avalononline | [video] - un: pinkmemory

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[video] - un: pinkmemory

[This ought to come as no surprise, really. Aerith spends a decent amount of her free time in the flower shop and usually if she appears on Avalon's network, it's there. That's precisely where she is on today's little impromptu Camelot interruption.

Resting on her forearm against front desk counter, she wears a smile, though it's a bit lighter than she normally gives.]

It's been a while since I said anything on here and I realised I should probably fix that. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Aerith. I run a little flower shop here in the business district of the town. I was in the middle of putting a nice little patio setup outside for people who come by, but it's getting a bit colder, so I think that's going to have to be put on hold until it warms up again.

[Taking a pause to sip from the cup of tea at her side, she sets it down before she continues.]

I know I've said this before, but if any of you have flowers or seeds from your home, for whatever reason that you would, if you bring them to me, I'll try to grow you something. I'm also really interested in trying to crossbreed some flowers, especially from anything that might be capable of surviving the colder weather. If you've already purchased flowers from me and you're having trouble with them, you can pay me a visit any time and I'll fix them up for you.

[After a moment's consideration, she sinks down a bit, shifting to settle her chin in the palm of her hand.]

And you know, with the weather getting colder, it's easy to get sick. Make sure you're taking care of yourselves. I don't normally offer this, but I have some healing magic, so if you find yourself not feeling well, I might be able to help you out there. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I like to think I know marginally what I'm doing. At worst, I can make you a nice pot of tea.

[That seems to be all she has to say because not long after, she turns off her video and audio feed.]

[Private to Tifa - Text]
Hey, can I ask you to do a favour for me?

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Living mortals...

[That's telling, isn't it. As Aerith settles on his words, turns them over in her head, she finds herself nodding slowly, putting the pieces together. Living mortals. Meaning, he isn't a mortal. From what little they've spoken, she'd not yet come to that conclusion. That seems to be the implication, however.

So if he isn't a mortal, what is he? She can't just ask him that. It's kind of rude...]

You're from... an afterlife, then?

[Because that too, would explain a lot. Especially how he follows that up with a lack of socialisation on his part. Talks of work. The afterlife would be a busy place, she supposes. Even the Lifestream seems a busy place, though Aerith wonders if she would call that an 'afterlife.']

[Ah.

Of course.

Thanatos should have, perhaps, grown more used to people not knowing exactly who he is by now. Usually the name is enough, but he does come across people who have absolutely no idea. Normally he doesn't get to know them well enough for them to have the opportunity to ask.

(Not a reflection on them, but rather on Thanatos himself, who is not the best at making friends.)

He nods slightly.]

Where I come from, I am the God of Death.

[And that... is probably going to open up a lot more questions.]

[Whatever Aerith might have been expecting is difficult to tell. For as open as she is about her feelings, it's not always transparent and this is one of those situations where she isn't just wearing those sentiments on the outside. It's not a completely surprising discovery. Confirms that he's not mortal.

...She's never met a god before, though. And it seems like Midgar doesn't really believe in things like that, so it's hard to have anything for comparison. Even the Cetra can't really be likened to gods and she knows very well she wouldn't want to be. The only thing she wants—]

I guess that would leave you pretty busy, wouldn't it?

[Finally, she breaks into a smile. She doesn't know him particularly well, and so she must study him. She doesn't want to push him because she doesn't yet know what he can and can't withstand.]

I've met a lot of different people since I've come here, but you're the first god. I don't know very much about them, so if I ask you something that seems silly, I hope you'll let it go and not take it too personal. It sounds like maybe... you don't share that very often, so I'll keep it between you and me.

[He lets out a soft sound through his nose. A quiet huff that might have been the beginnings of a laugh from anyone else.]

There are a few of us here. Myself, my twin brother Hypnos, and two others from the Egyptian pantheon. Those are the ones I'm aware of.

[Thanatos speaks quite freely of his status if it happens to come up, but it doesn't often. Were this a place not inhabited by a variety of unusual people, where someone of his height and colouring doesn't draw too many second glances, perhaps it would come up more often.

He shakes his head slightly.]

It isn't a secret, only something I'm not often prompted to speak about... and largely irrelevant while I reside here. [His power is gone, but he finds that some people still offer him the kind of deference that he might expect to receive upon finding out who he is.]

If you have questions, ask them.

I didn't know we had so many. But then it's not like I can say I know everyone here. I don't even know half of everyone here.

[Aerith utters out a short-lived laugh. It's almost a little embarrassing how little she knows, but she also understands why that might be. Her recent days haven't left her feeling particularly sociable and even when she is of that mind, she's usually buried in work at the flower shop.]

Is it weird to be around people who aren't gods like you? I feel like it'd be hard to find common ground because the experiences are so different. Lifespans. Things you've witnessed. I feel like you'd have a lot of experiences that someone like me wouldn't be able to understand very well.

[Although... she wonders where Ancients are on that line of things. Do they live on forever? Maybe, in the Lifestream. Not necessarily in the same way, she supposes, but maybe it's a little similar.]

[Thanatos can't really say that he knows more than a handful of people in this place, so he isn't going to judge her at all on how many people she does know. The question has him slanting his gaze aside in thought, his pale eyebrows twitching into a brief frown.]

It is strange, but stranger still to experience mortality myself.

[Being around mortals? He could have dealt with that, given time... but being like them as well had accelerated the acclimatisation. He is still not like those who have always been mortal and he would never be, but there were certain experiences now that he could share, rather than only hearing of them.]

But I may have views on humanity that humans themselves would find unpalatable or uncomfortable to hear.

You mean... a life that a mortal would have? [Or does he mean his immortality has been stripped of him since his arrival? It's never dawned on her that such a thing might be necessary. Maybe an immortal's lifespan (or lack thereof), is a part of their power? The surprise in her features lessens into something a little more kind and compassionate.] I wouldn't think how we live to be so different.

