THE TOWN SQUARE.

[atrueheroine]

[Page silently watches the church burn for a little while, once she's emerged safely from it, before turning away and heading to the town square to meet up with everyone else. It makes sense to rest here, as they did last week, after another town with another tragic story to tell.

At least that time, however, they'd all survived it unscathed.

Once she's made it over to the group, she drops her pack onto the ground and collapses next to it, staring at her feet. It's going to take a bit to...process all of that, and while she'd love to get up in front of everyone and make some kind of rousing speech, she just doesn't have it in her at the moment.

Instead, she'll look up from the stone of the square, eventually, casting her eye over everyone and saying (almost to herself)-]

...I hope everyone is all right.

[That is likely far from true, but...well. They're all alive, Wesker is dead, and that's something. She's trying her best not to look at that little tree-sculpture with the key around its neck.


OOC: Second verse, same as the first! Here's our post-event mingle post, to talk about what the hell just happened in there, lick our wounds, and beg forgiveness from...from Flower Girl. Top-level away; Page will have her own up, if you'd like to talk to her.]

Comments

[blunders]

[Felicia's first priority is going to be helping those who have been injured; in whatever's been designated as a medical area, one can find Felicia hard at work in making sure that everyone who's been injured here is taken care of. Say what one will about some of the clumsiness she's exhibited before, but when the going gets tough, she's laser focused and working her ass off to help. If anyone needs anything at all, she'll assist; just ask her!

Eventually--either when the condition of our shot friends has improved or just whenever someone tells Felicia to take a break or something, one will also just...find Felicia around, checking in on people. She's doing her best to sound like her usual self, but there is definitely an undercurrent of tiredness in her tone--]

Hey--how are you doing? Are you going to be alright?

[It's a simple thing at least, but...she's here for people, okay.

It's much later in the night that Felicia's gonna go by where flower girl is, hoping for some privacy and just kind of...babbling at nothing. It looks like Felicia's picked more flowers from around here, though, and seems to be trying to weave them.]

...I never really did thank you properly for teaching this to us, did I? I...I know I was all thumbs, and I messed up a lot, but...I really appreciated you going out of your way for me like that. I thought...maybe we'd get the chance, one more time, before we left, but...

...Well, I guess you got what you wanted in the end. I just hope you found happiness in it.

[...Yeah, it isn't long before Felicia just. Starts to sniffle, and sniffling goes into very quiet crying and rubbing her eyes at her sleeve. It's. It's been a rough day, okay.]

flower girl

[skelkro]

[Emma is also here, and while talking to Jean she had been... vaguely entertaining taking flower girl with them because listen, why stop at one arboreal sculpture when you could have two, but seeing Felicia cry has at least realigned her priorities somewhat.

She hesitates momentarily, before she silently reaches out and puts what she hopes is a comforting hand on Felicia's shoulder here.]

[blunders]

[...Oh. Felicia doesn't really jolt at the hand, but Felicia does lower her hand after rubbing her eyes a bit just to see who it is--

Ah. Felicia's smile is a little...tired, but it's still there.]

...Thanks, Emma. I really, really appreciate it.

[skelkro]

Of course.

[Emma actually manages a genuine smile of her own here before she turns her attention to the flower girl sculpture for a moment.]

Do you suppose it would be alright if we tried making a few flower accessories ourselves while we're still here? It might help pass the time a little until we have to set off again.

[They can leave a few as an offering to flower girl here. Maybe she would rest easier, that way?]

[blunders]

...I think that'd be a wonderful idea, Emma; she probably would have liked that a lot, I think.

[Felicia honestly thinks that'd be a lovely idea; they didn't know much about her, but maybe, in a way, they could honor her memory a bit.]

Come on; let's go get some flowers, then. I'm sure we'll make something beautiful.

[skelkro]

Absolutely! I saw a section of flowers not too far from here that I think would be nice to use.

[And thus, Emma is going to lead the way to the spot she was talking about, and sure enough, there are plenty of nice flowers that look like they can be used for good flower accessory material. She finds a spot to sit on the ground here, looking for all the world to be in her natural habitat (and maybe it is, in a way) as she holds up a few flowers picked near her.]

What do you think of these ones, Felicia?

[blunders]

[Felicia is more than happy to follow easily; it's honestly really nice of Emma to bring her out for a distraction like this. Maybe in some way, it'll put that girl's soul at peace. If it's even left in the Shimmer, anyway.

