thestormishere | ☈ strike # 23 (accidental video / action)

☈ strike # 23 (accidental video / action)

[ 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. ]

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[When she pulls back, he hesitates, reluctant at first, then lowers his arms to let her go. He's not going to push for something she doesn't seem ready for. Honestly, he's surprised he got as much as she's given him already.

He's grateful he hasn't been forgotten, at least.]

Maybe... you should start at the beginning. It sounds like a lot happened for you since you went back.

[ Once released, her arms cross over her chest again, tugging close the edges of the coat over her shoulders. She could always put it on properly, of course, but her distraction proves stronger than doing what would make sense here. ]

That could... prove to be more difficult than it sounds.

[ Says she, but she's considering how to do so anyway, frowning vaguely as she looks off to the side. This is different than explaining things to Serah and Noel, and she... actually had the opportunity to think about what she wanted to impart, there. ]

[So formal. It's sort of like a blast from the past. Zack studies her for a long moment, brows furrowing, then he glances back at the door, gesturing.]

Hey, come on. Let's... go home. It'd be better to talk there than in a place like this.

[He's not sure if she'd be happy to head off there and stay, but... well. Her dog is there? Vanille, too. Hopefully. Familiar faces might do her some good.]

[ -- Oh. She looks surprised a moment, eyes going a little rounder. Home. They should... definitely go there and stuff, yeah. ]

Yes...

[ She frowns down and down towards her bare feet, but then finally comes around to tucking her arms into sleeves before again pulling edges close without fastening them; the coat's sort of big enough on her that it's likely that doing so would cripple the 'keeping warm' attributes of the thing anyway.

At first she's silent, although after a bit, finally: ]

... All of my things are gone?

Pretty much, yeah. [His tone is sympathetic; he knows he'd be pissed if he went home and came back only to lose all he'd managed to collect over the past year or two. Especially the items from home or things he'd grown attached to.] Baldr's still with us, though. He's been wondering where you were all day.

[His gaze drops to follow where her eyes wandered, pausing.]

Want my boots? It's still cold outside.

Ah...

[ Yeah, it's a little annoying - she thinks first of her clothing that she'd accumulated and how she probably won't have anything to change into even when they make it home. If her dog is still around though, that... that's good. In fact, a moment or two after that revelation, she seems to give a short huffing heh in reaction; maybe the only reason she was surprised was because she was afraid to hope for something even as subtly nice as that. ]

Objects can be replaced... I'm glad that Baldr is alright.

[ Oh, but taking his boots? She does consider it, but then she just shakes her head, inching toward the door. ]

Let's just get it over with.

[He's really hoping she means the walk. But hey, he'd offered, so with a shrug of his shoulders, he starts up a steady walk, either leading the way or walking at her side on the way back to the house. He'll mostly keep quiet unless she wants to start explaining things on the way; much as he'd love to ramble about this or that, she hasn't even missed anything, and he has too many questions to hold up a decent conversation without wanting to ask them. He can wait.]

[ Damn, well, this is awkward. But, at least she doesn't have to ask about whether he went and made a new girlfriend in that half day she was away--

Something that she's not sure how she feels about. It's freezing wet once they're outside again, but that hardly seems worth paying attention to now that Zack's with her, and she's sure she can sense the continued uncertain discomfort in his demeanor and gait...

It doesn't take long for her to mentally search for and then find something to say quietly, if only to break up the stifling silence; after the isolation of Valhalla, it's not something she can stand for long anyway, when given the chance. ]

Serah and Noel... they were right.

Right? About the whole... goddess thing?

[She gets a curious and somewhat confused look at that. The details he'd gotten about it were pretty vague, but he remembers that much; the story had been weird enough to stick, that's for sure.]

I'm not a goddess.

[ Just... well, clearing that up right away. Her maybe-amused tone contrasts with the relative curtness of the answer, leading to a sort of exasperated in-between air behind the declaration. ]

But... their journey through time... my disappearance- all of that is true.

[ Not happy about admitting that, especially since (if she's recalling correctly) the particular point in time they were both from meant they hadn't yet heard the full story. She might have had a lot less frustration about what they had to say then if... they'd actually had more solid details to hand out.

... Zack would probably have a better idea of what she's talking about here in the first place, too. It's kind of hard to filter things through to your boyfriend when you don't understand them yourself, after all. ]

...Did they say why? Or- do you know? Why'd you have to leave?

[He kind of figured that after you save the world you ought to stick around and have a party or something. Whatever kind of celebrating is a thing for Light. Either way, it sounds overly complicated and the worst kick in the ass post-victory since... well, since he got himself apparently murdered right after escaping Nibelheim.]

[ Welp, she's explained this once before to Serah and Noel-- although then, at least she'd been expecting to have to give answers ~~and be long winded about it~~. ]

... We saved Cocoon, but then that wasn't the end of it.

[ She keeps her gaze on the ground ahead of her, although she's obviously focused on something mental rather than visual; a serious frown tugs down the ends of her lips and brows as she considers the utter fuckin' mess that grew out of what should have been nothing more than a miracle for mankind. ]

With our Focus technically complete, we were crystallized as a result- and likely would have stayed that way for who knows how long... if it weren't for the goddess. Etro took pity on us, freed us from the mark of the l'Cie... and yet in doing so, she--
,
[ -- This is complicated, to say the least. Lightning shakes her head at herself, backing up a bit in her explanation. ]

The place where the goddess resides is Valhalla, the domain left beyond the end of time, where the souls of those who have died pass to after they've left the bounds of the timeline. When Cocoon began to fall, the Gate between the Seen and Unseen realms was opened too far, allowing the chaos in Valhalla that has no place in our world to fall through, infecting the timeline...

['Mess' is one serious understatement. Zack can't help but stare at her, remaining quiet because- well, quite frankly, he's having difficulty understanding it. Gate? Seen and Unseen? The souls of the dead? It sounds sort of like the Lifestream, but he'd never fully understood that, either.

He wants to say something, do something for her, but for now he just attempts to blink away his confusion and focus on the path ahead, taking in every word in silence. Questions can wait.]

[ There's a hint of frustration in her, but otherwise Lightning gives no indication she's talking about personally serving the goddess of death is... kind of odd. She considers how there's no doubt she'll have to explain all this again to him in more gradual detail some time, but-- it's better than just one chance and then she has to walk away again with no further explanation. Even if the idea of spending more time here is pretty alarming at the moment.

She glances over, but not quite directly at him. To kind of reiterate: ]

Etro closed the Gate to keep what shouldn't be in the realm of the living out... but the timeline was warped, regardless. [ A breath. ] My sister... is the only one who remembers me being alive, there at the base of the crystal pillar supporting Cocoon- before I was swept away to Valhalla.

What about everyone else? Did they forget, or...?

[Oh god, did they think she was dead or something? He can't decide which is worse. Being forgotten sounds... beyond awful, though. Like your whole life means nothing at all, even with everything you've accomplished.

He'd never want that.]

... Yes.

[ Unfortunately. Her lips press together, and she dips her head so that her eyes are mostly hidden for a few moments, voice still quiet but tense- to the point where it sounds like it's just on the verge of breaking when she continues. ]

Most believed... that I had either joined Fang and Vanille in holding up Cocoon... or otherwise sacrificed myself.

[ Of course, there would be those who would spend the rest of their lives believing she was still a monster, too. The government had been ... persuasive in their coverage centering on her: the one Pulse l'Cie who they would have had the most information on thanks to her military career. ]

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☈ strike # 23 (accidental video / action)

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