gardeningaia | on Thursday afternoon

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on Thursday afternoon

[Filtered from Hope, written]

I heard it takes a week for people to be revived. Is that just "about"? Sometimes it can be longer? [The top quickly scribbled out to leave only a period.] Li ~~She's la~~

[There's a sudden break into voice when Aerith mutters:] I feel sick. [She still has to check on Hope... she doesn't know what to say with Lightning not returning--yet. Because she is returning. ]

If anyone sees Lightning, tell her she's in trouble... [Not like it'll make her come faster.] ... for worrying people.

[Action (if people want?) open to Zack, Hope, people passing through the first two floors of C4, as she'll be passing through them herself later. Allie, if you want to do a backdated thread instead to play out her breaking the news, that's cool too? Up for anything, even if Aerith isn't quite. She's looking drawn and paler, despite the sun being out more.]

[ooc: Lightning will be back soon! Part of why this is dated to Thursday. I have to work, so responses will come in about six hours.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Raine's surprised to see Aerith waiting outside the door, but she supposes that makes it easier. It's not as if it takes very long to cross the square. The warmer weather makes travel quicker as well.]

Saving me the trouble of knocking, I see.

I forgot to say which apartment we're in. [Though it's likely Raine might have known already one way or another, but why take the chance?] Come on in. [She holds the door open for Raine, planning to proceed after her.]

[She smiles, following her lead.] I remember when you used to live just across way from us. But this is still close enough.

Mm... we were neighbors, weren't we? I should have put on some tea. [It's a vague thought, and she doesn't move to put on tea; there's just a mild glance at the kitchen area before she closes the door and moves over to the couch.]

...A lot happened because of the draft.

It's all right. [If anything, they could get some later. For now, there's hardly a rush, and she'll wait for Aerith to get comfortable before taking a seat as well.]

... There was a lot going on. [So many individuals. It's not easy to keep up with everyone.]

[She nods, clasping her hands together on her lap, her legs crossing at the ankle. Uncrossing, re-crossing the other way.]

...You can't tell anyone what I'm telling you, Raine. Please. It's not my secret.

I understand. [She's been in that position a few times herself, after all.]

Lightning wasn't--her death--she wasn't killed by the Third Party. [Aerith takes a breath, wets her lips and continues.] She knew, before we left for the draft, that she probably wouldn't survive. She was given a curse back in her world, and--we ran out of time, I couldn't help her. She was... transformed into a monster out in the field. [Her hands are clenched tight, the knuckles white. She doesn't know if Raine heard her broadcast a warning to the fighters of a monster rampaging...but if the other woman did, she can easily deduce the creature's identity now.]

[It takes her a moment to piece it together. So much had been going in in that draft, and the worst part of it all was really not being able to be in the right locations at critical moments.

Cursed, turned into a monster... it was something very familiar. And being put into a situation where you could only watch, with all your help being for naught-- she's quiet, eyes lowered.]

... So that was...

I'm sorry, Aerith. That sounds like it was a terrible situation for all of you.

[And guilt was the worst of it, no doubt. But what to do next?]

It's not over. [She looks up at Raine, her lips pressed tight before it comes out.] Hope was given the same curse. That's why I want to ask... if you could help him, or if you know anything about curses... I don't want him to go through it too.

I'll need to know more about it. What it was that triggered the transformation to begin with--you said that Lightning knew that time was running out before it happened. When she returns... she will still be at risk again as well, won't she?

I don't know how she'll return. [She doesn't want to worry about Light returning as a monster anymore so she tries not to focus on that, going to explanations.] They're given brands on their skin that change over time. Lightning's is here [motioning, on her chest]; Hope's is on his arm, here [indicating her left wrist]. They change... it sounds weird, doesn't it? They get red arrows, and then this creepy "eye" opens in the middle. ...When the eye opens, that's it. That's how she knew.

