Everyone's a hero in their own way...

[struckbylightning]

Who: Snow Villiers and Hope Estheim
What: The return of NORA...?
Where: Greased Lightning Garage
When: Monday, February 20th, 195X

[Turns out this Valentine's Day was not at all like Snow had expected. He started off a-okay, but the hyacinths he picked? Wound up turning him into someone completely different from who he really is. He was a bit shaken up on the morning of the fifteenth, but he seems to be fine right now, taking to his duties at the garage with a bit more vigor than he had used to.

This past couple of days have given him a lot to think about, after all.]

Comments

[returntosender]

[Like Snow, Hope had gone through a rather awkward change of heart... leaving a very uneasy feeling in the young teen. First instinct was to avoid the conversation, but Hope's job and better judgment told him he had talk to the other.]

...Hey, Snow.

[struckbylightning]

[At the sound of Hope's voice, Snow pauses. Yeah, things wound up a little bit awkward on V-Day, but the hero knows now that it's the town that's at fault, not either of them. So he slides out from beneath the car he's been working on, a small grin on his face.]

Hey, Hope. Nice of you to drop in.

[returntosender]

[Which made the boy feel all the more guilty. ]

You, I mean, your shop got another package. [He's holding onto a box that likely contains more supplies or parts. Typical car garage delivery.]

[struckbylightning]

Right.

[Snow pushes himself up to his feet, taking the box in hand and examining it. At the very least, he can say that he's started to understand cars just a little bit better after two or three weeks in the shop.]

How've you been holdin' up?

[returntosender]

Me? I've... I've been okay. [Maybe not today, but soon enough Hope would probably start poking around in the shop. He was curious about the old cars, and what made them run. They were so different from Cocoon machines after all.]

What about you?...and Serah?

[struckbylightning]

Not too bad, I guess. Serah's been doin' all right, too.

[He turns his back for a moment and sets the box down atop a nearby workbench, brushing his gloved hands together before removing them for a moment and setting them down on the workbench as well. They're grimy and dirty and gross.]

[returntosender]

[Hope takes a breath, encouraging himself to keep talking.]

I'm uh, sorry, about what happened a few days ago. I don't really know what happened though-one minute I was picking her up like you asked, the next, well, you remember...

[struckbylightning]

What happened that day wasn't your fault, Hope.

[He turns to face the boy, looking a little guilty himself.]

To be honest, I think I owe you and Serah an even bigger apology. I wasn't... I wasn't myself at all.

[returntosender]

[He let out a small sigh of relief.]

It's probably safe to say none of us were acting normal then...

[struckbylightning]

You can say that again. [He reaches forward, ruffling Hope's hair now that he's not wearing disgusting, oily gloves.] Are we cool, then?

[returntosender]

[Hope raises his hands to wave off the affectionate gesture.]

I wasn't ever mad, I think what happened was just one of those 'instances' that Mayfield puts us through...

Yeah. We're okay.

[struckbylightning]

Good. 'Cause there's somethin' else I think I'm gonna need your help with.

[Wasting no time at all...]

[returntosender]

Mm? What's that?

[struckbylightning]

Well, obviously what they just put us all through wasn't too bad. But they're capable of a lot worse. I mean, they've got enough power to bring us here. And they've made much bigger problems for everyone before.

[The surgeries and deaths, for one.]

But we're not gonna let that happen anymore. That's why I think this town definitely needs a hero or two lookin' out for them. Maybe more, if we can swing it.

I wanna start up NORA again. Here, in Mayfield. And I want you by my side.

[returntosender]

Right...

[At the latter half of the speech Hope goes wide eyed.]

Huh? I... what? I-I mean, are you sure?? I don't think what we'll be up against is anything like the fal'Cie, and we're not l'Cie anymore. If... If we're smart about it though, we might be able to change something about this town. [But it doesn't take long for him to smile, thinking back to when they were on the fifth arc.]

Yeah, you can count me in.

[struckbylightning]

Hey, we were able to take down one fal'Cie on our own, weren't we? We can handle whatever they send our way.

[...okay, not really. PSICOM kinda helped out with Anima at the very end. Still.]

You're right, though. If we put this together just right, we can take really make a difference for these people.

[Snow returns the grin with one of his own.]

Thanks, buddy. Knew I could count on you.

[returntosender]

[Details.]

Heheh. We gotta stick together right?

What are we gonna do though? Besides try to fix what's happening here. There's a lot of stuff we don't know... and... [he wasn't good at organizing groups.]

[struckbylightning]

Well, before we figure out what we've gotta do, we're gonna have to find some folks, aren't we? Two heads are better than one, but... [He smirks.] Let's see how many more we can find first.

[returntosender]

I'm not sure I know anybody who'd be interested... But I know at least one I can ask.

I can try some kids at the school too, but we're not gonna charge into anything without knowing what we're getting into. Okay?

[struckbylightning]

I might know at least one or two people interested in givin' somethin' like this a shot, too.

[Snow takes the boy's words to heart and nods.]

Hey, you're the boss.

[returntosender]

Boss? Aren't you supposed to be the fearless leader? [Hope chuckles shaking his head.]

It's just, we knew we were going after Psycom on Cocoon, here, we don't know much of anything. So that changes things...