[Lady Lightning looks content at her table, looking out the window. Machina almost doesn't want to bother her. But she did ask him to come. Although there's a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach that accompanies his being confused. Very much like when he was specifically called out by the Cadetmaster for failure to report on the activities of his classmates. At least there's very little chance he's about to be ordered to spy on more people this time?
He's apprehensive when he walks over, though Machina tries to hide it by squaring his shoulders. Time to get this over with.]
[Ah but he only has an idea what it's about, but not a clue why she's being well... not hateful. He's been over the whole trainwreck in his head over and over again, Turning it around, only finding doom and gloom and hurt in it all. He's not sorry for broaching the subject. He just regrets having thought he could trust them in the first place.
...and losing control of his temper. Though, now that he thinks on it, that's not the only thing he could have lost control over.
Machina sinks into the chair looking miserable and uncomfortable, still waiting for the hammer to fall.]
[There's a slight pout on his face. That's why he'd went there in the first place. Though it hasn't occurred to Machina that he could have approached what was bothering him from a different and less inflammatory (pun not intended) direction.
His hands ball up into fists in his lap though he's not angry, just frustrated. And very worried about being rejected outright. Again.]
Are you sure you want to know? [As soon as he says it, he realizes it's dumb. If she didn't, why would Light have sought him out in the first place. Siiiiiiiiigh.] I will, but it's complicated. And... I didn't want Hope to know. About our Alexander. He's a good kid but... not everyone should witness the reality of war.
[There's not an ounce of uncertainty. Hope is still a kid but he's done some growing up, and has seen and done a lot of things any fourteen year old boy should never have to deal with. The purge, the fal'Cie, being branded, and everything that came between and after. Not to mention the things that are on their way for him...
They've already talked about Machina's Alexander compared to Hope's, so she skips right to the point.]
Try me.
['Complicated' might as well be her middle name. Have you seen FF13's story?]
[This is so hard. Machina spent so much time at home playing the spy that he doesn't know how to be honest anymore. And he's spent his last months here torn between fretting like hell over Rem and worrying someone from Akademia would show up and catch him out.
So. Everything he tells her is the truth. Just not the whole truth. Not yet.]
There's a White Tiger l'Cie on the island. The same one who witnessed and survived Alexander's decimation of the Militesi forces on the Rubrum border. I don't know if he'll consider Hope a threat to be extinguished if Alexander is summoned here.
[100% true that. After the fight with Sora, Machina hasn't a clue what might bring out his being brainjacked again.]
That's why I came to you. I'm...watching his actions. But it's safer to remove summoning off the table.
[She raises her brows, fingers still drumming impatiently on the cup in her hands.]
White Tiger l'Cie...?
[She says it in a flat tone, as if she finds it hard to believe. What kind of person would even call themselves that, first of all... and why haven't they come forward at all if they're so worried about it?]
You can tell this "White Tiger l'Cie" that it's not Alexander they need to worry about. They hurt Hope, I'll end them with my own hands.
[That threat is one that he realize she'd make good on, and honestly, he'd prefer if she did if things got out of hand again. But it does confirm to Machina that telling Lightning everything could end up disastrously terrible. Even so, he nods his agreement with her. Ultimately he wants to protect his younger friend too.]
The White Tiger is the name of the Militesi Empire's Crystal, the empire that invaded my country and dropped an Ultima Bomb on Lorica. They defiled our Crystal, burned my village. They don't take prisoners. Civilians are just extra mouths to feed so they execute them.
[The more he talks about the Empire, a sour sort of smell fills the air, acrid like the scent of a match as its struck. And this stupid kid went and got himself leashed to them.]
You have to understand we were losing the war until Lady Caetuna called Alexander. The Eidolon ripped the Empire in half and disintegrated the majority of their forces. Hope's might not be the same, but that might not matter either. A l'Cie takes their direction from their Crystal and their Focus.
I'll do everything I can to prevent him from hurting anyone here, including Hope. You too. And Lord Snow, Lady Serah.
[Her jaw clenches and unclenches and her nose scrunches a little at the shift in smell, going from coffee to something burning. At the mention of Hope again, Lightning falls back against her chair and rolls her eyes. There it is again, even if she and the others have made it perfectly clear that their Eidolons are different.]
And so what about me and Snow? What'll happen to us if we summon Odin and the sisters? Is this big, bad l'Cie gonna want to come after us?
