gardeningaia | [Video/Action]

Entry tags:

[Video/Action]

[Here is a fully bundled Aerith, blue scarf wrapped loosely around her face as she smiles.]

Speed run! Don't try this at home. I'm a professional.

...Not really. But I've been practicing, and I think I'm getting better!

[This is about all the introduction given before the journal gets set down to show wide open sky, but once Aerith throws herself in its direction and sets things into a blur of motion, it quickly becomes apparent what she's doing: enjoying her toboggan present from Christmas. She seems to be quite childishly pleased with herself on the faster runs, and pouts when one bumpy ride ends only halfway down. Finally:]

All right, now for the obstacle course! [Tucking the journal under-arm, Aerith drags the toboggan ba-a-a-ck up. This time she turns it to a different position a few feet away and a very different angle. She starts out more slowly, letting gravity lead the way, and steers the tobaggan around trees and rocks, her expression turning focused as the wind whips back her hair. And then--] Oh, no, no! Move, rabbit, run! Hey--ah--!!!! [After wildly veering, once she hits a fallen tree, Aerith and journal are airborne. Too bad they have to come back down, but at least it's in a snowdrift, right?]

...Mmmf.

[...FEEL FREE TO ACTION IT UP / BE SLEDDING WITH HER? She's on the lower part of the mountain slope, closest to the village. Or just shake your head at her from afar, whatever.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mm. Maybe we should go to the apartments first, then. It is cold, and there might be interruptions. [Looking at the snow; theirs aren't the only tracks.]

... Right.

[ Well, any way this is done it's going to be awkward, but such is the price of telling your friends you're doomed and all. She half-stands slowly, still not looking at Aerith. ]

Walking this time, Baldr?

[ This is a yes, apparently, since with a pleased "Walk!" the puppy is off trying to make his way through the snow. Lightning sighs quietly- better get your toboggan since it doesn't look like he's waiting up, Aerith. ]

[She picks up her toboggan, but she also pauses to stand side-by-side with Lightning, touching her arm.

... Even she isn't sure what to say in the face of something so black and upsetting, but what comes out finally is:]

Let's walk side-by-side. [Not just now, but -- as long as Aerith can help it -- she doesn't want Lightning to be alone.]

[ Before the whole l'Cie mess started, sometimes people would still throw sympathy at Lightning, when they heard even a little about what had happened to her family. This, however, is entirely different... and strange, because at least back then she was able to develop some kind of strong-seeming response.

Here, she has no idea... and it's amazing, really, how just a few simple words can come dangerously close to making even someone like Lightning break. She doesn't object, just nodding once with her eyes averted. ]

[Aerith didn't expect much of a response; the statement doesn't need one. She takes the nod as answer enough, walking along Lightning on the way to the apartments. Occasionally low hums punctuate the crisp air, but besides that, she's rather quiet, glancing at Lightning from the side from time to time.]

[ Lightning half-expects Aerith to ask or say something more, but doesn't bother breaking the pause herself when nothing happens. After leading around a group of people in the same plight, she's already used to long thoughtful silences- there was certainly lots of that in the Ark. All things considered, her demeanor is probably surprisingly confident for someone who just told her best friend here that she has a doom ticker branded onto her body... if a little low for how she usually is.

And despite Baldr's exuberance, he does seem to get tired not far from the community building. Lightning moves to pick him up a short ways from the door- she usually ends up carrying him in anyway. ]

My apartment, then?

[Aerith is waiting for the privacy of the apartments for more questions, though as they approach the village there's a small comment on how pretty everything looks in the snow. She's thinking, too; trying to figure out what she can do, hoping she can do something.

At Lightning's question, she looks over and nods.]

Mm. I don't know if Zack's in right now or not.

[ ... Yeah, probably not a good idea for Zack to be around, especially if Aerith wants to actually see the Brand itself. Settling the puppy under-arm, she pushes through the door and heads for the stairs- such fun it is to live on the third floor. 8|

She's been wondering something though, and with it already sort of brought up at the moment, she hasn't gone very far before she just has to finally ask- ]

Are you two... a couple?

