☈ strike #12 (action)

[thestormishere]

[ With the latest experiment screeching into an abrupt-as-always end, Lightning is, unsurprisingly, furious at everything because of it. Finding herself out in the middle of town, middle of the night, completely blindsided with the realization that everything she thought for the last week was a lie... that was not in her overall game-plan. The

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[gardenerofgaia]

Hey! Be careful, there's flowers there! [Middle of the night. Woke up from a nightmare just in time to realize it was a memory, and that she forgot everything important for ten whole days. Aerith is a bit irritable with everything herself, and. well. They're flowers.

Also, not recognizing that careless drunk as her friend yet. :|a It is darker.]

1/2

[thestormishere]

[ There's a gasp and shuffle at that- geez Aerith, are you trying to give her a heart attack or what? ]

I knnow where they arrre! [ ... Kind of? On the ground somewhere... right? Stomp stomp sto-- ] -- Gah!

[thestormishere]

[ ...Oh, here they are. They'll survive a drunk woman tripping over into them with a sudden flump, right? ]

[gardenerofgaia]

Oh, hones-- [She's already walking toward the figure, but she falters for a second (SHE KNOWS THAT VOICE) before picking up the pace.]

Lightning? Light, are you sick-- [...Okay now that she's rushed closer, she knows that smell, too. And is in fact backing off from it.]

You're drunk. ... I never pegged you for a drinker. [Okay. This is a FLOWER GIRL here who is awesome enough to be a SOLDIER, but she does not have that arm strength. So she's pausing to get too close to Lightning, which is admittedly a little bit because of the smell but also because she's hoping Lightning's sober enough to get back up on her own There is going to be mucho awkwardness if Aerith has to support her.]

[thestormishere]

[ Give her a break- if misery or anger had a scent, either would definitely be drowning out the rest of it right now. She's really feeling the trampled by chocobos / run over by a train / sent crashing down through a roof vibes, here. ]

'M not. [ And well, apparently she's still able to pull herself up to all fours again at least, squeezing her eyes shut and trying very hard not to make a mess all over the flowers on top of making them break her fall like that. Actually, this flowerbed-- ] Is... thiss youurs? Ssorry about that....

[gardenerofgaia]

Ohhh, okay. You're drunk because you're not a drinker. I see. [Despite that bit of much dubiousness she IS getting down to her knees as she sees Lightning's having trouble with coordination, balance, and...everything.] Well, don't make a habit of it. But they're tough, they'll get better. Now, I'm pretty sure you should be in bed, so... up we go? [Slooowly trying to help up with hands. And not jostle the drunk. The last thing she wants is puke on the flowers or her dress because...just ew.

ewww.]

[thestormishere]

-- No! [ At that, she starts nearly shaking again in drunken fury, reminded all over again of why she's like this. Thank goodness she isn't anywhere near the violent drunk she could be, though. Punching her best galfriend would be kinda bad. ]

Eks-sper-ri-ment, Aerith! [ The whys may be hazy, but she does know this much: she would never ever do this to herself if she were... well, herself. And come on, if the whole Cie'th thing wasn't enough to drive her there...? ]

[gardenerofgaia]

Hey. I'm right by you, I can hear you perfectly fine. [It comes out slightly sharp, but then she softens her voice--she's cranky, but Lightning's obviously feeling worse. And though she is surprised it's the experiment (she didn't pick up any new habits from it), that's fades as soon as she remembers she'd stumbled on Lightning smoking and had known she'd smoked before... even though Aerith knows very well now she only saw that one occasion. She sighs, rubbing Lightning's shoulder.]

I get it, the experiment did this. What a stupid shift. Please calm down?

[thestormishere]

[ If she could, Lightning would have certainly tried to grab the ground and flip this entire damn village already; when it comes to experiments, this is without competition the worst one so far.

... But not just because she's drunk and sick right now- over the last week and a half, there were definitely a few people that she doesn't even know that she'd been talking to like it was perfectly alright to share her secrets with them, implying relationships that shouldn't be there, letting strangers into her apartment...!!

SMOKING AND DRINKING.

And well, yeah. Being in this kind of position again in front of Aerith isn't fun at all. She makes a drawn-out sound of extreme disapproval at her predicament before bracing herself into some semblance of steady enough to try and get back on her feet. Considering she's the kind of person who can do a backflip from a standstill, that's not quite as hard as it would be for many, but... still. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

[Aerith's still by her side, making tiny noises of unhappy as she sees just how badly Lightning's coordination is affected, and she places a hand at Lightning's side to help brace her.] I'm going to try something...

[...Hopefully Nala doesn't mind healing magic being used for things like this. Now the question is, does healing actually help with intoxication? It's not quite the same as a normal wound.]

[thestormishere]

Wha...? -- No! Nnoo! [ Insert mild, drunken panic. Remember the last time you tried to heal her, Aerith? Lightning does- it didn't go so well, and she's not quite sober enough to distinguish the difference at first (or remember she's no longer in danger of what happened then...). ]

[gardenerofgaia]

[No, she'd kind of forgotten that what with mildly-improved AU where you don't have two kids on the way to becoming an abomination.

Now she remembers that, and the feelings she'd experienced realizing she'd sealed Lightning's fate.]

That wasn't...! [She quickly stops, pulling back--she knows it's different, but faced with Lightning's panic and her own alarm she'd rather back off than argue the point.]

[thestormishere]

[ There's a short pause... and then Lightning promptly chokes, slapping a hand to her mouth and swallowing compulsively to combat the urge to vomit again. Her life: being drunk out of her mind against her will, freaking out over healing, making friends feel guilty... awesome. Who wouldn't wanna be her right now?

She just squeezes her eyes shut, trying not to sway enough to fall over again. Can she just go home now? :( ]

[gardenerofgaia]

Light? [Please don't make choked sounds like that D:] I'm not going to do anything, calm down.

[Sure Light can go home. Aerith will be happy to help or try when it doesn't sound like moving her will result in technicolor yawns.]

[thestormishere]

[ There are some advantages to having as much willpower and stubbornness as Lightning. Namely managing not to paint Aerith's pretty flowers a different color right now.

....

That doesn't mean the stream of muttered curses that comes out of her mouth a little later isn't just as foul, though. Not that they're particularly coherent, but it's possible chains of entrails and the suggestion that those responsible go and do a few physically impossible things can be made out. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

[Entrails definitely get a wince from Aerith, but it smooths out into a wry smile as it keeps going. ...Drunk Light might even be able to give Cid some new ideas. But still--]

People don't bend that much. Come on, let's go home. [THEY'RE A GOIN'. ...SLOWLY.]