[In Luca, Open to all]

[heartofheaven]

Characters: Tifa, Cloud, Yuna, OPEN
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Tifa helps Yuna out with the flower shop Aerith used to run. Cloud arrives in Luca some time and Tifa goes to meet him. And possibly some other stuff. Let's have a party post? Multiple threads and threadjacking is very welcome! KIDS, ZACK, XIII PEOPLE, heck Tidus why don't you come

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FLOWER SHOP - BEFORE CLOUD ARRIVES

[heartofheaven]

customers also welcome!

[heartofheaven]

Tifa was just starting to get used to the flower shop. It wasn't so different to running Strife Delivery Service, actually; that and the retail work in the shop itself was straightforward. The hardest thing was learning the names of all the flowers.

She held up a bright yellow bloom and frowned. "Is this... primrose?"

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke glanced up from where she was running over the morning numbers to stare at the flower for a moment. She'd read the entire book Aerith had given her on flowers though it hadn't...stuck...as well as information usually did. Still...

"Yes." She answered, and then went back at her spreadsheet. But after a second she looked up again. "...I think."

[heartofheaven]

Shelke could usually be relied upon to know these things. She had an excellent memory for all kinds of facts, so her hesitation caught Tifa's attention. Placing the flower back in the bunch to be delivered, she left it under the counter for the moment and walked over to Shelke.

She paused, sitting down beside the little girl to simply watch her work for a moment before gently asking a question. "Are you okay?"

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke didn't answer for a moment, finishing a row of figures in her head. "...I'm fine." She answered as she wrote down the answer at the bottom and looked up. "I was sitting in the park when I read Aerith's book on flowers, I may have simply not been paying enough attention to the material. I'll read it again tomorrow."

Of course, if the question was about something else, she wasn't biting just yet. Working lets her not dwell on people who keep forgetting her.

[heartofheaven]

Shelke was contained enough that it was easy to forget how hard this must be on her. She was older than Marlene and Denzel too, but Tifa didn't want to leave her to handle everything herself.

"You seem distracted," she replied. "Is that really all it is?"

She knew it wasn't, but she'd let Shelke decide how to answer.

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke didn't answer for a bit. Probably long enough that Tifa might have thought she wasn't going to. But then she finally sat up straight and set her pen down.

"I don't understand why people never seem to know who I am when they arrive here. Aside from a few...Vincent, Yuffie, Cloud...Nanaki...No one ever does. It is..."

She paused, trying to think of the right word and not liking any of the ones she came up with. "Irritating."

[heartofheaven]

Irritating. Tifa almost smiled at her choice of words.

"I know. But I didn't know you either when we first met. It doesn't have to be a barrier forever. If Cloud stays long enough..." And here her voice wobbled slightly, because in all honesty she wasn't sure that he would. "He can get to know you again."

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke wasn't entire sure she even wanted to get to know him, though she didn't voice that particular thought. "When I attempted to speak to him he was rude." She finally said.

"Do you think he is planning to not remain in Luca?"

[heartofheaven]

"He didn't know who you are. It was a big shock for him, that's all." Tifa found herself defending Cloud automatically, but she didn't blame Shelke for her reaction either.

She glanced away, thinking for a moment. "I don't know. I'm going to ask him when he gets here."

It did hurt to think that he wouldn't. To think that everything they had could be undone by a random chance.

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke said nothing, her eyes slightly distant, and then turned back to her figures, running over them to clear her thoughts. It didn't work like it usually did, and she finally looked up again.

"He remembers you. Why would he leave?"