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video; un: akashicknight

[Morgan's not his cheeriest today, which is to say, he's still smiling as he lazes about in a comfy chair, but not with ebullient glee.]

Just keeping y'all up to date -- with the regrettable disappearance of Miss Ardenbury, I've basically inherited her position as ambassador to End of the World?

[The armlet totem Cecelia'd been given dangles from a finger as he lifts it into view.]

So if anyone wants to pop on down there, let me know. If anyone wants to help out with the whole business, also let me know. And, uh, apropos of nothing, if you guys could all contrive to drop a pen or a sock or something in a place where it can easily get lost, I'd appreciate it. Bargaining stuff.

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I guess that's true. I don't think I was ever very particular about that. I don't really care about running something myself. I just wanted to be around plants and I wanted to remind people of their importance. If I could.

[A moment's consideration passes. She's trying to determine if anything would be different at all if she was just working at someone else's flower shop. From a ledger standpoint, probably, given that Aerith's books were a mess before Balthier stepped in to fix them. Other than that...? Aside from minute details, the goal is all largely the same.]

I'm going to guess it's because I'm not much for business. If I've learned anything, the actual business side of things doesn't suit me at all. I don't think I would have minded inheriting a flower shop, because then at least I wouldn't have to take all the responsibility for less-than-responsible business practises.

I kinda had the opposite problem. I didn't much care about the comics one way or the other, so much as a comic book business was a great way for me to get started because I knew some terrific artists who I could absolutely treat better than the people who they were working under at the time. But I made it a point to learn to love the comics, 'cuz it was all part of one greater whole.

By which I mean the executive half of the business, not martial arts, for once. [His grin is boyish and mischievous, because she surely knows that of course the whole business... is martial arts!]

I have no doubt you'd be good at the business side, if you found a way to get passionate about it.

You 'made it a point.'

[Aerith echoes him thoughtfully.] I'm not sure forcing one's self to love something is real love. [She replays that back and decides that it's not too judgemental for her to say. She knows how she can be with Morgan. They are two very, very different people with very, very different ideas of what's right and what's wrong.]

I should probably amend that and say I can't pretend to be interested in something I'm not. And I'm not going to. I believe in being true to myself and that's more important to me than trying to force myself into a position that I don't feel was made for me.

Bad choice of words. [Morgan waves a hand to put his statement in reverse.] It's not that I forced myself to love something... it's that I made a point to get into it enough to find what did interest me about it. Like dynamic action lines for figures, and composition of scenes. Pretty neat stuff that I didn't know about till I made a point to get into it, y'know?

[Nothing feigned or forced about his enthusiasm. Stuff like coloring and inking and lettering, that stuff did very little for him, but in the actual development of panels and poses he'd found something cool!]

I think I get what you mean, but at some level, you still forced yourself into it because you were desperate to find something to connect yourself to it.

[At least, this is her takeaway. She could be reading that all wrong, but it's what she's gleaning from what he's chosen to share with her. And there's nothing wrong, per se, with being desperate enough to get into that. Maybe she just can't relate because Aerith has never felt desperate to connect herself to anything. She hasn't needed to belong. She hasn't needed to integrate. The only thing she's ever needed to do was to be herself.

Morgan has probably not had it that easy.]

Now I know you know me better than that, Aerith? What's the thing I love most? And what's the thing I say everything is?

[His grin is boyish, wicked, and so very amused. But there's a very profound truth in that, too! Everything has something to teach him, so how could he ever need to force himself to find that something?]

But we aren't talking about martial arts right now. I know you're probably going to launch into this very cryptic explanation about why forcing yourself to connect to a business you didn't want is related, but you're just trying too hard to make it all about that and I'm not going to buy what you're trying to sell.

[She shakes her head. Nope. She's definitely not buying it.]

[Please forgive Morgan while he giggles like a schoolgirl for a bit. Aerith, you bring him such joy in a way no one else has. Every conversation they have, he's glad he met her.]

[Rather than point out that of course they're talking about martial arts, and even engaging in martial arts -- because everything is martial arts, but conversation and debate especially have some very clear parallels -- Morgan saves them both the eye-rolling. (Because oftentimes it's better to roll with the punch than block and counter!
Ha!)]

Well, then how about this? At no time did I feel forced or like I was making myself do something. I changed some priorities, to better serve some of my larger priorities, but people do that every day for much smaller reasons, right? There are things I think I'd have to force myself to try to enjoy, or appreciate... even if that's a flaw in my thinking, according to my own beliefs. But this wasn't one.

I think on this one you know yourself best.

[She'll have to concede on that, at least. She still isn't convinced, but it really just comes down to how remarkably different they are. She has long-since become accustomed to that.]

Sounds like you like what you do regardless and I'm pretty satisfied with just learning that. Thanks for sharing some more about yourself.

[Very different indeed, and Morgan loves it.]

You thank me as if it's something difficult for me. Maybe you should be thanking me for not going off on a long tangent about, like, eighty philosophical things.

[His bright grin is entirely genuine, though her comment has a corner of his mind turning -- since it happens to emphasize how little she ever shares about herself. Morgan nurses some suspicions on that score, quiet and nebulous, but they aren't to be voiced. Instead, he'll just look out for her. Without seeming like he's doing so.]