Hm? [She looks surprised, and then giggles.] Why, do you like him? [Probably nnnot the time for teasing, but she's so used to trying to make things light-hearted that it simply comes out on its own. Now for the serious answer.] We used to be, when we were teenagers. We're friends now.

[ -- That's not what she was getting at! She whips a glance over, then frowns with just a little bit of defensiveness. Why you gotta tease when she's trying to ask a reasonable question? ]

But you live together.

Cloud was living with us too, until Tifa came. [~~And they all were a thing once but they don't know that |D~~] Three is just right, but four is too many! That's why they're staying in the next apartment over.

...I don't want him alone. [She looks back at Lightning with a smile.] He needs some looking after. Just like Baldr.

... You have to look after him?

[ Does he make messes in the apartment if you don't get him outside often enough too...? ]

Don't take me completely seriously.

That one's yours, right?

[ Taking things seriously is what Lightning does! But she lets it drop, despite still thinking it's just a little bit odd- their personal life isn't her business anyway.

In response, she just makes a soft affirmative noise and then juggles holding Baldr to pull out a key (strapped to her wrist, underneath a glove) for opening the door. Congratulations Aerith, not counting the dog and an incident during the last experiment, you're the first one she's let inside #13. It's certainly not very unusual- aside from the fact that there's a bed in the living room, what's probably most noticeable is that Lightning seems to horde blankets, as well as food, gunblade ammunition, and things of that nature.

Okay, maybe it is a little odd, but... would you expect any less? Baldr's set down to go wander off, leaving Lightning to distractedly start pulling off her gloves. ]

You get cold easily, don't you? [She can't imagine using this many blankets for herself. She shrugs off her coat, looking briefly for somewhere to put it before simply draping it over her arm, still looking with a small amount of bemusement.

...It's certainly not very homey, and she wonders if the disquieting sense she gets from it is the feeling of how someone who expects to die lives. Which is--so depressing. Lightning shouldn't--]

...Does it hurt you? The brand.

[ There's a slight pause, and then she shakes her head. ] It doesn't ever get this cold inside Cocoon. Before I got here? I'd never even seen snow in person.

[ You know, at least the kind that's spelled with a lowercase 's.' Further evidence of this fact lies in how Lightning doesn't really seem to possess any coat hanging manners- once her own is pulled off, she just hangs it off the back of a chair, without offering any solution for Aerith's.

As for the second question... she seems to have to pause and consider it for a few beats as well. Does it hurt? ]

Not really. [ Quieter: ] Not unless something happens.

In...side? So it's covered? [PLATE CITY?]

[Though that's not nearly as important as the matter of the Brand. Aerith leaves her coat on the couch for the moment, approaching Lightning.]

Like what? [Because she is listening, closely, paying attention to Lightning.] Can I see it? Please.

Ah...

[ Hey, she can't answer questions about Cocoon and the Brand at the same time, Aerith- they're both really complicated. She frowns in slight discomfort at the request, touching a hand to her chest, but... it's not like there's any backing down now. At least since the name of the game is currently how many layers she has to go through to get to skin, she has a few more seconds to talk. Explaining her world kind of leads to explaining the Brand anyway. ]

Cocoon's... an artificial world, created by the fal'Cie. [ She starts undoing the jacket she's wearing, looking down in concentration over how to explain something she's been familiar with her entire life. ] It's a sphere. Hollow, with all of the cities fixed to the inside. That means... Gran Pulse is the actual planet; Cocoon just floats above it.

[ Yeah, she has been thinking about all your talk regarding planets, you silly Gaians. ]

Edited 2011-01-23 07:19 (UTC)

And the fal'Cie take care of you, but they use you... [Actually picturing a second world like that is very strange... but her gut feeling is to think it's like Midgar-- too cut off from the real world, warping inside itself.]

Cities, and a whole other world... why was all that needed? Was Gran Pulse injured?

[Yes, us Gaians are silly. So silly, we talk about Planets being hurt like they're living, because ours is!

