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WHO: Kallie/Lightning & Sierra/Serah.
WHAT: Running into one another.
WHEN: Sunday January 12th in the afternoon.
WHERE: In Locke, out and about. Possibly near the hospital.

[ December has been a busy time for Sierra - although it's January now, so her schoolwork has slowed to a steady flow once again instead of the torrent that somehow always happened just before the holidays. She's tried to look in at the Network every so often, but sometimes not engaging is just a little easier. She knows she has to work on that, because relying on Elly and Sara knowing what's going on is a little...well, Sierra shouldn't be doing that.

It's hard to balance Real Life with her incredibly ridiculous Network Life, and perhaps that's because Sierra never had the childhood dreams of being a superhero or some magical person that others might have had. She just...wanted to be a vet. Always. A normal vet.

It's harder still when those two lives are becoming more and more entwined every day. When she catches a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye on the street, Sierra turns, startled, and immediately recognizes... ]

Kallie? [ They've talked a few times, though not in person since that first meeting, but...yes, she did just call out to the girl she only really knows in her capacity as "connected to the Network stuff and also possibly had a thing for weird armor and stepping through portals in a possible past life".

Yeah. ]

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[ It's a nice day compared to the freezing weather that has been plaguing the nation recently, but... there might as well be a raincloud over the head sporting the flash of pink Sierra happened to spot.

In jeans and a jacket, Kallie's in clothes fit for motorcycling even if she's not currently going anywhere, her expression decidedly blank enough that her surprise is obvious when she looks up at her name, blinking with the uncertain confusion of not know whether someone is really speaking out to her.

Of course, she really doesn't get the 'luxury' of it being a case of someone else bearing her reasonably uncommon moniker. It's Sierra looking back at her. ]

-- Ah.

[ She has to straighten slightly, lifting a hand to brush hair from her eyes. Habitual. ]

Hey. Sierra.

Hey. It's been a little while.

[ Which she knows the reasons for, namely...not being around in the Network herself, and having lives different enough that they'd never met before except by chance in a bookstore.

Kallie looks a little...down. Today. Granted, she hadn't looked particularly cheerful the other times they'd met, but...

Sierra stops near the older girl, her hands in the pockets of her own jacket. Regardless of her feelings about echoes or the Network, she's still wearing her hair off to the side like she did when they met. Like she did in another life. ]

Well, the holidays are always busy, though.

[ Kallie notices the hair, of course - again - her eyes lingering a little longer to that side than strictly necessary. Given her own string of Echoes, it's kind of hard for her not to.

She was acting strangely before in the bookstore, but it's obvious there's something else that has her distracted from her routine of normalcy, this time entirely unrelated to being blindsided by unexpectedly meeting her past life's little sister. She's clearly tired, her reactivity subdued. Shifting from one foot to the other, she sketches out a brief shrug. ]

Yeah... at least it's over. For this year, anyway.

[ ...She shouldn't pry, should she? They're not close - well, as far as she knows they're not, although Sierra has to admit that the weird sense of relief she got the first time they met is still there if she thinks of it, thinks of that memory - and it's not her business.

Still...the urge to ask is very much there. ]

Until the next holiday, yeah. [ Don't ask, Callahan. Don't ask, don't ask, don't - ]

Are you all right? You look a little under the weather.

[ Of course you had to ask. ]

[ Kallie frowns, yeah, instantly uncomfortable. Once more her shoulders lift a little in reaction, but this time it's out of tension rather than any conscious gesture...

At the same time, she can't really pretend to be mad at Sierra for asking, either. After all, the primary cause for her stress this time is actually something she can give more or less freely if she wants, a viable explanation to give to her work and school without worrying about secrets. It's been on her Facebook and everything.

She kind of rolls her eyes before keeping them averted, but the gesture's devoid of disdain. Huffing a quiet sigh, she cycles through opening her mouth and pressing her lips together once before finally offering an answer. ]

My mom's in the hospital.

[ That immediately clears it up. What Kallie was upset about, at least. Sierra's demeanor changes in an instant, from curious, cautious concern to understanding. Sympathetic, maybe, although there's little she can say or do in this situation. If it were one of her friends, she'd hug them, and tell them to come to her for anything she could do, however stupid. With her family - well, she'd be at the hospital with them, waiting.

There's no tried-and-true method to this sort of thing, though. With someone you probably once knew and feel drawn to because of a flash of memory.

So Sierra just says what comes to mind. ]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

[ She is. It's sincere. She's not going to ask why, or how, because that would be flat-out prying and she was just concerned about the mood, but... ]

Would you...like to grab coffee, or something? We could talk about... [ Whatever. Her mom, the echoes, whatever. Sometimes talking about nothing is helpful in these situations, too. ] Or are you going back there, now?

