AU Event: For the Planet [action]

[earthlychild]

[Who's the lady dressed all in dark gray and blue? Why she's familiar....almost. Aerith strides right past people in Garden, her loose (and suddenly short) hair flying behind her. There's no time to stop and sort out her memory: she needs to confirm for herself that things really are as safe as they appear to be. She tightens a dark blue scarf around her neck and steps onto the observation deck, gripping the ledge tightly.]

I'll complete my obligation and then I'll leave. I have no use for this, and it has little use for me. How can any of this be important in the end? In the end, it's still our job to ride the tide. Not control it.

[But she is definitely going to ride the tide back home straight into kicking certain awful people in the face, she thinks, clenching her fist. She glares out into the gray of the day, allowing her anger to start to pass.]

Comments

[hispeedchase]

[Chase had been shooting grats when he thought he thought he saw Aerith walk past. He follows her to the observation deck.]

Are you all right?

[plotdeviceturk]

Miss Aerith?

[His tone is soft, the change rather apparent and it's got him worried.]

Why don't you step back a bit, it's quite windy.

[earthlychild]

I'm not hurt and I'm not being chased. So there's no danger. I'm just...irritated. Are you usually cooped up here like this?

[Aerith has faint, confusing memories of a man who'd never seen combat before coming here looking vaguely like this one. That didn't match the present, so she'd just assume it was a faulty memory. He had to be some kind of soldier too.]

[earthlychild]

[Aerith freezes. It's been so long, but she remembers that voice. That voice...]

Who sent you? Why?

[Her hand twitches, reaching for the staff folded on her back.]

[plotdeviceturk]

Sent me?

[He's unarmed, and opens his hands as if to prove it to her.]

Nobody sent me.

[earthlychild]

[Aerith's frown stays. He probably means he'll be attacking with magic, and she has to prepare for that.]

So it was all your idea to impersonate Tseng? Who are you?

[plotdeviceturk]

[There's confusion evident on his face now.]

Why would I impersonate myself? I am Tseng, though... apparently not the one everyone seems to know. We've been over this...

[earthlychild]

You can't be. You're dead.

[Aerith's learned to control her emotional expression well, but the shake of her hand is still a tell.]

[plotdeviceturk]

I wasn't informed of that, sorry.

[He shifts his stance slowly, changing his balance to be able to move if she comes at him.]

I don't mean you any harm, Aerith. This place does strange things with time. I think I may be from the past.

[earthlychild]

[Aerith wavers, but she knows she can't let her guard down yet.]

Like that other self? I have some strange memories of pink.

What belongs in the past...I can't believe it has returned.

[plotdeviceturk]

Yes, like that. I seem to be suffering a similar problem only mine involves wearing a tie.

[There's a soft smile in there, his attempt at being reassuring.]

...may I ask what I was in your past?

[earthlychild]

[Aerith sighs and folds her hands. Yeah, he does look different...but not by much. Her fond memories of him are surfacing even now, and she bites her lip.]

You protected me from Shin-Ra, at great risk to yourself. It was hard for us, we couldn't openly be friends...but one day, we met in the wrong place. I was captured. You were killed.

[She's only willing to say this because she's worked so hard to bury the pain. But this knife is twisting even now.]

[plotdeviceturk]

That... does sound like something I would die doing.

[It's a soft admission, and matches the softening of his expression.]

It's not something done lightly, but... I'm here now and I don't have any plans on leaving.

[fierybluebird]

What makes you think we're controlling the tide instead of riding it, eh?

[Don't look now, but Marco is perched on the railing, taking a smoke in human form, but he looks up at Aerith's mumbling to herself.]

[rerebrace]

Strange place for a sermon, lady.

[There's a dark-haired teenager lounging atop the ledge she's leaning on, one leg hanging down, as if it's the most comfortable seat in the world. The teeth visible in the amused grin he flashes her are disconcertingly sharp, but apart from that, he's a bit too small to look terribly threatening. The question is, does he look familiar? Because he certainly isn't showing any sign of recognising her.]

Kudos for getting to the point, though. I think a lot of people could stand to hear it more often.

[hispeedchase]

[Well sure was... literal.] ...Aerith?

[And then he decides to let it drop and play along.] What, in garden? Sometimes. I haven't taken a mission since Balamb came under attack. Feeling restless?

[earthlychild]

Because we have to take control of our fates. It's no use being someone's pawn.

[earthlychild]

A sermon?

[She looks...faintly embarrassed, but shakes it off.]

It's been a long time since I could be accused of that. I should probably thank you.

[earthlychild]

That's my name. You must've met the other girl.

[She smiles sadly.] No, I'm not craving attack. I'm craving something different. I want to rise above the trouble here.

[earthlychild]

[He's good. Aerith has to admit that. But she shakes her head.]

Believing you would be so simple. But I mustn't.

[fierybluebird]

[Snorts, blowing smoke to the wind.]

And just who are you a pawn of?

[earthlychild]

No one anymore. I might've finally found a place they can't reach me.

[fierybluebird]

Isn't that reassuring then?

[rerebrace]

Oh, you just like to climb on top of high places and spout a load of preachy crap for no reason? Maybe you need a real hobby.

[He shifts on his perch a little to make himself more comfortable, completely unconcerned about falling off.]

Pretty good metaphor for something you came up with on the spot, in that case. The tide looks like it only flows one way, but it always goes back out. It's just too large a pattern for one human to see right away. There's no point trying to go against it. If more people understood that... [A brief, unpleasant laugh.] Well, if more people understood that here, I might actually be getting somewhere.

[Apparently he doesn't have a problem with preachy as long as he's the one delivering it.

He looks her over with slit-pupiled eyes.] Guess I'm out of luck here, too. Don't remember seeing anyone like you around before.

[jointheclub]

Good morning, Miss Aerith!

[Seeing the Instructor on the observation deck might seem a bit odd, but in fact he has his wand out. Casually, he points it at the sky, drawing down a tuft of cloud like a cotton ball.]