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spira_rpThe days that followed Axel, Saix and Aerith's return to Rabanastre had been sombre ones.
The news of what had befallen Midgar had spread throughout the world via news channels, both visual and radio, and by here-say and would-be accounts, like wildfire.
The death toll was being counted in untold thousands and, according to most broadcasts, there were no survivors. It was being readily compared to the tragedy of Nabudis that had taken place nearly a decade ago. Aerial photographs and video showed what Midgar looked like in the wake of the disaster in comparison to the earlier pictures of it finally nearing completion.
The damage to the city was extensive. The iconic Plate had collapsed almost completely and fires raged across great portions of what was left. An entire district was still alight, even days after. The telltale pale green glow of burst Mako pipes was visible in some areas and Mist obscured some of the visuals to such an extent that entire sectors were hard to make out. Teams were struggling to get inside the city in order to fully assess the damage. Bancour's division of the Gotei 13, Squad Seven, had been drafted in as an emergency measure and the surrounding areas were on high alert regarding its potential to turn onto a Necrohol. Reports assured viewers and listeners that such a thing had not yet occurred, and may not, but tensions ran high.
Travellers were being advised to steer clear of the entire Centra area as a precaution.
Officials had not yet managed to ascertain the cause or motive behind the attack, if it even was one. Theories regarding the method used for the wiping out of an entire capital city varied almost widely as the reasons. Some theorised that it was accidental -- a chain reaction of Reactor malfunctions. Others were convinced that it was down to eco-terrorism from anti-Mako power groups. That it could possibly be an enemy nation that was responsible was not an uncommon suggestion, either. This last one had thrown the entire political state of Ivalice into turmoil.
As a result, political debates made up a heavy portion of the current programming.
The ambience of even Rabanastre, Dalmasca's usually bright and bustling capital, had been considerably more subdued than it was prior to their departure. Numbers were down in the East End and in the Muthru Bazaar. People were still shopping, but the carefree spark had been, if only temporarily, doused by numb shock.
The news of what had befallen Midgar had spread throughout the world via news channels, both visual and radio, and by here-say and would-be accounts, like wildfire.
The death toll was being counted in untold thousands and, according to most broadcasts, there were no survivors. It was being readily compared to the tragedy of Nabudis that had taken place nearly a decade ago. Aerial photographs and video showed what Midgar looked like in the wake of the disaster in comparison to the earlier pictures of it finally nearing completion.
The damage to the city was extensive. The iconic Plate had collapsed almost completely and fires raged across great portions of what was left. An entire district was still alight, even days after. The telltale pale green glow of burst Mako pipes was visible in some areas and Mist obscured some of the visuals to such an extent that entire sectors were hard to make out. Teams were struggling to get inside the city in order to fully assess the damage. Bancour's division of the Gotei 13, Squad Seven, had been drafted in as an emergency measure and the surrounding areas were on high alert regarding its potential to turn onto a Necrohol. Reports assured viewers and listeners that such a thing had not yet occurred, and may not, but tensions ran high.
Travellers were being advised to steer clear of the entire Centra area as a precaution.
Officials had not yet managed to ascertain the cause or motive behind the attack, if it even was one. Theories regarding the method used for the wiping out of an entire capital city varied almost widely as the reasons. Some theorised that it was accidental -- a chain reaction of Reactor malfunctions. Others were convinced that it was down to eco-terrorism from anti-Mako power groups. That it could possibly be an enemy nation that was responsible was not an uncommon suggestion, either. This last one had thrown the entire political state of Ivalice into turmoil.
As a result, political debates made up a heavy portion of the current programming.
The ambience of even Rabanastre, Dalmasca's usually bright and bustling capital, had been considerably more subdued than it was prior to their departure. Numbers were down in the East End and in the Muthru Bazaar. People were still shopping, but the carefree spark had been, if only temporarily, doused by numb shock.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-15 05:38 pm (UTC)His apartment, something he managed to afford thanks to him being in the lucrative business of monster-slaying, was spacious enough, but with both Aerith and Saix staying with him for the time being, it was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic. That, and a curious invasion of plant pots had started appearing all over the place. They had sprang up on nearly every flat surface and some uneven ones. Shoots had started sprouting in them, too. He had no idea that they could grow that fast. Then again, they kind of had to. Timcanpy, his Golem, had taken to eating them almost as quickly as they grew.
That alone had caused something of a problem between Aerith and Timcanpy, but the situation hadn't quite escalated to all-out war just yet.
The only refuge from their standoffs, the smell of soil and the odd sensation that the wild was slowly taking over his space was the Sandsea. It was the tavern where the Order made their base and where Saix tended to lurk. Axel knew that he was desperate to go back to Lindblum to check on Vexen, or perhaps beg his forgiveness for accompanying him on his fool's errand, but all transcontinental flights had been grounded as a precaution and Saix, unable to go home, had taken to spending his nights sleeping on his floor and his days in the pub listening to the radio.
