Action in Luca

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[After the incident in Oerba, Fang needed to calm down, do something that required her to concentrate so she didn't take Snow's head off or yell at the other conspirators in the plot. Funds were getting low anyway, so it was also time to figure out a way to contribute to the money situation. Those two reasons were why she'd hauled a small table out into the patch of garden they had outside the front door and unrolled a selection of leather scraps she'd scrounged from a tanner on top of it. A small selection of tools were spread out next to them, and she'd spent a fairly productive morning cutting and piecing together various bits of leather into decorative jewelry that would hopefully sell at market - or keep the kids (and Snow) leashed to the kitchen table at home. If anybody wants to disturb her, she won't say no, but she's not in a mood to tolerate fools.]

Comments

/late forever

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Once she's back in Luca, Vanille knows what she needs to do. Fang wasn't very happy with her, and she can't blame her, but... things need to be explained, worked out. Vanille doesn't like it when Fang's angry with her. So after debating half the morning away, Vanille heads outside to see if they can talk. ]

...Fang?

/loves on

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[She's not looking up just yet, concentrating on cutting out a pattern with a delicate tool.]

Yeah.

/snuggles ♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Oh, ouch, cold shoulder. It's gonna take her a minute or so to get the words out. ]

I'm sorry. I didn't know the Long Gui was there or we wouldn't have gone.

/cuddles ♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

You know that's not what I'm thinkin' about.

[She's still not looking up.]

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

You're upset because I ran off again.

[ Broke her promise again. Vanille's starting to realize that she's taking life here for granted. At any moment someone could get whisked off back home... and they might not come back. ]

And that I didn't tell you.

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And now Fang looks up, meeting Vanille's eyes. She's not precisely glaring, but her face is fairly stony.]

You didn't even try and think 'bout what could've happened, did you?

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Vanille lowers her gaze, fighting the wave of pain and guilt again. In many ways, she's still just a child, still learning to deal with the world. ]

I didn't think anything would be there... It was perfectly safe the last time I was there.

[ Her error had been in assuming it would stay that way. ]

I won't do it again.

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Just 'cause somethin' was safe doesn't mean it'll always be safe. What've I got to do to get that through your head?

[But she's speaking without any real asperity. She demands results, yes, but mostly she just doesn't want Vanille to get killed. It would kill her, too.]

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Vanille tilts her head down further and shakes it. This experience is a good enough teacher for her, the guilt weighing too heavily for her to ever think of doing it again. ]

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And not even Fang can stay angry at that. She gets up off her seat, moving over to Vanille to pull her into a hug, stroking her hair lightly.]

I don't want to wake up again and find most of my family missing. We've gone through too much to let that happen - understand?

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ The truth of it was that Vanille hadn't thought about what that kind of surprise would be like. To hear about it now, after the fact, makes a lot of sense to Vanille, but it also heightens her guilt.

She leans into the hug, burying her head against Fang's shoulder and wrapping hrr arms around her friend. At least she learns from her mistakes. ]

Yeah. I'm sorry, Fang. I won't leave you again.

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

One day you will. [She's resigned to this - and actually okay with it. One day Vanille will split off, have her own life. She couldn't live being Fang's brighter half for the rest of her life; her light was too strong for that. But Fang knows that, and is actually at peace with it.] But not like that. Okay?

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Nope. Determined headshake. Theirs is a bond that will never break. Vanille can't imagine life without Fang. ]

Not like that. Promise.

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[She'll never go away entirely. Just Vanille needs her own life.]

All right. [One more hug, then Fang lets her go, smiling at her and poking her in the forehead.] Feel like givin' me a hand?

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ Now that she's feeling slightly better... the smile from Fang helps, and Vanille hiccups at the poke to her forehead. But she nods. ]

What're you doing?

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Makin' up some stuff for us to sell, hopefully. We can't keep livin' on monster huntin', you know. I'm just hopin' people have a taste for leather 'round here or I'm fresh out of luck.

♥♥♥♥♥

[tosavecocoon.livejournal.com]

[ She nods. ]

Okay. I'll help. Just tell me what to do.

[ Pause. ] I think they will. It'll be something different than what they're used to.

♥♥♥♥♥

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Can't hurt t'try, at least. Take somethin' I've finished puttin' together and start puttin' details on it, whatever you feel like. [She selects a tool with a delicate end, shaped like a small triangle, and holds the metal end over the lit candle she has on one side of the table.] People here seem to use shells and rope a lot, but they don't seem too stuck up for this sort of thing.

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

[All the bad feeling around the house was just as bad as if his own parents were mad at him. Hope hangs in the front doorway, wondering how to best approach Fang without her biting his head off. He's even wringing his hands, a nervous habit he thought he'd kicked a while back. But he wants to at least apologise, no matter how angry Fang will get.

He takes a step forwards into the garden.]

Hey, um...

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[He's actually the one Fang's least angry at. Sometimes being the youngest is a good thing - and he actually reminds her of herself a little when she was younger. Wanting to be tough and all. Just with a different skillset.]

