"You're kidding me, right?" Azlyn sighs, slouching down even further in her chair. "How many times have I told ya, don't kid a kidder, huh?"
Kairi frowns, lowering the dark red rose she's been sniffing. It looks nothing like the kinds of flowers that grow on Destiny Islands. Fragrant, too. Unfortunately, most of that fragrance seems to be in the arena of "dirt".
"You've never told me that, Az," she replies, carefully returning to flower to the vase she'd pulled it from. "Unless you slipped it in between telling me I was dead, and I just didn't notice."
"Maybe I did," the knight counters, glaring at some baby's breath like they'd just summoned Heartless. "Kinda like you slipped in us going freaking flower shopping on our Mouseburg trip today. I am going to make you do so many push-ups for this, I'll just tell you that right now."
"Worth it," the Princess of Heart says nonchalantly. She's already moved on to the next vase, pale purple irises just begging to be examined. "Unlike food choice, or the band, bouquet arrangement is something you've shown almost no interest in. And yet, next to the dress it might just be the most important thing for a bride."
Azlyn rolls her eyes, then giggles as she catches a look at a display of wide, star-shaped green and yellow leaves apparently called "ladies' mantle".
Kairi is on her in an instant. "See something you like? Something that makes you happy? Is it pretty? What color, because I think we should really stick to the realm of soft pastels…"
"Whoa, whoa!" Azlyn holds up her hands in front of Kairi's face. Used to quick movements being preludes to attack, the redhead takes a step back and raises her fists. "No, not gonna hit you. Big points for preparedness, though. I just thought one of these flowers had a funny name. Though, to look at it you'd think it was more of a leaf than a flower…"
"Oh," Kairi says, relaxing. She sighs, sinking down onto the closest bench.
For a moment, Azlyn just stares down at her friend/trainee/wedding planner. Then, steeling herself for the upcoming emotions-fest, she takes a seat next to Kairi.
"Just go ahead and tell me," the knight says, hoping that doesn't sound too dismissive. "What's with the flowers hard-on?"
The redhead hesitates just a second before replying, giving Azlyn a serious look. "We don't talk a lot about… before, y'know? Like, back in Radiant Garden, before."
"No," is Azlyn's simple reply, expression tightening almost imperceptibly. In her lap, her hands begin fidgeting. "It's, y'know… I'm not so much into it, like you and Tel are. It was a long time ago, and…" Running out of words on the topic, the knight simply shrugs.
"I have this memory," Kairi continues, suddenly staring off into the middle distance. "It's pretty, um, pretty clear compared to some of the others. Actually, I saw it in a dream. Vivid one." She shakes her head, like clearing out a few cobwebs. "I'm really young, and I'm out with Telary, and I'm in this big garden. I guess my grandma was there too, but I don't know, she isn't in the memory.
"Anyway I'm in the garden, enjoying all the nice bright flowers. It's warm, with this nice breeze. And then, suddenly, I just get this feeling that I'm not alone. So, I turn around, kinda scared, and I see… I see this girl. Shorter than me, her face is sort of dirty and her clothes are obviously secondhand. She's playing in the garden too, except she's pulling up every flower she can get her hands on…"
"But," Azlyn suddenly interrupts, looking back to Kairi, "your grandma always said not to pick the flowers. That they were planted for everyone to enjoy. So you start reading me the riot act, which gets Tel's attention, and of course he freaks out even harder. He was wearing some stupid bow tie." A brief pause, then she stammers out, "I was, uh, I was kinda jealous of the dress you were wearing. I never had nice stuff like that."
For a long moment Kairi is silent, merely looking at her friend with shining, teary eyes. Azlyn can only stand to look back in quick, small glances. Waterworks are so not her thing, except for when it's Telary. And yet, her vision is getting embarrassingly blurry as well.
"You remember," the Princess of Heart finally says, placing a hand on her chest. "The first time we met, you really…"
The hug is inevitable, and Azlyn is actually pretty proud of the sheer force of it. An awkward beat later, she returns it. They sit like that for another few seconds. That's about all Azlyn can take before she starts to become mindful of everyone else in the shop.
"Okay, Kai," she says, grabbing the other girl's arms and prying them off. That takes a bit more effort than she'd expected. Once the redhead has released her, Azlyn shakes her head bemusedly. "What is with all the people I know being such criers? Gee, if only Riku was this easy to get teary, I'd have to work a lot less on my insults."
"You know you love it," Kairi shoots back, wiping her eyes. She needs a few more seconds to compose herself, which Azlyn takes advantage of to get rid of the moisture in her own eyes. "Anyway, that's why I really want to be involved in this. It's because of flowers that we're friends, y'know?"
The knight isn't sure that logic actually tracks, but she's not cruel enough to point that out and break the moment. Instead, she just nods along.
"Then let's get serious about this, huh?" Azlyn declares, standing up and looking around the flower shop. There's a lot to choose from here, a cabaret of vivid colors practically assaulting her eyeballs. But, for Kairi's sake, she can stand it. Probably.
"Thanks, Az," the Princess of Heart says, giving her friend a smile.
"Yeah, yeah," the knight replies as the girls begin to walk through the store. "And hey, don't think that 'flowers are why we're friends' thing is gonna have me like, aiming the bouquet at you or anything. That's something you gotta handle on your own."
Short and (hopefully) sweet. A big part of the next Life Goes On story revolves around Azlyn and Kairi's relationship anyway, so I didn't overthink this.
Shoutout to Spiderfan626 for the review of last chapter (And to answer you, yes Riku has a relationship arc in KttK III). For probably the last time, I'll point out that the worlds poll is up until I finish off COM, which should be happening soon if anybody who wants to vote hasn't yet. Until next time!