Hokay, here's a round of Happy Cubicle reviews!

Hehehehehehehehe.  Just so long as your drawing table and CADCAM station
don't start offering their C&C as well.  :)

SPOILER WARNING:  This story spoils some of the events and
the ending of Final Fantasy VII.  If you don't want to know,
don't read.  I certainly found much more enjoyment from *not*
knowing what was going to happen.

Still hit like a punch to the gut, though.  There were other
surprises that I found; I didn't expect at all what happened
to Cloud.

Finding that Cloud (I think of him as Sterman, of course) was one of the
Shinra soldiers accompanying Sephiroth honestly surprised me.  It makes
sense from a story perspective; after all, why was it necessary for a
soldier to be there in the first place?  Waste of polygons unless he had
some part to play.

She smiled over the sound of the screaming.  "Lovely,
isn't it?"

Beautiful opening line.  Considered Bulwer-Lytton?  ^_^

Hehehehe.

One thing I try and do when writing is to find a way to quickly hook the
reader into the story.  Dry dialogue or bland descriptions in the beginning
can quickly make people press the delete key.  This particular line was -
well, one of my more crude attempts at placing the hook.  I didn't have a
lot to work with considering how short the story was.

She watched after him.  After a few yards, he slowed down.  
He raised the flower in front of him, then slowly tucked
it into his shirt.  His pace increased again, but he wasn't
rushing any more.  Rather, he seemed more vital.

Just a bit of commentary here.

There are two sources for what people say in C&C (well, three,
but personal ego shouldn't be there ^_^ ).  One is simple rules;
the basics of spelling, grammar, style, and (to a *very* limited
extent) characterization.  The second is what's called 'gut 
instinct'.  This is where I think 80-90% of characterization
faults in critiques come from, and about 30-50% of style faults.

Very true.  My gut tells me that Kasumi is a much more intelligent,
matriarchal person than the manga shows her to be.  I want to fault people
who use an airheaded Kasumi, because I think that's not right.  Of course,
it *is* right, or at least as right as my wise Kasumi is.  It's just that
wise Kasumi *feels* more right to me.

What I feel and what other people feel are, of course, two complete separate
things.

My gut instinct is saying that this paragraph just doesn't 
work.  It... well, it doesn't feel right.  I think it might
be the last sentence, using 'vital' in that manner.

Heh.  I understand.  Myself, I worked a long time on trying to put the right
feel into that paragraph, because it was important to show what I thought
Aeris was doing with her flower-selling.

Perhaps adding an ellipse:  "But rather, he seemed more... vital."

Some noticed that she was looking at them.  Some looked
back, and there was desire in their eyes.  She knew that
they found her form pleasing to look at it, and wanted more
of her.  Some had even made the mistake that she was
selling something more than her flowers.  She smiled at
them and corrected their errors, willing to let them smile
at her and help her spread peace.  But nothing more, they
would have nothing more from her.  A very few had tried to
forcibly extract more from her.  She never held a grudge,
however; she made a point of healing them afterwards, even
revivifying them if necessary.

Lovely.  Absolutely lovely.  

Thanks.  I must, however, give credit for the last line to Stephen Brust.
It appeared in the novel "Jhereg" in a slightly different format.

She sighed.  She wouldn't.  *Couldn't*.  She was going to
fall towards him, they would fall towards each other.  They
would touch each other once, twice.  They would know a moment,
two moments, of peace and... love.  And then the needs of the
planet would overwhelm them, and there would be an end.

Maybe in *your* round of the game.  That last night at Gold
Saucer was with Tifa, for me.

Hehehehehehehe.

I've heard that there's also a way to have Yuffie be your date, or even
Barrett.

But in that end, perhaps a beginning.  Maybe, eventually,
a reunion.  

Bad Richard!  Bad!  No biscuit!

Er?

She turned her head to the side and looked down the alley;
she could sense him coming like the scent of flowers on the
evening breeze.   She walked towards him, towards the bright
force that was coming close, oh so very close, and her heart
quickened at his presence, not yet in her sight but very much
near her spirit.

Another gut instinct... sorta.  The coming... coming close...
close, just doesn't work for me.  You might want to try to
rephrase it.

Hmm.  Will take a look.

Either to die the death or to abjure
Forever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;
Know of your youth, examine well your blood....

Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
Than that which withering on the virgin thorn
Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.

-excerpts from "A Midsummer's Night Dream"
-by William Shakespeare

(grin)  Always did like that play...

One of Shakespeare's funniest, and filled with the most wicked of his
observations on human foibles.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I know, there isn't much story here.

Who said you ever needed a 500k plot to make a story work?

:)  Well, it doesn't have the usual conflict...climax...resolution that a
real story would have.

It just that, after finishing the game I felt the need to 
let out some of my mixed emotions about what happened to
Aeris.  So I wrote this up to allow myself a little peace
of mind.

Yeah, Ster.  Right.

'Struth.  I also found a way for RL,UT to make an appearance.  :)

Comments and criticism welcome as always.  And no, I won't
be producing any more FF7 fanfics.  Frankly, none of the
other characters interested me as much as Aeris (Aerith)
did, so I don't have a lot of motivation.  Plus I'm
still not sure what was going on there with Sephiroth.

Overall, excellent vignette.  You captured Aeris' personality
quite well.

Thanks, Nick.

-- Nick

-Richard