☈ 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

[wingenvy]

[Zack blinks at the sudden, doubly-stacked techniques, lifting a hand to look at it. This... hey, this is a familiar feeling! Finally, one he knows!]

We have this spell, too! Barrier, right? Or is it Shield?

[He has the sudden urge to go run into something and find out. He loves this spell.]

[thestormishere]

[ Funny that, the similarities. They might not be part of the group from some version of this 'Earth' place, but you'd almost think that their worlds still sprang into being with deliberate parallels in place or something... ]

Protect; because it 'protects' against physical damage. At least, that's what we call it. [ A short pause, and then she steps forward again... and sets her feet, letting her hands swing out to either side of her. Wuh oh... ] Probably only one way to find out if it really works, though.

[ Yes, she can indeed look at a big tough SOLDIER, carrying a huge electrified sword and buffed up by Protect, and think... hey, I think I'll try and kick that guy in the face. THEY CALL HER LIGHTNING. ]

[wingenvy]

[The scary thing is? He was kind of hoping she'd do that. The kick sends him flying, and whether by miracle or experience he twists himself into a roll without cutting off a few limbs in the process. The roll becomes a crouch, then he stands... wearing a stinking big grin on his face.]

Ha! I didn't feel a thing!

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning felt it! When she steps back, it's with a little obvious gingerness, careful before she puts her full weight back on her foot. Not painful, though. Rather- ]

That... feels weirder than I expected.

[ But she certainly has an odd, almost amused expression on her face again at his reaction. Plus, she's... also starting to really realize: this stuff definitely has the potential to help her when solo, yes, but with her playing support, even just the two of them have the potential to be UNSTOPPABLE. It's kind of like when she and Fang had been on the run through Palumpolum... only better because now she can play 'Medic' and 'Synergist.' All she needs now is 'Saboteur' skills and...

Yeah. This is what happens when you present a military-minded woman with a new opportunity. She starts making plans for how to change their sparring practice into working towards becoming The Perfect Machine. ]

[wingenvy]

[Ahaha, and here he almost asked for a repeat performance. Glad he didn't, now; that looks like it hurt.

He gives her a moment in that deep thought she's got going - and he has a feeling she's probably thinking the same thing he is, namely how badass and unstoppable they'd be with this kind of enhancement. Kind of scary, when you think about it - before speaking up again.]

Does the spell work on the sword, too, or just my body? We could just use weapons until it wears off.

[thestormishere]

[ It's kind of scary, alright. This is why the people of Cocoon fear the Pulse l'Cie - why just the knowledge of a group of six of them is enough to practically tear the entire world apart all by itself. It doesn't matter that none of them want to hurt anyone. Just the fact that they could and... continue to exist while doing so. ]

Both. [ Another beat of pause, and then she simply inclines her head, reaching for her gunblade and snapping it out with a precise, unusually tense gesture. ] It shouldn't take long.

[wingenvy]

[...Ha. Awesome. Zack just grins again, shifting his body to face her, sword lifted. Yeah, bring it on- he's so ready. He figures it'd be smart for her to make the first move, since his body has the enhancement.

...Hopefully this won't end badly, eh-heh...]

Ready when you are!

[thestormishere]

I'm not trained for this.

[ Forewarning for her unfamiliarity with... non-lethal combat and the fact that it's bound to show; before now she's undoubtedly refused to draw her weapon, and even now she has to wonder just what she's gotten herself into, with both participants here holding very live steel in their hands.

Backing down isn't really in the list of her defining traits, though. Therefore, there's little hesitation as she swings the gunblade up into position anyway, poised for just a moment as she considers her strategy before springing forward- not as fast as she could be, but that's going to take a little more trust and time than whatever's left for the buffs.

... At least if one of them gets hurt, she can heal too...? ]

[wingenvy]

[He's not terribly concerned, in part because he trusts her, and in part because he trusts himself to be able to handle whatever she dishes out. He shifts his sword to meet hers, pushing back against her attack with as much strength as he dares. Let's get dangerous, shall we? this is almost like a date]

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning's gunblade is pretty hefty for something that's supposed to be designed for using a single sharp edge, but there's no way she really stands much of a chance against the brute force and weight behind Zack and his choice of sword! It's sort of like running into a brick wall. With electricity.

Even if she is used to it, considering the sort of stuff she regularly slammed her weapon into back home too... still. She grits her teeth as she slides a little, willfully ignoring the sting of her own spell, then slips to the side, hoping to force him into paying more attention towards going against her speed rather than just throwing her off with... what not even fal'Cie-given strength can face head-on. ]

[wingenvy]

[She's still faster than him, and that's something he's had to pay close attention to in a number of battles he's fought in the past- Genesis, Sephiroth, the Third Party soldiers. And if he were to compare them, only Sephiroth could probably have beaten her speed. Probably why he lost that fight, anyway.

His concerns about her speed are exactly why he's primarily focused on shifting to the offensive, his blade lashing out to follow her- because she can dodge it, because she's good enough to get around his slower, heavier movements. If he lets her attack too much, he'll just get overwhelmed by her speed.]

