Couldn't be me. I've never shed a single tear. Dick might cry, though. [Dunks on Dick in front of both of you.] He's a crier.
[He is very quick to knock his leg back at Cloud's because this is how they are. It does get him to look up at them again, and it's not so bad when Lup is the one being shy and soft.]
Biggest problem? Working with your family. Sounds like a Hallmark special in theory, but it's terrible in practice. [He uses his elbow, then his hand to push himself upright again.] Kind of miss being an only child sometimes.
[But only sometimes because those days were whew, and he's glad none of those memories reared their ugly head right now.]
[thanks cloud. she eases just a bit, resting her head on his shoulder.
anyway be nice to dick!!! my boy]
No, he's right. [she says about jason's comment to cloud.] Working with your family is nice until they have dirt on you. [or like, if they're in danger? but she doesn't want to break the light tone of the conversation with all that, so she skips past it.]
What's it like being an only child? I knew for about, like, one minute, and that's about it. [this is a joke about how she's the older twin]
[ dick deserves it. anyway he's thinking about it so he doesn't just answer "normal?" but that's how he wants to answer it a little. he shrugs. ]
I don't know. Nothing special. I lived alone with my mom. [ hilarious that jason can relate to this part but lup absolutely cannot. team orphans. ] I guess... She worried about me. [ he guesses. he shakes his head because that is about all he's got here?? everyone he knew died in a fire it's a bummer if he talks about it too long but he is Trying, my dudes. ] I didn't have to fight about chairs or anything like that.
[Or, like, they're in danger, yeah. They're in danger, and you're about to mclose it. He will also just. Skip past that. Siblings! Haha! Yay!
Lup can be with the orphan crowd. Jason's face gets pensively soft, and he sort of looks away with his eyes. He's... trying not to be a little bitter? It's not the same. He's trying not to make comparisons.
He's trying not to ask himself whether or not his mom worried about him. (He knows she did. She had to...?)]
I lived with my mom, too. Before B and the family, I mean. It's so nice not having to share snacks. [Had to share the last piece of stale loaf bread, though. Haha...] Chairs? That's bottom rung stuff. Wait until they're eating your leftovers and not telling you, then you find the fridge empty after you've thought about it all day.
Or you really need to take a shit, but there's only four bathrooms in the entire big ass house, and they're in all of them doing God knows what.
Moms always do. Worry, I mean. Even if they don't show it. [sometimes, you're kind of a mom to your own sibling, so she knows. she laughs a bit at the last part that jason says, though.] You are so disgusting, why. Not wrong! But gross!
[anyway now you guys get a memory of lup's because it's relevant. bam stardust!
you are on the outskirts of the woods, and it's cold.
in front of you, a boy that looks like he isn't much older than thirteen or fourteen sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, intently looking down at a pile of sticks and leaves. he makes a gesture, and his ear flicks in frustration as nothing happens. you laugh a little, and lean forward, grabbing his hands. he's just as cold as you are; you're both shivering, but... you're not alone. that's important.
"You're not doing it right," you tell him, and he gives you the flattest, most unimpressed look, which only makes you giggle more. "Don't look at me like that, butthead, you made the food. Let me try."
and you let go of his hands, sliding around to settle right next to him, and you concentrate. energy crackles along down your arms, through your fingers, and with a burst of heat, a baby flame shoots out of the tips and catches the wood. you startle, and so does he - and then you both laugh, relieved. it'll be easier to get through the night like this.
the boy - your twin, your heart, your soul - reaches into his pack, and pulls out an apple. he's about to take a bite of it, and then he stops. instead, he hands it to you, and you huff, reaching around him for the chef's knife that the two of you managed to scrounge enough funds for. carefully, you cut the apple in two, and you hand him one half. he smiles at you. it's not something he does very often, so it makes you smile back, with a swell of protectiveness. you press your arms together and eat in silence.
later, he insists on putting the beads he stole in your hair, and you only halfheartedly fight him on it. he gets that same intense look on his face as he makes things perfect. it doesn't matter that you'll have to cut the beads out later. this is how he shows he loves you, and you feel it every time you catch yourself in a reflection, the shiny beads glittering in the sun.]