The depressing news broadcasts were a constant drone in the Sandsea thanks to the usual music being cut off. They were miserable, a constant dirge of repeated information, slow refreshers as to the situation in Midgar and the political state of the world, with the odd interview from somebody high up in some government or other thrown in to liven things up. Only yesterday a plea for calm from Reeve Tuesti, a Shinra official, had gone out from Junon, the temporary seat of Bancouri governmental power since the disaster. Occasionally, however, an update concerning the state of the temporary Aerodrome closures came up and it was those, he assumed, that Saix was tuning into.
Axel just needed a break from it all. Even one that lasted only as long as it took to pick up groceries.
Axel wasn't present on Spira for the destruction of Nabudis. He barely knew anything about it besides the fact that anywhere with the word 'Necrohol' in its title was not somewhere that travel companies offered package holidays or romantic getaways to. He hadn't had a great deal of time to research every wartime atrocity of the modern age, nor did he have any inclination to do so now. He had only really heard of what happened almost ten years ago in detail since returning to Rabanastre and listening to the news reports. They were kind of hard to avoid. Talk of Midgar, and of its similarity to Nabudis, was on the lips of almost every person he passed that wasn't maintaining a kind of distressed or depressed silence.
He tried to maintain a feeling of indifference at what had happened to Midgar, even though he had been there, but the memories of his own hometown seeped through. Lines blurred.
Aerith's new presence in his apartment didn't help, steady invasion from the soon-to-be-flowers aside. Midgar had been her home. She'd lost everything. Almost everyone she knew, every thing she owned. She could never go home. Axel knew that feeling. Even so, being able to sympathise with her didn't make him feel any better about it. If only they'd had more warning ...
He shook his head to dislodge that thought. There was nothing they could have done. What had happened there, whatever had happened, for whatever reason, had been planned in meticulous detail. Even Xigbar's source of information hadn't been forthcoming with the ins and outs of it, just that it was going to happen.
Axel sighed.
He glanced up at the blue sky that was visible between the tall buildings and squinted against the harsh desert sunlight. Dalmasca's dry season was relentlessly oppressive and that was compounded by the miasma of negative feeling that swirled in every corner of Rabanastre and swept down every street. He turned the corner and made his way home, intending to stow the groceries and then head to the Sandsea to get a nice, cold drink.
Assuming that Aerith and Timcanpy hadn't kicked off World War II in his living room, at least.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-15 11:01 pm (UTC)Rabanastre had been strange for Aerith. It sprawled, and the buildings were so tall, but more than anything, there was the sky above. Aerith still wasn't used to it. She'd grown used to the smell of pollution, and having to work hard to feel the life in the dirt around her, and never seeing the sky. Rabanastre felt overwhelming in comparison. It didn't seem to matter that it was in the middle of the desert, the place felt alive in a way that Midgar never really had, and it was almost scary.
But Rabanastre and Midgar had a few things in common, too. Lately, there was the oppressive atmosphere. The word on the streets, and in the pubs, and in every shop, was 'Midgar'.
Aerith, and Axel, and Saix.... They'd all been there, but they still didn't really know what had happened. The plate had collapsed, but there had been that feeling, that... what was the word Axel used? Icky. That icky feeling, like something horrible had swept through the earth and over it, and sucked the life away.
It was being compared to Nabudis. It felt a little like Nabudis, although Aerith hadn't witnessed that one; only felt it hit the lifestream, and the shockwaves that ran through the planet. And yet it didn't, at the same time. A whole city had been wiped out and yet....
It only felt as though a few hundred had died.
Aerith tried not to think about it. She wasn't sure what it meant.
Instead she focussed her attention on growing flowers, because one of the other things Rabanastre had in common with Midgar was the lack of flowers. There were some plants, here and there, but not many that were just flowers. Aerith wanted to change that, at least a little.
It might help cheer the city up a little, too. It would certainly cheer her up, and help take her mind off things, and Saix and Vexen looked like they could do with a distraction too. But it would help if Timcanpy would stop trying to eat the flowers before they were even properly grown.
"Bad!" She repeated, as if scolding a dog that had cocked its leg against the sofa again.
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Date: 2012-10-16 02:46 pm (UTC)He settled a little further away from her, on the back of one of the sofas, his mouth still full of the plant he had just assaulted. He chewed deliberately slowly, as if savouring it, and seemed to fix her in his field of vision, assuming he had one.
He remembered Aerith from before. He liked Aerith. Even so, she would insist on leaving food all over his house.
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Date: 2012-10-16 03:01 pm (UTC)The early signs were promising; he couldn't hear anything smashing. That didn't mean that it hadn't all gone down while he was at the market, however. For all he knew, he was walking in to the sight of a just-finished and yet epic battle. He didn't want to consider how much a remembrance plaque for all his stuff might cost.
He found his key and slid it into the door. Once the latch clicked open, he adjusted the hold he had on his groceries and carefully pushed the door open with the toe of his boot, half-worried about what he'd find.
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Date: 2012-10-16 03:37 pm (UTC)It was worse because Tim seemed to be taunting her over it, and she gave a slight huff before whipping forward a quick blat with the newspaper.
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Date: 2012-10-16 04:52 pm (UTC)He wasn't quick enough.
