Aerith took the first box of her belongings up the stairs to her new apartment at The Midgar Commons, since she didn't want to wait for the elevator. She was so excited…her very own place, no more of her younger brothers and sisters always bugging her, or her parents constantly trying to marry her off their friends' sons. She would finally have privacy, and lots of peace and quiet. There was a little balcony on which she could grow hardy flowers, and the tender ones could be grown inside by the sliding glass door. There was little room in the big city of Midgar to have a proper garden plot, but Aerith had always had a special touch with flowers, which her mother Ifalna had explained to her being due to her Cetra heritage. Ifalna had also made sure Aerith knew it was nobody's business that they had a very close relationship with the planet. So Aerith started growing rare and therefore extremely valuable flowers, because even though they didn't do well in containers for others, they would for her.

"Oh!" Aerith exclaimed when she reached the door of her new apartment. She was surprised by what must be her next door neighbor in front of his apartment. She had never seen him before, and the real estate agent, a Mr. Barret Wallace, seemed reluctant to tell her anything about her neighbors, and she knew why now. He looked…she couldn't even think of an appropriate. His red hair was somewhat unkempt, he was tall and gangly, and his clothes were dirty and wrinkled. Taking a deep breath, she decided to be polite. "Hello, I'm Aerith Faremis." she said to the strange man.

He looked at her, and Aerith felt her skin crawl with the way he looked her over, and even if his eyes were nice, his first words weren't. "I'm not buying whatever you're selling, sister. And I'd change your name if I were you, if you want to be a successful salesman." he replied, taking her box to be goods for sale.

"I'm not a salesperson!" Aerith indignantly retorted, then realized she actually was, her lucrative flower business allowed her afford her own place while she saved up for a house to grow more flowers. "I live here now." she told the man in a calmer tone, putting her box down in front of her door while she got her key out.

"Oh, well in that case, I'm Reno Sinclair. And I'd be happy to throw you a house-warming party for two tonight if you're available." Reno leered at her before disappearing into his apartment.

"Jerk!" Aerith muttered, taking her first box into her apartment. It wasn't large by any means, but it was adequate with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and the main living space. Her nice four-poster canopy bed at home wouldn't fit in the small bedroom, so she would sleep on the floor tonight and tomorrow buy a proper bed that would fit in that small space. Putting her box on the floor just inside the door, she left to go get more boxes, locking the front door again, not trusting that Reno man to not sneak into her apartment and do something disgusting. When she was locking the door, she saw a pretty dark-haired woman leaving the apartment on the other side of her, with an empty wine bottle in one hand.

"I'll be back with lunch soon, Rufus." the woman said before closing the door, then noticed Aerith standing there.

Hoping for a better introduction to another tenant, Aerith tried again. "Hello, I'm Aerith Faremis, I just moved here."

"Oh, you're the new girl. Cid mentioned something about a new tenant when he was fixing our sink. I'm Tifa Lockhart." Tifa stuck her hand out towards Aerith.

Relieved to have a friendly gesture, Aerith told herself she must have imagined that slightly unfriendly look in Tifa's eyes at first. "Cid?" she asked as she shook Tifa's hand.

"He's the handyman for this building, weren't you told about him? He and his wife Shera live in the basement in the most spacious of the apartments here. They're nice. I live on the first floor." Tifa explained.

"You have strong hands." Aerith blurted out, surprised at the strength of Tifa's grip.

"I'm a martial artist." Tifa smiled. "It pays to keep in shape."

"It was nice to meet you, but I have to go finish bringing in my boxes now." Aerith offered as a reason to end the conversation. She felt uncomfortable with someone potentially violent.

"Oh, if you need help with that, let me get Cloud and we'll help you." Tifa offered.

"Cloud?" Aerith inquired.

"My best friend. We're sharing the apartment to save money. College isn't cheap." Tifa explained as they waited for the elevator.

"Oh, you're going to school?" Aerith started feeling better, Tifa wasn't a professional fighter if she was a student.

"Yeah, I'm studying sports medicine and Cloud is studying law." Tifa informed her.

Aerith brightened even more. A future lawyer would be lovely company, and she looked forward to meeting Cloud. Tifa opened her apartment and loudly called for Cloud's help, putting the empty wine bottle in a trash can, and he came out moments later.

"What's so important, Tifa? I was just writing my paper on what constitutes valid contract penalties. Oh…hello there." Cloud saw when he saw Aerith. He smiled at her, and she felt herself smiling back at him. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all, not with a smart and attractive man around.

"Aerith needs help moving her boxes up to her new apartment. It's on the third floor next to Rufus." Tifa told Cloud.

"Oh, sure, we can do that." Cloud agreed.

In less than an hour, everything she had brought with her was in her new apartment, and she thanked the two friends sincerely, promising to repay them when she could.

"Don't worry about it. I need to keep in shape anyway, otherwise I'd be out of a job." Cloud said as they stood in the hallway outside her apartment.

"Oh, where do you work?" Aerith was further impressed by Cloud. He was quite the productive citizen.

"I'm a model." Cloud told her.

"A model?" Aerith tried to keep the shock out of her voice.

"It was all Tifa's fault. She started modeling for Rufus, for free though, but eventually found out artist's models can make a decent living. It's not as easy as you think, especially because if you want to get paid well, you have to do it for art classes, not the individual artists. At least for the starving artists like Rufus, they can't afford to pay the models that much in the first place."

Tifa punched Cloud in the arm. "Rufus is a very talented artist, he just hasn't had the proper exposure yet."

"I didn't say he was a bad artist, Tifa, just not a rich one." Cloud pointed out, rubbing the spot where she hit him.

"Sorry." Tifa mumbled. "That reminds me, I need to go get him his lunch." She hurried back to her own apartment to cook him something.

"I shouldn't have said that, she really has a thing for Rufus and keeps hoping he'll notice her as a real woman, not just a model." Cloud whispered to Aerith before welcoming her again to the apartment building and suggesting a barbecue in her honor, rushing off to get back to his studying.


"I just checked in on Aerith and she seems to be settling in. I just hope Reno won't bother her too much. She's rather uptight, and he's not fond of women like those." Shera told Cid that night at dinner.

"Aerith?" Cid asked as he started cutting his steak into bite-sized pieces.

"The new tenant, she's between Rufus and Reno." Shera reminded her husband.

"What do you mean, uptight?" Cid wondered.

"She is always very polite, and I don't think she ever uses bad language for starters." Shera explained.

"I could offer to teach her how to swear, if she's going to be Reno's neighbor she'll need it." Cid suggested.

"Oh, you!" Shera exclaimed, and Cid smiled as he ate his favorite dinner.


As Aerith unrolled her sleeping bag that night after dinner, she wondered about how to cope with her new neighbors. Violence, alcohol, immodesty, cursing, eating meat, and premarital sex were against her beliefs, and she was beginning to wonder if this apartment building was a den of iniquity. The building's name was a total joke so far, she had nothing in common with her neighbors. She prayed to the planet for protection before falling asleep.