asgardeventide | [ 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?? ]

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Yeah.

[ .... And her expression slowly drops into a frown instead, her gaze turning away. Scratch getting a solid answer right away, because she's suddenly consumed by her thoughts instead and the knowledge that... she doesn't exactly have good news to share here. She can tell from his own reactions that he doesn't yet know. ]

[oh, he's definitely giving her a look now.]

...

We're not thinking about the same kind of weird, are we?

It doesn't really look that way.

[ This conversation is all kinds of awkward in general, and Lightning hates that... but after a beat, she still presses on- ]

When was the last time you talked to Snow?

[as soon as she says that, Hope starts to frown. uh oh.]

...About a month ago. [and even though he has a feeling about where she's going with this, he still follows up with:] Why?

He isn't here any more. Neither is Serah.

[ She doesn't insult by trying to sugarcoat or dancing around the source of her unhappiness here; relatively young he may be and whiny he might have once been, but Hope's tough enough now all the same.

To be honest, he's probably the one who gets the strongest evidence of her displeasure with this fact, with her averted gaze and pressed-together lips. ]

... Oh.

[yep, suspicions confirmed. hearing about Serah mildly surprises him, though; hadn't she just come back? he thinks for a while, watching her reaction... he feels his own expression start to fall, too.]

... At least they left together.

[it's not a particularly helpful thought for either of them, he knows, but he should at least try to be optimistic instead of killing the mood even more.]

Hmm.

[ Not giving a solid answer either way, though the sentiment is one she mostly agrees with- those two should stay together if at all possible. It's just that considering they were from different points in the timeline...

... But yeah, at least one of them isn't stuck here without the other, this time. In any case, she quickly adopts a wry tone, similar to the one she'd started off with. ]

Now if only the rest of us were back where we belonged.

That would be too easy, wouldn't it?

[he laughs a little, though it's very dry.]

[ She smiles mildly, following his example. Or so it seems, since a moment later- ]

It will turn out alright. We'll make our way through this.

[ And return home to finally- finally put things back in the right order. Reality itself sort of kind of relies on it. ]

... Right. It's not like we haven't been separated before.

True...

[ ... Yep. That's true, alright... although far from anything that happens to improve Lightning's mood when pointed out. It turns out that sometimes, being more in the know than your friends hurts. A lot. Especially when you know of a separation in someone else's future that is eventually going to cause him a whole lot more pain than he deserves, after what he's already been through. Regardless of the importance of one's other actions throughout their life, being left behind is a fate that shouldn't be wished on anyone...

She weighs her options, and decides not to apologize for something that hasn't happened yet, though. Just remains as stony-faced as ever. ]

... Light?

[he just gives her a look, a flicker of concern present for a few seconds. sometimes she just really worries him... he can never really, completely read her, but all he wants to do is help. to be there for her.]

Yes?

[ Ah, if she caught his concern she isn't showing it, looking up again with an expression clearing to blank. Or rather, maybe she just doesn't want to deal with it right now- Serah disappearing... that hurts her so much more than most people would ever get close to comprehending.

... And well, immediately she feels guilty for smoothing herself out here, too. After all this time, she's still pushing people away. Fantastic. ]

[Hope suppresses a sigh. it's not like he can say anything, though, with how he's behaved in the past. he knows he'd probably be acting the same way if, say, Lightning had been the one to have disappeared instead. but it's not something they should dwell on; they have to keep moving forward.]

We'll be okay.

I believe it, Hope.

[ And so she does... or tells herself she does. Something like that. It's not as if she can afford not to believe it, when everything still hangs in the balance like it does, counting on the wills of a depressingly small number of people. Their presence here only delays the final battle that still needs to take place, in both the seen and unseen realms. ]

...

[he asks this next question very tentatively; he doesn't want to step on toes, to overstep boundaries, but if there's any way he could possibly help...]

Do you want company?

[ Lightning blinks slowly at the feed, pausing as she absorbs the offer. She might not be the most social person, but she's also been alone way too much as of late; would it not be foolish to turn it down when she also knows that any of her remaining worldmates could be taken at any moment? ]

I'm heading to the arena shortly to do some training. You can come, if you'd like to.

[ So... that's a yes? ]

[Hope knows Lightning enough to understand that much. he gives her a quick nod of affirmation.]

I'll be there.

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

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