thestormishere | ☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

[ 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?

-- - --

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-- Huh? Ah, no.

[ That she's aware of, anyway. Not even Lightning is odd enough to suggest doing something potentially dangerous to a teenage girl she doesn't know- at least without mentioning it already! ]

I mean... unless you turn around and hit yourself in the face, I guess.

[ Dry tone ahoy. Just... don't do that and you should be fine, Suki. ]

[....Yeah, she's pretty sure she can avoid that.]

Alright, I'll do what I can.

[ AWESOME. Lightning nods once in acknowledgment. ]

If you've got a weapon, what I can do here is 'charge' it with ice or water in a way that makes your attacks stronger- but to you, it shouldn't really feel any different than normal. A bit colder, maybe. [ She lifts a hand to her chest, pressing a light touch there to her hidden Brand. Yes, she's being very careful to explain exactly what's going down here now; blame it on being a sergeant or something. ] If it makes you uncomfortable anyway, it should dispel when you let go... but what I'd like to find out is how long it stays on its own, too.

[ Granted it does go up on Suki to begin with. Lightning's going to feel put-out if she's had to explain all this for something that doesn't work. ]

[Suki nods to show she understands, pulling a folded fan from her belt. She gestures to one of the dome rooms.]

We can use this one, if you want. I just finished with it, so it's empty.

[ Lightning blinks at the fan without recognition, but at this point it's hard to say she'd be surprised at all even if the young woman pulled out a battle-ruler. Between Luceti and her own home, she's been pretty acclimatized to odd weapons. ]

Right. [ And she'll follow after Suki readily, nursing her thoughts to herself, though after a few moments it finally occurs to her that... she's sort of forgotten to introduce herself. ] So, I'm Lightning.

[ Smoooooth. ]

I was about to ask you, actually. [Suki glances back with a smile. It's nice to see another girl who seems very capable in combat, even if this is kind of a strange meeting.] It's nice to meet you.

[ Another simple nod- Lightning just sort of tends to assume others are used to dealing with her 'type' by now, so although she's not being unfriendly... she's also not making any effort towards extraneous conversation after that.

Once they're in the room, she doesn't waste much time either, concentrating heavily in order to feel her way through casting the chilling, bluish-white magic of an enfrost spell- definitely not her strongest element, but she's never been one to avoid pushing herself.

... It might actually take her a minute, but she already mentioned she's new at it, so... ]

[Strong and silent, huh. Well, Suki can respect that, even if she's not one to really understand it. She stands a ways apart from Lightning - what a name, too, but whatever - her fan at the ready, waiting for something to happen.

...And waiting... waiting...

...um...

And suddenly her fan is cold. She jumps a bit, very nearly dropping it, and she has to move her other hand to hastily catch herself.]

Whoa...!

[ Lightning lets out a deep breath, letting her hands drop to her sides as she stares at the girl and her newly Totally Cool Fan. At least she... managed to do it eventually. ]

... That looks about right. Good.

[Suki turns the fan around in her hand a few times, getting a feel for the changes, then begins to work her way through her exercises. She can feel a chill in the air as she moves, and a certain sense of... empowerment, in a way. There's definitely an extra sting to her fan that wasn't there before.]

So you can make yourself stronger with this?

Yeah. There's several different 'elements;' four that can be used like that, I guess. [ A slight pause. Months and months later, it's still pretty weird to imagine someone actually trained to fight not already familiar with this kind of thing, but-- ] It can be even more useful, if you run into something with a weakness to one and you manage to figure it out.

[Four elements? That's familiar.] Earth, Air, and Fire? [It's a wild guess, but logic says...

She spins her body around, her face passing through the mist left behind. Chilly... and pretty cool, actually. Maybe magic isn't all bad.]

[ Lightning blinks at that question- she can't really picture how charging up with the elements that can't be used like that would even... work. Not that it really makes sense as-is, buuuut... shh, don't tell her that. ]

... Fire, water, ice, and lightning, actually. Air and earth don't work like that.

Hm... so that's different, then. On my world, the only magic that exists is "bending", and it involves those four elements.

[Another twist of her fan, and she moves into an elaborate flip to slam it against the floor. Frost spreads slightly over the surface for a moment before fading away. Huh... that's quite the bite.]

Yeah, it's kind of weird. [ Especially water and ice stuff being separate, but whatever. Trying not to frown as she thinks about it too much. ] That's just how it is, though.

[ She's actually being a little more amiable here than usual, though that's probably because since she's the one who initiated the interaction, it doesn't feel quite so forced. That and it's interesting watching the girl work, even if she wasn't using the magical enhancement. Lightning looks on, a touch curiously. ]

Is it... fairly common for people to be able to use "bending?"

Only if someone is born with the ability- it's not something you can just learn. My fiance isn't a bender, but his sister is, and neither are their parents... it happens like that, most of the time.

[ Fiance? Just how old is this girl? Not that that's relevant, but. Ooookay. ]

So it's... inherent, rather than from a choice or something you carry.

[ Yep, more stuff that Lightning is just not used to! There's a reason she basically just repeats what Suki said, though. How strange to think of magic as something you can just be... born with, and yet it's not the same for everyone. ]

Basically. Sometimes it makes the people who can't bend jealous of those who can, but it's not like they can really cause problems about it when they lack the power. There was a war going on until recently anyway.

[ Needless to say... nobody's really jealous of l'Cie much back where Lightning's from. AMP-users, maybe, but that's not the same as the heavy hand the fal'Cie lay on their Branded chosen. ]

... Because of the magic?

Not exactly. Each element has a nation, and the benders of that element only come from that nation. Over the last hundred years, the Fire Nation had been gradually invading the other countries and trying to take over the world.

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☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

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