Love Springs Eternal (??)

[bright_and_blue]

Who: ERRYBODY
What: It's Valentine's Day, and there are matchmaking notices everywhere. Here's an open log for one and all to post their shenanigans, meet ups, freak outs, and whatever else they're going to do about this.
When: forward dated to Feb. 14
Where: All over Aqures Ixen
Warnings: Ridiculousness.

[Plastering the city are notices matching up all of the Heroes of Light with one another, both the best and the worst. Moogles are having a grand old time handing them out and hanging them up, and are encouraging Heroes to speak with their top matches.

Naturally, reactions to this are mixed. Some Heroes are intrigued, some annoyed, some offended. Despite their feelings or misgivings, the rest of the city is still celebrating Valentine's Day as well, and now the thoughts of love are everywhere.

OOC: This is an open log for everyone to use for Valentine's Day stuff! Feel free to make your own prompts.]

Comments

[jadethenecromancer]

Whoops. [It's no surprise Anise would be particularly busy today. Someone out there must possess both an abundance of money and a love of chocolate, surely.] I hope I didn't inadvertently sabotage your future.

[He just had to say future... As usual, Jade hides his discomfort behind a smile, even if it's a rueful one this time. There's no easy way to broach the subject, is there?]

Do you have a moment, Anise?

[lastfonmasterguardian]

Heh heh, these chocolates? It'll take more than this to ruin them!

[She was pretty confident in her cooking, and a spoon wasn't much to fret about, and required much less cleanup than dropping something like, say, a pot.]

[But then he leads into that second part and...no, oh no. She knows where this conversation is going.]

I mean, there's a lot of chocolate I have to make today, and then going to deliver it, and then going back around and asking everyone what they thought, and I'm just really really busy today!

[She wasn't. She was almost done with the chocolate, and her moogle was going to take care of all the deliveries, and she didn't need to ask other people to know how great it tasted. But she really really didn't want to have this conversation today. ...Or ever.]

[jadethenecromancer]

I see.

[An awkward pause follows. Honestly, he had barely known what to say to Tear when they spoke of what happened. Talking to Anise isn't proving any simpler.]

...I suppose I would understand if you'd rather not have me around.

[The statement is honest, yet more calculated than he'd like -- with little more purpose than to get some kind of a reaction out of her. Knowing Anise, though, this is the fastest way to get a straight answer.]

[lastfonmasterguardian]

[The Colonel looked sad.]

[The Colonel looked sad.]

[In the entire time that she'd known him, she wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look sad. Maybe for a millisecond when he'd delivered the news about Luke, or when Ion had...but come to think of it, both of those times, he was the one who had to hold them together.]

[She's still feeling really betrayed, but with the awkward air hanging between them, she's not sure if she can not say anything. There had to be an answer to that, right? There had to be a way she could respond to that, right?]

I'm sorry.

[jadethenecromancer]

[...Alright, he already regrets saying that. He had wanted a reaction, yes, but hadn't expected an apology of all things. Guilt-tripping her for acceptance was the last thing he wanted to do.

Well, she didn't deny it. There isn't much he can do about that, is there?]

Alright. I won't bother you any further.

[He turns to leave, and hesitates. There are a lot of things he could say -- that it's fine, that she needn't feel guilty, that she has no obligation to forgive him -- but all of it would just come off as more guilt-tripping. Respecting her feelings without question is all he can do.

But--

Apologies won't change what happened. He knows that all too well.

But...]

I'm sorry, Anise.

[lastfonmasterguardian]

Wait, no, that's not what I...

[Her tone is quiet at first, since she's still trying to process a boatload of emotions. On top of everything else, she'd never expected an apology from Jade (for pretty much anything, ever) much less one as serious and (presumably) heartfelt as this one was.]

[She's very much not used to him being this serious; where was the snark? She feels like she needs good snark right now. Or a poorly timed joke. Or anything but...this.]

[In true Anise fashion, once the emotions start to settle, anger eventually wins out. When she finally replies, her voice is louder and she's more expressive than she intended. Expressive enough that she accidentally knocks over her chocolate in the process.]

Ugh, just shut up! You were being stupid during that dumb dream thing, and you're being even stupider now!

[RIP rich suitor dreams you must wait for another day]

[jadethenecromancer]

[Jade halts. If he wasn't facing away, she could have seen the brief flicker of surprise.

Then, before he really has time to decide how to react, he finds himself laughing.]

My, my. [He turns back to face Anise, smiling -- still a little wistful, perhaps, but it's definitely a smile.] Did you know no one else has actually scolded me for what I did? Not once in an entire month. I've been waiting for someone to do it.

[He really shouldn't laugh, but oddly enough, he's strangely pleased. Next to his own guilty conscience, it's been unnerving that no one else seemed to care what he'd done in the alternate future. Having someone stand there and shout at him, call him stupid to his face...

He hadn't even realized how much he'd wanted to hear that. A dismissal of his actions simply as stupid. It's straightforward and probably far more truthful than any assessment or explanation he could come up with.]

[lastfonmasterguardian]

[Almost as soon as the words leave Anise's mouth, she regrets it. The list of people she would call stupid or dumb was impressively long, but she never thought Jade of all people would be included on it.]

[She waits to see how he reacts, and when he smiles, she noticeably relaxes as well. If nothing else, he wasn't angry, and this is much closer to the Jade she knows how to deal with.]

[Which is probably why she keeps lecturing.]

Well, maybe somebody should've! We kept trying to tell you and Tear and everybody else in that weird evil club of yours to knock it off, but you wouldn't listen! No matter what we said, you guys kept droning on and on about how important your mission was, and about how you couldn't stop, but you were doing more harm than good. We tried explaining, but you wouldn't listen!

[And then, quietly, in a voice whose soft tone echoes its sincerity...]

It was really scary.

[jadethenecromancer]

[Jade takes the lecture without a complaint. He can't very well argue, and while he could explain his logic at the time, there's nothing to say she hasn't already heard. It had been the lesser evil, they were out of options, it was the only way... No, Anise wouldn't be happy with that, and it wouldn't do any good to defend himself anyway.

Being lectured doesn't sting nearly as much as the soft confession that follows it. For a moment, Jade is at a loss. Withdrawing clearly wasn't the right thing to attempt, and he can't erase what happened. So what can he do?

But at the end of the day, he already knows.]

Alright, alright. I'm sorry. [This apology isn't heavy like the previous one. The old mischievous grin is back, as though Anise had just caught him stealing from the cookie jar.] If it makes you feel any better, I'm not in a rush to take up the villain role a second time. Even if I am rather proud of my evil laugh.♥

[This is his job. Smiling when he shouldn't and always, always bouncing back. Being the one that never breaks.]