Penny Rose [ Serah Farron ] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rememberher) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pawnstorm2016-09-17 11:15 am
rememberher) wrote in pawnstorm2016-09-17 11:15 am
Swords 101
Who: Lux Crownguard, and you!
Where: The Hall of Glory
When: Back-dated to early-to-mid September
What: A new weapon means learning a new way to fight.
Rating: PG probably? idk
[ Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
Repeating that mantra in her head, she moved swiftly, the gems on her bracelet the only light shining through the early morning darkness. Her breaths coming in gentle puffs, made visible by the cool autumn air, she moved through each training dummy with ease, practically dancing as she moved, and leaving yet more light in her wake.
Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
And with each one she passed, they began to glow, telling where she had been, where she had struck, bathing them in faint, golden light. Marking them. But with what? Perhaps the gently glowing form of what looked to be the hilt of a sword might have something to do with it.
Then all at once, she would dart away, quick on her feet (quicker than she might appear, as if someone had been training her, teaching her how she should move), casting out her left hand and— ]
Fosopye!
[ Prismatic light blossoming from the palm of her hand, it shattered into shards of iridescent glass, flying at each marked training dummy and imbedding themselves before detonating her golden mark.
Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
They were going to need more dummies at this rate. ]
[[Brackets or prose, doesn't matter to me. I'll match styles regardless.]]
Where: The Hall of Glory
When: Back-dated to early-to-mid September
What: A new weapon means learning a new way to fight.
Rating: PG probably? idk
[ Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
Repeating that mantra in her head, she moved swiftly, the gems on her bracelet the only light shining through the early morning darkness. Her breaths coming in gentle puffs, made visible by the cool autumn air, she moved through each training dummy with ease, practically dancing as she moved, and leaving yet more light in her wake.
Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
And with each one she passed, they began to glow, telling where she had been, where she had struck, bathing them in faint, golden light. Marking them. But with what? Perhaps the gently glowing form of what looked to be the hilt of a sword might have something to do with it.
Then all at once, she would dart away, quick on her feet (quicker than she might appear, as if someone had been training her, teaching her how she should move), casting out her left hand and— ]
Fosopye!
[ Prismatic light blossoming from the palm of her hand, it shattered into shards of iridescent glass, flying at each marked training dummy and imbedding themselves before detonating her golden mark.
Knees bent, feet at shoulders width, posture relaxed yet at the ready.
They were going to need more dummies at this rate. ]
[[Brackets or prose, doesn't matter to me. I'll match styles regardless.]]
no subject
[it really does -- to meet anyone who cared so much for a piece of Lenalee's world, because Lenalee can understand those feelings and anyone who can do the same and admit so was a person worthy of caring for those pieces in the first place. so Lenalee listens, both sad and hopeful, listens as Lux explains her feelings.]
[The only change in Lenalee's expression comes when Lux finally asks her that question. it's a flicker of surprise -- for Lux having noticed (Allen is hard to read, after all. and very much a private person, even with all the time Lenalee has had the luck to spend with him) -- and more than a flicker of... melancholy. guilt. regret.]
[It takes a moment for Lenalee to find her words. slowly...]
...Yes. [she can say that much, at least.] It's a long story... And most of it is -- complicated.
[more complicated than it really should be.]
...But the place Allen calls home -- the Black Order... We didn't do enough for his sake.
[and that had hurt him, Lenalee knew, even if Allen had left with a smile on his face. for a moment, her expression crumbles, but she closes her eyes and breathes, then opens them back up to look at Lux.]
...So Allen decided to leave. [and it was a terrible and hard decision for anyone to carry out]
no subject
But as the other girl willingly began to speak, Lux closes the space between them slightly, as if to respect that privacy. True, there was no one there to listen in these early morning hours, but in the chance that someone might, it was best to stay close. Both for privacy, and...
Lenalee's expression, and the weight held there. ]
You didn't—
[ She stops herself, seeing the other girl begin to crumble. Another step forward as Lux slowly searched her expression.
...He left.
