aterat | And I do Cherish You

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And I do Cherish You

Who;Aerith+ OTA!
What; Setting up her shop for Cherishment and getting some chocolate! Feel free to also use this for any interactions you might want to have for the event or just for the month in general! She'll be working at her shop a TON trying to make the most things, so you can almost always find her there from morning to night.
Where; Her shop in the market and the chocolatier
When;Anytime at all
Warnings; None for now!

I. Aerith's Flower Shop.

Once a flower peddler, always a flower peddler. Surely that was a motto someone out there had, right? Well, if it wasn't, it was someone's now. Specifically, it was Aerith's current moment, at least for the time of Cherishment. She'd set up some samples in the window of her shop that showed off a variety of different flowers including: camellias, asters, roses, red and white chrysanthemums, ivy, and plenty of others. The common thread that tied them together was that they all represented affection in some way. In the center of all the flowers was a sample bouquet that was wrapped up with two different ribbons, one pink and one black. Next to it there was a small display showing off a sample of ribbons, each one in a different color. A sign finished the entire thing reading:

Let the flowers speak for you! Each bouquet comes with your choice of flowers and two ribbons, one for your loved one and one for you, creating something that will always tie your memories together!

It'd taken her a while to set it all up and even now she was working on small things, shifting things around so that everything looked as perfect as it could. Ironically that meant she wasn't completely aware of people that were coming by the shop. Or into the shop.

Maybe she should think of installing a bell.

II. Noble District Chocolatier

This hadn't always been here, had it? No, it was new. It was definitely new. She'd have definitely remembered a chocolatier. That alone should probably have made people suspicious of it, but it didn't. At least not the native people here. That was a kind of unsettling sometimes, how things would just appear and the people here acted like it'd always been there. The more sensible side to her thought that maybe she should just ignore it herself. Pretend like the chocolates didn't look particularly tasty and that the sweet smell wasn't appealing at all.

Nobody ever had any fun by listening to their sensible side though. The first box Aerith bought for herself. It wasn't the only box she bought though. She bought a few for other people, it seemed like the thing to do. They were wrapped so nicely and the idea of making someone happy with a small gift like this made her forget about the weirdness of it all. That was the point of the entire Cherishment thing wasn't it? Making friends and loved ones happy with a little gift that let them know how much they mattered. It was nice. Nicer than a lot of things this place had given to them. Nicer than most things back in her own world. Nice was a...well, it was a nice change of pace.

The chocolates that she'd bought for herself didn't make it too far before she'd opened the box up and tasted one. You see, she had to taste one. It was only right that she try them before she give them out to anyone else, right? What if they actually tasted terrible? It was the sensible thing to do.

That was what she was thinking when she bumped into someone else, clearly on their way to check out the new shops.

"Oh! Sorry," she mumbled with a mouth still half full of chocolate. This was just embarrassing.

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"I imagine that's the case for just about everyone." Her tone and expression both held a light sadness.

"Guess we'll just have to wait to see, huh?" Except she was pretty sure now that when that happened he'd have plenty of evidence to counter that maybe what she'd done had indeed been the unsafe thing to do. Realistically she was well aware of this, but that definitely didn't mean she wouldn't go off and get into some sort of trouble.

"Mmm...well, maybe I'm not entirely sure if it's the norm. To be fair, I kind of just decided it on the spot after he fell on my flowers." So maybe she'd kinda made it up as she went. Maybe! "Cloud is kind of a helper isn't he?" Mostly just for her.

“I suppose we shall, or you’ll do the waiting while I do the looking.” He responded with a lighter expression. Yes, Llewellyn tended to be rather thorough when it came to that. Chances were he’d have it all… Well, not neatly arranged for her. He didn’t work like that, but there would be many papers, all of which to prove a point. Unless she happened to be lucky enough for this to slip his mind entirely. It could happen sometimes, usually when he had too much to think about and his memory failed him.

Ah, now there was the hint of truth he was hoping to hear from her. It was still a bit strange, really, but… It seemed that the definition of ‘Bodyguard’ might be made up by Aerith herself as things came to her. “He fell on your flowers?” He asked with an interested little tilt of his head.

“I don’t know him as well, but he does seem quite prone to taking things on around the city. He’s definitely more inclined than some to offer a helping hand- even if it’s accompanied by a rather serious demeanor.” He responded with a small smile. Cloud reminded him of a few people he’d met. So the shortness and the sometimes more severe expression didn’t bother him too much...

The topic of Cloud falling on her flowers was at least a slightly more lighthearted topic. As long as she didn't think too long on just how closely it mirrored how she met that first love of hers.

"Mmhmm. Crashed right through the roof onto my flower bed! Pretty lucky for him that it was there." Not so lucky for her flowers, pretty rude of him really. Not that he had much of a say in the matter.

"Only rather serious? He must be improving then."

Right through a roof? Goodness, that was a rather dramatic entrance, to say the least. He tilted his head slightly with a small smile. “Lucky for him to land on something soft, though less lucky for the blooms he landed on, I’m sure. That must have been quite the surprise for you, if you were just minding your own business and working on tending to them.”

Well, Llewellyn was being kind in his description. “Perhaps he is? Though I’m used to people who tend to be a bit… serious, or even grumpy at times.” Used to annoying them, too. Cloud had never acted particularly aggressive around him, though, so it wasn’t as though his sometimes grumpy expressions bothered him much.

"You know, it wasn't as surprising as you might think. That's also how I met Zack." Was that the first time she'd actually said his name? Somehow it felt a bit relieving to actually just talk about him more directly with someone. "I guess they both have really good luck. Or...maybe they just have it out for flowers," she tried to make a lighter joke of it all.

"Maybe there's truth to the old thing about opposites attracting."

