paixaorpg | Time to see what was happening (Active)

Entry tags:

Time to see what was happening (Active)

Character(s): Aerith
Content: Another new arrival
Setting: Vanaheim
Time: Midday Week 18
Warnings None

Aerith stepped outside Merlin's house to see what was going on. The first thing her emerald green eyes landed on was Cid glaring at Merlin over Yuffie's head. The little ninja girl was gesturing adamantly while yelling at Cid about taking his sweet time doing stuff. The brunette watching them sighed slightly before walking forward and announcing her presence.

"What's going on?"

Everyone turned to look at her with a combination of guilt, horror, and quick thinking. Whatever was happening, they hadn't wanted her in on it, a thought that only very mildly irritated the girl.

Merlin was the first to collect himself and made to answer Aerith, though Yuffie quickly cut him off by leaping up and grinning like a maniac, something that Aerith knew meant she'd either done something bad or was considering something. The brunette's brow creased as she tried to figure out just what was going on.

"I-it's nothing!" Yuffie assured Aerith hurriedly, bouncing around pointedly on her feet so that the other woman was forced to focus on her. "Really!"

Aerith blinked a little. "But I heard Cid and Merlin arguing."

"They weren't arguing! They were ..." Yuffie launched into a roundabout story that had Aerith's head reeling so much that she turned around to go back inside for a glass of water. By the time she came back out, everyone had disappeared. Aerith sighed wearily. They were all up to something.

She walked back outside and decided to take a walk around. With a little luck, she’d run into someone who could tell her what on earth was going on around here. She didn’t like not knowing and she couldn’t imagine what they were doing that couldn’t be told to her. Tucking an errant piece of hair behind her ear, Aerith walked around for a good hour before she turned around and headed back for Merlin’s house. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door-

And found herself in front of a gate she was sure hadn’t been there a moment ago. A moment later, she was handed a journal from an attendant, whom she thanked, and ushered into the gates. Whatever city this was, Paixao they had called it, was nothing like anything she’d ever known.

Opening her journal, she decided to send out a message to see if anyone could tell her what was going on.

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It was nothing like anyone had ever seen. Even after having been here for far too long, Squall had to admit that the place could be down right strange. But not even that fact could keep him from periodically heading out to one of the gates just to see who was coming in. It was one part habit to one part trying to make himself useful, but there he was all the same.

Maybe they should make some kind of welcome committee, he thought, as he wandered in the general direction of this latest arrival.

Edited 2010-02-04 21:19 (UTC)

Aerith had just put her journal in a pocket in her skirt when she glanced up to see someone who looked oddly familiar walking nearer. Her eyes widened as she looked at the familiar, and yet slightly younger, man.

"Leon?" she called, moving forward. He looked very much like Leon, but there was something decidedly different about him and it had nothing to do with the length of his hair. Though, now that she looked at him closely, his hair was shorter. It was almost as though he'd grown backwards, but that wasn't possible.

"It's really good to see you, Leon."

To see... him? As far as he couldn't remember he hadn't met this woman before in his life. Admittedly, he did have some problems with his earlier memories, but there would have been something, right? Besides, he would definitely have remembered deciding to call himself 'Leon'.

"It's 'Squall'."

Now that was just strange. Leon hadn't used that name in years. He'd almost come to dislike it in a sense. The confused look on Aerith's face deepened.

"You haven't let anyone call you that in nine years, Leon."

Of course, if he really wanted to revert to it, she wouldn't mind. The change would simply take some getting used to.

"But if that's what you want to be called, I'll use it again."

Again? He hadn't used it before, and nine years ago he'd been eight. And still Squall Leonhart, as far as he knew. Something was definitely off here.

"I'm not this 'Leon,' whoever he is."

Aerith sighed. Something was definitely wrong. He didn't recognize her at all and that was the major flag. The other was that he was calling himself Squall again and he hadn't mentioned the Restoration.

"Do you remember Radiant Garden, Hollow Bastion, or Traverse Town at all?" she asked, hoping to get some kind of answer from him.

Aeris had been out wandering again to familiarize herself more with the city's layout and ended up near one of the other gates. She stopped when she saw one of the new arrivals walking through and stared at her for a moment before she moved closer.

It was extremely odd to be looking at yourself, even if the clothing was different. Aeris blinked once before she looked again and the other woman was still standing there.

"Hi..."

Radiant Garden? None of the Gardens he knew were 'Radiant', unless that was a new name for the White SeeD's ship and he rather doubted that since it was hardly a proper Garden.

"I can't remember what I never knew."

