2018-07-16: A Desperate Gambit
- Log: A Desperate Gambit
- Cast: Id, Xantia
- Where: Biroclef Ridge
- Date: July 16th, 2018
- Summary: An injured Xantia decides that the best thing to do in her condition is to pick a fight with Id. Things go as expected, until they don't.
=============================<* Biroclef Ridge *>============================= Biroclef Ridge is a network of canyons and high ridges that stretch across the southern mountains between the Gododdin region and Pearloats Pasture. The ridges here are narrow and difficult to walk, which makes trade between them difficult. This also aren't blessed by the temperate weather to the north; the land is drier here, except when great storms come rolling in from the southern seas. The network of ridges, canyons, and caverns also forms a maze that many an unfortunate traveler has gotten lost in. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGxq2eoLSDY
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id has been finding it a bit harder to come out as of late. Perhaps Fei has grown accustomed to the psychic swirl of agony that infests this world and has personally become better at dealing with it, or maybe Id has just started to lose interest, but he has found himself sitting at the edge of a cliff in the Biroclef Ridge region, staring up at the Blue Sphere doing little but watching that which is unmoving. It doesn't sound like an entertaining way of passing one's time but perhaps when you become someone like Id, you can find ways of being patient. Indeed...perhaps what comes off as impatience is merely pattern recognition and a reasonable desire to move past that which is beyond familiar and has become tiresome.
Is this why Lucia brought them here? To demystify this world? He doubts it was something so well planned. Perhaps even that ancient being is as clueless as everyone else. Certainly, age never seemed to inform one much more than even the youngest of drifters. How frustrating. Isn't that the opposite way it should work?
Nevertheless, he's not hiding. Perhaps Xantia could find him though she'd might like to hurry. Storms have been known to roll in on this region.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Why... am I here?
It's a question that Xantia commonly asks herself, for various reasons, in various contexts. Today's context is straightforward: she's been traveling in this direction without even being sure why. Perhaps she just wanted to get away from it all.
People probably noticed her missing. She was supposed to be resting after incurring a serious injury in the battle with the Trial Knight. It's been some time since Xantia got hurt that badly, so it may have slipped everyone's mind that she's not the kind to just lie around, for any reason. After getting her wound tended to, she slipped out at the first opportunity.
And now she's here, traveling an uncommonly trodden path up the mountainside. It's strange... even though she has no idea why she came here, of all places, it almost feels like she's being led somewhere. As if she's subconsciously searching for something. It doesn't make logical sense, but then, that's never stopped Xantia from doing anything before.
Until she reaches a cliff edge, and all her previous thought processes halt. There, directly in front of her, sitting on the opposite side of the chasm, is one very familiar face.
"Id..."
Something's already unusual. She's usually happy to see him - undoubtedly one of the very few who would be. She bears a complicated expression this time, she herself unsure how she feels. The other unusual thing is, of course, her usually uncovered midriff being bandaged up, packed more densely on the right side, where the bandaging is stained red.
Sounds of the wind picking up are all that's heard for a moment, before she finally speaks. Getting right to the heart of a previously discussed matter that never quite left her mind. "Do you... have an answer for me yet?"
She doesn't specify it, but she can only be referring to what might be the craziest notion she's ever suggested. Being friends with Id.
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id wasn't expecting to hear from Xantia, but Xantia appearances out of nowhere are not uncommon enough for him to act surprised. He just exhales out, knowing what's bound to be a frustrating and bewildering experience. He stands himself up and turns to face Xantia. He notices the fresh wound immediately.
"...Do I look like a man with answers?" He may be wholly misinterpreting Xantia's question here. "More to the point... what's wrong with you? Do you think you're so tough you can't die if you don't take care of yourself? Ugh...this is the problem with people. Humans, metal demons, they think they're SO TOUGH, especially when they're only a little tougher than everyone else."
Id intends to walk past Xantia and just leave. "You only have to be not tough enough once for that sort of thing to matter. I don't need more people who don't understand that in our life."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia looks down as she's scolded. Even if Id was misinterpreting what she was asking, he's hitting points that very much sound related to what she was asking. It certainly feels like an answer her question, and it's not a positive one. She falls quiet. It may appear for a moment as if that's going to be that. Id is left free to take quite a few steps away from Xantia. Until...
"STOP!"
Thunder rumbles in the distance, the first signs of a gathering storm. Xantia slowly turns back to Id, her hands balling into fists. "...I'm not going to accept that as an answer. Not just like that."
