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| Weight of One's Burdens |
| (2012-11-26 - 2012-11-27) |
| No description. |
| Aerith | Soaking wet, she entered the bar, her staff in her right hand. The braid, ruined. Her clothes needed washing, drying, and all sorts of other treatments besides. Yet her eyes were alive, laughing almost, glowing too. Something had happened, and she wouldn't readily speak of it, partly because there were so few here. She waved to those that stared at her as she passed, and headed for the one place she figured she could get a shower. Fortunately for her, there were rooms in the back that accommodated such needs. Five minutes later, she emerged with a pair of jeans, open-toe sandals, a different top and a denim jacket. That shopping trip had done her good. |
| Rinoa Heartilly | Rinoa had returned to the bar to recuperate after getting pounded on by heartless during the caravan raid the previous night. She had eventually escaped the carnage and with Yuna's help, her wounds had been mostly healed enough for her to stagger home on her own. Still, the freedom fighter was trying to take it easy for a couple of days, focusing instead on helping Tifa to run her bar, serving nice cool drinks and generally keeping quiet. And then Aerith walks in. A soaked, exhausted looking Aerith with a strange sparkle in her eye. Rinoa arches a curious brow at her, following her into the back room, waiting a moment for her to clean up before looking her up and down. Was she injured? "Aerith? What happened to you?" |
| Aerith | Aerith shook her head and put a hand on Rinoa's right shoulder. "I'm sure it's gonna be a tale to remember, but right now let's get something to drink." She headed for the bar, nodding at Kaydin as she walked by. The fact that he was hurt didn't faze her at all, it was part of his profession. She sat and stretched her arms above her head. "Bartender, a cup of tea for me!" |
| Rinoa Heartilly | Rinoa nods and smiles. "Sure thing! Allow me to grab that for you..Since Tifa's not here right now, I've offered to help!" And she vanishes behind the counter for a few minutes before reappearing with the tray of tea. "I figured I could do with some warm, soothing tea as well..Ooh.." She pauses, glancing towards the door as she sees Kaydin walking in through the front for a change. "Oh, hello, Kaydin. How are you today? You dont look so good.." While keeping a friendly smile, she watches him cautiously. So far, he has not caused trouble in the bar since the Baron incident, and after watching her boyfriend struggle with his duty towards someone who would be her 'enemy', Rinoa is feeling just a bit more forgiving than normal.. |
| Kaydin | Kaydin had walked into the bar seeming injured and looking like he been through several heartless or something with incredible dark powers himself. He remains silent however and moves to sit by a spot away from the light yet able to watch the goings on with little interest. |
| Kaydin | "Found someone who is stronger then me and I am getting tired of their mouth. So I need to become stronger so I can shut them up." Kaydin says as h rests his head on his hands. "Your protege decided to come rescue a friend of hers in Baron." He calls to Aerith. |
| Aerith | Aerith gasped, wondering if Maira was in her right mind or not... then she shook her head. She'd have done the same. "I hope she didn't burn the castle down doing it... I really need to teach that girl some restraint." She sighed and turned on her stool toward Kaydin. "I'm sorry to hear that... who was it that she felt the need to recover?" |
| Pixi | Quietly walking her way out of the back, Pixi turns one of her ears to Kaydin, but remains looking at Rinoa and Aerith. "She didn't, by her own admission, Aerith. And it, apparently, was Avira. I don't know the whole story, however." She says before looking to Kaydin. "Though if He was a friend of Maira's and Avira's, I can understand his concern." |
| Rinoa Heartilly | Rinoa scratches her head, glancing between Kaydin and Aerith as they speak of this Maira girl. "Huh? Who is Maira? Some kind of fire mage?" She bites her lip, peering curiously at Kaydin, suspecting the usual trouble that comes with this one. "Ooh? What happened? Did you kidnap someone then they came after you for revenge?" Then Pixi enters and speaks of some girl named Avira that has Rinoa looking even more confused. "Okay, now I'm really lost." And in serious need of a good cup of tea. Drawing a deep breath, she sinks into the chair opposite Aerith and pours herself a cup of tea, sipping it a bit quicker than she should, which causes her to burn her tongue. "Ouch!" |
| Aerith | Aerith chuckled. "I figured she'd have gotten herself caught sooner or later. She's reckless like that." She cleared her throat. "Well then, I certainly hope you find who you're looking for. No one needs to be hurt like that." She turned toward Rinoa with a grin. "Good job there." She continued onward. "So I was out there in the forest past the mithril mines, getting some herbs for a few potions I was going to make. I'm just about done... when the floor drops out from under me." |
