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]

She's taking on a lot of responsibility back home, too. She would've done it no matter what.

[ the difference is she has the rest of them but like. he is at least not TOO annoyed at the responsibility falling to her. and. ]

... Her relationship with Laudna's gonna be affected, there's no way around it. But they're both tough, and they're close to each other. They'll work things out. Yuffie knows Laudna wasn't in control.

[residentflorist]

I know, but the difference is that we were at least with her back there. [she'll outright say it? but she seems to realize this is a losing argument the whole way down.]

...yeah. That's the way it's been this whole time, right? Logically knowing that nobody was in control of themselves, but these things still happened. I just hope there's enough time for them. There're some people here who still haven't been able to reconcile, I think.

[residentmerc]

There's some people who haven't wanted to reconcile, either. But they... care about each other. They'll work it out. Probably with a lot of apologies.

[residentflorist]

[there are some cases she's less sure about, but that's...well. can't argue that either.

maybe the things she's worried about really are kind of stupid, aren't they. for a moment, she nods to that to show that she heard him, but not long after she goes silent and settles to latch onto him instead of anything useful.]

[residentmerc]

[ ... holds her hands. whenever she goes silent he thinks he has said something wrong and maybe he has!!! WOOPS ]

... And they won't be dealing with it alone. Right?

[residentflorist]

[oh. handholds. she will allow that, and maybe someday cloud will realize that when aerith goes quiet it's because she feels stupid and not particularly because of something cloud said.]

Mmhm. That's right. All of us are here to support each other through the end.

[residentmerc]

[ HE DOESN'T WANT HER TO FEEL STUPID!!! ]

Yeah. Whatever that ends up looking like.

[residentflorist]

[busy looking at their hands.]

Ideally it ends up looking like all of us getting out of here in one piece and free to go where we want, and able to do what we need to do. That's probably changed for some people, too, by now.

[residentmerc]

[ well he meant more what the ritual and the god summoning will look like but that part is. hm. squeezes her hands as he also looks down at them ]

... What do you think it'll look like for us, then? Back home.

[ cloud is not sure if he should be worried about The Reunion because hes like. ummm has it like... happened... about it ]

[residentflorist]

...dunno. I think for us it's looking like stopping the meteor, and then defeating Sephiroth once and for all so he can't harm the planet. With all of us together, we stand a better chance. Don't we?

[residentmerc]

We do. That's not... [ ...hmm. ] It's been almost two months. There's no telling what everything will look like when we go back.

[ while he does not think sephiroth blew up the planet without cloud on it ([sephiroth voice] LET'S DO IT TOGETHER CLOUD COME OOOOn) there is the. wutai war. to think of. ]

[residentflorist]

[...

okay. well. he has a point there, too. so she stops talking again to think about that for a little while instead.]

Maybe things escalated, but I still think they're in a place we can still change them and stop it from getting worse. But you're right. We don't really know.

[residentmerc]

... It's a problem for later. We should focus on fixing things here. Then... we'll see what's waiting for us back home.

[ potentially a dead planet thatd be widl ]

[residentflorist]

[a dead planet would be what they deserve at this rate. she's still busy keeping her gaze glued to their hands, but she nods. yes. it's a problem for later, and they should focus on fixing things here, except she has no idea what to actually do to fix things here. so maybe it's...up to other people? there are so many of them now that someone else is bound to have a better idea. maybe it's better if she just stays out of their way for right now. go back to the support role. only act when people call on her.

she's not verbalizing any of this to cloud because she's too busy staring at their hands but she's thinking about it.]

...we will. [fix things here. they don't exactly have another choice anyway, but if she can keep believing that, then...that's good enough.]

[residentmerc]

[ maybe it is up to other people has kind of been their lesson this whole game, except they are both terrible at that lesson it turns out. he just strokes his thumb over hers as she stares at their hands. ok. ]

I know. We've gone too far not to.

[residentflorist]

[yeah this is a shitty lesson she wants a refund on the tuition. she is not entirely sure what to say or do at this point and there doesn't seem to be much of a reaction to what his thumb's doing even if she's not pulling away.]

