'tis the season to drive like crazy FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA

[prosecutory]

TEST DRIVE MEME


WHAT DO:

► STEP 1; Post a comment with a character that's not in HH as if they're already in the setting or alternative version, post character who is in HH. Scenarios if you need them!
► STEP 2; Tag around and get a feel for your characters, whether or not you're voice testing or planning to actually app them in!
► STEP 3; Post this all over your plurk, tell your friends, drag them over here and get them to join in the crazy. Or else. And most importantly, have fun, profit, and tell even more friends!

 

***stolen from all the kind folks on the meme comm

Comments

flies with option b

[terracanta]

[ it's hard to ignore someone in trouble, and aerith just happens to be strolling down the street on her way to the grocery shop, equipped with grey rain boots, a pink dress, and red wool coat, her signature pink ribbon fast around her braid. guessing by the way the other woman is dressed, she seems new—or she isn't and is merely resilient to the cold, though the latter is hard to believe with the snow melting like this. wasting no more time, aerith hops over to the girl, worry in her bright green eyes. ]

Excuse me, something wrong with your car?

[ in her time, the closest aerith would have come to tifa is by passing through sector 7 and by the bar, then popular and brand new. though she can't recognize her, being nearer to her now makes her feel as though she should be familiar… like recognizing kin, maybe, but intuition can be weird sometimes. aerith decides not to trust it just yet, instead reaching for her phone and thinking of whom to call for help. ]

I know I couldn't fix it for you, but I know someone who can…

oh boy oh boy

[ecophobic]

[She's frustrated, with herself and with this ridiculous situation, and is so distracted by this that she doesn't connect the voice with someone familiar, not yet.

It's only when she looks up that she understands. For a long, heavy pause, Tifa looks very much like she's just seen a ghost — perhaps because she has. Her face, flushed from the cold, goes very pale, and she sits there, wide-eyed and startled before it occurs to her to speak.]

Aerith?

[She knew that Aerith was not really, truly gone, that she had helped them from beyond the flow of the Lifestream very recently, in fact. But knowing that and seeing her in the flesh was another thing entirely. The cold is forgotten, and Tifa stands up on legs that suddenly feel very shaky.]

You're really... [Here? Alive? She doesn't know what to say.

...She looks different, but Tifa can't put her finger on why. A little younger, maybe, but it's been years now. Perhaps her memory is just faulty. It wouldn't be the first time.]

shakes excitedly

[terracanta]

[ aerith has seen a lot living in the slums. thieves, substance abusers, lecherous business men, war veterans, and more. she can tell when someone is sick or when someone is on the verge of death.

the lady in front of her looks like she's been there and back. aerith grips the other's arm (are you okay?) in case she faints, but then she says her name, and it all becomes so strange. ]

Uh?

[ (I really what?) there's so much that could have happened to this girl. she doesn't know where she's from yet, when she got here or if she just did. aerith realizes maybe not everyone arrives at hollyheights so calmly. the silence seems to have stretch long enough, and with no other sign, aerith makes a move again. ]

Sorry, how do you know my name? [ she tilts her head, frowning with the question—then a thought lights up. ] Are you from Midgar? A friend of Zack's, maybe?

[ it's the only connection she can draw! zack knows a lot of people, after all, and aerith feels bad about forgetting someone (she rarely ever does) or at least trying to find out who she's related to. ]

[ecophobic]

[There's a pressure behind her eyes that sharpens when Aerith grabs hold of her arm, and clamps down hard on the desire to jerk back instinctively, or worse. Don't cry, she thinks, and her expression shifts into something approaching normalcy. She won't cry — she's probably startled Aerith enough as-is.

But something is wrong. Tifa stares at this girl, the face she recognizes, and tries to make sense of what she's saying.] I know...I knew Zack, and I've lived in Midgar, but Aerith...you don't remember?

[She tilts her head.] It's me, Tifa. I'm a friend of yours, and Cloud. [...] You remember Cloud, right?

[terracanta]

[ the crease between aerith's brows deepens the more tifa tries to make aerith remember. it's not that she's forgotten—it's that she doesn't have those memories to begin with. deeply apologetic, she shakes her head and drops her hand from the woman's arm, but the moment tifa names cloud, the situation gains some clarity, at least to the younger slum girl.

