🔥 aerith

[ablazement]

code

Named after the shepherdess in Virgil's pastoral Eclogues.
The Greek word amarysso means "to sparkle."
In Victorian times, an "amaryllis" was a strong, confident, and beautiful woman.

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weekend zero, saturday

[residentflorist]

[I STARTED WRITING A TAG AND THEN REFRESHED NO.

anyway wow! hello! it seems that the town did not get much better but the horrors persist so so must they. it's a little after the point of time where everyone's found out their items are in boxes in the swamp, and aerith is currently walking through the town to get another lay of the land. she's dressed in her regular clothes again, hair pulled back in its braid and hands clasped behind her as she looks around. is she looking around for other people just to make sure they're all there? perhaps so.

karlach is definitely hard to miss though, but at the same time aerith feels like she's pretty easy to approach. so she bounds forward, peering up at her with a little smile.]

Morning! [is it morning. we don't know.] Did you sleep okay?

[ablazement]

[NOOOO

karlach is in her default outfit, which makes the red glow of her chest prominent. it fades in and out like a pulse. thankfully she is now clean and not covered in blood, but she does have a wound in her shoulder that she has used the robes to wrap.

aerith comes bouncing up to her, and karlach gives her a genuinely happy smile, pleased to see her.]

Heeeeyy, law'n'order, what's good? [the nickname is going to change eventually but she's stuck with this for now] Slept fine. I'm used to the ground, honestly, we've been camping for ages. You? Looks like you got your stuff back.

w0, SUNDAY

[ablazement]

[comes to find aerith and SIGH real big.]

Well! This sucks. [you could stand to be more afeared, karlach]

[residentflorist]

[no, no she's right.]

Yup. [just. easily agreeing.] We sort of knew something was going to be wrong, but I don't think any of us thought it'd be this wrong.

w0 monday

[residentflorist]

[you know i'm not sure how they're keeping track of days, but aerith does at least have a concept of the fact it's the next morning. she hasn't exactly thought about the words that may or may not appear (likely they've appeared somewhere that isn't obvious yet, and instead her thoughts are to go back out into the main part of the town and see where everyone ended up with housing.

but of course she seems a friendly, familiar face and abandons that quest almost immediately to bound up to her.]

Karlach! Hey! [new friend!!] Have you found where you're staying yet?

[ablazement]

[karlach's words are just out for god and everybody to see but she doesn't really care all that much, because right now, it's just one word: AVERNUS. under it though there's a number. it's an obscenely huge number.

she grins and waves at aerith as she bounces over!]

Hey, Aerith. [tail wag.] The, uh. Mortuary? Not great, but the other options aren't either. What about you?

w0 friday

[residentflorist]

[she is. extremely smoky, her boots and maybe her legs are kind of wet and swampy, and she's busy sitting in front of the church coughing up a lung. but that does nothing to stop her when she sees karlach and she's immediately dashing over.]

Karlach!

[ablazement]

[AAAA HELLO STOP COUGHING

immediately she comes up to meet her, looking worried as fuck. her tail sways in agitation as she grabs for aerith, holding her upper arms and looking over her.]

Holy shit flower girl, what happened?

w0, SATURDAY 2

[ablazement]

[are you looking for her or just running into her this is important]

[residentflorist]

[absolutely wooking.]

w1 monday

[residentflorist]

[just immediately bounces up to karlach and reaches her side. and gently grabbing her injured hand to make sure it's been treated and that she's okay, holding it between hers for examination.]

Morning. [SAY THAT FIRST.] Did you see? There's a door in the woods we can go through. [she doesn't think she needs to go into "how are you" and "i'm sorry for what happened yesterday" because she knows karlach is strong. she knows karlach will pull it together. and she thinks this little gesture of reaching out to her and just being here with her might be enough.]

[ablazement]

[help hello aerith. she's okay with this! it is in fact treated - it's bandaged all up and it... looks like she has all fingers, but it's very clear she has next to no movement in the pinky and ring finger of her left hand, and it's shaking a little.

she seems okay, anyway. her usual cheer is dimmed, but she's not the type to just give up.]

Morning, sunshine. [she says warmly, tail swaying back and forth.] I did see, you want to come with? I haven't looked yet.

w1, FRIDAY

[ablazement]

[HEY EVERYTHING SUCKS FOREVER

anyway, you can find karlach on the beach. she's slamming something into a tree over and over and over again. it looks like a piece of furniture or something. it doesn't matter what it is she's just beating the shit out of a tree.]

[residentflorist]

[oh jesus, well she's just going to run to her side.]

Karlach! [she's not really going to stop her from beating up this tree, but she is going to make sure she's not actually hurting herself in doing so.]

w1 sunday

[residentflorist]

[wherever karlach might be, aerith's just going to approach and if she seems like she'll accept it, she will take her hand.]

Wanna come with me? [where are we going? oh you know.]

[ablazement]

Of course, I'd go anywhere with you.

