A world unseen. [ Open. ]

[Aeirth Gainsborough]

Something went wrong. Something, something terrible went wrong. What could it be? Midgar, the captical city of the most technologically advanced for anyone within. However, a sudden hit of a riff had caused the unstability of the lifestorm and she could feel this uneasy change.

Aerith Gainsborough, stuck in the confines of Midgar had noticed a great change: people were becoming ill so fast that it was not natural. It was almost like a plague, wiping an entire city with one swift breeze. But what was strange was she had yet to fallen under the influence of the Geostigma itself. Why not her?

Standing near an old, broken down concession stand, Aerith would take a few moments to notice how it was abandoned. No one ever walk among the streets and no one ever makes their small business outside. It was as if the city had sheltered itself from any instance outside of their home. Aerith, deep down, felt that shatter in her mind. A hardly audioible sigh left her lips moments before she turned and continued down the street.

She wore a shin-length pink dress with a slit up the front that buttons up as well as a red bolero jacket to cover the top of her dress. She also wore metal braces on her wrists with brown boots to end her attire. It was not much or not exactly a fashion statement, but anything of a dress she'd wear. Her hair, as always, was tied in a low ponytail that was braided with a big pink ribbon to hold it. She had loose side bangs that fit the outline of her face, exposing her outstanding blue eyes.

Aerith, in no particular mindset, had let her grace take her to wherever she wanted. There was no real designation she was going to and there was no real aim to go anywhere. Perhaps she was one of the few that was daring enough to stay outside, despite the lack of the lifestream supporting what little life there was now.

[Riku]

What was this place?

He had imagined a lot of different places in the world outside his islands, but never a place like this. This entire city was like some kind of giant fortress but with towns on and underneath it... first the long walk down the highways had been tiresome, but the destination at the end had gotten a mixed reaction. At first, Riku had thought the walled metropolis was like the nice, clean town on the surface, filled with neatly-dressed people and buildings reaching the sky as far as the eye could see. But then, the train station lead down into the train graveyard... and only from there things got worse as he travelled deeper into the capital's core. Giant plates that were once the floor of bright suburbs, now were the giant rooftops of a dark world below filled with slums... and of course, the poor people living within them.

He saw people living out of what looked like a junkyard - out of broken-down caravans, trucks, cars, and buildings that looked thrown together out of scrap and concrete. The floor was not even paved in concrete completely, just dirt and mud in places, where the bare-foot could pick up disease. The adults were dealing with vendoring what they could find in the trash heaps, while the children weren't even running around happily... some were gravely ill and just sat depressingly in the streets where no-one helped them or even saw them. Not even the sky, piecing blue as his own eyes, could be seen beyond the looming plate overhead... the darkness just made the place that much a little more depressing.

But Riku liked the darkness... not only the new power that was pulsing within his own heart, but the comfort and privacy it brang. What he didn't like was how the plate and the walls of the slums closed in around him, making him feel claustrophobic, like he couldn't breathe. Not wanting to stay here for long, but not completely neglectful either, Riku started on his way back to the surface when his foot snagged on something. Looking down, he bent over and picked up to examine a large Moogle doll that had been discarded. Looking up ahead, he saw a small girl walking away that must have been the owner, and a slight smile crossed his lips.

Further up the alleyway, the little girl had noticed her doll had gone missing during her absent-minded stroll, and started to wander back the way she came to search for it. On the verge of tears, she was about to give up hope that it was gone, when she noticed a wisp of darkness coming from an alleyway. The dark portal closed, the darkness it brought retreating back from the light of the street to reveal the Moogle doll in clear view, before it disappeared. The little girl picked it up quickly, looking around cautiously as she had not remembered coming too close to the alleyway, before she ran off the way she came.

With a smoldering smile, the dark solider chuckled to himself darkly, appearing in a dark corner on the other side of the street as he turned and walked down the pavement.

How amusing... but he had better things to do.

(Saw this wasn't closed or replied to, so I hope you don't mind some company, Aerith.)

[Aeirth Gainsborough]

[ OC: It's fine! I forgot to put "Open" on the subject line lol. Thank you for replying! <3 ]

Not a single living soul had even bothered to show their presence. It was, to an extent, heart breaking to see such tremble at the sight of it all. Aerith had a guess that something so trivial and so unusal to happen, that shutting from the world would be their only solution.

Aerith stopped for a brief moment, not realizing her right hand had touched at the collar bone by her neck. Just the thought alone of being in a city that was once filled with life, had now become like a ghost city. However, it was not only that realization but Aerith had thought she heard sounds of a cry. It sounded like a little girl, perhaps five? Or a little older? Nonetheless, Aerith's feet traveled from her walk to the direction she heard the cry.

By the time she arrived, the cries turned into giggles. She had watched as a little girl ran passed her, seeing her hold something in her arms. Perhaps the girl had lost her doll and she found it. Aerith watched her and that was a nice sign -- to see others actually outside. But the faint, rapid thumps were long in the distance and then she heard silence once again. Aerith was ready to turn the corner as she let her eyes first take a straight glance ahead. She had almost bumped into someone. A small gasp left her face and she had taken one step back to be assured that she had not gotten into this person's path.

Her hand moved away from her chest, letting out a sigh of an almost of a relief. "I'm so sorry." She would say, hoping the man before her would not react in alternative matters. Her eyes moved from floor level to meet at least to whre her height stood. She had noticed it was a man, with silver hair. She didn't want to take any bad impressions and judging by his reaction, it would only tell her just that.

[Riku]

(OOC: Sorry about the late reply, I'm an admin on another site, and I've just started a new job. And however belated these are, you're welcome.)

It was time to get out of this place.

This place beneath the floors of the upper levels above, it was a dark and rather lonesome place, and otherwise Riku would have liked it. Maybe he would come back here, one day. But the reason it was dark and desolate of more quantity of life was also the reason it made Riku uncomfortable, for the walls and the looming plates overhead made him uneasy, as if closed in and trapped. The lower city levels were not as he expected, and if we were to stay here things could get ugly, if he remained after dark. He had the rest of this strange new world to see, and his new-found freedom of his youth, while he looked for the two people who meant most to him.

He had been trapped on that tropical island with them for so long, perhaps the sunny days and crystal clear beaches were nice, but became too much of a good thing being stuck there for more than a decade. He sought escape from the confinements of that paradise, even if he was taking the tranquility for granted, just for a chance at something new and exciting. Even this place he somehow prefered more comforting than his home... the home that had vanished before his very eyes after he had opened that dark door. But even this place was beginning to get old fast, and there would be nowhere here clean and safe for him to stay, so it was time for him to resort to his nomadic ways.

He thought he was in the clear to get out of dodge, as the expression went, before someone came from around a corner and almost ran into him. He stopped suddenly, the blocking of his path interrupted, but not at all unwelcome. It was a young woman, and a rather beautiful looking one at that, although she appeared to be slightly older than his own age. Still, not too far an age difference, and Riku met his aqua-marine eyes with her own as she lowered hers up from the pavement. "It's fine." he brushed off casually, thinking it had just been an accident, and side-stepped around the brunette to let her continue in the direction she had been heading.

It had not been expected someone would notice him in the shadows, however colorful his clothing may have been in this shade, but he didn't expect the young woman's attention to remain on him for any longer than it should in their brief encounter in the slums. As he would not dwell his attention on hers, already attempting to walk around her and continue on his way... unless she had something else more to say whilst also being down here in these lonesome depths of the city.