| Kaydin | "I was sent to capture a woman named Avira. Appearantly during the balamb incident, Avira and Morrighan got into it and messed up Morrighan's face. As head of the white mages, she is higher in rank and thus can order me around. I went, got her, brought her back to Baron. She then proceeded to humiliate Avira by making her wear a maid's outfit. A day passes and Maira charges in to rescue Avira. Promptly after Maira shows up coming to rescue her, a dark knight named Agantyr Vesper shows up as well to rescue her, as well as some princess named Jasmine, and a mouse named Mickey and a detective named Mercade. They all shown up seperately to rescue avira with no real idea about anyone else being there...Course when they realize each other was they, they worked together, beaten the crap out of me, Morrighan, and Captain Baigan in our own castle." Kaydin explains. "I expected them to come but Maira engulfed herself in fire and began flying about tackling everything and this Jasmine woman keeps emiting a blinding light and mickey used some sort of giant key to fight." |
| Aerith | And then her story was broken into by Kaydin. She refrained from her reprimand, her attention caught on the struggle. Jasmine... was that her name, the one from the fight at Garden? Oh yes, this was certainly cause for interest. And this key... a giant key... she shook her head. Sounded rediculous, but she'd already seen one that looked like it was bought from a secondhand store. She had a feeling this one was very metal, very real... and probably dangerous. "So then, what you're saying is that your healer made a mistake. |
| Rinoa Heartilly | Rinoa frowns as she listens to the story, rubbing her temples as if she has a headache. "Well..I guess that's what happens when you kidnap people." She sighs, shaking her head, "Sorry Kaydin, but I can't help you there. If you're looking to increase your strength, then you'll have to look elsewhere. Afterall, you're technically our 'enemy', as long as you fight for Baron and the heartless. Did you really expect anything else from your enemies?" Still, she's already recognized the bar as 'neutral' territory, so she doesn't want to egg him on too much. Glancing back at Aerith she blinks a couple of times. "Wow, what? A trap door? Then what happened?" Another sip of tea. This sounds exciting already. |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded. "So... The ground fell out from under me, and I knew something had planned that, set the trap so that I could fall into it." Her eyes looked distant, as if remembering the whole ordeal... "I splashed into this lake, freezing cold, and I can feel eyes on me as I climb out. I turn around and as soon as I do, I see two, four, six of them, eight... and this huge thing, I don't know what, comes out at me, looking like it's gonna eat me alive. But that's not the worst part..." She shivered. "I could feel something... wrong with it. Deeply, terribly wrong. I heard screams, crying, pleas for safety. My toes curled, my body stopped moving, and I just screamed and screamed..." |
| Kaydin | "Sorry for interrupting. Yes she made a mistake. Baigan and Morrighan had to talk me out of exiling myself because of my weakness. Anyway, go on." Kaydin says calmly. He then looks to Rinoa. "So technically I should be attacking you and dragging you back to Baron for all your involvement with the balamb incident, but it would be a waste. Perhaps my methods are wrong, maybe I need to give myself more to the darkness." He mutters to himself as he thinks outloud. |
| Pixi | "Weakness!? You call walk...." Pixi then stops herself and shakes her head. "You know what? I'm done trying to convince you....of anything. You've made your choice, you're still serving Baron. This may be neutral ground, Kaydin, but you're an enemy to me. Period." She then looks to Aerith and listens quietly. She shakes her head to Kaydin as he speaks about giving himself more to the darkness. "When you becomes a heartless, Kaydin.....remember what I do to heartless." |
| Rinoa Heartilly | Rinoa smirks, "And technically we should be dragging your butt off to some jail somewhere, but this is a neutral territory, so I'm not gonna fight you. Neither will my friends." Still, she's more interested in hearing Aerith's story, than in getting into another pointless argument with Kaydin. Pixi does say something interesting though, and she arches a brow. "Really? Can that happen? Becoming a heartless? Are you saying they were once people then?" Oh, but she is totally getting off-topic as she glances backat Aerith apologetically. "Sorry, sorry! Please continue!" Just to be sure, she clasps her hand to her mouth to shut herself up. She falls into silence then, intent on hanging onto every word that Aerith says, and shivers at the description. "Ooh wow, some underground water cavern? And what did you encounter? Some sort of sea monster? How horrible!" another shiver as she waits to hear the stunning conclusion of this tale! |
