expiationnet | [Video]

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[At first, there's just audio as Aerith is figuring out how this little trinket works. A phone would be easier, wouldn't it? As video comes on, she lifts a hand and wiggles her fingers in greeting.]

Hellllooooo!

[If it seems like she's too cheery, that very likely might be the case. Despite the situation and bizarre circumstances, she's chosen to approach all of this with a great deal of optimism. Smile, and the world smiles with you, goes the saying.]

I understand a lot of us are kind of going through the same thing and it's probably very easy to focus on what we don't know, but I thought it might be kind of nice to have the reminder that we have a common goal. So whether you arrived here with friends or without them, you're not alone! You have the rest of us, too.

[Gesturing to herself, she continues.]

My name's Aerith and I didn't arrive with very much, but if there's something I can help you out with, make sure you let me know and I'll do my best! Also, if you're having trouble finding a place to stay, I'm sharing a room here with my bodyguard, but I'm sure he won't mind too much if we make a little more room for you.

[You're welcome, Cloud.]

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That's the goal. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be worried or concerned. I know it doesn't work like that. I just didn't think it was right to make people feel like they couldn't ask for help if they needed it.

[After some thought, Aerith smiles. She wonders how Cloud would answer such a question. Denial, maybe? He probably wouldn't say anything, actually. He's not really inclined to answer questions that are too telling about his person. She can respect that.]

We're good friends. At least, that's what I'd call it. He's reliable and dependable. Not very talkative, but he means well and he makes me laugh.

[Usually not on purpose.]

Yes--I'm sure there are people who are at a loss for what to do, but they don't know where they can go or who they can ask.

I'm glad that you arrived with someone you know and trust. [Ethlyn didn't, but her tone is warm enough that it's clear there isn't any subtext of jealousy.] And someone who will have your back in a fight, it sounds like.

[she so wants to know if they are MORE than bodyguard-and-protectee but that would be very forward to ask....]

Yeah. He will. I just hope he knows he can depend on me as much as I depend on him. But that's really neither here nor there! You arrived on your own, didn't you?

[She looks sympathetic over it. Like... pretty much everyone else that she knows.]

You're welcome to come to me for anything you might need. I don't know how much I can help you with, but I'd like to help where I can. Even if you don't have anyone from your world here, you have me. I hope that will be better than nothing.

It's true, I did.

[She had initially taken that as something to hold onto, that if she was in the afterlife but Quan wasn't... now, that hope is a lot shakier. But that's heavier than Ethlyn wants this conversation to be.]

That's very kind of you. [She smiles.] Being a friend is one of the best ways to help, I think. Everything starts from there--and it's a great deal more than nothing.

I think so, too.

[She brightens up. It seems like such a simple exchange, but it's really not. Ethlyn is right, after all. Friendship is not necessarily required, but it sure will make things more bearable. It's not necessarily that misery loves company, though that's a popular (and largely true) assessment. It's that she simply values togetherness.]

How are you finding things here so far? You doing okay? Anything you need help trying to get your hands on?

I think I'm settling in all right. I found a clinic in town, and they said that they're always looking for another pair of hands, so I have a means of support already! [Healing and medicine is one of those skills that will always be in need anywhere.] This place actually has quite a bit I haven't seen before--hot and cold water just from a valve!

Oh, are you a nurse? Like, did you work for an infirmary?

[She could be insensitive and add 'back where you came from,' but understanding Ethlyn has a very special situation, it's better not to address that. Besides, Aerith wants to be welcoming, not off-putting.]

It sounds like there's a lot of things here that you're just not used to seeing. I hope it's not too disorienting for you.

A little like that. I was a healer--mostly a battlefield healer. [She says it easily--it's what she trained to do while her brother trained to be a swordsman, both from an early age.] My healing staff came with me, but I know how to splint and bandage--and stitch, if necessary.

[but the staff is for not having to do that!

She laughs, in a self-aware way, at Aerith's observation.]

It's true, much of it is familiar but here and there I find things that are just--I'm not sure how to phrase it--well, they're the sort of things that people back home talk about inventing one day. And some of them are several steps further on than that.

I see!

[A healing staff... So maybe like a staff back from home that's been slotted with a healing materia? That's exactly what Aerith is imagining.]

I can use staves, too, but I didn't arrive with one and it wasn't like the staff itself could heal...

[Although there were other things that Aerith could do that relied on her own strength as an individual. Her unique connection to the planet's life force, though she's not inclined to say so. In this world, that might not even make a difference. In fact, she's expecting it not to. After all, she's not exactly connected to this world. That she knows of.]