[That is the most 100% completely honest thing he's said this whole conversation. He doesn't know. At least, not anymore. Before he would have said it wasn't important, but things have changed and he doesn't have the answers. That's why he broached the subject in the first place.
At least the smell dies down and fades off now that he's not bitching about Milites.
Then in a rare show of vulnerability, he admits:]
That's what worries me.
[Machina stares hard at the table, half wishing he could take that much back and half relieved he could finally just say so.]
[Her voice breaks when she sighs his name, and she rubs at the bridge of her nose as she leans forward onto the table, pushing her coffee cup aside.
She has to take in a deep breath through her nose, trying to search for some kind of calm center. Lightning hasn't forgotten the things he said that day and if she was being honest with herself at all, it hurt her to hear that he didn't trust all of them to be responsible. That they wouldn't use their Eidolons to hurt people who didn't deserve it.
Lightning steels herself, lowering her hand and curling her fingers on the table.]
No one is going to get hurt, and no one's gonna hurt us. Not while I'm around.
[It all boils down that Machina doesn't trust himself anymore. He's scared and only just coming to realize how potentially wretched his decision to become a l'Cie can be. He was enticed by the power and didn't think of the consequences, and those are starting to come home to roost for him.
But Lady Lightning's reassurance helps immensely. It was all he'd wanted in the first place and then everything got out of hand. He looks up from the table and nods.]
I believe you.
[There's more he wants to add, more to the story than he's told her. But after opening and closing his mouth to start a couple of times, he just sets his jaw and nods again.]
I'll protect you all too. I won't let anyone hurt any of you.
[Lightning returns the nod, lifting the cup to her lips for a sip and keeping her eyes firmly glued to Machina with an expression that tries to convey that she has more to add to that.]
Our Eidolons are here to help us. We sometimes can't fight alone... So if you want to help protect us, don't stop Hope from summoning Alexander if he has to.
[Then maybe he'll see that they can be trusted not to destroy the entire island. With Alexander's size, it's definitely possible that he could wreak havoc if Hope wanted him to, but they aren't like that. None of them asked for this kind of life and none of them are going to ruin the bond with their Eidolons that came from it.]
[There's a slow grudging nod from Machina. Not that he wholly agrees for his own selfish and fearful reasons. But he can understand doing whatever it takes to protect himself and those around him.]
Alright.
[There's a quiet sigh from him while he internalizes what that agreement means. Maybe. He doesn't know. But then there's something else at stake that has been eating at him. He has to know.]
Is it true? That in your time, everything is gone?
[Lightning shifts uncomfortably in her seat at that. That little piece of information had been something she blurted out in the moment, her own anger getting the better of her and not intentional at all. Too late now, though.
She cradles her coffee between her hands, leaning forward and staring out the window.]
It's not gone. Not yet. ['Gone' is not quite the right word for what the Chaos has done to their world, or is in the process of doing from her point of view.] The Chaos does exactly what one might think -- destroys everything in its path. When Etro died, the gates of Valhalla opened and the Chaos flooded through. Bhunivelze created a new world for humanity to be reborn.
[A deep dread settles into the pit of his stomach, sick at the thought of something destroying all in its path. He's horrified to think of it and he's witnessed more tragedy than someone his age should have ever been privy to. Machina stares hard at the table, trying to process that information. Many of those names mean nothing to him which makes the understanding difficult. Except one.
His head shoots up, eyes going wide with shock.]
Etro's dead?!
[The kid's no theologian but he's been educated well enough that that name means something to him.]
[She's not going to get into all the details of her death, though. Noel's already been thrown under the bus enough times that Lightning doesn't want to tell that part of the story again.]
That's why our world's been destroyed. That's why I'm the savior – to guide humanity to the new world Bhunivelze's created for us.
[You can almost see the wheels turning in Machina's head. A lot of what she's saying doesn't quite make sense. For starters...]
Who's Bhunivelze? You mentioned her? him? twice now. Must be important.
[Still thinking. Half talking to himself while he parses the information. At least he's doing it aloud and not just churning it all in his head.]
And Etro's dead. But humanity is born from Etro's blood, so if she's dead, does that mean there's no new people? And there's Chaos destroying the world...
[He looks up at Lightning, studying her face, as he considers her entirely anew. Reaching a conclusion that might or might not be actuality but he's closing in on it.]