| Aerith | Aerith let the conversations and threats die down before she continued. "Yeah, I have no idea what it was, but it had this unrelenting darkness about it, and it wasn't in the form of Heartless either. This was something deeper, something that none of you know about, but probably should. It's very spirit was twisted to someone's will, and it wanted mine too... almost took it." Aerith shook her head. "What happened next... I can't rightly explain. Something protected me from the first attack, I'm not sure what. It kept the screams, the voices out... but only for that one moment. Told me what I needed to do, but not how to do it... and then I moved out of the way, just as two of the things huge suckers latched onto me. They /rammed/ into the ground like a couple of skewers, and I started to fight back, giving it every spell I knew!" |
| Kaydin | "Trying to convince me? What have you tried to convince me? I was defeated in my own home and every fight except for one I have been in my life has been one loss after another. So pleas tell me where you have seen me not being weak, Viera, because if you have more foresight then I, please enlighten me." Kaydin says as he stands and approaches, his broken in half helmet being left on the table as he approaches the woman. He then looks to Rinoa. "Every heartless you see was once a person. Atleast the ones with those symbols." He says as he then looks to Aerith and listens to Aerith and looks her over. "You must of defeated it because you came back." He says with concern. |
| Pixi | Pixi says, "I already said, Kaydin. I'm done convincing you of anything. You already have your mind made up." She then looks back to Aerith, but she's listening now. Aerith's story was far more interesting."" |
| Aerith | Aerith cleared her throat. "So I was doing pretty well, but it kept on healing itself, constantly thinking of ways to counter my magic. I was barely able to fend it off, and it had me once, tried to squeeze me until my ribs popped... but I made it let go of me. Got dropped in that water for my trouble, and then it had the nerve to freeze the surface over!" She shivered again. "I thought I was done for then, and the screams came back... But something happened then, and I have no idea what it was, but..." She pulled out the White Materia from the folds of her ribbon. "...Whatever I did, made this thing light up." She held it up for those listening to see. "This materia here is a keepsake from my mother. And it used to do absolutely nothing, no matter how much of my will I focused into it. Got tiring after a while, and I stopped using it, but never let go of it." She smiled. "I think... I think I can use it now, to some extent. Don't know what else it can do, but the monster didn't like what I did to it at all." |
| Pixi | When Aerith holds up the materia, Pixi's Tattoo begins to glow a bright white light, that seems to resonate with the materia apparently. Pixi, of course, is completely oblivious to her tattoo. "Good thing you held onto it then, Aerith." She says with no small amount of respect for Aerith, having fought that creature off all by herself.... |
| Kaydin | Kaydin just shakes his head. "You did nothing for me letalone convince me of anything Pixi. I considered myself to have an open mind, to value others thoughts other then my own. For my trouble, I have been ridiculed, insulted, taken advantage of, beaten down, and shamed by none other then the very people who consider themselves good." Kaydin says as he looks to the glow and just goes back to his table, retrievng his helmet. "I am glad to see you are safe and have discovered something about yourself Aerith." He says as he puts the helmet on. |
| Aerith | Aerith's senses pinged at that tattoo, yet she made no move to look behind her. Instead, she put the materia back into its hiding spot in her ribbon and sighed. "Well anyways... just got back, tired, got my cup of tea here, all's right with the world... except I lost my herbs, and now I have to grow some instead of go out in that forest to look for them. Definitely a bad idea." She cleared her throat again. "Speaking of bad ideas... you two need to stop. Please. Kaydin has his reasons, you have yours, but this is not the place to get into a fight about them." Ever the diplomat, or rather the referee. |
| Pixi | "Lost your herbs huh? I can imagine you did." Pixi says before rubbing her chin. "I've heard of a place called the 'Forest of Mist'. It's a nasty place, from what I've heard. No place to be alone, I know that." She then shrugs at Aerith. "I've stopped Aerith. You have nothing to worry about here." |
| Aerith | Aerith shrugged. "It's just north of the chocobo fields, if I'm not mistaken... I can't quite remember how I got there. I'll probably head there when I'm not so scared of the place... but look around enough, and you'll find it, Kaydin." She smiled at him. "I hope you can find who it is that beat you and show him who's boss." And she said it as if she had total confidence in him. |
| Kaydin | Kaydin nods as he puts the map away and bows to those present. "Stay safe." He says before he leaves. |
| Pixi | Pixi says, "You shouldn't be scared of anything, Aerith. It might have you spooked, but fear shouldn't dominate you, Aerith." She doesn't even acknowledge that Kaydin has left. "That was an interesting tale though. Did you see what you faced though?""" |