She's had to up to here with people talking down to her, making her feel stupid. But that's not the main reason why she's unable to just walk away from this. It's just the most frustrating thing, having reached out to Id time and again, and he STILL won't give her a fair chance to prove that things could be different. Things have reached a boiling point, and she's ceased to care about applying any caution.
"You said all that before, that even if I can handle being around you right now, the danger's going to get me killed one day. If that's what you think..." She points in Id's direction, the challenge evident without her even needing to finish the sentence. "Then test me! How would you even know how much I could handle? You've never fought me one on one before, while I was in perfect condition!"
Her eyes briefly flick down towards her injury. "...That doesn't count! It barely hurts anymore!" It's no lie, but all the same, that's a big wound, easily aggravated. Xantia doesn't care, dropping into a fighting stance.
"You asked me once if I thought I was strong, and I told you to judge for yourself. Well, here I am! Judge me!"
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id stops. Perhaps it was the thunder that does it. He hates thunder. It reminds him of his imprisonment. It reminds him of his father. It reminds him of himself.
Id naturally looks at Xantia's wound when she undersells her injury. He exhales out a frustrated sigh and says, "That what you want? That what it will take?" He walks back to where he was merely a moment before. He closes his eyes a moment and says, "You remind me of Luisa. She wouldn't take no for an answer either and where is she now? Dead by her own vengeance and Filgaia pays the price for such choices."
He turns around and says, "Fine. Let us see if you can even beat her in your current state!
Id shifts into an offensive martial arts stance, nonetheless beckoning Xantia forward with his hand. "But know this, kiddo. Even beating me means little. I haven't been able to overcome Filgaia before neither."
His eyes narrow as he gives his final proclamation. "But perhaps if I break you enough... Secrets will fall out... Since you are so desperate to be a pinata." Id licks his lips in anticipation.
GS: Id has attacked Id with Yin and Yang! GS: Id has completed his action. GS: Id takes a solid hit from Id's Yin and Yang for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield! Statuses applied to Id!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
A strange coincidence. Xantia also used to hate thunder, and especially lightning. Now she's entirely comfortable with them, and it's agents of Solaris she has to thank for that. Fate works in mysterious ways.
Xantia catches that look at her injury, quick to interject, "I won't use it as an excuse!" If she loses, she loses. Of course, looking at this a bit more rationally after her burst of emotion... she probably doesn't actually stand a chance of winning here in a straight up fight. She doesn't know who this Luisa is, but she's quick to assume that was someone who thoughtlessly fought Id to the death. That's certainly not what she's after here. There needs to be some way to determine a winner that isn't 'the one who punched out all of the other's blood'.
The thought of being literally broken in half visibly makes Xantia a little nervous, and she backpedals a little bit. "...I just want to fight, okay? I'm not going to ask you to hold back, but, well... fights you have no chance of winning are no fun. So how about this? We'll use wrestling rules. Pin the other's shoulders to the ground for three seconds, or have them give up, and you win! And if I win...!"
She doesn't finish that sentence. She just grins. Already over her previous anger it seems, now she's more like her usual self. It figures it would take the prospect of a fight to make that happen.
Thunder rumbles in the distance once more, closer this time. Lightning flashes near as well, Xantia preparing in her way - by surrounding herself with an aura of electricity. And then she dashes forward, using her increased speed to launch into an opening combo of rapid punches. "Here I come!"
BGM SHIFT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5jHVehUi6A
GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Elemental Fury! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Elemental Fury for 48 hit points! GS: Mighty! Statuses applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id says, "Changing the rules are we? Please. Filgaia's rules have never changed since I've lived there. A harsh, unfair world but it is, at least, consistent."
He spreads out one hand and says, "When the Hyadeans arrived on our world, they were a race of proud warriors and so as warrior races do, they tried to conquer Filgaia but in spite of everything, in spite of their numerous advantages, they did not realize that Filgaia was a trap. They still do not realize that Filgaia is a cell from which none who enter can truly escape. Even here on Lunar, a moon is but a dislodged piece of this world, I see that now!"
He throws his hand once, blocking Xantia's elementally charged strikes with a flurry of palm movements. "They lost to us but every war against the Metal Demons has been a close thing."
Id throws a sudden knee for Xantia's wounded side. There's no rules in Filgaia and better she learn that here then with someone actually trying to kill her.
