route_1065 | Reflected Reunions (Possible spoilers for Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Entry tags:

Reflected Reunions (Possible spoilers for Final Fantasy XIII-2)

Who: Hope Estheim(

eagletalons), Lightning Farron (

soggypastry)
Where: Sudowoodo Crossing
When: July 20th
Summary: A meeting of siblings.
Rating: No higher than PG.
Log:

[It was kind of ironic; they were short two months for this to be a mirror image of when Lightning first arrived, but to be meeting here again, in the middle of chaos? It was a familiar situation. Only this time, there were no ghosts. No fog. Just people with powers beyond their control and Lightning herself more than a little freaked at what was happening to Serah and the others. This whole thing was bringing back memories of what had awaited them as l'Cie, and that was never a good thing.

What was a good thing was that they'd made good time to the crossing, and Hope was somewhere around here. Now she just had to find him, even if it meant heading to Violet City. She was going to find him. She had to.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Barring circumstances he couldn't have foreseen, Hope always kept promises made. So ever since he and Ventus made it to Violet city, he'd been visiting Sudowoodo Crossing every few hours, every day, until... well, should something happen.

However, it's only when his Squirtle and Sandshrew grip his pants legs while approaching the area that he notices they wouldn't be alone today.

Because he knows that person. He knows that face, that hair and that stance, even though it'd been so. Long.]

Lightning?

[He'd just been fed and watered and yet he sounded like he'd gone through a desert with nothing but the clothes on his back.]

[There he is. fal'Cie, there he is. Something catches in Lightning's throat at the sight of him; he was gone for barely a month before returning to Johto yet again, but it feels like it's been forever since she's seen him in person. Even with ten years, she knows him. That's precisely why she's breaking from her steady pace and into a run, as if he'll disappear if she doesn't get there fast enough.]

Hope!

[At least her voice is steady. Her control has held onto that and she can be grateful for it...even if it's probably going to fall apart as soon as she gets him into a hug.]

[For all of his self-control and years behind him, Hope's rooted to the spot while his Pokémon tug at his legs, and he only manages to move when Lightning has her arms around him.

And only then, the only thing he manages to do is hug her back.]

[It doesn't last long. The buzzing of electricity under her skin heightens as she holds him, and she doesn't want to shock him even by accident, so it's only after a minute or two that she reluctantly pulls back and removes her hands from his shoulders when it seems that all she wants to do is hold on. Oh, how things have changed...]

Welcome back.

[There's so much they need to talk about. So much. But for now...well. For now she is just reassuring herself that yes, he is really here again. 10 years older, sure, but her family is starting to come together again.]

It's--

[Oh, and his voice is starting to embarrass him. He clears his throat, at first trying to disguise it, but then just decides he doesn't care at all.

It doesn't really matter, not when one of his wishes has been fulfilled right here.]

It's good to be back.

[And looking down at her... that's surreal. Possibly one of the most surreal things that he's ever experienced, and he's seen so much.]

[She hears that voice issue and frowns, clearly concerned already. Has he been taking care of himself? Did he push himself to get here? Is he sick? She can't tell. She's just going to try and that means...well. It means looking up at him. This is new.

She's used to having to look up only at three people; Snow, Leon, and Ven. To add a fourth person to that list is disconcerting, and it just adds to the theory that her world has moved on without her there. It's odd to think about, and it causes something in her chest to tighten, but she tries to ignore it for now. Now is a time for family, not dwelling on what might have been. Even if it means stomping on questions she wants to ask.]

Have you talked with the others yet? Ven and Fang are still here.

Well... I met Ven in Cherrygrove. We've been traveling together ever since.

[He doubts he and Ven would be separating anytime soon.

Fang though... He knows she was around when he was last around. Her and Vanille, if he remembered correctly.]

I haven't heard from Fang, unfortunately.

I'm not surprised. He did always say he'd meet up with you if you ever came back again.

[Ah, Venbro. She'll welcome his company when they get moving again.

As for Fang, well, Lightning's just going to pinch the bridge of her nose now. Keeping quiet, are you?]

That makes two of us. [sigh.] It's like Snow all over again. No one's heard from her for weeks but her signal's still here.

Knowing Fang though... I hope she didn't get into trouble. Especially with all that's been going on. [Seeing as she can be more bullheaded than Snow, that might be an impossible wish.]

We should get indoors though-- it would be more comfortable to talk when we're sitting.

We'd have heard something if she did. She's hard to miss. [More bullheaded, and when she really gets going, louder. They'd never miss her getting in over her head, Lightning's sure of that.]

Less chance of being overheard, too. [A glance over her shoulder at that; Serah had said to go on ahead, and her team is more than capable of defending her, but Lightning has been on edge since the attack. Getting inside will do wonders with that, or so she hopes, which is why she falls into pace alongside him when he heads back towards town.]

My room should be enough.

[This is familiar, and yet not-- years ago, he's been lagging behind because of his height, and yet now he can easily match her strides. It's another thing that's changed because of time, and while he cant say that this is a bad thing, he misses the days when he was a boy struggling to catch up with her.

It's awkward, being an adult, growing up to be older than the person he looked up to as a small teenager.]

It'll be fine. Just about anything's better than the road.

[Lightning's got her own brand of awkward about this. Her memory clearly tells her that Hope is a fourteen or fifteen year old boy, not this man before her. Not this man who has gotten himself so far without her guidance, when the teen he used to be trailed her like a lost puppy. It's a stark contrast, and one that makes her heart ache for all that lost time.

