Aerith Gainsborough (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inemeraldfaith) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
expiationnet2023-02-17 08:33 am
inemeraldfaith) wrote in expiationnet2023-02-17 08:33 am
Entry tags:
- arcane: violet / vi,
- caligula overdose: ritsu shikishima,
- doctor who: clara oswald,
- doctor who: the doctor (12),
- final fantasy viii: rinoa heartilly,
- final fantasy viir: aerith gainsborough,
- final fantasy viir: cloud strife,
- final fantasy xii: balthier,
- fire emblem geneaology: ethlyn,
- marvel comics: marc spector,
- marvel's gotg (2021): peter quill,
- original: abe no seimei,
- original: rin nesidri,
- tales of arise: law,
- tales of arise: vholran,
- tokyo revengers: takemichi hanagaki
[Video]
[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.]
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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So instead, she just shakes her head.]
No, no. I told you. I sell flowers. I just live in a dangerous place and I'm not exactly very good at fighting. I don't know what else to tell you.
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...Dangerous, you say? I am from a dangerous place as well but I'm only afforded bodyguards because I am a ruler.
[He sits back and sighs, finally deciding to accept her explanation. Different worlds, different rules, he supposes, but it's all so difficult to imagine.]
Where are you from?
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[If that's what he knows, why would he even think of anything else? In fact, it explains a lot about him. Why he approaches situations the way he does. Why he was so quick to be against the locals here. She still doesn't necessarily agree with what he was doing or why he wanted to do it, but she does understand.]
I came from a city called Midgar. It's a lot bigger than this. It has different areas that people live in. Artificial lighting. If you aren't living in the right place, then it's not very welcoming. But I didn't hate it. My mom's there, so it was okay being with her.
[She's downplaying a lot of it. Intentionally. Midgar can be a downright awful place to live in. But they have to make the best of a bad situation. One day, surely, it might not always be that way.]
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[Most of Lenegis existed under artificial light and even if it hadn't the parts of it he'd been confined to had no sky. On Dahna there was Cyslodia, where all the light had been stolen away by the Light Master Core.
He doesn't mention any of this but his expression becomes pensive.]
I did hate them. All of them.
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Were you alone where you came from?
[Not to say that maybe he just needs a friend, but there's no denying that if she didn't have some kind of support system, she might very well be a different person. Aerith's strength comes from those around her who rely on her. If she had no one... She wonders who and what she would be now.]
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What is it with you people wondering about my loneliness? How is it any of your business!?
[There is a "yes" in there.]
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I thought it was a very simple question, actually. There's nothing to be ashamed of if that's what happened. Everyone has different experiences and our experiences are what shape us.
[He's the way he is for a reason. She's the way she is for a reason.]
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[He scoffs incredulously.]
Is that what you took from my words?
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[No. He seems angry and resentful, which makes her think he might have been very lonely and that his reaction to that abandonment could be bitterness. But this is all purely conjecture. Aerith has, at times, perhaps been considered very observant and perhaps even intuitive, but she's not perfect either. She can only work with what she's given.]
But you can correct me if I'm wrong. I don't mind being wrong. I'm just trying to understand you better.
[Which may be more than he deserves.]
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[He answers simply.
Her apparent intuition is lost on him but he's always been better at reading situations than people. People were trouble. People always ended up hurting him. Until he gained his powers he'd tried to avoid them.]
That is all you need to know.
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Tells her nothing. Thanks, Vholran. Very helpful.]
Uhm. Since this isn't your home world, are you really the destined sovereign of anything here?
[Although in the same respects, that's like saying her being an Ancient means nothing here. Which... is also entirely possible. She has no idea what relevance her own predicament has here. For all she knows, it doesn't mean a thing.]
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I will be king! This world be damned, it won't take my destiny from me! Everything is mine to control! Everything
[The agitation is visible in his face.
Back home, he'd been given his powers, he'd had his kingdom, and he'd seen the path forward to killing everyone and everything who'd ever tried to control him. What any of that means here he doesn't know.
Will he have to start over? Can he claw his way home, to the realm where his throne awaits, or will he have to build a new kingdom here? He doesn't know, and he doesn't know where to start finding the answers.]