"The true rulers of this world do not fuck around. They do not have cute honor matches, they do not have adorable duels, they do not play games. Solaris will consume you for their purposes and Shevat is even worse. They'll pretend they are kind and then they'll destroy you! Ha!!"
If Xantia doesn't pull away fast enough that knee to the wound will turn into a kick to the chin. "You were probably designed to kill me but you're not ready yet!"
GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Rude Kick! GS: Id has completed his action. GS: Xantia guards a hit from Id's Rude Kick for 100 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia lays down her rules, and Id responds by making a fair, serious point. Xantia, in turn, responds with just one simple statement. A sing-song, "Won't let you say no~"
Even if she got serious for a moment back there, let's not forget that this is Xantia, who is certainly not guaranteed to focus on the Big Picture. She's far more likely not to do this. Id may argue, but she's not going to consider her rules any less valid for it.
Id proceeds to expound further, using the Hyadeans as an example. Xantia responds, "So what are you saying? Afraid you'll lose if you play by my rules?"
You might ask if this is a game to her, but... this is a fight with Xantia. She's always going to see some part of it as just... fun. Less so when fighting people she actively dislikes. The fact that she's this flippant in a fight with someone like Id doesn't mean she's not taking him seriously. It means she doesn't see him as her enemy.
It's all fun and games until somebody targets your preexisting wound. "Ghagh!" Xantia makes a noise between a gasp and a yell, clutching her right side as immense pain returns with a vengeance. She'd been using Ether to actively suppress it, but there are limits, limits which were just reached.
But when the follow-up kick happens, Xantia releases her injury, throwing up her bracer to intercept it. She stumbles back, but manages to remain standing. The red visible through her bandages is more pronounced - if that wound was closed before, it definitely isn't anymore now. But the flow of blood seems to have already stopped. That's not natural, she's using her powers to do that, using Ether to force her body beyond natural capabilities.
She coughs, once, before giving a more serious reply to Id's words. "Well, no matter if I win or lose... I want you to know something. I'm not just fighting to survive, or because it's the only thing I'm good at. I fight for things I want to make happen, too. And right now..." She briefly looks away to the side. What she's about to say sounds... just a bit crazy, even in her own head. But she looks back to Id and says it anyway. "Right now I want nothing more than to be your friend!"
Here she comes again. It looks like she going to launch into another straightforward frontal assault. But at the last second, it's like she suddenly splits in two, one red blur heading straight for Id, while the other veers off to the side, making it hard to judge which is the actual attack. It is in fact the attack coming from the front, as that red blur will cause no small amount of pain if it is allowed to pass through Id's body. Xantia herself darted to the side of him. The other blur was an attack coming from that bracer, which now emits a sizable energy blade. While it didn't physically cut anything, getting hit by that would still make it feel like that's what happened.
GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Crimson Flash! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Crimson Flash for 46 hit points! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
"Not really," Id says. "You're already pushing your luck." He tilts his head. "And besides which, Luisa wasn't a wrestler." he exhales once as he steadies his breathing, shifting posture. Thunder crashes again and it starts to rain down Id's face. It's too familiar, but this is no Khan Wong. Not by a longshot. Sliding one foot back, he glances towards Xantia's wound. Of course, he thinks.
"The power of ether should allow you to close that wound." Id tells Xantia. "But you do seem to have a specialty. But the more you get into fights unhealed, you won't get any stronger that way." She fights for things she wants to make happen. Id places his hand on his face, looking through his fingers towards Xantia.
"Why?" Id asks. "Is that your desire, or some desire placed within you? You don't even know me. Most people don't, even if they think they do."
Xantia darts forward towards Id, and this time Xantia seems to...split into two Xantia's. Id's eyes widen at that, genuinely surprised at this expression of martial talent.
The red blur is approaching. It passes right on through Id, by appearances undefended against, but when Xantia reappears behind Id and at the cliff's edge, Id turns back around to face her, seemingly unharmed.
And if he's in pain, it's not enough to make him grimace. He gives his belly a quick pat and says, "Interesting. You can move like that. However..."
BGM INTERRUPT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex3uE2wLx-I
Id lifts up his head, grinning widely as he shifts his body into a wider stance. More animalistic than before. "I've felt worse."
And this time he's blurring into several Ids. His speed is such that you can even see some Ids making different movements from one another though they are all generally following behind Id as afterimages. Is that the real Id? It seems to be because even as the differing Ids ripple behind him, he is a rather direct individual. Perhaps they are but chronal phantasms, expressions of minorly different actions Id might have taken but is not. Is it an expression of anti-causality?
