[video] - un: pinkmemory / backdated to 7 february

[inemeraldfaith]

[It's a flower shop.
It's the flower shop that shows up in every single one of Aerith's video entries to the network.

She's panning her camera over a variety of flowers she has on display at the front window, freshly sprayed and watered.]

♪♫ Happy birthday to meeeeeee ♫♪

[Aerith is not a well-versed singer and thus this is a short-lived experience. She hums the rest of the song to herself and then points to the sign for Don't Stop Be-Leafing.]

If you need flowers for anything, please come on by. I'll be providing them at no cost in celebration!

[In the background, there's the voice of one slightly exasperated sky pirate.]

We've talked about this; we can’t give everything away for free.

[OOC: Feel free to address Balthier. He's what keeps the flower shop up and running normally.]

Comments

[inemeraldfaith]

I don't think it matters whether it's happened or not for either of us. You're just looking for a way to get under my skin. I think. You want to be around me much more than you're inclined to say.

[sefirot]

No, I simply want you to admit to the truth.

[inemeraldfaith]

[Therein lies the question. Has it already happened? Perhaps it has, in a way. How else would she know of it? She never needed him to tell her that he was at the helm of it all. She didn't know the details, but she knew the what. In this case, isn't it the what that's most important?]

I can't tell you that, because I don't know for sure.

[It's a surprising bit of honesty for her in his presence. He doesn't deserve it in the slightest. But it's about as informative as her refusing to say anything at all.]

[sefirot]

Don't you? I think you do, but I think there's part of you don't doesn't quite want to believe.

[inemeraldfaith]

I don't have a reason not to believe what you've told me if that's what you're getting at, Sephiroth.

[While it would be easy to dismiss things he's said, she gets the feeling he has no benefit to misleading her when it comes to what supposedly awaits her.]

We've already established that if I'm alive, it obviously hasn't happened yet. I'm very much in the flesh. And I'm no spirit. So I'm not really sure what you're digging for. I can't tell you what I don't know.

[sefirot]

You can tell me what's the last you remember before your arrival here.

[inemeraldfaith]

I don't think so.

[She shakes her head at him. Because she knows if she does, that's just about the same as offering herself up to him on a platter. Besides, if anything, she's trying to find a way to circumvent what might have once been considered certain fate.]

We aren't those kinds of friends.

[sefirot]

Come now. I'll tell you what I last remember if you state yours.

[inemeraldfaith]

This doesn't seem like a very fair trade-off, considering what we know about one another. You have the advantage over me, right? I think we should at least level the playing field. Not because I can't deal with it. I just might dislike you a little less.

[Unlikely, but you know.]

[sefirot]

So then what are you suggesting?

[inemeraldfaith]

That—

[That's an excellent question. Aerith doesn't even have an immediate response for it. What does she want out of this? To stop him? She isn't even sure how to just yet, but she's always thinking about it.]

—you stop having conversations like this with me publicly. You're going to make people ask questions.

[sefirot]

You fear what they might learn.

[inemeraldfaith]

[It's not really fear, though she can easily understand why someone objectively might think so. She just doesn't want people to start asking her questions. It's hard to just avoid them if people are pointed when they start digging for information.]

I just don't want people asking questions.

[sefirot]

People will always ask questions, regardless of what is being spoken. None of these people should mean anything to you or our world other than those from it.

Their questions should hold no power.

[inemeraldfaith]

The questions aren't really the problem. It's that I'm not likely to answer them that might be.

[Isn't that how she got to where she did with Balthier, after all? By simply... refusing to tell him things that he probably needed to know?]

So it'd be easier to not have to keep that kind of information to myself if people weren't asking. Which means if you stopped giving people reasons to ask these questions, it wouldn't be as much a problem. But I'm guessing you like putting me in that difficult spot.

[sefirot]

Why not tell those who ask the truth? Why keep that information to yourself?

[inemeraldfaith]

Why should I be sharing it? How does that benefit anyone else?

[It doesn't, of course. The only thing anyone else gets out of it is learning about her. Sephiroth. The others. If they want to talk about it, fine. Maybe. On the other hand, depends on the information given. Maybe in the end, she just wants to avoid people asking her prying questions about her life. Her death. Who she is. What she is.]

I don't get why you seem so eager to be sharing that kind of information.

[sefirot]

What I want to know is why are you so afraid of it?

[inemeraldfaith]

'Afraid' isn't how I'd put it. I just don't want to give out information that isn't necessary for other people to know. That's not the same thing as fear.