Odd Little Duckling

Odd Little Duckling
Date of Scene:	28 December 2012
Location:	Goug - Seventh Heaven
Synopsis:	After her return from Twilight Town and a long deserved rest, Aerith admires the new upstairs addition to Seventh Heaven. But while on her tour, she discovers someone that catches her interest.
Cast of Characters:	Aerith, Legion

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Aerith has posed:
Well when she said she'd pretty the place up, Tifa was not kidding.

Aerith already had ideas in her head for the new upstairs rooms. Maybe a vase in each one, or the same potters she'd put downstairs... and the sheets looked too bland, the comforters too uncomfortable. This was supposed to be a bright spot in a dreary place, and she could already think of better colors than just dark blue blankets and gray sheets. So it was that Aerith made her tour of the upstairs, attempting to pick out which room would be hers at the same time. After all, that little room in the back wouldn't do anymore.

Legion has posed:
A Legion enters.

She looks around the pub. She isn't going to head upstairs without an invitation but there is a jingle that she can probably hear when she steps inside. This is the place, she thinks, that she thinks she heard mention of yesterday. She taps her chin lightly and glances about before her attention is drawn by...shinies!? Yes! She sees a pinball machine. She approaches it with a coin tied to a string. She dips the coin in the slot and snaps her wrist up but the machine just eats the string too.

The Legion sighs before pulling the plunger and starting the game. She probably is not here to drink due to her young age.

Aerith has posed:
The sound of the door chime makes Aerith turn to look at its source. More than that though, she can tell someone's downstairs without having to really conduct a thorough search, and so it's without any surprise or pretence that she heads downstairs to greet whoever came in. After all, it'd be impolite not to.

"Welcome to the Seventh Heaven!" She chirps in a sing-song voice. Flowergirl then takes note of the girl playing pinball... and heads over to watch. "You any good at that?"

Legion has posed:
Legion looks over to Aerith and asks, "Are you the proprieter? The Network recalls you from the meeting with Merlin." She considers herself for a few moments after and then adds, "We are Legion. The others have taken names upon themselves and while a name seems prepared for me I am not named so please call me Legion. It would be inappropriate for me to abandon Legion as it seems I am the singled one out with regards to names whereas before it should have only been Umi who is, The Network notes, also part of the Network."

She glances as the pinball starts dipping towards the bottom and she flicks a pedal to send it up again.

"Thank you for inviting me to Seventh Heaven." She says. "Despite appearances I am not 'made of money'." Pause. "That was a joke. We are clearly supported by part time jobs and temp work. The Network can keep a game of pinball going for however long as they desire provided cheating is acceptable." Pause. "That was not a joke, the Network clarifies."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith chuckled as this... Legion... stumbled over herself time and time again. Such a serious tone of voice, and so clinical. The question in her mind of course was no longer who this girl was, rather what she was. "Well you're an odd little duckling, aren't you?" She knelt to get a better look at her. "Where're you from?"

Legion has posed:
"Vespertine City. It no longer exists." Legion says, and is about to leave it at that before she realizes that that might give the wrong idea. "The Network isn't troubled by that fact, however, so you do not have to worry. We prefer the new world."

She taps the pinball up a few times. She's actually not bad at it even without cheating, plus--she's a bit iffy on cheating when she's being watched, it seems to defeat the purpose of cheating.

"What's your name?, The Network inquires."

Legion seems to be a girl of around 15 years old--maybe a bit older--with emerald green hair and a serious disposition. Her clothes are nondescript, not poorly kept or rich clothes, in fact they're not even something one might expect from a middle class. They're the clothes of someone who doesn't care about their own appearance.

"And where are you from?, The Network continues the interrogation."

Aerith has posed:
All from one glance. And if one doesn't care for their own appearance, what else don't they care for?

A few decisions are made in the space of an eye blink, and Flowergirl seems to nod in response. "Aerith. And I... used to be from Midgar. I guess I'm from here in Goug now." She smiled, not seeming bothered by that at all. "I saw you... or rather, someone who looked like you, at Merlin's house. There were... two of them, I think." She stood and put her hands behind her back. "Tifa runs this place, she's out right now. Where, I can't really say."

Legion has posed:
"Three." She says. "This node was one of them." Legion doesn't care about a lot of things. They care very deeply for a few things. Though whether Legion is just this Legion or all of Legion it remains to be seen. Midgar. The name doesn't mean anything, but she better note that down in her head for later just in case. Mercade probably isn't interested in that of itself.

"So it is Tifa's, not yours." She says. "Yet you acted like you were the proprieter, I suppose she trusts you to run this bar in her absence through a shared sense of comradery and/or friendship, The Network goes into irrelevent detail."

She hits the pinball a few more times but ends up losing her first ball OH NOOO. Two balls remain. She holds off on shooting the next ball however so that she can turn and face Aerith.

"Mercade Alexander sent us out to gather information, The Network explains that she suspects this is not just for professional reasons. Do you require assistance with anything? A detective helps those nobody else can help."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith shrugs. "That depends..." She kneels again and runs a hand through Legion's hair. "What can I do to help you?" Her green eyes flash brighter for a moment as she attempts to get somewhat more insight into what makes Legion... tick. If she could read minds, it would be a quite unfair exchange. No, this is just a reading of energy, the better to understand what was in front of her.

Legion has posed:
On a corporeal level, Legion seems to have some deep affinity with electricity. On a 'who she is' sense, well...