"Even if something happens to separate you from your home or call it into question... it doesn't mean you have to love it any less. Even saying goodbye and going a different way—all the good memories you have of it, they're still real."
His words to her, the night that Lux began to question her home, and her ideals. The ones that she would at times repeat to herself, was reminded of in more subtle gestures of his. Something that Lux didn't want to be true, that, surely, she had misinterpreted. His home, the place that he loves (loved), filled with people like Lenalee, who would be there for each other no matter the circumstances.
He left...
Her gaze lowering, growing more complicated (I knew it...), Lux hesitated, the space between them—physical and verbal—impossibly heavy. She wasn't good at this sort of thing. Used to smiling through anything, these sorts of situations oftentimes left her unsure of what to do. And while it was not something she would normally do, not something that was normally done where she was from... ]
Lenalee...
[ Slowly, tentatively, she reaches out for the other girl's hand, looking up again, a smile on her face. Not bright and bubbly like the ones Lenalee might have already grown used to seeing from her, but something more real. Reassuring, but slightly unsure herself, yet still warm just the same.
(And it was faint, the curl of her mana as it billowed around the other girl's hand. A kaleidoscope of color, neither warm nor cold, but bright and strong, yet not without a small ribbon of shadow deep within.) ]
Do you know what he told me? That he still loves that home, and the people who live there. And that even if he had to leave, he still cherishes the memories that he has of all of you. You're all a part of his heart.
[ And with that, she gives her hand a gentle squeeze. ]
I know that this place isn't home. It isn't home for any of us, but the way that I see it... A home isn't defined by a place, by walls and a roof over your head. Home is found in the people we care about, being able to be with them, regardless of where we may find ourselves.
So while he might have left, you're able to be together again, as a family. So doesn't that make it a bit like home? I don't know what happened; I know so little about your world, and there are times when I wonder if I truly want to know it. But being brought here, maybe it's like a second chance. To do what you weren't able to before. So instead of looking at it as having failed him, think of it like a second chance, to make things right.
1/2
[No matter where she is, it can still be home, huh...]
[It's not as if the organization itself is her home. Lenalee holds no attachment for the Church, for the pope and cardinals who can scatter exorcists and finders and scientists aside under the excuse of defending humanity. Rather, it's always been the people there. For Komui, the brother who sacrificed everything for her sake. For the Head Nurse, whose kind words made the Order finally seem less like the cruel place Lenalee had insistently believed in. For Reever and Johnny and the other scientists, for the Finders, for her fellow Exorcists...]
[(If they were all in a world without Akuma and the Order, then she'd still call it home).]
[But it's difficult to think of it that way. It's hard to grasp that hope. Lenalee had stopped running away and accepted the Order. To give into her youthful dream that all of that could end, and she could start anew with everyone she loved...]
[It's a long silence, one where Lenalee looks a little tired and sad and hopeful and regretful.]
[Lux's hand... It's warm. And her words... are truly kind.]
no subject
[it's true. she could have spent her whole life back in her world without ever realizing that Allen had left it for this one. so, thinking of this as a second chance...]
[Lenalee raises her other hand in order to gently lay it on Lux's. her mana is a whirlwind of emotions, all deep and Intense, with an undercurrent of balancing on a precipice -- about to fall or fly.]
Thank you. [so even if Lenalee thinks back on her decisions and despairs, she'll keep Lux's words in her heart as well.] For caring about Allen, despite what he might not have told you. For being kind to me, even though we've just met.
[she'll squeeze Lux's hand lightly between both of hers.]
I'm glad Allen has a friend like you.
[she can't as of yet, with 100% conviction, believe that she'll find her home here again. but she will accept the fact that this is a second chance for her to do better by Allen. and considering how much she's worried and felt terrible about it, knowing that she has that chance helps.]
[1/2]
So instead, when the exorcist finally did speak, Lux nodded gently, feeling the other girl place her hand gingerly over her own. Ah, good. Even if her signature felt a bit chaotic, this was good, right? Stabilizing, perhaps. She shook her head simply, her smile turning a bit more bright. ]
You don't need to thank me, it's the least I could do. We all come here feeling lost, and sometimes even just having someone to smile and say "it's all right" can make all the difference.