Felicia wants to believe it is. It'd be way too sad otherwise.

But either way, Felicia's looking around at the flowers herself--so many choices, so little time--and perks when Emma asks about the flowers, before nodding her head brightly.]

They look perfect. They're nice and colorful, too--they're gonna look so pretty once we get them woven together.

[Felicia's perusing through the flowers herself and picking a few--some of similar colors to the ones Emma picked, but ones she thinks will go well. She'll present them for Emma's appraisal, though!]

What about these ones? I think they'd go really, really well with the flowers you picked out--or should I grab some different colors? Oh, we could make it really colorful with enough flowers...

[Felicia trails off there, though. She does tend to ramble a bit...]

[skelkro]

[Emma nods in approval, beaming brightly.]

Oh, those are lovely choices! I think they'll blend together really well, using these colors with these breed of flowers...

[Time to try to use what they learned from flower girl to weave them together, huh? Emma's thinking a flower crown, and maybe new bracelets...]

around

[selfsacrificial]

[While doing his own rounds to check on the others, he sees Felicia doing the same. It's only a matter of time before they eventually run into one another.

He can see her pushing herself and it hurts, in it's own way. Reaching up, he softly pats the top of her head.]

I'll be fine. [It's much easier to suppress his own feelings and focus on others. It's what he's always done-- this is no different.] What about you?

[blunders]

[...You know, it probably says something that Felicia doesn't seem to mind the headpatting, honestly. It's actually kind of nice; it reminds her of what Lady Corrin did with the people she likes sometimes, and it actually manages to pull a bit of a genuine giggle out of her.]

I'm...well, I'm doing as well as I can be. But I'll be fine too, I think. Today's just been...well, a lot.

[...]

I can't say I was expecting their God to be nice, but Wesker sure proved himself to be horrible really quick.

[selfsacrificial]

[Just hearing her giggle a little makes him feel better. As a group they were all a bit beat down and tired, but-- they were moving forward.]

He was so convinced we would fail... but we were able to overcome this much as a team. We should remember that. Today was difficult but I think... it was an important step in the right direction.

[blunders]

We really did work together well, didn't we? Everyone out there did so well today...and now we'll be able to see if we can put the Shimmer to rest too.

[...]

I don't...know if I want to celebrate--people still got hurt, and we need to watch out, but...it's proof that we've earned a little bit of optimism about our chances, at least.

flower girl

[scythegun]

[Yeager eventually comes over to greet Felicia. He isn't trying to be quiet as he approaches, so she'll likely hear him. He moves to sit beside her easily, sweeping the back of his coat out of the way so he doesn't sit on it as he does.]

Here. For you.

[It's a flower crown! It isn't exactly a masterpiece, but he's got the basics down well enough even though it doesn't look nearly as fancy as the ones the girl was weaving earlier. It's light purples and pinks mostly.]

It's a neat little skill, ja?

[blunders]

[Felicia does hear...well, someone coming over at least, and it prompts her to rub at her eyes a bit to be presentable when she looks up--

And. Well. Felicia blinks once, twice, thrice at the flower crown before the words hit and her eyes light up a bit. A small, delighted smile comes onto her face as she takes the crown and places it on her head.]

Ehehe...thank you; that's really kind of you.

[At the question, though--]

It really is! I'd heard of things like these in...stories books, about people who lived in forests that weaved the most beautiful things--seeing it in person was really nice, and learning how to make them was even nicer.

Have you known how to make these for a while?

[scythegun]

I learned the basics when I was younger - my daughters used to be very fond of them - but it's been a long time since I last made one. She was nice enough to remind me how.

[He doesn't directly indicate her, but his eyes do flick to what was once her before he returns his attention to Felicia.]

It isn't as easy as it seems!

[blunders]

[Felicia's eyes honestly can't help but flick back either, honestly, so like. Fair.]

That was very kind of her to re-teach you something so difficult.

[Still, Felicia doesn't want to focus on that, so she homes in on something else interesting--]

Would you mind telling me about them? Your daughters, I mean--if it's not too personal, of course.

[scythegun]

[It probably would've been better if he hadn't done this in the middle of a confrontation where a fight happened but ehhhhh. It's fine, Yeager didn't want to fight mossman anyway.

Felicia's question gets a nod; it's not like he's spoken about his daughters at all during his stay here or even during training, so he was sort of expecting it. It makes for a good distraction, after all.]

