outer_divide | Act I ~ [Video]

[The phone turns on and while the video is shaky, it's still clear. A woman as pale as a ghost, white hair, and dulled gray eyes comes into view. She's visibly exhausted and while the camera doesn't show much, it's clear she's not dressed yet, though she does have her coat laying on her. As there is a public function on the phone, it wasn't hard for Genesis to figure out some sort of network is on here, despite the lack of ShinRa logo]

I've been around Gaia all my life and never has this sort of thing appeared on the Planet. [Her voice is soft, tired, and lightly accented, similar to a trans-Atlantic dialect but it isn't heavy.] If... anyone is out there. Please respond.

My name is Genesis Rhapsodos, former SOLDIER, First Class. I can assure you that my.. condition that you see is not contagious. I need medical attention, however. My... my only hope was on Gaia and as I don't sense the Lifestream... I fear I won't be able to get it in the way I had planned.

[She pauses, hands lowering to her lap as she looks around. She adjusts her coat around her chest, her voice lowers but is visibly distressed.]

Angeal? Lazard? Are you there? [She closes her eyes.] Sephiroth? Zack?

Please. Respond.

[OOC: If anyone decides to use Action, it must take place after Sephiroth heals her otherwise things would just get confusing, haha c: Also, she looks like this at the moment.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm sure Verdana would very much like it if you did not taint her either. She's... well let's just say she's had it really rough the last few centuries.

[But it is really interesting to hear his girl talk about the life of the planet as though it were a conscious being, as he knows it to be. And more than that to talk about this "Lifestream" in a tangible physical sense.]

On Earth, those of us that can speak to her call her Gaia. Usually anyway, it varies a little by culture, of course. But you say you're from a planet called Gaia? And this Lifestream of yours is a physical substance?

[He makes a small sound, clearing his throat a little, embarrassed.]

I'm sorry you are ill and here I am asking questions... [But if she's going to die anyway then they're questions he'd like answered. Cold, maybe... but practical.]

So has Gaia.

[She was able to talk about her Planet being a living being because that's what it simply was. Most people on Gaia understood that the Lifestream is what created all life on the Planet, even if the Goddess within was only known by her and perhaps a select few others like the Cetra.]

While I'm not an Ancient, there is a race called Cetra, also known as Ancients, who could commune with the Planet herself. I don't believe She has any other name. The Cetra died out years ago, but yes, the Planet is called Gaia. The Lifestream is... the essence of the Planet. All who have lived on the Planet will eventually return, adding to the memories and emotions of their lives. It's one big collective consciousness, basically.

[It's actually quite nice to be able to talk about this with someone who didn't think she was some weirdo believing in the Goddess.]

Yes, it's a physical substance. We call it Mako. A... company found a way to harness Mako into an energy source, as that is what it is. I have Mako within my body because I was a SOLDIER, First Class. Those who become SOLDIER are injected with Mako, to become... superhuman, I guess you could say. I was the prototype and thus, flawed. It's why I am degrading.

[She huffs a soft laugh]

It's fine. It isn't like you could do much with this information anyway.

[Even with all the differences, the strange words Mako, Cetra, this SOLDIER program... it sounds exactly like what he knew of how the earth worked. The essence of the Planet, communing with Gaia herself. She is by no means a Druid but she understands and that is a great comfort in this strange world that seems to make so little sense at times and be filled with so many people hung up on nothing but science.

And if she’s going to allow him to keep asking questions then he is happy to gather what information he can. The downfall of Druids everywhere, and insatiable thirst for knowledge and a potentially fatal curiosity.]

And the production of this Mako doesn’t harm Gaia at all? I should think there’d be a concern for draining the planet. [Just as magic could drain it, just as the Sahara Desert had come into existence.

It’s frustrating though because even with her explanation, even not knowing the science that went into what was done to her. Atticus is pretty sure a supped up batch of Immortali-Tea would be able to help her. She was degrading, she needed a boost from the planet’s energy, something that would keep her body young and fit and healthy. Which was exactly what Immortali-Tea was. It had allowed him to survive for over two thousand years.

But he hadn’t been able to find all of the herbs here yet to even make it for himself and Oberon so what good would mentioning it do? He couldn’t, couldn’t give her false hope, couldn’t return the openness of this conversation and he felt a twinge of guilt and sorrow at that, just as he had when the widow was hurting and he’d been unable to offer her relief. Sometimes living for so long was more of a burden than a blessing.]

Oh, no, it does. [She sighed softly.] I would be a fool to not believe so. And to be honest, there are those out there who want the company to stop what it's doing, but... it's practically the government. Not totally, but ShinRa controls almost everything. It will use all that it wants, regardless of what its doing to the Planet.

[What she needed was mako. Well, mako and Sephiroth's cells. She was degrading on a genetic level, the mako would certainly boost her energy but her cells needed to be fixed. Sephiroth's cells could do that.]

I can only hope that if I were able to return, I can help take down the company once and for all.

Mankind's greed knows no bounds.

[The trouble they had with things like coal mines and oil spills were bad enough. If these corporations could do something as dangerous as draining the planet of it's power and converting it to usable energy... he didn't even want to think about what that would mean for the planet. It was a truly terrifying prospect.]

It sounds like a noble cause but no one really knows how we're supposed to get out of here... Sorry.

An unfortunate trait of us, I'm afraid. But I can guarantee there are good people still out there.

[She would know. But still, it always seemed to be few and far between of them.]

...I was afraid of that. Thank you.

[She supposed this would be her fate, after all.]

[He was quiet for a long moment, wracking his brain for anything else he might be able to do to help her but he didn't know the rules here. Verdana might consider them all as something separate from her and as such might allow him to try to correct her imbalance magically.

But he couldn't guarantee that and he couldn't guarantee that he would even be able to correct it. If he messed anything in her failing systems up any more than it already was then... his life would be forfeit.

Sometimes he hated the restrictions on his magic but he'd been around long enough to know and understand that these were things he could not change, still it stung to be so close, to know the theory behind what was happening to her and not be able to do anything about it. It hit a little too close, made him think of Frank and here was another person he could learn from, another person he might be able to help... and he had to sit back and do nothing.]

I'm sorry. [It's not enough but it's all he can offer her before he cuts the feed, unable to sit back and wait for the inevitable even if it might have been kinder to stay and give her someone to talk to until then.

Act I ~ [Video]

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