That touch at the chest... Aerith's seen that gesture a few times before. Preeetty sure she knows where the brand is now and part of Lightning's discomfort, though she's still wondering what it looks like.]

... For centuries we've been led to believe that Pulse is Hell, that... everything from Pulse only wants to hurt us. People are grateful to the fal'Cie, not only for protecting us from that, but because they provide everything we need to live- food, water, light, energy...

[ She's getting a little riled up about this, and upon realizing it, cuts off suddenly. For a moment she just stares at her hands, nearly forgetting what she was doing, and realizing that not only is she going off on a tangent, but aside from the other l'Cie, nobody else knows about what she's talking about. Saying it aloud is an odd experience. ]

But... Cocoon's Sanctum fal'Cie, Pulse fal'Cie- they're all really the same. And to them, we're all just cattle.

[ A dark frown is firmly in place as she unlaces her last top before reaching actual undergarments, finally pulling everything back to reveal the arcane mark burned onto the left of her upper chest- numerous black arrows, surrounding a bright red 'eye' in the middle. At first it just looks like a tattoo, but with the slightly raised skin and colors far too vivid to be mere ink, it's obviously something far more ominous. ]

A Pulsian fal'Cie did this.

[It doesn't answer the question she asked directly, but she's trying to get what she can from that--two sides, "led to believe" the other side was dangerous...for what? What in creation would you need two worlds and false rumors for?]

But why are they telling people things like that? If they're the same, what good would it do to fight each other?

[The eye draws Aerith's attention first--the color, placement, the many helpful arrows. Immediately she wants to scrub the thing off, even though she knows logically that it wouldn't do a thing.] And...what is this doing to you... Why does it... ?

[Kill? So many questions.]

[ Lightning briefly clenches her teeth together, eyes narrowed. When she first arrived in Luceti two months ago, explaining all of this would have been not far from impossible, considering she had only heard the whole truth herself a few hours earlier. Now, she's had time to think about it, and time to piece together what little information the library's books here seem willing to share. Really, that doesn't mean it's any easier though, and it's obvious she's still struggling with it. ]

Because-- humans have souls and... when they die, their spirit goes to pass into the afterlife through something that's called the Door of Souls. The fal'Cie all believe... they believe that 'the Maker' who created them is also beyond the Door, but that it's too 'closed' for him to make it back.

[ Do you see where this is going yet? She stares at her hands determinedly and then puts them together slowly, with only a small space in between. ] So... all the people inside Cocoon-- if it's destroyed and the tens of millions inside of it die... [ Hands apart, and Lightning looks from one to the other with an odd, agitated look on her face. From an emotional standpoint? This is definitely the hardest part. ] The Door will be opened, and the Maker will return.

However... the Cocoon fal'Cie can't do the deed themselves. And so they take humans, and they Brand them to make l'Cie- bind their souls to them to do their bidding. Don't do what they want in time... and it's lights out for good.

Edited 2011-01-24 18:34 (UTC)

[...They made a second world because it'd be an easier sacrifice. The thought of that is simply horrifying, in a way that sinks deep into her gut. Forcing people to do their bidding. Like how Sephiroth forced Cloud to hand over the black materia, and then later raise his sword... Pressing people into the destruction of their own world.]

No wonder you didn't want to talk about them. That's... [She shakes her head and tries to take Lightning's hands in her own.] This has to come off, somehow. They just can't use you like that! I'll do everything I can.

Edited 2011-01-24 20:42 (UTC)

[ Lightning just stares a moment when Aerith takes her hands, a bit wide-eyed and abruptly reminded of something-- or rather someone else. It's slightly bewildering, but at the same time hard to say if she's actually bothered by it or not, even for her. ]

... Back home, that was the plan. That's why we left Cocoon, hoping that if we searched Gran Pulse, we could find answers.

[She nods.] Let's try finding answers here. You think the library here might have information on your world?

[Aaaaand cue library trip!]

(no subject)

thestormishere - 2011-01-25 17:07 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only