[Action in Winhill] aka, Laguna is BUSTED

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Raine's been suspicious for a few days. Laguna's been coming home with a rather unreal number of baked goods. And he's been hauled up scribbling away at something or other. It's the sweets that have her suspicions up. As for the writing, she thought he might just be trying his hand at journalism again. Oh well, more for her to edit. His grammar is atrocious.

So when she goes in to tidy up the room, she doesn't think a thing of picking up those papers and stacking them neatly. Until she sees what they are. Love letters... drafts of love letters. Love letters NOT addressed to her.

She stares at the pile, shaking with rage and hurt. It all makes sense now. He's got a girlfriend! A girlfriend who's baking things and here he was writing to her right under her nose in her own house!!]

How could he?!

Comments

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Unaware that anything at all is amiss, Laguna is whistling as he strolls into the house, having stepped out to pick up milk and a few other necessities. All that cake and pie means they've been going through milk faster than ever. Setting it inside the icebox, he looks up when he hears Raine's exclamation, and sets about taking the stairs up to the second floor two at a time. He pauses in the frame of their bedroom door, looking concerned.]

Honey? Everything okay?

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Raine whips around, eyes blazing, scooping up the offending papers in one hand to wave them in Laguna's face. She looks on the verge of tears, but what comes out of her mouth is nothing short of fury.]

WHAT ARE THESE?!

[You have love letters to other women in HER BEDROOM.]

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Laguna looks startled when she turns around, honestly off-put by how upset she looks. Had he done something? Why would she be--? Oh. Oh. But those letters were so silly, clearly they weren't the real deal.]

They're letters, right? [He does his best to remain calm, though he's clearly unhappy that he's made her unhappy.] I was asked to write them for some love letter game. There was an advertisement for a writer on the network and I responded. I thought it would be fun, and I got paid in cake. They're not real.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

'Paid in cake'? You expect me to believe that?

[He has to know what she's thinking. That sounds... really unlikely, Laguna.]

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

Where else would all of those cakes come from? And the pies? And the brownies that moogle brought by this morning...

[He shakes his head, rather confused. It would never even occur to him to write letters or even spare a second glance to another woman.]

You're the only woman I've ever written love letters to, Raine, and the only woman I ever will. Why would I bother sending one to anyone else?

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[She wants to believe him. She really does, but the whole story is so preposterous that it's laughable.]

Do you realize how preposterous that sounds?

[Wait a second.] Now there's brownies?

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, now that I'm saying it out loud, it sounds kinda screwy, but I'd never make something like that up.

[He frowns slightly.]

Yeah. They're downstairs on the kitchen table. S'why I went out to get milk, we didn't have enough left.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Raine's too busy shuffling through the papers for more evidence to listen to Laguna at all.]

We're not talking about milk, Laguna! We're talking about these... these... "orchids of lust"?! It's orchards and... WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS?!

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Didn't he already answer that question? He's pretty sure he already answered that question.]

I told you, I got recruited on the phone thing to write love letters for a list of people! Some game, or something. I thought that gave it some poetry.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Lousy lousy excuse. Raine throws the whole stack at Laguna, intending to stomp over to the door and throw him out.

Mid-stomp, one word catches her attention and she bends down to pick up that paper.]

...

...

Ellone?

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Laguna simply allows himself to be pelted with the letters, letting out a sigh as they flutter to the ground.]

Raine... you have to know, I would never write letters to another woman from myself...

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[Reading the letter that "Ellone" wrote now, Raine's eyes narrow, and then an eyebrow lifts. She turns it around for Laguna to look at.]

Laguna? Seriously?

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Laguna spots Ellone's name at the bottom of the page and puts both of his hands up in defense.]

I stand by everything I wrote in that one.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

She did not join a new religion, Laguna.

[Lineface. You are getting it, buster.]

Was she on the list of people?

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[He nods, though a bit hesitantly. Her lineface isn't abating like at all. Hyne preserve him. He cringed as he felt a very familiar and very unwelcome sensation creep up on him, falling to one knee as he grabbed the calf of his opposite leg.]

O-ow! Leg cramp! Yeah, she was, along with a bunch of others.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

[SIGH. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Laguna, you and your leg cramps... Raine starts tapping her foot impatiently.]

Did you stop to think if you were going to have to go to this extreme over Ellone maybe you shouldn't be doing this at all? Whether or not YOU were the intended sender, you DID write love letters to other women.

[And when that comes out, Raine realizes just how horrible it sounds and her bottom lip trembles. She refuses to give in to tears or hysterics, but it still hurts.]

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[He frowns, cringing and forcing himself back to his feet.]

The job was presented like the guys the letters were from needed help and couldn't write them themselves. Why else would they send all the cake? I just didn't want Ellone to get mixed up with this 'Firion' troublemaker, and...

[He sighs. That's not really the point. Raine was upset, and he had to address that somehow. He didn't see the harm in helping out a few guys who might not have been as articulate as he was, but the business part of it wasn't important right now. He hobbled towards her with some difficult, putting a hand out to lay against her forearm.]

Raine... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I would never. You know that. I just... I screw up sometimes.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

We're not that hard up for money. Or food.

[Dammit, Laguna, why do you look so whipped?]

How is it that you always get mixed up in other people's messes?

[That might just be her relenting. A little. It is actually one of his more endearing traits. Sometimes. She's letting him touch her without jerking away. It's a good sign. So's the hand put on top of his.]

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

I know we're not, but it seemed like it might be fun to help guys who were having trouble expressing themselves along, you know? I didn't stop to think that it might not be what I thought it was... and because it was for other people, it never occurred to me that it might hurt you. I'm really sorry, Raine. You have to believe that.

[He feels some degree of relief when she places her hand over his, and he even smiles a tiny bit.]

I'm kind of a hopeless case, aren't I.

[waitedinwinhill.livejournal.com]

You are. But, that's something I love about you. You're always willing to help people.

[She taps him on the nose, with a stern look.]

Even when you shouldn't.

Notif for this one got lost! :(

[blue-desperado.livejournal.com]

[Despite the hardness of her look, he can't help smiling a bit more, though it's a rather bashful sort of expression. It fades a moment later.]

I should really take a step back and learn to tell the difference. I know. I can't say I'm sorry enough. I would never do anything to hurt you, not if I could help it.