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thestormishere) wrote2012-06-27 04:33 pm
thestormishere) wrote2012-06-27 04:33 pm
☈ strike # 21 (action)
[ Lightning surprises herself with how upsetting it is to come back from the draft and see the village torn to pieces like this, not repairing itself like usual. The general destruction is bad enough, but when she gets to house #41... well, chalk up one more emotionally affected by the flood damage to the town's vegetation- the storm has not been kind to the yard-- to Aerith's flowers, which are all but washed away now. When she first sees it, it actually takes a few minutes before she's able to move past it, touching the leafless, lifeless remains of a something-or-another that she's forgotten the name of, her expression unreadable...
- And after she's assessed the damage to the building itself, worked the last couple of days just to make it livable again and helped out with the worst of the destruction throughout the village, the yard of her house right off the town's center is where she is again, walking along the perimeter of the destroyed fence there.
It's not until she's yanked and pulled at a section to try and right it again that she notices something else: beneath it is a rosebush, but despite it too missing its flowers and a good deal of leaves, half-turned over out of its placed in the ground... it's obviously still growing. Still alive. The fallen barrier must have protected it, somehow.
Without a word, she simply shoves the wrecked fence out of the way... and starts trying to upright the abused shrubbery instead.
- A little while later, she wanders back into town, a lot muddier than she usually is. She means to go somewhere else, but funnily enough, she ends up getting distracted by visiting Good Spirits instead, then the smithy, which is all but flattened to the ground. Not a very good place to be if you didn't feel like sustaining some sort of injury due to the high number of unlucky weapons that had been there.
Considering there's nothing to do there too, she's just about to move on when she suddenly pauses, her brow furrowing as she looks at the wreckage; call it yet another case of inexplicable l'Cie intuition, but something stops her. She takes another look.
... There, in the mud and half-hidden by a hunk of twisted metal, is something she's pretty sure she recognizes. With a sudden, obvious sense of urgency, she starts pulling things aside, trying to get closer. ]
- And after she's assessed the damage to the building itself, worked the last couple of days just to make it livable again and helped out with the worst of the destruction throughout the village, the yard of her house right off the town's center is where she is again, walking along the perimeter of the destroyed fence there.
It's not until she's yanked and pulled at a section to try and right it again that she notices something else: beneath it is a rosebush, but despite it too missing its flowers and a good deal of leaves, half-turned over out of its placed in the ground... it's obviously still growing. Still alive. The fallen barrier must have protected it, somehow.
Without a word, she simply shoves the wrecked fence out of the way... and starts trying to upright the abused shrubbery instead.
- A little while later, she wanders back into town, a lot muddier than she usually is. She means to go somewhere else, but funnily enough, she ends up getting distracted by visiting Good Spirits instead, then the smithy, which is all but flattened to the ground. Not a very good place to be if you didn't feel like sustaining some sort of injury due to the high number of unlucky weapons that had been there.
Considering there's nothing to do there too, she's just about to move on when she suddenly pauses, her brow furrowing as she looks at the wreckage; call it yet another case of inexplicable l'Cie intuition, but something stops her. She takes another look.
... There, in the mud and half-hidden by a hunk of twisted metal, is something she's pretty sure she recognizes. With a sudden, obvious sense of urgency, she starts pulling things aside, trying to get closer. ]
no subject
Noel smiles brightly towards Lightning. ]
I'll protect her. I promise you that.
[Then he took his left hand and clenched it into a fist. At the same time he took his right index finger and pointed it Lightning.]
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... Yeah, from what I hear everyone else hasn't been doing a very good job of that.
[ You know, like, oh, her. This is just... ouch in general, don't let her tone deceive you. Not that she should really be surprised about Snow given her past opinion of him, but to be honest finding he up and left as well had hurt a lot after what she'd been through growing a sense of trust in the man.
There's just so much she doesn't-- can't understand, from where she stands. ]
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Lightning couldn't be blamed for anything. Noel was willing to explain everything as long as Lightning wanted it. It seemed to be too much to handle at once, so he didn't mind waiting. He had all the time he needed. ]
Hey, don't look at me.
[Shrugs. What everyone else did to Lightning wasn't any of his concern, but he believed that he should at least be given a chance. ]
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[ ... She's pretty much just looking for a reason to trip him up, it's true!! In the end, she's just the kind of person who tends to make sure that the people she allows near her... are actually capable of proving their own merits in one way or another, though. Given how off-balanced Noel managed to make her when they first met, there's no doubt she's being unusually hard on him.
But honestly, it's not actually because she's concerned about his behavior in her presence; far more importantly, the right to accompany Serah, protect her as he promises, is what Lightning is frighteningly attentive to here. Words have far less worth than action, in her eyes.
After her remark, however, she turns away, shifting to crouch down properly and work on... trying to figure out how to get this silly rose bush's roots back in the ground where they belong. And then- ]
How old are you?
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[That made him feel a little awkward, to be honest. His voice had been a little quite there.
Their first encounter wasn't supposed to happen that way and he'd apologize again if he had to. Noel didn't expect to meet a different Lightning from another timeline. The one he met was in Valhalla wearing feathered armor.
The situation's different now. He'll just forget about it and try not to bring it up again. ]
Eighteen.
