Brass and Lightning
It had been a surprising flash of movement, yet one which lightning had acted like her namesake. The rose haired man looked dead long before he could even aim his gun at the plump gentleman now behind the pinkette. Thankfully Gran Pulse's emergency services took just a minute to show up at the mention of a Cocoonian, yet they helped her, especially with a cup of coffee, a blanket thrown over her and a cigarette in her hand. Looking up she huffed and shook her head. "Now I've done it." She murmured to herself, preferring to enjoy her cigarette in peace, rather than have someone say how grateful they were. The man she saved approached her much to the paramedic's dismay, as they had yet to finish checking over every little thing from his heart rate to the levels of protein in his coffee. Seriously Gran Pulse really annoyed her sometimes. Although with his attacker laying against the wall with a bright smear of blood behind him and a hole in his chest, he made his way over.
"Miss Farron." He flashed a warm grin, much akin to the rest of the gentleman's aura, the way his face somewhat resembled a Saint Bernard helped to put her at ease. He pointed to the spot beside her. "May I?"
Without a word she moved over to let him sit beside her.
"Thank you. I would like to express how thankful I am for your rescue. Had it not been for your intervention, it would be paramedics picking my body off the pavement." She rolled her eyes and looked away, she hated it when she was right. He chuckled and reached for his own cigarettes. Tucked away in a week's wages for Lighting was the small packet of premium cigarette's, two weeks maybe even three. "They're from Cocoon. If I had to pick something I go to cocoon for it'd be these. You just can't make good cigarettes by the thousands. Want one?" He shook the packet so one stuck out for her.
More an order than a question she thought to herself before reaching over cautiously.
He stopped and pulled it out, handing it over to her and grinning again. "Jeez at this rate I'll be dead before you take it. Older people like me tend not to hate Cocoon so much, there's just something about being old that makes everything pleasant you know. Like really what's the difference between us, you have pale skin and I have dark skin. That ain't much if you ask me."
"Sorry it's just... Being a cop here, being a Cocoonian here isn't the easiest thing." She tossed her cheap cigarette onto the ground and extinguished it under the chunky armored boots she wore.
"So if I could do one thing for you what would it be?" He lit his cigarette and kept it between his lips as he spoke.
"If I could walk down the street without everyone glaring at me like a behemoth just broke into the city that'd be nice." Lightning took a puff of her cigarette and exhaled, relaxing a bit as she took in the flavoured smoke, cherry if she wasn't mistaken.
"That's a little out of my power. I might be the chairman of the Pulse racing league but even I have limits to what I can do."
"Thank you sir, it was nice to talk to someone kind." Holding the cigarette between her fingers she stood up and bowed her head low before turning around to leave.
"Hold on a minute." He called out, sending chills down her spine. Lightning tensed up and swallowed, knowing what was to come
He chuckled and put his hand on her shoulder. "Relax I just want to give you this. If you ever need a favour just call me. Saving an old man's life is worth something."
Stunned. That's how Lightning would describe herself right now. In her six months of working in Pulse, he was the first to actually speak to her and not just bark orders to her like a dog.
Her hands grabbed it, barely as she looked up to see the man smiling cheerfully at her.
"Please forgive me sir but you are awfully kind even for an old man. I mean, most Pulsians would argue that they have given enough."
"Well it wasn't just me you know. Back when I used to race myself there was a man from Cocoon, Sazh Katzroy. He helped me see that Cocoonians weren't all bad, that and he saved my butt from trouble more than once. Well, I think I've taken up enough of your time. Goodnight miss Farron, the pleasure was mine." He tipped his hat as he walked away, the crowd of armored soldiers parting to let him through.
Stuffing the card in her pocket she followed suit and hurried through the crowd of glaring looks. A Cocoonian with a gun to these people, she might as well been the gunman.
Back in her apartment Lightning put her things down and hurried to the bathroom for a much-needed shower. Much like she expected her handgun which was designed to be able to deal with a gorgonopsid as much as a person hadn't just blown a hole in the man on the business end but had sent quite a bit of mess her way as well. She cleaned as much blood off of her face as she could and lathered herself in soap to get rid of the smell.
Now that she had a moment to think, she had seen the man before. He had a little girl that he'd go with to the supermarket with on Sundays, she even talked to him a little. Nothing substantial just once or twice for bumping into him while she was spacing out or when his little girl was being hyperactive, she had once stared and pointed at Lightning and shouted. "Look daddy that woman has fairy floss hair!" Lightning had just smiled, reminded of Serah when she was a kid. The man however was horrified at what the little girl did and apologised way to much.
But now he was just another box in the ground.
