☈ strike #07 (action)

[thestormishere]

[ So. Even though there seems to be an 'experiment' in full swing this week, several days later Lightning still has yet to be affected for some reason. Not that she's complaining, of course, considering she has several new problems on her hands anyway-- namely, the recent appearance of both Hope and Sazh to Luceti. Talk about complicated. Needless to say, Soldier Girl here needs another outlet; therefore, she has decided to develop a new skill:

Knife-throwing.

Because clearly, being a superpowered, magic-slinging former-sergeant trained in the use of a gunblades and bazookas and airships and who knows what else doesn't make her quite dangerous enough. Yeah, she knows the basics of using a knife in hand, and she can throw one fairly decently already, but that... is not enough.

And so she's practicing, outside near the forest and in a particularly snowy patch of ground- this is because not only is she working on her ability to toss sharp objects, but is trying to improve her maneuverability in the snow at the same time as well. After all, you never know when something like that might become important.

She probably makes an interesting sight too, holding a knife out in front of her like she's taking aim, but then turning around completely and launching herself backwards into not just one flip, but two - briefly touching down between them, off-hand braced in the snow - before flinging the knife mid-flight. However, although the weapon hits her target, once Lightning has bounced to a stop and surveyed the throw, she still seems unsatisfied (you know, despite pulling that off at all in the first place).

So she does it again, and again, and again, until finally, she feels like she's gotten a little better and gets ambitious enough to try something a little different. Setting her feet, she picks up a knife in both hands, jumps back again and-- abruptly loses her equilibrium in the air, so that the knives go flying off-course entirely, and she goes crashing down unceremoniously with a bark of surprise. A moment later, she's rolled to her feet, looking bewildered and displeased, and a moment after that, she looks down and notices that she's no longer herself. Again. ]

... Oh.

[ Yeah. "Oh" is right, considering she's suddenly several years younger, with longer hair and a face that's far more used to smiling than frowning-- her little sister, Serah's, actually. Furthermore, despite so many others getting to keep them, for the time being she's been stripped of her powers completely. If you... just got a knife to the kidney, then sorry, blame the Malnosso, and hopefully it didn't go too deep?

Replies will come from strikingusdown. ]

Comments

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[Hello, shriek. No knife in the kidney, thankfully. There is one embedded deep into the tree trunk just to Aerith's right, though, so she's rather wide-eyed for the moment, her hand over her mouth.

Not looking herself either, though a lot like herself if she were fifteen years older and leaner.]

Careful!

[strikingusdown]

[ That shriek immediately catches Lightning's attention, so that she barely has time to register exactly what went wrong before she's staring at a woman she's never seen before but who seems-- awfully familiar. Her eyes go from the knife and back, a bit alarmed despite herself. Killing a random passerby? Definitely not in the game plan today. ]

-- Are you alright?

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[Not someone meaning to attack, then, and Aerith relaxes with a sigh, brushing one bang aside.]

It could have been a nasty scratch, but I'm all right. [...hello, you have pink hair. Aerith's got a rather inquisitive look on her face as she notices similarities. New Feather with a relation, or...?] Light?

[strikingusdown]

[ Hey, the fact that the knife managed to stick in a tree at all is pretty impressive- Serah's no weakling, but she's not her crazy soldier-sister, either. Lightning sighs quietly, relieved, but then intends to just ignore the woman, go get the knives, and then disappear to her apartment or something. However... then the woman says her name - her nickname - and for a moment, she's forced to just freeze standing there and stare. ]

... Aerith.

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Mm. [She knows what Lightning's going for, of course, and reaches to yank the knife back out. The strain of it makes her frown--she's not a weakling until compared to other fighters, but her mother's arms... then again, it's not like a laboratory provides much opportunity for exercise.

After a few more yanks, she gets the blade out and holds it out carefully to Lightning.] This is my mother, Ifalna.

[strikingusdown]

[ Lightning just watches, her own faint frown slowly appearing on her face at the struggle- it shouldn't have been that hard, she thinks, but chooses not to say anything about it in the end. She just nods as the knife is handed back to her, clearly thoughtful. Given the resemblance, Aerith saying it's her mother makes sense... and fits with what Lightning figures is the pattern behind the transformations this time. ]

This is Serah... my sister. [ For her part, quiet voice ahoy, here. She's not surprised at who she changed into, but it's not like that makes it any less bittersweet. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

I can see the resemblance. [She's not really sure she wants to press with Lightning, considering her own pattern of "loves"--the airship she never got to ride, the mother dead for over fifteen years...]

These experiments sure have the worst timing. Maybe you should wait until it's over.

[oncebright.livejournal.com]

[Mogget's too low to the ground for the knife to really do that much damage, though that doesn't stop him from hissing at not!Lightning.]

