September 16, 2022

There's a knock on the front door. Luna opens the door. "Hello?"

There's no one there, but there is a pamphlet taped to the door.

She notices this and reads it over. It reads:

"Rydyn ni'n eich gwahodd chi ac unrhyw westeion eraill yr hoffech eu cyflwyno i ddathlu coeden deuluol LaFleur.Bydd yn cael ei chynnal gan Mrs. Ivory Carys LaFleur, ar 24 Medi am 3:44pm. Fe welwn ni chi yno."

theres a bit of text that stands out above the rest. seems like a countdown. underneath that block of text, it says:

"'Mewn marwolaeth, ry'n ni gyd yn blodeuo yn anochel.' -Mrs. Rhian Carys LaFleur, 2015."

"...the hell is this? Looks like ROT or Vigenere." In any case, she takes the pamphlet with the weird countdown back inside to try and decipher it. After a few hours of finagling with the cipher, she finally makes a breakthrough!"I... have no fucking idea what the fuck this is!"

Spider had disappeared at some point in the past few days. They appear and sit down on the sofa looking over at Luna. "Everything ok?"

Her face is in her hands. She looks defeated a little bit. "Eh. There was a note on the front door with a weird countdown on it, but it seems to be encoded. Nothing I try works." She shows Spider the note.

She's quiet for a second before she starts laughing. "You know that's not code right?"

"...what. Don't tell me my theory that it's Cthulhu language is right??? Or Toki Pona."

"It's Welsh” Spider shakes her head still laughing slightly.

Luna facepalms hard, but her paw pads absorb most of the impact so all Spider could hear is a soft phoomp. "So they're British. Wonderful.”

"They're Welsh not British"

"Ohhhh right right." Luna was never good with actual languages. "Anyway, lemme see here. Thank the many Gods of technology for Google Lens."

"Thank god indeed cause I certainly can't speak a word of the damn thing."

She reads the message off her phone: "We invite you and any other guests you wish to bring to celebrate the LaFleur family tree. It will be hosted by Mrs. Ivory Carys LaFleur, on September 24 at 3:44pm. We'll see you there. ‘In death, we all inevitably blossom.' -Mrs. Rhian Carys LaFleur, 2015."

"Who the hell is that?" Luna asks.

"Fuck knows, this Rhian certainly has her head on straight though"

"...Ivory. That name sounds familiar. Lemme check with the GC.”

--

A little later, Luna walked into the forest for some exercise. Turns out sleeping more or less nonstop for days at a time could make someone feel fat despite having higher than normal metabolism. She hears someone talking.

"I, uh, left the invite there... I-I don't know if anyone checked it though? I didn't go back to check… I know I kinda have to go through with this, I mean, it's the only way I'll- SHIT-"

She hears the voice seemingly fall over and groan for a bit. Luna could ignore it, but her want to help literally everyone in the Worlds overrides her need for personal safety. Luna goes to investigate and finds a somewhat familiar woman sitting.

Luna walks over to the person. "Hello, I accidentally overheard you. Were you the one who left the invite at our house?"

Ivory gets up, startled. She grabs a mask and puts it on. Its just a generic white mask with a smile, not much going on there. "O-Oh, uhm- Y-yeah… Uh... I'm assuming you read it? I mean, I haven't seen that many people that speak Welsh here-"

"I'll be honest, I thought it was a cipher. My friend recognized it was Welsh and I just ran it through google translate." Luna says, with a smile. "So the LaFleur family tree? Sounds like an interesting idea for a celebration."

"Oh, uh... I figured you used a translator-" She sounds a bit less shaky now. “And, uh, yeah. LaFleur family tree. It's uhh... well, my family tree. I wanted a little celebration. Might as well have some..." Insert small pause. "Some fun during all of this. You never know when you'll die, y'know..."

"Of course. As someone who's had some experience with dying, I can say that I'm not ready to kick the bucket any time soon. Maybe some fun would be for the best?" Luna closes her eyes for a moment in thought, but then reopens them to a smile.

Ivy chuckles a bit, albeit a bit weakly. "Yeah. For the best..." She stays quiet for a bit before taking her mask off and looking at the ground. "Hey, uh... Quick question, do you believe that, uh... a person can really kinda... be forgiven for something? Even if they didn't want to do it?"

Once more, Luna closes her eyes in thought. "Wouldn't be the first time I forgave someone like that. A few months ago, a friend of mine killed me because she was being manipulated by some evil asshole from another World. I forgave her under the condition that she did something positive with her life. So yes, I do believe that forgiveness can be earned, even if the person didn't want to do something."

"...hm, I see. I guess I... uh, found my own way of earning forgiveness." She tears up a bit before wiping the tears away."Well, uh... I mean, I think... Its just... Its difficult to explain your agony to someone else, y'know?" She smirks a bit. "...I had a sister, fun fact. She, uhh... Kinda hated me. I didn't mind though, I tried to give her a good life after... some... stuff. I don't know. I feel like if I did a better job I wouldn't be here right now."

"I'm so sorry. I fully understand what you mean by explaining agony. Sometimes it's hard to find the words needed. And your sister? I guess that's just what life's about. You try so hard to give them everything and they... I guess not appreciate it." Luna sighs.

"I don't think they didn't appreciate it, I just think it was just some other stuff. There was just a lot going on at the time and I tried my best to help them but I made it worse." Sigh. "I don't think I'll ever really be truly able to forgive myself for that. Even if it was due to someone else, I was the catalyst. If I just didn't argue with them, if I just stayed quiet and left, she would still be here."

"I see. My condolences." Luna goes silent.

"Thanks. It's been tough. I'm hoping to use that party as a chance to kinda... celebrate her life. Not really mourn." Ivy grabs her phone. "Shit, shit, SHIT- I'm sorry, uhh- I lost track of time, I need to get going. I-I'll uhh, fuck- Uhh..." She grabs a piece of paper from the pocket of her suit and hands it to Luna, there's a weirdly familiar twitter username and website. "I-I'll talk with you later, bye!-" And she ran away.

"Take care!" Luna shouts then reads the note.

It just says @aeoremaplus + tardigrade.neocities.org