[ closed. ] to those who loved this world, and knew friendly company therein—

[evanescent]

WHO: Aerith Gainsborough & various
WHEN: Aeveuer
WHERE: Dreamland
WHAT: Memory share event
WARNINGS: Warnings will be placed in the toplevels that warrant it. General blanket warning for violence and child endangerment/experimentation & human experimentation though.

[The mirror you face is ornate, cast in a frame of golden wood that has been carefully carved in the visage of lilies. More details become clear the closer you get — more carvings of interlocking vines and flowers. On the bottom of this framed mirror is the carved image of two greatswords, crossed over one another. On the top, in the center, is a glowing circular gem, smooth and facetless, inlaid in the center of a carving that looks very much like a ribbon. The closer you get to the mirror, the more you begin to see it — tendrils of aquamarine light in the same color of that jewel, that ripple at the surface, like a lake disturbed by a stone.

Though it seems inexplicable, you think you hear birdsong.]

[ooc: starters below. if you'd like a starter featuring any of these memories or anything else, hit me up on godsibb @ plurk or send me a PM.]

Comments

[evanescent]

SOLDIER. [Aerith repeats, and indeed it seems more like a title than a role.] An elite branch of Shinra military — one of their many points of company pride.

[This is said with an eyeroll, seen even from a distance.] First Class. He told me it was really competitive, especially to get to his rank. I'd thought he was bragging at first, you know? He was big on grandstanding. Showoff is right.

[She'd heard that. But she seems to take no offense.] But after... I've met a few others like him, and he wasn't kidding. Augmented supersoldiers. Sort of sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, huh?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Well, that was...awfully on the nose, as far as organization names went. Serviceable, but not very creative.

Kaede's tail swished at the end like a feathered cat's, no longer needed quite so much for balance as the Chimera found her footing on the rubble pile.]

No more than mutants born with uncanny powers, I guess.

[Another swish, a bit more pensive than the first.]

How long have you known him? Zack.

[evanescent]

[It's interesting enough phrasing for her to wonder at it, her head tilting in curiosity.]

Guess not. Are you speaking from experience?

[The next thing is enough to throw her, however, which is not something that happened often.] You know him? How?

[long_live_the_queen]

I am one. Was, before the mirror.

[Kaede started to lift her hand to gesture at her horns--and stopped herself midway with a snort. Pointing those out wouldn't help much for weirdness shorthand any more, would it?]

He was here in the city before; a Monster, like me. [Another pensive swish.] ...few months ago. He had wings, horns. [A snort.] A tail he kept thumping into walls like a dog.

[evanescent]

[Some of the good humor leaves her expression then. Her posture too: she sits up straighter, focuses, her brow furrowed.]

He was here?

[She looks on at her memory — this version of her years ago, laughing at one of his jokes — and a shadow crosses her face.]

Guess I just missed him.

[Again.] Just my luck! Talk about star-crossed lovers. What a tired cliche.

[She seems to bounce back quickly, or at the least is resigned to it, which seems the more likely answer.] "Mutant" is a harsh word to use for yourself, isn't it? But if that's the case, I can see why you two were friends.

[In her mind, there's no doubt they weren't. Zack could make friends with anyone, wherever he went. That's what she thought, anyway.]

[long_live_the_queen]

Monster doesn't really have the same ring to it any more.

[The memory moved and the girl in the rafters moved, and Kaede had to glance between them again. She wanted to see what the stranger was doing (what if she was going to drop on Kaede's head?), but she also wanted to see Zack's smile. Quite the conundrum.

There was something more inquisitive than wary in her glance, too. They didn't just know each other, but were together, too? Kaede did...admittedly, feel a little jealous prickle. But it was soon buried under nostalgic melancholy. Her tail stopped swishing now.]

He...helped me. Several times. And didn't laugh at me or say I was crazy when I told him I was supposed to be dead.

[evanescent]

No! I suppose it doesn't. Not here, anyway.

[Aerith swings her legs back and forth in the air. She could float down, if she had the inclination to. For now, though, she's content to stay up above, reading this creature — this girl's — body language.]

That sounds like him. [Her smile is fond, a little amused.] He could always see the best in everyone. That's why I liked him so much. No one had ever really talked to me like he did — like I was just a normal person. No one really has since.

[She rests on the rafter like a lazy cat, one arm hanging over it to grasp at empty space. Curious now, she asks, without preamble:] Did you have a crush on him?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede listened, and blinked. She hadn't quite been able to put her finger on it before. But that was how Zack had been. He hadn't looked at her differently because she was different, or looked scary. He didn't care if she had horns, long before that stopped being important. And he didn't care that she hissed and spat at him sometimes like an overdefensive cat who kept insisting she didn't deserve friends.

But before she drifted back into reminiscence—]

Uh—

[That question sure set her off balance. The Chimera stopped suddenly—even her tail froze mid-swish. Her ears couldn't turn colors anymore, so—if she just looked away fast enough, no one would see the bright spots on her cheekbones where they were trying to blend into her hair. Nope. Nothing to see here.]

Yes. [Her answer was surprisingly blunt and forthright, once Kaede wasn't making eye contact.] We were...friends, first.

[evanescent]

[The answer, expected, Aerith seems to accept without any judgement. There is no flash of ugly jealousy in her expression, no sudden tensing or annoyance. Only a serene sort of acceptance.]

Yeah, he was that kind of guy.

[She tilts her head some, curious at the response — was she embarrassed?] I'm glad he was able to be a friend to you.

[a pause. then:] What's your name?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede didn't feel awkward about many things. But this seemed like it was edging close. And--more than that, there was a witness to her having an emotion.

How embarrassing.

The Chimera mumbled a plausible affirmative noise, and her tail resumed its swishing like it had never stopped.]

Kaede.

[evanescent]

Aerith!

[She announces in response, though she had not been asked for her name.] It's a pleasure to meet a friend of Zack's.

[Is that tongue-in-cheek? It's hard to tell if she's being sincere or just joking. Either way, she decides to land from her spot on the rafters — she does this gracefully, floating languidly until she lands softly on her feet.]

Maybe we could be friends too?

[long_live_the_queen]

[She heard movement overhead--an ear turned first, then the rest of the Chimera's head as she heard the whisper of cloth drifting closer. Kaede rose to four feet, watching Aerith with a cautious gaze as she drifted down and down, like a bit of dandelion fluff. The embarrassed flush was mostly gone now, the only major hint it had been there being how her feathers were still a bit ruffled.]

...I'm not good at making friends.

[evanescent]

Hmm.

[She pretends to give this serious thought, and then:] Oh yeah? Well, I am. [Whether or not that was true was up for debate, but.] I bet I could balance you out.

[She holds out her hand to shake. If she is troubled by Kaede's appearance, she seems to give no indicator of it. The younger version of herself and Zack are still talking — about how she might fill all of Midgar with flowers.

She had, eventually. Though not in a way either of them had expected.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede's ears angled backwards when a hand approached, a response she couldn't rein back in time. Her eyes flicked from the hand to Aerith's face and back again, the thoughts turning over in her head like a quasi-feral cat undecided about this human contact thing.

But she wasn't afraid of her. Even with Kaede's hands all covered in claws and scales like a bird's talons.

Slowly, with a pause and hesitation, the Chimera extended her hand back. Her touch was surprisingly gentle, even tentative, with her claws held back. And there was the expected prickle of a Witch's touch as the Monster's hand settled against Aerith's palm. Dulled by the dream-distance, but there. That wasn't so bad.

It just took Kaede a socially awkward moment to get there.]