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?

-- - --

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Only the most awesome weapon around! Lightning shakes her head at herself over something... before glancing up and noticing she's being looked at herself.

... Generally that would be the end of it, but... even though they've never really met or anything, Lightning's sure she recognizes the girl-- after all, the former soldier stalks the journals quite a bit, so she's at least vaguely aware of the girl and her recent efforts to organize something.

And right now, Lightning needs help, which means... congrats young warrior, there's a Lightning stepping over in your direction. ]

Hey. You're... [ What was it? ] ...Suki, right?

[Eep, she's been caught. Well, no sense in dodging it now, so she just nods, focusing on the woman rather than the weapon.] That's right. You know about me? [Must've been the announcement, considering she's in uniform.]

A little bit. [ And look at that- still completely serious, of course, but... she's actually attempting to seem vaguely amiable?? From one combat girl to another, or something like that. ] I know you've got some fighting experience... right?

I've been training for almost ten years. [It's a matter of pride, okay. She may be young and small, but she's no pushover. She's not exactly defensive about it, though, since Lightning hasn't given her a reason to be.]

[ -- Longer than Lightning, technically, BUT ANYWAY. ]

... Do you know any magic?

No, sorry, I don't. [She's had plenty of opportunity to learn, but she isn't exactly compatible with the spirits. Nor has she felt the need to learn.] Why do you ask?

I'm wondering... if you can help me with something.

[ She doesn't seem surprised at the admission; if anything, that just strengthens her interest here! After all, she already knows it works on some magic-users, but for those who aren't? It's completely an unknown. ]

Sure, I don't mind. What do you need? [Now Suki's interested. She'd expected a straight-up dismissal or a "oh, nevermind" at her answer, so not getting that is a big surprise.]

[ Welp, time to see if she can explain this without weirding the girl out, then. ]

I've started to learn a kind of magic that adds or enhances different combat abilities... but I don't really know how well it works on other people yet.

Oh, so... you want to try it out?

[SLIGHTLY TENTATIVE. Mostly because she's never had magic used on her so the concept is... very alien. She's not even sure what that really means, since bending doesn't work that way.]

Yeah. Frankly, everyone I know is pretty familiar with this kind of thing already, so...

[ Indirect admittance that she has a very small pool of friends to pull from here. 8| She lifts a hand to the back of her neck, briefly playing with the strands of hair not contained in her current ponytail. Come ooooon, girl! ]

[And... one last hesitation, because she does have to take care of herself, so.]

Is it very dangerous?

[Getting hurt or put out of commission is not on her to-do list today.]

-- 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.

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