Don't step on anythin' and I won't take your head off.

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

Got it.

[He looks relieved she's not too angry and moves closer, careful not to step on any of the leather.]

What are you making? Some kind of Pulse thing?

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

A giant leash to bind you all to the table so you can't pull a stunt like that again.

[...Okay she's not completely benign yet.]

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

[Suddenly his shoes are very interesting. Fang is scarier than Light when she's mad, in her own way.] Fang... We're sorry. No one expected things to turn out how they did.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

That's obvious. What I want to know from you is, why didn't you come to us?

[She expects better of you, Hope. Mostly because you're the most level-headed of the group which is scary.]

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

Lightning wouldn't have let me go. She would've said it was too dangerous -- she's started treating me like a kid again.

[He's more than a little irritated by that. After all, it was Lightning who taught him to be strong in the first place.]

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Light got yanked away from a place where we seemed to have a stable home life into some sort of war where it sounds like she was beaten to a bloody pulp with regularity and apparently there was some sort of bad ending. D'you honestly expect her to not be protective of you after somethin' like that?

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

She... What?! [...Nope, apparently Hope didn't get the memo on that.]

Was that when she disappeared a while back?

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Mmmhm. I don't know the full story, you'll have to ask her on your own, but somethin' bad happened. Truthfully I'm surprised she's not gone more overboard since she came back.

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

[The fact Lightning never told him stings a little, but what's worse is the idea she was dragged to a war -- and could have died -- and he was completely oblivious to any of it. It disturbs him a lot more than he'd like to admit, and his hands tighten into fists.]

You said it ended badly... What did you mean?

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And Fang shakes her head.] She's not told me the whole of it - and I'm not goin' to pry. When she wants to tell me, she will. Might be worth it for you to ask questions, though.

[Since everyone knows Light is now Hope's mom and all.]

[holyjudgement.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe. I don't see her a whole lot now she's dating that Captain guy, though.

[And he's maybe sounding a little unhappy about it. Not that he'd say so. If it makes Light happy, he'll deal.]

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

[ Lightning knows Fang's pissed, and so she approaches the other girl with slight caution, coming to stand next to her. ] What are those for?

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Sellin', mostly - me'n Vanille need to do somethin' to earn our keep 'round here. Thinkin' of makin' some leashes for the others, though.

[She's not pissed at you, Light. You're okay.]

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

Might not be a bad idea. [ Lightning grins and reaches for one of the pieces, taking a closer look at it. ] Think we could make a muzzle for Snow, too?

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[She snorts a little at that.] That's easy, Light. I need some sort of challenge in this.

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

Getting him to shut up is the challenge. [ Lightning puts her hands on her hips, and rolls her eyes.

And then she pauses. ]

I've been thinking.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And at that, Fang puts down her tools, both arms draped over her work table and looking up at Light.]

Want me to call for a celebration?

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

[ LIGHT IS NOT AMUSED. ] I think I'm going to start trying to train Serah how to fight.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[You're not immune to the digs, Light!]

I'm surprised you haven't tried already, really.

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

I had my reasons. [ Reasons that made Serah feel the need to sneak out and possibly get killed. Lightning crosses her arms. ] I didn't want her on the battlefield. It's not a place for her.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Maybe not, but we just saw she's still gonna want to prove herself to you, maybe even to herself as well. Least if she knows how to fight she'll have more of a chance if somethin' does go wrong.

[See Light? She's being reasonable about this. There's a reason she never argued with having Vanille on the battlefield.]

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

[ Light leans against the table, keeping her arms folded and crossing her ankles. ] Yeah, I'm seeing that now. Thing is, I'm not even sure where to start.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

Start with the basics. They didn't just put one of those flip-things in your hands and told you to hit somethin', least not if your trainin' was like mine. Start her with runnin' and weights, get her worked up so she can last in a fight. Even if she uses magic more than anythin', that sort of stuff's not goin' to be wasted.

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should take her out into the field and see what she can do. Along with regular exercises, I can tailor her training to suit her style.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

At this point I'd say she can't really do much of anything. You could work her on whatever she's most comfortable with - I think we've all got a spare weapon or two lyin' around that she can experiment with.

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Fang.

[ Lightning stands up from her posistion, though her arms are still crossed, and she pauses, flushing ever so slightly, not.. really able to look at Fang when she speaks again. ] I was thinking... about going to Narshe for a few days.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And a small smirk touches Fang's lips at that, an expression Light would probably dearly love to wipe off her face.]

I take it there's somethin' interestin' up there that this place doesn't have?

[fulminous.livejournal.com]

[ Lightning turns, and gives Fang her best 'I'm going to slap that smirk right off of your face' glare. ] I'm pretty sure that's none of your business.

[twistedjudge.livejournal.com]

[And that only makes her grin wider.] Pretty sure it is, even if you don't care for it.

[There's a pause, then-] Better name your first kid after me.