Well, I think if you had started doing that, I'm pretty sure I would have stopped you when it got to be too much. All things in moderation and all of that. I mean, I guess I'm personally a fan of living every day like it's your last—

[...Which is a little too literal for her, in hindsight.]

—but even I recognise that not every moment can be treated like that, so sometimes showing a little restraint is necessary. It all depends on the situation at hand. I'm sure there are moments that exist where going on about philosophical things would be absolutely merited.

[She just can't imagine what kind of situation would actually warrant that.]

Aerith, you are an absolutely wonderful person. That may have only tangential relevance to the topic of conversation, but I just had to say it.

[Honestly, she always manages to leave him with a smile on his face. One of the sorts that lasts.]

As a song I like goes, 'reach for the sky, for tomorrow may never come.'

[An absolutely wonderful person.

It's enough to make her pause for just a moment. Her smile is a little... bashful? Sheepish, perhaps. She can't quite say for certain, but it's something like that. She never really knows what to do with praise. With attention. Not that she rejects kind things. Only that she handles them less than gracefully.

Finally, she manages to issue a laugh.]

I'm only myself, Morgan.

[And then—]

Do you often use song lyrics as words of wisdom?

There's no 'only' about it, and that's all you need to be. [Absolutely no pause as he jumps from the one topic to the other.] I take song lyrics as wisdom when they're good wisdom! I am in a band, y'know. And we tend to do a fair number of covers, so what we cover is important.

[Sounds like something she's been told before...]

It sounds to me like you do everything, Morgan. Isn't it kind of hard to spread yourself that thin?

[Or maybe it's just that the only thing Aerith really does is misadventure and sell flowers. Doesn't have a real occupation. Doesn't do much of anything except survive.]

I'm the sort of guy who thrives on that! Staying active keeps me going!

[Which is true as far as it goes, but then Morgan twitches his smile slightly askew.]

Of course, it helps to be in incredible shape and have endurance like crazy. And sometimes I do wonder if I need to slow down. But I do like my pace, and I make a point of taking care of myself. And I end up being dumb when I don't keep myself busy.

I think if you like what you're doing, maybe that's all that matters. You know yourself better than anyone, which means your expectations of yourself and your limitations, too.

[And he doesn't seem to expect anyone else to follow the same lifestyle either, which is an important observation to make.]

[Morgan prefers to make himself into a walking advertisement for why his lifestyle works. He's healthy, happy, reasonably well-adjusted these days, and all around loving life. Isn't that a good way to be? Forcing people or even pushing them down the path isn't the way to get them to walk it. You gotta make the path appeal to them, so they choose to walk it!]

Limitations is key! There's always a very fine line you have to walk between accepting your limitations, overcoming them, and pushing past them. That, that is something that plagues everyone, I think.

I'd believe that. Everyone has a different pathway they have to travel and their own journey of self-discovery to make.

[Even Aerith isn't immune to that, though she might wish that she was.]

Yeah, but I think when you get right down to it, the problem's the same. What are your limitations? Why do they exist? How do you stretch them? And how far is too far? Hard questions to answer for anyone, but everyone has their own answer. The goal's just to greet every morning with a smile, metaphorical or not!

[How does Aerith greet the mornings, he wonders. Is the smile she shows genuine, one she holds for herself as well as others? Or does she put it on like her clothing, something worn to face the day?]

[She assumes that all of his questions are rhetorical. Whether they are or not, that is how she treats them. Truthfully, she has no plans of answering things like that. They're too telling and still she continues to have things she'd like to keep to herself.]

Maybe you should open up a business doing that. I've heard that smiles are infectious, so if you're starting every day with one, then you can share it with others.

[Oh, Aerith! You just keep giving him these openings, and his smile grows till it's a grin and he can't hold back any more!]

I did!

[This isn't a 'martial arts is everything' line, though, which he figures he'd better explain quickly!]

Training martial arts is all about answering those questions. Like how quickly can you move? Can you improve it? If so, how do you do so in a healthy way, as opposed to overworking your body or discouraging yourself by not meeting unrealistic expectations? And then, y'know, I try to impress that it's not just physical training, you can use that sort of thinking to answer other problems and questions too!

[...She's done this to herself, hasn't she?

Aerith laughs weakly and she listens patiently until he gets to the end of reasons upon reasons upon additional reasons as to why everything really does come down to martial arts. Again, she has to wonder why she hasn't asked Tifa about her thoughts on this. Or why she hasn't introduced Tifa to Morgan.

She makes a note to put that very high on her personal to-do list.]

I'm going to pass all of that along if I come across anyone who needs that additional assistance.

It's much appreciated. [Aww, he thought she'd at least have to admit he had a point in all that! But maybe she just refuses out of stubborn principle. Either way, he doesn't lose even a fraction of his smile, shrugging with his free arm.] 'Cuz I promise I send people your way if I can find an excuse for them to get flowers!

Well, that's what we ought to do, right? Support one another when the other needs it. I know that I can always rely on you to lend a hand. Hopefully, I'm able to give the same impression in return.

video; un: akashicknight

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