[ And her smile turning somewhat sheepish; ]
And I've never been good at dealing with seeing someone sad or alone. So I try to do everything I can to make them smile.
[ Which meant being somewhat pushy at times, but she didn't need to say that much... although it was certainly implied.
At the hand squeeze and her comment, her smile turned even more shy, and Lux brought her free hand to her cheek. ]
Sometimes I feel like I might be pestering him into being my friend, but...
[ And warming slightly, her hand fell back to her side as she shook her head. ]
But I'm glad that I could get to know him, that being brought to a world like this would let me meet someone like him. Is that strange of me to say? I feel like I'm stronger, having known him.
[2/2]
(Ah, she really didn't mean to say all of that...)
Offering the other girl a stronger smile, she canted her head slightly to one side. ]
You came out here to train, right? I can help, if you'd like. It can be a bit jarring, getting used to your new-found abilities here. Especially as a Pawn, things get complicated quickly.
no subject
I'm sure he doesn't think of it as pestering. [and her too of course, it goes unsaid.]
[it is a little embarrassing in retrospect when Lenalee thinks about how she dumped her feelings on Lux and almost became a water fountain of tears, so she smiles when Lux turns the subject around... IT'S EMBARRASSING, but she's also glad they had this conversation... she feels closer to Lux now...]
Yes, I have been practicing lately, but... [as Lux said, it's complicated.] I'd love your help. My weapon is a little similar to what I had at home --
[she gestures down at the ~magic shoes~ she has on, then frowns.]
But it's still pretty different.
no subject
She must never know.And smiling just as brightly as before, as if to tell the other girl that she has nothing to be embarrassed about, the type to feel everything so intensely herself. But sensing her unease about her fighting capabilities... ]
It can be. Even if you are given something you might be used to using, the way that mana flows in this world is different.
[ A hand to her chest, her eyes closed and chin dipped gently. ]
More than learning how to use your weapon, it's important to understand how your own powers work, or how they have changed, and being able to adapt and, if necessary, redefine what you know.
no subject
[But Lenalee listens closely, and nods, even as she looks a tad troubled]
My own powers...
[but instead of stopping there, she continues. Lux is a friend of Allen's so, she probably knows more about their world than others (PROBABLY??? allen... pls tell ur friends things)]
Came from the Innocence. [so they weren't really her own.] And it's nothing like the mana in this world. Though I guess... I need to focus more on just fighting combat-wise too, rather than just flying.
no subject
Ah, of course. Lenalee was an Exorcist, after all. Those who fought akuma with the power of Innocence. Nodding gently, almost knowingly, she gave the other girl an encouraging smile.
Something that, for some, was such an intrinsic part of themselves, more than the almost prismatic power that seemed to course through her own veins. And while Lux knew little about how Innocence worked—why some were chosen by it, or the myriad of ways that it manifested itself—she knew enough.
(But was Lenalee's like his... A Parasitic-type, he called it. Something that made him feel like a weapon...) ]
I will admit that I don't know much about Innocence, so I can only imagine how uncomfortable being separated from something that is so much a part of you can be. Some of us have been lucky enough to be given something similar to what we know, but sometimes that won't come until after your Rank changes.
And even then, it is easy to take that for granted. To force it to take form in a way that you know, and find yourself limited by it, or, at worst, betrayed in the darkest moments.
[ The way that her light magic bucked back against her. How she felt that she had to break it like a wild horse, so that she could mold it into the image of what she wanted.
Fosopye. Finales Funkeln. The words were different here, and while she felt at first like she had to search for something that she knew and understood, it took dying and being "reborn" in a sense for Lux to understand that she, like her powers, had to change.
Her hand absently went to the hilt of her blade. ]
Sometimes it's best to go back to the basics, to relearn things in a way, and adjust the way you think and move. I'm not sure what sort of fighter you were back home, but I might be able to help.