Is throwing knives at passerby a common pastime of yours?

[strikingusdown]

[ Even with the hiss, Lightning was a bit too distracted to notice a white cat standing in the snow right away. At the voice, however, she glances up from staring at her hands, expression clearly agitated in accompaniment to what just happened slowly beginning to dawn on her. ]

No.

[oncebright.livejournal.com]

There's a battle dome for this sort of thing, you know. One might as well use it. There's far less chance of murdering the innocent people out walking.

[strikingusdown]

[ ... Oh hey, it's that cat from the library, it seems. She didn't mean to almost knife you, kittydude. Really. She frowns at the attitude though, and then shrugs her shoulders-- her sister's shoulders, even if Lightning's distinctive wings are right behind them. ]

I prefer using the real thing, when it comes to snow.

[oncebright.livejournal.com]

Do whatever you wish; it's none of my concern if you happen to accidentally commit murder.

[He looks interestedly at the mismatched wings and the pink hair and the different face, and draws some conclusions.]

We've met before, have we not?

[strikingusdown]

That mistake just now wasn't my fault.

[ She clenches her teeth in annoyance, though pauses at the question. So he does recognize her, even like this. Good. Then maybe he'll be more likely to believe her. ]

Tch... at the library. About two weeks ago.

because they can't ever meet when looking like themselves amirite

[themoonfavors.livejournal.com]

[winged_moon had been lurking in one of the trees at the edge of the forest, contemplating all the things he would love to do to the Malnosso for trapping him in this form (http://download.minitokyo.net/Clow.Reed.405688.jpg), and when the woman arrived and started her practice he'd chosen to simply remain still and not call attention to himself. At least... not until something goes awry and one of the blades comes flying up at the branch where he sits half-concealed. He automatically deflects it with a shield of hardened air, but when he drops to a lower branch with the intention of irritably asking what the woman thinks she's doing he pauses.

Oh indeed.

So here he'll just kind of stare and frown disapprovingly instead of saying anything. If she'd care to notice and/or acknowledge the watcher in the tree.]

it's possible the world may be split asunder if they ever do

[strikingusdown]

[ Well, she doesn't really intend to just leave the knife behind, so after a minute or two of silence and merely standing there, she slowly trudges out to see if she can find it.

And then she notices there's a freakin' man just hanging out there in the tree. Watching. It's a good thing she's pretty hard to startle- instead of that she just frowns and tenses, staring up at him. ]

... What are you doing?

clearly. :|b

[themoonfavors.livejournal.com]

I was trying to think.

[Whereupon his gaze drops to the knife in the snow below him and his frown deepens. Until that interrupted me, it says, and also says he isn't very thrilled.]

[strikingusdown]

[ It doesn't take a detective to piece together a basic idea of what happened here. With a frown, she steps forward, bending to pick up the knife without another word. However, she's very, very wary. Who does heavy thinking in a tree? ]

[themoonfavors.livejournal.com]

[He does. So there. Yue shifts as though about to resume his previous seat in the branches, but pauses to watch the girl collect the knife.]

I presume that wasn't intentional?

[strikingusdown]

I don't make a habit of throwing my things out where I can't find them again and then falling on my head, so no.

[swordboning.livejournal.com]

[Thankfully, Shirou was really good at this kind of thing. Something he could brag about, sadly. So he watched intently, still kind of stuck in his own girlfriend's body.

And unfortunately, that stray knife flies right at him. Ever the swordsman, a sword literally does appear in his hand and he knocks the knife to the side.]

Whoa!

[strikingusdown]

[ Lightning doesn't really mind being watched, so long as the spectators don't do anything stupid and nothing ridiculous like a crowd forming happens. 8| Therefore, she chooses to just ignore Shirou, unless he chooses to actually say something.

But then she changes suddenly and accidentally chucks a knife at him... and he pulls a sword out of nowhere in response. She looks particularly bewildered as she regains her footing and stands there braced in the snow, glancing at herself, what looks like a girl with a sudden!weapon, and then back down again with a tight expression. ]

[swordboning.livejournal.com]

[Shirou continues to look a little bewildered but then he gives Lightning a smile.]

It's fine, it's fine. No one got hurt so you don't have to worry.

[strikingusdown]

[ She-- wasn't that worried, actually. But now she's a little odd, considering she just changed forms and all in front of this random girl. Playing it cool though, she walks over, looking at the ground in search of the knife. ]

... Did you hit it?

[swordboning.livejournal.com]

Oh, that? Yeah. I don't know where it went but if you need a new one, I could make you one.

[strikingusdown]

[ Sigh. ] No... it's just probably better not to leave it lying where someone could step on it. [ Luceti's unpleasant enough already, after all.

... She eyes the sword. ] You make knives?