[cheerfully enough, even if it's been a week as usual. she takes that hand! where we goin treebeard]

w2 monday

[residentflorist]

[hello karlach. it is monday and we are walking. we are walking down the highway toward the desolate little town, and she's kind of skipping ahead of karlach with her hands behind her back.]

So! It's not the beach, but...maybe this won't be so bad?

[but as she says this, her attention is drawn to a few of the white apparitions in the trees and karlach is soon witness to a memory (ending at 7:44:22)]

[ablazement]

[oughgghhgh! OUGHH aeugh.

there's a long pause, as she just sits with that for a bit, and then honestly sorry she cannot help herself, she just moves forward and scoops aerith into a hug? hi. jesus, girl.]

w5 monday

[residentflorist]

[running leap to cling to karlach's back like a spider monkey!! the emotions are unbridled joy having her friend back, frankly.]

So! Shopping date?

[ablazement]

[DOES SHE ACTUALLY that's so funny she'd catch her and give her a piggy back ride

there's a whole lot of affection and joy at aerith's presence - relief, too. there's something sadder under the surface emotions, but she's ignoring those.]

Yes. Gods. Get me some clothes, talk to me, let's fucking gossip? Can we fucking gossip like normal people?

w5, THURSDAY

[ablazement]

[comes to find you post cyoa and breakin my life is a MESS

it'll probably be really late in the night, but she's kind of just looking for aerith's room, wandering around. she should not be walking, but hey. whatever. she's fine. dying really fixes you up, ig?]

[residentflorist]

[THE WAY SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW KARLACH DIED AGAIN.

it's fine, she is unaware. cloud has perhaps stepped out for a moment at aerith's request for something so it's easy enough to find her apartment, given the door's open a crack and there's low light coming from it. here is the general view, though the bed is obviously bigger and there are a few more bookshelves filled with crystals and books and plants. there's also what looks like a large cozy sitting chair and a small table.

she's bundled under a blanket on the bed, curled up on what's probably her half and staring off into a corner of the room like she's looking at another person. she looks unnaturally pale, and while it might be hard to notice at first, her eyes are glowing a little. she's still light sensitive, so her eyes are only partially open...and of course she's wearing a new cute black choker. little bit of gold on it...circuit-like detailing. there's also a preserved black familiar-looking flower in a small vase on the windowsill by the bed.

but karlach knows that, doesn't she? they were both there. so when she appears in the doorway there is zero emotional response like aerith has shut herself off temporarily, and she doesn't even notice at first. but that doesn't stop her from speaking up.]

You never did say what was wrong with my real body.

w6, MONDAY

[ablazement]

[well today has been something but it's later now and aerith is getting a text:]

come h ang out? ita

[residentflorist]

[almost immediately after:]

be right there!!!

[and to her credit...here she is! she's twirling her way into the itabag shop like today wasn't absolutely bonkers, bounding up to karlach with a little smile.]

Thinking of starting one for yourself?

w6, SATURDAY

[ablazement]

[hewwo!

you can find her just beating the absolute shit out of a punching bag in the dojo. just with her fists. it has been a day and she has a lot of feelings about everything that happened, none of which are neat and tidy. it's okay, though, she knows aerith probably does too.]

[residentflorist]

[she slips into the dojo and just lingers on a back wall as karlach beats the shit out of a punching bag. eventually when she's a little worn down, she does offer her a jamba juice.]

...it's one of the protein ones. Keep your strength up. [so you can keep beating the hell out of stuff.]

w7 monday

[residentflorist]

[good morning we are at the salon!! because she's busy squinting at all of the hair dye and colors of nail polish with equal parts curiosity and uncertainty.]

Guess this is better late than never...?

[ablazement]

[peeks over her shoulder! the emotion is yay]

Better late than never. What even is all this? Is that go on your nails? I've never seen it in that form before.

w7 friday

[residentflorist]

[at some point after anis's arrival, perhaps you are passing by the cemetery again on your way from the fountain visiting the overseers, or maybe on your way somewhere else. either way, you will find aerith here, and she appears to be...kneeling in the dirt with her eyes closed. hm.

continue?]

[ablazement]

[stabs her

no. i'm sure everybody has made this joke actually i'm not unique. anyway, karlach wanders over... crouches down next to her. doesn't say anything just yet, because she doesn't want to interrupt aerith's praying, if that's what she's doing?]

w7 saturday

[residentflorist]

[drags her tired ass across the graveyard to faceplant into her back.]

Karlaaaach. [ugggggggh.] Please tell me I never have to contend with a horny and insecure god ever again.

[horny and insecure men are inevitable, but still.]

[ablazement]

[BRO MOOD SJKDFKKS

this is the first thing that makes her fucking burst into giggles because it's just so like, WHAT. like what happened! they did it! it was weird! weirdest thing she's ever gone through, but also. they did it!

her tail comes around to gently wrap around aerith, hugging her in turn as karlach looks over her shoulder.]

By far the weirdest encounter in my life. [the emotion is hysterical tired, like loopy a little.] Holy shit.