☈ strike #01 (action / voice)

[thestormishere]

[ Amidst the chilly but otherwise relatively nice weather, out of the forest there's suddenly evidence of several small explosions: first a blaze of light and smoke, then directly afterward an even brighter flash and what sounds suspiciously like a clap of thunder... as if a storm had struck right there despite it being reasonably clear. When the echoes die out and birds stop screaming warnings and flying away, there's only a young woman, pink-haired and severe-looking, standing near the center of the blasts.

Good day Luceti, Lightning's just arrived, and she's already killed a random deer- within the first quarter hour of her waking up here, even, although at the time she thought it was out of self-defense. The animal just came too close, and anyone who cares to investigate the disruption would soon discover Lightning first stamping out any small fires she inadvertently caused, then cautiously half-kneeling by the beast as she checks it for life. What was such a weak animal doing out by itself in the wilderness, anyway?

Several minutes later finds the very confused-but-hiding-it former-soldier - already changed into her regular clothing - finally making her presence known on the journals. Initially she just flips through the pages and listens in on what little can be heard at the time, but she does eventually speak... her tone very flat and to the point, of course. It's more of a demand than a question, really. ]

Where is this?

Comments

[Action]

[twoyearblade.livejournal.com]

[Those explosions attract the attention of one (1) Roberto as he's doing a patrol (which he's taken upon himself to start since he got here) of sorts. He turns his head and stares toward it, frowning, before he speeds along one of the paths and darts through the trees toward the source, hand at the hilt of his sword (just in case). He skids to a stop, staring at the deer and then looking at her.]

What did it do to you?

[Action]

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning straightens and turns at the intrusion, entirely prepared to defend herself if necessary. IT'S A PERSON- a native of Pulse, perhaps? It had already occurred to her that the animal might have been domesticated or something, so...

... Time to probably cover a bit for the fact that it... didn't really do anything. ]

What?

[Action]

[twoyearblade.livejournal.com]

[Roberto eyes her for a moment, staying where he is--though his hand is settled on the hilt of his blade.]

That. [He nods to the deer. He wasn't so familiar with this worlds' wildlife, so--] I thought they seemed pretty harmless, but...

[Action]

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning's well aware that he's armed and she's not... although she also knows that she's far from helpless, even without the gunblade she'd usually be wearing behind her. ]

If it was so 'harmless' then it should have still known to stay away.

[ At least she dodged the possibility that the thing was his pet or something. However... ]

Who are you?

[Action]

[twoyearblade.livejournal.com]

[Those explosions have put Roberto a bit on guard, but he hitches a shoulder in a shrug before dropping his hand from his sword. He opts to fold both arms across his chest instead.]

Roberto. Don't suppose you're a new arrival here?

[voice]

[herotypical]

[Telling people this always sucks. Big time.]

Luceti. This is Luceti.

[voice]

[thestormishere]

[ Trick is, Lightning thinks she's on Gran Pulse, but doesn't want to reveal to anyone who's from there that she's not. ]

... Right. Hm.

[voice]

[herotypical]

Gee, you're taking it all in stride. Congrats.

[voice]

[thestormishere]

[ There's a quiet scoff, her face turned away from the journal. ]

It common for people to just show up here, then?

[voice]

[herotypical]

Sometimes I wonder if it's not the total point of this place.

[generalflirt]

It's a place that people call Luceti. [...Neeh, he never likes this whole part, even if it's only been a few times now. Maybe he should take her for a date]

voice

[thestormishere]

Luceti. Got anything more useful than that?

voice

[generalflirt]

A date with your name written all over it!

voice

[thestormishere]

[ ....... Wat. Definitely not what she expected to hear. ]

Excuse me?

voice

[generalflirt]

A date! I could show you everywhere you'd need to see, and you would have the company of a man like me too boot!

[acclimatized]

[ Lightning's antics in the forest also attract the attention of John Watson and he follows the later sounds of the blasts, his left hand held out behind him and fingers itching to take his gun out, but he keeps silent and an eye-out for the cause of the disturbance as he brushes branches aside. ]

[thestormishere]

[ The area's clearly been singed a bit, although the deer itself doesn't look that damaged aside from being... well, dead. Lightning is just standing up from her first inspection of the unfortunate beast, muttering under her breath, when she hears the branches moving and quickly looks up into the trees. Immediately she shifts into a more alert posture- especially when she sees that it's a person. ]

Who's there?

[acclimatized]

[ John emerges from the trees when she throws out that question and he stops, surveying the damage firsthand. His nose wrinkles at the deer, before his attention is directed at the pink-haired woman. ]

Erm.. is everything all right? [ Smooth, John. ]

[thestormishere]

[ She stares back. A native of... wherever this happens to be, exactly? ]

... Yes.

[ (No.) ]

[acclimatized]

Are you sure? You did just... [ John pauses. How should he phrase this? ] ... I heard, uuhm, explosions out here.

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud loves making investigating explosions; he practically lives for it. Or he has for the past few months at least.

So when the forest kind of bursts into flame he's already out the door and running. The fire is pretty contained though, and all that's there when he arrives is some dead wildlife and...some chick. Huh.

Ultima Weapon isn't in his hands yet, the broadsword still slung at his back, but he keeps a hand on the hilt as he calls out to the woman.]

Hey! Did you do this?

[action]

[thestormishere]

[ The way Lightning turns at the disturbance, plants her feet, and swings an arm behind her suggests she's used to being armed too, though for the time being there's... obviously nothing there. She doesn't need it to defend herself, of course, but that's the problem- to her the damage seems to have "L'CIE" written all over it, and there's no telling yet if that's a good thing or not here.

So she just stares a moment, eyes narrowed, then dismisses the question with one of her own: ]

Who are you?

[ Correct answer is not "Owner of that thing you just killed!" ]

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

[Cloud sees the movement, but she's not armed so he's not too worried. Unless, of course, she is the one that did this with maybe some beefed up materia or something.]

Cloud.

Look, I'm not mad. I just want to know if you did this or if there's a monster somewhere I need to worry about.

[Huh. She kind of looks a bit familiar.]

[action]

[thestormishere]

Hm.

[ Aside from wary and annoyed, Lightning looks pretty in control... except that those stupid new wings on her back twitch and betray her agitation without her even realizing it. What to say? For where she thinks she is, there is some reason to believe admitting it is alright - and his response supports it - but her source of information is something like... 500 years out of date.

She's not really a liar though, so long as he doesn't ask about her Focus. What of it? ]

... Yeah.

[ And... what, haven't you ever wondered what you'd look like as a girl with pink hair and super-long eyelashes, Cloud? ]

[action]

[herobydefault.livejournal.com]

Good. [And Cloud looks like he's about to leave, but-

...wait, she's in New Feather gear, isn't she? He turns back to look at her again.] ...did you just wake up here?