[thestormishere]

[ She can dodge it, but of course is very aware of just how dangerous it could be if she lets her attention slip in the slightest. In fact, it actually ends up vaguely annoying her, and as she ducks aside yet again, she shoves her gunblade in the way so that almost the entire edge of the weapon slides along his as he sweeps it toward her. She uses it as leverage to jump back out of immediate range, going right into an effortless backflip-- and then fires off a Ruin spell directly at the man. Magic, yes, but it's more like a non-elemental explosion and a physical attack than anything else.

STILL SUCH A CHEAT, but... he's the one with Protect! And Enthunder, though that one probably shouldn't be lasting much longer... ]

[wingenvy]

[The explosion sends him barreling backwards, and he braces himself for the pain for a moment before realizing that- hey, there still is no pain. He felt the impact and the tremor of the explosion, but whatever impact it would've made on him, physically, seems to have been nulled. He hadn't had much experience with the Barrier spells, and the Shield materia was little more than a rumour to him, so this is awesome. Not that he hasn't mentioned that enough times already.]

Whoa, nice attack! I bet I'd be feeling that in the morning if I didn't have Bar- er, Protect.

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning shifts, letting her hand drop, resetting her feet, and swinging her gunblade down to her side-- surreptitiously changing roles again, though Zack probably wouldn't notice the brief glow around her or... what it means. Probably. ]

May be. My magic's definitely weaker than it probably should be, but... [ Ah, who cares. She shakes her head slightly, flipping the fringe of hair that's grown a little too long out of her face. Her adrenaline's still running high, and she's loathe to hold still, so she lifts her gunblade again, setting her other hand on its 'back.' ] If only I knew Shell, too.

[wingenvy]

Shell... that's what, magic guard? [He's taking a wild guess, since the world means almost nothing to him, and takes the initiative with another charging attack. He's not sure what she just did, but since they don't know how long the spell is going to last, he's not about to just sit around.]

[thestormishere]

[ Ffffkgjsd she's definitely still outmatched here, especially since even though she reacts at once, suddenly she's not quite as agile with her blade as she was a few seconds earlier. However, rather than just the screech of metal this time as her weapon smacks into his, it's a burst of fire that marks the impact-- a bit sloppy, though, due to her having to do it a little quicker than she'd counted on. She hisses between her teeth, voice strained. ]

You got it.

[wingenvy]

Maybe I'll have to fill in the gap by tracking down that materia. It's good to balance out the skills, right?

[He does back off a bit, though, seeing her reaction - and the flames. With no magic barrier, he definitely feels that one.]

Whoa, that's hot, hot! How many spells do you know?

[thestormishere]

[ Her brows kind of come together at that, but he's a tough guy, right? Not too worried about burning him over here. She sidesteps carefully, looking to the edge of her gunblade, but of course it's not like she's done anything to it, either- as fragile as it might look, it's designed for and has been through a whole lot worse on a regular basis. ]

Mm. [ Uh... how many spells does she know? Asking her to math while she's got a gunblade in hand... seriously. ] Twenty? A couple dozen, maybe. Depends on how you count them.

... Hope knows a lot more.

[ And that's all he's getting before she tries to hit again, this time with Aquastrike - just like the Enwater spell she used on him earlier, though much shorter-termed. Might as well use up those last few seconds of the defensive spell on him, which she won't waste switching back out of using magic. ]

[wingenvy]

That's a damn good roster. [He meets her blade with his own, taking the brunt of the attack, but at the tail end of it the defensive spell fades away, and he's sent rolling backwards to land rather gracelessly on his ass.

...Welp. It was good while it lasted?] Okay, I definitely felt that one.

[thestormishere]

[ ... Oops? She raises her eyebrows as she steps over, switching her gunblade over to her left hand and then brushing the right off on her skirt before holding it out, looking the slightest bit amused. ]

You gonna be okay?

[wingenvy]

[Zack gives his forehead a rub, head shaking, then grasps her hand to let her help him up.]

Looks like it! You got me good, though. So what do you think, did your spell live up to your expectations?

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning sobers again as she straightens up - her feelings towards this magic? Pretty inconsistent, to say the least! While she can definitely be glad for it in some ways and usually has no problem with practicing it to become stronger, it can be questions like that that kind of set off some more unpleasant thoughts instead.

In any case, she did ask for this, so no use randomly pulling it all down. She sighs. ]

About as pleased as it's possible to be, I guess. Probably won't save anyone 'normal' from taking a hit that would completely smear them going without, but... [ A nod, and her voice dips quieter. ] I'll take what I can get.

[wingenvy]

Yeah, any improvement on someone's defense is always a plus in battle. With the kind of enemies we get around here, we should take what we can get. [He grabs his sword and swings it around to reattach it to the clip at his back, resting his hands on his hips.] You okay? You're not too tired or anything, are you?

[thestormishere]

[ She follows suit a moment later, flipping her weapon over in-hand so that it folds back into its vaguely gun-shaped form, then hitting it back into the holster hanging behind her. ]

It'd take a lot more than that to really tire me out. [ Said plainly rather than boastfully- it's the truth, after all! Uh, but, she tilts her head back a bit, raising her hand to push back her hair again. ] ...I think I've had enough, though. It's too hot to be playing around with magic all day.

[wingenvy]

No argument here. [He nods - not questioning the "tired" issue, since he's pretty much the same - and stretches his hands up over his head. Feels good to move naturally again, without that weird feeling of a spell on him.]

You want to grab something to eat before we head back, or just go home?