bookpapers | AERITH

[where's aerith.... wherever she is Lavi is approaching, a hand raised in a wave. he's dressed in a red and black uniform, headband, and also a scarf wrapped around his neck... very cozy... he also still has his flower crown, but he's holding it in his hand instead of on his head,]

Hey, how was your first night in spooky town?

[imagine if i said she was in the mortuary. but no, she's in front of the church! she's back in her regular pink dress and red jacket combo, hair pulled back into its braid and held in place with her pink ribbon. she seems to be idling there, mostly as if she's waiting and watching people walk past to make sure everyone's still in one piece. but she does perk up upon seeing a familiar face.]

Oh, Lavi! [hello!] Looks like we both made it. It was kinda creepy to see what the town was like after dark, but everything was fine. Nothing happened to you last night?

[aerith... she's so cute....]

Nope. All in one piece, I think. [I THINK?] Kept waking up to all the groaning and moaning though. At this rate, I'm not gonna get enough beauty sleep.

[YOU THINK?]

We kept hearing the bells ring even though it seems impossible. Guess this place doesn't want us getting too comfortable even just to rest. But maybe that'll change the longer we're here?

[he pulls a face at the mention of longer]

Hope so. Otherwise I'm gonna have to ask Yuu to knock me out every night.

[don't do that]

[don't do that? especially since she looks very like "hm." about this.]

...do you mean that guy with the long hair who thinks it'd be better to stab first and ask questions later? Do you know him?

[hELP KANDA... he nods like 'that's him unfortunately]

Yeah, we're friends. [ArE THEY...] We're from the same place, and we both work for the Order.

Sorry about him, by the way... He's not good with people.

No worries. Cloud isn't either most of the time. [don't just throw cloud under the bus? but kanda really does feel familiar to her that way so she's not too bothered.] The Order?

[yeah we're going to focus on that.]

[he perks up at the mention of cloud.... that's his chicken buddy ole pal friend.]

It's a branch of the Church that's in charge of destroying Akuma, which are basically demons. We're called Exorcists, but we're basically soldiers.

[his WHAT NOW.]

Is that something you have to face a lot? Demons. [she's kind of like "why is a church employing soldiers" but you know what maybe it's better not to ask.] Where do they even come from?

[Lavi doesn't quite stop smiling, but it does become a little more muted for the sake of whatever weird shit he's about to say next --]

Yep, there's a lot of them all over the world, and only -- eleven Exorcists right now. [a beat like he has to think about how many...] Akuma are created by the Millennium Earl, but they only work if they have a human soul in 'em. The Earl has a whole process, but basically once the soul is in, then it's under his control.

[you know there's a very familiar theme here and she's not entirely sure she likes it. she doesn't fully understand just how similar those two ideas are, but when lavi explains how the akuma are created and what the earl's goal is, there's a little frown from her.

this sounds like some sephiroth bullshit is what it is and she sort of hates that a lot.]

...what does the Earl want to do with them? Why create the akuma at all?

[maybe it is sephiroth bullshit...... the universal constant between all worlds....

Lavi doesn't know what Aerith's thinking about, so he takes her frown as the normal reaction one would have on upon hearing dgm lore.]

He wants to destroy God. [SURPRISE] And he needs weapons to do that, so he makes Akuma from the largest resource there is.

[humans]

[there should be less sephiroth bullshit, actually.]

Of course he does. [mildly. lavi might not know what she's thinking, but he might be able to get the sense that she isn't that surprised by that answer.] ...what happens to the souls after the Akuma are destroyed?

[the plot of scawwy is sephiroth

hmmmm]

...For a long time we didn't know. But my friend -- he has a curse that lets him see the souls of the Akuma. And he says that we set them free.

[stop don't do this. she looks a little tense, actually, while she waits for the answer? like she's worried about said-answer being no, but then lavi explains and she settles again.]

...that's good. Um. Not the curse, that doesn't sound so great. But at least knowing you're able to help them and they aren't lost forever. They don't deserve that.

[it's an answer that reminds him very vividly of someone else, and his expression seems gentler cause of it,]

Yeah. People fight in wars for a lot of reasons, but not many get to save.

'Course, there's a lot of people who hate the Akuma no matter what, and others who don't think we save them, but that's just a matter of perspective.

[what comes from the planet returns to the planet. maybe not the same principle, but it's close enough. it's really more that she's thinking about certain people and things that have happened and how it's messed up for them to spend the rest of their time being shunned and puppeted a little.

happy, cheerful thoughts.]

It's probably easier for people to hate them for what they've done without understanding how it got to that point. [not that she agrees that's a way to do things, but she gets how people are.] Sounds like a pretty important job though, being a part of the Order. Are...things going to be okay until you guys get back?

[his smile doesn't dim at the question, but he flicks his gaze to the side like he's thinking, maybe surprised because this is the first time someone's asked.

It's not a bad question. It's one he's thought of for some time, for different circumstances.]

They'll keep fighting no matter what.

[it's as honest of an answer he can give,]

[yeah, weird how she finds it important to know how people's worlds are going to take people being gone. but that's a good enough answer for her.]

Then we'll just have to work harder to get back so they aren't left without back-up for too long. [mostly because that's what she needs to do for her own friends, too. it's unfortunate that they're all here, but in a way it's also a little nice to know there might be someone (or a few someones) who gets it.]

[YEAH WEIRD!!!]

Yeah. It's been kinda fun so far though. It'd be nice if we all got to meet under non spooky town circumstances.

[she considers this...]

Just because the circumstances are a little spooky doesn't mean we can't change that, you know? We can make the most of what we have. That fire's always burning, right? Nothing says we can't use it as a place to gather people and get to know each other better.

Good idea. Probably better than just reading the posters.

[which lavi was doing.....]

[lavi that is literally how they met, please.]

And I'm sure that means you haven't gone back to read them and you've been meeting people on your own, right?

[this is truly just aerith talking shit because she's absolutely gone back to read posters and then wandered off to introduce herself to people. if there's a resource, it can't help to look at it.]

[listen... perhaps they're the exception...]

Hey, I've met plenty of people on my own. I even ran into a guy at the swamp and got leeches put on me.

AERITH

w0 sat

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