asgardeventide | [ video / action for library, arena ] ⚡ [ night 72 ]

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[ video / action for library, arena ] ⚡ [ night 72 ]

[ Live from Asgard's 'Great Library' this evening, a set of bookshelves taking up the majority of the background behind her, is a familiar, serious-looking face-- albeit one that's been lying pretty low outside her job at the hospital for the last little while. Despite the rather close set of the 'camera,' it's fairly obvious where she is... although for some reason she appears to be standing rather than sitting, and keeps glancing off and down at something she must be following some kind of directions off of.

Actually, she... seems to be wrapping her hands, using a long, dark red something, her slim fingers flashing into frame occasionally as she calmly addresses her bracelet- ]

How many of you are familiar with sparring, without the use of weapons?

[ ... Was it mentioned she was in the library during this? Yes? Well, hopefully she isn't bothering anyone too much, then. Eventually, she does take her leave of the place, heading over to where she fits in better instead: the arena, where she can be found frowning and outright attacking some hapless punching bag late into the night.

Perhaps someone forgot to tell her you're supposed to take it easy and primp the day before a party?? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wouldn't it make more sense to train with a weapon than without it, if you're going to be fighting with one?

You can never be certain when you might find yourself without one on hand, Vanille.

[ But, she smiles slightly for the sake of her friend anyway... even though there's something about it that makes the effect a whole lot sadder than anything like amused. As 'normal' as she's trying to appear, it's obvious there must be something up. ]

Edited 2012-04-27 21:17 (UTC)

I guess that's true... I never really had to worry about that, much.

[ Since she was always in the back and using magic, anyway.

Vanille purses her lips for a moment, watching the other woman... ] Hey... Are— um...

[ She doesn't even really know what she wants to ask her. ]

[ It's alright, Vanille- she gets it, she thinks. And since she's not really one to dance around the point in a situation like this, preferring to deal the blow and just get it over with...

Her gaze drops to the side. ]

She's gone, again.

[ And since this is Lightning, there's really only one 'she' that can probably be meant here... ]

She's— Serah? [ Vanille's own expression drops, obviously feeling for her companions.

To lose someone not just once but twice... She couldn't imagine how bad she and Snow must have felt. ]

They don't like to keep some people here very long, do they. [ Like Fang, like Serah... ]

Not really. [ And because that wasn't shittastic enough- ] And this time... Snow has followed her.

[ So she doesn't even have that big idiot around in her House any more to share in her unhappiness, as discordant as their interactions usually are otherwise.

There's a displeased beat of silence, before she looks back toward the camera; needless to say, she seems to have forgotten that she was doing something else. Come to think of it, though? ]

The two of us are the only ones who have been here since the very beginning.

Snow, too? [ She deflates even more— to think, they were almost all here, at one point. It would have been nice— Lightning and Snow getting a chance to see Serah again, having a little bit of time to themselves away from the stresses of their Focus... And with her and Fang not being a crystal pillar, and Lightning not needing miracles to survive. ]

Do you think... We'll go back, eventually..?

Yes.

[ Lightning doesn't show even the slightest hint of hesitation here. As serious and stuck as she is in this place, it would take a lot more than this whole party of shenanigans to cause a hit to her determination. The determination to fix everything no matter what it takes. ]

We have to. Our parts there remain unfinished.

You mean... [ She swallows; she hadn't spoken to anyone about what she'd learned, yet— she didn't really know what they knew, and didn't want to say it without preparing them. But Lightning... Somehow, she just has a feeling she already knows. Like she's known for a while, but never actually told any of them. ]

You mean like holding up Cocoon... don't you.

... Exactly.

[ Yeah, she definitely knows, her eyes drifting closed as she answers. Fortunately, her voice is soft here rather than edged; she knows denying it won't get her far, and she can't blame Vanille for being curious. There's no telling how long she's been dwelling on this.

That said, there's four people she can think of that possess the knowledge to pass on news of Vanille's fate to the girl herself, and she's already picturing applying a kiss of the fist to two for this... the third, a gentle shove to knock her on her fur-pelted ass.

The last isn't as up to date with time shenanigans, so he's safe aside from maybe a stern look or something. ]

And like you going back to Valhalla.

[ She'd been told a lot more than just that, too. Fur-pelted asses might need to be shoved once or twice more than originally anticipated.

