audience: cloud

[mygod]

Comments

[egodist]

Your companion came to yell at me as soon as she arrived, so I was wondering when you'd follow suit.

[ aerith yelling at hole for a few hours ]

[residentmerc]

[ huh. ]

She yelled at you? [ :o? ]

[egodist]

'Yelled' is a strong word.

[ he looks thoughtful about it before shaking his head ]

Nevermind. It's not relevant.

[residentmerc]

[ frowning as he looks away. it's not like he doesn't know aerith keeps shit from him!!! he's not stupid!!!! but also the last time he called her out on acting weird she PUSHED HIM through a HOLE. so as much as he wishes she would TELL HIM THINGS he knows a) she wont b) there's no point asking scien about it anyway

but. he knows this much: ]

She trusts you. I'm not surprised she went to talk to you right away.

[egodist]

[ scien watches cloud for a moment, and then bluntly: ]

I don't care to get involved in whatever is going on between you two, but it doesn't seem to be working. But don't think that I'm going to let her get away her faulty status quo either.

[ scien harasses cloud a little bit about his brain problems but he also knows aerith has shit to work through. sometimes.... hets are wild and you're kinda just standing there trying not to be a relationship therapist ]

Anyway, I know. And her trust isn't misplaced.

[residentmerc]

...Faulty status quo?

[ hm. maybe that's something else to think about. also if only the sole problem was that they were het and needed couples' counseling instead of whatever the plot of ff7 is doing. damn. ]

She's usually decent enough at judging people. [ decent enough, because cloud will still feral kitten hiss at famine if pushed ]

[egodist]

Hm.

[ he doesn't know if that applies to him because he doesn't think he's a good guy so he'll just let it slide. anyway: ]

I don't trust that people who smile all the time are actually fine.

[ PLAINLY ]

[residentmerc]

[ ah. hmmm. ]

She's not. [ aerith carries a lot of pain and he has known that since he met her, honestly? and he's not. even good with people. but; ] Doesn't mean her smiles aren't real, too.

[egodist]

I never said they weren't.

[ it's not really said judgmentally? more like objective fact from an extremely outside observer. scien is a bitch on purpose so much of the time, but he doesn't really care what other people's personalities are like as long as they're still effective ]

But that is what I mean by 'faulty status quo'. She cannot keep everything to herself forever. She shouldn't.

You will likely be key in helping her through that.

[residentmerc]

... It's not like I haven't been trying.

[ but unfortunately cloud is also the kind to keep everything inside until one day he dies and is not the best at it. but speaking of keeping everything inside. he shakes his head because he doesn't want to talk to famine too deeply about this; ]

Thought you didn't discuss what other people spoke of with you during these?

[egodist]

This is my assessment of a person. Not content of our conversations. And evidently, nothing you don't already know.

[ so it's fair game ]

[residentmerc]

What are you hoping talking about it will do?

[ he does not think scien is the kind to discuss things just for the sake of discussing things? he is maybe wrong. ]

[egodist]

You looked uncomfortable when I brought it up.

I am telling you it's not your fault.

[residentmerc]

[ WELL OKAY HE CLEARLY DIDN'T EXPECT THAT EITHER AND HE JUST STARES UNCOMFORTABLY AND STUPIDLY AT SCIEN. THAT'S THE TAG. ]

[egodist]

[ help me

stares back at him....? okay? ]

[residentmerc]

... Wasn't expecting you to say that. That's all.

[egodist]

[ shrugs ]

I only bother with factual statements.

[residentmerc]

[ he is not sure how much that is true and he does raise an eyebrow about it but doesn't. argue. ]

... Right. Well. Thanks for listening to her, I guess. [ moving on because it sounds like aerith is at least venting to SOMEONE even if not him, and if tifa isn't around he guesses scien will do!!!! ]

[egodist]

[ scien notes the eyebrow raise bc going 'no trust me i'm a truthful guy' is probably the shadiest thing ever. he prefers actions over words anyway ]

It is no chore. The two of you are hardly the most aggravating people to talk to.

[residentmerc]

[ thinking about who else is in this game for 0.2 seconds ]

Yeah. I can believe that. [ they have such a wild variety... of people ] A lot of them come to you?

[egodist]

More than I'd like, but I prefer to be left alone in general.

[residentmerc]

Prefer observing at a distance, too?

[egodist]

Yes. I've been dragged into too many social engagements lately...

You don't exactly seem like you're jumping for joy with every invitation either.

[residentmerc]

Yeah, well. Most of the time, I'm not interested.

[ #catchphrase ]

[egodist]

Then our sentiments align.

People are so.... loud.