Blue Roses (Tag: Cloud)

Aqua had never seen so many flowers before in her entire life. She had tried time and time again to grow flowers. While she loved many of the children at the orphanage she grew up in, they tended to kill her plants without fail after every attempt. She knelt down next to a rose bush, ignoring the way her finger was pricked by the thorns and touched the rose at the base and snapped it off. She didn't think anyone would mind if she just picked one rose. She would take it to her room, put it on her night stand so she could admire it there too. She twirled the blue rose in between her fingers.

"Caught ya", a voice behind her said amused. It was Cloud and he was standing behind her with a smirk on his face. He had been just walking around the gardens to look at pretty things and this one was a really pretty one. She had just been looking around if anyone would notice that she took one of the blue roses, obviously not noticing him coming all the way down. When she now turned around, he chuckled a little bit at her surprised face.

Aqua had turned sharply as alarm crossed her face. When she realized it was just a man about her age she slowly stood, keeping the rose within her hand. She had already picked it. Throwing it away now would be a complete waste of a flower. So she took a deep breath, schooled her expression so that nothing could show except a forced calm. "No one is going to miss just one." she told him.

He chuckled. "You sure? The gardeners are robots after all..", he said and came closer until he was just a few steps away from her. "But don't worry, I will keep it a secret, if anyone asks me.", he added and gave her a wink.

Aqua's eyes narrowed suspiciously after he winked. She carefully folded her arms across her chest without smashing the rose in between her finger tips. Even then she held it daintily so it didn't cut her fingers up. "And... What's in it for you, keeping this a secret?" she asked, despite the fact she believed the school wouldn't throw her out for one missing flower. "No one does anything out of the kindness of their own hearts."

He laughed slightly about her being so suspicious. "Let's ask the other way round: What would be in for me, if I'd tell anyone?", he gave back and smiled nicley at her. "I would only make me your enemy and that's the last thing I want.", he promised.

Aqua felt a pang of guilt for automatically accusing him. She said nothing on that matter, despite the turbulent feelings regarding it. She didn't give into the urge to smile back at him. She took a step to the side, trying to put a little distance between the two of them. "I suppose... there's nothing for you to gain." she admitted slowly.

He smiled. "See? So no need to worry about anything. Why don't you tell me your name? I am Cloud Strife.", he went on talking. He didn't want her to feel bad about what she said because it didn't hurt him, so he just changed the topic.

"My name is Aqua." she said. She sighed and offered him her hand. She did appreciate the topic change and chance to move past that little snafu. Start over, she told herself, try to be a little bit more friendly. Oh the trouble caused by picking a single flower it seemed...

He smirked and took her hand to put a gentle kiss on it, but still keeping enough distance for her comfort. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Aqua.", he said and let go of her hand, giving her a charming smile.

Aqua still managed a soft noise in the back of her throat. She pulled her hand back rather quickly. She was tempted to call him out on it but she had already done that once and made herself look the fool so bit back her comment over it. "Yeah," she agreed slowly.

He tilted his head a little, still smiling. That was new. Normally the girls almost freaked out or blushed when he did that. She was obviously different, that was quite interesting. "So, Aqua... you really have a cute hair style", he complimented her. He had rarely seen women with blue hair, but he had to admit it suit her pretty well.

"Uh, thanks I guess?" Aqua said uncertainly as she touched a lock of the blue hair. More often than not she was used to people laughing at her hair color, teasing her for it. Half of her was almost expecting some backhanded compliment - something that sounded nice but was actually very vindictive. "Um, yours is... nice too?"

He chuckled. "Thanks. I do my best.", he said and smiled honestly at her. She still seemed to feel suspicious about him. He tried a nice smile. Maybe it would work just talking a little more with her. "And in what division are you?", he kept on talking.

"Psychic and esper group." Aqua said, not particularly keen on her own abilities. She supposed she was just going to have to get used to it, considering that she was working there to better her abilities. It didn't mean she had to like telling people. "And what about you?"

"Miscellaneous powers and talent", he answered. She didn't seem to be much interested in talking to him or telling him something about her. That was really new, too and it got him out of his concept somehow. Maybe he should tell her something about him? "I can control the temperature. It's a pretty cool power I think. In my freetime I like to do much sports like fenching and basketball...What about you? Any hobbies besides collecting flowers?", he asked with a grin.

"I used to work at an orphanage." Aqua replied. "There wasn't much time for anything other than taking care of the kids. I cooked, I cleaned, played and helped them all get adopted." The one thing she could never do for herself. She had aged out of the orphanage. Since she had no where else to go, no other means of surviving on her own without a job, she worked there as well. "It was... really hard to leave them."

"Oh.. I'm sorry to hear that. I believe it was hard to leave them, but you'll see them again don't you? And is there anything you ever wanted to try out?", he kept on asking with a nice smile.

"I enjoyed the work. It's just time for me to focus on me." She offered him a smile this time. She twirled the rose in between her fingers. She was letting her guard down, just a little.

"I really like the pool here." Aqua said. It was huge and easy to get to without the inconvenience of sand in uncomfortable places. "And I was thinking of going out tonight. See what else is out here, you know?" Aqua more or less saw this place as an opportunity for new experiences. She hadn't been paid enough to really get out there and her social life was limited to children. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Yeah, I think it's good that you really do something for yourself instead of just thinking you should.", he replied and smiled happy back at her when she gave him a smile. "Oh, you should definitely smile more, you'r even prettier if you do!", he said honestly. She really was pretty. As pretty as the rose in her hands and he got the feeling that she might also had some thorns, too.
"Oh, the pool? I have to admit I haven't been there yet. Tonight? Well... I would be glad to go around with you if you don't mind.", he said still smiling with a charming voice. "I still haven't seen everything on the island yet because there is just so much to see, but if you're into alcohol, the cocktails at the bar are pretty good, not too strong though, and they have nice food, too. And did you see the library? It's really impressive even if you're not reading much.", he thought for a moment. "Well, the beach is beautiful, too and the gardens, of course. You always meet such nice people here.", he added and gave her a wink.

Aqua looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact again so he couldn't see that she was embarrassed. She hardly thought herself pretty. "Thank you," she said, not clarifying whether it was over his comment about her independence or her beauty.

"Oh, I don't want to be a bother. You've probably got better things to do with your time." she insisted taking a softer tone. "I... haven't really ever gone out drinking before but the library sounds wonderful. But maybe I'll go to the beach?" She glanced up at him only to have her eyes flick away once again upon seeing his wink. She sighed to herself.

"You're welcome. Oh, you're no bother at all, promise. I would love to walk around with you some time. So, I think we could do all of those things. I can tell you if I'm going out with some friends and you can go with us and try out if you like it. Of course I would take care of you the whole time. If you want me to. And we can also go to the library and the beach. I could give you my cell number and you just text me if you wanna go somewhere. What do you say?", he went on with a nice smile.

Flustered, Aqua ran a hand over the back of her neck. "I suppose," she consented. "It would be nice to go out and explore with someone..." She had originally done all of her exploring on her own aside from the first night when she took her roommate out for a get-to-know you dinner. She pulled an old flip phone out of her back pocket, fully intending on exchanging numbers with Cloud.

She really seemed to be kind of nervous..that was just too cute. He smiled and when she pulled out her mobile he told her his number so she could type it in. "You can text me everytime, even in the night if you want. You just might have to wait until the morning comes before I text you back", he added teasingly. "So, when are you free for a little exploring then?", he kept on asking.

"W-What? Why would I-? Never mind." she said, probably not wanting to know the answer to why she would contact him in the middle of the night. "I'm free until classes start. And after that... probably the evening."