thestormishere | ☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

ARIES
- You'll get 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' stuck in your head for the next week.
- You will find a turtle in your laundry.
- Just go sleep on the couch tonight. You don't want to know why.
- Hide it, no one saw!

[ Like everyone else, Lightning wasn't really sure what to think about the odd message that showed up at the front of her journal recently, but it's fairly late in the evening before she makes an appearance on there too-- publicly, without even any filters in place to exclude certain people! An unusual decision perhaps, but... here she is anyway, looking as mildly annoyed as ever as she brushes hair from her face and frowns deeply. Her words are clipped and serious. ]

A few things.

Anyone care to explain the reasoning - if any - of this experiment? [ A beat. ] Actually, I'd just like to know if there's a pattern between the words listed at the top and the sort of guidelines everyone's getting beneath them. Is there anyone looking into this?

[ No, she doesn't understand the concept of a zodiac or the point of astrological horoscopes, shut up. Something like that is a little difficult when nobody else from your world has seen stars or even the real sun in five centuries, you know!

But in any case. ]

Second, does anyone have information on something that's called... [ Another slight pause, this one perhaps a bit embarrassed? Naaaah. ] 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'?

... Third, this creature...

[ And here is where she leans aside slightly, rustling in what's apparently an 'off-screen' cardboard box a moment before she lifts this handsome beastie up- just long enough for the journal to capture the slow, cautious paddle of its legs in the air, as well as the pink-haired woman's dubious expression as she stares at it.

Then-- nothing, save for a soft sigh. Even though something's obviously eating at her about this, apparently that's all she can think of to say on the matter before giving up and just setting her journal aside to wait for any responses.

Also, to continue moping on the couch, with roughly half a dozen blankets around her. ]

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[ And yet she likes dogs with all their energy, too. ~~I mean she did date Zack~~ ANYWAY

Aerith hums quietly. ] Nope. They must have decided I've got enough fortune tellings waiting to be filled.

[...Okay this is like holding on to a bag of snakes while trying to ice a cake. He can't get his hand under the cushion or the blankets with her shoving him like that...]

I'm just checking! It could've fallen! Hold still already!

[ Hey, Aerith, hey. You let that doggie go. :|

Not that Lightning can complain too much - aside from the inherent mild awkwardness in developing an interest in your buddy's exes. But aaaaanyway. ]

Hm. That's odd.

[ Dare she even ask what she means by 'enough fortune tellings?' Prob'ly not. ]

Yes, but... the sheer... c-calculatedness of some of the... e-experimental procedures... it, it simply makes one... wonder.

[Or makes him wonder, at least.]

Stop it!! What is wrong with you?!

[ Okay, he is seriously freaking her out now. D: She bats his hands away as best she can, then plants both of hers on his shoulders and shoves as hard as she can from the current angle.

Except. Uh. L'Cie.

Long story short, hoooopefully the couch survives being toppled over backward with Lightning and possibly Zack along with it? ]

[ the inherent mild awkwardness of your buddy living with her ex and you living with both of them, too. ]

Not really. I think that weird life-change was the unusual one. Seems like it got everyone. But usually, aren't there some people left alone?

[kjsdhfkjhfkds DAMNED L'CIE

Then again he'd probably have done the same thing himself. He is indeed dragged along, landing against the back of the couch with a grunt and a heavy thump. And possibly with her sprawled on top of him. They are a mess of limbs!

There is one bonus to that little disaster- the couch falling back managed to knock aside a few of the blankets, and Zack glances over with a wince to see...]

...Oh, there it is.

[His missing journal has definitely seen better days after a messy drop like that, but...]

Like I said, they're trying to stir us up. If it's targeted, then it's more effective.

I guess.

[ --way behind and he was willin' to make a deal, when he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot, and the devil jumped upon a hickory-- ]

Who knows how they even decide that kind of thing, or-- ... I wonder if maybe some people just aren't affected by certain things. Like... the incompatibilities when we're sent off to fight.

[ Lightning lets out a squawk of surprise as they go over, flailing, because while usually she's pretty good at maintaining her dignity when tipped or thrown or knocked down or whatever, it seems struggling with her boyfriend while half-tangled in blankets makes that a touch harder... and it's not even as fun as it sounds! Not cool.

She pushes herself up, gives him a weird look... and then cycles right back to furious. It takes her a moment or two to get any words out, even after she's opened her mouth to do so. ]

What the hell, Zack?

... That is... of c-course valid.

[His concern is more the how than the why...]

... Interesting to n-note how much... information they have access to, sometimes...

Hey, you're the one who wouldn't even help! I just wanted to find my journal, you could've moved.

[He just. Asked in his own special way...]

Sorry, though. Falling over wasn't really the plan.

Why didn't you just ask me to move, then?

[ Emphasizing words is still a thing, yes, because she certainly didn't get the memo here. She rolls into a crouch on the floor, fighting her way out of the blankets and away from Zack, and-- tugs down the bottom of her shirt over her tiny little girly boxers.

Uh, red in face = definitely all from anger! She turns to eye his journal with a dark frown. ]

....I thought you'd like the surprise?

[As far as excuses go, that one is pretty pathetic.

...but it's supposed to be, okay. It makes him endearing or something. Yes. Just pet the puppy, okay.]

[ Lightning frowns so, so much at that, but then at last reaches for his journal to pick up and give back to him.

-- In the form of hitting him right in the chest with the thing. Smack!!

UNACCEPTABLE EXCUSE. ]

Get up.

[ Sounding more tired than angry by now though, fortunately. It's definitely time for b-- er, couch, as soon as it's uprighted and hopefully found to be mostly intact. ]

[Why does he feel like he's being sent to the doghouse? Though she could've hit him with something harder - like her fist - so there's that.

It doesn't prevent him from pouting a little, though.]

You're kicking me out?

[ She bends around to hook fingers under the back of the couch, fully intending to lift it back up whether he moves out of the way or not. Her response is dry and... not all that thought out- ]

What? Were you planning on sleeping on the couch too?

[ ... Question is, is he going to think ahead about his own answer? ]

[Zack does move! Reluctantly. He reaches down to help her lift the couch, too. See, he's behaving now.]

What, do you want me to?

[Okay so he didn't really think about it, but it was so very easy.]

I guess.

[ Sounds like, in a way, she's pretty much already given up trying to worm out an answer to the deal behind that, unless more evidence for one thing or another appears somehow. She really doesn't need one more ultimmately-useless thing to go worrying about when there's already so much, after all. ]

[ She really doesn't need the help but whatev...

...... ]

[ She smooths her hands over the top of the couch, stalling, then gives him a flat look. No no, she's still mad at you, you grabby jerk. ]

I punch in my sleep.

You punch when you're awake, too. [See how unruffled he is by this threat.]

[ -- True. But. Clearly her sleep-self fights even dirtier than she does awake, ok.

She rolls her eyes, circling around to try and sort out her goddamn blankets into a semblance of order again.

... Oh look, her own journal is here too! Except... that... is totally going right back into the depths of blanket and cushions. ]

Edited 2011-12-19 04:13 (UTC)

[Unfortunately for Lightning, Robert has made something of a career of worrying about things she'd probably find ultimately-useless. Especially in Luceti, where there's so little information to begin with, and every single bit of it is precious to him when he's trying desperately to piece together an explanation for the place.]

...

D-Do you not... ever wonder...?

OH MY GOD SHUT UP YOU TALK TOO DAMN MUCH

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☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

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