| Aerith | Aerith sighed and took another sip of her tea. "Yeah, well I'll be brave later. Right now..." She stretched her arms above her head. "I need a nap." |
| Aerith | Aerith sighed and took another sip of her tea. "Yeah, well I'll be brave later. Right now..." She stretched her arms above her head. "I need a nap." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart was taking care of things in the backroom when Aerith was telling her story. She heard all of it though, but wasn't in a position to really comment either. Yet, she was curious and worried. Its her friend after all, and she wouldn't want anything bad to happen. She smiles a bit though as she walks out of the backroom "Well, you can use my bed if you want to nap. Its not much of a room, but its comfy." |
| Pixi | Pixi smiles to Aerith. "I'm sure you'll sleep well, Aerith." She says giving her a hug. However, she then looks to Tifa. "There was a fight outside of Seventh Heaven earlier. Kaydin fought a dark knight and lost. Apparently he's still doing Baron's bidding." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart sighs at what Pixi says "I really don't understand that guy. He can't be playing both sides at the same time, he'll have to open his eyes and take the side he chooses to be best. Its not about loyalty here, you can be loyal from the outside, just not loyal to those that lead things. |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded. "He'll know sooner or later. I just leave him be and let him decide on his own." Because who was she to dictate to him the paths he took? She could only give her opinion and let him decide on her own... but then he did want to talk to her about something later. She'd hear him out, for certain. Kaydin was not as bad as PIxi made him out to be... on some level, she understood him. Of course, she tried to understand everyone. Some were easier than others, though. |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart nods "What he needs to think about is how he's going to live with the results of his own actions. Nevermind that he was twarthed or not, what if he succeeded, would have killed how many people in Balamb? Can he live with that in mind, justfying himself with loyalty? He needs to open his eyes. |
| Pixi | Pixi says, "He also could've really really hurt Avira, whom apparently, he had taken to Baron. If this woman he had taken her to, decided to maim Avira....or worse. Well, apparently that's what the problem was." She then shrugs. "I'm done trying to convince him to think with his heart, cuz apparently, his heart is as black as the nation he fights for.""" |
| Aerith | Aerith took another sip of her tea. "So then, what have you been up to, besides beating up big snakes? Anything interesting?" |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart hms "Well... thinking about that job offer, for the Don and the Queen." Is she talking about the chocogirls or the adventuring part of it? |
| Pixi | Pixi says, "Job Offer? What Job Offer?" One of Pixi's ears flops to the side, apparently to show her curiosity."" |
| Aerith | Cue a sip of tea from Aerith. "Some strange man named Don Corneo entered in, looking for a place called Serendipity." Never mind the fact that she wanted to kick his ass. "Y'know the part I said about helping the Queen of Cards instead of him? We should do that." She frowned, her distaste for this man quite clear. |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart nods to Aerith "Well I think that would be interesting anyway. I mean, I'm doing mercenary work when I can to get more money, I can put those fists of mine to work if need is, although I always hope it doesn't get to that. Mind you, I rather use them on heartless than humans at least." She slides fingers around her ear a bit, pushing the hair back. |
| Pixi | Pixi makes a face at Tifa doing Merc work. "Well, if you have to do merc work, Tifa, be careful. Okay?" Her tone is disapproving though. "Or, at least choose who you work for. Like not working for baron." |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded. "The thing about mercenary work is that you /can/ choose who you work for. You're not obligated by loyalty." She smiled. "A mercenary has the right to get paid for what they do, as long as they do it well... but more importantly, they follow their hearts. If they don't feel something is right, if they don't feel like an order is within their moral scope, they can refuse to follow it." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart nods "That's why I prefer that kind of work too, I can help people in what I feel is just, without having to take sides directly. All of the work I've done benefitted people around me at least. The Ice Cream recipe, the lucid shards escorts, finding a lost girl.... |
| Pixi | Pixi crosses her arms, as if uncertain. "Many of the mercenaries I met took jobs just to get the money, even if it meant doing nasty things, like killing someone, or kidnapping someone." Both ears droop now. "You sure you can choose your jobs, Tifa?" |