Lightning stepped out and sighed again, grabbing the towel off the hook. She needed another cup of coffee and this time not the cheap instant kind that the paramedics carried in the back of their trucks but something decent and expensive, so the tin of imported coffee from Cocoon.
Half an hour later, a showered and refreshed Lightning laid in the large armchair that served as one of the few adornments to the place. Another being the low set wood table that she had found in a second-hand store. The reason it had caught her attention was how life like the wood felt, the seller of course insisted that it was actual wood but that was unlikely. She had only ever seen a wooden table at her grandparents home, a long, long time ago.
Ignoring the dilemma regarding her lack of knowledge of Pulse she thumbed over a page in the book she was reading, finding herself drowsier by the minute. The rain pattering against her window only further hindered her attempts at making any good progress through the book.
Stumbling as quiet as she could Jihl glanced up and stared into the lounge room of her apartment. There was some kind of pinkish blob curled up in the armchair, Lightning's armchair. Did she bring someone home last night?
Pausing for a moment she turned and shut the door behind her, making sure it was locked before approaching the thing in the chair. With enough alcohol to make the officer tipsy, she crept over to get a look at the thing some more. Whatever it was, it'd be safer if Jihl took care of it before Lightning did. Unless of course it was the pinkette herself.
"Hey, guess you had a rough day huh." Crouching down and she looked at the pinkette, her brows furrowed as Jihl reached over and gave her a gentle shove, something few people could do without their arm being broken in at least one place. "Come on, you'll be cranky if you sleep the whole night in your chair
"Oh it's you..." Dopily Lightning stretched, nearly hitting the blonde in the cheek.
"Yes it's me. Now are you going to sleep somewhere decent?" Jihl took in the aroma of the coffee on the table and looked at it. "May I? I've never had real coffee before. Can't believe you were hiding good coffee, traitor."
"Sure." Lightning waved her hand towards the tin sitting on the counter as she yawned and stretched from her nap. "How did it go?"
"My date? The usual." Jihl put two sugars into one of the mugs labelled with her name on the side in permanent marker she brought. Preferring to wear her glasses in the apartment, she took them out of their case and rested them on her nose, tucking the case back into the pocket of her jeans.
"Damn that's annoying. Maybe you should give me a try?"
Jihl scoffed and smirked. "Hmm snoring and passing out in the living room, sounds good but no thanks. Maybe another day."
"Well fine, I'm going to bed, without you, night." Lightning teased before stretching again and trudging over to her room.
"Thanks for the coffee." Jihl chirped in as she held the fresh cup in her hands.
"No problem Jihl." Lightning disappeared into her room leaving Jihl to herself.
Even while training as an officer back on Cocoon there was no way she could afford something like this. Taking a sip she let out a content sigh and retreated to her room.
Everyone called the blonde cruel and harsh which was true, she would never deny such a thing in public. It was just her way of dealing with her job and having everyone think you were an invincible badass never hurt. Plus there was no room for soft feelings when she was at work, especially as she had just recently been given command her own team, so now every decision had to be the right decision. However, when her door was closed and her glasses were on her nose she could drop the whole tough girl facade and relax. Taking another sip of her coffee she leaned back and listened to the Mittens playing through her computer.
Which was annoyingly interrupted when the TV switched over to the news and started broadcasting about her unit. Intrigued, she turned and looked at the news article on the television, turning her computer down.
"People of Cocoon and Gran Pulse can relax easier now. It was confirmed that earlier today a siege on the building behind me resulted in thirty-seven deaths. All were confirmed members of the Freedom Liberation Group that have been organising terrorist attacks over Gran Pulse." She paused as the screen brought up a picture of Jill. The blonde cringed at the picture of herself.
"The siege was commanded by the newest Captain in the GP20, Jihl Nabaat. With both sides now contributing their efforts towards the capture of the Freedom Liberation Group's leader, who still remains anonymous. Lieutenant Amodar commented that the problems would soon be resolved and that the increase in attacks would soon be resolved. Closer to home, just hours ago the chairman of the Pulse racing league was assaulted by an armed assailant. Fortunately, an officer was able to prevent and apprehend the criminal. Whether this attack was conducted by the..."
Jihl switched the TV off and sat the remote to the side, turning her music back on.
"Damn they didn't say who actually did the siege. Taking the credit..." Jill sighed and sipped away at her coffee. "Poor Lightning..." Jihl huffed and spun around in her chair, taking another sip as she stopped herself with her foot and turned the computer back up. "What! A new ep." Setting the cup down a little more forcefully than she had wanted she darted about her computer. "Guess I'll download it while I sleep..." Stripping down from her uniform she pulled herself into a pair of pyjamas she dove on her bed and took her glasses off. Rolling to her feet she flicked the lights off.
"That was some good coffee."
