☈ strike # 23 (accidental video / action)

[thestormishere]

[ You'd think that a woman who goes by 'Lightning' would have an affinity for thunderstorms. However, in truth... considering she grew up in the all but completely climate-controlled environment of Cocoon, her experiences with storms in general have actually been relatively rare, and... well, while she doesn't fear them by any means, she's certainly found they tend to bring more trouble than anything else- and not just because of the bothersome amphibious monsters that like to frolic in their wake.

This afternoon's no different. More importantly, water - and cold, the rumble of thunder overhead and wind gusting over her, mussing her hair - isn't something she was expecting to wake up to. In fact, she... really wasn't expecting to wake up at all. She hadn't been asleep.

In an instant she's rolled into a crouch, backing up against the nearest wall, and the soggy journal laying nearby captures the image of a woman who looks just about as good as you'd expect out of someone who just found themselves face-down in the midst of a rainy village, wearing nothing more than that ever-familiar white dress of a New Feather. Who needs dignity? ]

What...? What?

[ Oh, she seems unhappy. Especially since- even though she clearly wasn't armed a moment beforehand, when she then extends her arm... this happens, with what appears to be a sword materializing in her hand with a flurry of white feathers.

Feathers that slowly vanish with a soft light as they land on the ground, although she stays still, obviously confused yet trying not to show it.

She might be a face that's been around in town for quite a while, but it's likely that only those closest to her or close to her friends in turn will have even heard anything about how she's been missing for just over half a day now.

... Until now, at least. ]

Comments

[chirpchirp]

[Wind and storms are not good for nomadic chicken-feeted things. The traveler is having a hard time getting around today in weather it has also never experienced, but it sees someone it recognizes in the difference and lets out a weak chirp, half-running and half-being blown by the wind toward her.]

♩~

[thestormishere]

[ No, no it's not. Nor is it very good for helping the confusion levels of certain women who know in their hearts that they cannot afford to abandon their post of trying to keep crazy immortal guys from murdering reality and stuff.

Lightning's clearly disoriented, but it could be worse, given how hard she has to press down the panic that's trying to invade her mind instead... this can't be good.

The sound of the traveler - and then the sight of its weird little fluttery form providing a splash of red against the mostly neutral-colored pallet of the village caused by the rain... seems oddly familiar, if not something she immediately recognizes when she hasn't yet succeeded in sorting out what's just happened.

She pauses, watching. ]

[chirpchirp]

[Walking in this weather proves too difficult and the traveler trips, falling face first onto the ground.

Which one would think would hurt, but a gust of wind blows it up off the ground and sends it tumbling toward Lightning.]

[thestormishere]

[ And then the traveler was a fabric-y tumbleweed.

And though Lightning doesn't really think much on the matter, she bends anyway to try and catch it before it slams into the wall, rather than... simply leaving it to the mercies of the wind by stepping out of the way- she's certainly quick enough if she'd felt like it.

Grabbing hold of whatever body happens to exist inside that flappy cloak there, she attempts to stop its momentum and maybe pull it back up...? ]

[chirpchirp]

♪！

[Its body is surprisingly light but it does have a body under the cloak. Its legs dangle in the air, cloak flapping in the wind, as it is righted. Once it gets its senses back, it looks up at Lightning and chirps at her, trying to huddle close by her legs.]

[thestormishere]

[ ... This would almost be cute if Lightning had room to be amused. You know, if she wasn't out in the freezing rain with little more than a slip on and currently nursing an avalanche of confusing memories that her stubbornness and alarm seem intent on holding at a distance.

But since it's kind of hard to figure out what's going on without them, her options are narrowing down pretty quickly...

Fortunately, it's not as if she hasn't already been subject to having things stuffed into her head without permission! 8D It's just uh... uh....

