[ It starts just like every other day. Aerith is in the Lemon Cell Church, tending to the lilies that grow there, before her world is swallowed by a thick blackness. The fog overtakes her completely, dissipating slow, sticking to her mind as she wakes again in a different place entirely. ]
What...? [ The brunette presses a palm to her forehead as her awareness returns to her, as the feeling of having been in a deep sleep - a rarity for the void - fades. She shakes her head a bit to clear the fog before glancing around, hands curled into fists at her chest, gaze...appropriately nervous. ]
Where...am I? [ This is a first for this world, but maybe it shouldn't be unexpected. After all, this place has proven time and again that they never know what's coming next. As such, the flower girl begins to take cautious steps around the area, taking in the somewhat telltale environment of a train station, but noting with dread the living, fleshy walls that block her exit.
Aerith barely has time to process this horrifying revelation when something else catches her eye. From a distant corner, shadows have been piling on thick, forming an inky heap at the edge of her vision. When she turns fully to face it, insides prickling with unease, it morphs into a bright splash of color.
Lava isn't something she's really familiar with, but she's seen enough monsters in her life to know that this is nothing good. Particularly when it begins creeping across the floor to her, covering the ground like a bubbling, searing carpet.
What else can she do? She begins to run in the opposite direction, casting fearful glances over her shoulder as the lava seems to follow her... ]
i feel it in my bones
Aerith: there you are. What's wrong?
[ The voices and visages are familiar enough: Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII are clustered nearby, beckoning to her. These aren't the first horrors she's encountered in the tunnels so far, but they're able to get under her skin more easily than much of what she's seen. Even without their glowing eyes, something about them is clearly so wrong that it has her hair stand on end, and she instinctively takes a step back. ]
We just want to help you. [ Not-Tifa reassures her. The voice is soft and gentle enough, but her usually-kind eyes are blotted out by the bright orange. And, even from this distance, Aerith can smell something...sickly-sweet, like rotting flowers, emanating from their forms. ]
Go away. [ She presses, unconvinced by their feigned kindness. The shadow-Barret's face splits into a wicked grin, and the imitation of Red XIII chuckles, low. ]
Just come with us, and you won't be alone anymore. [ The fake Cloud says, taking a few steps forward. Alarm bells are ringing wildly in her ears, and though it seems unlikely she'll be able to defeat or outrun them, she has to try...
Starting with the latter. Aerith abruptly breaks off from the group, dashing down the tunnels with the four shadows at her back... ]
enough to make my systems blow
[ There's a sigh of relief as the oppressive shadows seem to fill the room and then dissipate, and Aerith takes a much-needed breather against one of the non-meat surfaces of the tunnels. The flower girl presses her back to it, sliding down to a sitting position for a moment, though keeping her eyes sharp in case anything else - some new terror - materializes. ]
Jeez... [ She exhales, winded. The void isn't usually so nightmarish, and she can't even begin to fathom why it'd changed so drastically now. Could this be the influence of a new arrival? Or...was this just the world revealing its true nature after all this time?
There's a sound of footfalls, and Aerith quickly gets back to her feet, gripping her rod defensively. The face...belongs to someone else from the void, and not one of the monsters that's been haunting her in these tunnels. They don't have orange eyes, at least, and she offers a little wave as her stance relaxes. ]
Hey... You okay? [ They've probably been through a lot, too. Though...as she looks at them more and more, something feels - off, still. It isn't like with the shadowy doppelgangers before, but there's something strange all the same. Something that tenses her up again, that takes root in a sort of sprout of paranoid in the pit of her stomach.
aerith | ota
[ It starts just like every other day. Aerith is in the Lemon Cell Church, tending to the lilies that grow there, before her world is swallowed by a thick blackness. The fog overtakes her completely, dissipating slow, sticking to her mind as she wakes again in a different place entirely. ]
What...? [ The brunette presses a palm to her forehead as her awareness returns to her, as the feeling of having been in a deep sleep - a rarity for the void - fades. She shakes her head a bit to clear the fog before glancing around, hands curled into fists at her chest, gaze...appropriately nervous. ]
Where...am I? [ This is a first for this world, but maybe it shouldn't be unexpected. After all, this place has proven time and again that they never know what's coming next. As such, the flower girl begins to take cautious steps around the area, taking in the somewhat telltale environment of a train station, but noting with dread the living, fleshy walls that block her exit.
Aerith barely has time to process this horrifying revelation when something else catches her eye. From a distant corner, shadows have been piling on thick, forming an inky heap at the edge of her vision. When she turns fully to face it, insides prickling with unease, it morphs into a bright splash of color.
Lava isn't something she's really familiar with, but she's seen enough monsters in her life to know that this is nothing good. Particularly when it begins creeping across the floor to her, covering the ground like a bubbling, searing carpet.
What else can she do? She begins to run in the opposite direction, casting fearful glances over her shoulder as the lava seems to follow her... ]
i feel it in my bones
Aerith: there you are. What's wrong?
[ The voices and visages are familiar enough: Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII are clustered nearby, beckoning to her. These aren't the first horrors she's encountered in the tunnels so far, but they're able to get under her skin more easily than much of what she's seen. Even without their glowing eyes, something about them is clearly so wrong that it has her hair stand on end, and she instinctively takes a step back. ]
We just want to help you. [ Not-Tifa reassures her. The voice is soft and gentle enough, but her usually-kind eyes are blotted out by the bright orange. And, even from this distance, Aerith can smell something...sickly-sweet, like rotting flowers, emanating from their forms. ]
Go away. [ She presses, unconvinced by their feigned kindness. The shadow-Barret's face splits into a wicked grin, and the imitation of Red XIII chuckles, low. ]
Just come with us, and you won't be alone anymore. [ The fake Cloud says, taking a few steps forward. Alarm bells are ringing wildly in her ears, and though it seems unlikely she'll be able to defeat or outrun them, she has to try...
Starting with the latter. Aerith abruptly breaks off from the group, dashing down the tunnels with the four shadows at her back... ]
enough to make my systems blow
[ There's a sigh of relief as the oppressive shadows seem to fill the room and then dissipate, and Aerith takes a much-needed breather against one of the non-meat surfaces of the tunnels. The flower girl presses her back to it, sliding down to a sitting position for a moment, though keeping her eyes sharp in case anything else - some new terror - materializes. ]
Jeez... [ She exhales, winded. The void isn't usually so nightmarish, and she can't even begin to fathom why it'd changed so drastically now. Could this be the influence of a new arrival? Or...was this just the world revealing its true nature after all this time?
There's a sound of footfalls, and Aerith quickly gets back to her feet, gripping her rod defensively. The face...belongs to someone else from the void, and not one of the monsters that's been haunting her in these tunnels. They don't have orange eyes, at least, and she offers a little wave as her stance relaxes. ]
Hey... You okay? [ They've probably been through a lot, too. Though...as she looks at them more and more, something feels - off, still. It isn't like with the shadowy doppelgangers before, but there's something strange all the same. Something that tenses her up again, that takes root in a sort of sprout of paranoid in the pit of her stomach.
Is this...another trick? ]