[ cloud barely has time to make a face at jason's implications and knock his leg with his own again before he's hit with lup's memory. it is at least not horrible trauma this time, it's kind of... cute, if he's honest, but he still sighs and rubs at his face at the end of it in exasperation ]
This gonna be happening all night? [ he has already given up on either of them leaving his room for today. it's fine. he's subtly looking at lup to see the scale of how high her missing her brother is now even though he has no idea what to do as a comfort for that. help. jason you have siblings why aren't you in the middle ] At this rate there'll be no point sharing stories, we'll see all of them.
[It is cute, in a way. It's cute they have each other, but Jason understands the implications of what is going on here, they are extremely familiar to him, so it is less cute in that regard.
While he doesn't fall over, he does drop back on one hand when the memory shakes them out. Feeling weird, he idly rubs his chest with his fingers. It's embarrassing and annoying for people to see his memories, but WOW, it's always awkward to see everyone else's.
He also glances at Lup to try to gauge her reaction, but he says,] Yeah, [in reply to Cloud.]
[the scale is pretty high, but. she's fine. she just keeps her eyes closed for a long moment, chewing her bottom lip, and then pulls away from cloud so she can fidget. she pulls her hair back, tying it in a ponytail, straightens her clothes - gives herself time to avoid talking.
and then jason speaks, and she snorts.]
Nope! Never seen him in my life. [she says, lightly, not looking at either of them.] Wild, right? What are the odds.
[ well. he watches lup pull back with a frown, throwing a look at jason like there's a karaoke machine somewhere they should be blaming for this. flurry doesn't know the context but that's fine. ]
Right... [ imagine if i shared the flashback of everyone being mean to taako at the party next. i'm too lazy to find it but imagine ] Lots of coincidences like that around. Like finding a bunch of kids with the same color eyes and hair to adopt.
[He socks Cloud without reluctance in the back of the arm with his fist (but kinda gently).]
Jackass.
[Lup is suffering here with the two world's worst men for comfort. He frowns hesitantly at Lup after popping Cloud. He knows what he should do really, he's not stupid. Doing it is the problem. He knows a certain someone from his memory who would be doing what he should do.
His sigh is quiet. He leans forward and reaches out to get Lup by the arm and pull her back. Cloud is in the way, though, sucks for him, so instead of just coming to him, he pulls her half into Cloud and then into himself. He puts his arm around her shoulders and squishes.
[jason reaches to grab her arm and for a split second she resists - but when she realizes what he's doing, she doesn't really hesitate. she allows herself to be pulled wherever, and then - once she's half in jason's lap and half in cloud's, she rests her head against jason's chest and reaches to take cloud's hand. it's a lot of touching, but both of them will feel the tension just soak out of her bones entirely like this.]
[ jason socks his arm and cloud nearly hits him back because this is just how they interact now, except then. well.
cloud is even more stuck in between both than at the start, with lup on both their laps and jason reaching around him to grab her. it's a weird feeling to be inside his own room and feel kind of in the way. not a new one-- well, when it comes to jason and lup, yes, but not in general-- just a weird one.
it still leaves him kind of hesitatingly stiff and silent in between them. but despite the obvious unsure pause on his part, he squeezes lup's hand back and tries to relax into whatever the hell this is.
he tries to catch jason's eyes and give him a little nod as thanks, since lup. clearly needed this. even if it puts him in an odd position. literally. there are more normal ways for three people to hug probably. ]
[Look, it isn’t his fault there are three of them, and also that they got a memory of Lup feeling better when she was touching someone else.
He rubs the back of Lup’s shoulders, offering her another squish of a hug. He wishes more people had given him hugs! Even if he has always been the type to be grumpy about them. He could have used more hugs.
He glances at Cloud, seeming amused but also like he plans to say some shit. Cloud can tell.]
Hug her, dumbass.
[Said very playfully. Like “this is what you should do that’s normal, can’t believe I gotta tell you.”]
jason speaks, and lup actually giggles at it, a bit exhaustedly, before shifting to try and make it easier for cloud to do so. yeah! hug her. hug both of them. you too are part of this.]
Hug both of us, dumbass. [there's so much affection in those words.]
[ FROWNING. aND POUTING. don't call him a dumbass!!! but lup shuffles and he's still holding her hand so it'll be awkward no matter what but fine he. hugs them both back in a stiff and awkward way like he does not really do this. because he does not. but he's already stuck in the middle so might as well ]
[This is the most awkward hug, but they're doing it! Touchy.]
