witchesreign | 001 [Action-Garden Entrance]

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001 [Action-Garden Entrance]

[It had been a long year since Lightning had last been here, walking through the turnstiles to get back into Garden. One year of chasing a monster all over the continent without any backup. One more year with only her thoughts as company, and not so much as a clue to get home for it. Just more gil and a teaching job to look forward to come morning.

Nothing had changed, really. Not even the place looked different as Lightning looked up, eyes narrowing in thought. Would she ever find a way back? Hard to say. But she was going to try, and standing around wasn't going to solve anything. So she stepped forward, never turning her head from what was in front of her.

It would honestly be a wonder if she didn't crash into someone or something, at the pace she was following.]

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Where have you been?! [He can't even sound chastising, just happy and relieved.] We've been waiting -- we've been looking for you!

Come on!

[Still quite forgetting himself, he releases her from the hug, but catches her hand instead to all but pull her back to the dorms.]

You don't get to make Serah wait a second longer than she has!

On a mission. You weren't here when I left--[And there he goes, tugging her along in the direction of the dorms. Caught off guard again, Lightning does nothing but try to keep up for a few steps before she digs her heels in. But then he mentions Serah and she's getting tugged again.]

Serah's here?

I was in Dr. Odine's lab, then. That's where I was before I came here. [Speaking quickly, rapidfire in time with his footsteps.] Serah's here, Hope's here, Vanille's here, Sazh is here, Cid Raines is here, and I'm gonna go turn out every one of them I can as soon as you're back with Serah!

[And he's gradually getting wilder and happier as he speaks, too.]

[Lightning has to jog to keep up with him after a few minutes, and she just takes it all in. Serah, Hope, Snow, Vanille, Sazh...Raines is here? How much had she missed in the past year? And why had he acted that way back at the entrance?]

You still haven't told me what made you hug me like that, you know. [She shouldn't have to say she wants answers, but she will if she has to.]

[He shakes his head as he leads her to the dorms,]

I'll explain later, Lightning, I promise. It's too crazy and Serah and Hope seeing you is more important right now.

[Not the answer she wanted to hear, but...well, it's understandable. Kind of. If they've been here as long as Snow....she'll just be upping her pace to match his.]

Then slow down. You don't want them seeing me with a busted ankle, do you?

Your ankles are tougher than that. Besides, if that happens, I'll carry you and Hope can heal you.

[He does slow down just a little -- and releases her hand, finally, now that she's caught on to the urgency.]

[She has indeed caught onto the urgency, and despite rolling her eyes at Snow's comment, speeds up to keep pace with him. Like old times, this. She'd missed it more than she'd realized.]

...How have they been doing lately?

Hope, Serah, and Vanille are all cadets here. Sazh and Cid have been teaching with me. No one's brand has advanced, they've all been frozen -- [He glances over his shoulder at him. Hers too? Or did hers... disappear, like Sazh?]

[Well, that's pretty large relief. There's no doubt in her mind that completing a focus wouldn't be easy here.

What is easy is telling what Snow's about to ask, and she shakes her head.]

No brand. It was gone before I even got here. [If only by a few minutes.]

[ Feeling good about being alleviated of your Focus is all well and good when it's unwanted and would be impossible to complete where you are anyway... but that's hardly a comfort when your name is Claire Farron, you're a former lieutenant in PSICOM, and it just so happens that, despite having an inexplicably-silenced Brand, you're still absolutely certain that carrying out your own baneful Focus is a fantastic idea.

... Not that Claire's doing a very good job of listening to Snow and Lightning's conversation at the moment- the instant she catches sight of them both she freezes, apparently mid-stride and doing a pretty good - but uncharacteristic - impression of being completely dumbstruck.

It's doubtful that will last for long, though. Better do something quick, Snow. ]

[...Snow had been looking over his shoulder at Lightning. So something in this case amounts to looking back at where he's going just in time to stop before he bowls Claire over.]

Uh.