Yeul had told her about all of this months ago, but... it just didn't feel right to bring any of it up. It wasn't as if she could forget that information, no matter how hard she would have tried‐ but actually confronting someone about it was a different and much more difficult matter. ]

[ Yep, and Lightning's slowly narrowing down the list of suspects- something that is now exclusively populated by those born on Pulsian soil. One has to wonder what they were thinking at the time, but... it's not as if Lightning's actually that good at that sort of stuff or whatever anyway. Plus, what's done is done; now, she just has to deal with answering for things she arguably shouldn't have kept quiet on in the first place. ]

That's right.

[ Just a little tenser now, because... well, it's not like she enjoys Valhalla. Not in the slightest bit. ]

[ Vanille would never think she did— the place sounded terrible from the account she'd heard, and considering the fact that she was now not only apart from Serah but the rest of them, too...

It was a thought she hated. ] I just can't believe after everything we did...

[ That it all ended up meaning so little... ]

[ That what? A couple of Pulsian girls went and saved the very thing they'd been tasked to destroy over half a millennium earlier? That's not exactly such a useless thing, you know; Lightning blinks slowly, her expression so, so neutral. ]

... Your sacrifice saved millions of lives.

[ She's not entirely certain what Vanille was getting at, but... just throwing that out there before it can go much farther. ]

It's not that. [ Vanille shakes her head— it's... good to hear that they could do some good, save people rather than hurt them. She owed it to them to do that much, after all of her lies had ended up dragging all of them into her mess. She'd gladly become a crystal pillar if it meant saving her newly-forged family and Cocoon.

But... ] It's not fair if you can't be happy. [ And with Serah... ]

It's not about me.

[ But that said, now Vanille's definitely making Lightning sad, too. When it comes around to her own life being ruined-- no, all she really cares about is the effect on others... and knowing that her disappearance hurt her sister, her friends... ]

[ She hates seeing it, especially since Lightning was already going through losing her sister here as it was. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned it. ] But you still... You all worked so hard— we all did. So...

[ It should have just been over. Everyone should just be able to be happy... ]

[ Lightning heaves a sigh, and looks around again slowly as her arms cross, wary of eavesdroppers. Noting she's still alone, however, her gaze then wanders up to focus on... nothing in particular, her mind solidly on other things.

This isn't where she expected the conversation to go at all, but despite how personal it is... there's a weird part of her too that's glad that, if it had to happen, it's happening now and like this, rather than a place and time not already bogged down by unhappy news; the thought of doing it in person doesn't sit well. ]

If there comes a day-- a dawn where everyone can finally be happy, where the weight of the world's fate is no longer a burden for any of us... then it will all be worth it.

Until then, I can't turn away, Vanille. I refuse to.

[ There's a long pause, a moment of silence, where Vanille simply spends her time hating the predicament everyone's found themselves in, blaming herself for it even if her involvement had solved part of the problem in the long run.

She just exhales quietly. ] I never thought you would. [ Lightning? Backing down? That's not so likely. But her question is this: ]

You do... think that'll eventually happen, though, don't you?

[ If Lightning were a better actress, a better liar, then perhaps this conversation would go a lot more smoothly. She really shouldn't pause here as if she's uncertain or has to actually think about her answer; the perfect orchestrator in sorting out this whole time and twisted reality mess would surely be quick to reassure anyone who would listen that of course it would turn out alright. Why wouldn't it?

She pauses. ]

... Yes. There's no other option.

[ Things don't always turn out perfectly, no matter how much you wish for them to. Vanille has experienced that firsthand. ]

Mm. [ Of course there wasn't. Lightning would never let it rest unless it was, after all... and Vanille couldn't really blame her. The solution they'd all been striving for wasn't one that held much as far as compromise went— they wanted to save Cocoon and save themselves, even though that was against their odds and practically impossible

It hadn't stopped them from trying. ]

[ Lightning blinks slowly, just sort of watching Vanille and letting the thoughtful air between them string out a little longer. It's not like there's much to say after that anyway, and the other woman's relative lack of input doesn't really give her much to respond to. She waits a bit longer, but then... ]

How long... have you been carrying this knowledge around?

Edited 2012-05-31 00:33 (UTC)

[ gosh light sometimes you just don't know what to say, okay... ]

A few weeks. Ever since— um... ever since Yeul came.

[ YEUL. Should have known right away, probably. In any case, is it obvious from Lightning's brief annoyed expression that she knows exactly who that is despite not growing up familiar with Pulsian history? Because it should be even before she tames it away and speaks again- ]

Paddra's reincarnated seeress... she's in your House, isn't she?

[ video / action for library, arena ] ⚡ [ night 72 ]

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