"Grief can do that, I've seen. It makes people become something that they are not. Something they never thought they would ever be," he says, stroking the newly braided hair. He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead.
She closed her eyes, and offered a shuddery little sigh.
"Some days, I'm not sure. But I want to help people. I want to help my inmate, Ciel. I want to help Cloud graduate. I love my people here. And my planet...my planet needs help. But am I doing what's right...? Sometimes...I don't know Sym."
"I think you must recognize that you are not doing anything wrong by being here. That you have a duty to take care of and that is what you must do. And while it isn't something that you want or something that you might otherwise choose, it isn't inherently bad or wrong to enjoy yourself here," he says. "The people you love, the people who care about you - Zack and Cloud and your Ceil - they gain nothing by your misery."
She considered that, fretting at her lip. What Sym was saying- it was true. None of them would want her to feel miserable, or wrecked with guilt. Even Ciel, for all she knew him the least and was her duty.
"And I take that duty seriously." Her voice was soft. "But I'll try to be...open to being happy." She was quiet for a little while. "Is it hard sometimes, back home? When you're not sure if happiness or duty is more important?"
He grins at that and stands up, bringing the chair over to her. It's made of purple mushrooms and crystals, a thing of beauty even if it's in the strange shape of a chair with two raised arms and a high back.
Oh, it was a strange shape of a chair but- she hadn't known what to expect. It was beautiful. Beautiful and functional and everything. She pushed herself up onto her feet, pressing her hands together.
"Sym, this is beautiful. You did wonderful work- I thought it would be...I don't know what I thought it would be."
"Well, no. But it was earlier then expected!" She told him, making to position the chair close to the console before sitting. Coral, she thought, wasn't burrowed in her clothes yet.
The key word is yet, but it's content to sit in her lap and wrap its tentacles loosely around her wrists in what is very obviously a cuddle.
And when the vat is open again, another vriki emerges, this one vaguely purple, and much bigger. That's when Coral tries to guide Aerith's hand to touch the console and experience life the Vertumna way.
"That's a good vriki." She murmured, glad for the cuddle. It was when she saw the vat open to the vaguely purple creature that she made a soft noise, startled, before letting Coral guide her hand to the console.
Well, this certainly was a surprise. She assumed that the purple one was supposed to be Sym, since Coral wasn't alarmed.
The purple one is Sym just as they are both Sym because they are Vertumna.
And so this time, when she touches the console, she will sense Coral, of course, but also Sym, who is burying himself in a patch of dirt and growing into a tree very quickly.
She will also sense the mushroom, hardy and content, along with the crystals. There are no senses, but she will sense them just the same.
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"I've been doing that a lot since he was forced off the Barge. Sorry. I didn't mean to do that."
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"What keeps you here?"
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"Some days, I'm not sure. But I want to help people. I want to help my inmate, Ciel. I want to help Cloud graduate. I love my people here. And my planet...my planet needs help. But am I doing what's right...? Sometimes...I don't know Sym."
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"But if you are, then you are not helping anyone by making decisions based in guilt."
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"Right. You're right. What...should I do then? To ease the guilt, do you think?"
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"And I take that duty seriously." Her voice was soft. "But I'll try to be...open to being happy." She was quiet for a little while. "Is it hard sometimes, back home? When you're not sure if happiness or duty is more important?"
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She sighed again. "Maybe I just need to...distract myself or something."
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She made to scoot backwards, squeaked a little as she landed on her back end, and made to scramble up.
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"What do you think?"
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"Sym, this is beautiful. You did wonderful work- I thought it would be...I don't know what I thought it would be."
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And when the vat is open again, another vriki emerges, this one vaguely purple, and much bigger. That's when Coral tries to guide Aerith's hand to touch the console and experience life the Vertumna way.
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Well, this certainly was a surprise. She assumed that the purple one was supposed to be Sym, since Coral wasn't alarmed.
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And so this time, when she touches the console, she will sense Coral, of course, but also Sym, who is burying himself in a patch of dirt and growing into a tree very quickly.
She will also sense the mushroom, hardy and content, along with the crystals. There are no senses, but she will sense them just the same.
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A tree. The crystals were a new sensation, as was the mushrooms, and the tree...
She thought she felt tears of joy on her cheeks.
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