[Great job, Snow. Game over. ~~Snow presses "X"~~]

[A bunch of absolutely terrible ideas quickly flash through his head ("Oh hey, don't mind this inexplicably placed mirror that doesn't reflect quite right"), but all he can think of doing is standing between the pair of them in preparation to stop the inevitable fisticuffs, while looking downright morose.]

So, uh, I guess those explanations I promised are coming sooner rather than later.

[Snow's sudden stop forces Lightning to hop back or crash into his shoulder and most likely topple them both over, so when she regains her footing she gives him a look that's a mix of confusion and stern disapproval. She nearly opens her mouth to ask why the hell he stopped with no warning when he'd been all for getting to dorms as quickly as possible, but then she sees something just past him and she peers around his shoulder.

The sight of Claire in front of them is enough to draw Lightning up short, eyes widening in her surprise even as she holds still as a metal rod. It's like looking into a mirror, if not for the PSICom colors and the subtle differences in this other person that Lightning knows she doesn't have. It's enough to make her wonder if she's seeing things, but Snow's reaction nips that in the bud, and she narrows her eyes, never taking them off this person in front of them.]

They'd better.

[ As expected, it's zero to furious in nothing flat- practically baring her teeth, Claire takes a deliberate, single step back, positioning her entire body at an angle that doesn't exactly speak of a willingness to keep things peaceful. In fact it may look awfully familiar, to the man who happened to meet the bad end of it a few weeks previous.

That said, she's too busy staring to do anything, her mind suddenly an absolute mess over this. It's one thing to fend off friendly advances, to simply hear about this hypothetical version of her that's not only on their side, but amiable to the point of being a Pulse l'Cie as well--

She absolutely hates all of the other l'Cie present, so it's nothing for her to just ignore most of what they say and think anyway. But she can't dismiss having the fact of the matter thrown in her face, something that leaves her incensed and confused and her heart jumping into a tempo so fast it threatens to leap out of her chest...! ]

... Oh, were you hoping to explain this by yourself, then?

[ Ability to grow irrationally upset with Snow: still completely intact, though. His version of events is bound to be sub-par to a ridiculous degree, of course.

-- Not that she cares what this... woman thinks, but.... ]

So... [Over his shoulder to Lightning] Time Compression kind of... can... pull different versions of a person. If you check your roster you'll see a couple of students with the same name, they're the same person but... not.

I think what you're seeing is probably a better example of this than any way I could tell you about it.

[He exhales, trying hard not to make it sound like a sigh. Even now he's still not trying to irritate Claire, as futile as THAT is. He looks back to the antagonistic Instructor.]

This is the Claire 'Lightning' Farron I know.

[He's tense, expecting something to go wrong. Claire will probably interpret that as the two of them planning to jump her, but he can't do a thing about her perceptions.]

[Lightning stays quiet through Claire's explosive comment and Snow's explanation, keeping both eyes on the other woman. The way she's standing means she's practically looking for a fight, but if anything, she's probably as freaked out on the inside as Lightning. Seeing your mirror image appear with no warning can't be easy to deal with. It certainly isn't for Lightning, even as she forces herself to deal with this logically.]

And she's the reason you reacted the way you did back at the entrance.

[It's not a question; for Snow to have reacted that way around Lightning, something big must have happened. This is pretty damned big, all things considered. It's enough to make Lightning frown, eyes narrowing as she looks over to her double. What had this woman done to Snow? Had she done anything to the others? If she had...there'd be hell to pay. But a reckless charge would get them nowhere; Lightning needed answers and perhaps...Claire could give them if she was asked.]

Maybe you can explain better than he can. What's your side of this? [Light's tone is nuetral, but, like Snow, her posture is tense. This is sending alarms ringing in her brain and she does not like that.]

Yeah, well, see if I care.

[ Finally her gaze snaps back to Snow as she 'answers' him, looking like she's just on the verge of setting him on fire with her gaze alone- she's heard enough off of him and the rest of Lightning's friends to have a rough picture of things -- mostly what's different, of course, considering how anything that's 'wrong' is obviously going to stand out to her more -- and frankly the implications are disgusting to her.