She looks up blankly, staring out into the storm, and a moment later she finally just vanishes her weapon- in much the same way she summoned it, sans feathers. It's only then she straightens, her hand still laid squarely atop the traveler's head. ]

[chirpchirp]

[They need to get out of the storm. The water and the cold has robbed the traveler of its powers, so it can only chirp more and more feebly as it pushes weakly against Lightning's legs. There is a building nearby. It has seen people go into them before. Maybe it is shelter.]

[thestormishere]

[ Yeah, she knows.

Mostly because her experience the first time with the traveler was with a subtly different creature. One way or another, it doesn't take much for Lightning to sense that this is not a being that belongs out on the cold, regardless of the cloak covering it from head to not far above its toeless little feet. ]

Come on now.

[ Steadying hand still in place, she partially pushes it along as she steps forward, in search of the nearest unlocked door available. All things considered, even if you go ahead and acknowledge her superior height and the weight it would make sense for her to have, she's definitely not as affected by the gustiness here as one might expect. ]

[chirpchirp]

[Following as closely as possible, the traveler leans into the wind and trudges along. It's never experienced wet or sogginess like this before and the weather is severely slowing it down.]

♪...

[voice]

[wingenvy]

[Waking up to a mostly-empty house had been pretty damn depressing; even Zack would never lie about that. Between the empty room and Baldr whining pathetically at his door about being left alone (a longing for his owner that Zack shared, and even Daisy wasn't much help with comforting the poor pup), breakfast had been a morose affair. Thankfully he had most of the day off from the bar, so it's not like he had immediate plans or anything. He'd probably have cancelled them anyway.

It's not like he couldn't live without her. He could live without anyone, if pushed into that kind of corner. But...

....

There aren't really words for this kind of misery, so for a good portion of the morning, he forced the dogs to endure his hugs and rambling commentary, because he wasn't sure who else to talk to. He tossed a few private messages out to a select few who might miss her presence immediately, and opted to save a more public announcement for later. His heart wasn't in it yet.

He's genuinely glad for it later, once he hears her voice on the journal, though. It makes him wonder: is it her? Had her disappearance been a Malnosso prank? Or had she really been gone for such a brief amount of time?

Or maybe... she's not the same Light he'd shared his home with the night before.

Only one way to find out.]

...Hello?

[still vid on her side]

[thestormishere]

[ Consider her crazy, but an entire population numbering in the tens of millions wanting her dead, then finding herself having to weather Gran Pulse's untouched-by-humans-in-centuries wilderness, then getting thrown to Valhalla where time doesn't really exist and complete chaotic weirdness is par for the course... all of that has left Lightning far too suspicious in nature to do anything at first but wonder exactly where that voice is coming from.

... However, though she shouldn't have reason to believe so quickly that that's the source, somehow when she catches sight of the book nearby, laying open for the full abuse of the rain doing its best to stick the pages together permanently, she's pretty sure she's figured that little mystery out, without having to consider it very hard. ]

This isn't the first time.

[ -- That's she's woken up in the rain, wearing a white dress, with a journal laying nearby to record. Even the total disorientation isn't all that novel, really.

Not that whatever she's supposed to be getting at is very clear without context, of course. Whoops. ]

[video]

[wingenvy]

[There's a pause, as he lets that sink in. And it's not really a "hello", but it's not a "who are you", either. He's not sure how he's supposed to feel about that, but it's not the heartbreak he expected when he sent the first message.

Okay. Okay. He can do this. Just... one step at a time.]

You remember?

[How much?]

[video]

[thestormishere]

You could say that.

[ She sounds pretty irritated. Ever since she'd been dragged to Valhalla, she's gotten used to things happening in chaotic order, things that have already happened happening again... but it doesn't make sense to her that she has an entire pile of memories shoved right in the middle of escaping Cocoon and starting to explore Gran Pulse- when time was still all working straight and untwisted and everything.

But, there's a crease now in her rain-dampened brow that doesn't have anything to do with this what is this I'm dumped in a weird place surprise, too. Mostly because uh... her answer wasn't referring to remembering Luceti, really, and it's not until just now that she finally tries to sort out everything...

