witchesreign | [ action ] Ϟ [ 01 ]

[ OOC~ Backdated to... a reasonable amount of time before the 'home' event start!

Regardless of the rather strange act of making sure to sneak in without anyone noticing at first, Claire Farron has now decided that she won't be hard to find any more- at least for now. There's a very distinctive, pink-haired presence around Balamb Garden again, and though most of what she's up to currently - making sure her rooms are in order, going through any changes that have taken place since her last visit before missions... make no mistake. The school's latest new Instructor is definitely eying up wandering students and anyone else who happens to pass her by as well.

And she's obviously, almost painfully tense, looking very severe in her dark, form-fitting clothing as she stalks the lobby, dorm, and classroom areas with broody purpose and a stack of various folders in-hand. Every time she bothers to take pause, her arms are crossed, posture stiff. Yes, she knows perfectly well that they are around here somewhere, and the idea that they've been allowed to teach and train here makes her blood boil. Time has done very little to fade the dark feelings she has towards the cursed Pulse l'Cie from her home.

Although "Lightning" won't really object to others coming to talk to her too, her sharpness is palpable- when it comes down to it, she knows that either she will find them... or they will find her. It's just a matter of when... and she might as well get it over with, in addition to 'greeting' those she'll be spending time near from here on in general. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Thankfully DEF 101 did a pretty good job of covering situations like this. So while meeting the floor does knock the breath out of her lungs it could have been much, much worse.

However, the fact that it's her own sister that's put her on the floor means it's painful in an entirely different way.]

Lightning? [Her voice is small and rather strained as she stares up at the older woman.] Is something wrong?

[She coughs then, carefully trying to sit up.]

[ She's not the only one hurting and confused, really. Even after so long, the urge to help her up is still there, the desire to feel sorry, but even though this is her sister, if Serah is a l'Cie, then Claire still thinks she was trying to destroy the world and... that's unforgivable, always.

Only problem? She just went and threw a cadet to the ground- provoked in her eyes, maybe, but all the same she's not really interested in losing her job so soon after getting it. ]

Serah. Stop.

[Her mouth closes, whatever question she'd been going to ask next going unsaid. Stubborn she might be, but as a rule when Lightning has something to say she listens. Snow and everything about their relationship being the obvious exceptions, naturally.

Sitting up, she winces but climbs steadily to her feet. Nothing broken, but there might be some bruising later. How she'll explain them to Snow is something she's not ready to think about just yet. Because seriously? How does she tell her fiance that her sister threw her to the floor? It sounds like a headache waiting to happen, especially since Snow can be a little overprotective at times.

Hating the silence, but not sure what to say she stumbles to get something, anything out.]

Oh. Welcome back, I guess?

[ If Serah doesn't like that silence, she'll probably find what Claire does next even worse- just stare at the girl, wordlessly. She's not even going to thank her.

Back home? She had been absolutely ready to kill Serah (and potentially herself) along with all the other l'Cie who had been on the Palamecia... but here it's different. She's not riled up almost to the point of absolute madness. And she definitely wasn't expecting to be met with confusion today... something that somehow manages to make it even worse in this case. ]

[It is. It's a lot worse actually. Especially since it makes poor Serah rather self-conscious. Which is silly. Lightning wouldn't be staring over something trivial like clothes or her hair being weird. That's just not how she is! Then again, she would have said that Lightning wouldn't be able to hurt her either and look how well that turned out.]

This isn't about my DEF 101 grade is it? Because it's back to being an A again, I just had to work extra hard to learn everything properly, that's all. [It could excuse the flipping, since Lightning could have been testing how much self defense she's learned so far.

Okay, that's reaching quite a bit, but she's desperate to figure out what's going on.]

I don't care about that. [ At least not in the way Serah means- she does have issue with any of them being taught to be mercenaries and all in the first place. Against all of this, her voice is quiet, flat... all in all, completely devoid of any semblance of friendliness. ]

... You really don't get it?

[The confusion on her face should make it more than obvious that no, Serah really doesn't get it. When has her sister not cared about her grades? If she wasn't worried about ending up on the floor again she'd try to check Lightning's forehead to see if she has a fever.]

No, Lightning. I don't get it. What's going on?

You're a Pulse l'Cie... and I'm a Sanctum officer. Ringing any bells yet?

[ These are the basics... although honestly, Claire doesn't look particularly happy about going into it either; for some reason, she bites back the fact that she's a l'Cie too at first, choosing just 'officer' instead. Maybe she's simply curious if Serah can be persuaded into recalling anything past her apparent l'Cie-derived delusions at all... or maybe acknowledging that they're on opposite sides of the coin is hardly something she'd really want to do. ]

A Sanctum officer? [The confusion on her face grows at that.] But Snow said you quite the Corps when the Purge happened.

[Then something dawns on her.]

Wait, an officer? I thought they'd only just scheduled your officer training a little while ago?

[Nope have more of these so called delusions instead, because that's not something she can agree to.]

....

I'm a lieutenant. In PSICOM, Serah.

[ Or was, technically, considering PSICOM doesn't exactly exist here and all, but all the same. How in the world would her sister ever mix up what Division she was in-- or the fact that she was pulled into the officer's academy almost as soon as she joined? ]

A lieutenant in PSICOM? [She shakes her head a little bit at that, taking a step back.] No. That's not right. My sister is a Sergeant in the Guardian Corps. She's not PSICOM and never has been.

[See this look? This is the "You're not my sister at all, are you?" look and it's totally heading your way.]

[ This was... so, so much easier with Snow. Claire definitely never wanted this- to see what she thinks is her little sister an enemy of her world, gone completely unbalanced and wrapped up in fantasy. And what for? How does rewriting reality even help them at all?

... It probably doesn't matter, though. The end result is still the same.

She just crosses her arms, closing herself off... and with just the slightest hint of actual pain in her voice: ]

Believe what you want.

[ And then she just turns to leave. This has been more than enough for her. ]

[She hears the pain in her voice and it just makes this entire situation more difficult than it already is.

She doesn't understand what's going on or why, but she hates feeling like this. Right now, she doesn't even feel safe with her own sister which is just ridiculous!

Still as Lightning turns to leave, Serah doesn't try to stop her. Trying to take her hand might end up with her back on the floor after all. Instead she turns and watches her retreating back before whispering quietly.]

I'm glad you're back, Sis.

[Then she turns and runs for the room she's been sharing with Snow. He needed to know what just happened, maybe together they could make sense of all of this.]

[ action ] Ϟ [ 01 ]

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