I’m excited to share a short story titled “Urban Gardening with Aerith Gainsborough,” which is based on the Final Fantasy VII Remake prequel novel, Traces of Two Pasts. This story is about Aerith’s relationship with the planet, especially how it manifests through her love of plants and flowers.

Despite the nurturing elements of her personality, something I love about Aerith is that she’s always kind but never fails to speak her mind. There’s an edge to her personality that I can’t help but admire, especially when she’s being passive-aggressive. It’s always fun to write characters who have this sort of complexity.  

You can read my story on AO3 here:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/65035672

On a personal note, I live in South Philadelphia, which is about as close as you can get to the Sector 5 slums in real life. I played FFVII Remake for the first time last October, and I fell so head-over-heels in love with Aerith that I was inspired to begin planting flowers in my neighborhood. I know it sounds trite to say “Aerith is an inspiration,” but she really is.

The illustration of Aerith showing off the small garden at the Leaf House orphanage was created by the bright and shining Artofpipeur, who posts colorful character portraits on Instagram (here).