And now they had a name… Llewellyn couldn’t help but note that, almost faster than he had realized that she was saying that Zack had fallen through a roof onto her flowers too. It was nice to at least hear some ease to her tone, shifted from earlier. But when he did realize what she’d said, his expression shifted to something comically surprised. What kind of odds were those? “He did? Goodness, you may need to get your roof reinforced, hm?” He responded in a tone that might have been joking, or it might have been a genuine recommendation.

“Well, if Cloud has it out for flowers, we haven’t seen evidence of it here.” He added with another small smile. “Unless he’s waiting for an unexpected moment to strike against them.”

"It was a church in the slums and well....it was pretty much deserted aside from me and my flowers." Slums probably said all it needed to say. "There were only a few places where anything could grow down there. The boys were lucky they crashed through where they did." Though one had to wonder if it was luck or fate. Maybe a bit of both. She shrugged. "I don't think anyone really thinks of reinforcing much of anything in any of the slums."

She giggles. "Guess we'll have to keep our eyes on him, huh?"

“Ah… I think I understand, then.” Llewellyn responded, putting the pieces together wasn’t particularly hard. Slums, as she thought, said enough… And he’d also seen the state of enough abandoned buildings in his time to realize how fragile they could be. “They were very lucky then. Falling from a height like that could be dangerous…” He shook his head a little, but frowned lightly. “There are always mm… certain places in a city that go neglected, it’s terribly frustrating…” Because there were usually plenty of people in those places who were as neglected and forgotten as the buildings themselves.

Her giggling was a bit infections though, chuckling a little himself. “We’ll have to keep a very close watch, look for clues and signs that he’s planning something, hm?” Though Llewellyn could already imagine the rather severe expression the man might wear if he heard them now.

"Right? It's pretty impressive that they made it out with only a few scratches." Despite her tone being chipper there was a definite sadness in her eyes. It was too bad Zack's luck hadn't held out past that.

"Most of the ground sectors of Midgar go neglected, but the slum sectors are particularly bad. Luckily the people really work hard to help each other. Everyone tries to do their best to make the situation work." Well, for the most part. It was strange, despite how bad things could be down there, she still missed it.

"Knowing him he'll strike when the flowers, and us, least expect it!"

“It’s unfortunate that the community is so neglected, but I know mm… how that happens in some places.” He rubbed the side of his cheek thoughtfully. Making the best of living in bad situations was common enough… sometimes it was all you could do. “It’s nice that you and the people that live there have worked to make it a better place, even if you shouldn’t have had to.” Llewellyn could understand her missing the place, especially if there were people she cared about. It was just… maddening to know that people with the power and means to change things ignored it and left people to deal with it all on their own.

“We’ll have to be extra vigilant!” Llewellyn chuckled a little at that. It was hard to not find the idea amusing.

"Someone has to, right? If not us, then who? Shinra wasn't gonna do it," that's for sure at least. Shinra was more likely to activate the self destruct of a plate than try to fix how bad it'd gotten. Which was exactly what they did.

"Vigilance is key. Maybe we should come up with a cycle to keep track of when we keep watch!"

“You’re quite right, of course. Not everyone sees that or has the strength to try, but… It’s good to at least try, I think, all the same.” It was a shame that this Shinra wasn’t stepping up when they should to help the areas who needed it if they had the means to, but it wasn’t surprising… He’d dealt with more than a few powerful people or companies that seemed to think that there were those beneath them who weren’t worth helping.

“You could be right, a system to ensure their protection. Watch the area in shifts. Like plant-guards, hm?” He responded with an amused tone, eyebrow raised.

"It's okay if they don't have the strength though. Like you said, not everyone has the strength and they shouldn't push themselves either. Sometimes in situations like that all you can do is try to survive," she replied with a small sad smile. She'd seen plenty of people in the slums that didn't do much to help others but they weren't bad people. They were just people trying to survive in conditions that weren't optimal for anyone.

"Oh yes! We can have a name too..." she tapped her chin and hummed thoughtfully. "PPGs. Plant Protector Guards!"

“That’s true as well, of course.” Things were never as simple as they seemed, and there were those who simply couldn’t stand up or push for change. Llewellyn knew it was often for good reasons, either conditions or uncertainties. People could only do what they could to survive, and sometimes there was strength to be found knowing there were those there who were trying. “You’re a very thoughtful person, Aerith.” He added with a small, sad smile. Clearly, the woman was stronger than most, and trying hard for those around her.

The PPGs, huh? “That sounds quite official! If asked why we’re watching the plants so closely, you can just say that you're on official PPG business.”

"I dunno about that, but thank you," she said with an airy giggle. She waved a hand dismissively at the entire idea. Personally she wouldn't say she was a very thoughtful anything, but there wasn't too much of a reason to argue here. Sometimes you just needed to accept the compliment and go with it.

"Sounds like we've got a plan of protection for our flowers!"

Probably for the best to avoid arguing about it anyway, Llewellyn could be quite persistent when he decided on something. That aside, he grinned, somewhat amused by their flower protection plan. “I do believe you’re right, no one will get something past us when it comes to our colourful friends, hm?” He responded with a nod to the garden shop.

"Not while we're on the case," she let out a laugh and grinned. "Well, I think we should get back to work, don't you? It'll be time to start closing up soon!"

“Oh? Is it that time of the day already?” Llewellyn startled a moment, pulling his pocket watch out to check… Smiling a little, he tucked it away. “You’re right, of course. I hardly noticed how late it had gotten… But! I’ll follow your lead and we’ll have this place tidied up and ready for close before long.” He finally moved from where he was leaning against the counter, moving with purpose to get back to helping out with the end of day tidying.

(ooc: Good place to wrap?)

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And I do Cherish You

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