starshower | 🌠 escordvi inbox.

[Oh... There is only one person that Tifa could mean. Because the way it makes his stomach drop has Joshua frowning.]

What did I do...? I.

I buried myself in my hobbies, mostly. Tried to tend to the things I'd long neglected. Anything to keep busy.

Letting myself miss him... that wasn't something I wanted to do.

Tifa. Are you alright?

[It's so strange having someone ask that.]

Yeah. I'll be fine.

[And really, she knows that in the end she will be. She has to be. If Joshua could do it, then so can she!]

It's just hard right now. You don't really think about it that much until it happens to you... losing someone important. With everyone here, I guess I just forgot, thinking that I'd see them again in my world. But I haven't really lost anyone who I wouldn't.

And I don't really know what to do about that. I was angry at first, but now I don't really know what I should feel.

[Another message comes soon after that.]

Sorry. Didn't mean to dump all that on you so suddenly.

[He's just the only other person that she knows who's lost someone that close.]

You have nothing to apologize for, least of all how you feel.

[This must mean that Tifa's little romance has returned home. If there is anyone who can relate to how that painful ache feels, it is Joshua.]

I won't claim it gets easier... or harder. Losing someone dear leaves a hollow that no words or time can truly fill. But even if it never heals completely... we learn to carry it.

Learning to carry it. I like the sound of that. I know that hurt will never really go away, but I hope that one day I'll be able to do that, too. It's hard not to just be angry about it. About this place and how it can be.

Permit yourself to feel what you must. To suppress such emotion is to deny your own healing. Be angry. The pain will linger, yes... but with time, you will smile again. That I know.

And if it brings you ease... venting a bit of that frustration may well hasten that journey.

Would you care to come with me on a small one?

On a journey? Where are we going?

That would depend on what kind of journey you might enjoy.

I've heard whispers of distant isles, said to be home to naught but cats. Entire islands, if you can believe it.

Or, should you wish to work out your frustrations with your fists, I could use a second hand in hunting down... a basilisk.

[Either way, he hopes to spend time with her. And hopefully get her mind off some things for a time.]

Well. Why not both? I could use the practice, my fists have been getting a little rusty lately, but I wouldn't say no to an island of cats either. That is, if you are up to it.

[Anything to get her off this ship for a while.]

Of course. I'd not have brought it up were I unprepared to see it through. Both it is.

[He's happy to hear it.]

Then we will make some plans and have a little journey of our own.

I'd like that a lot. Just say the word and I'll be ready to go!

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