Anything else that he might have said never made it past his lips as a woman who could very well have been the first's twin wandered into the mess. Hopefully this one wouldn't call him 'Leon' too. He wasn;t sure he'd be able to deal with that.

The look on Squall's face was enough to make Aerith believe him, but the words and tone he gave her next solidified it. He wasn't Leon. Somehow.

"I'm sorry. You just look so much like him and his original name was Squall." She offered an apologetic smile. "My name is Aerith."

She would have offered a hand for him to shake, but at that moment someone else spoke and she turned... only to find herself staring at an exact replica of herself. Aerith blinked. "Hello?"

Were mirror versions of oneself common here?

"...I'm Aeris Gainsborough.. this is .rather strange actually." Aeris had always been the only one of her race left but coming face to face with her was stranger than anything she'd encountered at home. "I didn't expect to see myself although I'm rather new here anyway so maybe you know more about this place?" Her gaze shifted to the teenager beside Aerith before offering him a smile as well.

As far as Squall could guess, it was some odd trick of... the leftover side effects of time compression or something. It was the only thing that managed to make the scattered pieces that he had fit together even the slightest bit.

"A bit," he answered with a faint shrug. As long as he didn't think too hard about things he could... probably manage this.

...This other woman even had a name that was very similar to her own, complete with identical last names. "I'm Aerith... Aerith Gainsborough," she answered, blinking before turning back to Squall.

"Could you tell us about the city, then? Where we can stay and if there are places to eat?"

"My friend has a bar here, actually. We could go there and talk." Aeris spoke up after a moment. "I found it a few days after I arrived here." It was a bit strange to have a twin but they'd figure out the details later. Her gaze shifted to Aerith again after a moment and she studied her briefly before speaking.

"Can I ask where you're from?"

Well, at least there was a simple way to tell them apart. He wasn't sure it would the most convenient, having to constantly ask for a name, but it was a start.

"There's hotels around the place. Most people end up staying there."

Aerith nodded once at Aeris' suggestion. "All right." Hesitating for a moment, she turned back to Squall and smiled at him. "Hotels? I guess they're scattered around then. Thank you for you help, Squall. I'm sorry for the confusion earlier and if I can help you in return sometime, I'd be happy to."

"So your name is Squall?" Aeris shifted attention to Squall again. "It's nice to meet you as well." She smiled slightly before turning back to Aerith. "It's called Seventh Heaven and she just opened it apparently. I was heading there anyway so if you want to come along." She was also curious about where this other self of hers was from.

"I'm guessing you're not from Gaia, are you? I think I would have remembered another me.."

"There's one not far from here," Squall answered with a vague sort of shrug, before turning to the other Aeris' (the second Aeris'?) question. "Yeah."

The rest of the conversation didn't particularly seem to involve him too terribly much, so he figure he might as well ignore. It made things easier, that way.

"Oh, I'm from Radiant Garden. I've never heard of Gaia. Is that the world you're from?"

Seventh Heaven, hm? Aerith nodded. "All right. Let's go, then."

She was about to step off when she remembered Squall and stopped again, turning to face him. Aerith was a caring person by nature and she didn't like to leave anyone out. "Would you like to come with us, Squall? Maybe the bar will have something you'd like, too."

Edited 2010-02-09 18:23 (UTC)

"It is, yes, I knew there were other planets but I've never really met anyone from another world before coming here." Her attention shifted to Squall when Aerith issued the invitation waiting to see if he'd choose to join them.

Would he like to? Not terribly, since bars didn't hold a whole lot of interest for him. But he'd been invited and he didn't see a whole lot of reason to turn the invitation down either.

"I might as well," he answered after a moment of consideration.

Aerith smiled at Squall, waiting for him to catch up to them before she would turn to leave again. "Where I'm from, there are many, many worlds all connected. Being here isn't very different from traveling between those worlds. I just don't know anything about this one."

She glanced between her companions. "What are your worlds like?"

Edited 2010-02-10 18:04 (UTC)

Aeris fell into step with her when they started walking again. "It depends on what part of the planet. There's only two big cities, really and then small towns in a lot of different places."

What was it like? That was a question that was hard to answer under normal circumstances, and the fact that he never really knew what to do with that sort of question at the best of time. Sure, he'd been all over place, but that wasn't all that helpful, really.

"Recovering from time compression, mostly."

"That sounds interesting," Aerith commented to her double. "So where you come from, there's only one world?"

And she would have asked more, but Squall's answer surprised her. "Time Compression? What's that?"

Edited 2010-02-16 05:05 (UTC)

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Time to see what was happening (Active)

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