un: localflorist | text

[anciently]

( ooc ; likely spoilers for rebirth endgame chapters within )

[ One moment she's there, in her apartment, and the next...back on Gaia. With no memories of the city, the other world, where she'd been for months, fighting to save the planet she'd been unceremoniously returned to. And then...after so much on the home front, she'd found herself right back in Etraya: her memories of the time before in tact, as well as the memories of the things she'd been through in the interim. The things Cloud had already known about, but kept from her.

After she reappears and processes all the memories, she has to recuperate a bit. Without anyone around, the usually-cheery Aerith doesn't have to mask her expression, and sits in her apartment, letting it all break over her like unceasing waves onto someone whose feet are thoroughly stuck in the sand. (It's not unlike when her plushie was destroyed, honestly, which feels like ages ago.) When that's...more or less done, she reaches for her phone.

She doesn't leave the unit, doesn't go down the hall. Yet.

In crafting a message to the network, she opts for text because, this time, she doesn't trust herself to keep a straight enough face. To keep all of what's happened - disappearing from this world, returning to her own with no memories of Etraya, and...the weight of their journey at home - from her voice. So, she takes a deep breath and begins typing, eventually sending out: ]

long time no see, etraya! or, maybe it hasn't been that long, considering all of the plant life at my place is still in good shape.

so...has anybody been back home? that is: was brought here, then went back somehow with no memories of ever having been here, then got pulled back again? consider me curious about the details.

i know i can't be the only one. right?

also...if there're any kind souls out there who don't mind giving me a little refresher on our current mission, it'd be much appreciated. thanks!

Comments

UN: timdrake

[mostdangerousbird]

[ I didn’t realize that was something that can happen. Are you okay? Did anything bad happen here before you went home? Did you ask Aurora to go back?

[anciently]

you and me both!
i'm okay. it was overwhelming at first, but it's no big deal.

before i went home? i remember we were in that other community for a while.
it was kinda nice actually...

i didn't ask to go back, but maybe i should ask aurora what they know...

text; un: rrrzrr

[serio]

You just went back somehow? ( huh. )

Re: text; un: rrrzrr

[anciently]

yup! out of nowhere.
not sure why, and it seems like nobody else has had this happen to them.
as far as i've heard, anyway.

text, un: hawkeye

[westcoasts]

( sorry, what now? )

mission's been and gone, be glad you missed it. no details on the next one yet.

no-one else has mentioned leaving and coming back. you asked aurora about it?

[anciently]

glad i'm back during a lull at least.
maybe that means i'll get some time to get used to this place again before the next thing.

not yet, but i'm realizing i probably should.
can't believe this hasn't come up before! what makes me so special, huh?

un: Merciless

[dangerousmind]

You lost all memories of being here?

[A knot of dread sits in her stomach.]

Are you sure you actually went back? You didn't just regain memories further along the timeline? Or - I don't know, received a flash of knowledge regarding the future?

[anciently]

i'm pretty sure, yeah.

[ Let's just say that she has some experience 'regaining memories' and/or 'receiving a flash of the future.' ]

but i'm no expert. planning on asking aurora, so...if i learn more, i can let you know?

text. @RK800

[reconstruction]

I haven't uncovered any information on the network about people leaving and coming back later, only that they've left. The same goes for other planets; they disappear without a trace, but there isn't any data on them that I can find at the moment.

You might be the first, unless someone kept it to themselves.

[anciently]

that's not weird at all...
hopefully aurora has some answers.
otherwise i'll just be left wondering "why me" for a bit.

do you know why people leave and never come back?

un: asuka

[redheadcarrier]

no, never happened.

and i wouldn't want to anyway.

[anciently]

yeah...seems like i'm the first.
lucky me, right?

you said your world's in a tough spot, didn't you?
i'm glad you're here then.
we'd be worse off without you!

un: sandalphon

[prevail]

I didn't know such a thing is possible.

So then, we can be returned temporarily, and we lose memories. When all of this is finished, then...

[ He cuts off his own thought, disliking the feeling of it. ]

[anciently]

i'm hearing that a lot.
glad it wasn't just me who didn't realize this could happen.

yeah.
when all this is finished...we may not remember it at all.

[ She finishes the thought for him, but...it's a tough pill to swallow. There are so many incredible people here that she's come to know, and the idea that they might vanish from her memory back home is...gut wrenching. ]

now that we know about it though, we can fight it.
find a way to remember. i'm sure of it.

un: ashen

[wolfish]

That can happen in this place?

I mean, sure I guess, might as well happen.

[ Like it wasn't insane to begin with, goddess help him. ]

[anciently]

apparently!
seems like nobody realized it before though.

it's definitely thrown me for a loop.
there's so much else going on here on a regular basis...and now this?
sigh.
i guess it could be worse, though.

un: bluelion

[hauntedsnowfall]

on the note of memory
...
have you encountered people from your world in etraya with memories of the past that differ from your own
?

[ Don't mind him, he's still getting used to technology as well as text being a verb now. ]

[anciently]

hmmm...good question.
i don't think so?

[ Says the gal who, back home, has memories of a life that may or may not have been hers. ]

though i did have a friend arrive remembering /more/ than i did.
not exactly what you asked, but still weird.

text; un: skywalker

[facultative]

How long has it been for you?

[anciently]

in time here, it seems like i was gone maybe a second.
no time at all passes.

but back home, it was a while. a few weeks, maybe?

un: gorgug, text

[tinflower]

sorry you're back. unless you wanna be here

[ hey!!! who knows!! ]

losing your memories but getting them back here doesn't make a lot of sense. did you have anything with you from this place back in your world?

[anciently]

huh...tough question.
i don't mind being here. i mean, i like a lot about it.
all the people i've met, for one thing.

no - nothing from here that i wouldn't have had back home.
guess i can't /prove/ i went back, now that i think about it.
maybe i didn't, and it was just my memories catching up with me.
but then why hasn't it happened to anyone else?

text; un: MAXIMUMLEGEND

[maximumlegend]

[ .. dang. Fabian didn't know that was even a thing that could happen. Was Aerith even gone for long? Sure, it's been a little bit since he's seen her, but it hasn't been that long, or surely he would have noticed something was up.

He frowns a little bit with concern as he writes the message. ]

are you alright, aerith?

i can't imagine it would have been a great sensation to find yourself here again after having been home

[anciently]

yeah. [ no ]
thanks. i'm okay.

i dunno, it's complicated.
i didn't remember anything about etraya when i was there, but if i had, i'd miss all of you.
i'm not sure what to think. and aurora doesn't have any answers.
or they're not sharing the answers, at least...

text; un: blake

[plangona]

if anyone else had been back and returned, i don't think it'd been mentioned before.

so you really didn't remember being here at all while you went back?

[anciently]

that's what i've heard.
that is: it hasn't happened before.
i'm the lucky first, i guess...

nope. not even a little bit.
i was back there for a while, but my memories from before that were just from home.

aurora doesn't have any idea, either. said she has no record of me leaving at all.