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

[residentflorist]

[she just looks at him.]

...she said it was just "bad luck" that it happened to be Karma who walked into her trap.

[residentmerc]

... So he, what, woke up on his own? [ what. WHAT WOULD SHE HAVE DONE IF KARLACH WAS THE ONE SHE HAD TO FIT IN A BARREL ] She just wanted a kill?

[residentflorist]

Yes. [her tone is quiet, almost a cold fury if not for the note of despair filtering through.] She said she just wanted to take someone out, so she set up a lure in the theater with that ukulele and waited. Karma was just the one who walked through the door.

[residentmerc]

That's... [ he isn't as angry as she is, but he's still. mad at the principle of it. well, they're monsters, they should expect this, but still. ] So she was just planning to stuff anyone in to that barrel? Kid just got unlucky?

[residentflorist]

[she's only angry because she made the mistake of kind of blorboing karma without meaning to. she is still in the skull t-shirt. please take this off, aerith, begging. but that's where it's difficult. she can't be as angry as she wants because there were monsters in play, and erin wasn't in her right mind when she acted. the monster inside of her wanted a kill and wouldn't be satisfied until she got it.

"I hate I'm feeling both celebratory and ashamed about how cruel it was."

how can she be angry about this? but at the same time it doesn't just...erase what happened. it doesn't fully absolve someone of their sins, and while they may never know what really happened to pickles and they've let ichiban's killer walk, knowing what she knows now has just left her conflicted and livid. it's just hard to know where the blame should be assigned.]

...she said Karma walked in through the door, and while he was focused on the ukulele she stabbed him in the back with the pitchfork. But it didn't kill him. He tried to fight back. [because of course he did. because that's what karma does.] Erin says that he shot at her with his gun and hit her, so she took it from him and shot him in the head hoping to kill him that time. He must've gone unconscious because she put him in the barrel after that, and sealed him up. She says solled him most of the way to the beach and...we know Karma was still alive in there. He had to have finally died by drowning, if not just losing air.

[residentmerc]

[ is aerith still in the flowers. he is going to crouch to join her now, hovering a little. a lot of that aligns with what they sort of guessed. he's not sure if that helps at all to have it confirmed. more importantly, a little dubiously: ]

She says she got him from the theater to the beach on her own? [ rolled him there? ]

[residentflorist]

[she is never leaving these flowers thank you. but cloud crouches to join her and she shifts to allow him space.

it doesn't really help, no, because it just makes her imagine the worst ways this could have happened. but also...]

Yeah. Kind of the way she skewered him and shot him on her own. [which is to say she somehow does not believe this was really on her own.]

[residentmerc]

... So she lied about part of it.

[ now that he's given space he sits down a little more properly, sitting close enough aerith can grab his hand if she wants? or if not. he is there. ]

[residentflorist]

We found the tracks on the beach where the barrel rolled, but not before. So either it didn't leave marks at all, or...yeah. [cloud sits down, and since he's close enough she will take his hand and also lean against him. taking advantage of affection week.]

I'm going to ask one of the overseers more about the chimera tomorrow. If a monster's trying to act in self-preservation, it wouldn't surprise me if she was saying this so we wouldn't think about who acted with her. But she said she didn't have anything to do with what happened with Ichiban's heart.

[residentmerc]

[ she can have some handholding and he EVEN squeezes it BACK. incredible. ]

Could be they separated before that part, so that wasn't a lie. Could even be she had help with Karma, but she didn't help much with Ichiban. You're right, we don't know enough about that chimera thing to know for sure.

[residentflorist]

I had been wondering about that. If whoever went after Ichiban helped with Karma but didn't need the help with him. But it's not like we can ask, right? We aren't even sure who the other person might actually be. [and here she pouts again.]

The chimera shouldn't have happened in the first place. [thanks aerith, that's a nice thought but too bad.]

[residentmerc]

[ it's a nice thought and honestly one he shares he's so tired ]

Bad enough there were three of them going around, how did they even chimera two? [ how does it WORK. ]

[residentflorist]

I guess...it depends what monsters would actually go together, wouldn't it? Or maybe that part matters less. Maybe it's a ritual they did and they didn't even mean to fully chimera them.

[residentmerc]

... Be easier to guess this shit if they were competent.

[ IS IT ON PURPOSE OR IS THE CULT JUST DOING WHATEVER WITH BAD INGREDIENTS: a play in several parts narrated by genesis (no) ]

[residentflorist]

It didn't sound like the overseers knew much about this one, but that could change now that it's happened twice. War was wondering if it might be kind of like practice for the real thing when they summon their god.

[residentmerc]

So... trying to summon bigger and stronger things, then. Might make sense.

[residentflorist]

Yeah. If it's a god they're summoning, then...that's pretty powerful, isn't it? It wouldn't do them any good to attempt a ritual they aren't qualified for. It'd ruin the results.

[residentmerc]

Even though they've kind of already done that to begin with.

[residentflorist]

Right. You have the idea and you know the formula, but without the practice and without the materials, you still can't get the results.

[residentmerc]

And unluckily for us, we're the practice.

[residentflorist]

[hearing the word "unlucky" just kind of reminds her again of what happened and what erin said, so she frowns.]

I guess...there's nothing we can really do today. We know that it's happening, but without a way to take action what else can we do?

[residentmerc]

... Right now, nothing. Best we can do is try to learn more from the overseers, I guess. Same as usual.

[residentflorist]

[it's not exactly a satisfactory answer and it shows on her face, but she nods. she's still angry that this happened and there's nothing to be done to change it, but she also doesn't want to take it out on cloud who didn't even do anything.

so it's...silent seething for a little.]

Same as usual.