[Tipping her head as she eyes him, Aerith wears a small smile.] I'm sure not all humans would feel that way, but I think I can sort of understand. [She has her own opinions on humanity, given that she can't completely relate to it. Maybe she and Thanatos have more in common than she's realised.] You might only be able to say such things to certain ones. If you knew how they'd react beforehand anyway.

[At her first question he only gives a small shake of his head, and hopefully that is answer enough. He is mortal here, and as disconcerting as it was in the beginning he has reached a point of having a certain appreciation for it. Though he still worries very much about his brother and what might happen to him if he's pulled into danger. Hypnos has a strength of his own, but Thanatos has rarely seen him pick up a weapon.]

Hmm.

[He thinks that Aerith would probably understand, or at least attempt to. It's likely that many people would simply think that he was talking down to them, however.]

I have been able to observe mortals for... thousands of their years, though often only through the lens of my work. Closer encounters with them have often been... unpleasant. [We don't talk about Sisyphus.] As you might understand, they have tended to see me as... [... Funny, it's never really bothered him before.]

Only something that exists to take their loved ones from them.

[Her head tips as she listens. She can see where others might make that connection. Thanatos, the god of death, associated with loss and pain. It'd be hard for most others to see it as anything else.]

Humans are... self-focused. It makes sense that it's the only way they can see it. It's hard for humanity to see things outside of themselves.

[She says it knowing that she's partially human. Maybe it's because of her Cetra lineage that she's able to see things as they are. But it's still true. Even back home, humanity sees not the life that exists around them, but only that it can be harnessed to make an easier life for them.]

If I were you, I'd try not to take it personally. Humanity wouldn't have any idea how to handle gods or how to talk with them without being a little judgemental. It isn't you. It's them.

[A small smile twitches at his lips.]

You're kind to try and offer me comfort, but it isn't needed. Regardless of what mortals think of me, I will come for them in the end.

[So really, it doesn't matter what they think of him. As for what other gods think of him... well, that doesn't bother him much either. The ones who count think well of him and that's all he cares about. Maybe it's only here and now, when mortality has touched him as well, that he has really started to have any feelings at all about the opinions of others...

But in the end, it still won't matter. In the end he'll still come for them.]

And humanity is not so unlike the gods, in some ways. They are mostly focused on themselves as well.

[He says that, reassures her, as if she can just turn off how she is. Instead of protesting. Instead of explaining. Aerith says nothing about it and simply lets it go. Besides, he's already made his point very clear. He's going to do whatever's required of him and she supposes in a position like his, that's just how it is.]

Hm... I guess since I've never met any gods, I wouldn't have known. Maybe all life forms are a little self-indulgent.

[Maybe it's just a part of being imperfect beings. After all, she knows she's not free from selfish behaviour either.]

I... expect so.

[Even Thanatos, with his single-minded drive and dedication to his work, is not above that same self-indulgence. Though he would be loath to admit it he is self-centred and often petty, with a poor handling of his own emotions.

He does not know Aerith well enough to admit such things to her, but... perhaps one day. He is far more open to the concept of 'friends' now than he ever has been in his life before.]

But if that is indeed the case, how would you know if you haven't met a god? Perhaps you have, but they were so like you that you couldn't see it.

Well...

[Back home she's pretty certain, but maybe that's because the peoples' belief in gods isn't... It's a little different there. People believe in the Lifestream and that's not really like a godlike entity. She doesn't know how to call it. The closest thing she feels she can get to are the Ancients, but they certainly aren't immortal. If they were, she wouldn't be the last of her kind.

Aerith has no idea how to really explain it to him in a way that won't seem needlessly complicated.]

Hm. I just know. I can say for sure back home I haven't. Here I guess it'd be harder. If anyone else I've met here has been a god, they just haven't told me.

It's possible. My brother and I stand out, but you might mistake the others I know for another mortal.

[They stand out not only because of their height but also their unnatural skin tones and eye colours, but he's aware that those particular traits aren't entirely unique. All in all he and Hypnos do blend in better in Avalon than they might in the mortal realm back home, but Thanatos thinks he might have an easier time of it than his twin does.]

I'd prefer that it didn't change your treatment of me. I don't require anyone's reverence.

[He never has, but even less so here.]

[Is it bad that Aerith hadn't even considered asking him how he wanted to be treated? At some point, she's just assumed she ought to treat him as though she doesn't know about his lineage or who he is back home. After all, if he's just a mortal in Camelot, doesn't that... just make him like everyone else?

Out of courtesy, she doesn't ask or pry further into that. But it does leave her very, very curious.]

Of course. I'll treat you however you'd like. And if you want me to keep it a secret, it'll stay right between us. Not that I've ever made it a habit of talking about anyone to others. You have a right to your privacy, just like anyone else here.

[A mortal he may be now, but that hasn't stripped him entirely of who he is. There are thousands of years of existence and experience which have coloured and shaped how he views the world and for that reason his opinions can sometimes seem more than blunt.]

It doesn't matter to me if you speak of it. As I said before, I make no secret of who and what I am.

[It's just that it isn't too often that the topic comes up. Not everyone knows his name here.] If that would be all, though... I do need to take my leave.

[She simply eyes him curiously, realising she can't decipher truth from fiction simply because she doesn't know him well enough. But—]

Don't let me keep you. Come visit the shop again sometime, okay? Or maybe we can do something that isn't always involving me doing work...

[Aerith taps along her chin thoughtfully.] I'll have to give it some thought. I'll be sure to bother you again real soon, though. Until then, take care of yourself, okay?

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[video] - un: pinkmemory

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