[ Coffee? Kallie blinks rapidly, half caught between continuing to frown and raising her eyebrows. It's a point in the girl's favor, however, that there's no jumping down her throat with either condolences or nosiness.

... She definitely deliberates for a moment, but in willfully ignoring any second thoughts- ]

Sure - I guess. I have some time...

[ Even if she pulls out her phone to check said time and see if there's any new messages she didn't happen to hear the notif for, there's not really anything better for her to do. She probably needs something better than protein bars and other pocketable foods, anyway. ]

I know a fairly nice place near here. "Nice" meaning "they have good service and an amazing menu", not expensive.

[ Since they're both college students, she feels obligated to reassure the other girl on that point. Actually, Sierra's not sure when she last went anywhere expensive.

College, man. ]

On this block, even.

[ She points a ways down - it's not a Starbucks, but some sort of local shop that Sierra has apparently gone to before. ]

[ Kallie peers down the street following Sierra's hand, eyes narrowing. It's not a place she recognizes, but she can't really find any plausible objection to something so convenient. She turns a bit as silent assent; it takes mentally casting about for a few seconds to come up with anything worth offering verbally. ]

I guess I don't really make a habit of sampling all the coffee joints the city has to offer.

[ Sierra, on the other hand, actually...does. Make a habit of it. She goes out with friends, but she never hits bars (...mostly because she's only twenty and fake ids make her nervous). Just random coffee shops or bookshops or really whatever comes to mind.

She's been to a lot of the odder shops and cafes in Locke because of this. ]

I...sort of do. [ The laugh that comes with that isn't nervous, although it's a bit embarrassed. ] I like trying new places, and this is pretty near my work.

Oh. Really?

[ More or less rhetorical, because it's not like Kallie expects Sierra to go making things up...

Or well, she doesn't really know the other girl very well at all, but... from what she does know, it doesn't fit that she would lie about such a silly thing. :| ]

I still work on campus, so...

[ So even though there's plenty of oddball and niche sort of stuff around the area, there's only so much of it and the cycle of new ones makes the prospect of visiting each one tiring to even think of. On top of an adventurous sense that's only brought out by Kallie getting pulled along by her own friends, her experience is limited. ]

Yeah, the vet sort of - a few streets in that direction?

[ Sierra starts walking towards the coffee shop, even as she gestures towards what she means. Sometimes at work she can almost make believe things are normal again, until someone brings in a slightly strange animal, or brings up the pigeon thing.

She can't do that at home. With two roommates and a cat who all see the Network, it's...busy.

It's sort of a good thing she ran into Kallie, really. She has at least one question, although she'll wait until they sit down to ask it. ]

I like it, although it's been more busy than usual of late.

[ Kallie doesn't have any dogs or cats or whatever, so she's never really had any reason to take note of local veterinary clinics, either. Fortunately, however, she concludes mentioning that would be pretty useless. ]

... Why? Because of the earthquake and everything...?

[ Sure did screw up everything else too, so seems a pretty safe guess. That or there's an epidemic of furry friends getting into the New Year's champagne... ]

There's that, yeah. And also the, um - well, I don't know if you noticed it, but there's been a sort of bird epidemic, so there's been people about that. But mostly the earthquake and that sort of thing.

[ Earthquakes suck, basically. And Sierra will hold open the door when they get there, peering inside - doesn't look too crowded, for a Sunday afternoon. ]

I think things will settle down soon, though. I hope.

[ She gives a brief, dry laugh. ]

I noticed that.

[ Uh. Immense understatement. Kallie wouldn't have dared to try and take any of the sick or injured pigeons she's gathered up to a vet, however, for a number of reasons-- though she feels a little glad distantly that people would at least try.

She doesn't reply further as she enters the recommended destination. Aside from the usual, these days she tends to automatically appraise places based on whether or not they look like somewhere she'll get weird glances from people due to her hair - seeing that the majority of the other customers isn't made up of elderly church women though, she has little reason to complain.

Regardless, she still huffs a sigh as she eyes the menu - from as far a distance as her eyesight will allow. Approaching a counter before she's ready bothers her, so... Sierra can definitely go first if she wants. ]

Not everyone did, but...

[ Sierra trails off as they walk inside, and after ascertaining that Kallie's just viewing the menu, she goes ahead and approaches the counter. It takes her only a minute or so to order what she wants - caramel cappucino and a blueberry muffin. Not a lot, but all she's really interested in at the moment.

She's clearly familiar enough with the menu to manage that, and she'll step off to the side to wait for that to finish, although she eyes a table in a corner that she'll grab after that. ]

[ After a minute - and trying not to frown under the expectant gaze of the barista - Kallie finally decides to just follow Sierra's lead, albeit skipping the 'caramel' and muffin, and requesting tentatively after a moment for her cappuccino to be made wet (...half to see if they'll actually do it satisfactorily). Most likely she shouldn't actually be having more caffeine today, but... never mind that.