(he hasn't told me directly, but he's a few years ahead of my time… this girl might be too?)

the confusion fades from her face, as she finds an anchor the other can hold on to, and she metaphorically reaches for it to place before her. ]

Yes! Cloud is here. I was going to call him since he knows about cars and engines and things like that.

[ she hopes that helps tifa settle down. after that, the next step is to actually contact cloud and to get tifa inside somewhere while they wait for him. ]

Listen, Tifa, you probably just got here so there's a lot I have to explain, but first I'd like to get you out of this cold. My house is just over there; would you be all right coming with me? Then I'll call Cloud to come over and see you.

[ecophobic]

Yeah, I... [She can't know Cloud then either. Not the way she should, anyway. The answer isn't what she'd expect from the Aerith she knew.] I'd be fine with that...I'm sorry. This must seem so strange to you. I bet I sound crazy.

[She tries to laugh, but it's shaky. Off-balance. She settles with rubbing at her arms instead.]

[terracanta]

[ as tifa deduces, aerith doesn't know cloud that way she should—will, in the future. even though she knows there's nothing to blame, the flower girl can't help feeling failure upon seeing the disappointment on tifa's face. all she can do is dissipate the other's thoughts so she shakes her head, more sincerely than she might be able to convey. ]

No, you don't, not at all. I've heard crazier things in the slums so you don't have to worry.

[ she smiles, partly in memory of hinted events and partly encouraging tifa to do the same, if possible—but more importantly, those bare arms just won't do. aerith begins unclasping her coat. ]

Oh, here. Let's get this around you first. [ aerith allows no protest, especially since she still has a long-sleeved cardigan. though she doesn't want to be so intrusive toward a stranger, aerith can't resist brushing tifa's hair out of the collar. that done, she smiles tenderly. ] There. Shall we go now?

[ecophobic]

[While Tifa would normally protest the gesture (it's fine, and i can handle the cold and most of all, you need it more than i do are at the tip of her tongue), she accepts the altruism without complaint. Without saying much at all, really — she lets Aerith brush the hair away from the collar of the coat, too struck by the familiarity of it to do anything.

She is very focused on not having an outburst. She had learned this, during the strange, confusing time when Cloud was not himself and she'd known it, and she had more practice when Denzel was sick, and when Cloud was always far away. She knew how to control herself, but it didn't make it easier. Especially not when her dearly departed friend was here in the flesh, offering her a coat.

What was she going to do? Could she even explain? Should she?] Yeah. Let's, um, let's get going.

[She has to fight the urge to rub at her arms again. It wouldn't do to worry Aerith, and she isn't cold anymore. Just unsettled.] ...Aerith, has Cloud said anything to you? I mean, has he talked to you at all?

[She can see him sequestering himself away, not talking to either Aerith or Zack (and the topic of Zack was a bridge she'd have to cross herself soon). But Cloud was never a loner either, not really, never wanted to be, at least. Did he poke around from time to time, making awkward small talk? Wanting to say everything, but keeping it inside?]

[terracanta]

[ aerith walks on, staying close beside tifa (in case she stumbles or just needs someone to hold onto) and focusing on what to do for her once they reach the house. it's easier to think of tea, food, and blankets than it is to question her reasons for being so shaken. this must be an example of the less pleasant arrivals. there's nothing she can do to change her circumstances back home, but aerith is glad she can help, and more so that tifa's accepting of it.

—yet, for all the ignorance she tries to feign, tifa raises the questions anyway. ]

Well… all I got from him is he's from the future. [ she smiles innocently as she continues. ] He told me mako energy is being replaced with oil so I guess Shinra's influence over the Planet is finally waning. That's good, right?

[ just a few minutes more now, and they'll come to house 1444. no one should be home at this time, anita playing with her friends and zack doing his own exploring (aka gift preparing). ]

[ecophobic]

[So Cloud was from her time, or around it...that was good. That was, she realized, an enormous relief. If she would have had to go back to lying, she wasn't sure what she would do.

It would make him easier to talk to. In some ways, anyway.] That is good. Barrett — [...Ah. Aerith wouldn't remember him, either.] A friend of ours does surveying around the world to help people find oil. Everyone's rebuilding, so it's, mm. It's busy.

[A pause, and she adds, gently:] I'm sorry if Cloud's been quiet with you. Don't tell him I told you, but he's a little shy, you know?

[More or less. He was probably as shellshocked as she was.]