❁ app for [consignment]

[praywishing]

PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Ginko
✖ Contact: mayanneee@gmail.com, ginkochon, & PMs to this or any of my rp accounts.
✖ Are You Over 16: Yes
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: N/A

CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Gainsborough, Aerith
✖ Canon: Final Fantasy VII/Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, specifically taken from after/the end of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete for a canon point.
✖ Character Appearance: Here. And here, for a more realistic take.
✖ Character Age: Technically 22 as she was that age at death, but her spiritual presence as it's seen in canon has been living on for at least two years after that (24).
✖ Pick A Number: 25, 773.

✖ Canon Setting: The planet Gaia, more often known as just 'the Planet', a world much like Earth. Multiple climates are present, as well as larger landmasses, islands, and other topography. It's implied to be part of a much wider universe, and acts as an actual living being itself in that spiritual, or life, energy is given away by the planet to grant life to new living things when they're born, and those same living things return their spiritual energy to the planet when they die. The connected, constantly flowing streams of life energy below the surface of the planet are collectively known as the Lifestream, and there is where separate consciousnesses gradually join and fade away before becoming part of the greater planet's will again.

Magic is available through the use of Materia, or condensed mako/life energy drawn from the Lifestream. Multiple creatures and different sentient races inhabit Gaia; of particular importance are the Cetra (or Ancients), a distinct group of people highly connected to the Planet and with powers to nourish life, and typical humans themselves. Gaia's society is both modern and rustic, with technology, transportation, and other advanced inventions present in the developed (but also gloomy) cities, once provided courtesy the powerhouse of the Shinra Company, which harvested life energy directly from the planet to allow a more convenient lifestyle. As of Aerith's canon point at the end of Advent Children, the Planet had nearly suffered total annihilation with the summoning of a giant meteor and is still in the process of recovery from hardships inflicted by both its inhabitants themselves and Sephiroth. The overall world seems fairly young and with a certain promise to it, but its landscape can frequently appear dark, depressing, and harsh.

✖ Character History: Aerith's wikia page, including her history, can be found here. A wikia page to the Compiliation of Final Fantasy VII can be found here with links to all main series games and materials, including a timeline for the entire canon.

✖ Character Personality: Aerith is "one of a kind", and it isn't just in the literal meaning of the phrase. She's a special individual in that for most of the 22 years she was alive, she was the last existing Ancient, or member of her planet's Cetra race, a group of people who first came into being long ago and lived life very in tune with the Planet itself. On a more important level, Aerith's special qualities aren't limited to what makes up her genes; her personality, her spirit, and her giving nature left a strong mark on her world that continues to linger well after her death.

Aerith comes from difficult beginnings, and it could be said she hasn't had anything like a normal or easy life. Born to two loving parents, she was abducted by Shinra and taken in as a test subject early on in her infancy. When her mother finally managed to escape this experimentation after 7 years of it, she did so at the price of losing her own life as Aerith watched on. Since childhood, Aerith was taken in and raised by another woman who wasn't her biological mother, and while Elmyra was extremely nurturing and understanding, being raised in the shoddy slums of Sector 5 was hardly ideal. Throughout most of her life, she dealt with continual observation and hassling by Shinra, the natural dangers of the slums, and the closed off, dirty, drab environment usually relegated to those under the plate, to say nothing of a growing girl coming to grasp her unique skills no one else around her appeared to possess.

Despite all this, it was often hard to find Aerith without a smile and an upbeat energy to her while she was alive (and indeed, even following her death), and it's perhaps this cheerfulness that best defines her. While she's realistic and knowledgeable about reality, she has the capacity to look past the difficult parts in service of something more productive to pursue. She takes life with a hint of humor to it, laughing, joking, and simply chatting with others frequently; Elmyra stated that, growing up, "[t]hat child loved to talk". Whatever occurs to accost her, Aerith does what she feels is best and stays strong enough to allow circumstance to carry her where it will. She brings comfort to those who need it. She was known on a first name basis by all the children and adults who lived beside her in the slums. She has an appreciation for the beauty contained in a single flower, and the assertiveness to yell at someone not to walk on it in the same breath. While she has certainly changed as she's grown -- becoming more comfortable with herself and more outgoing -- and after her death, at her core, Aerith is an amazingly uplifting force in a world where so much is negative and discouraging. She's independent, courageous, and amazingly astute at understanding people because of her basic and natural worldview, only aided by the calm even keel her emotions almost always seem to ride on.

This isn't to proclaim Aerith isn't without her weaknesses, however. Cetra blood and the unique powers afforded to it flow through her veins, but Aerith is and has always been much of a typical human girl and woman. While she was alive, she struggled with her heritage. The reasons for this are clear: in addition to feeling a special link with the Planet, Cetra are able to hear the consciousnesses in the Lifestream (i.e., the voices of the dead), sense when loved ones pass, and harbor skills other humans cannot, such as "knowing" what the Planet wants or how to manipulate life energy to support new life. Additionally, her status as an Ancient earned her constant harassment from Shinra and the Turks. Although as a youngster it appears she was forthcoming with these differences, as she grew, Aerith became more and more aware of how notable they were and likely to shut herself off for her own protection, that of her loved ones, or others, and this continued. Subtly, she worries over what people think of her, the state of her relationships with them, and how relationships are just plain supposed to work, negotiating with her very real need for companionship at the same time. Throughout the entirety of the Compilation, few can ever say they've come to truly "know" her. Her adoptive mother is one of these individuals, of course, same as with Tseng, the leader of the Turks, Zack Fair, and her comrades, though overall, the amount of people allowed into Aerith's world is slim.

