification, do I.

[residentmerc]

[ he takes the bottle and honestly he is pretty thirsty so he is. going to guzzle that down probably. but; ]

Wasn't anything worse than stuff you can find in the slums. [ which, admittedly. the slums can have some pretty shitty food because sometimes you are poor and you eat rats. he sloshes the water bottle before admitting, reluctantly; ] Pretty sure it was drugged.

[ the reason he looked away is that he is going to just stop eating food at some point if people keep drugging it ]

[residentflorist]

[...grabs a second bottle to keep by the bed then.]

Yeah, well. Everybody was doing what we could. [so yeah she agrees the slums had some pretty shitty food, but he finishes that and there's the animal crossing shocked piano crashing effect in her thoughts because please stop drugging her boyfriend!!! please!!]

It would be really nice if this stopped happening. [oh now she's just mad. that's fine.]

[residentmerc]

A lot of it was really good, too.

[ he doesn't mean to say all slums food sucked!!! but he looks at her and it's... he doesn't want her to be mad at something that ultimately she can't do anything about, but it is nice to know he's not the only one frustrated by this. ]

Can't disagree with that. [ but to explain why he thinks it was drugged; ] It's gone now, but it made me feel weak and... heavy. Didn't help much for the fights.

[ there were other effects but honestly anything that messes with his mind is a 50/50 it was on himself so he doesn't think they were real ]

[residentflorist]

[she drops the topic about slum life because she's busy being mad.]

So they fed you something that was meant to put you at a disadvantage to put you into a fighting tournament without your weapons. Talk about cheating. [what the FUCK actually.] Almost like whoever set you up didn't want you to succeed at all.

[residentmerc]

They didn't. Really weren't subtle about it, either.

[ it was a whole thing. ]

They were pretty mad when we won the two matches we had.

[residentflorist]

[seething...]

Then they shouldn't have picked people who know how to fight. [duh.]

[residentmerc]

Pretty sure they didn't expect us to even try.

[ because. they were making them fight people they care about. so like, ]

[residentflorist]

[that's also frustrating. she has to stop being mad at some point because she cannot go out to the fog to go to demon island and fight, so she's sulking a little as she thinks]

...all I care about is that you guys came back. We can work through everything else together.

[residentmerc]

[ cloud looks at the baby chocobo and kind of. nudges it while nodding towards aerith. because he can speak to birds the baby understands and it wiggles a little to flop partially on her lap with a little warble. no sulks i am adorable :3? ]

Yeah. It'll be alright.

[residentflorist]

[she cannot be mad at the baby honestly so she takes both hands to hold its face and ruffle its feathers.]

Just tell me if things get worse again now that you're home, okay? No trying to tough it out.

[residentmerc]

I'll be fine. It's really not that bad.

[ the chocobo goes kweh and cloud is a liar but what else is new ]