contempsi | 006 || {Video}

006 || {Video}

[There's only one wall and some of the adjacent one completed so far, but Hope's up bright and early this morning, eagerly dragging his brush across the surface before him and illuminating it in a nice calming shade of blue. Apparently he's been mostly good about avoiding unwanted guests around the paint in here, as there's only a few paw-prints scattered on the floor around him!

Well, that track record's about to be broken, because suddenly the door will be flying open. The clatter of a paintbrush dropped in shock and a little squeal of surprise is all the boy manages before two pairs of hands are grabbing him by the arms and shoulders.]

What are you doing!? Get off me! Let me go!

Lightniiiing!

[His thrashing manages to knock over the can of paint nearby, spilling it over the floorboards. Some of it splashes over his journal and obscures most of the camera, but the sounds of yelping and struggling can still be heard as they gradually fade off into the distance.]

( ooc: House Lucky is really... unlucky right now. :|a And with that, I'll be on hiatus for the next week or so! I'll still be working on any threads I have going on or planned from before today to the best of my ability though. ♥ )

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...!

[Someone is being attacked! He looks like a civilian.]

Respond immediately with your current location.

[ But the person who answers a little while later isn't the teenager in the video, but a pink-haired woman that the journal doesn't even belong to, sporting a rather tense expression and tone. ]

It's too late.

[ And shortly after, even the original entry is locked up as carefully as she knows how to, on account of... definitely being something that she has zero interest in letting anyone else see. ]

[Unfazed by the sight of a woman. There are competent kunoichi, where he comes from.

Suspicious ninja is suspicious.] Are you his assailant?

[ ... Is he for real? Lightning gives a short, absolutely humorless laugh. ]

No.

[Not convinced.] He was screaming.

[Psst, Lightning. Social retard alert.]

Droids.

[ And she's in a downright hideous mood. She knows he was screaming. Screaming her name and there's nothing she could do to help him because she wasn't there. ]

......

[He felt foolish now. He pressed his lips together, unsure of how to apologize.]

He was captured.

You got it.

[ It's all the same to her... so no, she's not looking for an apology. In fact, that's probably the last he's getting out of her- directly afterward, she just closes the journal. ]

[ ....

She wasn't even in the house this time. Didn't check her journal until she'd come back from running, found the door not only unlocked but open... and only then knew something was horribly wrong.

The fact that Baldr is clearly locked in her room and practically screaming is a pretty big clue, too.

Yet the first order of business is set: she finds Hope's journal and immediately goes through and filters away as best she can what was recorded, before anyone else who hasn't seen it yet gets the chance. After that she starts to try cleaning up, uprighting the paint can and scooping up what can be saved...

That doesn't last long. However, neither does the furious pacing of the entire house, before she finally lets her puppy out and, a few minutes later, ends up on the couch with him halfway in her lap, trying to push down about nine tons of anger and frustration.

Not that it's really working as well as it should. ]

[Zack comes home early today, not long after she sits down with the dog, and... whoa, talk about messy household. As he enters, he's already got a bad feeling- with Aerith taken last week, this is an all-too familiar scene. And that makes him pick up the pace.]

Light!? Hope!? Are you guys-

[And he cuts off, heading into the room and spotting her there. ...Oh.]

[ It's Baldr who looks up first-- and Daisy too, who's laying on the floor a short distance away, posture clearly speaking of self-disapproval despite the beast's generally stoic demeanor. The woman's glance is brief, shot over her shoulder for just a second before she goes right back to a posture that bears a suspicious resemblance to hanging her head.

Yeah, with the house half torn apart and her looking distinctly defeated for once, holding onto her dog that's both never allowed on the couch and far too big by now to even be trying to fit on her lap anyway, it really isn't necessary for her to point it out, but... ]

They took Hope, too.

[ Ouch, Malnosso. Seriously. ]

[Ouch, indeed. Zack pauses for a moment, then heads over there, giving Daisy's head a ruffle as he passes by and sitting down on the couch beside Light, giving her dog the same attention.]

Guess it'll be a pretty empty house for a while.

[And that's just a miserable concept right now. Damn...]

Tch. No, really?

[ Yeah, Zack is hardly the one she should be being snippy with, but... she doesn't really have any sort of outlet otherwise. Her hands keep curling in the dogs fur before she forces herself to release, over and over and over... ]

[If he's bothered by her tone, he doesn't show it. What he does show is concern, noticing what she's doing with her hands there. Reaching out, he rests one of his on the closest of hers, his voice quiet.] ...Light.

[ She freezes at that, shoulders tightening, jaw clenched. Frankly, her entire body might as well be made out of steel wire right now, for all the lack of yield and amount of rigidity she's showing- that's how tense she is. It's a wonder she doesn't flinch away entirely at the touch... or worse, really. ]

... What, Zack?

[He was half-expecting her to try and break his hand or something, so all things considered, he got off pretty easily. He doesn't let go, though, his expression serious.]

We should get out of the house. Go vent on some poor tree. Break something. Sitting here isn't going to make anyone feel better about this.

[Not that breaking stuff will necessarily make anyone feel better, but if she holds the dog's fur any tighter things might start ripping out. Poor Baldr.]

[ Lightning's mood is fluctuating so much right now that it probably wouldn't be surprising if the same thing that causes her to lash out and break a face one moment causes absolutely nothing the next. However... the fact that he's actually being serious does get to her. She scowls but listens, relaxing just barely with a sigh as she stares down hard at his hand.

....

