Video; un: pinkmemory

[inemeraldfaith]

Hello!

[Aerith is bright and cheerful, which seems to be the norm for her. She offers a wave, wearing a smile, her drake coiled around her ponytail and the pretty hair piece tucked into it.]

Not long after I arrived, I had this thought to open a flower shop. I haven't yet, but I have some flowers that are kind of taking over my apartment. I got these a bit ago, so some of them are younger than others, but they're all pretty hardy.

[Her camera pans over to a counter that's housing no shortage of pots with lily of the valley, larkspur, and primrose plants in a variety of colours.

Afterwards, she leans onto her counter and dips her head as she eyes her device, coming back into view.]

So I guess what I'm saying is that if you like flowers or you want something to spruce your home up, I'm happy to give you some of mine. If you don't know how to take care of them, I can help walk you through that, too. Or if you just want to come take a look at them, that'd be okay, too.

[After a pause, she continues.] Also, if you didn't know, larkspurs— [She points to the ones that stand tall with the colourful petals.] —are a favourite with King Arthur. Just in case you feel like getting on his good side.

Comments

VIDEO | UN: HAMMERTIME

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Holy crap that's a lot of flowers.

I take it that you know a lot about them?

[inemeraldfaith]

I wouldn't call myself an expert or anything—

[Surely being connected to the planet back home has nothing to do with it, right? Right?

Leave it to Aerith to deliberately play down her abilities.]

—I just like them a lot. I have respect for them. If you think about it, they're miraculous in a way. They can survive through a lot of hardship, even in places we wouldn't expect to find them. I just admire them.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

That's...

...Wow, I never thought about it like that.

I always heard flowers have meanings. I don't know if that translates across worlds though...

[inemeraldfaith]

Yes. I've heard the same thing. Believe the same thing.

[She nods. After all, that's how she and Cloud stumbled into one another.]

I'm going to guess that different worlds might have different meanings, though. And sometimes people like to debate even in the same world what a flower or its colour might mean.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

You really know your stuff when it comes to flowers. I'm impressed!

...Actually, speaking of...

Do you think you could help me find information on a specific flower...?

[inemeraldfaith]

[She preens. Excuse her while she's being proud.]

I can certainly try! What's up?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

So...I was wondering if you've ever seen this flower before...

[He pages through his little handy dandy notebook and holds up a sketch of this flower.]

I'm looking for any information on it. I don't even know what it's called.

[inemeraldfaith]

Hm...
It has petals kind of like a lily, but it's definitely not a lily. [...Akin to some kind of cross between lily and calla lily? Hard to tell...]

Is that a flower from your home world?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

N-No...

I uh...actually met someone at the masquerade who wore a mask with these flowers on it.

I never got her name...so...

[inemeraldfaith]

Oh, so you're hunting down this girl you met...

[Aerith thumbs at her chin. That's kind of romantic, isn't it.]

Sure you wouldn't recognise her by the sound of her voice? You could always put out a message on the network and see if you could find her. Describe the flowers, or show your sketch. It looks similar to flowers from my home world, but there's something different about them.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

H-Hunting down?! N-No! No it's nothing like that!

[He's turning crimson at the very idea of putting a call out on the network.]

L...L-Look, I don't want people getting the wrong idea...! She just...!

I never got her name...! And we had a good time so...I thought I'd get to know her better...!

[It has nothing to do with the fact that she ran off and left him on the dance floor like something out of Cinderella...]

[inemeraldfaith]

Well, you could always preemptively explain what your intentions are. [Although Aerith knows that people will draw their own conclusions regardless of whatever he might say.] Or could also try to be super sneaky. Don't explain why you need to know, but just ask if anyone can identify your flower. Do you really have anything to lose?

[IT'S TIME FOR ADVENTURE, OKAY.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

My reputation?? I-I mean...everyone's going to wonder why I want to know! Hell, I don't even know why I want to find her! She saw my face and ran off!

[inemeraldfaith]

Didn't you just say it was because you enjoyed your time with her and you wanted to learn more? It's not a crime to have a good time, and if spending time with her made you happy, you deserve that. Just because people want to know what's going on doesn't mean it's any of their business and it doesn't mean you have to tell them. Just be diplomatic about it.

Also... If you say you're just curious, that's true, isn't it? Curiosity compels everyone to do all kinds of things. I'd accept that as a valid excuse.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...You don't think it's kinda weird or creepy?

[inemeraldfaith]

...Nnno? It's just a flower. Many of us here are from different worlds. We're away from home. Some of us don't have friends from our home world here. You deserve to be happy when happiness finds you. If that means spending time with someone or discovering something you didn't know about before, it doesn't matter. The what doesn't matter. It's the who.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...That's really sweet.

[inemeraldfaith]

Well, I didn't say it to be sweet. I said it because it's true!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Well...okay, yeah, I get that!

But...you're right. No one else from my world is here and...I had a really good time with her!

...I just wish I knew why she bailed on me the second I took off my mask.

[inemeraldfaith]

Well, isn't the point of masquerades to not remove the mask? I think there's supposed to be some kind of allure to staying hidden. Even when I was leaving for the night I didn't remove mine. What's the fun in people being able to identify me?

[Aerith shakes her head. This isn't about that. This about him.]

I bet you caught her by surprise. She might not have known what to do and instead of tripping over her tongue, she just decided to split. Nerves makes us do all kinds of crazy things.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Well...we were hitting it off and I wanted to be able to see her after the masquerade. She was going to help me master my healing magic so...I took my mask off introduced myself.

As soon as she saw me, her tone changed and she bailed. If I wasn't so used to people being upset at the sight of me, I probably would have thought she was just nervous too but...

I grew up with people trying to avoid me. I know what it sounds like.

[inemeraldfaith]

Hm...

[She has so many questions. The primary one is why people would be upset at the sight of someone else. That's undoubtedly got some history behind it and this is probably not the time to go digging for it.]

I still think there might be more to it. It's not really fair to just assume something without knowing the other side, no matter how it might seem to you.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Hm...maybe. It was a sudden turn for sure.

I guess I'm just...used to being written off. But...you're right.

[inemeraldfaith]

I'm finding that the people here are more inclined to be accepting. Where I come from, the people can be a bit different. But the environment there is different. It'll be a hard habit to break when you're so used to expecting the worst, but maybe just remind yourself that it might not always be like that here. I think you're pretty wonderful, after all, and I don't know you super well. If I think it already, others will too.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

That...

Wow, that really means a lot. Especially considering what you don't know about me.

...Thanks, Aerith. Really. Thank you.