Yaugur System Mingle

[padadin]

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Of course
When: 6/23 to 8/5.

[Welcome to the Yaugur System, where everyone will want to join the most important activity here:



KITE FLYING!

...what do you mean, there's something more important to do? Oh yeah, the mist. Sure, have fun with your despair hallucinations, I guess.]

Comments

[wingenvy]

Yeah, probably. Cooped up in a little ship stall for days at a time, all by his lonesome aside from a bunch of strange humans...

[Zack gives the bird a little scruff through his feathers.]

Better off here, where he can run around properly.

[asphodels]

At least we get to spend time with them now.

[ She pauses, though, before she tilts her head up to look at Zack. ]

We could get a pet, one day.

[wingenvy]

You want a pet?

[He's a little surprised, mostly because it's never come up before.]

[asphodels]

Don't you think it would be nice? I like taking care of things.

[ Flowers, friends, children... ]

[wingenvy]

Huh... what kind of pet, do you think?

[asphodels]

Something we both like. [ She hums, leaning back into him. ] Something small.

[wingenvy]

I don't know how much attention somebody like me is gonna give to a pet, Aerith.

[This "we" business. If she wants it, she should pick it. With how easily distracted he is she ought to guess that she'll be doing the bulk of the caring.]

[asphodels]

I know. I’m not going to get something you and Cloud don’t like, though!

[ That would just be ridiculous. ]

[wingenvy]

Well, I can't think of any animal I don't like, if that helps. Except frogs. Don't get a frog.

[fuck frogs. or Touch Mes in particular.]

[asphodels]

I won’t get a frog. [ She laughs. ] They’re a little boring, aren’t they?

[wingenvy]

Babe, if you grew up in Gongaga there's a lot of ways you'd describe frogs, but boring ain't one of them.

[asphodels]

I went to Gongaga! It wasn't that bad.

[wingenvy]

...Okay, seriously, why did you go to Gongaga? There's nothing there! Not even a reactor anymore.

[asphodels]

[ Aerith looks a little thoughtful, wondering how much she should actually say, but - ]

We were chasing rumours of Sephiroth. [ And then - ] That's when I met your parents.

[wingenvy]

[Oof.

Right.]

I... went to Gongaga, too. With Cloud, after we got out. Thought we might find someone who could help us there- maybe even help him, since I couldn't.

[The mako poisoning had run too deep; he knows now his goal should have been Mideel, but hindsight can't really do anything for anybody, now.]

The place was crawling with Turks. I couldn't even get close to my parents' place.

[asphodels]

It was a good idea. A safe place, at least, until you could find out more.

[ She sighs. Of course they'd expect Zack to go home, though, and she shakes her head, leaning back. ]

They were nice. Your parents, I mean.

[wingenvy]

Mm.

[It might have been, if Tseng's crew hadn't ruined his grand plan. Turning away from town without seeing anyone at all had been hard.]

I'm glad they're okay. I was worried when I first got there... I saw the reactor had blown up while I was gone and didn't know what to expect.

[And wouldn't it have just been his luck if they'd been taken away from him, too?]

[asphodels]

[ Aerith doesn't know how much Zack knows about their trip to his hometown - had Cloud told him anything? Maybe, maybe not. She's not sure she wants to be the one to tell him his parents think he's still alive.

Nodding, she reaches and pets the side of their bird gently. ]

Most of the town was okay, I think. It's smaller than it used to be, but they're making the best out of it.

[wingenvy]

Yeah, that sounds like home. Gongaga's a tough town- nothing near nobody, so it fends for itself. We're a tenacious bunch, always have been.

[His voice is quiet, fond, and thick with nostalgia. He loves the city, roaming wild, living the dangerous adventuring life. It's why he'd left, dreams too big for such a little town to contain. He'd wanted everyone to know his name because he was famous, a big damn hero, not because everybody knew everybody.

Still, there's a country boy buried deep in his gut, somewhere, and he loves where he came from.]

[asphodels]

Mmhm, a little bit like the slums, right? If no one else is taking care of you then you have to take care of yourself.

[ Aerith wasn't born in the slums and she has memories of before, but she also grew up running away from Turks and people and climbing here and there, hiding herself away while growing flowers and living her life. It's not the same as growing up in the country, but...

Reaching out, she touches his hand gently, smiling. ]

[wingenvy]

[He glances down at her, brows lifting, and when it clicks - ah, she noticed - he smiles and kisses the top of her head, the closest spot within reach. She gets it, of course she would.]

Uh-huh. In a place that small, the whole village is your family. We took care of each other.

[asphodels]

[ She smiles, bright and soft, before she nods her head. She doesn't have to say it; Zack understands. ]

I had my mom, but it was like that in the slums sometimes too. [ Even if she was the odd flower girl. ] We all knew each other. You saw it, didn't you?

[wingenvy]

I did, yeah. Everybody was kinda close-knit, and they definitely cared about you. You're the only reason that any of them ended up trusting someone like me.

[Someone from Shinra, that is.]

[asphodels]

I think you might have won them over eventually. [ But Aerith grins. She knows the part she played. ] You're too charming.

[wingenvy]

Yeah, but you helped me get there a lot faster.