Aerith and Shelke's Excellent Adventure.

[tinymakoaddict]

Characters: Aerith, Shelke, open to anyone else in past midgar (Denzel? Cissnei? Anyone else!)
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Shelke and Aerith go to the Shinra building. Other people may come along!
Location: Phantom Midgar
Date: Jan 22nd, but in the past...somehow...?
Warnings: I suppose they might run into a guardbot or something...

Comments

[thishealingwind]

Aerith knew that she was probably running late by the time she found Seventh Heaven. It wasn't that the bar was difficult to find, since it was pretty easy to see the giant flashing sign nearly anywhere within the boundaries of Sector 7, but she had lingered for awhile in the home she'd shared with Elmyra. She had held onto the tiniest sliver of hope that the woman she'd called her Mom would be there, but there had been little more than a few photographs and her own memories when she'd pushed the door open.

In the end, the visit had been bittersweet, and it had taken her quite a bit of time to cross from Sector 5 through Sector 6. The latter was a mess of broken machinery and random debris, but at least it had been devoid of the monsters she would normally have encountered there.

Aerith passed through the old playground, pausing again to linger on her memories and mixed feelings, before finally making her way through the large gate to Sector 7. From there, finding Tifa's bar was easy, as was finding Shelke once she was inside the old building. She hadn't seen Denzel anywhere yet, so seeing that he wasn't inside the bar either made her nervous.

"Shelke," she said softly. "Have you seen Denzel? I told him to meet us here." Aerith moved to the window, looking out through the clouded glass.

[tinymakoaddict]

Shelke looked up from the terminal for a moment as Aerith entered, just making sure it wasn't a monster or enemy before her gaze returned to the screen.

"I spoke with him. But I have not seen him..." She was hoping he was headed here as well, but Shelke was not very good at dwelling. Either Denzel would come here, or if he didn't, they'd presumably go and find him. It wasn't as though she would leave her 'brother' alone in this place.

Not that she would admit that sort of thing out loud.

"Have you seen any other people here?" She asked, still without looking up. "People that were not brought here the way we were, I mean."

[heartofheaven]

Tifa had actually arrived at Seventh Heaven. Of course, since she'd experienced something like this before, she knew what to do and she didn't linger long before leaving the premises. To her surprise, however, exiting the bar didn't bring her back to Gaia. Instead she found herself in the slums and for a minute or two, Tifa started to wonder if she had really returned.

The eerie silence was a big clue that all was not as it seemed. She searched for signs of life, exploring all the buildings she had once known so well and found nothing. Then she checked her phone to find that everyone had agreed to meet up back at the bar.

It didn't take long for her to go back. Tifa walked in, her eyes immediately sweeping the room. She was glad to see Shelke and Aerith... but still no Denzel or Cloud.

"Oh, you made it," she said, the relief obvious in her voice. "I've been looking around the slums and it's all empty... Have you guys heard from Cloud or Denzel?"

[thishealingwind]

Glancing over her shoulder at Shelke, the Cetra shook her head. "No, no one. It looks like the entire city is deserted," she said, looking back outside. "It's like they just suddenly vanished."

Aerith saw Tifa approaching the bar as she looked out the dusty window of the bar, so she took a few steps away from the immediate entrance and waited for the older woman to enter and began checking her phone for new messages.

"Cloud ended up on the cliff that overlooks Midgar. He told me to leave Denzel to him," she said softly, flipping the Skyphone closed and returning it to the pocket of her dress. "I spoke to them both, and they're safe. We'll just have to wait for them to get here."

[tinymakoaddict]

"I'm not certain they were ever here," Shelke said, still not looking up from her screen. "No matter how much this may appear to be Midgar, we cannot simply assume it is the real thing." She trailed off when Tifa entered, looking up, and there was a genuine moment of relief on her face before she went back to her screen.

"Denzel may be a little while, I think he is trying to decide what to take from his former home. I doubt he wishes to rush." She said, frowning at the computer. And then she sat up a bit straighter, her hands pressed flat against the counter in front of her.

"I think I am going to go to the Shinra building. Before...whatever this is disappears."

[heartofheaven]

Tifa found herself going over to stand behind the bar counter out of habit - it just felt like the right place to be. Even though Shelke was right and this might not be the real Midgar. Midgar had never been so utterly devoid of people.

She watched Shelke at the computer, but something distracted her before she could ask what the girl was doing.

"The Shinra building? What for?"

[littleprotector]

Marlene had been out and about wandering around their little neighborhood in Sector 7. It was just like she remembered it, that was, before the plate fell.

Finally deciding she should find someplace safe in case something bad happened, Marlene made her way to the old bar and pushed the doors opened, hearing voices.

"Hello?"