Peace and Quiet [Open]

One track mind, one track heart

IF I FAIL I'LL FALL APART

Lightning wasn't avoiding them, or anyone for that matter. At least that's what she kept telling herself. She just needed some quiet time, just for a little while. She needed to get a grip on her own feelings. Of course she was glad that everyone seemed to be together again, happy again. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she pressed forward. One thing great about Gran Pulse was that it had some great views. Some of them held some less than great memories, however. Everyone she knew had been so broken not long ago, and so had she. She didn't quite understand their ability to be generally okay so quickly. Or if they weren't, they were sure good at faking it. Or maybe she just lacked the empathy to be able to tell if their perceived emotions were faked.

She already felt a headache coming on and she pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stave it off. After a few moments she continued, before finding a small set of rocks, overlooking a small cliff. Small enough that she'd probably survive the fall if she slipped so long as he didn't land on her neck. Some peace and quiet, maybe that was all she needed, though she'd prefer something to occupy her time. Without some sort of catastrophic event to take up her time she felt a little bit useless. At this point she might as well become a body guard. Outside of combat she didn't really have any useful skills. Not like Serah, kids always needed teaching. She didn't know if she wanted to join rank with some military force again. She'd enjoyed it but it clouded her vision, it took up her time and the last time didn't end so well. She spent all of her recent years fighting, so much fighting. Was it too much to ask to just want to stop, even for a little while.

For once in her life Lightning wanted to be a little more normal, more social. She wanted to be able to talk to her friends, and smile and joke and laugh. She wanted her family to be whole again, but she just felt so disconnected. Everything felt just a bit off for long periods of time, but only when she noticed it, when she remembered. Like the sensation of always seeing your nose, but not noticing it until you were reminded of it.

An annoyed huff escaped her lips, and she shook her head attempting to clear the thoughts from it. The pity party wasn't helping, and neither was sulking. 

tag: open
notes: none
outfit: Here

Maybe this is all a Test
'Cause I feel Like I'm the worst
So I always act like I' m the best.

table by Keikei @ BTN

Tagged : Lightning | Words : 535 | Notes : IT BEGINS AGAIN.

This whole...trying to fill in days with plenty of things to do to keep his mind occupied was getting pretty hard to do, Snow had to admit. Serah had things she had to do at school every day, Hope and Rygdea were off making the Academy (again), Sazh was...sometimes around but typically with Dajh, Fang and Vanille kept themselves busy with tending to Gran Pulse, and NORA House kind of grated on Snow's nerves if he stayed there too long, because he couldn't bear to tell any of his old friends what he'd been through before getting back to them - heck, they hadn't even realized he'd been gone any longer than it had taken him to find Lightning and bring her back home. The scarcity of people made it hard for Snow to keep himself distracted...and when he couldn't keep himself distracted, his mind flew back to fighting with Lightning...or failing against the flan...or Serah turning to crystal before his eyes at the Pulse Vestige...or...

He stopped his walking in place, reaching up to rub his hands over his eyes and bring himself back to reality with a distressed grunt. "Doing a great job so far," he mumbled grumpily, straightening his shoulders and peering at the openness of Gran Pulse around him. Staying busy was the best thing to do for the time being, until the nightmares decided to stop and Snow could get back to wandering around without worries on his mind and instead be able to just appreciate all the joys he'd regained from having Serah back and his family back around him. But the time when he'd get over his old regrets wasn't here yet and probably wouldn't be for a while...so it was days like today when he had to find something - anything - to do to keep him busy. And most days he wouldn't have thought going out on a wild search for his future sister was the best idea ever, but today...hey, he was up for anything.

Serah had mentioned Light had headed out a while before to do something or another. Maybe she wanted to give Gran Pulse another good once-over like Snow had been giving it as he'd gotten back into monster hunting and been driving the truck all over the landscape. Light...wasn't really the type to get a big hunting rig to drive her around, so he'd figured she'd probably be on foot. To avoid having something happen again like had happened when Snow had gone out looking for Fang, he'd decided to hoof it too and see if he could have any luck tracking Light down out here in the middle of nowhere. So far, he hadn't exactly had...much luck at all, aside from seeing a few tracks in the dirt that were from a person and not a monster...prooobably Light, if she'd come this way.

Oh well. He didn't like to get her upset before he'd even seen her for the morning, but he guessed he should try to find her some way better than with his eyes. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Heeeey! Hey, Lightning! You out here somewhere!?"

One track mind, one track heart

IF I FAIL I'LL FALL APART

The quiet was slowly eating at her resolve. Maybe this was not the best course of action. However, the moment a voice broke the silence she cringed. She recognized her name on a voice that belonged to the one person she really didn't think she could handle right now. He'd been a person who consistently pulled strong emotion from her, almost instantly. Of course, most of it was negative, but the fact remined. She found her visits with him exhausting lately. Her name sounded once again over the area, and she stood slowly. She turned to the direction the voice seemed to be coming from.

"Over here, Idiot." She yelled back at him. While Gran Puls was slightly more inhabitable than it once been, or at the very least they knew how to navigate it, that still didn't mean one should scream across the terrain, letting each and every beastie in the area where their next meal might be sitting. She turned from the direction she was facing to scan the area. Nothing seemed out of order, though a flock of birds that had been nearby fluttered away in a panic. Lightning's eyes trailed to watch the direction the birds took off, and then glanced behind her to see if Snow had appeared yet. She heard him, but he was not yet in view.

She took a few swift steps to get a better angle, nothing dangerous. Her hand loosened on the handle of the gunblade she hadn't realized she even grasped. She scoffed at herself, old habits died hard. So used to being on the run, running into monsters at every corner turned. Being in danger had a way of making people jumpy, and she had always been a cautious individual. Not like Snow, who seemed to barrel into every situation headfirst and hope to smash it before it smashed him.

Lightning couldn't bring herself to sit back down, there was still a chance something, or even someone, would rear it's ugly head in, and she was already strung pretty tight.

tag: snow, open
notes: The quiet fled the scene
outfit: Here

Maybe this is all a Test
'Cause I feel Like I'm the worst
So I always act like I' m the best.

table by Keikei @ BTN