[Trying to make this as direct as possible. Not adding any excessive information or questioning her reasons for asking. Whining won't solve anything.]
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In any case, she's not too surprised anyway- he might be four years younger than her (and three years younger than Serah now, she thinks with a tinge of odd emotion), but she officially became an adult herself at fifteen, so it's not like she can judge too hard over that. ]
You'd been alone for a while, hadn't you?
[ -- Whoops, jumping right into getting pretty personal here, but somehow still it seems only fair considering how uneven their knowledge of each other seems. ]
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Eventually it was just him. He couldn't forgive Caius for leaving and he couldn't forgive his own helplessness. Of course, he wasn't exactly willing to share all of this with Lightning either. With what Serah had warned him of, that would only provoke her further. Furthermore, Luceti wasn't Valhalla and for whatever reason Lightning wasn't a Goddess yet. Those subjects would be irrelevant to her for the time being. The future wasn't something Lightning had to deal with just yet.]
What?
[Thinking about Yeul's death made him a little scared. The overall picture was unclear to him and he couldn't remember how she died. With that he seemed almost frustrated. Then furiously waved his hands around as if he were trying to kill a tiny fly. ]
It's....[A slight interjected pause.]
...personal.
[Normally he wouldn't have any qualms as to answering Lightning's questions. However, the displacement in his memories made him feel unsettled. He couldn't bring himself to answer.]
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better than Serah atgood at gathering up the pieces into a pretty accurate guess; his reaction pretty much just ties the bow on it.So, she's found something he's not willing to dump information all over her about. Instinctively, she's sure to mentally take note of it. Of course, she has no idea about his memory issues, so she just assumes he's being guarded for less complicated reasons...
Which is odd because- ]
Serah already told me you said you were the last human left.
[ After Cocoon falls, despite their best efforts to keep it in the sky for as long as possible. It's both difficult and all too easy to believe... ]
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More or less.
[Back then he almost gave up. A portal to Valhalla opened and he met Lightning there. She was the one who gave him hope. ]
Lightning, I'm sorry. [That he couldn't provide any useful information to her. Though if he explained his position, Lightning might be able to understand his perspective a little.]
I don't want to keep things from you. The thing is--[A firm determined look. He wanted to make this as clear as possible.]
My memories aren't cooperating with me. It's so frustrating.
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[ Oh...kay?? Lightning shifts to put her elbow on her knee, turning to tilt her head at Noel. Her expression would likely be pretty inscrutable all on its own, but the rest of her body language and tone make it pretty clear anyway that she finds that... a pretty odd claim.
There's really only way to respond, you know, as unwelcome as the simple question probably is: ]
Why?
[ At least she doesn't seem pissed though. Fortunately. ]
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Uh...[Abruptly stopping was kind of awkward. He'll admit that much. Noel tried to smooth it over with another line of thought. ] Whenever I try to reach for certain memories, they aren't there. It might be some sort of paradox inside of my head. [Then he rolled hands in circular motions. His hands could do some explaining too.]
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Because you went back in time.
[ It's a statement, not a question. Lightning has no idea what the "rules" are for how the past and future change to fit around the present in their world, but that seems pretty obvious to her even from the scant details she has. If you went back in time, even if you did nothing at all there, it would still be bound to change something- in a way that didn't exist in the timeline you were originally from. Right? So, if that rippled up into the future, changing events all the way...
... This is going to make her head hurt later, when she's trying to sleep. ]
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[This is where we head off into live trigger option zone
Lightning suggests that Noel's memory problems are caused by his time travels? What to ask her about?
A. Will Noel's memories come back if he does a dance?
B. Is it Caius fault?
C. Is it a paradox?
D. We've been sent to another world. Are the Malnosso at fault? ]
Do you think that the Malnosso could have had a hand in this? [Noel's willing to accept any speculation Lightning may have regarding this situation. ]
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[ Welp, Lightning's totally distracted from what she was doing before; there's a slight line between her brows, born from thoughtfulness and confusion, as she continues to stare at him.
But again, unlike Noel and his fancy sequel multiple conversation paths, there's still only one way this is going: another question, as she tries her best to unravel this unusual conversation. ]
Did it start before or after you were brought here?
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Before I came to this village. I traveled through the void beyond, met you in Valhalla...and then...[Noel wasn't really sure how to end this sentence. His memories were fragmented and he couldn't trust them that much.]
What happened before that? [After pausing mid way, he gave Lightning a confused stare.]
I don't know.
You don't have any trouble with your memories, do you? [Just making sure this is only his problem. There's a possibility that Lightning might have memory disorders too and he wants to double check.]
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Not that I know of.
[ -- There's a flash of a strange look on her face, though. Technically, her answer is right on the edge of a lie, saved only because her problem has little to do with what he's talking about. The effects of her lingering death penalty aren't the same- more a matter of altered instinct than... attempting to reach for a memory and being unable to find it. How does that even work?
She briefly shakes her head before continuing on, confident tone easily making itself well-known despite her less-than-easy thoughts. ]
Unless it happens here, it's pretty pointless to blame the Malnosso for anything- as far as we know it's actually the world itself that pulls us here.
[ But when it does involve Luceti...? Yeah, it's safe to say there's definitely some grudges being held onto rather stubbornly. ]