011 [Video/Action for Violet]

[soggypastry]

[One of Violet City's main attractions is the Gym, and that's where the feed turns on now. Lightning is standing on one end of the field with Falkner on the other, facing his Noctowl down with Odin the Rapidash. The camera is being held at such an angle that Serah, Hope, and Leon can be seen in the stands on either side, along with Strike sitting

Comments

[action]

[usedroar]

[ Making his way down the stands with Strike, a small smirk on his face. Well done, Light. ]

[action]

[usedroar]

[ Strike looks over at Sen and bops him on the head. When are they not being weird, is more the question. It probably has something to do with his questionable camera skills.

Leon, meanwhile, sits in silence for a bit, taking in her words. She's speaking to a man, who was once a boy--a boy who wanted to grow up to be a knight. Where he comes from, disrespecting a woman...really isn't done, if you like not being frowned at by every old woman on every street corner the next day. Men respect women, women respect men--they're equal, simple as that, although perhaps it doesn't always translate in practice. ]

I have a hard time imagining you letting anyone get...fresh. [ In fact, all he can imagine? Is someone getting their nose broken. ]

[action]

[soggypastry]

[Sen just yips in a mix of alarm and amusement when Strike bops him. Why would his questionable camera skills make them act like this? He was just cheering his trainer on.]

I didn't. I left a few of them in the clinic with broken noses or bruised ribs, but they kept trying. Men outnumbered women in active duty by nearly fifty to one, so we either got used to fighting them off or got out. [Or went to the superior officer and hope they were willing to help.]

[action]

[usedroar]

[ Another bop. Because obviously, if he'd just done things properly, things would be going properly, too!

...Strike's logic is great. ]

What got you to join the army in the first place?

[ He knows her parents died when she was a teenager, and that she took it to support her sister, but...wouldn't the government have taken them in? Foster care? Weren't there other jobs? ]

[action]

[soggypastry]

[Another yip. They weren't even watching him! How could he have messed this up?

Lightning is quiet for a moment, eyes distant as she remembers.]

Desperation, mostly. There were no other places hiring when our parents died, and if I didn't get work Serah and I would have ended up in different places. I'd promised her that wouldn't happen.

[action]

[usedroar]

[ He thinks of himself at fifteen, a year away from losing everything, safe in the knowledge of his own immortality. Feeling like you've lost everything...he knows that feeling. He knows that desperation she's talking about. He gently tries to steer the conversation to something more palatable than old grief. They will decidedly never be good at this. ]

You know, I was expecting you and Serah to be more alike.

[ Strike, meanwhile, is just rolling her eyes at Sen, before clambering up into Boss' lap. ]

[action]

[soggypastry]

[Never. There are some things that are just better never spoken of. But Serah is a free topic, so Lightning smirks faintly at Leon's comment as Sen plays with a loose thread on her top. Go ahead and roll your eyes, Strike. He has threads!]

Surprised you, didn't she? Serah's always been the innocent one on the family, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

[action]

[usedroar]

I guess 'innocent' is one way to put it.

[ Glad that the mood is better now, he relaxes a bit against the back of the couch. ]

I was expecting her to have your-- [ He doesn't really have the words to express it, so it just comes out as ] --attitude.

[action]

[soggypastry]

[Lightning shakes her head. Her attitude came from military training and discipline. Serah didn't have that.]

She was never in the military, or any combat situation. Serah focused on her studies and didn't need to have my attitude.

[action]

[usedroar]

[ He arches a brow, tone vaguely playful. ]

So you're saying you weren't a tomboy, as a child?

[ Because he has a hard time imagining any incarnation of Lightning, even a five-year-old one, doing anything but kicking ass and taking names. ]

[action]

[soggypastry]

[She hears the change in his tone and turns to look at him, smirking a little.]

I was. Serah once called me her knight in a skirt.

[Kicking ass on the playground if anyone hurt her baby sister, that is.]

[action]

[usedroar]

[ He hides a gentle chuckle behind a gloved fist. ]

'Knight in a skirt', huh? That's a good way to put it.

[action]

[soggypastry]

[She....vaguely heard that. Lightning turns to look at the cieling, eyes closed.]

I'm not the type to wear armor anyway. Can't move well with it on.

[action]

[usedroar]

I can see that.

[ Besides that pauldron she occasionally slips on, he's never spotted her in anything beyond tough leather and canvas. ]

[action]

[soggypastry]

[With her eyes still closed, Lightning nods.]

You don't seem the type either. Too heavy for you to move the way you do. [The leather is probably his normal wear, as well. It's just the way he moves that tells her that. He still has the range of motion that armor takes away.]

[action]

[usedroar]

[ He watches her, wondering what she's imagining behind those closed eyes. ]

The leather I wear protects me enough, and against the heartless, magical protection serves me better than armor. [ Like the belts he told her about: spells and charms to ward off the annoying Blue Rhapsodies and Yellow Operas that got in the way of taking down the heavyweights like Large Bodies. ]