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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[An army that could even be literal if pressed. Rinoa happens to have a decent array of spells as well as her weapon. Nice doesn't mean they have to be a pushover after all. Not... that Rinoa's looking to fight anything more than a few beasties anytime soon.]

Yeah, sounds about right. I have someone who it'd be nice if he was here, but I'll be fine without him too.

[She's not actually that hopeless that she can't manage by herself. Besides, it's not like Rinoa's truly alone there are a bunch of other people around!]

And I think that sounds like a great idea. No matter what happens, it'll go better if we face it together.

[Some might say Rinoa's taken the entire situation in a way that's a little too happy go lucky, but keeping positive is the only way she knows to move forward. Anything else and...]

[She doesn't say it, but Aerith hopes that Rinoa can have that someone she'd like to have here as well. It's more complicated than that and she knows it. On one hand, Aerith feels selfish to have that thought. The others they know back home, both her and Rinoa, have their own lives and priorities. Would it be fair to want everyone to be together? To disrupt those lives?

Either way, they're here now, so perhaps it doesn't matter.]

I feel the same way. Let's work on it together. Right now, I don't think there's many people who share that opinion, but we have time. If we're patient, we'll get there. I truly believe that.

[How much time, she can't say. But they certainly have some.]

[In her defense, if Squall knew she was here odds are he'd probably want to be here too. At least she hoped so anyway. How's he supposed to be her Knight if they're in different worlds entirely? He's lucky she's not spiteful enough to fire him for leaving her alone like this.

But that doesn't matter, because that was back home and this is here. They're clearly very different places with very different realities.]

From the looks of it, we've got nothing but time to change their mind. Since it doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon.

[It's not that Rinoa's bitter, it's just that she's accepted that for now, at least, this is her reality and she's going to make the best of it. Part of that is getting everyone on the same page, or at least as many of them as they can.]

I think you're right. If there's an exit, we definitely haven't found it yet.

[Which means it's probably not that easy. With that in mind, if there was an exit in plain view, it'd probably be a trap. Things that seem too good to be true are usually too good to be true. Aerith is hopeful and optimistic, but not naive. She has circumstance to thank for that.]

I'm fine with keeping an eye out for something like it, but it's probably not going to just be handed to us. Why bring a bunch of random people to this place if we could just conveniently leave? Doesn't make any sense. I don't know what the aim is here, but it's just more questions on a pile of other questions.

I might not be the most experienced person here, but the power required to bring this many people from all over? This isn't something that can be solved simply.

[The sheer amount of power alone to do something like this? Rinoa's pretty sure that's something more extreme than anything she's ever experienced. This seemed like it'd be something that even Ultimecia couldn't have done despite all her power. Not that she's ruled the Sorceress out entirely just yet.]

Exactly! Whatever's going to happen it's going to take a lot of time and work.

[There has to be a reason for what's going on, even if none of them know it yet. Until they do, it feels like anything they'd even try would be about as productive as a dog chasing it's tail.]

What's that saying? This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon?

[Something she's heard a lot, given her somewhat reckless, impatient nature. Not that she's good at listening to the saying most of the time, but it's sure useful when you want to sound smart.]

Until we know more about this world and what's going on, I'm not going to do anything rash. So for now it's making sure I don't have to sleep outside and I get to eat good food every day. I don't think that's so wrong.

[And if she also gets some cute new things on the way? Well.... why not?]

[It sure can't. This wasn't just a couple of people. It was... more than Aerith can fit into a hug, and she is good at hugging. An expert, she might say. Either way, it's a fair amount of people, which means whoever had the ability to do it is very impressive. Or many whoevers. Whatever the case might be. She doesn't even know if they're looking for a person or what.]

This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon...

[Aerith tries it on for size with some consideration and she nods. Yeah. It sure is that, isn't it.]

I hope the others here choose to take a similar approach. There are people who are angry and afraid, which is understandable. Fear and hostility can cause irrational actions, though. And it's possible that if there's a consequence for that, it might impact all of us. I just hope that people will keep their cool for a little bit. The situation isn't favourable, but it could also be so much worse.

[They could be in jails. They could be prisoners. They could be in laboratories, facing experimentation.]

[She's not sure it's a person at all. An entity maybe? Which is definitely different than a person. Scarier probably. So not something she's keen on rushing into blindly.]

Makes sense, doesn't it?

[Apparently phrases that belong on motivational posters also going to be a Rinoa thing.]

Well yeah, it's understandable to be scared or angry. [Honestly the entire situation is a little scary, even Rinoa can admit that.] But I don't think an of the people here are at fault. So it wouldn't be right to take that out on them.

[And not just because of how it could make the situation worse. But the locals don't really seem all that... combative and there's no way Rinoa could just let someone bully them.]

Absolutely! This is a lot better than it could have been considering the paper.

