fairly | [Voice / Action]

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[Voice / Action]

[Filtered to Brave Vesperia]

Hey, Brave Vesperia members- Zack here. I know that Estelle talked about disbanding the guild, but I think there's still a need for what we were here to do for the village. Karol left us all betters, and I got the feeling that disbanding isn't what he would've wanted. Maybe I'm wrong, but... it just doesn't feel like it.

Either way, I want to keep the group running, and I know I'm not the only one, either.

If you disagree and wanna bow out, that's fine- no hard feelings or anything. Just let me know which of you are going to stick around, so we can update the roster.

For everybody staying in the guild, we've got a commission job from the SOS Brigade! So keep your eyes peeled for the details, and I'll try to get them ASAP.

[Filtered to Lightning]

Light! Wanna meet in the Battle Dome this afternoon? Got a little surprise for you.

[Today (aside from, hopefully, a bit of afternoon fun with a certain lovely lady) Zack will be hanging out around Good Spirits, mostly, either working at the bar as usual or chilling outside, trying to teach the most wretched looking dog ever to live (AKA "Just Dog") how to fetch. And probably failing miserably. Why won't his dogs ever fetch 8| This is obviously Daisy's fault.]

[[ooc: AND AND AND guys you don't have to do a thread with Zack if you don't want to or would rather leave it assumed, but either way PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE everyone comment OVER HERE to say who is staying in BV. I'll have an ongoing roster for a while and announce it a few times, too. I don't want anyone to get accidentally kicked. Thank you!]]

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[Almost physical contact! Not bad, not bad. Even if it's only "a little bit" he ducks a bit and rests his hands behind his head, looking for all the world like she'd just called him a dashing gentleman. Awww yeah.]

Well I'm not gonna mince words, you look great. Are you ready for an afternoon of non-violent fun for once?

[ Wait but this is how she always lo-- ooohhh. Well, hopefully she'll keep getting better at this eventually, because for now her face is more or less blank, looking a whole lot like she's not sure whether she wants to keep smiling or not.

She ain't mad tho, and with luck the fact that she isn't balking is enough to show it. That and her continuing curiosity here, lacking the wary suspicion that most would typically be receiving at this point. ]

What were you thinking of doing?

I thought I'd give you a taste of some modern Midgar culture. Because nothing says "vacation" like going to a new world, right? Even if it's only for an hour or two.

[Closer to two, though. What he's looking forward to can be kind of... special. He leads the way to one of the consoles, already set up and ready to go at the push of a button. Which he pushes, before offering out an arm with a grin.]

Shall we?

[ Midgar? After the descriptions here and there she's heard of the place... huh. Yeah, she's not sure what to think or expect, buuut... though those long lashes make even that slight widening of her eyes pretty obvious, she follows along without any major protests like trying to break his face or whatever. It's quicker to see what he means rather than that or to keep asking questions, anyway. ]

Alright.

[ And then she gives him a wry look and a light punch in the arm, shifting her weight. Still not a prancy princess over here, ffff. ]

[Oh well, it was worth a try. Shrugging it off, he leads the way into the dome chamber, which has been transformed into the bustling, lamp-lit streets of Loveless Avenue. Besides Aerith's church or house, it's the nicest place in Midgar to be. There's a surprising energy to the area, with booths, shops, displays, and down the street, a cozy little theater and playhouse.]

Welcome to Midgar, Light!

-- Ah.

[ So yeah, just excuse Lightning's lack of attention for a minute, because she's definitely busy looking around as soon as she's through the door into the simulation. Totally new world, indeed; not even the diversity of Cocoon cities or getting thrown into Luceti really dulls how different it all is from what she's used to. ]

So this is what it looks like...

[Zack gives her that moment, letting it all sink in before he steps forward again, pointing down the road.]

If we were in the real Midgar, I could take you that way, where the Shinra building is. It's pretty amazing- we had holographic combat training, sort of
like how the battle dome is in Luceti. And the whole place is 70 floors high!

[ After a few seconds, she's kind of reminded - vaguely! - of the ruins around the Hanging Edge and Lake Bresha, as well as some of the stuff she and the other l'Cie had seen at a distance inside the Ark. This isn't a place that has been abandoned and forgotten for centuries, though. Faaaaar from it.

So, there's that, which is pretty nice. ]

... Not really a building you'd want to take the stairs in.

[ She turns toward him again finally, folding her arms loosely. Her frame of reference is off, of course, but she assumes 70 stories must be a lot for here since he bothered to mention it... although either way, point still stands. Elevators are pretty awesome. ]

Yeaaaah, I took the stairs once. Not something I'd want to repeat, even with a SOLDIER's stamina.

[And they have a lot of stamina. ~~bow chicka wow wow~~]

Not to mention it'd be slow as hell.

[ ... Smile. ]

[There's that victorious feeling again.]

No kidding. But! We won't need the stairs today. We're going over there. [He points to the theater down the street.] That spot, right over there!

