If you are still wanting prompts, how about hope and lightning fluff? Like big sis Light teaching Hope how to wield a sword or gunblade! Or just general fluff? Hope you feel better soon!!
Sure I’m still down for prompts! My responses just might be random because I have days where I can’t focus and then days where…. I’ll write all the responses in a few hours. XD; They might not be great, but hopefully as I get my attention span back, they’ll get better! ….also this ended up longer than I thought because… I love them too much. XD
“…It’s a bit heavy.”
Lightning couldn’t help the smile at the reluctant tone, if only because she was right. Of course she was right.
“You’ll adjust.” She said, and moved behind Hope to place her hands on his shoulders, nudging them lower and poking where he was unnecessarily tense. “Gunblades are finely tuned— adjusted for a balance in both strength and speed. Once you get stronger, it won’t feel as heavy. For right now, I just want you to feel the movements. We’re going to go slow. You won’t be using this in battle this year, or the next.”
“Then why even let me start this early?” Hope asked, voice half a whine. He was very determined to keep his gaze forward, so Lightning allowed her smile to widen. “I thought you said—”
“That it was a bit heavy for you?” Lightning said. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“…Yeah, sure,” Hope admitted a bit sullenly, and Lightning smoothed her expression and raised an eyebrow as he finally turned his head to look at her. “If I can’t use it, then what’s the point?”
She poked him in the head hard enough for him to respond with a quiet ‘ow’. “Did I say you can’t use it?”
“Not this year, or next year.” Yes, that was definitely a pout.
“If possible, I’d put you far away from both guns and sharp objects.” Lightning told him flatly, and then moved his head to make him look forward again, where his grip on the gunblade was just starting to shake slightly as he held it out in front of him. “Focus. Or it’s back to blunt toys for you.”
“Nue isn’t a toy!”
“Nue is an accumulation of everything you’ve learned,” Lightning agreed. “Which took many years of training, I’m sure, and more than a handful of life-threatening situations. You wouldn’t have been able to wield it when we first met, and I’d still rather you not use it now.” He turned his head again, likely to protest, and Lightning nudged him to look forward again. “Focus, Hope.”
She likely wouldn’t be able to manhandle him around like this in a few more years. As it was, the top of his head was already hitting chin level for her, and she was sure he had been shorter just a few months ago.
Gods, they grew up so fast. She remembered when Serah just shot up like a weed as well. All gangly limbs and uneven steps, although Serah managed to make every almost-fall look graceful. Hope, in his own way, looked… like a teenage boy, really. Lightning had no real reference.
“Keep it steady,” she said, holding him now by the biceps, his arms still thin and lanky, with the faintest tremors despite the strength he gained the last year. “You’re gripping too hard. Your wrists are too stiff. You’ll end up injuring yourself like this if you hit something.”
“I’ll end up cutting something,” Hope corrected, although he did try to relax his grip, moving under her guidance. “Sharp edge toward the enemy and all.”
“I’d be worried if the sharp edge was facing you, yes,” Lightning told him dryly, “but you won’t be able to slice through all enemies. What happens when you swing and the enemy ends up with a harder exoskeleton than you anticipated? The reverberations would end up going here,” she walked around and knocked her knuckles against his wrist, and Hope winced before attempting to adjust his posture again, “and then up to your shoulder. Hold it incorrectly in battle, and you could end up doing more damage to yourself than your enemy. No, no ‘but’s. This is why you won’t be ready for another two years at least.”
“Why am I using your gunblade, then?” Hope wondered aloud, although he did go willingly wherever Lightning tapped on a joint, making her wonder if she could somehow do that to make him pose for photos as well. Maybe she could teach both Hope and Serah to respond like that since Serah did seem strangely enthusiastic about getting new pictures. If she could teach Serah and Hope to respond like that, maybe…
No, it would be too high hopes for Snow to actually listen for once.
“You don’t want to?”
“I do!” After making sure he was standing with his feet shoulder’s width apart and with a lowered center of gravity, Lightning nodded to let him take a swing, holding his forearms to show just how slowly she wanted him to move— slow enough to train his muscles, really, because he would have to adjust to the weight of the weapon in every moment of movement. “I just… I guess they way you put everything, I thought I’d be using, like… something else. Something blunt in this shape. Made out of wood?”
“You think training weapons are made out of wood?” Lightning asked incredulously, watching as he repeated her movements several more times. He shrugged, almost embarrassed, before Lightning remembered the books (real books) she had seen in his home. Of course he did.
“I just don’t understand why you’re letting me practice with your gunblade,” Hope admitted quietly, finally lowering the weapon to turn to her fully. He was still so young and so expressive that it wasn’t hard to see the frustration and uncertainty written on his face. “I mean, you yelled at Snow just for touching it last week.”
Ahh.
“I trust you to be more responsible than Snow,” she said, and Hope made a face to agree with that. It scrunched up his nose, and Lightning felt a corner of her lips lifting despite being watched. He was growing so fast, and she would miss him being so small. She already missed when Serah had been smaller, before she met Snow. “Mastery of anything takes time and dedication. It may be too heavy for you now, but if you work at it…”
Eventually, like Serah, Hope would grow up and then… not need her anymore. He didn’t really need her even now, but Lightning found she liked the attention and his beaming smile.
“In a few years,” she told him, “you’ll be able to do it.”
She tapped at her gunblade within his grasp, and they watched as it switched from the heavy sword back into a form that was easier to carry without accidentally cutting anyone or shooting anymore. Hope still looked fascinated by the changes, and she suspected that if given the chance, he was more likely to take it apart just to see how it worked, than to use it carelessly.
“One day, this might be yours.” She told him. Might because she was fairly certain that would not be the direction he went, if only because she would be happy to guide him away from that path, but she also wouldn’t mind gifting it to him should he one day need it. Hope turned to stare at her with rounded eyes, and Lightning nodded to herself in affirmation. Yes. If she were to give her gunblade to anyone, it would be to Hope. “So you will practice on it to adjust to the weight.”
“M-me?” He squeaked, nearly dropping the weapon in his shock before his grip on it tightened again.
“Who else?” Lightning asked with amusement. “There’s no one I trust more with it.”
That was it, she thought as she watched his reaction. That was the smile.