"I want to meet him."
That simple phrase made her grimace slightly, and nearly drop the plate she was holding. Thankfully, she steadied herself before her shocked fingers could slip on the plate. Steadily, she set the plate down, now safe on the table. Relieved that there wouldn't have to be any broken shards for Serah to clean (she learned the hard way that blind people really can't clean up broken kitchen ware), she turned to Serah, arcing her brow as she frowned at her sister, silently making it clear what she felt about that suggestion.
"Come on sis," Serah insisted, her tone exaggerated. Lightning was sure she was torn between scoffing and smiling. "I want to see the guy that's kept my sister out late at night."
That whole sentence made it sound dirty to Lightning's ears. Fightning off a ruse blush, Lightning huffed at her, rebelliously she muttered, "It's not like I haven't been out late before. A man has little to do with that."
"Till recently," Serah reasoned, making Lightning grimace.
Serah giggled at her sister. She tilted her head, looking pleading up at Lightning. "Please sis? I would really like to meet him. Especially since he knows your blind and doesn't care."
"Serah," she warned.
"I think its sweet," her sister cooed. Her face warmed in color as she thought of her sister, finally having a lover. Even when she was still called Claire, her sister never took a lover at her side. Claire couldn't have such distractions with a sick mother and a growing sister to watch over, and as Lightning, well, her sister was still there and she had work and bills to pay. Relationships would simply get in the way.
But now that she was off work...
"I'm not getting into a relationship, especially now that I'm blind," Lightning stated firmly.
"Oh come on sis!" Serah insisted. "I think it'll be wonderful if you had a man in your life, or some form of lover. Everyone needs a taste of it, to rely on someone that is closer than family and friend."
Lightning made a face. She turned and glared at her sister with fogged eyes, narrowing them at her. "It would turn into him thinking I need him all the time, that I'm dependable. You'd know how I'd hate that."
"Light, your not depen-"
"I can't even clean up a broken plate!" Lightning exclaimed. "I have to be told if anything's changed, furniture moved, I was kicked out of the GC because of this, I can't even get a job, and this whole thing..." Lightning shut her outh, biting her lip as she swallowed up her anger ad frustration. She breathed in, willing herself to calm before she ranted out anymore to Serah.
"I'm sorry Serah," she sighed, reaching out her hand, she found the back of a chair and sat herself down on it heavily.
"Its fine," she heard Serah mumble. "Its rough for someone like you who's always taken care of everything, only now everything is reversed and it is frightening how different things are now. But... it'll get better sis. You'll see. You'll get your sight back."
"They said there was a chance, never for sure," Lightning reasoned.
"Its still a possibility," Serah stressed. "Things will be as they should be."
Lightning sighed as she pushed herself up and walked out of the kitchen, grabbing her walking stick. "I'm going out with Fang, chocobo riding," she called out to Serah before she closed the door behind her.
Serah smiled when she found herself alone, and that Lightning would likely be out the whole evening, leaving her stranger alone tonight. Serah squealed, "Time to meet my possible brother-in-law!"
Fang snorted as she struggled to contain her laughter. "You?" she declared, "With a lover? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard."
"Nice to know you see the impossibility of it," Lightning grumbled.
"Now I didn't say it was impossible," Fang assured coyly. "Its unheard of and startling, but really difficult too." She felt Fang's arm wrap around her shoulder, dragging her closer, and making their chocobo's squawk in complaint. "You see Lightning, we, are manly."
"Manly?" Lightning repeated, arcing her brow at that word.
"Yes, manly. For us to have lovers, we need someone just as manly, if not even more so, or someone utterly meek. Like Hope."
"Hope is meek?"
"He has grown, I'll give you that but in a sense, in a fight between the two of you, its easy to see who'd win that. But anyway, I rather have someone nice and manly so we can be a great and manly couple. You need someone manly as well."
"That makes it hard."
"Which is why its unheard of, startling, and difficult," Fang sighed. "If only you, or even me were a man, we'd make such a great couple."
Lightning hummed at that, deciding it was best not to respond at all. Instead, she ran her fingers over the chocobo's feathers lightly. Every now and then, since she and Fang couldn't go behemoth hunting, they take chocobo rides instead. Lightning's chocobo, Etto, is a specially trained one used for blind and other handicap people. It carries them gently and smoothly, sometimes following other chocobos, are leading on its own to ensure the safety of their rider. There are few chocobo trained to be like this, but are there for the few unable people.
"What's he like," Fang asked.
"I get the vibe that he's well off."
"Rich?" That caught Fang's attention.
"I think so."
"Well that's always nice," Fang purred.
"It would have its perks," Lightning agreed.
"But I wasn't asking about his wealth though. Give me the juice, Light, his personality. What is he like?" Fang urged.
"He's a gentleman, and stressed about his life."
"And that's all your going to give me," Fang mused humorously.
"The rest is not mine to give," Lightning reasoned.
Fang laughed, "You just love making me work don't you?"
"Can't have you getting lazy," Lightning offered.
Fang snorted. "Come on, back to the stables, last one there buys the winner whatever treat they want."
"See you at the stables," Lightning grinned, kicking Etto into action. With a squawk, the chocobo surged forward, leaving the shouting and cursing Fang behind.
She wasn't expecting this when she slipped back inside her own home, the finest wine in hand. Before she could locate Serah and flash her prize, she froze when she heard her sister's rambling voice directing at someone.
"This is her graduating to Sergeant, and this is her with Amodar, her mentor, and that Rosch, another one of her mentors. And this is her at a party the GC hosted, and the two men she's with are Rygdea and Cid Raines, oh! She's not romantically involved with them, they knew each other in the training academy. And this is her-"
"Serah."
A hush fell into the room as Lightning stood in the kitchen door way, staring out and searching, waiting expectantly for any sign of who their guest was.
"Welcome home sis!" Serah exclaimed.
"Who's here?" Lightning asked, narrowly her eyes suspiciously.
"Um, hi," a familiar voice chimed.
Oh Etro no.
"Noct is joining us for dinner!" Serah chirped.
"What!" Lightning cried.
"He's joining us for dinner, be nice Light," Serah lectured fondly.
Lightning sighed, feeling for a chair. Finding it quickly, she set herself down, grumbling darkly. Listening, she heard his slighlty uneven breathing and turned to him, glaring with empty eyes. "How?" she asked.
"She appeared, and I thought she was you till she got close. We talked a little and she decided that I'm having dinner with you two..." he explained uneasily.
Lightning shook her head and sighed, putting her head down on the table and burying it in her arms, hiding the small blush on her face.
Typical Serah.