Aerith has her insecurities, and she hides them back like anyone else might. Along with her Cetra heritage, her early life and subsequent years spent only in the slums shaped a young Aerith into a girl who was frequently anxious, and sometimes fearful, of what she didn't comprehend or necessarily know how to handle right away, and to a certain extent this quality remains with her. To put it succinctly, she was (and is) a bit sheltered and guarded. In Crisis Core, a teenage Aerith reveals to Zack how scared she is of even seeing the full, blue sky up above her, something that may seem out of sorts with her nature-driven Ancient roots. She shudders at the slightest sight of a monster, and focuses on how important normalcy is. She's unsure of how to deal with relationships and the deaths of people important to her; in Final Fantasy VII, she willingly tries to talk herself out of believing in Zack's death and to some degree is drawn to Cloud because she sees the resemblance to her first lover in him, and she cruelly reprimands a bleeding Tseng before running off to cry behind a pillar. While Aerith obviously overcame many of these concerns once she became older and lived on after her death, she is still cautious, careful, and not always exactly as confident as she appears. She is assured, but she's also more complex than the faultless, saintly figure canon often enjoys painting her as.

Given the fact she only ever develops so few of them, the relationships Aerith forms tend to have a significant and long-lasting effect on her, to the point that they shape her personality. This is a twin weakness and strength, but it nevertheless alters the person she is. Zack Fair in particular, a young SOLDIER candidate Aerith met as a fifteen-year-old teen and later spent close to two years with as something close to boyfriend and girlfriend, had a remarkably strong impact. Partially due to his own outgoing nature, unconditional support, and courage, Aerith adopted those same qualities. She became willing to face the sky she was so afraid of. She sold the flowers she nurtured into beautiful blooms, dispensing happiness to the public and traveling beyond the contained slums she'd lived in since she was a child. Her relationship with Zack didn't give birth to new qualities that weren't already there, but encouraged her into the more openly friendly, bubbly and spunky Aerith she was later known for. She developed confidence, willing to live her life to the fullest and help others live alongside her even as she grieved her losses. So tied are Zack and Aerith that their spirits linger together in the Lifestream after their deaths.

The fact that Aerith is capable of being so strong is what her personality hinges on. Upon her first meeting with Cloud Strife in the original game, she has an energy to her but isn't anyone especially unusual even if she is quite independent and outspoken, and it's implied that Aerith likes to keep it that way. Throughout her journey, though, she learns she's the Planet's last possible hope of survival due to her Cetra heritage. The burden is tremendous. Not only is she forced to reconcile with her Ancient roots after denying the existence of them for years, but also accept that her most deeply personal concerns as a young woman -- such as coming to terms with Zack's death, or negotiating her feelings for Cloud -- would remain problems unsolved. This is especially obvious when Sephiroth's intent to murder her is all but guaranteed. Amazingly, Aerith comes through. She chooses her responsibility as an Ancient over everything else because it is just that important, and forgoes pursuing any of her more individual (and very understandable) wants in the interest of giving her loved ones a fighting chance against Meteor. It isn't an unheard of act of sacrifice, although it is one requiring immense inner strength. In the end, Aerith surrenders her life but not before she calls the needed Holy, saves her entire planet and its people through sheer force of will, and guards that planet protectively for years afterwards, cementing her status as the incredibly selfless and gentle guiding figure her friends fondly remember.

✖ Character Powers & Skills: Aerith is half-Cetra, or Ancient, and most of her powers hail directly from her Cetra roots.

>> Limit Breaks. "Limit breaks" are available as special moves in FFVII that characters can sometimes but not indefinitely perform, especially when they have taken much damage or are otherwise at a crucial moment in a battle. Aerith will be able to use hers at will. Her limit breaks include the following:

• Healing Wind. Heals a good portion of her health and that of her allies'.
  
• Seal Evil. Paralyzes enemies and also prevents them from using magical powers.
  
• Breath of the Earth. Cures any status ailments and afflictions (poisoning, transformations).
  
• Fury Brand. Bolsters her allies with renewed strength, and in the case of other characters, allows them to use their own Limit Breaks or powered-up abilities faster.
  
• Planet Protector. Grants temporary invincibility.
  
• Pulse of Life. Fully restores all health and magical power, as well as healing any status afflictions.
  
• Great Gospel. Healing rain summoned to restore the health and magical power of her and her allies completely, as well as making them all invincible for a short time.

Displays of Aerith's limit breaks can be found here please feel free to ignore the edgy Sephiroth Youtube intro.