...and you're the Savior.
[Savior. Agito. At the end of time. Tempus Finis. The bridge between the seen and unseen worlds.]
[She simply nods at first, because all of this thinking and churning out loud he's doing is pretty much on point. Everything from Etro being dead to no new life to her being the savior.]
With Etro gone and the Chaos uncontained, no new life is born and life is not lost. The cycle of life and death is broken and our world became one with Valhalla.
[Lightning remembers traversing through Gran Pulse and seeing Etro's temple in the middle of it all, and for a brief moment, Machina might see a flash of the image, too, in an accidental crystal connection.]
When we awoke from our crystal sleep, Etro had passed on her blessing and removed our brands. We were no longer l'Cie, but I had to pay the price.
[And thus, Lightning's story became more convoluted.]
[Machina's thoughts settle on that brief image of a temple out of place surrounded by a wild and untamed land. Passages from the Nameless Tome that he's had hammered into his head come to recollection and he more mumbles it than actually expresses it:]
'Only the chosen may enter that land. The chosen will touch all creation, and obtain that which is truth.' '...when the seal of creation is broken...' I thought it was a gate but...what if creation itself were broken? Life and death...
[Machina shakes his head, realizing he's thinking aloud and spiraling in on the conclusion that Lady Lightning is Agito. Admiration lights his eyes, this time not at all related to her having once been a l'Cie. By her own admission she is the savior, even at a cost.]
That's not fair.
[What in the world ever gave Machina the notion that anything in life is fair? He knows better by now. But he blurts it out anyway as he is wont to do.]
[No, nothing in life is ever fair, Machina. Lightning's had that hammered into her own head time and time again, not by teachers or mentors, but by life itself. She hasn't had a day off before she came here. It was one thing after another and if it wasn't one problem, it was something else.
She drums her fingers against her cup, turning to stare out the window again.]
When the gates open, the Chaos pulled me through into Valhalla. A dying goddess... she needed someone to protect her. And so, that was the price I paid and I failed her. She died, and the gates opened and the Chaos devoured everything. Five hundred years of being at its mercy and I woke up as the savior, thirteen days before the end.
[It not really a question. He's echoing the words because it strikes him as no mere coincidence. Admiration floods his face and where there was a surly teengaer, there is now one very animated fan.]
You're Agito.
[He's convinced. Although Machina is a little surprised he hasn't completed his Focus. Maybe that just means there's something else he needs to do first to make room for her. Maybe he's a little disappointed to figure out that he's not it after all, but this truly is the next best thing.]
[Hello, this is Machina Kunagiri being polite and reverent. Bad attitude is banished. He will never ever blow his stack in Lady Lightning's presence again. Ever.]
There is a prophecy that at the end of time, Tempus Finis, a savior will arise and save the world. Agito, the Savior.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-11-04 08:43 pm (UTC)He's apprehensive when he walks over, though Machina tries to hide it by squaring his shoulders. Time to get this over with.]
You wanted to talk?
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Date: 2017-11-04 09:15 pm (UTC)Lightning stretches her leg and kicks the chair opposite her out from under the table for him.]
I do. You know what this is about.
[At least, she's sure he does and she thinks he ought to, but it's not a question so much as it is an expectation said aloud.]
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Date: 2017-11-04 10:14 pm (UTC)...and losing control of his temper. Though, now that he thinks on it, that's not the only thing he could have lost control over.
Machina sinks into the chair looking miserable and uncomfortable, still waiting for the hammer to fall.]
I'm sorry I almost set your house on fire.
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Date: 2017-11-05 01:56 am (UTC)Yeah. [Apology accepted. Apologies is not what she brought him here for, though.] Were you planning on telling me what that was all about?
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Date: 2017-11-05 02:45 am (UTC)His hands ball up into fists in his lap though he's not angry, just frustrated. And very worried about being rejected outright. Again.]
Are you sure you want to know? [As soon as he says it, he realizes it's dumb. If she didn't, why would Light have sought him out in the first place. Siiiiiiiiigh.] I will, but it's complicated. And... I didn't want Hope to know. About our Alexander. He's a good kid but... not everyone should witness the reality of war.
[One such kid is sitting at this table.]
