etraya app

[anciently]

⏵ player information
name and pronouns: kai (she/her)
age: 18+
contact: kairaptor

⏵ character information
name: Aerith Gainsborough
canon: Final Fantasy VII: Remake!verse
age: 22
canon point: Rebirth, post-CH6 (after leaving Costa del Sol)
history: Here. See "Remake continuity," also, for additional context.

abilities: As the last of the Cetra, Aerith has a number of unspecified abilities and powers directly related to the Planet. The Cetra, according to legend, were able to "commune" with the planet in ancient times, and Aerith is shown to be able to do the same. She is seen speaking to her flowers, and it's implied in Remake that it is because of the Planet that she has a heightened awareness of the events of the original game. She appears to have more knowledge than anyone else in Remake (aside from Sephiroth), though Aerith is enigmatic about what she does and doesn't know, making cryptic remarks about such things to Cloud in particular. It's important to note that she's far from omniscient, though.

In battle, she wields staves and typically utilizes healing and defensive materia, taking a back seat to the heavy-hitters in their group. As a result of having lived most of her life in the slums of Midgar, she seems to be decently proficient in battle and is able to hold her own, or else devise a clever way out of the situation to avoid danger to herself and others.

Finally - and linked with her connection to the Planet - she is a talented gardener and passionate florist, able to grow flowers in her church in spite of the less-than-ideal growing conditions there.

personality: Though her appearance and perceived character trope might suggest a more reserved, shy, and passive personality, Aerith is far from those things. Though it's true that the Aerith seen in pre-game events is a bit more of that ilk, the main game Aerith (particularly with the increased time spent with her in Remake) is very telling. From her first meeting with Cloud to her second, more extended introduction, Aerith is painted immediately as a bright, friendly, and unapologetically outgoing young woman. Though the opening shot of her kneeling at a source of the Lifestream does hint at her larger role and significance, as well as her reverent nature and connection to the Planet, her dominating personality traits are more gregarious. To sell flowers up on the plate to the busy and often willfully-ignorant people who live there suggests a determination and optimism in and of itself, and she is first seen doing just that, unabashedly hawking her wares to strangers and almost literally pushing a flower onto a customer (Cloud).

The second meeting with Aerith brings even more to light. She's chatty, caring, and seemingly has no regard for personal space. Aerith seems to be able to let cold words or a bad attitude run off her back like rain off a duck, and she easily brushes off Cloud's dismissive demeanor, or else retorts indignantly if he makes a particularly "offensive" quip. She seems unfazed when Cloud crashes through the roof of her church, and is also fairly casual when elite Shinra soldiers burst in to try and capture her, breezily announcing that she has a bodyguard and immediately employing said "bodyguard" to fight on her behalf in exchange for a date. Just as she has no issue inserting herself into others' space, she seems just as casual about telling people "how it's going to be," whether she's informing them that they've been employed as her protector, or that they'll be going on a date with her as her payment for their service.

Of course, it isn't all idealistic traits for this flower girl. Aerith has a definitive pluckiness and a stubborn streak, often taking actions that could put her in danger in order to prove a point. She's also a little difficult to deal with and to manage for those who don't have experience wrangling her (and even her mother isn't really able to do this well), following her gut in many cases whether there is an element of danger or not. Cloud seems particularly torn between fondness and exasperation for this behavior, unsure of how to relate to this whirlwind of a person, but even he can see and appreciate the effect that she has on people, and it's Cloud and his friends - and their collective experience in Remake - that helps her to calm down a little: to get serious, and to focus on the task at hand when it matters most. In that way, her loved ones are what center her and not only help her to be at her best, but also to face the larger, more dire truth of their world and of what is (or may be) to come.

Her optimism is what defines her, above all else. She remarks to Cloud that she'd thought once about trying to leave Midgar, and that so many people hate the industrial slums in which they live, but that she doesn't. She sees them as full of life and hope: something that can be desperately hard to find in the slums for most of the people who live there. It's this unique perspective, this belief in the goodness in the world and in her fellows, that makes her shine.

samples: one, two, three