| Pixi | Standing there for a moment, Pixi shrugs. "It'll give me something to think about at least." She then turns towards the back. "I'm gonna head to bed, Tifa. Good night Tifa, Aerith." She then walks her way into the back. |
| Aerith | Aerith shrugs. "Well, good night then." Aerith took yet another sip from her tea cup and looked toward Tifa. "So then, are we going back to training in a few days? Or do you think I have enough to proceed on my own?" Her brows turned up for a brief moment. "I... I'd really like your help." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart smiles softly "Of course we'll keep training, we'll have to up your training a bit gradually, you've been at it for a few weeks, you must be starting to feel that your limits are getting a bit higher. |
| Aerith | Aerith smiled and nodded. "Oh that's been happening quite a bit. I still think I need more that has to do with my staff work, and I'm always looking for new things to do." She was quite proud of what she'd accomplished so far, but she knew she wasn't anywhere near ready. |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart is pertty happy with your progress as well, she's been watching while doing her own training. She just keeps pushing her own limits back, as much as she can at least. Having company was a nice change too. She smiles, and refills your tea as well, moving along the counter while filling herself a cup as well. "That's how it goes, you improvise, and once your body starts catching up to what your mind is visaulizing, it gets interesting. |
| Aerith | Aerith sipped from her tea cup yet again, the warmth never having left the soothing potion. "All that happened down there in the lake... it made me realize that what I have planned will actually work. I mean, think about it... you channel your energy into your attacks in one form or another. It's all in momentum." She lifted her staff. "I do it too, only with something a bit longer. So it stands to reason that if I add something further to that..." She shrugged. "Well, more force." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart nods "You got the logic about it. Its not simply waving your staff around at least. There need to be something more behind it." |
| Aerith | Aerith smiled. "Eventually, it's going to get to the point where I can break rocks with a metal staff while putting half as much effort into it." She grinned. "Pretty tricky, huh?" |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart giggles "Oh, I know what you mean. There are several tricks to that though, like being able to analyze the weaker points of the rock, helps save some effort really. Doing it in a split second during a fight is harder of course. |
| Aerith | A nod, before she finished off her drink. "Well, I figure I'll let the Planet do that for me. Or rather, the Lifestream... since I found out recently that it's everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean /everywhere/. In every world, there is a flow of hearts and souls. Naturally, the Heartless want it, because it's the fastest path to the heart of a world." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart hmms, and nods "Yeah, that would be why they are after you, wouldn't it? If they could just use you to lead them to the heart of the world." She shakes her head at that though. She won't let that happen if she can. |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded. "It's why more than likely, everyone wants me..." Her face turned down, features melancholy. "...But this wasn't the Heartless. What I fought? It was something else entirely... something worse than the Heartless, and ShinRa, and anyone else we might face. And I don't know what to call it, or if I can even think about stopping it..." She looked up at Tifa, eyes filled with fear. "...But I have to." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart moves around the counter, and gives a nice, warm hug to her friend "You're not alone, you have friends. Friends make you stronger too, you know. No need to fear." |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded, eyes closing as she washed the apprehension from her mind. "I know, I just... at the time, I was alone. By myself. No one behind me, beside me... I had to take that thing on myself, had to hear the screams on my own, and there wasn't much to keep me from slipping over the edge. That whole fight? That was /me/, and no one else." She shook her head. "And I was scared. But I did it." |
| Tifa Lockhart | Tifa Lockhart smiles, and pets your hair a bit with a hand "Everyone fears, but you can't avoid them either. Stopping entirely because of fear is the worse thing to do, even running away is something. If fear paralyzes and slows you down, you're dead. |
| Aerith | Aerith nodded and yawned. She'd keep that in mind, but right now it was time for sleep, and a well-deserved one at that. She stood and headed for the back, content in the knowledge that Tifa would always be there for her. Pixi as well... but she'd need others, and she knew it. It couldn't be fake or contrived, she didn't need mere allies or acquaintances. She needed friends. As many of them as she could get. "See you later, Tifa." |