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Date: 2017-11-05 04:44 pm (UTC)[There's not an ounce of uncertainty. Hope is still a kid but he's done some growing up, and has seen and done a lot of things any fourteen year old boy should never have to deal with. The purge, the fal'Cie, being branded, and everything that came between and after. Not to mention the things that are on their way for him...
They've already talked about Machina's Alexander compared to Hope's, so she skips right to the point.]
Try me.
['Complicated' might as well be her middle name.
Have you seen FF13's story?]no subject
Date: 2017-11-05 05:23 pm (UTC)So. Everything he tells her is the truth. Just not the whole truth. Not yet.]
There's a White Tiger l'Cie on the island. The same one who witnessed and survived Alexander's decimation of the Militesi forces on the Rubrum border. I don't know if he'll consider Hope a threat to be extinguished if Alexander is summoned here.
[100% true that. After the fight with Sora, Machina hasn't a clue what might bring out his being brainjacked again.]
That's why I came to you. I'm...watching his actions. But it's safer to remove summoning off the table.
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Date: 2017-11-06 03:12 pm (UTC)White Tiger l'Cie...?
[She says it in a flat tone, as if she finds it hard to believe. What kind of person would even call themselves that, first of all... and why haven't they come forward at all if they're so worried about it?]
You can tell this "White Tiger l'Cie" that it's not Alexander they need to worry about. They hurt Hope, I'll end them with my own hands.
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Date: 2017-11-06 05:31 pm (UTC)The White Tiger is the name of the Militesi Empire's Crystal, the empire that invaded my country and dropped an Ultima Bomb on Lorica. They defiled our Crystal, burned my village. They don't take prisoners. Civilians are just extra mouths to feed so they execute them.
[The more he talks about the Empire, a sour sort of smell fills the air, acrid like the scent of a match as its struck. And this stupid kid went and got himself leashed to them.]
You have to understand we were losing the war until Lady Caetuna called Alexander. The Eidolon ripped the Empire in half and disintegrated the majority of their forces. Hope's might not be the same, but that might not matter either. A l'Cie takes their direction from their Crystal and their Focus.
I'll do everything I can to prevent him from hurting anyone here, including Hope. You too. And Lord Snow, Lady Serah.
[Just maybe not that Noel. He's an ass.]
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Date: 2017-11-07 03:22 pm (UTC)And so what about me and Snow? What'll happen to us if we summon Odin and the sisters? Is this big, bad l'Cie gonna want to come after us?
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Date: 2017-11-07 04:26 pm (UTC)[That is the most 100% completely honest thing he's said this whole conversation. He doesn't know. At least, not anymore. Before he would have said it wasn't important, but things have changed and he doesn't have the answers. That's why he broached the subject in the first place.
At least the smell dies down and fades off now that he's not bitching about Milites.
Then in a rare show of vulnerability, he admits:]
That's what worries me.
[Machina stares hard at the table, half wishing he could take that much back and half relieved he could finally just say so.]
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Date: 2017-11-08 04:11 am (UTC)[Her voice breaks when she sighs his name, and she rubs at the bridge of her nose as she leans forward onto the table, pushing her coffee cup aside.
She has to take in a deep breath through her nose, trying to search for some kind of calm center. Lightning hasn't forgotten the things he said that day and if she was being honest with herself at all, it hurt her to hear that he didn't trust all of them to be responsible. That they wouldn't use their Eidolons to hurt people who didn't deserve it.
Lightning steels herself, lowering her hand and curling her fingers on the table.]
No one is going to get hurt, and no one's gonna hurt us. Not while I'm around.
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Date: 2017-11-10 03:38 am (UTC)But Lady Lightning's reassurance helps immensely. It was all he'd wanted in the first place and then everything got out of hand. He looks up from the table and nods.]
I believe you.
[There's more he wants to add, more to the story than he's told her. But after opening and closing his mouth to start a couple of times, he just sets his jaw and nods again.]
I'll protect you all too. I won't let anyone hurt any of you.
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Date: 2017-11-11 05:58 pm (UTC)Our Eidolons are here to help us. We sometimes can't fight alone... So if you want to help protect us, don't stop Hope from summoning Alexander if he has to.
[Then maybe he'll see that they can be trusted not to destroy the entire island. With Alexander's size, it's definitely possible that he could wreak havoc if Hope wanted him to, but they aren't like that. None of them asked for this kind of life and none of them are going to ruin the bond with their Eidolons that came from it.]
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Date: 2017-11-20 03:52 am (UTC)Alright.
