☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

[thestormishere]

[ After the whole fiasco with having to take down Jack Horner's dragon form, Lightning's been thinking a lot lately-- namely, about her own trouble with maintaining a human form and fallout from failing against her will several months ago- both things which, frankly, she's been trying to avoid.

However, she can't just keep ignoring it forever, can she? Especially considering that ever since then, even if she's continued to grow slowly stronger and is currently safe from the ramifications of an active l'Cie Brand... the 'penalty' she was saddled with makes using her powers a lot harder than how it used to be.

And so she practices, attempting to get a handle on the magic that's there but no longer instinctive like it once was. Healing magic is fairly easy to figure out, the weaker elemental things like Thunder and Water are simple enough if difficult to aim now, but as for the more complicated spells...?

As for learning new ones...?

She can be found alternately in the battle dome and outside near the edges of town quite a bit during these last few days, with and without her gunblade and various other weapons from before and during her time spent here. She's not really doing much actual fighting, though; it's obvious she's trying to do something, concentrating for sometimes minutes at a time, before casting something that just seems to flicker in the air around her, or light up the edges of her weapons with bright-colored energy.

After some time and a lot of deliberation, she turns to the journals. ]

-- Filtered to House Lucky occupants --

Hey. Have a minute?

-- - --

Comments

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Are you getting the hang of it better?

[thestormishere]

Slowly but surely. [ A breath that strongly resembles a sigh- she's pretty conflicted over this whole thing given the source, still. ] I want you to help me test something.

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Okay. Someplace we can test magic... the battle dome?

[thestormishere]

Yeah. In just a few minutes. [ A pause, and then quickly added on just in case-- ] And make sure to bring your staff or something.

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Like I wouldn't! [It is a battle dome and she is a FF character, for all she knows Lightning wants a partner to help her while she charges a ridiculously long but smite-y attack spell.] See you soon.

[An armed Aerith approaches the battle dome.]

[thestormishere]

[ To run into a thoughtful looking ex-soldier at the door, wearing her hair tied up and not a whole lot of clothing- a pretty conspicuous attempt to combat the heat. She nods when she sees the flower-girl, uncrossing her arms. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[Do we see more than her belly button today]

I'm here! So, how do you want to start?

[thestormishere]

[ You mean enough to prompt torso-length conversations? Probably. ]

Well, first off: have you... tried learning any of this place's native magic, besides the healing?

[ She takes a step back and turns as she speaks, intending to head towards one of the rooms. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

I can make a pretty mean splash. Or a gust, if you want wind. I work with Faeren to help take care of the flowers. Fire, light and lightning are what I still need to work on. You know, that spirit of light is so hard to keep track of!

[thestormishere]

[ ... She only understood about half of that, Aerith. 8| Gust and splash, is she like a Pidgey/Magikarp hybrid or what. ]

Hm... okay, well, see there's this spell I've learned that's supposed to strengthen magic. [ She glances back as she reaches the door. ] I'm wondering if it would even work on that sort of thing.

[ And on people who aren't l'Cie, if that can be read between the lines here. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[don't you insult her special snowflake heritage!!

Also Aerith isn't quite reading between lines yet. She's more at 'make magic that make the people fall down and let's see if we can make them fall down harder.]

Ooh, on filial magic? It's worth a try. You already gave it a shot with your own magic, right?

[thestormishere]

[ ...Aerith that is one hell of a weird... um, thing. ]

Yeah. [ Of course. Like she'd be exploring anything like this without some extensive trial-running first? ] It doesn't seem to last as long as it should, but...

[ But it's not like everything else isn't inexplicably weakened too anyway. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

That's usual, right? I haven't been able to see how different things are myself. Limit breaks are hard to compare. But as long as it helps a little still, that's what's important.

[thestormishere]

Unfortunately. [ She crosses her arms and... see this room's simulation? At its core it might be familiar, being based off what they were using way back to train for their first draft together, but changed just enough. Any challenges won't be fighting back today unless something's changed.

But Lightning just sort of... halts and stares at Aerith, looking like she was about to say something, but stopping herself at the last moment for some reason. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

This simulation... not a challenge at all. Good! We'll be able to focus everything on practice.

...? What's wrong? I'm not using any magic on you, right? So everything should be okay. [She has zero problem with Lightning using l'Cie magic on her. It's probably been done before in their training and it's not like she's had any bad reactions to magic. Now if it was reversed, she'd be leery.]

1/2

[thestormishere]

-- Aerith!

[thestormishere]

[ ... Oh, whoops, unexpected outburst. An odd expression passes over Lightning's face as she smooths it out- is she mad at Aerith? Definitely not, but afterward, it's still kind of hard to get over something as abjectly horrifying as that entire experience had been. Turns out she's much more upset than she typically tries to let on... though for good reason, of course....

Her gaze falls to the ground, brows coming together in irritation, voice suddenly losing most of its inflection. ]

Let's just focus on seeing if this works.

1/2

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Light, I... [Wait, what is Lightning upset about? She wouldn't get that upset just because of her bringing up her own use of magic...

...Except the way Light's brand had reacted to it was the beginning of the events leading to her death.

It gives her a queasy feeling treading on this subject, but that's not as important as how upset Lightning is.]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[And then she reaches with her hand to cover the simulation panel, looking Lightning in the face.]

Maybe we should wait.

[thestormishere]

[ Oh, great. GREAT. Lightning can tell Aerith is looking at her, but she doesn't exactly return the favor at first. Despite all her insistence at getting others to work through what's bothering them... no, she doesn't want to touch on that thing that in the end very nearly managed to shatter her mind completely. It's going to take more than just a few months to manage putting herself together after that... if it's even possible at all to do completely.

And... at that, she just shuts down instead of answering, crossing her arms with closed eyes, letting out a sigh through her nose. Easy answer would be to jump the gun and claim it's nothing, but... she's way too honest even when agitated, apparently. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Come on. [Lightning will find a hand on her shoulder, though it's gentle.] Can we just sit down for a few minutes? And relax.

[thestormishere]

You're not supposed to come here to relax.

[ Dry reply, but it's mostly to cover the fact that Lightning's actually starting to feel mildly panicked at the idea of being cornered here. She tends to have a pretty strange version on how a fight or flight instinct manifests, but already her heart rate's increasing, and she's obviously tense beneath the touch to her shoulder.

Can't they just work on magic like planned...? :( ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

[The tension is different. If Aerith thought it was anger, she'd back off--and likely bow out of the magic practice. However, that's not the impression she's getting.]

I didn't think you were supposed to go in all worked up, either. ...I'm really not trying to pry, Light, but I can't pretend you're not upset.

[thestormishere]

... I know. But-- what am I supposed to do here? Keep trying to--? I don't know, Aerith. I don't want to mess around.

[ She cuts off, voice charged with stress and wrapping her arms together even tighter, gaze narrowed but unfocused where it's aimed towards the ground. Growing so upset, so quickly- this really isn't like her at all, and yet... every time she thinks about it at all? She's immediately pulled right back into what it had been like as a Cie'th, that feeling like never being able to escape, of despair and anger and the hopeless regret that had made up every second of her forced transformation...

Basically, you've been living with an emotional time-bomb and probably didn't know it, Aerith. ]

[gardenerofgaia.livejournal.com]

Keep trying to what?

[She's a little lost, unsure exactly what Light means, but she is getting the picture that the other woman has been keeping her upset deeply buried since that unraveling in the rain. She didn't know it... but she wonders if she should have. It's not so different with what she's done, keeps doing, with thoughts of her death. Just burying it down, never mind what it gives root to.

She's worried. More than worried. She shakes her head.] We won't mess around then.