[ perhaps some of the others, too, then. terrible. iwatooshi sighs. ]
...I won’t make you keep talking about it, Aerith-dono. Everyone involved is safe now, and healing.
[ except maybe karlach, running off to die again immediately in break-in. ]
I’m more worried about how you’re feeling now. If it’s anything like what I’ve been told, it must be… disorienting, at times. But we’ll only be able to help you with what we know about.
[she's gonna find out about karlach later and be so mad.]
Sorry. [she says, because she knows it's a difficult thing to process and to talk about.] I'm glad everyone's safe and healing. If things ended the way it did for me and for Yuffie, I can't imagine that the others didn't experience something similar.
[perhaps we all tpk'd...hard to say.]
...it was very disorienting, yes. [...] Iwatooshi, how much do you know about Mathis's circumstances on his island? [did she ask this already? hell if she knows. she's trying to reconnect dots.]
It's very possible they did. These things seem to seek out the best ways to hurt us, somehow.
[ ough. this question. he looks conflicted - feels it, too, his concern for aerith warring with the responsibility he has to his partner, even if the connection is long broken. ]
...It isn't really my story to share. [ he says softly. ] But... you have his choker. You must know by now, don't you? The one called "Camille Claude," his brother, called Mathis-dono a homunculus.
...I remember the things from his memories. That week before we came here, when everyone was seeing everyone else's experiences. I knew back then. I just wasn't sure how much you learned before we had to leave. But you're right. I do know he's a homunculus, and how he came to be that way.
Makes sense. I know it's something he only recently learned himself. [but...she's nodding.] That's exactly it though, yes. Everything from not being the real versions of ourselves to having our memories manipulated. All of it.
...not really? [she sounds kind of confused because she's not sure what to feel right now other than "bad."] But it's temporary. All of it is temporary, and then the real Aerith can go back and I'll...
[hm. no. give her a second.]
...if I'm still dead, then maybe there is a different Aerith somewhere. But they might not find her for a while. [this is absolutely cyoa brain, but also aerith's own issues about being unsure if she's alive or dead at this point.]
[ "the real aerith." he doesn't like that at all, but he thinks he can understand where it's coming from, miserable as it is. the one consolation is that if this is an effect, it'll wear off in a few days, but how awful to know she'll be living with it for even that long.
the extra unfortunate thing is that he's not entirely certain how to respond in a way that won't make it worse for aerith. ]
...Perhaps. You seem very alive to me, though, and very real.
[she doesn't expect people to know what to say, or even try. being a copy of the real aerith means she can't afford to be upset if things aren't treated so delicately, she thinks. she does not say that to iwatooshi because she does not know what he's thinking, but she is thinking she's being unfair to him by mentioning it at all.]
Back there, we were created to look and seem very real, I think. [focus, aerith.] And here...we are. Real. Alive. All of us.
[not just the people who went on this trip, but everyone in the graveyard village, she means.]
[ i think she's still holding onto his arm but he's just going to set his hand on top of hers, gently. ]
It's the same for me, you know. I was never really a part of history, but here... here, I'm just like you and all the others. Real, and alive. It's not so different.
If you have trouble remembering, then I'll hold onto the memory for you, still.
[she is because she wants to make sure it stays attached to him. but that's nice, that helps.]
You're very much real, Iwatooshi. [firmly. why it's easy for her to say that about him and not herself right now, well, that's a whole other thing, but she's very sure of this.] You're real and you've made your own memories and you've lived your own experiences and that's what makes you a real, alive person.
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...I won’t make you keep talking about it, Aerith-dono. Everyone involved is safe now, and healing.
[ except maybe karlach, running off to die again immediately in break-in. ]
I’m more worried about how you’re feeling now. If it’s anything like what I’ve been told, it must be… disorienting, at times. But we’ll only be able to help you with what we know about.
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Sorry. [she says, because she knows it's a difficult thing to process and to talk about.] I'm glad everyone's safe and healing. If things ended the way it did for me and for Yuffie, I can't imagine that the others didn't experience something similar.
[perhaps we all tpk'd...hard to say.]
...it was very disorienting, yes. [...] Iwatooshi, how much do you know about Mathis's circumstances on his island? [did she ask this already? hell if she knows. she's trying to reconnect dots.]
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[ ough. this question. he looks conflicted - feels it, too, his concern for aerith warring with the responsibility he has to his partner, even if the connection is long broken. ]
...It isn't really my story to share. [ he says softly. ] But... you have his choker. You must know by now, don't you? The one called "Camille Claude," his brother, called Mathis-dono a homunculus.
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You're wearing the same choker that he does. Did you experience the same things?
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Then I'm sorry. It was hard enough on Mathis-dono - it must be difficult for you, too, right? Are you sure you're alright?
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[hm. no. give her a second.]
...if I'm still dead, then maybe there is a different Aerith somewhere. But they might not find her for a while. [this is absolutely cyoa brain, but also aerith's own issues about being unsure if she's alive or dead at this point.]
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the extra unfortunate thing is that he's not entirely certain how to respond in a way that won't make it worse for aerith. ]
...Perhaps. You seem very alive to me, though, and very real.
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Back there, we were created to look and seem very real, I think. [focus, aerith.] And here...we are. Real. Alive. All of us.
[not just the people who went on this trip, but everyone in the graveyard village, she means.]
We all have to remember that.
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It's the same for me, you know. I was never really a part of history, but here... here, I'm just like you and all the others. Real, and alive. It's not so different.
If you have trouble remembering, then I'll hold onto the memory for you, still.
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You're very much real, Iwatooshi. [firmly. why it's easy for her to say that about him and not herself right now, well, that's a whole other thing, but she's very sure of this.] You're real and you've made your own memories and you've lived your own experiences and that's what makes you a real, alive person.
[...]
But thank you.