isleofavalon | It's only a model

It was still cold, though not as cold as it had been the fated day she'd arrived. It didn't stop her from trying to dress a little more warm. Having not exactly examined her wardrobe, she was still more comfortable in more familiar garb.

Her Drake, who she'd taken to calling 'Zaral' [for short], nestled comfortably around her ponytail, comfortably nestled beneath the pink ribbon that held her hair back. As she made her way to the cafe, she took her time in getting to know the area around her, greeting others along the way warmly. It wasn't Midgar, but there was nothing wrong with trying to fit in smoothly.

When she spotted Morgan, she brightened up and eventually sidled her way to him, wiggling her fingers at Typhon and his multi-headed self.

"Hi there!" she began. "I didn't make you wait long, did I?"

"Hey!" He straightened immediately, grinning boyishly down at her while Typhon waggled his heads to return that little finger-wave. "Not as long as... could have..."

He trailed off, eyes going briefly blank, before he squeezed them shut and thunked the heel of his hand against his forehead -- but with a grin. "Damn it, I came up with three different smooth responses to that and then they all tangled together. Hi. No, I haven't been waiting long at all. Please pretend I said that in a cool flirty way."

She shook her head with an amused disbelief. "You don't need to try so hard." To the point and kind, because she couldn't really understand why anyone would want to particularly 'impress' her. And if she made him nervous, well...

That had never been her intent either. She was simply herself, after all.

"What are we going to do first?" She thumbed at her chin curiously. "It's a little cold out, so maybe something warm to drink? If we can take it with us, then maybe we can keep our hands warm, too." But the thought of sitting down for a little with a drink and sweet treat sounded undeniably nice.

Don't worry too much, Aerith; that was more Morgan just mentally fumbling. Pretty faces didn't faze him TOO much. "Hey, how can I be a terrible flirt if I flirt terribly? I have to keep up my game, like pointing out that's a brilliant idea from a radiant girl. Some hot cocoa would be incredible right now."

Aerith takes several moments to assess him. She's barely known him and sometimes he simply says the kinds of things that make her wonder if he's even real. Maybe it's because she hasn't known very many people like him. Although perhaps a part of him reminds her of the past.

A past that she can talk about, but tends to leave there. What's the point in bringing it up, after all?

"I think hot cocoa sounds perfect," she agrees, lifting a hand to beckoning with an index finger for him to follow her. "Come on. Let's get some. I want lots of miniature marshmallows in mine. Maybe something with peppermint, too?"

Now, what's that assessing look for? Morgan bore it with only a curious quirk of the eyebrow, and when she at last beckoned him onwards, he fell into step immediately. Matching his long strides to her pace was no problem; he'd been doing stuff like that all his life.

"That is absolutely correct," he said, with conviction rather than flirtation. "That is absolutely what we should get. Do you like apple cider?"

The question was no segue, really. Memories of cocoa brought memories of apple cider, each served during the cold months at his semi-adopted family's tavern.

"I do," she replied easily enough. "Not sure which I like more, though. It might depend on the time of year." She could remember Elmyra making her both in her younger years. And she could remember learning how to make both on her own. A pleasant little memory that tied her back to a frozen home.

"I remember having these more when I was younger." Evidently there was a little bit of truth in the idea that the older one got, the more complicated things got. Kids rarely had to worry about much. Or so she might have said if she hadn't seen the lives in the slums. But considering those children had never known anything else, they didn't realise that things could be better.

For the hair of a moment, she frowned, but it was so brief, that a simple blink of the eye would have missed it. Right after, she was back to warm. "What about you? Any preferences? Maybe we should be getting a spiced cider instead?"

It would take a more perceptive person than Morgan Knight to catch that brief look, and a deeper ache than that for his instinct to warn him. "I like both, so how about this? Let's get a hot cocoa today, and I'll strive to make the experience so enjoyable you'll agree to get cider with me sometime in the future."

"That's a very persuasive deal you're offering there," Aerith grins as she looks over to him and she offers over a hand in his direction. "Let's shake on it, hmm? I'll be holding you to it." Which is hardly a threat when it comes from someone as chipper and bright as her.

"Maybe throw in something small to eat with it too. Doesn't need to be anything fancy."

Don't mind his hurry to shake on the deal; after all, he'd studied business and management, and knew perfectly well that when an offer was nothing but upside, you took it!

"I like a girl who knows what she wants. What we have might not be fancy, but it'll be good."