Their names are Gauche and Droite. They're sixteen now, and they've become easily as skilled as most of the members of Leviathan's Claw! [he will never be able to pronounce it...] They're very hardworking and frankly, I don't know what I'd do without them. I owe quite a lot to them~!

[blunders]

[bless you yeager, you useless, useless man

Even so, Felicia smiles, raptly listening to Yeager talk about those two. They sound amazing, and she finds herself giggling a bit despite herself.]

Aww, that's so sweet that they want to follow in your footsteps! It sounds like they're doing really well for themselves! I'm so glad to hear that they're such a good help, they sound wonderful.

[This is a silly detail to get stuck on, but he did mention they're the same age...]

Are they twins?

[scythegun]

Ah, yes! Their parents died a decade ago during the Great War; I adopted them a few years after that.

Droite seems more like me in terms of personality. We have the same sense of humor! [They're upbeat and cheery jerks.] Her sister is more reserved and serious. They are without a doubt the best things to have ever happened to me!

around;

[aokisouhei]

[ Felicia wasn't one of those shot, but there's something to be said of sustaining wounds that weren't visible. He wasn't all that good at looking after people, but he may have had worries.

The ones who'd been injured seemed physically like they'd make it, so that wasn't on his mind on the moment, though it'd be something to keep in his mind for the future in regards to their future travels. ]

I'm doing alright. Could be doing much worse.

[ Like said wounded!! ]

What about you? It's obvious things got tough out there, and you did what you needed to when we needed it, but if you're gonna be asking, it's only fair I ask in turn.

[blunders]

I'm glad to hear that, at least.

[Felicia gets that much out before Lancer turns the question back on her and her eyes widen, briefly. Her gaze darts as she considers what to say; this isn't about her. She shouldn't be selfish, and she's probably being silly overall at being so screwed up about this...but...

...Well, he asked. Felicia's attempt at maintaining cheer goes right out the window and her expression just goes deeply gloomy.]

...I guess it is fair, but...I'm not doing great. I'm glad that we managed to save Gabriel and Garma, and with any luck, they'll make a full recovery with enough time to heal.

But it was rough out there, dealing with that. [...] And I...I really feel guilty that we couldn't save her.

[The flower girl, she means.]

[aokisouhei]

[ He's watching her expression that had first surprise; he wondered if she thought she wasn't going to have the question turned back on her like that. ]

...I don't think there was really anything anyone of us could've done about her. It's going to feel hard, but don't judge yourself too harshly for it at least.

She already looked like she'd been progressing far enough with the Shimmer that she would've already changed before she left.

[ Lancer wasn't great at sounding or being comforting. If anything, despite how friendly he could be, usually he's a little too blunt for that. But, he'll attempt to take the edge off in anyway he could. She seemed like such a nice lady, so he could at least do his best to do that. ]

I'm grateful, though, that you and the rest of the team were able to save those two. I can't imagine how difficult things would've been with two of our people dead.

[blunders]

[...Maybe she is being too hard on herself, honestly. It doesn't make Felicia feel any better, but she does glance away again. Maybe she was just too hopeful about being able to save somebody from the Shimmer, but...]

...I guess I was just hoping we'd be able to rescue somebody from this mess.

[But, Lancer does have a point, and it sees Felicia looking back at Lancer with a bit of a smile, slightly determined.]

It would've been awful. If we lost any of our number here today, I don't think it would have ended well for us at all. But...I'm glad we saved them too. We weren't going to let them die because of someone so...so horrible--much less at all.

[aokisouhei]

[ She really was a kind woman, and though Lancer didn't think that they would be able to save any of those people hanging around here, he's not above thinking it to be an impossibility if they do happen to run along others. Well, that'd depend on their circumstances as well, so even then the chances were slim.

...But, one day at a time.

So, he watched the signs of determination come a bit onto Felicia's face and thought that was at least a good thing. ]

I'm sure you guys weren't; you all are the reliable sort. I know I'm not the only one who's seen it too.

But, no matter what, we're gonna continue counting on you, alright? Let's work hard on doing what needs to be done and making sure we get out of this together.

[blunders]

Don't worry; I promise we all will. We're going to make it through this alive, and we won't stop until the Shimmer is gone for good. Promise!

[It's easy to say that now, but with the weeks ahead so up in the air...well, maybe she shouldn't say stuff like that.

All the same, she honestly needs to hear that herself, and she's sure he might too. So the determination train rushes on.]