☈ strike #18 (video/...action?)

[thestormishere]

ARIES
- You'll get 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' stuck in your head for the next week.
- You will find a turtle in your laundry.
- Just go sleep on the couch tonight. You don't want to know why.
- Hide it, no one saw!

[ Like everyone else, Lightning wasn't really sure what to think about the odd message that showed up at the front of her

Comments

[voice]

[winged_moon]

It's a turtle!

[voice]

[thestormishere]

[ Looooong pause. You might say the silence is audible in itself, even, because while usually that would mean she hasn't gotten around to picking up her journal again or whatever-- no, she's there, and she's judging you, Yukito. ]

Does this animal look like it can swim to you?

[voice]

[winged_moon]

[Here's another pause, but it's because he's confused.]

Does it matter if it can swim?

...oh! Did you find it in water somewhere?

[voice]

[thestormishere]

... No. [ Thankfully, she found it before it got the chance to go swimming with her underthings in the washer! ] And yeah, that pretty much makes all the difference?

[ Confusing, isn't she? Not that she cares right now- he should totally know this already! ]

[Voice]

[derek_bliss]

'The Devil went Down to Georgia' is a song from my world about an...evil entity trying to make a bet with a musician where the musician will be sure to lose and have to give his soul to the Devil. The musician manages to beat the devil with superioir skill, though.

...I can play it if you really want me to.

[Voice]

[thestormishere]

... I see.

[ She can't decide if that sounds stupider than what she was imagining from the scant eight syllables of the thing's lyrics she's already got a hold of: the title. ]

I already knew it's a song. I just-- don't know the words.

[Voice]

[derek_bliss]

Easy enough to write them for you.

[And with that, Derek changes to text]

The devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal

[Voice]

[thestormishere]

[ There's a bit of silence even after he's finished writing, while Lightning reads through the words once more in full. In her opinion? Utterly bizarre... although at least now she's got assistance in avoiding the repetition of the same damn brief line over and over and over-- the journal said it would be a week. It had better just be a week...! ]

Thanks... I think.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[As much as Robert is busy with... various baking things, an appearance of a chelonian tends to grab his attention.

So have a bright-eyed, more confident - and much dirtier - scientist peering over at your journal, Lightning.]

... A testudine...? H-How did that happen, Sergeant Farron...?

[He doesn't sound quite as awkward as usual, either!]

[Voice]

[thestormishere]

[ Robert. You are weird. ]

... 'Testudine?'

[ Funny... that doesn't sound like tortoise or turtle. ]

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

It is the... s-scientific name for the order that encompasses turtles and tortoises...

[In other words, it's a general-purpose term. Though he would not have identified this particular individual as a turtle. There's a pretty clear difference!]

[Voice]

[thestormishere]

[ There isn't really much of an answer from Lightning for that right off, though perhaps if Robert listens particularly close he might catch a soft "Right" muttered in exasperation under her breath. By now she's pretty acclimated to the eclectic variation in viewpoints and such of the other residents... so she doesn't even think twice about the fact that she has very little idea what the heck he means there before just disregarding it for the moment. ]

This one is a tortoise.

[ He knows, Lightning, he knows. But. It had to be said. ]

[dun_measure_up]

Fire's on the mountain, run boy, run. Ain't right without a fiddle, and no, I don't play, Sugar. Even if I am from Georgia, myself.

...you looking at keeping the turtle, by chance?

[thestormishere]

... Come again?

[ Lightning's never really been one for suffering that kind of attitude from those talking to her-- at least not for long. As such, the derision is pretty apparent in her heavy, slow tone.

Still, she can't help but add on a beat later: ]

It's not a turtle.

[dun_measure_up]

[He has no idea why, but really, how rude!]

Lyrics to the song you asked about, Sugar. Music's done mostly with a fiddle, the song's all about the fiddling.

Reptile, with a shell. You keeping it?

[thestormishere]

[ Sometimes it seems even the best of politeness isn't enough to please her, honestly. Heaven help you if you get off on the wrong foot to begin with. ]

I haven't heard it. [ DESPITE IT PLAYING CEASELESSLY IN HER HEAD. ]

... Doubt it.

[Action]

[wingenvy]

[Zack's watching from the doorway, puzzled for a while. Lightning on the couch... blankets all over... humming... and...

...What the hell is in the box...?

Okay, wandering over now. This is suspiciously weird.]

What's with the turtle?

[Action]

[thestormishere]

[ Lightning looks up sharply when he nears, shoulders tensing as her hands close and tighten on the cover of her journal. If it were entirely up to her, no, she wouldn't make him like the dozenth person she's corrected so far, and yet... ]

It's a tortoise, not a turtle.

[Action]

[wingenvy]

...Uh, okay. Is there supposed to be a difference? [Because it sure looks like a turtle to him.]

[Action]

[thestormishere]

Turtles live in water, but tortoises live on land.

[ C'mon man, this ain't hard to understan-- oh fhudsfg, THIS IS STUPID.

She looks away, with a look on her face highly suggestive of tasting something very strongly bitter. One of her hands goes up to pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Song-loop in her head isn't helping, either. ]

I found it. In my laundry.