yoon's palace

[strawsandals]

I thought I told you to leave me alone.

Comments

[moonshaded]

Should I be?

[It might have been a little extra teasing comment that Aerith let slip through, but Kainé responds to it directly.

She wasn't here to see what happened, but the piecemeal reports she's getting from others are filling in the blanks just fine.]

We've got people disappearing left and right when they start acting weird. I'm not gonna let that happen.

[gardenful]

[ That direct response... it makes her think of Cloud, just a bit, and the way he would often respond to her little teases directly too. She can't help but be a little amused by it in spite of herself. ]

You know... I can't argue with that. It's pretty concerning, isn't it? How many people it's happened to.

[moonshaded]

[Did he also get a little grumpy and pouty about being teased? Not that she'd ever do something like that. Aerith is a little too...kind, in a way she can't snark back against the way she can with some others.

Kainé nods.] It blows. It's not like there's that many of us to begin with. Some of us aren't so good at waking others up. If something happens to you, I don't know how much I'm gonna be able to help.

[Aerith can handle herself, no doubt about it... but that doesn't make her any less of a sitting duck nice girl if she goes off on her own while she's feeling disoriented.]

[gardenful]

I dunno... you're pretty direct. Maybe your words would reach right through to my heart.

[ She smiles, just a little. People like Kainé are the ones who often mean what they say, and Aerith has a feeling that that's the kind of person she would need when she's in dire straits. ]

[moonshaded]

... Yeah. Maybe. [There's a lower, kind of defanged way that she says this. It's hard for her to wrap her mind around what makes someone gentle, what keeps them that way. It's worth keeping.

She can try.] Be careful what you wish for, but I'll keep it in mind as long as I'm around.

[Now it's time to get Aerith back for her beauty sleep because happy hot pot dinner celebrations for a fight she didn't even participate in definitely don't feel like a place Kainé should be invited.]