Memories

[cetrary]

[ Aerith is in her garden tending to leaves when a few of them fall down. Memories. Well, she kinda expected it'd happen to her eventually too. So, she's not...entirely surprised. Still...the memories distract her enough to get caught up in the garden and her thoughts. ]

Bodyguard hiring is in session.

Hojo is a psycho. He's gross, disgusting, and a terrible person. Talks about dissecting her mother and just being generally creepy.

Aerith in a dress and Cloud is a loser.

Childhood captivity with Shinra. Content warning: attempted murder of a child.

Comments

Dress

[heartofalion]

[Silently Leon laughed at seeing Cloud so awestruck, even if he completely understood the why.]

Why did you think the dress was gaudy?

[She looked breath taking in it.]

[cetrary]

Because it was! [ So there! ] Didn't you see how hard it was to even walk in it? Plus it was just way too much. I don't think it really fit me.

[heartofalion]

Ya it looked almost like you couldn't breathe in it. That had to be tough.

[Even here, Aerith's logic and reasoning fell in line with the one he knew so it made him smile.]

[cetrary]

You definitely couldn't breath in it. I felt like I was going to rip it every step I took too. I think I'd have preferred something a little less tight and a little more simple, y'know? But Madam M thought I was already too plain for Corneo.

[heartofalion]

"Too plain?" Leon asked almost in utter disbelief. Sure he always thought of the Aerith he knew back home as Cloud's girl, and maybe that was the same here, but Leon did have eyes that were functional.

This Madam M had no taste apparently.

video;

[bufubulous]

[ Yusuke tilted his head slightly, he feels a bit bad for having seen someone’s memories on the network and all… But it was hard to not, especially when he was watching to make sure nothing else of his own life made an appearance. That aside, it was rather curious to see Aerith in her own world, and to see how she hired Cloud. ]

I beg your pardon for having witnessed one of your memories, Aerith. It seems your body guard was hired not a moment too soon, though I fail to see why someone would attack you in a place like that? [ And… Well… A curious head tilt, because Yusuke doesn’t think before asking. ] Did go on a date as payment afterward?

[cetrary]

[ She gave a little smile at that. ] It's alright, if it's going around it's going around. Nothing to be done about it. [ Even if it is a bit frustrating to have your private life put out there like that. ]

Oh, I don't think they'd have attacked if he wasn't here. Rude and Reno just do that sometimes. They're always pretty nice about not forcing it if I say no. [ More like she's really good at playing it off as not really a big deal at all. ] But I guess that's because they thought things wouldn't work if they dragged me in by force. [ It was that one rip. ] Reno never did get over being beaten like that though. Sore loser.

[ She laughs. ] Nooooot exactly. We didn't end up having the time for a real one.

[bufubulous]

So it was more like he was there, so they tested his capabilities? [ Yusuke definitely finds it a bit odd, but Aerith’s situation did seem quite complicated in her world… He tilted his head slightly. He frowned. ] I should hope no one would force you to go where you wouldn’t want. That seems terrible to take away one’s choice…

[ The question is, what did they intend to take her for and why would she go willingly at all? ] So losing to your body guard wounded his pride, then. Not everyone knows how to lose gracefully, though no one likes losing to begin with, I suppose.

A shame! It seemed like something you might have fun with, or at least I’ve been under the impression that dates are considered fun.

[cetrary]

Something like that. [ The tone was dismissive but upbeat. It was close enough to the truth, right? ] I don't think Shinra really cares about whether or not they do terrible things. As long as they get what they want that's all that really matters in the end to them. [ Boy does she hate them. It's hard to not though. ]

Losing to my body guard as a Turk wounded his pride. Turks are supposed to be super good at their job and he didn't even believe that Cloud was a first class soldier. [ For decent reason. ] Left a sore spot for him.

[ She laughs. ] They're supposed to be a lot of fun. But, you know, I had fun with some of the other things we did either way.

video;

[gadaboutdetective]

[ Hm… It seems it’s Aerith’s turn. It’s hard to not smile a little at the sight of Cloud, stunned by the sight of her, though. Actually, it was kind of amusing. ]

Even if he’s a man of few words, it seems you really left him wordless, didn’t you? I presume that’s the dress you that mentioned being so uncomfortable a while back.

[cetrary]

[ She doesn't even try to hide how amused that makes her. ] Pretty much! I kinda thought I'd done something wrong with how shocked he seemed. It sure is! Pretty gaudy, huh? I have to admit Cloud kinda looked better in his.

[gadaboutdetective]

Hmm I think it was a more good shocked than a bad, at least based upon his expression. [ Llewellyn had found himself stunned like that before, after all. It was funny to see Cloud dealing with such a situation, after all. ] It certainly looked complicated to wear and walk in given the length… Now you make me wonder how Cloud actually looked. Was his dress quite different?

[cetrary]

Think so? You never can tell with him. He's a hard egg to crack. [ She grinned though and nodded enthusiastically. ] It was terrible to walk in. Plus, I felt like I was constantly at risk of getting it too dirty or ripping it! After all the work we had to put in to get Madam M to agree to help us I'd have felt pretty bad ruining it before we even got the chance to enact our plan. [ Oh yes, lets talk about his dress. ]

It was! It definitely fit him a lot better than this one fit me. All of wall market was pretty impressed by him too! I think he earned a lot of admirers.

Audio: (Bodyguard - I literally want ALL of them)

[legacy_blade]

[Things Zack wasn't expecting today: seeing Cloud in the church, seeing Cloud taken on as a bodyguard (wow that was his job), seeing Cloud and Reno duke it out. But damn, it's not that hard to have this feeling of having failed them both.]

Hey Aerith! Do you have a bodyguard hiring superpower? Or are you just trying to make a harem?

Audio it was so hard to narrow it down to some

[cetrary]

[ She lets out a tiny laugh at the response. ] Hey, it's not my fault people are rude enough to drop in on me like that. [ Was it bad luck or good luck? Whose to say. ] Think I could actually get a harem together?

[legacy_blade]

Please tell me it's only twice.

And yes, you completely could do that, Aerith. Not even kidding.

[cetrary]

Only twice so far! But if it happened twice then maybe they'll be a third.

Hm...in that case, maybe I have a new goal to think about.

(captivity) (action; because he's going looking for her)

[mostlycloudy]

[It takes him a while to find her, but he doesn't know what state she'll be in when he does, or if she even knows those things were broadcast over the network in the first place. All he does know is that he wants to be there for her, and that's all he needs to get his feet moving.

As luck would have it, she's in the first place he checks, as he ducks his head through the gateway leading to her small garden.]

Aerith?

[cetrary]

[ At the moment he arrives Aerith is tending to a little patch of white flowers. She hears the gateway opening up and then the voice calling to her and smiles over with a tiny smile. ]

Here to check on the flowers?

[mostlycloudy]

No.

[He's left to wonder whether she's seen the network or if she's just acting brave like she usually does.]

I mean...I was checking on you.

[cetrary]

The flowers are going to take offense to that! [ She gives him a gentle smile, though there's something forced to it. ]

I'm alright. I take it you saw the network?

[heavenlyhonour]

[He's not sure he should reach out here but..]

I'm sorry about your mother and how Hojo treated you.

[cetrary]

[ Oh my. Well, at the very least she still manages to sound upbeat. ]

It's alright. I know Hojo pretty well and i know he treated a lot of people just as badly.

[heavenlyhonour]

[She's completely not wrong but he's still sorry as all get out.]

I see he hasn't changed.

[cetrary]

I don't think someone like him will ever change. The only thing that matters to him is proving his theories right.