☈ strike #17 (action / video)

[thestormishere]

Action; House 41; morning and onwards of the 22nd.

[ The calendar used in Luceti might be noticeably different than that of Cocoon's, but the way Lightning-- or rather, her friends seem to figure, since her previous birthday was roughly a month before her arrival last November... a Saturday in 'October' seems about as good a time as any to

Comments

video/filtered

[stilldontgotit]

[He'd make some kind of comment about the moon, but... hah, that second bit catches his attention more than anything else.]

Sometimes moving on is the hardest part. It's easy to look back on what happened and feel some kind of regret-- maybe even fear.

You just have to take it slow. Move forward bit by bit.

video/filtered

[thestormishere]

Right, right...

[ 'Easier said than done.' Judging strictly from the tone of her voice, she doesn't sound all that convinced... although the fact that she hadn't really been prepared to spill some sentiment all over the journal in the first place doesn't really help matters. ]

video/filtered

[stilldontgotit]

I'm guessing you didn't mean to say that, though.

[It explains the abrupt segue and her brevity here. Plus, Riku knows how hard it is to ask that kinda thing.]

video/filtered

[thestormishere]

... Receiving personal advice over the journal wasn't really in my plans today. [ As if the silence that stretches out for a few seconds between that question and her response isn't answer enough, that is. Her gaze drifts away, her brows together. Regardless- ] This place isn't really a fan of closure.

10/22 | {action}

[contempsi]

[Hope is glad that Lightning had decided to drag random housemates around to... well, Do Stuff, as it's mentioned. Because once she and Aerith are out of the house? (Well, and hopefully Zack too...) - He'll be getting down to business! Which is... making the biggest cake he can find a pan for

[thestormishere]

[ It occurs to Lightning while she's still out that leaving a baking-inexperienced teenager alone with the oven might not be such a good idea, but fortunately the house doesn't seem to be burned down or anything when she returns, so... so that's definitely a plus?

Yeah, she's not so surprised he decided to mirror her in undertaking the creation of birthday baked goods, but she is surprised when she finally gets a glimpse of the final product. THAT'S QUITE A CAKE, LIL BRO. ]

-- Oh. [ Wide-eyed blinking! ] Did you...?

[contempsi]

Um...

[He's just finished sticking the candles in when Lightning arrives. Hope didn't think he could arrange twenty-two of them very artistically, and he didn't want to mess up the gunblade he worked so hard on. So there's just a few of them scattered tastefully over the top of the cake.]

Yeah, I did. Happy birthday, Light...!

[A bit of a shy smile here.] Well, it didn't fall apart, at least. I, um... I don't know how it tastes either but I followed a recipe, so... [More nervous shuffling!]

[thestormishere]

[ A few more blinks, with Lightning's expression at once amused and incredulous as she looks from cake to teenager. WHY IS HE NERVOUS SHUFFLINGING? THAT THING IS FUCKING AWESOME. Colored her impressed/pleased. ]

I'm sure it tastes fine, Hope.

[ Although she's not entirely sure what that thing on the top is supposed to be, but... that's okay. Way better than her fail-at-colored-icing!cupcakes, at least. She pulls on a more obvious smile. ]

Thanks...

[audio]

[fierybluebird]

Tainting?

I don't think you can get over something like that. At least not while it's still tainting things.

[audio]

[thestormishere]

. . . .

[ Sorry Marco, you get nothing more than silence in response - despite all her dodging around with anyone else responding to that particular bit, that's really not something she wants to hear... and now she's thinking way too much about it. ]

[audio]

[fierybluebird]

Maybe you can remove the taint, but not on the past. The past never changes.

[audio]

[thestormishere]

I know that.

[ Definitely a touch testy, there. Changing the past... that's a whole 'nother matter. Er, also, isn't this the-- does this guy just get a kick out of treating her like she's an idiot or something? ]