01 [voice]

[cetrary]

[ Despite the circumstances Aerith's voice sounds strangely chipper. In fact, you could go so far as to say she sounds bright and cheery. The complete opposite of how someone probably should feel given both the circumstances of their own world and the circumstances of their arrival in this one. That's Aerith though, someone has to be the cheerful one and she's content to be that person. Besides, she's had quite a lot of experience hiding how she really feels about something. ]

I bet people get pretty exhausted by newcomer questions, huh? I really only have one right now, so I'll try to make this short and sweet! All I want to know is if this place has anywhere that people can grow things that wouldn't be in anyone's way. [ She pauses for a second. ] Wait, maybe there's two things actually! Can people open businesses here? I used to sell flowers back home and medicinal herbs. It always made the people around really happy and something tells me people in this kinda situation might need some happy.

[ Another brief pause and then she laughs lightly before speaking again. ] Oh, wait-wait. Maybe there's actually three. If anyone hears this and also lives in the Gray building, I hope you like flowers!

Comments

[cetrary]

Now you know!

[chaosvessel]

I do.

[Maybe he should tell her that he knows her, but...maybe not. He wouldn't even know how to handle that if he did.]

I'm glad you're settling in so easily.

[cetrary]

It's not the first time I've been taken and kept in another place.

[chaosvessel]

I know.

[His voice was said and it was spoken before he really thought about the words. Then he did, but only too late.]

I...knew you, or...a version of you.

[cetrary]

Did you? From your own world or from another world like this?

[chaosvessel]

[He paused for a moment, uncertain how to respond.]

My own world.

[cetrary]

Oh. When do we meet?

[chaosvessel]

That's...a long story. I met you and the others in Nibelheim when you opened the lock on my coffin.

[cetrary]

You...were in a coffin?

[chaosvessel]

Yes. It was where Professor Hojo stored me after he...finished with me.

[cetrary]

Hojo...[ she swallows and falls silent for a second. ] You were an experiment of Hojo's too?

[chaosvessel]

In the end.

[He pauses.]

In the beginning, I was his bodyguard. He and...another scientist assigned to the JENOVA project after...Professor Gast went missing.

[cetrary]

I'm sorry. I know how he treats his employees. And his experiments. I'm sure neither were a fun experience. [ She pauses. ] Did you know anything about Professor Gast?

[chaosvessel]

Only what I'd heard. I never met him, but...but father knew him. One of his assistants...also worked with my father. He was a brilliant man, visionary, and thought he was doing the right thing.

[cetrary]

Your father was a scientist too then? [ She pauses. ] In the end, he did do the right thing though, didn't he?

[chaosvessel]

Yes. I was never...bookish. No like that. [He pauses for a moment.] He believed he had, and that counts for something. He left the JENOVA project after he learned it was not a Cetra. He should have tried to shut it down, but I don't think he could have known where it would go.

[cetrary]

Nobody knew where it would go. That was the problem, wasn't it? Nobody really understood what they were doing until they'd already opened the box. [ That'd been where everything had gone wrong, even with Hojo. He still really didn't have any idea what he was doing and what he was messing with. If she didn't hate him so much she might find it kind of tragic how little he really knew. ]

[chaosvessel]

Yes, and once Gast realized what they were doing, he was the better man and stopped. Hojo...enjoyed it.

...he even convinced his wife to experiment on their unborn child. Professor Gast was an admirable man, but not without his shortcomings.

[cetrary]

Everyone has shortcomings though, don't they? Just some people have good parts to them. Unlike Hojo.

[chaosvessel]

True.

Gast was a good man. [A pause.] You share his curiosity.

[cetrary]

I've never really had anyone compare me to him. Mostly it's just been to my mom. Then again that person comparing me was Hojo and he's pretty much obsessed with her.

[chaosvessel]

He's obsessed with all his specimens.

[A pause.]

It may be small comfort, but he doesn't survive.

[At least not to Vincent's knowledge...yet.]

[cetrary]

You sure about that?

[chaosvessel]

As far as I know.

[A beat.]

But knowing Hojo, the possibility he did survive exists.

[cetrary]

Knowing him he probably found someone else to push in front of him.