I don't need-- [Okay, well, nevermind. He is getting a hug anyway whether he likes it or not. And he doesn't, like, NOT like it. Look. The basis of their relationship is one of them gets caught with stupid or embarrassing and the other points and laughs.
Cloud trying to hug him along with Lup is amusing as heck.]
[THEY CAN’T GET ANY CLOSER. He squints one eye while being resigned to melding into Cloud because of Lup. He’s at least trying to give Cloud a bit of space out of respect! If he gets any closer, his face will be in Cloud’s neck.]
…I guess if we’re messed up, we’ll just have to be messed up together.
[she makes this HUFFY sound, and wiggles until she can get her arms around both of them. it is difficult because she is only one small wizard and they are huge, but she does, at least, put herself in the middle and makes it a little more clear that she's hugging both of them and not just one. god, boys.]
... I'd rather be messed up together, for sure. [she murmurs, settling. they can be trapped for just a bit more.]
[ he's? so tired? of them being bullies? wow. but also, he has no idea how to feel about the sentiment, but lup moved and jason's being polite so cloud kind of gives up and tries to give a better hug back.
he's not against it, but he's also not entirely comfortable admitting he's messed up out loud like that in so many words. ]
... Yeah.
[ so it's a vague agreement, but it's still an agreement, and if he sort of hides his face against one of them no one can tell because this is a group hug and that is what happens in hugs. so there. ]
It's okay, Jason doesn't make fun of him this time. He is forced to hug both Lup and Cloud since Lup made herself the meat, and he has two arms. For now.]
...Yeah.
[He can admit this in secret to the two of them because he's used to have two other people to rely on at least a little.]
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[He is very quick to knock his leg back at Cloud's because this is how they are. It does get him to look up at them again, and it's not so bad when Lup is the one being shy and soft.]
Biggest problem? Working with your family. Sounds like a Hallmark special in theory, but it's terrible in practice. [He uses his elbow, then his hand to push himself upright again.] Kind of miss being an only child sometimes.
[But only sometimes because those days were whew, and he's glad none of those memories reared their ugly head right now.]
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anyway be nice to dick!!! my boy]
No, he's right. [she says about jason's comment to cloud.] Working with your family is nice until they have dirt on you. [or like, if they're in danger? but she doesn't want to break the light tone of the conversation with all that, so she skips past it.]
What's it like being an only child? I knew for about, like, one minute, and that's about it. [this is a joke about how she's the older twin]
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[ dick deserves it. anyway he's thinking about it so he doesn't just answer "normal?" but that's how he wants to answer it a little. he shrugs. ]
I don't know. Nothing special. I lived alone with my mom. [ hilarious that jason can relate to this part but lup absolutely cannot. team orphans. ] I guess... She worried about me. [ he guesses. he shakes his head because that is about all he's got here?? everyone he knew died in a fire it's a bummer if he talks about it too long but he is Trying, my dudes. ] I didn't have to fight about chairs or anything like that.
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Lup can be with the orphan crowd. Jason's face gets pensively soft, and he sort of looks away with his eyes. He's... trying not to be a little bitter? It's not the same. He's trying not to make comparisons.
He's trying not to ask himself whether or not his mom worried about him. (He knows she did. She had to...?)]
I lived with my mom, too. Before B and the family, I mean. It's so nice not having to share snacks. [Had to share the last piece of stale loaf bread, though. Haha...] Chairs? That's bottom rung stuff. Wait until they're eating your leftovers and not telling you, then you find the fridge empty after you've thought about it all day.
Or you really need to take a shit, but there's only four bathrooms in the entire big ass house, and they're in all of them doing God knows what.
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[anyway now you guys get a memory of lup's because it's relevant. bam stardust!
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This gonna be happening all night? [ he has already given up on either of them leaving his room for today. it's fine. he's subtly looking at lup to see the scale of how high her missing her brother is now even though he has no idea what to do as a comfort for that. help. jason you have siblings why aren't you in the middle ] At this rate there'll be no point sharing stories, we'll see all of them.
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While he doesn't fall over, he does drop back on one hand when the memory shakes them out. Feeling weird, he idly rubs his chest with his fingers. It's embarrassing and annoying for people to see his memories, but WOW, it's always awkward to see everyone else's.
He also glances at Lup to try to gauge her reaction, but he says,] Yeah, [in reply to Cloud.]
...Wow, are you related? You look just alike.
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and then jason speaks, and she snorts.]
