Lonny

Lonny
(ロニー, Ronī?)
Biographical information
Home	Midgar
Occupation	Shinra Electric Power Company soldier
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Gameplay details

Lonny is the narrator and main character of Final Fantasy VII Remake: Picturing the Past, mentioned and named in Final Fantasy VII Remake Traces of Two Pasts. He was Aerith Gainsborough's first childhood friend while Aerith and Ifalna were trapped in the Shinra Building, and the son of their caretaker, Marielle.

History

Lonny was two years older than Aerith and was the only person Aerith called a friend of her age at the time. Lonny was paid to be Aerith's playmate, although he did not learn this until he was older and more responsible with money. When Geddie Bach arrived at 10 AM in the morning to pick up Ifalna, Lonny kept Aerith preoccupied the rest of the day. Despite having a small amount of space, the two played hide-and-seek, though they modified the rules so that if the hider could make the seeker laugh, the hider won the round.

Lonny was present when Aerith's powers were awakened. After embellishing a story about encountering a monster, Lonny drew a wererat he had seen, prompting Aerith to be lost in thought staring at it, then grab the pen and pad and begin drawing faces, flowers, trees, animals, and a number of images that began pouring into her head. Geddie and Professor Hojo then stepped in, declaring Aerith had awakened.

Sometime later, when Shinra were pressuring Aerith to draw a picture of the promised land but she could not picture it, Lonny tried to help Aerith by encouraging her to draw something from her imagination. Aerith declined, as Hojo had told her people would die if she drew something that was not real, prompting Lonny to improvise by encouraging her to draw Mideel, which he had seen in a magazine. A lab scientist named Geddie Bach saw this picture and took it for himself. Weeks later, Lonny watched helpless as Aerith was attacked by Lilisa Meg, who came to strangle Aerith, blaming Aerith's drawings for the deaths that had occurred from Shinra's Special Geological Survey Initiative.

Years later, Lonny lived with his romantic partner, Silvina Kelly, in upper Sector 7, as one of the few soldiers in Shinra's military who landed a spot in Sector 7's suburbs. The two were expecting a child, leading Lonny to trace back his past guilt so as to be ready to care for them. Lonny traced back Geddie Bach to learn what had happened, first finding Dr. Donovan in Mideel, then to Jack Klein in Sector 7, and finally to Joann Liu in military housing in the sector. After hearing Joann Liu's story, she began asking him questions about his involvement, causing him to sneak out by excusing himself to the restroom and slipping out the window.

The following day, after completing a tiring night shift and returning to Silvina's home, Joann was waiting for him with Lilisa, who was robed and marked with a numeric tattoo. Joann took him to the train graveyard where Geddie Bach and Glen Reienr, also in robes with tattoos, were waiting for him, and got Lonny's history with Aerith and the origin of the picture from him. Joann did not blame Lonny for Geddie Bach's poisoning of his friends to try to find the promised land and take the glory himself, but told him she had heard of a flower merchant named Aerith at the plaza in Sector 8.

Lonny traveled to Sector 8 to find Aerith there at the plaza, recognizing her as the Aerith he knew as child, but Aerith claimed to have never known him. Recognizing that Aerith was trying to suppress her memory since childhood, Lonny left her alone.