[ His joke lands on her shoulders with a puff of annoyance, though it has no weight to it. He sure did leave her hanging for a bit at that time, hadn't he? She's repaid him twice over for the little tease, but she still can think of a way to thank him.
It's beyond the inn, the way she leads him, past the shadow of the building. They leave it in their wake as it falls tall and ominous along the cobblestones, broken and refitted throughout their long lives. Aerith takes him past the hubbub of the explosion, where a dull sense of urgency is flourishing still. It's odd, she thinks, how easily these things happen. She thinks of the plate falling, all the destruction weaving itself into the land like a parasite infecting a dying body. The fight for survival always dragged on.
It isn't until Aerith leads him beyond the city, into rolling hills and to the base of an old tree that she can speak without the memory of saving Marlene breathing down her neck, pulsing in her blood. ]
I'm starting to think, [ she says, softly, palm flat against the rough bark of the tree. The lingering embers of a fire burns in the center of the city, half-dead but half-alive, too. The tiny particles it spits glow red-orange, floating up into the open sky: A sight she has never beheld before now. ] Things are actually really dire here. Aren't they?
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Date: 2024-04-22 08:44 pm (UTC)It's beyond the inn, the way she leads him, past the shadow of the building. They leave it in their wake as it falls tall and ominous along the cobblestones, broken and refitted throughout their long lives. Aerith takes him past the hubbub of the explosion, where a dull sense of urgency is flourishing still. It's odd, she thinks, how easily these things happen. She thinks of the plate falling, all the destruction weaving itself into the land like a parasite infecting a dying body. The fight for survival always dragged on.
It isn't until Aerith leads him beyond the city, into rolling hills and to the base of an old tree that she can speak without the memory of saving Marlene breathing down her neck, pulsing in her blood. ]
I'm starting to think, [ she says, softly, palm flat against the rough bark of the tree. The lingering embers of a fire burns in the center of the city, half-dead but half-alive, too. The tiny particles it spits glow red-orange, floating up into the open sky: A sight she has never beheld before now. ] Things are actually really dire here. Aren't they?