aterat | Just fake it if you're out of direction

Who;Aerith and Cloud | Aerith and OTA
What; Hollow event
Where; Forest and market/Aerith's shop.
When;6/26 and 6/27
Warnings; Violence

A. Clean Up Shop | OTA on the 27th

Work to cover up the hurt. That was how Aerith's line of thinking was going since the events of the previous day. She'd had some time to rest but was there ever going to be enough time to fully recover from what had happened? Probably not. It'd be just another bad memory to push through and try to put on a smile to everyone around her. Sometimes that was a lot harder than others and this was one of those times. She tried to put a smile on while she brought little pots of flowers into the tiny shop that she was trying to turn into something.

It wasn't much right now. There was an obvious store front with a sign that just read "Flowers". She'd really need to think of something better than that. Inside there were pieces of wood up against a wall, shelves that needed to be nailed in still. There were pots on the floor with different flowers in them and a checkout counter with a little old fashioned register on it. Behind the checkout counter there was a door that lead to a backroom that was currently locked. Every day it was getting a bit closer to being finished, but she still felt like there was a lot more she could do with it all.

There was a little wheelbarrow outside the building with flowers and vases piled high. There was no way to not have it at least slightly in the way of people passing by but she just had to hope people would notice before bumping into it. She had the door to the store propped open with a single brick and she came in and out to grab a pot or a vase or some flowers and bring them inside.

When people passed by she smiled a sad little smile and gave a semblance of a wave or a friendly but brief "Hello!" and then she immediately went back to talking to her flowers. Each one she brought in she mumbled something to them, an entire conversation between a woman and a plant.

B. Closed to Cloud | 26th, night

Zack. He'd come to her shop while she was bringing a white lily inside. Ironic almost. He'd smiled that bright wide smile like a puppy when his parents came home after a long day of work. Her heart had swelled and threatened to burst as she wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. He felt just as warm as she remembered and he talked even more. He'd always been a talker. The happiness inside of her blinded her to the wrongness she should have been able to sense. Later she'd kick herself for it. Now though, the moment was all she could think about. It encompassed every aspect of her being. When he took her hand and asked for her to show him her garden she didn't even hesitate.

She grabbed his hand and immediately dragged him towards the forest and the lodge to make it to the garden she'd made for herself. The smile on her face was wide and she giggled happily as she pulled him to the forest.

"No falling on these, okay? I've worked really hard for this," she said teasingly as she reached the edges of the forest. Once she made it to the garden though something changed. Zack's smile twisted into something horrific, something that only belonged in a nightmare.

"Zack..." she whispered as she let go of his hand. Suddenly she realized just how cold the hand felt. Cold and ...rough? Why was it rough?

"Moved on pretty quick didn't you? With a fake puppet too," the thing that looked like Zack shook his head, black spiky hair shaking like a mane. The façade it'd put on started to vanish.

"That's not true," she said firmly with tears stinging in her eyes. The thing that was Zack laughed and as it shimmered into something monstrous. A creature made of other things, flowers, trees, pieces of dead animals and perhaps something even worse. She screamed and sent a blast of energy towards the thing. It was magic distinctly different from anything her materia may have summoned, magic that came from within and outside at the same time. The force pushed her to the ground and she scrambled backwards in the dirt shaking as she watched it come towards her.

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"Mmm... and I'm glad you did," she gave him a smile that he probably couldn't see as he focused on the battle. The truth wasn't as simple but the truth wasn't always what someone needed. Sometimes they needed little white lies and this was a sometimes time.

"Hold on," she said as she threw the ward down behind him. As long as Cloud could keep it distracted she could get the double cast of fire magic off and at the creature. "You're burning up!" she shouted as the first fireball went flying at it, quickly followed by another. The creature roared as it's pieces started to incinerate. This might work as long as Cloud could keep it's attention off her.