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, her smile growing. Inside, her gaze moved over the menu and she lifted a hand to point.

"There, peppermint cocoa," she said as she looked over to him. "What do you think? Do you want one, too?" Although it dawned on her that she didn't exactly come with much on her. She'd never really come from gil and she didn't expect herself to have much of it in Camelot either.

But if she was going to go out anywhere, she'd need to figure out how to support herself in some way.

"Heck yes, I've been dying for it since you came up with the idea." And no worries, Aerith; Morgan was already digging up his phone to pay. After all, hadn't he said or at least strongly implied he would? And of course he totally wanted to charm her. If he was being honest, he missed his wealth back home just a little bit more than he felt comfortable with, but damned if he was going to be some spoiled brat who couldn't get by on his own. Realizing that just meant he knew what he needed to improve at.

Oh.

She watched him fiddle with his device and when she realised what he was doing, in the end all she could do was smile appreciatively. Eventually, she'd have to find a way to earn her own living. As much as there may have been little similarities between the sector slums and Camelot, the circumstance was entirely different.

He didn't have to do that. A quiet inner thought she held onto for a breath or two.

"Thanks," she managed to say, not too proud at all to accept his kindness. He had offered, in the end. Who was she to turn him down? "Next time it's on me," she continued, without giving him the opportunity to refuse her. "You know, when I figure out what passes for 'work' here."

"I've been getting money doing quests and labor. Which sometimes overlap -- after that huge storm we had, the place was a mess. Turns out a big meathead with kinesis magic can do a fair bit of hauling when he puts his mind to it!" Morgan lifted both his fists, but didn't actually flex. Most of the effect would be lost thanks to his coat sleeves, after all.

A quick glance around, and he'd spotted a two-person table that had just gone free. A tip of his head and a lift of his eyebrow -- that work for her?

When he made mention of a 'big meathead with kinesis magic,' Aerith assumed he was referring to himself. Filing that away for later consideration, she found herself nodding along. Yes, that would have been very useful. Maybe she could some of his help if she was in a situation that required some heavy lifting...

How practical.

"I see," she began thoughtfully. So it was basically like running errands for the locals. Not terribly different from life in Midgar. A smile later and she when she watched the tilt of his head toward the free table, she nodded, wrapping her arm about his in favour of guiding him right over.

"This is perfect. We can people watch and maybe we'll hear something interesting." Proposing eavesdropping? Naturally. Seemed Aerith had very little shame where others might have. On the other hand, being so new to the area, it seemed only natural to want to get a better understanding of the people and how things operated.

Oh. Ha! Morgan had considered this exact gesture earlier, only to forego it out of concern that she wouldn't have it on her world and it would come off weird. Which was why it had him grinning boyishly, and why he resolved not to worry about that around here in the future.

"I mean, I have the best person to watch and hear interesting things from already..." Which wasn't even too much of an exaggeration. Aerith was rapidly charming him. "I did want to hear a little bit about you, if you have things to share."

As an extra spark of, well, extra, Morgan gestured grandiosely with his free hand and kinesesed back one of the chairs for her.

She issued a laugh. Really, he was too good to be true. And in many ways it did remind her of Zack. She had been younger then and not nearly as wise as she was in the present. Still uncertain and wary of the world she didn't really understand. Perhaps a bit more demure and fragile. Not at all wise to the world the way she was in the present.

What would it have been like for them to meet now? No amount of thinking would change the past. He was where he was and that was all that needed to be said. They'd reunite when the time was right, she knew.

"You want to hear about me, hmm?" she asked before giving him an appreciative look when she took the seat he so generously offered her. Cradling her chin in the palm of her hand, she tilted her head, keeping emerald green gaze on Morgan. "What kinds of things did you want to hear? Maybe my home world. It's not really like this at all. I mean, in some ways it is. But it's not as bright, I don't think. The atmosphere there is probably a little more stifling."

Oh, it's a pose-off, is it? Morgan cocked his arm on the table as he sat, half-turned so he looked all cool and casual, but minus one distraction he was listening nonetheless. (The distraction was that they had the same eye color.)

So he asked about her and she went for her home world, huh? Morgan made a note to avoid any direct questions about her history and so forth; he could probably coax a little out indirectly, over time.

"Less magic and wonder in the air, more banality and homogenization of people tied up in daily lives without further thoughts?" He might be thinking of the Earth he knew, just a little...

Aerith shook her head, inevitably finding it easier to just speak on Midgar. "Magic works differently there. Uhm... Here."