It sounds like you know so much. If I get hurt, I know exactly who to go to!

[Well. Visually it does kind of look like that! If it was a staff someone had hot-glued materia to the end of.]

Oh--do you fight with it as a weapon, then? Mine is a little too delicate for that, but I know that some folk use quarterstaffs when they're on the road and they're worried about bandits.

[They're sort of a commoner's weapon, since making one is a lot less complicated and expensive than a sword, but Ethlyn knows that they can be just as fearsome in the hands of the right person.]

Try not to get hurt too quickly, though. [She winks.]

Kind... of?

[Using her hands, Aerith attempts to explain, but she's not particularly good at it.] I use magic. And some of that magic comes from my staff! [Very detailed, Aerith, thank you.]

I don't really know how else to explain it. I could probably use magic here without it, but that's not really the same. Back home, condensed forms of energy can be inserted into weapons and armour, even accessories, and allow users to use magic based on the kind of energy that's put in. So it can be elemental or healing or any other number of practical things.

Really! [Ethlyn looks keenly interested.] We store elemental magic in tomes--they can be quite bulky to haul around, as you can imagine, and once the magic's expended you just have either a burnt-out set of covers or a blank book, depending on how good the craftsman was.

These condensed forms sound much easier to carry around. You don't happen to have one with you that I could see, do you?

Your magic comes... in books?

[Finite uses, even. How does a book just know? But she guesses that's the point behind the enigmatic nature of other worlds. Transparently, Aerith doesn't seem to know what to make of any of that.]

Oh, uhm.

[There's the few in her bracelet, but it seems easier to not deal with the removal of those. Lifting her hands, she tucks fingertips carefully into the way her hair is pulled back and she withdraws a sphere, that almost looks like it's alive.]

They look like these. Pretty, isn't it?

[Her feelings on materia, she thinks, are sometimes mixed. When it is naturally occurring, that is one thing. But so much of the materia back home is artificially produced.]

Yes--it's quite a complicated process to make a magical tome. And you can be sure the bookbinders keep their secrets close.

[Ethlyn leans closer, as people in the modern world sometimes do when they're on a Zoom call and their partner holds an item up to the camera, even though there's no practical purpose to it.]

Oh... even looking through this, I can see that it's magical. [...] Do they all look like that?

[Because maybe it's her unfamiliarity with it, but to Ethlyn it looks rather special.]

I'd love to hear more about it sometime if you wouldn't mind telling me.

[No, really. Making a magical book sounds cool as beans! Aerith would love to hear more about stuff like that, especially because it seems like it belongs in a storybook.

She admires Ethlyn's reaction to it. All of the materia back home, even when it's manufactured, looks beautiful. Why shouldn't it? The contents seem to move with life. To her, that makes perfect sense. It's not so much a pulsating as it is just an ever constant movement.]

A lot of them do. They can be different colours, I guess. But most of them look like this. Except this one's special. It does absolutely nothing.

[She grins. Is she kidding? Is she serious? Who can tell for certain when it comes to Aerith.]

Of course! I can't claim to be an expert, but I've picked up a few things here or there.

[Not unlike a knight picking up a few things by hanging around the smith's while they bash a sword back into shape. And it is quite an impressive skill.]

...Nothing? [Ethlyn smiles back, trying to unravel that very question. Aerith, like her, seems to have a penchant for teasing.] It looks far too impressive to only be decorative.

Well, all materia looks like this, even materia that doesn't have any special properties. But it can't be used the way other materia can be, so that makes it useless.

[Which isn't exactly true. It's not wholly false either, though. True that the materia of Holy cannot be used the way all other materia can be. Aerith isn't fully certain of how to use it, but if her visions are correct, if what she knows is accurate, then—]

It's more like sentimental attachment. I got it from my mom when I was little. So it makes me think of her.

[Ah... at those words, Ethlyn's expression softens.]

A memento of your mother... that can never be useless. [...] I have a few things from my mother, and they would be of no consequence to anyone else--but they mean a great deal to me. So I understand how that feels.

[Aerith's smile grows. It's a reassuring thing to hear. 'Useless' is almost like a little joke to her. She doesn't seem inclined to give anymore details on it. Either way, Ethlyn is right. It's not useless at all.]

That's true. It's not important to anyone else except me. But that's the only thing it needs to be.

[Although that's not entirely the truth either. That little piece of materia means so much more than so many people know. Aerith can only hope that she won't truly have to use it. And if she does... Well. She can hope.]

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I am that person who leans closer on Zoom calls for no reason.

Me too :'D

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