Thankfully she has the money too, though it's a close call when she's been making a habit of carrying cash instead of debit in response to the rather alarming spike of crime in the city...

On that note, she's definitely eyeing the seating for secluded tables as well- somehow, she gets the feeling such a thing is going to be beneficial here. ]

[ Once their orders are up, Sierra leads the way to one of those secluded tables, setting down her cappucino and muffin and removing her jacket to put over the back of her own chair. Her purse, given the crime rates, goes in her lap for the moment. Beneath the light winter jacket Sierra's wearing a plain purple shirt, a logo for some sort of athletic club on the right-hand side. The very edge of a neatly wrapped bandage pokes out of the left-hand sleeve.

After taking a sip of her cappucino, she'll start talking again. ]

So...I actually had a question or two.

[ Well, one in particular, anyway. ]

If you don't mind, I mean.

[ Claiming a table goes without issues, but-- questions?

There's a weird look on Kallie's face at that, as she looks up over the expanse of foam in her own cappuccino and a tide of potentials over what that could mean overwash her mind. She's awfully jumpy at the moment, and her thoughts are quick to throw themselves back through the last few minutes, then straight to the odd sight and feeling she experienced the first time they met...

Is it about the armor Sierra had mentioned before? Because she doesn't know what that was about, she's sure. ]

I don't mind.

[ ... She rather cautiously hopes. ]

[ Give Sierra another minute to sort of...gather herself for this. Which apparently involves slicing her muffin in half and sort of nervously picking at it for a second. She needs to keep her hands busy. ]

Do you have any...

[ Now's when the secluded table will hopefully pay off... ]

I mean, can you do...magic?

[ It's not like she doesn't believe in it, after how much time she's spent on the network. Really, Sierra shouldn't be so jumpy about asking, but she's just...

More used to other people being able to do things, not her. ]

Edited (html fail) 2014-01-16 14:57 (UTC)

Oh.

[ That.

Kallie's lips press together, yet as a yes or no question, it's not really one she has to think about. At all. She could argue semantics, maybe, but it's not as if she has any other better name for it so- ]

Yes.

[ She frowns at the table, trying not to dwell on her acceptance of such a crazy matter- how did it come to this, where she's easily capable of answering that in such a neutral tone? Plus, she's generally so very, very careful about not describing or even mentioning what she can do. This is an unusual case.

But of course, now she's wondering why it's being brought up. Did Sierra get something herself or...? ]

What exactly... are you referring to, though?

[ It's not hard to guess that she probably has a reason for asking, really. Stealthy Sierra is not. ]

I...was out walking the other day, and it just sort of occurred.

[ Lucky girl avoided getting mugged, though. Probably by virtue of having nothing on her at the time. ]

I mean, I can... [ She's still really unsure about this, because magic is...magic. It's not practical, it shouldn't really exist. Sierra gives up messing around with the muffin to cross her arms, though she's not clamming up. ]

Heal little things. Sort of. Cure them.

[ Just walking around? That's certainly bizarre... the only times she's aware of getting an Echo that didn't involve it obviously being triggered by someone or something, it had included numerous people claiming a similar experience. She'd heard nothing like that being repeated on the network lately....

The description of Sierra's magic, however, immediately erases any intention Kallie might have had of commenting on the oddity of the circumstances. ]

Healing... things?

[ For a few beats she does nothing, blinking as she simply has to digest that for a moment, but then soon straightens with interest. ]

How-- I mean, what have you tried it on?

Myself. I guess I could have asked my roommates for help, but...

[ She's keeping semi-quiet about the healing thing until she figures it out entirely. But Serah couldn't help but experiment. At least the spell couldn't hurt anyone, as far as she could tell. It just healed.

Safe enough to play around with. ]

I managed to heal up a little burn on my hand, and it seems to work for other things, too.

[ .......Heel of her palm hit a pan that was hot, not a big deal, but. ]

So I was just wondering if that was...normal. For us.

[ Kallie glances at her own hands for a moment, considering. On the subject of possible magic, she can't help but have noticed by now that it's really hard for her to burn- maybe because of the electricity thing or something? In either case, while it seems re-Farrons share a connection with the accidentally touching boiling-hot pots thing, in her case, aside from feeling it and some redness at the time, there hadn't then been a burn at all. Likewise, she hadn't sunburned even when she'd spent too much time under a cloudless sky recently; before, her pale skin had made that pretty much a guarantee.

She's got more sense than to ask for a demonstration in the middle of a restaurant, but it's tempting even if all she's got currently are the little annoyances around her fingernails and such that always seem to become more frequent around winter-time. ]

... I don't know. I don't have anything like that.

[ Yet?

-- Though, wait. She looks up and away, something obviously occurring to her... ]