Does she want to talk to either of these people? No, of course not, but if nothing else she's going to aim to make herself and her standing as clear as possible here. ]

I was a lieutenant in PSICOM. A Sanctum l'Cie. [ And everything that may or may not imply- with her harsh tone, it's probably not hard to figure out, even if her words are still mostly aimed at the man rather than her duplicate. ] This doesn't change anything.

[...was? If she's thinking in the past tense like that, even unconsciously, that's just a shred more concrete hope than Snow had before.]

[A very, very tiny shred.]

No, it doesn't.

[Conviction but not hostility. It doesn't change anything from his perspective either, including his determination to somehow help Claire. Which Lightning ought to be able to read from him in one quick glance. She knows how stubbornly, stupidly idealistic he has to be.]

[..would Lightning's relationship with Serah make Claire realize what she was missing, or just isolate her more in anger?]

[It only takes asking the question for him to realize that isn't on or.]

[Oh, Lightning can most definitely tell that Snow's stubborn side is rearing it's head again. She'd have been surprised if it didn't, but...there's more to deal with than that. Especially since the alarm bells in her head have turned to sirens.

Lieutenant in PSICOM. Sanctum l'Cie. No wonder she's so openly hostile; anyone who supported Lightning had been Pulse l'Cie. People that this woman would have had to strike down. She'd have been alone through most, if not all, of what had happened to her. But that's no excuse for her attitude now, and Lightning's eyes narrow further.]

Then what's the problem? You haven't walked away from us for a reason.

[ Claire just gives a heavy scoff - she never intended to stay long anyway (or anything really, considering she's running entirely on spur of the moment right now), but of course a barbed question like that is only going to further agitate her. She practically bubbles fury at Lightning, entertaining thoughts towards both that are about as far from benign as it's possible to be.

However, as tempting as it is to stick around just to spite them-- ]

Pathetic.

[ She more or less turns up her nose. For all the tempestuousness of her current mood, it's still exceedingly easy to pull up the dismissive, disgusted attitude in full as she looks away, stepping aside to go around in the directions she'd already been going. Already her blood pressure's probably going through the roof... and she can't afford another violent outburst.

Even if it means stalking away with deliberate drama... and even if it means that, although she wouldn't admit it, she's basically fleeing out of a situation in a way she hasn't for a long time. ]

[Snow is grateful for that. It means Claire's less likely to see him reach out to put a hand on Lightning's shoulder. He has a feeling that if Claire wouldn't appreciate the sympathy he and Lightning had found for each other in the course of... everything.]

Come on. There's a lot I need to tell you.

A warning would have been nice, Snow.

[Lightning's voice is quiet as she shakes her head, too busy digging the heels of her palms into her eyes to care who sees them. Too busy trying to get the sirens in her head to shut up now that the immediate threat is gone. She'll have to deal with that later, but right now, she just wants to get to the dorms and see to Serah and Hope.

And if that means needing Snow's hand on her shoulder to ground herself, well...it wouldn't be the first time they've done this. She still remembers that evening on the fields of Pulse, and has no doubts that he does, too. So when she lowers her hands from her face after a moment, it's as if nothing is wrong when she sets off towards the dorms.]

Let's get out of the hall.

Be honest, Lightning. If I'd said there was a Sanctum l'cie Claire Farron teaching here without everyone else to back me up, you -- wouldn't have known what to think.

[He almost said 'would never have believed me', but on second thought... she would have. Would have tried, anyway. Or so he feels. ]

[Well, back to walking towards the dorms.]

[And he opens his mouth to talk, then shuts it again, because he doesn't know where to begin.]

[She would have tried to believe him alright. They've come too far for her to not even try. But right now...well...]

No, I wouldn't have. Doesn't mean I wouldn't have been prepared for it.

[At least, she thinks so. It's a lot to take in right now, so Lightning's just going to keep quiet while Snow acts like a fish out of water. She's just trying to get what little she knows straight in her head.]

How do you prepare for something like that?

[He shakes his head as he heads down the hallway to his dorm. His dorm because he doesn't know hers, of course.]

Well. You heard the big difference.

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