But when I think I'll be okay (Active / Closed)

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Lightning, Hope, Sazh (Vanille?)
Content: Time to welcome another familiar face into the city
Setting: Cafe Ersesat by Joutenheim for now
Time: Week 30
Warnings:.... ff13 stuff, probably some wibbling


The rhythmic clink clink of her equipment and the thumping of her footsteps against the city's streets helped keep Lightning calm. Someone else had turned up here, someone else she knew. Running through the streets, she hoped Hope would know where to meet him, and Vanille, too, if she was paying attention. For Lightning, she knew the most important thing was finding Sazh before the poor man got himself hopelessly lost. It was easy to do in a place like this.

In some ways, Lightning knew she shouldn't hope for anyone else to arrive. She should wish for them to remain at home, where they could stop Barthandelus and keep Cocoon safe. Selfishly, she wanted them to arrive here, too, especially Serah. She'd lost count of how long it had been since she'd seen her sister and even then... she had so much to apologize for, so much to say to Serah.

Keeping her thoughts to herself, Lightning rounded the corner to the cafe and slowed down. Glancing around, she checked to be sure Sazh wasn't anywhere outside before she headed inside to look for him. Despite what she'd say to the contrary, he was one of the ones she'd missed the most since arriving here, Hope and Serah being the others. Now that he was here, she could breathe a little easier. Just a little.

Comments

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

Once Lightning had given him a place to go and meet her, Sazh had headed there pretty much automatically. He was not the type of guy to really go exploring without some idea of where he was, and right now he was more concerned with seeing the few members of his group that were currently in this crazy place with him.

Once he found the cafe, with only a few speed bumps along the way, Sazh went right inside, looking about to make sure he hadn't arrived later than Lightning. Though how he'd have managed that he wasn't sure. When he didn't see her or anyone else familiar, Sazh parked himself in a seat close to the door and sat down.

While he could use something to eat or drink, he'd wait before getting anything. Mostly because he had no idea how money exactly worked around here, and he didn't want to cause any problems by assuming gil was accepted here.

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

Lightning pushed open the door to the cafe and glanced around. Sazh wasn't hard to find at all and her face slid into the smallest of smiles as she walked over and slid into the seat across from him.

"Good to see you again, Sazh."

It really was. She'd spent so long without any familiar faces and then with just Hope. The more people she knew who arrived, the more she was feeling like she had backup. Partners.

Now, if only Serah would turn up...

"Thirsty?" she asked, quirking her head in the direction of the menus. Since she figured he'd be as lost as she had been about how currency worked here, she decided to give a basic overview. "Money's not much of a problem here. If it's shiny, they accept it." To prove her point, she pulled out three small metal leaves and slid them across the table to him.

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

Lightning wasn't too hard to spot either, once she walked into the cafe. Sazh lifted a hand in greeting, smiling a bit as she sat down across from him.

"Good to see you too, Lightning."

He was happy to see her. It was a relief to know that he wasn't here alone. "Yeah, I could use something to drink." He was about to ask about money, but as Lightning slid the leaves across the table, he looked a bit incredulous. "Well, that's... interesting." If it was shiny, they'd take it, huh?

"Any recommendations on what I should get here?"

/slow forever

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

"In a place like this, money really does grow on trees," Lightning answered with a small smile. She was really glad to have another "adult" figure here with her. Sazh counted as more adult that she was by age, but sometimes her seriousness far outstripped his. Still, she was glad he was there.

"Anything with caffeine," she answered, sitting back in her seat and folding her arms over her chest. "Their cocoa and coffee drinks aren't bad."

She gave him a few minutes to figure out what he wanted before she sighed and glanced back at the door. No Hope or Vanille in sight. Maybe she could start the topic before they arrived.

"Sazh... Did we find what we were looking for in Oerba?"

Straight to the point, no mincing words. That was Lightning.

also slow forever :c

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

"That works for me." Honestly, now that he didn't have to worry about money, there was the smallest bit of weight off Sazh's shoulders. Why did it always seem like they didn't have enough Gil on their journey? Well, maybe because they didn't. But with shiny leaves in hand, Sazh was able to order a coffee without any hesitation. Nice.

Since it was still just the two of them, Sazh crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat when Lightning posed her question. He wasn't so sure he had the answer she wanted to hear.

"Not really, Lightning. We looked all around, but in the end.... we still didn't come up with a surefire solution." He waved his hand, looking up at the ceiling briefly, and then back at her. "In the end, we just decided to head back to Cocoon and do what we could."

/sets up a slow club

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

Gil, food, and a decent place to sleep were always the hardest things to come by during travel. This was a truth Lightning knew well. And maybe Sazh didn't have the answer she wanted, but it was an answer nonetheless. Anything was better than wondering at this point.

"Then we will once we get back to Cocoon. We won't just give up and let Cocoon suffer."

Of that she was certain. She knew all of them well by now. They wouldn't let something like that happen.

"At least the good news here is that our brands don't move as quickly as they did at home. Something's slowing them down. Mine has progressed a little since I got here, but not as far as it did the whole time I had it at home."

