thestormishere | ☈ 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

[ You asked for it, kid. Considering it's so new to her and unlike everything else she knows, though, it's a little more difficult than she'd like- she takes a deep breath, focusing, but then when she "throws" it the first time-- it clearly doesn't work at all. ]

Tch.

[ But at least the immediately-following second attempt is better- a half-sphere of greenish hexagons that jumps into existence and then fades to translucent...

... And hurrah it stays up, too! Lightning lets out a sigh, a bit relieved. Now, just to wait for it to fall. ]

[He just tries to get a good look at this weird energy around him. So weird...]

So... what does this do?

Reduces the impact of physical attacks.

[ To demonstrate, she steps forward, putting her hand through it so that it lights up just slightly in response. When done slowly it seems there's only slight resistance, but then she pulls back and smacks through it with her palm flat- not far enough to hit Kurt or for him to feel anything, but hopefully enough to show what she means.

Yet she looks a touch thoughtful too afterward, as she realizes she's really going to find someone who's alright with actually taking a hit to get a better idea on any difference between home and Luceti. ~~Spoilers: probably Zack.~~ ]

[He flinches instinctively when he thinks she's going to hit him because SERIOUSLY that would make the most sense. He can't really tell it's working aside from all the glowing. For all he knows it could be an illusion of it working.]

Neat power, I guess. Definitely flashy.

You have no idea.

[ Seriously, when you're facing down a freaking behemoth with a goddamn chainsaw sword, every little bit helps towards the maintaining the status of not dying horribly. 8| ]

Thanks... by the way. [ Her eyes are still on the barrier, though, continuing to count out the seconds even as she speaks. ] I'm Lightning.

[Lightning, huh? Must be her codename. Not bad, but not very creative either. Her power is flashy, but not exactly electric. Oh well.]

Ahh, don't mention it. I'm Nightcrawler. [... since we're using code names.]

[ All she's shown is a weak-powered Sparkstrike and a Protect spell... of course he'd think that without seeing something like... Thundaga! >:T

But no, it's not that creative. She was fifteen when she changed it to that, give 'er a break.

And. That's a pretty funky name of his own, there. Considering he doesn't really look particularly human in the first place, though... at this point Lightning will swallow a lot of things. Too much trouble to object otherwise, so these days she's just been sticking to keeping it all mental.

She remains silent after that. Waiting. ]

[Kurt was sixteen when he got his code name. What a coincidence!

Anyway, umm, this is awkward.]

So... can't you take it off now? [She's a grown woman. He can only hope she has that much control over her powers.]

I want to know how long it stays up by itself.

[ She told you that already, Crawlerboy, and she sounds just a touch annoyed at repeating herself. She could use Dispel on it, yeah, but ironically, doing so actually costs her more magic than she'd ever use putting any one buff in place over and over and over. ]

[How long...? You mean this could go on for awhile?]

Exactly how long do you think it will stay up? [Cuz even a few minutes is gonna be hard, even with how great of a conversationalist Lightning is.]

[ A quiet sigh- what is with kids these days and their impatience? ~~Lightning you are only 21 shut up.~~ ]

Just a... [ Ah, but there it goes, and her brows come together for a moment as she watches it flicker and fade out. Either she miscalculated, or it really does last for a shorter span of time on others... ] Hm.

Ahhh so... not long at all.

[She must be pretty new at her powers then. It's okay, he won't hold it against her.]

Not really. [ She lifts a hand to her mouth in thought for just a moment, then quickly lets it drop, pressing her lips together. Truth is, she's probably just never going to be able to figure it out exactly without working through all the variables and then enlisting someone really good at numbers... ] Right... well, that's all. Thanks.

Are you sure? [Pretty lame test, but he's not going to tell her that. Besides, he's got a Danger Room to do.]

Well ahh... if you ever need to throw some more sparkly lights at people, I'm okay with it.

☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]

[Action!]