Lunamor

Jenny held up a death flower. ”I have some death flowers! I can’t remember if I’ve played Uno before, though. It’s not exactly fun to play by yourself.” She laughed awkwardly. @Random Bystander @The Aspiring Archivist @Scars of Hathsin

“You can.” Jenny spoke firmly, but didn’t elaborate much more. She’d probably just manage to accidentally make Ed feel worse if she did. She was glad that Terrance and Elsie had moved on from the subject of death. Previously she wouldn’t have minded it and probably would’ve enjoyed it, but now that she had met Ed her view of it had changed. She still respected it, understood how vital it was to life, but she had also become scared of it.

Jenny shrunk a bit, but mostly hid it for Ed’s sake. Her dad probably loved her, right? He’d been nice to her when she was little. But she’d killed the woman he loved. Did he hate her for it? He’d sent monsters after her for years, but it was apparently so she could be whisked away to camp Halfblood so she wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else. Did that mean he thought she was a murderer or just someone who had made a mistake? Would he still forgive her even if he thought it was a mistake? He hadn’t spoken to her ever since that day she’d broken.

Messy

“Well, I’m pretty sure you can make it to the Isles of the Blessed, if you wanted to try for it too. And if she’s as great as you say she is, she’ll make it there as well.” As always, Jenny meant exactly what she said. She looked into Ed’s eyes, trying to show him that she genuinely believed this.

Jenny hugged him tighter. ”I’ll try my best to be safe, I promise. I’m really sorry you had to go through that. I know it probably doesn’t make your loss hurt less, but Kylee’s in Elysium now. She’s happy, and I think you’ll probably see her there again someday. Ideally not any time soon, of course.” She laughed, unable to fully keep the nervousness out of it. He wasn’t the only one terrified of losing someone they cared about again.

“Is there anything I can do to help you, or would you like me to be quiet?” Sometimes just listening to someone was more helpful than trying to fix their problems, but Jenny couldn’t tell what Ed wanted at the moment. She wasn’t sure how to, or if she even could, help him, either. She’d try her best, though.

There's something you could do for me. For all of us here.

Any friend of Ralof's is a friend of mine.

Ed must be thinking about Kylee. Jenny hugged him from the side, hoping that she could comfort him somewhat. She was now doubly afraid of dying on the quest. Having to lose someone he cared about twice would make it even worse for Ed.

Nonsense. You and your friend are welcome to stay here as long as you need to.

Sane. We’ve reached the opposite of crazy! New word: Elaborate

Nobody else has come up the south road today, as far as I know. Here you are: A fancy upgraded model, just for you!

…no comment

He smiled. That meant she’d gotten through to him. Jenny kissed him back, leaning forwards. 8 - 10. Startled, she turned to Aaron and blushed until she was crimson. She’d forgotten that there were other people in rather close proximity to them.

“You make me feel like someone who deserves to be loved after years of me thinking that I was a monster who should be hated. You make me feel like I’m not alone anymore. You’re someone I know that I can always trust and will try to keep me safe.” Jenny shifted so that she was looking at Ed’s face directly. ”You make me happy. I could probably survive without you, but I couldn’t truly live without you either.”

“I do.” Jenny looked into his eyes, serious. She needed Ed. He was why she felt like a person who was worthy of love again. He made her feel that she was no longer alone in this world. He was someone who she could trust with all of her being and know that he would try to keep her safe. She supposed that she could technically survive without him, but the Jenny she had become would probably die. Would that really be such a bad thing?

“Sorry.” Jenny apologized again, feeling awful. She’d scared Ed. Moving like that when he was probably already on edge had been stupid. She settled back down, but didn’t rest her head on his again. She didn’t want to accidentally startle him again. Jenny had always been horrible at containing her excitement. Her inability to control her impulsiveness was embarrassing at times.

Jenny smiled and rested her head against his. She sometimes still found it hard to believe that someone like him could love someone like her, but it wasn’t impossible to believe anymore. “I do, and I love you too.” She perked up, jostling Ed slightly. ”Oh my gosh, there’s a llama!” She excitedly watched as they passed by it, then realized that she’d jostled Ed. She apologized sheepishly. ”Oh, sorry.”

Jenny wanted to argue, note that Roy had stolen the skull from Ed, but she didn’t want to accidentally make things worse. He was smiling, at least. She didn’t want to risk making that go away. So she just tightened her arm around him instead. “Thank you.” She decided that she would get that skull back from Roy. She needed Ed to be happy again. Plus, she felt like she needed to give him a present. So far, all she had gifted him was flowers and flower ash.

Ed was shrinking. That was probably bad. Roy’s comment was the only thing she could think of that would’ve caused this, so she shot him another glare. She wrapped an arm around him. ”We do need you. We’re needing you more and more. You took down a freaking cyclops nearly single-handedly today!” She switched to a whisper. ”Plus, you’re probably the only other person on this quest besides me who really understands the truth about Roy. Everyone else has to be protected from him too, and I can’t do that alone. I can’t protect myself alone, either.” @RoyalBeeMage

Were Roy and Aaron arguing or just talking normally? Jenny couldn’t tell. It was weird that they were whispering about something. Were they trying to keep whatever they were talking about a secret? Maybe Aaron was trying to defend Ed but didn’t want him to know. He’d tried to secretly heal her before. She was looking at the duo kinda funny as she strained to try and hear their conversation.

@RoyalBeeMage