☈ strike #14 (action / voice)

[thestormishere]

[ After the whole fiasco with having to take down Jack Horner's dragon form, Lightning's been thinking a lot lately-- namely, about her own trouble with maintaining a human form and fallout from failing against her will several months ago- both things which, frankly, she's been trying to avoid

Comments

[gardenerofgaia]

Or two or three... What are you up to?

[thestormishere]

Magic.

[ Short, kind of distracted answer. But what fun it is to say that and mean it seriously. By now, she doesn't even think about how odd that might be. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

Are you getting the hang of it better?

[thestormishere]

Slowly but surely. [ A breath that strongly resembles a sigh- she's pretty conflicted over this whole thing given the source, still. ] I want you to help me test something.

[gardenerofgaia]

Okay. Someplace we can test magic... the battle dome?

[thestormishere]

Yeah. In just a few minutes. [ A pause, and then quickly added on just in case-- ] And make sure to bring your staff or something.

[gardenerofgaia]

Like I wouldn't! [It is a battle dome and she is a FF character, for all she knows Lightning wants a partner to help her while she charges a ridiculously long but smite-y attack spell.] See you soon.

[An armed Aerith approaches the battle dome.]

[thestormishere]

[ To run into a thoughtful looking ex-soldier at the door, wearing her hair tied up and not a whole lot of clothing- a pretty conspicuous attempt to combat the heat. She nods when she sees the flower-girl, uncrossing her arms. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

[Do we see more than her belly button today]

I'm here! So, how do you want to start?

[thestormishere]

[ You mean enough to prompt torso-length conversations? Probably. ]

Well, first off: have you... tried learning any of this place's native magic, besides the healing?

[ She takes a step back and turns as she speaks, intending to head towards one of the rooms. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

I can make a pretty mean splash. Or a gust, if you want wind. I work with Faeren to help take care of the flowers. Fire, light and lightning are what I still need to work on. You know, that spirit of light is so hard to keep track of!

[thestormishere]

[ ... She only understood about half of that, Aerith. 8| Gust and splash, is she like a Pidgey/Magikarp hybrid or what. ]

Hm... okay, well, see there's this spell I've learned that's supposed to strengthen magic. [ She glances back as she reaches the door. ] I'm wondering if it would even work on that sort of thing.

[ And on people who aren't l'Cie, if that can be read between the lines here. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

[don't you insult her special snowflake heritage!!

Also Aerith isn't quite reading between lines yet. She's more at 'make magic that make the people fall down and let's see if we can make them fall down harder.]

Ooh, on filial magic? It's worth a try. You already gave it a shot with your own magic, right?

[thestormishere]

[ ...Aerith that is one hell of a weird... um, thing. ]

Yeah. [ Of course. Like she'd be exploring anything like this without some extensive trial-running first? ] It doesn't seem to last as long as it should, but...

[ But it's not like everything else isn't inexplicably weakened too anyway. ]

[gardenerofgaia]

That's usual, right? I haven't been able to see how different things are myself. Limit breaks are hard to compare. But as long as it helps a little still, that's what's important.

[thestormishere]

Unfortunately. [ She crosses her arms and... see this room's simulation? At its core it might be familiar, being based off what they were using way back to train for their first draft together, but changed just enough. Any challenges won't be fighting back today unless something's changed.

But Lightning just sort of... halts and stares at Aerith, looking like she was about to say something, but stopping herself at the last moment for some reason. ]