Instead of flying away victoriously, he crumpled under the force of the smack from the paper, spitting out bits of chewed shoot in the process.
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Date: 2012-10-16 05:05 pm (UTC)"I can't leave you two kids alone for five minutes, can I?" He said, looking from Aerith to the wibbling gold ball and back again. "I go out, in the desert sun, to go shopping so that we can eat tonight and what do I return to? Fighting."
Of course, it made a change from Timcanpy biting Saix. Saix had this way with animals that never ceased to impress Axel. They hated him and he hated them with equal fervour. For some reason, Timcanpy seemed to think he was an animal under those circumstances. He wasn't sure that even Saix's blue-haired rival from the trip back had drawn as much blood over the course of that battle as Tim tended to when they had a spat.
At least Aerith and Timcanpy got along when he wasn't eating her plants.
"Aerith, stop picking on Tim; it's his house too." He sighed wearily. "Tim, stop eating the weeds. They're not going away."
Ever, by the look of it. There seemed to be more showing up every time he looked away.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-16 05:50 pm (UTC)She put the newspaper down then and went to relieve Axel of some of his burden. It was a little crowded in Axel's apartment at the moment, but both she and Saix were doing what they could to help. She didn't want to mooch of Axel indefinitely, but it had been a sudden uprooting; she had to start small.
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Date: 2012-10-17 03:55 pm (UTC)He handed her one of his bags and scratched his head with his now free hand before he pointed at Tim.
"No more eating the would-be-flowers." He said. "Buuut... we're going to the Sandsea in a little while, so you can look forward to spending some quality time with your best friend, got it memorised?"
He wasn't particularly looking forward to going to the pub, but it would get both him and Aerith out of the apartment without subjecting them, well, her, to the unforgiving glare of the sun.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-17 03:55 pm (UTC)He cringed in on himself and looked, for all he had no real face, visibly upset.
This, of course, vanished the moment Axel referenced Saix.
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Date: 2012-10-17 04:24 pm (UTC)"You're bad," she told Axel, as she carried the shopping to the kitchen, sounding amused. "Saix is supposed to be your friend." Not that she didn't find it funny, too. It was funny to see Saix react so readily to something.
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Date: 2012-10-18 04:36 pm (UTC)He followed Aerith over to the kitchen area. It wasn't a separate room -- the entire apartment was open plan barring the bathroom and a half-height wall around the 'bedroom'. It wasn't designed for multiple people to be sharing, but it worked for the time being.
He started putting the shopping away and made an effort to hide some of it from Tim's prying 'eyes'. He would eat anything, but he still had his favourites. As it was, Tim remained sat on the back of the sofa quietly. Axel had a feeling that he was plotting what dastardly tricks he was going to play on Saix when they got to the Sandsea.
"So you're going to sell the flowers you grow?" He asked as he slotted food into his fridge and cupboards.
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Date: 2012-10-18 09:58 pm (UTC)She nodded, giving an affirmative, "Mmhmm," in answer when he asked about the flowers. She put another couple of things away, finishing emptying the bag before she explained, with a grin, "I don't want to mooch off you forever, and there's no real competition here." She smiled, sweetly, "Most of the flowers available for sale here will be imported, or grown in controlled environments; that's why they're so expensive, but I don't have to do that with mine, which means I can sell at lower prices and still make a lot of profit." She looked at him with an expression of happy amusement which suggested she was planning something; she'd last given Axel that look when she'd dressed him up as a girl and hid him in a brothel. "But I have to start small, and Rabanastre's a big city, so I might enlist some help."
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Date: 2012-10-19 05:47 pm (UTC)"Help, huh?" He said, narrowing his eyes. "Ask Demyx, I'm sure hed love to sell flowers for you."
Axel himself wasn't particularly keen. Flowers were all right, but he didn't like the idea of having to try and convince people to buy them from him. He didn't think he'd be much good at it. His line of work, after all, was murdering monsters. There was rather a big difference between that and flower selling.
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Date: 2012-10-20 09:28 pm (UTC)"Demyx," she repeated, sounding thoughtful. "All right, I'll ask him." She flashed Axel a bright smile as she added, "I was going to ask Saix, too; he could do with the distraction, and it'll be good for him to get out of the Sandsea for a while."
Aerith, despite Saix's gruffness, had taken to Saix, which meant he got picked on, though not as much as Axel.
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Date: 2012-10-21 05:45 pm (UTC)When she mentioned roping Saix into it, he grinned. Entirely unashamedly at that.
"That sounds like a great idea," he said brightly. "And hey, you never know, you might just save him from becoming an alcoholic before they get the Aerodrome reopened."
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Date: 2012-10-21 08:30 pm (UTC)Not that either of them needed the encouragement of course.
"One day, we'll all gang up on you instead," she warned him, with a bright grin.
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Date: 2012-10-22 08:54 pm (UTC)He smiled, turning around to lean on the counter. Ah well, he'd been stirring it enough lately to deserve a little retaliation. He simply made a mental note to avoid going anywhere that snowball fights were likely to break out in the near future.
Or the distant one. He wouldn't put it past either of them to bide their time.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-22 10:44 pm (UTC)