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I didn't say anything about it taking your destiny away from you. Just that this isn't your world. It isn't mine either. So you are just you here. And I am just me.
[In other words, maybe whatever's gone on at home doesn't quite matter so much. Of course, Aerith might not be saying that if she knew the depth of Vholran's ambitions, but eh, details.]
Tales of Arise spoilers
[He taps the side of his head with a gloved finger.
If not a ruler then what? Vholran Igniseri stripped of his crown is just Vholran, the Dahnan slave who had been beaten and abused his entire life. He never wants to be that person again.]
That's not an identity to shed like....what was it? That of a flower girl?
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But. That's. Okay!
She can handle this.]
Aren't you the one who thought I was a ruler to begin with? You wouldn't have known I was a flower girl if I hadn't just told you. No matter what kind of title you're wearing—ruler, flower girl, chocobo rancher, weapons dealer—you aren't just that title. There's a whole person underneath that.
[That is to say—]
You aren't just a ruler.
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I'm a destined ruler.
[Despite how aloof he tries to act, Vholran has never been able to keep emotion out of his eyes. They gleam now with mad uncertainty.
Who IS he beyond his destiny? He'd lived every day as it came, desperately trying to survive. He's never been able to analyze the landscape of his own heart. How could he when he was always avoiding lashes or trying not to starve to death? Is there a Vholran who exists beyond the sad, frightened creature he used to be? And if so, is that person someone worth preserving?]
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Yes, we've established that.
[She says very nonchalantly. She doesn't really believe this, but in the broad spectrum of things since they clearly aren't from the same world (probably), what she thinks of his future predestination as a ruler doesn't actually matter too much.]
I'm more curious about the guy beyond the ruler. What kinds of things you like. If you read books. If you listen to music. If you like certain kinds of food. What your favourite position to sleep in is.
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I read, though I do not see why this is important.
[It was only recently that he'd learned his letters, to read the writing of his oppressors, all to memorize an incantation or two that he'd been forced to memorize.
There isn't much literature that he's found that has broadened his perspective on things but he's at least broadened his vocabulary. He can feel that the skill has enriched his life in an insignificant way.]
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[This is a start. A promising one? She's not sure she'd go that fair, but it is definitely a start and usually that first step is the hardest one to be taking.]
It's important because it's something that separates you from duty. [Or what he feels is duty. She's beginning to get the picture that Vholran has been so obligation-bound that he may have no idea who or what he is outside of that. That's not living, in her opinion. Maybe... she can show him...] What kinds of things do you like to read?
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[He shrugs.]
Why the incessant interrogation?
[Casual conversation and ice breaker questions are entirely foreign concepts to him. He almost feels like he is in trouble for something.]
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[She's going to guess... potentially not. If it's true that he's a ruler, she's read books about how some rulers don't get to have friends like non-rulers do. If the same applies to him, then maybe that too is a part of what she suspects has been a good deal of loneliness.
Again, however, all conjecture. He'd hate to know she was thinking it.]
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[Why would they?
He ruled Ganath Haros with a violent, iron fist. If he wanted something people brought it to him. Nobody ever had to ask anything.
Thinking about it, if anyone had dared to ask him about himself as if he were somehow their equal, he would have gutted them on the spot.]
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And you don't think that's a little weird? We should want to know more about those who are around us. It doesn't mean that everyone here has to be friends, but there isn't anything wrong with getting to know those we're here with. You're only strangers until one starts asking questions.
[Which means Vholran is no longer a stranger. It also probably means he's not free from any future questions she puts against him.]
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As he stares down into the charm his thin lips twist into a scowl.]
Indeed.
But now you know more about me than I do about you.
Which makes you still a stranger.
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[She sure did just call this slightly intimidating man 'silly.' That's probably going to go over super well. Oh, well. Through the fire and the flames we carry on.]
But you're right. I keep asking you things about yourself and I should be a little more fair. I like books, too. I read a lot back home. I like storybooks. You know, the kinds that parents read to their kids. And I like books on plants! And I guess I like romance stories, too...
[Her smile is wistful and gentle. Is Vholran regretting this yet? He quite possibly could be.]
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