... She shakes her head, bringing a hand up to it while she looks up towards the rest of the village- as if looking for something, trying to jog her memory into working properly.

Give her juuuust a sec? ]

[video]

[wingenvy]

[Uh...

Okay, he doesn't even know what to think about that. Her expression is hard to read as ever, but he has experience now, more than most of the people in Luceti (if not all of them, with Hope gone again), and her confusion is showing through pretty clearly right now.

Her brain's working overtime, and he can't blame her- there's no way of knowing how long she's been gone. It's- it's kind of terrifying, he can't lie about that. But he waits, worried, hopeful, torn between a dozen emotions.]

[thestormishere]

[ It feels like a dream-- was Valhalla a dream... her promise to protect the goddess a figment of her imagination?

But no, the weapon in her hand is proof enough of that particular little reality... and anyway, even if it's flanshit crazy enough to be totally made up, even if Lightning's not always the epitome of one with a full grip on sanity, her imagination's never been particularly wild.

Which rules out Luceti being totally made up too, even as the memory about what this place is, how it works separately than the worlds it somehow drags people in from, filters back to her.

And the more she sorts things out, the angrier she gets. When she'd been in Luceti before, she'd been determined not to forget what had happened here- she'd held fast to the belief that just maybe she could use what she learned to do something once she found her way back to Gran Pulse and Cocoon hanging above it...

But until just now, she hadn't had access to any of it, didn't spend any time missing the friends she'd made here, remained unaware of the time she not just turned Cie'th, but weathered the full psychological effects and then died in that state, brought back a week later with her mind in pieces.... ]

Zack...

[ Her voice breaks, frustrated and torn. Abruptly she drops down to gather up the soggy journal with shaking hands, setting down her odd weapon to the side.

Once again, Luceti's totally screwed her over in a way she couldn't have even imagined... and that hurts. Really hurts. ]

[wingenvy]

[Hearing his name is like a breath of air- breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. He swallows hard, trembling, and keeps his eyes away from the journal while he composes himself. It's an unexpected gift.

He honestly figured she'd have forgotten everything.

Finally he retrieves the journal, offering up what he hopes is a steady smile. It probably isn't, but he does give it his best shot.]

...Hey, Light. I'm guessing it's been a while.

[thestormishere]

... More or less.

[ The admission's slow, softly-said... but not at all dishonest even if taken literally. Strictly timeline-wise, it's only been maybe a few weeks at most. From the POV of Lightning's experience, however, it's been ... longer. In truth, she wouldn't have been able to tell exactly how much time has passed for her even if FFXIII's time-skip was fleshed out and she had a stopwatch to have measured it.

Though for the record, she doesn't really look any older... and in fact her hair is shortened up again to how it was waaay back when she first arrived in Luceti. ]

[Action] Because they need to talk more.

[risingshepard]

[...Well, this is certainly a distraction from her routine.

She would've gone past her without another sound if she hadn't recognized her face, if a bit vaguely. The events at the end of August were a bit of a blur; things got really hectic, to say the least of it. Top all that off with a helping of the farm getting attacked, and she isn't really sure of what happened after she got that pink-haired woman out of that mess. Suffice to say, Shepard was confused as to why she was in a new feather garb.

...So she'll peek over from under the umbrella she'd gotten. Basic questions first.] You okay?

[Action]

[thestormishere]

[ Feel certain in the fact that Lightning's just as confused about the New Feather dress as Shepard is. Her hand lays on her chest, pressed to where the top hem ends below skin that hardly seems any darker than the fabric, wet and pressed close- lighted only by what manages to make it through the storm clouds working to pump rain out overhead.

It should be enough to say that she has a very odd look on her face when she catches sight of the other woman with her umbrella... and simply stares at her when spoken to as if the words were in a language she has no chance of understanding.

