Rocky Road ~ House of Dill, Saltriv, Shiron, and Vix

[IFBench]

Saltriv watered the plants of their garden, smiling as they saw the little green shoots that grew bit by bit every day. It's nice seeing them grow, they wrote in their journal, held with another of their vines.

 

[Fusion]

"Howdy Saltriv," Scrafty said as they floated on by, with a couple notebooks floating alongside them, and pens. And more notebooks. Scrafty looked through a few of them, sending a few back, and finally settling on one green notebook with a red oak leaf taped to it. "How was your day so far? Thought I'd be back to welcome you before you returned."

They kept a watchful eye on the garden as well, scribbling things in their book.

Might need to look into better soil, but these are turning up pretty well, all things considered. Can't remember what kind of flowers we planted though.

 

[IFBench]

"Hi Vix!" the flower dino said, turning towards her with a smile as they waved their leaf. "I'm doing good! Just had a nice conversation with Koa."

They did have some worries, but Vix didn't need to know about them.

 

[Fusion]

"Koa? I am... pretty sure that guy hates me for whatever reason. He definitely seems nice though," Scrafty chuckled, floating over to Saltriv's side and giving their friend a friendly bump with their shoulder. "What'd you two talk about, if you're alright with me asking?"

All Saltriv did was chat up with some guy, there probably wasn't anything else to it. But Scrafty was always nosey and apparently that part never changed.

 

[IFBench]

"He does? Why?" Saltriv asked, their cheerful expression giving way to one of concern. "We...just talked about his world, my leaf and flower, one of my friends from back home, and those new forms everyone's getting."

 

[Fusion]

"Eh, I have no clear idea. I just remember him glaring me to death after Soda's... stuff got revealed," Scrafty flinched slightly. Their hand drifted toward their chest, but instead went to write more things in their notebook. It was a lot of nothing, however. "It's probably not as bad as I think, anyway."

"Your flower is quite nice, I gotta admit. Love the red. Suits you pretty well, in my totally not biased opinion," Scrafty chuckled. "All I did today was hang out with Cynthian and set up a fight in the collosseum with her and Icetales." They sighed, then chuckled. "It should be fine! I mean, uh, fun!"

 

[IFBench]

"Thank you!" they said, smiling once more. They were new to having a flower, but they were already so proud of theirs. It was perfect for them.

"Good luck with the fight!" Saltriv said.

 

[Fusion]

"As if we'd need "luck,"" Scrafty grinned, smug.

We might desperately need luck, actually.

"What about you? Anything fun planned coming up?" they asked, scribbling more notes in their book. Just details about Saltriv's flower, really. They wanted to see if they could find another flower like it.

 

[IFBench]

"I'm going to go visit one of my friends back home!" the Meganium said, their tail wagging a bit. "One of my teammates, Gen, is really anxious and really doesn't like being alone, so I'm going to check up on him at Spirit's Edge."

 

[Fusion]

"What? Feeling homesick? Not that that's a bad thing, I mean," Scrafty chuckled, smiling slightly. "And wow, I don't remember the last time I met someone like that. Even my friends back home liked being alone every now and then, and so did I... until I came here and spent a good long while alone."

They shook their head and slapped their cheeks. None of that sad shit, come on!!!

"I've gotta remember to try out Spirit's Edge sometime. I don't know if I want to call my friends back home or... my old friends, but it might be fun either way." A pensive look fell on Scrafty's face, and they hummed. They weren't sure what they'd get out of calling either, honestly... it might do them some good to not even try it. They shook their head, giving Saltriv a smile again. "Anyway, I hope your visit goes well. I'm sure your buddy misses you a bunch."

 

[IFBench]

"Yep...I do feel a bit homesick," they said, their smile fading. "This place is nice, and really cool, and so are all of you, hut I miss my family and friends."

"And...yep. Gen really doesn't like being alone. He said he joined our team just to not be alone. I'm worried for him," Saltriv said, before perking back up a bit. "Thank you! Hope your visit goes well too, if you do one!"

 

[Fusion]

Scrafty gave a sweet smile, and opened their arms for a hug before they stepped themself. They gave it a bit of thought... They were alone, and Scrafty didn't have to keep a show of toughness around Saltriv and all that. Really all that bravado was meant for the battlefield anyway, so, maybe a hug would be alright.

They gave Saltriv a snug hug around the neck, smiling still. "You'll be back home to your family before you know it, Saltriv. I feel like we're pretty close to finding whatever the hell caused all this nonsense, and after that, we're outta here. Back to our old lives at our old worlds."

That would be depressing depending on who you asked, honestly... One of those being Scrafty themself... or Vix, whoever.

"And, uh, could we possibly keep this hug to ourselves? I'm still... I dunno, but I want to keep looking tough for everyone. Not... soft, and vulnerable," Scrafty chuckled shyly.

 

[IFBench]

Saltriv didn't hesitate to return the hug, wrapping their vines around their friend. "Yep, it'll be nice to go back to normal search party work after all this. And of course! I can keep it a secret."

 

[Fusion]

"Sweet," Scrafty sighed, grateful. "Thanks for understanding."

"I've got a few things I wanna deal with but, honestly it can wait. I feel like I could use a minute to relax, and watch over the garden a bit, hang out with a friend of mines," they said. "Which is you, just to be clear."

More rest and relaxation should do them both good, yeah. They just needed more time to make sure they had their head screwed on the right way, which meant they'd have to go settle something that's been bugging them for a while. But, like they said, it could wait.

<><><><><>

 

[Sudmensch]

A dull thud heralded Dill's arrival, the Feraligatr rubbing his head as he glared at the doorframe. He thought he'd have learned to duck by this point, but he never was one to remember such things in the moment. A morning swim behind him, the hulking river monster tromped over to the most spacious area remaining and took a seat, looking out the window up at the sky as his tail flicked.

 

[IFBench]

A flower dino was already there, and smiled as they saw the Feraligatr arrive. They waved their leaf, and said, "Hi, Dill!"

Their tail was tucked in between their legs, the tip quivering.

 

[Sudmensch]

Dill glanced over, giving a little wave. "Sal, hey," he said, shifting in his seat.

 

[IFBench]

"Anything up?" the Meganium asked, trotting a bit closer to Dill.

 

[Sudmensch]

Dill glanced out the window, a small frown on his maw.

"...n-no. No, nothing. Uh, how about you, are you good?"

 

[IFBench]

"Yep!" They said, continuing to hide their quivering tail. "I had some pretty nice talks with Koa, Vix, and Dave! And I'm going to go visit someone from my world soon!"