#verse; ashes

[holyguardian]

@only-we​ | X

Honestly she had intended to go about her day without any banter with the surrounding soldiers. It had been a long shift and it was important to decompress and get in some moments of quiet, free time was never a certainty or guaranteed and she could be called back on the flip of a dime.

However, not even she could walk past what was happening... Aerith looked up at precisely the right time to watch a man busy at work just... casually lean over and eat some food like he was a damned horse being offered an apple. She exhaled a hard breath and smiled to herself, opting to stop and watch. Sure enough he did it again soon enough.

She made a slow advance, amused and intrigued in equal measure. There was a smart-ass kind of comment just waiting to be made. It was on the tip of her tongue. She opened her mouth as though she were going to speak, but then he knocked his own meal off the crate.

Aw. Well, there was no fun in teasing now. Without a second thought she moved to help him out. Even dusted the grit from the bar before she fed it to him.

Then he got the first words in. A giggle bubbled up before she could stop herself, not that she would have, because in the next moment she serenaded the opening of a song to him.

“Shot through the heart! And you’re to blame!” Aerith pointed, even went as far as giving his shoulder a too-gentle nudge before she tore her focus away. Her head tipped back and she uttered an audible ‘damn it’ to herself. Just like that, there went her sanity. That song would haunt her now.

Her head rolled to look back to him, her smile caught somewhere between mirth and disbelief. “You returned fire, soldier. I’m not going to recover from that for days.”

[holyguardian]

@loqis​ | X

This had been all that Aerith had worked towards. The culmination of her relentless study, fast-tracking a course that should have taken a year longer had she been a more sane person.

She was undeniably a Tummelt. Not only had she faced her biggest challenge yet, she came out on the other side with flying colours. It had even forced her to put a lot of her social life on the back-burner much to her parents delight. Straight out of school she hit the ground running with a plan. She wanted to be a nurse, wanted to make a change in the world, and finally she could see that future within her reach.

There was only one thing that hadn’t fallen into place. One single thing she overlooked... how her baby brother would react, now that it was finally here in clear terms.

“You won’t be alone. Mum is going to be glued to you now more than ever.” Aerith offered, her eyes twinkling. It was the best she had to offer. A playful little comment which gave her time enough to think.

Loqi had always been a little bit different. Hardly a judgement, considering her own standing. But there was no denying he had latched on and never let go, always following her, even through her misspent years as a teenager getting into all sorts of trouble.

“Loqi, no matter what I say right now we can both agree it’s going to suck. So I’ll give it to you straight. This day was always coming. The worst part? We’re still going to be a team, even when we’re both alone in different places. I’ll be gone, yes, but I’m not abandoning you...” Aerith’s smile was weaker then. She expected his voice to rise, for him to hate that answer, to get so frustrated he couldn’t control the outcome that he got angry with her. “I’m still going to write. And I’ll call every chance I get. But you’re going to be so excited getting out of school, you’ll be hanging out with your friends and I’ll be stuck on the phone with mum instead.~”

[holyguardian]

"Goodbye"

MEME → Send me “Goodbye” for the last voice message my muse leaves for yours before they die.

"Hey Jake, I know you're probably asleep... what am I saying, you and your roomie are passed out with some orange juice cartons waiting to be your bowls." she joked with a soft laugh. "I guess I'm calling because I'm nervous, this drive is the longest that I have ever been on the road by myself, perhaps this is a bit ambitious. But! I'm looking forward to meeting up with you in Little Rock then we can make this journey together. I can't wait. Love you, see you tonight, sorry if I'm grumpy just have some hot chips ready and lots of smooches." A few kisses were heard, then, the tone of her message ending. Those were her last words to him before the fatal car crash on her last stretch between Memphis and Little Rock. What would he remember more, her final words, or that rise of panic when the sirens from first responders sounded on their way out of town just shy of her expected time of arrival?

[holyguardian]

6o﹕ sender  claps  a  hand  over  receiver’s  mouth  to  silence  them .

MEME → 100 nonverbal prompts.

It was a late shift, the base eerily quiet aside from the buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead — and, when she had been walking to the building from the nurses floors at the very top, the thunderous snoring of some of the men bounced around the halls of the barracks and into the stairwell.

Though the hospital itself didn't have quite so much activity. That wasn't to say she had nothing to do, or that it couldn't all change in the blink of an eye, but the stillness in the air made it possible to 'keep an ear out' so to speak.

Not many liked to talk about it, fewer still acknowledged it, but the only ghosts within the base's hospital were the ghosts of war that haunted the men and women who needed treatment. It was far from unusual to hear the waking screams of a soldier echo to the nurses station.

In that quiet, Aerith once again ran over the checklist for Rachel King, the woman was under strict observation. There was ten minutes until she was supposed to go and check on her, but something told her to do it now, the anxiety of a nurse attempting to keep on top of time management that had been far too good or the distant thought that perhaps the woman might still be awake and she wouldn't have to disturb her rest.

"Ms. King." she announced herself quietly with a knock of her knuckles upon the door. Though something wasn't right. Stepping into the cool room, curtain billowing, her hand searched for the light switch and she barely drew the breath to fill her lungs before an icy hand slapped over her mouth and constricted. Wide-eyed she faced a person clad in black, someone who had been skulking about the room before they were interrupted.

[holyguardian]

"There was an accidental extra chicken nugget in the bag. We had way less successful dates than that."

"There's even an extra sauce in here, babe we're rolling in it! First date? Don't know her, we're living the high life now."

[holyguardian]

Aerith has a Seedling-army with @only-we​‘s Jacob in their House of Ashes verse! Aveline (top left), Benjamin (top), Edith (choke holding her father), James (>:c) and Robin (beb).

Vers is to blame. I adore all of these children. Their personalities are wildly different but they’re a good bunch.