http://auncyenhalig.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] auncyenhalig.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] onepassingnight2011-03-12 03:56 am

❀ midgar blossoms

This night for dreamers starts in blackness. Without form or shape, it may seem as though one is everywhere and nowhere at once. There are whispers rising from the dark from many voices, strange voices, more feelings than words. They speak of birth, life, and the inevitable death. They speak of something between death and birth, as well. Some are peaceful, others haunting. A chorus of the voices scream -- and a train whistles.

Flickering lights filter through the darkness, as well as the chatter of people, a conductor tiredly ushering them off and on. There are piles of discarded material around the train station, as though the whole city were half-scrapyard. The air is stifled and dirty, packed with noise. It drowns the whispers out until they are just white noise. And although the openness of the area suggests the outdoors, looking up will reveal no sky to be seen but a wide expanse of metal.

A young woman shifts a basket full of yellow flowers over her elbow as she looks over the people. The green of her eyes settle and with a soft smile, she approaches, her voice carrying ahead of her.

"Excuse me. Would you like to buy a flower? They only cost one gil."

And those who rummage pockets for change may find one. This is a dream, after all.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-15 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know," Ami admits. "I've never been here before. I'd like to learn about its history." A library, perhaps? Or Aerith's own perspective.

Ami can't help a very faint smile. "I've always wanted to travel. Lately, I've finally had that chance." In waking life, and now in dreams.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
It forms a perfect snapshot of the progress of civilization: from the loosely aligned villages to small towns like this, and then of course cities next.

Ami finds herself smiling. Some things can't be erased; that love of the march of technology and advancement turns out to be one of them for her.

"People are growing," she remarks. "Tell me about the villages."

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 11:29 am (UTC)(link)
It's one of the many ways Ami is torn in two. As a being from the Moon Kingdom, she loved watching Earth because of its winds and flowing waters in contrast to the sterile dome of the Moon Castle. But as the senshi of Knowledge, she loves to sponsor and bring forth technology, advancement.

"Someone has to wake them up," she says. "People on their own won't get far. They forget to be careful of nature as they go."

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ami measures her pace to Aerith's, though she keeps an eye on their surroundings while she decides whether to answer the question. She's never heard of Shinra or AVALANCHE; that tells her she's certainly in a different world. It might be best not to raise suspicions.

"It's far away from here," she settles for a vague truth. "It's a place called Earth."

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"I do," says the soldier who protects it. "It's my home." Though she often thinks of planet Mercury with a certain longing, Earth is where her mother is, where her comrades are.

"It's the same for you here, isn't it?"

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
She wonders for a moment if Aerith is like her: that desire and drive to move out, explore, see more, test herself.

"Where will you go?" she asks, probing before assuming the similarity.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wanted to study abroad for the same reason," Ami admits. "I didn't end up doing it, but I was still able to travel."

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-16 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Not like the churches of her own world - though Japan has few. Not like the Buddhist temples, or the Shinto shrines, either. A world with a completely different way of looking at life, perhaps.

Ami does know how to behave herself on sacred ground. "I wasn't planning to do anything anyway," she says a bit defensively.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-18 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[A beautiful place fallen to ruin. Even she can be touched by that, though her face remains serious rather than overtly distressed. But if the church is abandoned for worship, and Aerith's flowers are here...]

Do you live here?

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-20 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
[She sounds, well, happy. Ami can't quite take it in when she knows, if Aerith is selling flowers to live, she can't have much. Ami's own affluent background makes it hard for her to understand exactly.]

Show me it.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-20 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[Really, Aerith? Have a look.]

Please.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-20 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
I don't know. [She frowns as she admits this. It's just something inside her that's curious about what she knows nothing about, that wants to see where this girl came from.]

I just became curious when you mentioned it.

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com 2011-03-20 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Until later, then!

[Aerith seems to be, well, brushing her off, after all; and she's no longer the girl who'll wait through that. Ami turns to go.]

(no subject)

[identity profile] waterfell.livejournal.com - 2011-03-20 03:33 (UTC) - Expand