Yeah. We've put a lot of work into everything and come so far to try and fix everything. So...it has to work. Right? Everything. Even if we don't know how yet, or what might happen afterwards. It will.

[residentmerc]

[ ... gently... cups face so she looks at him instead...? ]

Yeah. It will.

[ even though he has his own doubts he is putting all his protag determination into this ]

[residentflorist]

[she is trying not to have doubts, but not knowing what specifically to even start thinking on is killing her a little. but cloud's cupping her face and tilting her head up, so she's kind of forced to look at him. it means she's giving him a quiet, blank sort of look like she gets when she doesn't know how to phrase what she's thinking or when she's unhappy.

but since she's looking at him, he also gets a little smile.]

...what do you want to do tonight though? We have a little time to ourselves.

[residentmerc]

[ he likes the smile. he doesn't like the blank look at all though! ]

... So long as I'm spending time with you, I don't mind. Even if all you want to do is talk.

[ or not talk, maybe. he is trying so hard to offer comfort here even though he's so bad at it ]

[residentflorist]

[it's fine. it's hard for cloud to offer comfort when aerith doesn't even know what she wants, but...it's okay.]

Well look who's come a long way. [teasing lightly, because she remembers a cloud a while ago who didn't always have the patience or care too much to listen to the silly little problems. but then again she also remembers a cloud who'd once admitted he'd have no idea what she was talking about, but he wanted to know anyway. and that's the thing. cloud has always been someone who despite his prickliness, he's become a little softer and a little sweeter. someone kind and someone protective and someone who at his core is brusque, yes, but also loving in his own way that just works for her. and she thinks about back then, when she'd had all of those memories from before, when she'd warned him not to fall in love with her. and now she thinks "okay well it doesn't matter because i didn't listen to my own advice."

it also means she's now thinking about the possibility that despite her best efforts...after this week, if things don't work out, it really could be over. if they don't figure out how to stop the cult, and figure out a way for her to go home (scien's offer is on the table, she thinks, but she's not going to ask right now, not when he's focused on lucas and when he's also going to help karlach and maybe other people and he's already trying to solve other problems), this might be some of the last times she gets to spend with him.

so she's thinking all of this and she's not entirely aware of the way her entire expression kind of crumbles because of these thoughts but she's nodding and swinging their hands a little.]

We can...go through one of the doors to check out one of the other areas? We can go back to the beach, or we can visit the academy. We can go back and get our swimsuits for a few hours at the hot springs, too. Or we can get ice cream or...anything really.

[residentmerc]

[ i think she should consider the possibility of telling him any of this at all, ever, in her life. cloud's look of concern only grows as her expression crumbles and he holds her hands a little tighter like he is feeling her slip from him and he doesn't know what to do. sort of like that dream date, he thinks. a lot of their interactions here have felt like that. ]

Let's... start with ice cream. [ that seems the simplest one to have her talk without too many distractions. or maybe he should be trying for distractions. he doesn't know, is the issue. ] That work?

[residentflorist]

[SHE WILL!!!! GIVE HER TIME!!!! I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW IF SHE WILL NOW OR MONDAY.

anyway he tightens his grip on her hands and she does it back, and that seems to snap her out of her little funk enough to look more connected to the conversation.]

I think so. Ice cream sounds good to me. [cloud is going to have to lead though, since she's waiting for him to go.]

[residentmerc]

[ she will just never tell him its fine ]

Alright. C'mon, then. [ time to go... that away idr where they are ]

[residentflorist]

[starts a monday pc just to spite you because i think it makes no sense now to tell him saturday i'm not sure. watch this space.

anyway she follows...they probably were outside in general, so the trip to the pharmacy isn't far.]

...at least this time we can stick to one scoop. [teasing. but also her baby self definitely made him get like six.]

[residentmerc]

[ WE CAN DO IT ON MONDAY ITS FINE???? ]

I probably should've stopped you then. [ around the... fourth one... hm. ]