thestormishere | ☈ strike #12 (action)

[ With the latest experiment screeching into an abrupt-as-always end, Lightning is, unsurprisingly, furious at everything because of it. Finding herself out in the middle of town, middle of the night, completely blindsided with the realization that everything she thought for the last week was a lie... that was not in her overall game-plan. The dreams were true. Her "family" was an elaborate, baffling fabrication. Ergo, Lightning is pissed.

However...

Making her way home would be much, much easier if the woman wasn't completely smashed on the alcohol her alternate apparently decided would be a good stand-in for sleep... and if her body wasn't trying desperately to go and expel not only that but apparently everything she's eaten in the last week. The taste of too-strong booze and-- and cigarettes is in her mouth, choking her, and it's only by a show of tremendously formidable will that she manages to stumble home, to make it to the right building at all...

Just to burst inelegantly through community housing 4's front door, smack into a wall bodily, and then promptly get lost in the semi-darkness as she tries to make her way to her apartment. Not so easy, when her intoxication-ruined grace has her tripping on the stairs, cursing not-so-quietly under her breath....

Feel free to run into her at any point between town and apartment. Anywhere, really. 8| ]

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Er... [The Focus thing again... would it even apply the same way in Luceti? ...Wait that's not the important part here-]

Luceti can just fix itself, so I don't know if it can be destroyed. Anyway there's a lot of people who wouldn't like that.

[ Oh, right. She never told him about the other horrible monster she, in theory, has the ability to turn into too. Her bad. This one is a beast formed of pure destruction, though. A little different than the crystal zombie from a few weeks ago.

She falls silent, brooding this over in a clearly troubled state. How could... she even say something like that? D: ]

[...You know, maybe this is something he should be asking when she's sober. While it's nice that she's being so loose-lipped right now, it's not fair to prod and pry while she's drunk out of her mind. He purses his lips tightly and keeps moving up the stairs, sorely tempted to lift her up and carry her there. At this rate it'll take them forever to get to her apartment.]

You'll be okay. One way or another, you will. Don't worry about your Focus or whatever else- we won't let that happen to you again.

[ Lightning's just so used to internalizing everything that, while she has learned to be better about it, she still doesn't even think twice about keeping some things quiet. There's a reason why she never mentioned this when she was inexplicably in love with Zack- she was set on being happy then, and this is painful stuff. Definitely got her absolutely miserable right now. ]

You'rre... hm. [ Hnnn stairs. Just one at a time, Lightning, come on. ] Evryone'ss... too nice.

I think most people are just nice enough.

[Something's been bugging him lately, actually- well, since he met her, but it's only grown in time. He knows why Sephiroth was so stoic, and why Cloud was so awkward. He knows plenty of what can make someone so... distrustful, so wary of forming connections with people, or of sharing their past.

So what made Lightning this way? What happened to "Claire" to make her this way?]

But youu're... rreeally nice. Afterr everthing...

[ And she shakes her head- it really doesn't quite make sense to her still, how he could just be so chill after the stuff Luceti's piled on them both. Her people as a whole are spoiled and sheltered though, so her viewpoint is probably skewed- she grew up used to people who generally don't adapt very well to being stirred up, so meeting those like him and Aerith... it's strange. ]

"After everything"? It's not like you've done anything wrong. I can tell you're a good person, Light. [A pause, and he shifts his position slightly to (hopefully) better support her weight.] Besides, we're friends, right? I'm gonna stick it out even through the rough patches.

[ Helping her probably isn't helped by the fact that he's at least half a head taller, even though she hasn't really noticed. Too busy trying to get over her spinning head long enough to process yet another admission of loyalty... ]

I... oh.

Thanks.

Just try to relax, okay? Don't think too much about it when you're like this, you'll just hurt your head.

[Step, step, aaaand... there! They're on her floor.]

Almost home. Then you can have a good rest- you'll feel better tomorrow.

Relackss any morre and I'll jusst... fall dowwn.

[ That's a completely serious complaint, by the way. Hard to be as tense as usual when your generally god-tier coordination jumped ship quite a while back and all. Thank goodness she doesn't live on the top floor? ]

Hey, no passing out yet! We're almost there. [Close enough for him to be able to get into the apartment a moment or two later, and he heads for the couch so she can sit down at last. He'd take her to the bedroom but a) he doesn't know which one is hers, b) that's kind of personal and nosy, and c) couch makes for easier access to the bathroom in case... yeah. Once she's settled though, he zooms off for a minute and returns from the kitchen with a glass of water.] Here, drink this- it'll help, trust me.

[ Thank the crystals, she's finally home-- FFFFINALLY. She practically drapes herself over the end of the couch once she's down and... well, the only reason why she doesn't immediately lose consciousness while Zack's away is because she's busy with clumsily stripping off her shirt to get to... the sleeveless one underneath it. Thankfully, she dresses in layers, and though it doesn't totally get rid of the smell and all, it does help at least a little.

She glances up at the offered glass. ] Iff you... [ Anything to get rid of the taste in her mouth, though. Too bad morning promises to be pretty fucking miserable no matter how much she manages to down.

Which happens to be about half of it before she... loses interest and.....

.... ]

[Whoa, okay, taking that glass back before she spills it all over herself. ...Yeah, maybe he should just let her sleep it off, then.

Since she looks like she's about to pass out, he sets the glass aside and gently - very gently, don't punch me - gets his arms under her to carry her to her room. Hopefully she's out of it enough to not rage about it.]

[ Too late - and probably lucky for Zack in some regards - she's already out like a... well, you know. She'll ~~awkwardly~~ thank him later though, honest- just as soon as she's rehydrated, calmed down, gotten the chance to wash/brush out her hair, and... managed to get the smell of smoke out of most of her clothes, somehow. B[ Ugh. ]

☈ strike #12 (action)

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