thestormishere | ☈ strike # 25 (video / action)

[ After quite a while with nothing of special importance happening in her Luceti life, some time of relative peace rather than any events worthy of anything like bouts of anger or mind-consuming frustration... Wednesday morning, Lightning wakes and finds herself freezing. She's not in her own bed, and even though that in itself is not so unusual...

Zack's gone, and she knows it even before she's managed to sit all the way up. His room's gone bare, a sight way, way too familiar to her by now.

She doesn't cry, even though she's dealt with this sort of thing enough times during her stay that she figures it's bound to happen eventually. In a way she always knew that one day this would happen, had it on her mind even back when the two of them were just friends. Knew that even if they managed to keep from hurting each other somehow that their time here had an astronomically better chance of getting cut off abruptly than... whatever else.

Unsurprisingly, it's just as unpleasant as she feared, and since she can hardly do anything without visiting Guilt Station, she hates the thought that he must have felt like this when she'd disappeared a few months ago too. Worse is the fact that given the circumstances, she feels certain that, like Aerith's disappearance, this can't be anything but permanent.

She needs something to do and - she can't stay in this house alone she can't - so, she starts packing. There isn't much left; she didn't 'inherit' many things from the others, and her personal stores took a hit when she lost everything- aside from Zack's own weapons, what is here now is mostly what she happened to recollect since her return. Needless to say, it doesn't distract her for long, and before afternoon has much of a chance to take hold, she's forced to make the decision between finally leaving the house or... ]

Zack Fair has gone home.

[ The woman's voice is flat, her face expressionless but unhidden for the journals, her pride refusing to allow anything else. Even so, there remains an all-too-telling pause after she's gotten that most important part out, her tongue tied by the knowledge of just what going home means for him in particular. It takes her a moment to press on towards the rest of what she intended to say, but then- ]

The leadership of Brave Vesperia is left to Sokka, Luke, and Emil... under the concession that the name remains as it is. Everything else will need to be sorted out... as well as his bar shifts.

[ ... Another brief pause, but then there's just nothing more to add without prompting; lips turning down for just a moment, she cuts the initial message off right there.

And once that's done, there's not much else to do aside from what she probably should have done before gathering up all her belongings: scoping out somewhere else to go that's not the house she shared with her friends here for so long. Accompanied by her doggy shadow, she wanders the village with apparent purpose but... without an actual goal in mind.

At least a conscious goal, that is. By the evening, she's there at Good Spirits anyway, even though technically she doesn't have a reason to go any more. She simply slips in and finds a table to frown at, eventually wondering herself why she feels a need to be in public at all, when most people in her position (especially with a personality like hers) would be hiding away.

The answer's not too hard, but it keeps her mind occupied well enough. ]

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[ another domino falls. zack has been a pillar for her -- a constant presence. or, perhaps, an inconstant one. he'd been in town when she'd first arrived. he'd been an early friend.

and then he'd forgotten her.

but they'd started over and they'd built something beautiful in those four walls. an inviting space. a social space. a space she truly believes the village needs.

firmly: ] I'll look after the shifts, Lightning. Leave it to me. I'm sure you've enough on your plate as it is.

... It's in your hands, then. Thank you.

[ It's also clear that Lightning's uncomfortable though, and/or doesn't know what else to say. The woes of talking to someone who you've only had mostly awkward encounters with! ]

No need to thank me. I'm -- I'll be honoured to make the arrangements. Wait. That's a funny way to say it. I only mean that it's kinda...cathartic. To help. Whatever way I can. Because he..

Well. You don't need me to say it.

[ She thins her lips at that, acknowledging with a hint of slight annoyance that there's really so much that could be said, with no way for her to tell exactly what Buffy might have on her mind in throwing that out....

But then she realizes that that's probably the point. There's likely plenty of people in this place that could go on and on about Zack, and yet still never even be close to being done hours later.

And there's... other matters, too. She doesn't know if Buffy is aware of what Zack's fate is, but if she was told there were others here who'd found out one way or another and she had to guess--

In the end, all she can do is simply repeat herself as her mind continues running silently, dipping her chin slightly with averted eyes. ]

Yes. Thank you.

[ there isn't actually much else to say, and so buffy moves to close the journal. her fingers linger on the book's spine -- cautious.

her throat tightens. she won't cry -- she's so beyond tears, lately. but another little chunk of her heart has shattered at this news. for she does indeed know zack's fate -- she'd known it the last time he'd left, too. ]

If you need anything else...

[ lame. ] Even if you don't need it! Even if you just want it. I -- well, you know where to find me. Me and others like you and me who've walked this supremely ache-y path before.

[ but before she can be rebuked for her presumption, she shuts the journal. ]

Ah--

[ But then Buffy's cut it off, and Lightning's forced to hold back what she might have said anyway (if anything), rethinking in the following moments of silence.

It does rub her the wrong way just a bit, even if she recognizes too that it was well-intentioned-- and that the "you don't know what it's like at all" vein of thoughts that cause most of her soreness here are childish and obvious besides. First of all, it's not like she's ever made a habit of talking about how screwed over fate's made her... and secondly, it's not any sort of secret that she's hardly alone in this fact. Lightning's known that for a loooong time.

Unhappiness isn't metered, expanding to fill whatever space it's allowed to enter, is the thought that comes to mind. Charming.

In any case, she won't be forgetting the offer; even if annoyed and more than a little conflicted, she'll still be visiting the bar later that day and likely afterward as well. ]

[ and she's there, scrubbing down dishes. and glancing at lightning with a waryish eye.

there has been so much loss, lately. and buffy's barely been able to cope with her own domino-trail of tragedy. her heart isn't quite in it when she approaches the other woman. ]

...Hi. Again. [ a few hours have passed, after all. ] Pick your poison.

[ At first Lightning wonders if she's created some sort of weird stalemate... but then Buffy does come over. She doesn't exactly mind the underlying gingery thing, though- her heart's not really in it either, after all.

She acknowledges the uselessness of playing around with indecision, so she's quick to come up with something even though she's not entirely sure she's interested in drinking anything, answering after a short hum of greeting and just a brief glance away for thought. ]

... Black forest?

...That's a big decadent. [ she says with no criticism. in lightning's position, she'd have a tub of ice cream already cracked open. ] It'll just take a moment.

[ Decadent indeed... it's pretty unusual from what could be considered her norm, but-- all she does is dip her head in acknowledgment, shuffling her hands without purpose in the second it takes to throw out a careful-sounding: ]

Thanks.

[ Maybe it's a good thing to order something she's not very used to. At least then she won't be tempted to compare it to Zack's version. ]

[ with the same ease as she might take up her scythe, the slayer lifts a cocktail shaker from a shelf. ]

Dammit -- [ she swears softly as she works. ] This is the second time I've had to watch him leave.

[ Lightning would have been happy sort of just staying quiet and observing... but then that unexpected comment makes her blink. For a moment, her lips press together as she digests the agitated words silently. ]

You were friends with him before as well.

[ It's neutral, a statement rather than a question, as she watches the other woman with an indirect gaze. ]

[ pouring the drink's parts is a little like second nature. something pleasant to keep her hands busy. ]

He was one of my first close friends, here. [ him and aerith and almost-cloud... ]

... And let me guess: losing his memories didn't deter him much from trying to catch up.

☈ strike # 25 (video / action)

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