And swallows. Um. ]

Fine. [ And finally she pulls away from the grip, pressing fingertips to the bridge of her nose and one of the rather impressive dark circles beneath her eyes beside it. In a minute, she'll get to nudging the dog off and going to lock him up despite any protests, and grabbing a bag for going out even if she, for some reason, doesn't bother gathering her gunblade as well.

Zack had better be ready to go quick too, because she isn't going to be waiting up. ]

[He's not wasting any time. Since she doesn't have her gunblade with her, he doesn't bother with his sword either, simply following her out the door, letting Daisy outside to watch the house as he goes. She's in quite the mood already, so he doesn't bother her with pointless chatter unless she gives some sort of indication that it's invited, or she shows indecision; he'll just let her lead for the moment, watching with concern.

Damn kidnappings... always messing with people.]

[ Lightning's not one to clam up for the sake of sulking while walking- at least not visibly. She keeps her head up and arms at her sides, very obviously on a mission here, and veeery likely running the 'you do not want to get in my way right now' vibe to several times stronger than even her usual.

As for where she even thinks she's going: no, she's not just wandering aimlessly, which should become obvious fairly soon- maybe even before her direction through the village solidifies. Certainly she's given enough hints towards just how enticing she finds the beach by now? Clear choice for something that throws her off so much.

And the good thing is: even if there's already someone there, there's also miles and miles and miles of more beach anyway- just pick of direction... ]

[And he's just... following along. Her goal kind of surprises him, though in retrospect, not terribly. If he was looking to relax - and actually, he is, just probably not in such desperate need as she - the beach would be a good place to start. Better than getting piss-drunk, anyway.

Still, long silences doesn't suit him, so after a little while of following her, he picks up the pace to walk beside her instead, hands in his pockets.]

How'd you meet him, anyway? If I'm allowed to be nosy.

[Maybe it sucks to be reminded, and maybe she doesn't want to talk- but he finds it more cathartic to just talk things out. If she doesn't like it she can just punch him or stay quiet, whatever. He just... needs to talk to dodge his thoughts most times.]

[ ... That is not a happy story, Zack. Lightning makes a sound in her throat, frowning and glancing over at him but not answering at first, as immediately mired in thought as she is. Of course, it's something that she's gone over in her head a million times already, but figuring out how far to back up, where to even start, takes puzzling out. ]

He and his mom were in Bodhum, when the government started the Purge- not living there, just on vacation. [ Her voice is low and quiet, angry and an odd mixture of tense and subdued when she finally answers. She stops suddenly, crossing her arms. ] But they were rounded up anyway- just because they found a Pulse fal'Cie, the Sanctum decided to get rid of everyone nearby.

Official story was that they were just going to relocate everyone to Pulse, but... [ Yeah, no. It was a bloodbath. She tilts her head to the side, approximating a shrug. Even if you seemed pretty indifferent at the time like Lightning had? It's still not something one really likes to talk about... which is actually why she's saying so much now- she's not really sure how much Zack's even been able to piece together. ] My sister's fiance started a rebellion, to try and save them - to try and save Serah. And... Hope's mom volunteered.

[ Yeah, the implications are probably obvious. ]

[Wow, yeah, that story... sucks. Understatement. Shinra's done some horrible things over the years - human experimentation, worldwide pollution, and war are most prominent - but they've never gone so far as to try exterminate an entire town. ~~not that he knows they dropped a plate on the slums, hurr hurr~~]

...That's messed up.

[He wishes he had a better response to that, but... well. He'd had a feeling that Lightning and Hope hadn't had the best experience before coming to Luceti, but it's not a fun tale to hear.]

[ You think so? It's apparent that Lightning's resentment over this is... powerful. To say the least. She folds her arms up tighter, until her shoulders raise slightly, and her jaw is clenched as she averts her eyes. ]

The people of Cocoon are peaceful - the regular military just fights monsters and keeps the peace, not hurt other people. Not unless it's completely necessary.

[ In other words, no people fighting other people in any sort of organized fashion. The concept of 'war' is completely foreign, save as just stories about something that happened many centuries before anyone currently alive was even born- even Lightning had been pretty surprised, hearing about the sort of stuff people here have gone through... ]

But we were all raised in absolute fear. The idea of anything Pulse-related 'infecting' Cocoon... it's more than enough to make people completely panic. To everyone else outside of it, the Purge seemed necessary.

That's... because of what happens to l'Cie who don't finish their Focus, right?

[It's hard to be delicate about this sort of thing, but he wants to be sure that he's got his facts straight. It's hard to remember stuff from a completely different world than your own.

Still... it stings to say it, knowing what she's already gone through. Just thinking about it makes him angry.]

[ Well, he's not far off the mark, so he's definitely doing a lot better than most would- it's terrifically complicated in a pretty bad way... and again, it's not like Lightning's very inclined to throw the details out unless pressed on it.

As unpleasant as it is though, it's probably better if they're completely on the level; as weird as it seems, she does feel compelled to tell the truth- maybe because as necessary as some things are, she knows that a lot of what she's done isn't 'good.' No matter how much most of it isn't her or any of the other l'Cie's fault, it still feels cheap to her, that she and Hope live with these two other people who are almost stubbornly friendly, and they're carrying around this darkness that could tear apart their own world-- in her case, actively practicing it, even... ]

In a way. [ She shows a brief, bitter smile, averting her eyes, and though she keeps her other hand holding onto it, she raises her right arm, pressing fingers to where the l'Cie mark is burned onto her chest. ] Our Focus... was to destroy Cocoon. It's that that they're afraid of.

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