Still, she can't dwell on that with so much to discuss. She won't let herself dwell on it. Instead, she'll wait until they're inside the Inn to follow him into his room, mulling over what she's going to tell him first while they walk. This will be a very long discussion, clearly.]

I'm back-- [And his little newly-hatched Swablu trills at seeing him again, but the Umbreon ignores both of them for a nap.

It's good, a little like old times.]

Ah, right, you haven't met yet. [Points at the Squirtle, Sandshrew and Swablu, respectively.] Bismarck, Atomos and Siren, and I believe you remember Palum?. [Points at Lightning, for the Pokémon's benefit.] Lightning.

[Just like old times. He's gathering a veritable menagerie already, and the though makes her lips twitch in a smile; she'd offer her hand to the new bunch, but she doesn't want to shock anyone, and so she settles for a nod.]

Yeah, I remember. Surprised you were able to find him, though. I was only able to track down Alexander the last time you left.

[And she'd tried her best. But they'd vanished into the wind, as far as she could tell.]

Apparently he managed to find his way to someone else. Ven's been taking care of him ever since.

[He bends over to take hold of Atomos, curling an arm around the Sandshrew before waving his free hand at the room.]

Sit anywhere you'd like, and don't be worried about harming any of them. They know they need to stay away.

[Good ol' Venbro...what would they do without him? She has no idea and doesn't want to think about the day when he leaves.

So she'll just take a seat on the bed, back straight and eyes on him. She has no idea where to start explaining all that's happened since he left, so she'll have to ask first.]

What do you want to know?

[Since she's taking up space on his bed, he takes the lamp off of the bedside drawer and sits on that instead.]

Everything. [He's not even joking.] Everything important that I missed in the past year, even the time that you last saw me-- that time only a short while back that I don't remember.

[Everything, huh? That'll take a while. Still, if he wants everything, even those few months that he was here again, he'll get everything. Everything she knows, anyway.]

You left in October. In November, a train line opened up that connected Johto to the Kanto Region in the east. Team Rocket attacked it when it made the first trip, and a lot of people were hurt in the process. That ended up being the last straw for a lot of people, and Merlin started a group to stand against them, but he left before it could get off the ground, so Ven and I got things going. We weren't able to do much at first, besides getting people organized, but it was still enough to stop one of their members from bombing Goldenrod to get what he wanted.

[she pauses, moving her bangs from her eyes. There's still more to tell, and she's wishing she brought a water bottle just to have something to do with her hands.] Remember how I said Team Rocket was getting more violent since you left? That bombing wasn't the worst of what they did. We're still not entirely sure if it was them, but back in May, all the major cities in both regions were swarmed with poison types that just started appearing from trash piles in the streets. We couldn't even get a handle on it because it was so bad, and the bad weather wasn't helping. [sigh]

A couple of legendaries showed up for some reason, and they ended up causing a massive storm that washed the poison types away somehow. I ended up pinned under a tree in the storm, and was in the Center for a month. That's when I was poisoned, by someone I think may have been sent by Team Rocket. After that...[shrug] That's when you came back. You know the rest from there.

I've heard of the train and the trash...

[His grip on Atomos tightens, and a small part of his mind is glad that the Pokémon is a ground-type and has a hide thicker than his own skin, that he wont be harmed even if Hope accidentally uses his (blunt, ragged) nails.

This is a lot to take in, to process, but he doesn't regret asking.

Knowledge is power, he's always believed that.] Your group-- I'd like to join it. If I get to help keep the peace around here, then I'm willing to sacrifice my time and effort into doing so.

Edited 2012-08-01 12:37 (UTC)

[Lightning's first instinctual response is to say no. That she won't let him. But that response is tied to the part of her that remembers him being fourteen and not twenty-seven. If he made it this far, he doesn't need her protection any more. So she stomps on that instinct, nodding once.]

I figured you'd say that. I'll show what filter we've been using and you'll be set once you're on a squad.

[yes, shotabro. It's that simple. No hyper-encrypted lines this time.]

Should you need the extra security, I'm willing to improve on the filter to make it something like what I've used before.

[Because primitive tech like this is filled with holes and he's sure someone with the right smarts can break into any filter or encryption made with the horrible hardware that cant be upgraded that is the Gear, and only someone with the same kind of smarts or more is capable of making a defense against that.

His engineer's sensibilities are almost offended.]

I can also help provide more depending on the situation.

That's probably a good idea. I don't think they've broken through the filter yet, but we shouldn't leave it to chance. The less intel they have on us, the better.

[Oh, Shotabro. How you've grown.]

There's not much else you could do besides train and prepare. We don't have information on where they are, so we can't launch any kind of strike. We're flying blind right now.

Considering the timing of the attacks, we might be seeing another problem near the end of August or early September. However, I'm not sure-- Criminals have never been my forte.

[Rubs face, and generates a little static that troubles his bangs.]

It doesn't help that we don't even know for sure what they're after. We could meet them head on if we knew what their target was, but without knowing...

[headshake. this is almost like trying to ditch their brands again; no intel and no idea where to go. Perfect.]

I'll make a conference with the other members of the... group [for lack of a better word] later, when things are more quiet. I'd like to see if they have information we could use.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject