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

[reconstruction]

That is one of the possibilities, yes. [then, more hesitantly, he shifts his tone to something more soft. he's breaking into some uncomfortable news.] But it can mean other things, too. For example, reading a story in your world and encountering someone from that story here.

[he wants to avoid digging too deeply into existentialism, so he leaves that information as is. usually he doesn't know when to stop providing information, but he's holding back for once, for this human's sake.]

Yes. My home, Earth, didn't have access to anything similar to what I've seen here. It wasn't possible.

[anciently]

Something from a story? [ That's a new one. Her brows furrow slightly as she considers. ] ...So, a character from a book back home...might be someone real, in another world.

[ Not hard to understand, but...with some concerning implications. ]

Same with mine. I'm not sure I've heard from anyone here that where they come from's like Etraya. Which is weird, right? With so many people brought into the city to save their worlds, you'd think at least somebody would come from someplace similar.

[ Maybe Etraya just...exists in a way that's truly unique.

(Except, then, what does that mean for Moorecroft?) ]

[reconstruction]

If the realities are endless, having someone arrive with a similar background of Etraya would be like [he calculates the best terminology for her-] finding a needle in a haystack.

[he's taking the time to idly walk around, keeping close but analyzing all of the details the church has to offer. he's only been inside a church once, and somehow this one is in better shape.]