I'm hoping--Light told me of another person who was branded, but now the brand's messed up. Burnt out. It turned a lighter color and doesn't change anymore, so that person's safe. [She smiles hopefully.] Since it already hit all the stages, maybe it'll be a dud once she gets back.

You don't have to sound apologetic for explaining something unfamiliar. It doesn't seem strange to me. [She does listen to the explanations though, frowning a little.] So this brand... it sounds as if it's evolving all the time. And then once it hits that certain capacity, that's when the body itself is compromised.

Do you know any more about them?

It still seems strange to me... no, it's just awful. What's strange is the thinking that makes marks like them exist in the first place. [The whole idea behind it, ripping away people's choices... it strikes a chord, remembering how Sephiroth took Cloud's control of himself away.]

The brands are made by fal'Cie from their world. They're on a higher level than humans; one provides sunlight, another waters the food supply for the world. They provide for the humans. They seem like they're taking care of the humans out of charity, but then they'll mark people as l'Cie. People who are l'Cie get a "Focus" with their brand. a task they have to complete before the Brand finishes changing to avoid becoming monsters. However, even if a person completes their task, they turn to crystal. That's what Lightning told me. Eventually they might come out of it, but it could take years and years. Lightning and Hope won't complete their Focus, anyway. [She pauses.] The form she took... it had crystals in it, too.

[Monsters and crystals... it's hard to not be reminded of the use of exspheres in her world and how unmounted they could destroy or absorb a person. And the crystal... that had almost happened as well. Alike and unalike.]

... It sounds like a complicated system. [Were they actually higher beings? That would need to be taken into account. Though she seems lost in thought at Aerith's words, musing as she considers.] If something in this brand can be neutralized somehow--to slow or stop the progress.

[... Aerith nods.] We were thinking that, too. Before the draft, I tried to seal the brand so it wouldn't change anymore. Most of the time, it just didn't do anything. The last time I tried... it backfired. Bad. [She finishes with a deep frown, almost a pout.] My abilities can't help. The brand reacted so violently.

... Violently? What did you try to do, exactly?

I can stop time for things and seal away their magic. I worked on changing it so it'd be stronger, but in a smaller area... I didn't want to Stop Lightning. And it worked like it should when I tested it, but when I tried it on the Brand itself, it started glowing. Lightning was knocked out--my magic doesn't do things like that.

And... it changed again, at that moment.

So the brand essentially warped the use of your magic... and not only that, it used it to continue it's growth further. [She frowns. That isn't good--it means that it might be unpredictable were any forms of magic tried against it. So time would be needed.] Does any literature on them exist?

[She hadn't even thought of it that way--she'd thought it was a safe-fail lashing out at her magic, not that it was using it for its own purposes. That seems... even more disturbing.] There's some at the library. They focus more on their looks and history than how they work, but it helped me understand things a little better.

All right. Where would I be able to find them under? I'm afraid I'm still not certain which world they come from.

[She starts to answer, then stops, frowning at herself.] That's right... I don't know how I forgot. Lightning never took those books back. I can bring them over later.

...About the worlds. Lightning and Hope are from a world called Cocoon, but they were branded by a fal'Cie from Pulse. The worlds have similarities between their fal'Cie, but there are little differences too, and sometimes the books talk about both... there was a war between them. So the Brand they were given is a Pulse one. It came from the fal'Cie Anima.

Would like me to take them back for you?

[She nods and listens to the rest of the explanation though, making some notes of the names for later reference.] I see...

Hm. Do we have to return them? I don't think there's anyone else they'd be as useful for... Lightning kept them because she didn't want to give up. But thank you for offering. And really--really--thank you for listening. [It hasn't lessened her worry about Hope, but at least, now, there's another person who might be able to help him.]

I won't mention it to the librarians if you don't. [It's not as if Raine hadn't confiscated books from there herself. But that was before the library's 'system' was developed.] Though in that case, may I borrow them from you?

You're welcome. It seems like you have a lot on your hands... perhaps you can introduce me to both of them sometime, after Lightning returns and they have time to recover themselves.

on Thursday afternoon

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