Id strikes rapidly for Xantia's body, not aiming for harsh strikes like that kick earlier. Instead he aims for Xantia's pressure points, each tap of his fingers resulting in a chi detonation that could send Xantia flying off the cliff if she's not careful. That at least is an expression of the explosive power of the Demon Fist.
"I don't even know me. So what kind of friendship would that be?" Id says, cold as ever.
GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Ultimate Pressure Point! GS: Id has completed his action. GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Id's Ultimate Pressure Point for 75 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia notices the rain for the first time after she comes to a stop after her strike. Her eyes fly open, and then she whirls around, to say probably the most unexpected thing at a time like this. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
And then she just looks confused, from Id to the burning energy emitted by her ARM. Perhaps two and two can be pieced together from her reaction. At the very least that she didn't mean to do what she just did, and something about the result was unexpected. Because this is the first time she used her ARM without it physically cutting anything. But Xantia is moreso wondering what made her resort to her ARM to begin with.
A lot about her abilities still don't make sense to her, even when she knows she can do them. Healing her own wounds, for instance, is something she does all the time, it just... has limits. Limits which seem to be expanding all the time. Perhaps one day, even a wound like the one she has now will no longer be a problem.
Not understanding any of that too well, she doesn't comment on it. She can't even reply to the question whether this desire for Id's friendship is her own. These questions only prompt more self-doubt about who is she is. About what she is.
And then Id shows her another example of how outclassed her abilities are by comparison. Xantia is visibly panicking a little, not just from being unable to follow these movements, but also from having her confidence shaken. And yet...
And yet, as if it has a will of its own, her body reacts instinctively, twisting along with every strike. It would be subtle enough to be accidental, if it wasn't so consistent. Xantia takes every single hit Id throws at her... and yet not one of them actually strikes the intended pressure point. There's no regard for where else the hits land, if the fact that she gets her wound aggravated a second time is any indication. It's as if she's actively choosing to take regular injuries instead of the more deadly, explosive kind.
Until finally, there is an explosion of chi, but this one is triggered by Xantia, to violently push Id away. There was no visible indication that was going to happen, as it wasn't so much a directed attack as an expression of Will. Which is what it all comes down to, in the end. Pulling out all the stops, doing things she's only recently learned, or wasn't aware she could do at all... her strong will to prove herself to Id may be all that's allowing herself to stay in this fight even in the face of techniques she should have no effective counter to.
Panting, Xantia grimaces, briefly clutching her wound again, finding it more and more difficult to suppress the pain and keep it in a stable condition. The only answer she has for Id is, "...I don't know. But that's something we have in common. We don't know ourselves, and we don't know one another. So would it really be so strange for us to be friends?"
GS: Xantia has attacked Id with Massive Shockwave! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Id guards a hit from Xantia's Massive Shockwave for 43 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Id!
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id says, "But perhaps," as a small bit of acquiescence. "Perhaps some part of you has felt worse too. Are you a shattered woman? When you look into a mirror, is it broken?" Perhaps this acquiescence comes when Xantia manages to avoid the precise pressure point techniques and evade the worst of those blows. Similarly, Xantia is able to unleash her own shockwave to send Id flying back alongside large boulders that Id has to aerial evade through blurred movements to avoid getting properly clobbered ending in a dead tree that Xantia has managed to pull getting obliterated into pulp by a single one punch man style strike.
Id drops down shortly after. He's still standing.
"Thinking in three dimensions still." Id says, slowly approaching Xantia. "I do not speak of amnesia. Indeed, in spite of the loss of your memories, I am absolutely certain you know who you are. The details may be foggy, but he general structure of your character--yes you know it. A past does not make the individual."
Psychokinetic power lashes out to grab hold of Xantia as Id's ether takes the form of bright radiance, not unlike shall we say a spirit bomb, that he holds above one hand. "We kill ourselves to form new identities all the time, amnesia is merely a more efficient process."
"No." He throws the ball of bright energy towards Xantia. "I would love to say what precisely I mean, but one of the qualities that makes up the individual presently known as Xantia is an inability to keep quiet, particularly about her treasures."