[ Over thar? Her gaze follows his hand for a moment or two... and then follows it right back to him instead, her head tilted forward slightly. It stays there too, even as she steps off in the indicated direction, half-turned.

What is she so amused over, anyway? At least... at least she doesn't have to be all dodgy about her interest any more though, even if she's still-- hnnn, this is weird and nice, at the same time?? Rarely has she been more thankful for her ingrained adaptability... ]

... I'd heard you could do stuff like this in here now, but I hadn't really tried it much yet.

This is actually my first time! I wanted to give it a test run with some good company. Hope you don't mind.

[She doesn't look unhappy, though, so he'll take that as a good sign. Maybe he's on the right track? Here's hoping, anyway.]

No. [ Nope, nope, nope, though at that she looks a little more serious again, her hands opening and closing a bit by her sides. And, dryly: ] Hopefully your tendency to get attacked on vacation doesn't kick in.

[ You know, in the middle of a simulation in a place called the Battle Dome. Which until only recently did fighty stuff only. And she doesn't even have her gunblade with her! ]

Haha, man, that would suck! [He's taking it in stride. BRING IT ON IF IT MUST BE.] I think we could handle it, though. It was just a bunch of diver clones, nothing serious. I took them out with a beach umbrella.

[ ... Well. The only thing worse than Lightning ready for a fight is Lightning when she's pissed and forced to fight when she hadn't planned on it. So yes, with luck that doesn't happen, because it would be a shame if she was pressed to prove it really is possible to blow a freaking hole in the wall from the inside...!

..... That is, if Zack didn't go and manage to totally distract her with something like yet another crazy off-hand comment, like he just did now.

....... Yeah, she doesn't even know how to respond to that. ]

[Thank god for distractions, right? Because it's just a short walk to the theater, and Zack guides her inside, bypassing the ticket booth (because screw that, he wrote this world) and right into the main lobby.]

Ever been to live theater before?

Uh...

[ She considers the question as she glances around at the inside of the theater, calling up hazy memories of any experiences even vaguely resembling what she's seeing so far, put with Zack's bare-bones commentary there. ]

Probably not like this. [ "Live" rather than holograms? Doubtful. Although: ] At least not since I was a lot younger.

Oh, score! That means I've got nostalgia on my side, right? [Griiiiiin.] I haven't seen any myself for about five or six years now, so this is kind of a treat for me. It's the only play I could think of, but it's pretty good! Way better than the book, anyway.

[Not that he ever finished it. Around the lobby, there's display boards and fancy paintings of a trio- two men, and a woman, with the word "Loveless" spread out above them.]

[ Yeah, she's noticed the displays- with a name like that it seems to her like kind of an odd thing to take a girlfriend to, but haha what does she know anyway? She'll just... kind of trust he means it when he says it's alright- enough to come up with even though it's the only one he knows!

She's trying really hard not to pass judgment too soon, okay?? Shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket, she tilts her head a little again, voice sounding dryly amused. ]

I kind of take it you don't really read much for pleasure anyway, Zack.

...Heh, is it that obvious? [Yeah, not really the recreational reader here.] At least nobody's ever expected me to be a bookworm- we didn't have a school where I grew up, so it wasn't in my list of things to do all that much.

[ At first Lightning traces out her usual shrugging gesture at that - she's hardly a reader herself unless it's necessary for some thing or another - but then, she actually STOPS WALKING for a second when he mentions there WASN'T A SCHOOL.

... WHA. ]

Seriously?

[ She draws even again, but is visibly quite boggled still from that, even after all the stuff he's talked about before. The torture upon childrens by schooling is just such a universal thing, though-- or so she thought... ]

Seriously! It was way too small, so most kids were home-schooled. Most of the families have businesses to take care of, and that's what the next gen is there for.

[Well, the ones that don't run off to cross a continent and become a SOLDIER, anyway.]

In Cocoon, the government wouldn't even consider letting you avoid schooling until you're sixteen or older. [ A huge source of annoyance for her, when she'd been fifteen and desperately needing more time to secure a source of income and for getting integrated with the Guardian Corps. ] I can't... imagine having to do what my parents did.

[ Not that kids following in the footsteps of their family members was unheard of, but... for the most part, Cocoon's youth were very much encouraged to follow whatever path they could manage to stay on. Her own choices had been restrained by necessity and stubbornness in refusing outside help, but in theory nothing was off-limits....

At least that sorts out something that had been bothering her, though, over Zack's apparent decision to run away from home. Pretty eye-opening. Her expression's kind of odd and thoughtful as she stares over at him. ]

I guess things work a little differently in rural towns. We didn't really even have a government where I lived- Gongaga wasn't even big enough to have a mayor. Everyone just sort of helped each other out and chipped in to look after the village. The only outside involvement we had was Shinra, since they owned the reactor that gave us electricity.

[In a way it's more and less restrictive. He'll have to ask her more about Cocoon, though, now that she's mentioned it.]

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