>> Cetra powers. Aerith's Cetra heritage gives her certain special abilities. She is able to:

• commune more directly with the Planet, its life force, and nature itself than a typical human being.
  
• sense patterns and changes in the Planet's Lifestream, such as newly dead consciousnesses entering it, the "voice" of the Planet's will, or where and how it flows.
  
• nurture and support new life (e.g., growing flowers in Midgar's dismal, Lifestream-sapped church).
  
• hear and somewhat understand the voices of her fellow Cetra, lingering as souls in the Lifestream or elsewhere.

>> Materia usage. By the time of Final Fantasy VII, Aerith understands how to equip materia -- or spheres of condensed mako, or Lifestream energy -- and utilize them to reap their various benefits. As a Cetra and also given her physical build, she is more skilled with the magical side of things (enhanced MP, magical power, etc.), and more well-suited to healing and support Materia. A general wikia entry for materia can be found here.

>> Others. After her death and especially in Advent Children Complete, Aerith exhibits a variety of fantastical abilities -- from leaving voice messages on Cloud's phone beyond the grave to actual soul healing -- but because most of these either won't be relevant to Consignment, are too worldbreaking, or she has to be dead to use them and the mechanics of how they work aren't necessarily clear, she won't be coming in with them and I won't detail them here.

>> Skill set. As a general assortment of skills she's talented with, Aerith...

• can very easily get along with people.
  
• is independent and self-sufficient, presumably in all the ways that it matters (i.e., cooking, everyday life).
  
• is a skilled gardener.
  
• has a basic understanding of battles and how to defend herself.
  
• is able to ignore her own needs and focus on the greater good at any moment.
  
• can lead others and provide wise support or counsel in crucial situations.

!Please note!: I'm open to editing/discussing this section if you feel any changes are needed or she's too powerful. I also plan to go with the assumption that Aerith would be able to have a close connection with nature on any planet she goes to because of her Cetra background (not actually able to "talk" to them, but more skilled at nurturing flowers and other living things, for example), but don't hesitate to let me know if that's not possible or it would have to be on a planet by planet basis.

CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV: A post by me on the most recent CDC test drive, with 15+ comments coming from me.
A thread by me on someone else's post on the most recent CDC test drive, with 10+ comments coming from me.

✖ Third Person POV:
[The swirling, faintly glowing green world of the Lifestream has become her only home for a while now. Familiar. Comforting. There's confusion and noisiness, of course, the murmurs of consciousnesses newly entering it never quite fading away, but even that is a great comfort. Cloud doesn't need her anymore. Eventually, when she completely throws herself over to it, she'll fade within the Lifestream too, her existence as an Ancient granting her staying power across the last two years although finally it might be time...]

Mmm?

[That is, if one of those whirling voices didn't speak up to her, so loudly.]

Hello, I'm here. What is it? I hear you.

[She's used to being "talked to". Existing in the Lifestream is a constant stream of being talked to. Now that the threat of Sephiroth has finally dissolved, there's no longer so much dark corruption sticking to the souls that enter her space, and she realizes that helping them come to terms with their deaths is the least she can do. As the last Cetra, as a person. She'll always be there to help this Planet and its dead-- Well, as long as she's still a presence here herself.

Aerith turns around to the voice, smiling gently.]

I'm listening. Go ahead.

[Speak.

What she hears is a bit jumbled, not entirely clear, cutting in and out amongst a few other echoes and questions demanding her input. When she's able to place a finger down on the pulse of it, however, pay more precise attention, she's notably surprised by all she hears. It shows in the way her mouth slowly drops open. Her eyes blink, before that assured smile returns. Would she always do whatever she could to protect this Planet, even now? Does she still love it? Would she fight for it, if the task was hers, and no longer just theirs?

For Aerith, the answer is easy.

This Planet has been through much. Only to fight and live on again.]

... Yes.

[She doesn't think anything of reaching out to accept the specter of an arm that materializes forward to request her hand, but she probably will once she wakes up.]

CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team: Blue Team/Command Control (secondary choice of Orange Team/Reconnaissance)
✖ Reason for Joining the CDC: Aerith answered "yes" because she was tricked into it, by a voice in the Lifestream asking if she would do anything to protect her Planet. This voice just happened to belong to a CDC operative, and this assured protection just happens to mean she has to destroy some other planets. Funny how that works.
✖ Mission Freebie: The White Materia, an heirloom of the Ancients gifted to Aerith by her mother and the only materia from Gaia capable of summoning Holy, the Ultimate White Magic, powerful enough to protect all life on the planet. (It may or may not have lost all its potency after being used once, though.)
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: The 'Princess Guard', Aerith's ultimate weapon. Similar to her other weapons, it's a stave or rod with special abilities that support her defenses and use of magic. She can also bludgeon enemies over the head with it.

✖ Character Inventory:

One pink hair ribbon; one smaller hair tie; one pink, button-down cotton dress; one short-sleeved, red leather coat; metal bracelets (2 or 3 for each wrist); a pair of sturdy boots; one neckstrap; any other relevant clothing items. She shouldn't have had anything else on her that needed to be confiscated, as she would be pulled directly from death.