*speeds by on a hovercycle*

[mynamenotwhoiam.livejournal.com]

Hope hopped off the train later than he'd wanted to, but it wasn't his fault that everything was so crowded where he was coming from. It didn't take him too long to walk to the cafe from the station, but he kept up his pace anyway.

Thankfully, in a city full of blond heads, Sazh's Afro and Lightning's pink hair stood out really well. Hope spotted them the second he opened the door, and waved when he saw Sazh. It had been a long time since they split up, though it had sounded like Sazh was from a later time than Hope, too.

"Hey guys," he said as he walked up to the table. He didn't sit yet though, he hadn't been invited to.

D8 Uncool, Hope

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

"That seemed to be the sentiment of our whole group, Lightning. We were close to a big fight before I came here.... I just hope it will end the way we want it to."

Sazh's fingers tapped against the table, and at the mention of their brands, the man looked down at the symbol centered on his chest. It was pretty far along for him, and there a tiny breath of relief from him at the fact that they progressed slowly in this place. He was not all that keen on going Ci'eth. "That's some good news, I guess."

When he looked up, Sazh saw Hope coming in the door and walking towards them. He waved, "Hey, there you are, Hope. Take a seat." He motioned to the empty third chair at the table.

/trips up the hovercycle

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

"We'll have to make it end that way," Lightning answered, leveling an even gaze at Sazh. She knew where her heart was and what she needed to do. All that was left was finding a way to do it.

She would have added more, but Hope arrived then, so she shelved the discussion for later and glanced at the boy with a small smile. It was as much of a smile as Lightning ever gave, but it meant she was glad to see him.

"Glad to see you made it." She also gave a slight nod in the direction of the chair. No use making Hope stand there.

a;lskdjfa;lsdkfjasd SCREW YOU TOO

[mynamenotwhoiam.livejournal.com]

"You're acting like it was hard to get here," Hope answered as he pulled out a chair and sat down. It felt...weird, being around these guys like this, and just talking. They'd never gotten a chance to do that at home.

"Sorry I'm so late, there were too many people trying to get on the train." Lightning and Sazh would know that Hope was too polite to try to shove his way through a crowd, so the excuse wouldn't be any surprise to either of them.

*LAUGHING~*

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

"It's no problem, Hope. Lightning and I were just talking, we didn't have you on any kind of schedule." He gave the youngest member of the group a smile, in the time that he had traveled with him, he'd grown pretty fond of Hope. For a kid, he had proven himself pretty wise.

"As a matter of fact, we hadn't even ordered anything to drink yet. Why don't we flag down a waitress and see what we can get, huh?" He didn't know what Lightning would want to talk about next now that Hope arrived, so he left the situation open and light, letting the 'leader' take things into her own hands for now.

/wins \o/

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

Lightning just offered Hope a nod and a very small smile in return. She did know how the trains were sometimes and Hope wasn't the kind of person to force his way anywhere, so she was pretty sure he would have gotten caught up in it. It didn't occur to her that he might be hiding something.

And now it was time to find something else to talk about, since brands and their Focus were completely out now that Hope was here. Lightning didn't want that hanging over the kid's head.

"It's hard enough to get anywhere in this city," she answered, speaking to Hope. "We were just taking about the city, giving Sazh the basics." Like the whole money thing. "Let's get drinks and then we can tell him what we know."

Time to flag down a waitress, which was what Lightning did then, ordering a cool latte and waiting for the others with shiny leaves in hand. She'd pay this time.

[mynamenotwhoiam.livejournal.com]

"It's not so bad. At least there aren't people chasing after us all the time here." Hope paused after he said that though, his right hand unconsciously moving just a little closer to the brand on his left wrist.

"Sounds good," he answered Light's suggestion, using it to change the subject. He ordered a lemonade and looked over to Sazh.

[focusflight.livejournal.com]

Sazh nodded at that comment, it did always seem that no matter where they went they were chased. He glanced at Hope's wrist, but didn't comment. If there was something Hope wanted to say or ask about his brand, he would pipe up. Sazh wasn't going to bring anything up that might end up upsetting him.

The waitress turned to him finally, and he ordered a plain coffee. he could mix it up with cream and sugar as he saw fit. Yeah, it was a total old man move. Once the waitress had all their orders, she walked away, leaving the three of them to themselves.

"So Hope, anything you know about this place that Lightning doesn't?"

/aaand the slowmobile is back

[apocalypsesaber.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Lightning answered Hope's comment. At least here they weren't being chased by people who thought they were going to destroy the world. She leaned forward just a little and then sat back against the chair, crossing her legs under the table. Her necklace hit her chest heavily and she was reminded forcefully of her sister. With Hope here, Lightning felt Serah's absence more than ever.

Hope probably didn't know anything else, considering Lightning had been here longer than he had, but she didn't comment, letting Hope say as much or as little as he wanted.

[mynamenotwhoiam.livejournal.com]

"I don't think so. Lightning's been here a lot longer than me," Hope answered. "I've met a lot of people my age here though. It's weird that there are so many of us." He hadn't expected that game of tag to be so popular, and it had ended up being a lot of fun, too.