[There's a quiet sigh from him while he internalizes what that agreement means. Maybe. He doesn't know. But then there's something else at stake that has been eating at him. He has to know.]
Is it true? That in your time, everything is gone?
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Date: 2017-11-21 02:18 am (UTC)She cradles her coffee between her hands, leaning forward and staring out the window.]
It's not gone. Not yet. ['Gone' is not quite the right word for what the Chaos has done to their world, or is in the process of doing from her point of view.] The Chaos does exactly what one might think -- destroys everything in its path. When Etro died, the gates of Valhalla opened and the Chaos flooded through. Bhunivelze created a new world for humanity to be reborn.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-21 02:39 am (UTC)His head shoots up, eyes going wide with shock.]
Etro's dead?!
[The kid's no theologian but he's been educated well enough that that name means something to him.]
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Date: 2017-11-22 06:56 pm (UTC)[She's not going to get into all the details of her death, though. Noel's already been thrown under the bus enough times that Lightning doesn't want to tell that part of the story again.]
That's why our world's been destroyed. That's why I'm the savior – to guide humanity to the new world Bhunivelze's created for us.
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Date: 2017-11-23 05:25 pm (UTC)Who's Bhunivelze? You mentioned her? him? twice now. Must be important.
[Still thinking. Half talking to himself while he parses the information. At least he's doing it aloud and not just churning it all in his head.]
And Etro's dead. But humanity is born from Etro's blood, so if she's dead, does that mean there's no new people? And there's Chaos destroying the world...
[He looks up at Lightning, studying her face, as he considers her entirely anew. Reaching a conclusion that might or might not be actuality but he's closing in on it.]
...and you're the Savior.
[Savior. Agito. At the end of time. Tempus Finis. The bridge between the seen and unseen worlds.]
no subject
Date: 2017-11-24 12:10 am (UTC)With Etro gone and the Chaos uncontained, no new life is born and life is not lost. The cycle of life and death is broken and our world became one with Valhalla.
[Lightning remembers traversing through Gran Pulse and seeing Etro's temple in the middle of it all, and for a brief moment, Machina might see a flash of the image, too, in an accidental crystal connection.]
When we awoke from our crystal sleep, Etro had passed on her blessing and removed our brands. We were no longer l'Cie, but I had to pay the price.
[And thus, Lightning's story became more convoluted.]
no subject
Date: 2017-11-24 01:26 am (UTC)'Only the chosen may enter that land. The chosen will touch all creation, and obtain that which is truth.' '...when the seal of creation is broken...' I thought it was a gate but...what if creation itself were broken? Life and death...
[Machina shakes his head, realizing he's thinking aloud and spiraling in on the conclusion that Lady Lightning is Agito. Admiration lights his eyes, this time not at all related to her having once been a l'Cie. By her own admission she is the savior, even at a cost.]
That's not fair.
[What in the world ever gave Machina the notion that anything in life is fair? He knows better by now. But he blurts it out anyway as he is wont to do.]
What's the price you had to pay?
no subject
Date: 2017-11-25 02:09 am (UTC)She drums her fingers against her cup, turning to stare out the window again.]
When the gates open, the Chaos pulled me through into Valhalla. A dying goddess... she needed someone to protect her. And so, that was the price I paid and I failed her. She died, and the gates opened and the Chaos devoured everything. Five hundred years of being at its mercy and I woke up as the savior, thirteen days before the end.
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Date: 2017-11-26 05:40 pm (UTC)[It not really a question. He's echoing the words because it strikes him as no mere coincidence. Admiration floods his face and where there was a surly teengaer, there is now one very animated fan.]
You're Agito.
[He's convinced. Although Machina is a little surprised he hasn't completed his Focus. Maybe that just means there's something else he needs to do first to make room for her. Maybe he's a little disappointed to figure out that he's not it after all, but this truly is the next best thing.]
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 09:37 pm (UTC)I'm sorry, who?
[Something in his expression tells her that this person is real important.]
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Date: 2017-11-26 09:55 pm (UTC)[Hello, this is Machina Kunagiri being polite and reverent. Bad attitude is banished. He will never ever blow his stack in Lady Lightning's presence again. Ever.]
There is a prophecy that at the end of time, Tempus Finis, a savior will arise and save the world. Agito, the Savior.
You're the savior at the end of time.
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