[Sure, she hadn't actually stayed in a prison really, but that's not the point. They're scary and gross and no thanks. Freedom is so much better.]

There's that, too.

[Ah, yes. Everything seems to come back to the parchment—contract?—they all arrived with. Issuance of crime committed? 'Crime.' A word that deserves a little closer inspection because she isn't sure the crime of 'abandonment' is on the same level as something more extreme, such as 'extorting the masses,' or even something like 'capitalism.'

She's tried not to think too much about her own, though like any of the others, she's probably given it plenty of thought. She also hasn't asked Cloud about his and he hasn't asked her about hers either. That might be for the best. It's very likely neither of them are ready to talk about it. And might never be. She has to be willing to accept that. Besides, she wants to really understand hers before she makes any such thoughts.]

We'll have to get to the bottom of those as well. I was talking with someone else here a little after I arrived and told her I thought it could be less a 'law' type of system and more like... I don't know. Trials and tribulations. Something that judges us as a person that we have to pass. Wish we knew a lot more about those and what we might have to look forward to. There's a time limit on those and we don't know what that is.

[Could be tomorrow. Could be a month from now. A... year?]

[Honestly, she hasn't stated her own crime outright just yet, but Rinoa's crime of 'Rebellion' is one she'll wear proudly if it becomes known. The fact that she's stood up against injustice is a badge of honor for her. If what she's done is wrong, she doesn't want to be right. Of course... this means she might have a rose colored view of other people's crimes because of her own.]

It's hard to say, since we don't really have anything to compare it to right now. All we've got for now is our best guesses. It's better to treat all our theories as just possibilities until we really know what's going on.

[She pauses, thinking it over for a moment. Though, what she comes up with might not be the most helpful in the long run. She's pretty good at wild guesses after all.]

For all we know, the sentence could just be a bluff, a way to throw us off what's really going on.

That's true, too. It would be a very successful distraction, I think, if that's intentional. A lot of people are focused on it. Makes me wonder what might actually be going on that we should be looking into.

[In the end, though, it's still all guessing. No answers. They can only guess.]

I feel like we could go around and around in circles and still not know what's going on. Soooo... let's do our best to focus on the things that we do know! I don't know when we're going to find out more, but it's only a matter of time.

Exactly. We'd just end up going in circles. What's the point in that? I don't know about you, but I think it's probably more fun to watch a dog chase it's tail than to be the dog chasing it's tail.

[Rinoa makes a face, even thinking about it, nose wrinkling. Wouldn't that just feel silly?]

I just think focusing on making the best of now, until we have something to go on makes the most sense. So that's what I'm going to do.

I don't know... It'd probably be pretty fun to be a dog. At least a puppy.

[Head empty, no thoughts? What kinds of things to dogs think about anyway? Probably food, belly rubs, sleep, and other simple things like that. It is probably considerably easier to be an animal. If dogs were brought to this world, she has to wonder if they'd be in a similar uproar.

...Probably not.]

But at the end of it all, we're not dogs. And I don't mind responsibility, but like you, I'm not going to lose sleep over it all. I'm okay with just taking every day as it comes.

[No matter how complacent that makes her look. There's method to the madness.]

I don't know. [Rinoa makes a face.] I know what Angelo eats, and I've gotta say, I'd really rather not.

[Some of the things her dog'll put in her mouth? Yeah... that's a hard line for Rinoa. No thanks.

She loves dogs, but definitely has no plans on ever being one. Being a person is already enough without trying to be something else on top of that.]

Exactly! Who's to say we're not taking things seriously enough. Maybe I'm just making sure that when the time comes I'm serious for when I really need it.

[Saving her seriousness, because she can't be so serious it hurts every hour of the day. That's exhausting.]

[Plenty of people, it seems, are likely going to look at how Rinoa and Aerith handle things and assume they're not taking things seriously enough. But Aerith hardly feels the need to say as much because it'll likely be demonstrated more than once as time moves forward...]

I think that's the perfect way to go about it. If the others don't understand, then that's on them. Optimism is a strength. We're just showing the others how strong we are.

[It might not seem like much to everyone else right now, but it will in the future.]

[They can struggle and fuss all they want, Rinoa's going to take one day at a time and just do her best to live each day. Anything else? Why that's extra.]

Exactly! And maybe they can't see it right now, but we'll show them eventually.

[But it's sure good to have someone on her side in this. Being the Only One can be awfully lonely. She'd know.]

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[Video]

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Every time I see Aerith's icons I whine once more for a proper VIII Remake. Never gonna happen :c

This is such a mood. I keep wishing and hoping and praying. (To no avail.)

I'd even pay full price. I almost never full price games.

If they released it on multiple platforms, I would buy it on each platform. lol

Sadly I only have my PC and a Switch. Maybe no switch ports please. lol

Beggars cannot be choosers. BUT WE CAN DREAM.

Absolutely! They can take my money but they can't take my dreams! ROFL

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