Plus, you know, the last time they ran into each other with Lightning's back to a wall, she hadn't exactly had the ability to produce gunblades from thin air. Hanging at her side, the weapon she holds now is different than the one she'd had stolen from her by disgruntled, misplaced Cocoon residents... ]

[Action]

[risingshepard]

[Feels like she's meeting this person all over again. Weird how that works, especially when she'd actually helped her out only a couple of weeks back.

...She does notice that small detail while waiting for an answer, though. Okay...when did she get that, and what happened to the one she clearly remembered throwing back to her during that mess? She's not sure, nor is she truly certain of the details. God, she hates being in the dark about things that happen behind her back.

The commander eventually raises a brow when she notices the listless look she's getting. What, did she not hear her?] You're not hurt or anything, are you? No odd throbs...?

[As she speaks up again, she looks the other woman over for any wounds or bruises. If she wasn't hurt on the outside, internal injuries might be likely...]

[Action]

[thestormishere]

[ Might as well be a totally different person, yeah. It doesn't help that the mood of the encounter is totally dissimilar to the previous; even without getting her entire life suddenly upgraded to a newer version, Lightning's demeanor when under duress is obviously going to be pretty different when her life isn't at immediate risk.

And weirdly enough, she herself is currently considering this too.

... This is Luceti. And this red-haired woman... well. If Lightning had caught her name, she must have been too upset at the time to recall it now, looking back on her memories in a way both resembling and unlike flipping back through a book to reread previous chapters. ]

I'm fine.

[ Really. You know, aside from the rain and all of that. Sort of. ]

ollies in late

[handmotions]

[Noel had been somewhat concerned for Lightning since she disappeared. Luckily, she turned up soon despite looking rather unhappy. The sudden storm of feathers made Noel think that maybe Lightning did go back home.

He should really be helping her out. His good intentions certainly weren't enough to aid Lightning right now. Having good thoughts was just the first step. What he really needed to do was to go and approach Lightning. He went up to her and felt because upset that she'd been put through a difficult situation. ]

Lightning?

[thestormishere]

[ ... Having fun wandering around in the middle of a thunderstorm, Noel? Or well, they probably don't have nice little rainy bouts in 700 AF, so... figures.

Despite the uncertainty trying its best to strangle any usefulness out of her mind at the moment, when Lightning spots Noel-- ]

Noel Kreiss.

[ She's not in her armor or uniform or even anything that would demand more respect, but you wouldn't know it for all the steady demeanor she exudes as she turns toward him. Even a dripping white dress has a hard time lowering her sense of style confidence when it's prompted out of her.

It hasn't been long since she last saw Noel- if there's much sense to be made from her point of reckoning, but...

There's always the possibility of tricks here, Lightning knows that, but after a moment of staring she seems to decide against it. She doesn't need to see the kid's nonexistent driver's license to know he's who he appears to be-- somehow she just knows. ]

[handmotions]

[Nope, it's totally wet and he isn't making him happy. Though he doesn't seem to mind it all that much yet.

Armor or not, Noel has to respect Lightning. She is a goddess after all. ]

You look wet. [He says so while pointing at Lightning.]

We should head inside so you can dry off. [Fixing Lightning up is priority right now. Talking can wait.]

[thestormishere]

[ ....

Noel, when did you go and decide it's okay to talk to Lightning like that? And, you know, behave as if you know what's going on more than she does...??

Her brows settle in low over her eyes, chin dipping, and on the inside she's... kind of quite baffled at this. Newly recolored wings twitch to a beat that apparently only the subconscious of the one wearing them can hear, and her weight is shifted as she
continues staring at the young man...

Mostly because of this particular audience, her acceptance of this whole thing comes a lot easier than it might have otherwise, though-- or rather, she plays the part of acting like she's okay with it, as her mind remains working over-time to sort things out.

Without a word, she turns and starts walking. One way or another, she knows this place, and apparently she knows where she's going.

This is his cue to follow if he likes, ok. ]