GS: Id enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Id has attacked Xantia with Radiance! GS: Id has completed his action. GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Id's Radiance for 214 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia says nothing to the matter of a broken mirror, but the way she seems surprised by Id bringing that would lead one to suspect that was at least somewhat on the nose. More accurately, she's broken a mirror once because of how much she hated looking at that unknown person. She got used to seeing her own appearance since, but... she still can't feel very good about it. Regardless of whether or not that has anything to do with what Id said, it's not a particularly happy thought.
She's had to pull out all the stops already, and Id doesn't look like he's broken a sweat yet. Of course. That's the only way this could go, isn't it? She's more accepting of that than what Id claims about her character. "...That doesn't mean anything when it wasn't my choice. I doubt I ever wanted the old me to stop existing."
But she also doesn't want the new her to stop existing, something that she seems to be at a serious risk at, unable to escape from Id's immobilization. Yet somehow, she stays calm, and keeps talking. "I'm... afraid to learn the truth. But... I still have to know. Without knowing my past, I'll never stop wondering if what I'm doing now is what I would have wanted, if I had all my memories. I'll never be able to make choices that I can feel completely sure about."
As Id's energy ball forms, she corrects herself, with a faint smile. "No... there's one thing I feel completely sure about."
In the next instance, Xantia is engulfed by an explosion of light. Quite unlike before, she doesn't even try to fight it. She just... accepts it. Part of her feels some satisfaction in the knowledge that Id, for all the claims of having her figured out, probably did not see that coming. The rest of her feels only pain, smoke billowing upwards from her body in the aftermath, Xantia remaining face down in the rain.
Just long enough for Id to start thinking that's the end of it, before she abruptly lurches to her feet again. No... it only takes one look to see that really was the end of it. Xantia's scorched form is clearly on its last legs, all she's capable of now is stumbling her way back in Id's direction. There's no more fight left in her, no more hostility. It's for some other reason that she's trying to approach him. She probably has more to say. She always has more to say. If Id will allow it. The ball is in his court on this one.
<Pose Tracker> Id has posed.
Id listens to Xantia's words. "Choice, huh?" He's heard such words before from the other him, needing to know the truth even if it's painful. Even if it causes more harm. The truth is the deadliest of weapons except, perhaps, compared to lies.
The moment the ball of light is accepted by Xantia, Id turns around, getting ready to walk away. He can't give Xantia what she wants and he is so not in the mood for this. But there's only so much that he on his own can do even here. Power is not much, of course, without strength. Even Id knows that much.
Id is drenched. Thunder rashes. A lightning strike comes down around Id and it parts ways around him, scorching the dirt around him but leaving him untouched. He doesn't comment on it.
Id wasn't surprised by Xantia just taking the strike. Xantia does foolish things all the time, what is one more? It is also not really surprising that she stands up again and he sighs and places his hand on his face again.
"Gonna pin me like that?" Id says, turning back around. "I didn't finish my story, but five hundred years ago it all happened again but this time, humanity was even more prepared. To be honest, as time went on I sympathized more with the metal demons than humanity even in spite of their foolish connection to their God. At least they truly believed."
He walks towards Xantia. "We thought we had friends then." Id says. "But such bonds are fragile, something ethereal that scatters far more easily and readily than bone. I can only forge bonds through destruction. That truth has been questioned as of late, but I have millennia upon millennia of reasons to say no to friendship."
He places his hand on Xantia's forehead. "...I don't get why you'd want to be friends. I've killed friends. I've lost friends. Forever. So many times. Why is something so temporary something you are desperate for?"
Id shakes his head once. "No, I don't think we can be 'friends'."
His hand burns with a bright fiery chi.
"Not when we are already family."
And the last words Xantia hears before she loses consciousness is. "For your own good...Don't tell a soul. I'll know."
...
When Xantia wakes up, all her injuries are healed. Even the one that was bothering her before.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't have much in the way of strength to go against Id in this state, not that she would've wanted to. But she does react to him. The first reaction is when he questions if she's going to pin him like that, that prompts a slow shake of the head.
She doesn't respond one way or another to Id's following words, but when the hand is placed on her forehead, she strains herself to smile, and finally say what she still wanted to say: "I... give up..." Not about to break her own rules, now.
Considering how vehemently she's always spoken up against giving up, for any reason, it's quite something to hear those words from Xantia. It's the very first time anybody's ever heard her say that. It may still be unclear exactly why she was so desperate to be friends, but one thing's for sure: despite everything Id has done, Xantia trusts him enough to put her fate in his hands.
Nothing that's happened today has convinced her that this is a poor decision.