There is no sense of individuality within her. If there is, it's very miniscule. She doesn't see herself as 'she'. She sees herself as 'we'. But you probably knew that already from her behaviorisms. Behind those eyes...

Imagine a shovel striking the ground. Imagine it digging a hole. Imagine that, at first, it's a small hole. And then a body, one that looks just like Legion's body, torn apart in excruciating detail as if the marks had never been forgotten. Imagine it's thrown into that small hole. And then the shovel hits the ground again. The ground gives way. The hole gets bigger. Another body is thrown it. It looks just like Legion's body, torn apart in excruciating detail as if the marks had never been forgotten. Except the marks aren't the same. It was destroyed in a new, creative way. Perhaps this one's had its arms plucked free and left to waste away as its blood drained free. The shovel hits the ground again. The ground gives way. The hole gets bigger. Another body. It is thrown in, just like the first. This happens over and over as the mass grave is filled. It doesn't speed up to make it easier. Each body is given precisely the same amount of time as the body before it. The injuries are different each time. They're all dead, of course, and they did not die easily. The hands, holding the shovel, are the hands of a small girl. They don't waver at all when the shovel hits the ground and dislodges earth. It just keeps happening with an unerring patience and methodology. Over and over. The video can play for an eternity. Gradually it pulls back, and the small girl is revealed to be Legion itself. The graves it was digging was its own. No, it's more than that, it's almost like--she's an accomplice. Led to their own deaths. There isn't regret, simply knowledge.

Now imagine that you watched this vision, this private moment over and over again to satisfy idle curiousity. That this private darkness in the pit of her being is exposed. The shame, the horror, the guilt--that doesn't seem to be there, the void of it all.

Imagine the ending of the video, as the Legion--the Legion you see before you--stops digging, leaving space for five more, and takes one of those spots, lying down and closing her eyes, a peaceful smile upon her lips.

Imagine then that it's not a video at all. You don't get to just watch because that's not how one's connection to the lifestream works.

Instead it hits you in the heart like a cannonshot. And Legion doesn't even blink, her eyes betraying nothing.

She turns her head away, pulling the plunger and sending off another ball.

"We are happy." She says. "If I died tommorow, I would not be sad." She glances back to Aerith. "If you died tommorow, would you be?"

Aerith has posed:
Aerith had to shut her eyes before long.

That brief glimpse, that one small peek, was more than enough to make her understand just what was going on. The question was loaded, very much so. And yet at the same time it wasn't. She didn't think she had any use at all besides just dying... And perhaps in a way, she was right. But who created her and her siblings? She didn't want to call them things. No, they were probably each individuals. This particular girl however didn't seem to have that sense yet.

No, she had it... it was just small. Tiny. Almost an afterthought for the creator. Whoever was responsible for this either wanted to find how many creative ways there were for a person to die, or they wanted something to happen when the last of them fell. Whatever went through their mind, she had no idea.

She just found it excessively cruel.

Aerith opened her eyes after a few moments and smiled, the trail of a single tear running from her left eye toward the ridge of her jaw. "I don't think I can answer that yet." She petted Legion again as if she were something unique. "But when I can, you'll be the first to know."

Legion has posed:
"Then," Legion says. "You might need help more than we do."
There is a pause from her. Did she realize that Aerith 'scanned' her? She doesn't say. Nor does she give much indication one way or the other. Her temperment does change, however, once Aerith actually goes around shutting her eyes and showing so on and so forth. It doesn't seem to be very subtle, her reaction.

She smiles faintly, suddenly, at that and she says quietly, "It is obvious we have not had a normal life. However, even with all our sacrifices, there are more of us, than you."

She turns back to the pinball machine shortly after, a bit agitated it seems.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith stood again. Maybe that was for the best.

"I'm sorry for doing that... it's something I can't help, part of who I am." It sounded like an excuse, but it was the truth nonetheless. "Part of the ability to hear and see what others can't is that you get no choice as to when it happens. I'm not sure if that's of any help, but..." She shook her head. "I can't help but feel for you, and feel bad I can't do anything."

She sighed and leaned against the wall near the game. "Since you understand what I just did, though, and since there's nothing either of us can do about it, I have one question..." She sighed. "Is there any reason why you can't just..." She cut that off before she said something she would regret.

No, a different question was in order. "Why... are you being sacrificed?"

Legion has posed:
Aerith almost asks the right question.

Instead she asks why. Legion lets the pinball drop through the bottom again and she thinks about this question, and then after a few moments she says, "Sacrifices is a term for food for a god." She says after a moment, which is practically a nonanswer, but that's what she says. She turns her body to face Aerith and bows her head. "Thank you for allowing me to examine your building." She says. "Though of course it is not your building, The Network admits as you have admitted this to being someone else's building."

She straightens and adds, "We are aware of people like that. Do not worry about it." She seems somewhat mollified by Aerith's response, at the very least.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith nodded... and then gives a smile. "Look... if there are only a few of you left, maybe it'd be best if you didn't do anything too hasty." It was the only advice she'd give. She just hoped Legion followed it. "If you're still around, I'll let you try some Sea Salt Ice Cream. No charge."

Legion has posed:
Ice cream.

Legion thinks about this for several moments and then nods slowly. "Understood." She says. That seems...agreeable? Maybe?

Aerith has posed:
Aerith nodded and ruffled Legion's hair. "If you want, you can rest upstairs... odd little duckling." She chcukled at her little nickname. She figured she'd call all of her siblings that, if they didn't have names already. She thought it suited her. "In fact, I think you'd be our first tenant. I won't tell Tifa if you won't."