Occasionally, Cloud had moments where he could recognize how stupid he was about some things, for instance, thinking Aerith didn't like fighting or needed nearly as much protection as he treated her. In the short time they'd spent together, they'd developed a sort of synergy. Before Aerith, he preferred to work alone, even if he was getting paid.

Her announcement brought a smirk to his lips even as he moved to shield her while she casted. Knowing what he knew now, it made sense she could pull it off without Materia. She was a Cetra, after all. He led with the flat of his sword as the deteriorating construct tried to cut across to the source of the spells. He shoved the flat against its chest, pivoted, and brought the weight of the massive blade back around, connecting with its legs and sending it sprawling, as well as several of the materials comprising its arms flying.

It took a second for her get herself up and then she started channeling the ray of judgement. She kept a close eye on Cloud as he kept the monster busy and as she brought as much energy together as she could. The energy pooled together in a straight line as she hovered off the ground and then fired it out directly towards the creature that Cloud now had knocked on the ground. When it hit it ripped right through it almost completely disintegrating the thing right there. She landed back down on her feet and then looked to Cloud.

"Do...you think that did it?" she said as she looked around nervously.

He stood for a moment as the dust settled, poised to strike if anything else reared its head, but was satisfied after a short pause that the creature had been the only one in the area. He lowered his blade, turning to her and nodding once.

"Yeah, I think we're good." And he offered her a quick smile. "Not bad, by the way. Are you hurt?"

She stood up and started to dust herself off, trying to clean as much of it as she could. It wasn't an intensely successful cleaning, not after everything that had just happened but she was able to take a look at herself to see any injuries on her. There were scrapes, things that would definitely turn into bruises, and one larger cut on her left thigh.

"Nothing that won't heal in a bit," she said with a small flash of a smile. "We make a great team."

There was a note of concern in his eyes, but he smiled nonetheless, nodding even as he looked her over. It was no worse than any other wounds they'd gotten and that was a comfort.

"We do." There was a hole in his memory, though. One minute he heard her voice, he lost time, and then he was fighting. Trying to thick about what it was he'd lost caused him to wince, turning away with a hand to his temple. Maybe he shouldn't try. "What...do you think that thing was? A ghost?"

"No," she snapped a bit too quickly before she shook her head. There was no way that was actually a ghost of Zack but it was...it was a spirit. At least that's what she thought she felt from it. A spirit of some kind. She looked down, a bit embarrassed for having snapped like that, and then looked up and forced a smile.

"Well...not a ghost of him. But a spirit of something. Or someone." She let out a heavy sigh and brushed herself off. "C'mon, we should go somewhere safer." Somewhere they maybe weren't talking about this. She wasn't sure what to say to him or how long she could keep a forced smile on her face after what had just happened.

"Him?" He didn't disagree they should be somewhere safer, though, and he started toward the city, confident she would follow. "I don't-" He blinked, for a moment, a shock of black hair and a cocky, good-natured laugh flashing through his mind before he shook his head to clear it. "Yeah. We should get somewhere safe."

"Where do you want to go? Back to the apartments might be best!" she started off back towards her building. At no point did she even try to acknowledge that he'd said something else. In fact it seemed as though she was purposely ignoring the first thing he'd said. Which really wasn't that unusual for her, was it? How often had she just ignored him in favor of not explaining anything at all about what she knew. Or what she was hiding. It was almost second nature now. But was that actually a good thing?

"Sounds good." He was fine with the change of topic. It was as though his mind recoiled anytime he tried to probe the part of it that remembered seen who or what had attacked Aerith before it had become the creature they'd defeated, and it wasn't the first time. He didn't want to look there. Whatever was there hurt and it was terrifying. Here, he could protect Aerith and do what he did best, all he knew how to do.

Even if what he knew was a lie, and the more he worked, the more things people said or didn't say, the more he was coming to realize there was a lot he didn't know.

And maybe that was for the best. Probably not, but at least it felt a lot safer.

Just fake it if you're out of direction

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