Nope! Never seen him in my life. [she says, lightly, not looking at either of them.] Wild, right? What are the odds.
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Right... [ imagine if i shared the flashback of everyone being mean to taako at the party next. i'm too lazy to find it but imagine ] Lots of coincidences like that around. Like finding a bunch of kids with the same color eyes and hair to adopt.
[ call out post to batman as a distraction ]
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Jackass.
[Lup is suffering here with the two world's worst men for comfort. He frowns hesitantly at Lup after popping Cloud. He knows what he should do really, he's not stupid. Doing it is the problem. He knows a certain someone from his memory who would be doing what he should do.
His sigh is quiet. He leans forward and reaches out to get Lup by the arm and pull her back. Cloud is in the way, though, sucks for him, so instead of just coming to him, he pulls her half into Cloud and then into himself. He puts his arm around her shoulders and squishes.
Hug!]
He'll be okay.
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He will be. [she says, soft.] I know.
[it's a thank you, more than anything.]
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cloud is even more stuck in between both than at the start, with lup on both their laps and jason reaching around him to grab her. it's a weird feeling to be inside his own room and feel kind of in the way. not a new one-- well, when it comes to jason and lup, yes, but not in general-- just a weird one.
it still leaves him kind of hesitatingly stiff and silent in between them. but despite the obvious unsure pause on his part, he squeezes lup's hand back and tries to relax into whatever the hell this is.
he tries to catch jason's eyes and give him a little nod as thanks, since lup. clearly needed this. even if it puts him in an odd position. literally. there are more normal ways for three people to hug probably. ]
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He rubs the back of Lup’s shoulders, offering her another squish of a hug. He wishes more people had given him hugs! Even if he has always been the type to be grumpy about them. He could have used more hugs.
He glances at Cloud, seeming amused but also like he plans to say some shit. Cloud can tell.]
Hug her, dumbass.
[Said very playfully. Like “this is what you should do that’s normal, can’t believe I gotta tell you.”]
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jason speaks, and lup actually giggles at it, a bit exhaustedly, before shifting to try and make it easier for cloud to do so. yeah! hug her. hug both of them. you too are part of this.]
Hug both of us, dumbass. [there's so much affection in those words.]
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[ FROWNING. aND POUTING. don't call him a dumbass!!! but lup shuffles and he's still holding her hand so it'll be awkward no matter what but fine he. hugs them both back in a stiff and awkward way like he does not really do this. because he does not. but he's already stuck in the middle so might as well ]
Seriously, you guys are needy. [ grumbling ]
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I don't need-- [Okay, well, nevermind. He is getting a hug anyway whether he likes it or not. And he doesn't, like, NOT like it. Look. The basis of their relationship is one of them gets caught with stupid or embarrassing and the other points and laughs.
Cloud trying to hug him along with Lup is amusing as heck.]
Wow, Cloud Strife is hugging me.
[That's all he says.]
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He's good at it when he's not overthinking it. [she teases, relaxing even as she strokes cloud's hand with her thumb. teasing:] You like us needy.
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[ HE LOOKS EVEN MORE EMBARRASSED BECAUSE OF BOTH OF THEM NOW this is not making his hugging technique less stiff thanks ]
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[THEY CAN’T GET ANY CLOSER. He squints one eye while being resigned to melding into Cloud because of Lup. He’s at least trying to give Cloud a bit of space out of respect! If he gets any closer, his face will be in Cloud’s neck.]
…I guess if we’re messed up, we’ll just have to be messed up together.
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[she makes this HUFFY sound, and wiggles until she can get her arms around both of them. it is difficult because she is only one small wizard and they are huge, but she does, at least, put herself in the middle and makes it a little more clear that she's hugging both of them and not just one. god, boys.]
... I'd rather be messed up together, for sure. [she murmurs, settling. they can be trapped for just a bit more.]
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he's not against it, but he's also not entirely comfortable admitting he's messed up out loud like that in so many words. ]
... Yeah.
[ so it's a vague agreement, but it's still an agreement, and if he sort of hides his face against one of them no one can tell because this is a group hug and that is what happens in hugs. so there. ]
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It's okay, Jason doesn't make fun of him this time. He is forced to hug both Lup and Cloud since Lup made herself the meat, and he has two arms. For now.]
...Yeah.
[He can admit this in secret to the two of them because he's used to have two other people to rely on at least a little.]