Yup, more letters (ch54)

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It occurs to me that my author's note on this chapter doesn't make a whole ton of sense, or it makes sense, it's just highly unamusing.  This is entirely because I was putting the chapter up late last night and I was sleep deprived and working through the medication over the migraine.  (I should have been sleeping, but there was homework....)

So, ignoring the odd author's note, let's talk about the chapter.

I don't really ever plan out the letters chapters.  I never have, I probably never will.  I basically just look at my outline and decide "That looks like a good place for a round of letters" so I put it in.  There have been a couple of times where I elected not to do the letters because I couldn't think of anything to write and I don't want to force the letters.  This was one of the instances, however, where I could better bridge what was going on through letters than anything else.

So, starting with Aerith's letter to Zack, what we're dealing with here is Aerith first trying to help Cid, because Aerith likes helping people in general, and she's been asking around to see what might work best for Cid's cannon prototype.  She asks this of Zack some undetermined time before this chapter and he responds sometime later (though still before the chapter, the last chapter also) about materia.  This is the letter Aerith had written before the start of chapter 53, she finishes the letter to Zack and starts one to Rinoa before going and making dinner, there was her afternoon.  Aerith does the usual thing and tells about how Traverse Town is.  Then she asks about Cloud because she cares.  Then she tells Zack not to be jealous because she still cares for and thinks about him as well.  She tells him her dream (which stemmed from a dream of mine, actually... because I legit dream about this stuff).  Aerith asks about Zack and also what Cloud's favorite foods are.  She makes a comment about wanting to go to festivals, but then ends the letter.  She curiously does not talk too much about herself, not really.  A point I will discuss later.

Aerith's letter to Rinoa is the letter she's writing at the start of chapter 53 when Leon joins her at the table.  Aerith's super awkward in this letter, I realize, looking back at it.  There's an awkward introduction and it just continues being awkward from there.  She talks a bit about herself, but only in the mage-sense to give Rinoa a background.  Then she goes into that whole "nice" thing which just cracks me up.  She's so blunt about it.  Also, she completely rats Leon out and it's amusing.  She asks Rinoa about what sort of food she likes and then what it's like to fly.  Which, is both a reference to Aerith being scared of the sky and the wings Angeal has in Crisis Core.  The being afraid of the sky part comes in where Aerith says how she thinks it would be scared to fly.  Not that Aerith's actually afraid of the sky in my universe, because she's not, she sees the sky as a way to connect with Zack when they're worlds apart.  And then the whole freedom of wings is a reference to Angeal.  Yup.  Then Aerith asks if Rinoa has any suggestions for the cannons in her typical helpful manner and then closes the letter wishing Rinoa luck.  Again, Aerith talks little about herself.  (I feel like I'm writing an essay here, but I'm actually just reflecting on Aerith's character.)

Then there's Leon's letter to Rinoa which he spends most of chapter 53 writing.  Side note, I keep changing what Leon's handwriting is, annoyingly.  I just can't settle on something in my head.  I know it's a bit of a scrawl, but that's all.  Anyway.  Leon's awkward too, but he's always awkward and Rinoa's totally okay with it.  The letter is a whole ton of feels: he is angry at Rinoa's father for not caring about her, I discussed in the last blog post Leon's feels regarding Cid and his current cannon building escapades, then there's the whole Father!Cid bit that I just adore... He misses her, he tells her that he's skeptical of Yuffie, he feels weird being back in Traverse Town, but he loves Aerith's cooking.  A completely normal letter from him.  Completely.  Especially the "Also, I love you" part.  Goodness, Leon.

Then there's Zack's letter to Aerith, which was probably written shortly before this chapter and the one before, but Aerith has not gotten it yet.  Zack's letter actually makes me sad.  He's so happy-go-lucky at the beginning.  He puts the ! after Aerith's name just because.  He tries to describe Halloweentown and fails (funnily enough, the world he's on is super festive and Aerith was talking about festivals, I can't remember if I planned that or not.)  Then Zack starts asking about what to do regarding Cloud's nightmares.  And that question isn't even completely relating to Cloud's nightmares, because Zack's getting nightmares too.  Except, where Cloud's getting suffocating nightmares about the darkness and something following him, Zack is getting nightmares about Angeal.  But then Zack changes the subject by saying that he considers Cloud a friend and he's really glad he met him, but he also misses Aerith and he's torn between the two.  Then he starts asking all the questions that he knows Aerith's going to answer anyway whether he asked them or not, but he ends with an emphasized "PLEASE TALK ABOUT YOURSELF I MISS YOU AND I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU ARE FEELING".  Sorry about the caps there, it was totally Zack.  And then he admits in the PS that he's getting the nightmares too and my heart simply breaks for him.  *sniffle*

Wow, that was a ton of feels.  I feel a bit bad about that.  Except, I don't.  :P

Teaser quote time!

"Well, then go.  Do whatever it is you need to.  But be careful!"

"I feel like there's more darkness floating around and I don't want you to get caught up in it."

"That, my dear, is a wild ride."

"Everything okay? Or is that a dumb question?"

"What are the odds that we'd end up finding each other? Two country boys who were just off to find adventure."
"You know, I think we found adventure."
"You can say that again."

I LOVE this video.  Just... yes.