Lifting her hands, she reached up to her ponytail and carefully extracting the white materia that she'd had hidden in the ribbon, she held it in her palm to show him. "This is materia. Back home, you can put these into weapons and armour, even things like bracelets and gloves, and it lets you use the kind of magic or skill that the materia contains."

Holding it up, her gaze lingers on it thoughtfully, memories of her mother in the back of her mind. "So there's elemental magic and support magics. You can even use things that would poison or other stuff. It's kind of strange to be restricted to the one kind of magic here, though the magic I use here is similar to what I used back home."

Well, that was interesting. Morgan regarded the curious white pearl(?) for a moment, before acknowledging to himself that he wasn't going to get any idea about anything from sight alone.

"And it doesn't work here, I'm sure." The world affected the very nature of things, even items that ought to be unable to exist without magic. "It is really strange. I could make things move back home, but that's the same sort of magic that'd let me control flames, for example, or sound. It's so much narrower here, different defined."

Her head tipped. She didn't know if it worked here. She knew it didn't exactly work the same as other materia didn't. And she couldn't foresee a reason she ought to be using it in Camelot. At least, she hoped it wouldn't come to that. Even if she did try to use it, would it even work? It wasn't like she had a connection to the planet they'd come to.

...Surely it wasn't the same planet. Right?

She stared at it a few moments longer before she brought her hands back into her hair to tuck it away and she resumed her posture from before, chin in the palm of her hand as she listened to him weigh in.

"It doesn't sound like it's completely unfamiliar to you, at least. That has to count for something. I bet there's all kinds of people here who've never even used or seen magic. You and I have the advantage to that comfort." That familiarity. Lack of familiarity tended to breed fear and discomfort. She had definitely been blessed. And Morgan too, by the sound of it.

The idea that her materia could contain the power of Holy and all that implied... just didn't occur to him. He presumed it was a lesser spell, of the common sort she had referred to. Were he in her place, he'd have tried out such a spell immediately.

"I'm no statistician, but I get the impression it sampled a bit more heavily from worlds that had -- something about them. Oh, hold on," he added, as the barista called out their drinks, and in a fluid motion he rose. There and back, drink set before her before he dropped back down into his seat. "This is a nice place, though, no mistake about that. It'd be different if we were dropped in some wasteland or hellhole!"

Something about them. As he got up to fetch their drinks, Aerith pondered over what he could have meant. All worlds had something about them, didn't they? To assume all worlds were even remotely the same would have been... likely inaccurate. It was like assuming all people were the same. Just not possible.

When he returned and set her drink down, she nodded appreciatively, taking a moment to simply smell. Too hot to drink so far, after all.

"That's true," Aerith finally agreed. "If I had chosen to go to another place, I probably would have chosen something like this. Maybe a place with airships, though. I've always wanted to ride an airship." Because for all of the sheltered life she'd experienced in Midgar, her heart still remained one that sang for adventure. Even in Camelot, she didn't anticipate that to change.

But to be fair, here she was in a new world. That was a pretty grand adventure, wasn't it?

"Airships, huh?" Morgan's mind latched onto that, dragged it in, and bundled it up safe for future use. Someday he would find a way to do something with that wish of hers! "I used to say something similar in my younger years, actually. I don't know where that dream went... I guess I just moved on to other things. And now you've reminded me."

Wistfulness aside, his smile shone brilliantly in his eyes as well. Setting aside the prospects of future dates named as such, he felt a real sense of -- compatibility. Comfort. They meshed well, he thought, and that was a real relief after running into so many people here who needed calm and gentle treatment because they were on-edge, or angry, or came from a position of lack or downright abuse.

"I rode a space elevator up into orbit, once." Here's hoping that impressed her!

"Maybe you had a lot of other adventures to fill in the place of an airship one?" she asked him with a smile before she finally took a brave moment to sip at her hot chocolate. The moment she did, the chill of the outside wasn't even on her mind. Rather, she'd been warmed from head-to-toe. She would definitely have to come back for more in the future.

She was drawn back onto him when he made mention of a space elevator. Knitting her eyebrows together, amusement came into play. "That sounds wild," Aerith began on the verge of a laugh, seemingly content to just wrap fingers around her cup to keep them warm. "You mean up into space, right? With the stars and all of that?" Her own knowledge on space somewhat limited, she at least knew the bare minimum and she couldn't help wondering what the planet she was from looked like from way up there.

But she probably couldn't take an airship to get there either.

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