[ A field of flowers, Aerith thinks, is a much nicer place to be than the wilds outside Midgar. No matter where she looks, all she can see is pink and white and yellow and green, and it's soothing, relaxing compared to the dusty, lifeless highway roads leading away from the city. In fact, where others around the place might be wandering and trying to figure out what's going on, she finds herself immediately crouched among the flowers, examining the different kinds and smiling to herself as she talks to them in a whisper—

It's only when the flowers don't try to talk back that she finds herself frowning. Then comes the realization that her clothes have somehow changed, leaving her in white compared to the pale pink she usually wears. And then the realization that her friends are gone, that the people surrounding her in this place, moving through the flowers, are strangers.

It has to be a dream, she thinks, but a sharp pinch of her forearm begets pain, and Aerith's frown deepens.

Is this one of Sephiroth's tricks, then? Or some strange consequence of their defeat of the Whispers?

Her steps are hurried— but careful— as she moves between the flowers, reaching out to the first person she sees, and she smiles in greeting before gesturing around them. ]

Um, excuse me. Do you happen to have any idea where we are?

[ Anyone from Gaia could tell you that it's no surprise that after exploring around the place a little, Aerith's immediate plan is to head to Dayrise with the goal of practicing her new magic. While her own natural abilities give her some minor healing skills— which are in turn enhanced by the Materia she carries— nothing she's ever heard of gives the ability to help plants grow.

She's excited.

There is, of course, also the fact that the skills granted by Spring are what's going to help save this world, and she kind of needs to help do that if she's ever going to make it back home and do her part in saving that world. The more quickly she gets these powers under control, the more helpful she'll be.

(But also, she can learn to make flowers grow.)

The colosseum isn't exactly home to greenery, so for now Aerith is working on her elemental powers, creating swirls of air that lift the tresses of her hair as she laughs. Of course, she's still new enough to this that the occasional gust goes astray, perhaps interfering with someone else who is practicing. If anyone is hurt, either by her stray wind creations or by their own practice efforts, she'll be quick to move to their side, trying to use her seasonal powers to heal any injuries as best as she can. ]

[ What a welcome it has been! By the time Aerith sits down at a small bench with her brand new Poké Ball in hand, she's exhausted. A day— a night? it's impossible to tell in this place— full of exploring and shopping and searching, not to mention trying all sorts of different foods... it's enough to make a girl forget temporarily about the worries that have been bothering her since she came to in this place. Perhaps whatever companion she meets inside this ball can help with that too. New friends are always nice.

When the ball opens, she's surprised by a cat-sized creature that immediately declares its name— "Eevee!" it says— and bats playfully at her boots before dashing off. ]

H-Hey! Wait!

[ And so it begins: a race through the mall, the naughty Eevee stopping for long enough to let Aerith almost catch it before sprinting off again, joyfully calling its name as it leaves the hapless florist to chase after it. After a while she's forced to stop and catch her breath— just out of reach, Eevee stops too, watching her curiously as Aerith flags down the nearest person she can find. ]

I don't— hah— suppose you know— hah— much about these creatures?

[ If Aerith finds herself in the lowest levels of the mall, it's by accident, but she's clever enough not to eat or touch anything that might cause her problems— she's from the Slums, after all; she understands the dark better than the average florist her age. Nor does she go anywhere near the Casino and risk getting herself into a spot of trouble with a shady criminal organization. No, Aerith is poisoned purely by accident, an event that passes as nothing to her but the consuming of some sweet treat from an innocent-looking vending machine.

It's not until later, when she's tending a rose, that she pricks her finger, a soft "oh" on her lips as the blood blossoms into a bead on her skin, triggering a transformation into something other. Concealed momentarily by the droplet that rolls off her finger onto the ground, the skin of her fingertips turns a rich fern green, melting halfway up her arms into the eerie, milky-white hue that makes up the rest of her body. Flowers spring from her hair, braid falling out and strands twisting into the mix until it's almost impossible to tell where hair ends and flowers begins. Even her dress seems different, looking now more like something made out of flowers than the soft pink fabrics of before.

If she's called, Aerith looks up, revealing startlingly pink eyes, her brow creased slightly over their unearthly glow. There's no point asking what has happened— a woman who has been a frog knows a transformation when she feels it. But in the absence of a mirror— ]

On a scale from one to ten, how much trouble am I in?

[ She's probably not as concerned as she should be, but that will come later. Maybe. ]

[ Just aki, continuing to lift most of my prompts from the first TDM to make my life easier, seeing as I never ended up joining that time. So if they seem familiar, that's why! If nothing grabs your attention, feel free to hit me up with something else; anything from the TDM is totally fair game. Hit me up at denouements or PM this journal to chat or ask questions! ♥

Aerith's coming from the end of Remake, although it's indicated in that game that she has some memories of the original timeline too, just as a head's-up! ]