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Ran is floating outside Daisy Hollow when Aimsey walks out to water their flowers.
“Ran!” they exclaim, waving.
“Hey, Aimsey,” Ran says, after a moment. “Aimsey. Aimzee. Aimz, Aimz, Aimz. Hi.”
“Yes, yes, I’m right here,” Aimsey replies with a grin. “One sec, I need to finish being a plant mom.” He goes to water his flowers, remains distantly aware of the specter floating behind him.
Ever since Aimsey learned that Ranboo is dead, they’ve started picking up on more and more… ghostly traits. He straight up hadn’t noticed the oddities before, but now it’s like they’re everywhere he looks. He’s still not sure if his past self missing them had been a subconscious form of almost… willful ignorance on his own part, or if Ran had been purposefully hiding them from him. They haven’t asked yet.
Today, the edges of Ran’s veil float around his head, flowing despite the lack of wind. The painted on eyes crinkle up, reminiscent of a smile despite the impossibility of it.
It reminds him slightly of Beep, the oddness that’s just a shade away from terrifying, strange, but not to a point of causing fear. Just… different. Breaking the rules of reality.
(Sometimes when Ran places sand, it seems to float. Sometimes, gravel doesn’t act quite right around him. Once, on this quest of trying to find a resurrection method, they broke a dripstone block by him, and the stalactite simply stayed there, floating in the air.)
“I have an idea,” Aimsey says, trusting that Ran is behind her, listening. “I was in Kinoko the other day, and I saw that they have a library– I was thinking we could maybe go looking through it?”
“Kinoko?” Ran asks, and Aimsey nods. “Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen Kinoko. Not since it was completed, at least. Is that…”
He trails off. Aimsey finishes the sentence for him. “Karl and Sapnap’s place? Yeah, it is. Hopefully we don’t run into either of them, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“I… may have lost Sapnap’s horse. It’s fine! I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, I lost it in Kinoko, so it’s probably like, I don’t know, hanging out with it’s other horse friends. I have no idea where it is, but it’s probably fine!”
(It is not fine. Sapnap is absolutely going to kill them for this.)
“That doesn’t sound very fine, dude,” Ran says, because he can be a bitch sometimes.
Aimsey waves their hand at him. “Shushhhh, I’m not thinking about it.” He finishes watering the flowers, straightens up from where he was leaning over them. “So, Kinoko. Thoughts?”
They turn to look at Ran, watch him shrug. “Sounds as good as anything else,” he says, which is not the resounding enthusiasm Aimsey was hoping for, but Ran’s been pretty pessimistic about being resurrected so far, so she supposes she can’t blame him.
“It’ll be good!” Aimsey says, and they grin, set down the watering can. Link their arm with his the best they can with a ghost, which is not very well at all, but hey, they tried. “Come on, let's go!”