vatheon | 002

Who: Tifa and anyone
Where: Middle district shop
When: Afternoon
Style: I'll match
Status: Open!

Sometimes it was the little things that did it.

Tifa had done her best since her arrival to distract herself from the situation back home. There was nothing she could do about it until she found a way back, so worrying just wasn't practical. She'd volunteered almost immediately to help look for answers in that lab on the island. When she wasn't doing that, she'd had plenty of the bubble to explore and familiarize herself with. There'd been all the necessities of living to see to, people to talk to, and she'd even tried going to that ball last week.

She could feel it pressing on her, like something closing in out of the corner of her eye. It was pretty common for conversations to turn to home, or for people to bring up things that reminded her of it in spite of herself. The past few days had been the worst of it. Someone murdered, Rinoa's best friend disappearing...

But she'd forced everything out of her mind then, and she managed. It was the little things.

She was out shopping. As uncomfortable as it was taking things for free, she'd been here for weeks now and she could use more than a few changes of clothes. And there was one shirt, hung up in the wrong section, that looked so very much like Cloud's uniform.

That was all it was. Just a shirt. One stupid, unexpected little thing that made her think of him.

She didn't know where he was. Her whole world could be coming to an end, but what got to her the most was that her best friend was missing. Probably he was dead. And she didn't even know, maybe she never would know, if he was really Cloud or just some science experiment who'd tricked the both of them into thinking he was her childhood friend. She wouldn't know if it made a difference in how she felt.

She was crying before she realized it. Crying there in the middle of the store over some stupid shirt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tifa looks over at the girl and then ducks her head to scrub a gloved hand across her face before answering. Now she's getting children worried about her?

"It's complicated." Is it? She just doesn't want to explain it, doesn't want to say it aloud to anyone. "You don't have to worry about it, o-okay?"

That sounds like something Cheria would say to her, when she's trying to be brave but she's really scared or sad. Like when the lights were out a few weeks ago.

"Are you sad, or scared?" She asks instead, because while she doesn't have to worry about what it is, it still seems like she should do something. Her motto after all, is What Would ~~Jesus~~ Asbel do, when she didn't understand something.

Sad seems like too simple a word for what she's feeling. Sad is something that brings you down for a little while and then passes. This is something she'd desperately wanted to avoid because she can't see the other side of it.

"I'll be all right, in a moment."

Okay, so not sad, no scared. What other reasons would someone cry though? ... no she's at a loss on that one. "Okay."

She'll just wait for that moment. ... oh, although~! "How long is a moment?"

Sophie, you forgot 'in pain.' Although that isn't what this is anyway.

Tifa lets out a choked laugh at the question and leans forward, pressing her face into the rack of clothing. "It... can seem like a long time."

Well she's never seen someone cry because they were in pain before. Sorry for staring though, Tifa, she's just - she learns by mimicing people a lot - not that she's going to mimic this. But it helps her understand. Sort of. Sometimes.

"Is it going to seem like a long time now?" She asks instead, with a puzzled frown.

"It does to me."

The girl sounds even younger than she looks, and Tifa wishes she were better equipped right now to explain this to her, or to handwave it. She takes a long breath, hoping to steady herself.

So she'll be crying for a long time? That's not right. "Do you want me to wait with you?" She'll keep you company until that moment is over. Or something. Oh! Idea! "We can plant seeds in the garden! And you can meet Tiger Festival."

Sophie, sometimes people just want to be alone you know!

She's about to tell the girl she needs the moment alone, but... maybe how oblivious she is is actually helping some. Like if she can't understand it, there really isn't any reason to be crying.

"...Tiger Festival?" Is that someone's name?

That sounds about right. She had a pretty simplistic view, and more complicated emotions or topics often left her more confused than she started. At the question, Sophie smiles, nodding.

"Tiger Festival is a little cat that I found. He's grey, with black stripes, and really small."

Tifa straightens, sniffing and wiping at the last of her tears. She still looks pretty awful and her voice is raw, but she's slowly collecting herself again.

"Where'd you come up with the name?"

Sophie watches Tifa carefully as she starts to pull herself together again, head tilted briefly. "Asbel," she answers, with a happy smile. "It was the first name he suggested when he found me when he was little."

She can't of course, say, 'when -we- were little' since Sophie has always been this size. "He likes that name, so I like it too."

And Tifa, of course, is just going to assume that she was even littler when she was found.

"That's sweet," she says, managing a quick, tight smile. "And what's your name then?"

"My name is Sophie. What's your name?" Because crying lady just doesn't have a very good ring to it.

Even if that was the case at the time. But she seems happier that Tifa wasn't crying anymore!

"Tifa. It's nice to meet you, Sophie. Sorry you had to catch me like that."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't fall." Sophie has the best logic. Even if she does take words pretty literally.

Tifa blinks at her in confusion before she realizes that Sophie took her literally.

"Oh, no, I meant..." She's never had to think how to explain this. "When you 'catch' someone, and they aren't falling, it means that you've seen them when they didn't expect you to."

Ohhhh, well that made sense. "A lot of people must have caught you then." Seeing as it was a public area and all.

But she changes the subject from there, "The seeds are over there." Clearly she expects Tifa to accompany her to get said seeds to garden with. Because, well, she still has to keep Tifa company until her moment is over right?

"Y-yeah..." Tifa glances around somewhat timidly. A lot of people must have.

"Seeds? Oh... for your garden, right?" From Tifa's perspective, the moment has passed. She's not all right, exactly, but Sophie is enough of a distraction that she can start to act like she is.

Acting is the next best thing. But Sophie isn't familiar with faking it so she takes it as fact. "Yes. I have some flowers already but I haven't found any that are Sopheria."

She leads the way to where the seeds are, taking a little long to read the packets. Some of the names are harder to read than others - normally she goes by the picture.

Tifa follows her over, and while she notices the slow reading she isn't about to remark on it. Instead she'll just quietly skim over the names herself to see if she can find the flower in question.

"I don't know too many flowers. What do Sopheria look like?"

"Um..." Sophie pauses to recall the image of the flower. "It's purple, small leaves, and if they bathe in the moonlight for long enough, they turn into a blossomgale. I haven't seen one turn into a blossomgale, but I want to."

Although being underwater that might be difficult - she'll have to take those seeds up topside.

"Well, there's still plenty of moonlight up above, so maybe you will." Funny that she'd wind up in another world entirely and still couldn't see the sky in the city.

"Hmm... I don't think I see any here. But I'm sure there are other shops with a better selection."

002

no subject

no subject

no subject

Pff I am so sorry Tifa :D

nope there are far worse things she could be asking~

True!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject