2018-12-10: Histeria
- Log: Histeria
- Cast: Ratatoskr, Talise Gianfair, Ida Everstead-Rey, Layna Manydays
- Where: The Photosphere
- Date: December 10, 2018
- Summary: A group of Drifters meets a Hyadean warrior keen on experiencing a piece of history.
DC: Layna Manydays switches forms to Sea Captain Manydays!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
There is no peace anywhere on the Photosphere. There is occasionally quiet, enough quiet that maybe it can be a diet substitute for peace. But there is no real, whole peace.
The Domicile Level of the Photosphere finds the most pockets of it on average. Living quarters are, surprisingly, mostly devoid of anyone cowering or trying to sleep off the whole existential crisis. The Metal Demons are warrior-like - the vast majority of their grievances tend to be aired out through violence and mayhem on the best of days, the worst of days, and whatever kind of day this is that seems to go even beyond 'the worst.' That means almost no one is 'home,' nor do they intend to be 'home' while glory and/or their continued existence is at stake.
This distant, unsettling quality of quiet seems to have been extended to, of all places, many of the training arenas that dot the hive-like 'city' level where most of Mother's stolen soldiers lived. After all, there are real battles being fought all over the perimeter and some of the more critical paths to the Control Level. What business does anyone really have coming here, unless they're a hopelessly lost invader?
"Tch...!" Comes a youthful, arrogant... tch-ing. Frustrated. A tall shadow, thin aside from a bushy metal-plate construct of a squirrel tail, stands with arms crossed over a twenty-something young man who has come a very, very long way from Kislev to, presumably, die. Quicksilver and human blood dot the smooth, cyan-hued grid-like ground beneath, spent ARM ammunition littered about. "Come on, already! You came all this way, to here? To here!"
"...Your taunt rings hollow, Demon," spits this Kislevi Drifter, defiantly, as he loads another slug into the ARM unimpeded. It seems sloppy, for the Demon to let the human do that. Does he not feel threatened? Is he being toyed with?
"You're not just another body filled with red, are you?" The Demon asks.
"I'll be your death!" The Drifter finds a second wind, speed-firing revolver rounds in the span of exactly two-thirds of a second. He's not a bad shot. That wrist of his must be made of iron to handle that much kickback without shattering off the arm.
The squirrel-like Metal Demon is faster. Two of those shots graze off his left side as he dives in, drawing back a razor-sharp clawed hand...
...and shoulder-checking them up against the nearby wall.
"Damn it...!"
"Damn it...!"
...Those are two words both seem to agree on, mysteriously, as the squirrel-like Metal Demon - an ARM horn on their head, brushes it up against them incidentally as the tip clinks against the wall of mysterious, advanced make.
"What's even with all of you?!" The Metal Demon sneers. "At a time like this? A time like this!! Don't you get it?!"
...
This situation is not going to improve any, left alone.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise hasn't been able to fight her way to Mother yet. She left Alexander in the care of one of Layna's crew; the Gear took a few hard shots to one of its leg servos and is having a little trouble. That suits Talise fine, because it means she gets to go in on foot, where she's a little more comfortable.
Then she ran into Mother's little buddy and regrouped with Benedict to munch a Healing Nut or two.
Her armour's a little scratched up, but she's back in the fight - and those fighting in here can hear someone coming simply because of the boom of a shotgun nearby, followed by a Metal Beast crumpling out of a side corridor in a mess of metal gore and quicksilver. Slinging the ARM again, Talise steps out of that junction, sword in hand as she checks the Beast for signs of life.
There aren't any. And something more pressing is happening anyway. "Talise," Benedict calls from behind her, swinging away and behind her, crossbow held at the ready. It's aimed roughly towards Ratatoskr and the Drifter he's got pinned to the wall.
Talise clicks her teeth and starts forward, the heavy armour not encumbering her all that much given just how strong she is. She drops one shoulder. "Hey, bud!" she shouts as she bears down and attempts to drive that shoulder into the Metal Demon in the hopes of knocking him away from that Drifter.
"Cut that out," she growls. "You don't even have to listen to Mother anymore, you hear?"
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ratatoskr with Let That Child Alone! GS: Talise Gianfair has gained 2 Combo! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Talise Gianfair's Let That Child Alone for 59 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The sounds of combat echo down the corridor. It's more than enough to drown out the sound of heavy combat boots clomping along the ground, and the far more subtle click-click of a safety being flicked off.
"Ratatoskr."
Ida stands beneath a low archway, illuminated by the brilliant glow of an emergency lamp. She's covered from neck to toe in what is unmistakably Hyadean body armor, the sort of thing issued to neonates who've yet to earn their own, customized battle-gear. It's all gunmetal and black, and overtop, she wears another layer of armor--a duster. The armor's attached cold-weather cape covers the right side of her body, leaving the left exposed. Devil's Due rests comfortably in her left hand, pointed at Ratatoskr. "Put him down. He isn't the one you want."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
The Photosphere - home to the Metal Demons and now, currently, under invasion by a group of plucky humans, beastfolks, and others who weren't particularly happy with the way they were running things. And then Mother made her little speech and, well, now everything is all chaos.
That's perfectly fine with Layna - she can handle chaos.
She doesn't have much intention of going up against Mother herself, though - it wasn't the kind of fight she was interested in. She's mainly been focusing on clearing things out, and ensuring that those reckless heroes who do want to make that attempt on her life won't have any army of Metal Demons and Metal Beasts clawing at their backs.
The efforts of a certain Voice have definitely helped - constant reminders of their Mother's abandonment did wonders for the Metal Demon morale, and made it easier to conserve energy by swaying them with her words rather than her fists.
If Layna ever found out who they were, she'd have to give them a proper 'thank you'.
She's not alone - while she's been traveling with a hand-picked portion of her crew, she left them in the command of Dahlia and went with Talise and Benedict to check something out.
And what do they find but a fight?
"Hold tight there, lad. My crew's got a good healer, you just focus on stayin' alive." Layna says to the Kislevi man, then turns her attention toward Ratatoskr. He's vaguely familiar to her, though she's never shared any words with him before. She reaches into her coat, drawing out a revolver and firing a single shot in his direction. She doesn't aim to shoot him directly, but it might give him a bit of a scare.
"Hey, uh...what's-your-name." Layna says. "...Rat Tusk?"
In her defense, she's only heard his name like, once, and it wasn't even in an introduction. Ida appears around this point, drawing Layna's attention.
"Yeah, that's the one." She says with a nod, then looks back to the Metal Demon.
"It's as she says - Mother's kicked you lot to the curb. So stand down and tell us what's got you all worked up, or we're gonna have to calm you down the hard way." She says.
As far as attempts to settle things peacefully goes, she could probably work on her wording a little better. Ida's words draw her interest, though - who was the one he wanted...?
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Ratatoskr with Warning Shot! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr critically Guards a hit from Layna Manydays's Warning Shot for 0 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Layna Manydays has lost 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ratatoskr with Call out!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Call out! for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"You hear that?" The Metal Demon tries to lean his head a bit closer to his captive. He can't, because of the horn. He tries, though. He tries very hard. "They can say it!"
The Kislevi Drifter is sweating bullets. He's trying to sneak in one more slug into his ARM. From his vantage point, he can't see who his prospective savior is.
Ratatoskr can sure feel it, though, because she's already bearing down upon him. He shifts his martial stance as Talise barrels down upon him. When Talise barrels down on anyone, they don't usually keep on their feet. They'd be lucky if they kept their teeth!
Ratatoskr's lucky, that way. His defensive stance is overpowered by sheer momentum, this loss of positioning compensated for by a skillful roll into a kneel as the Kislevi Drifter drops down, breathing heavily. At a glance, he's wounded - for sure trading punches - but he's nowhere near in life-threatening straits. A testament to his own individual skill, maybe.
Layna fires a warning shot that's not even meant to strike.
Ratatoskr up and catches the bullet in an outstretched hand. He doesn't let it linger in the air as if to say 'yeah I just did that,' but instead holds it closer to him with such a grin on his face! He's... always grinning. He's grinning even more!
"It's Ratatoskr!! Don't forget it!" It almost sounds like he wants to say 'please' at the end, as he stands back up, stashing away the bullet like it were something he wanted to keep and not just throw away..
As Layna asides to the Kislevi Drifter that he's got a place he can fall back to, he takes them up on it. There is a reason why he's still alive - he knows when he's in too deep over his head, as he takes his leave.
"Hey, hey, hey... so there you are? There you are...!" Is he angry? Is he excited? Is it both? If he's happy, it's weird to be happy with Devil's Due being pointed at him. "What do you even mean, 'he isn't the one you want?' Hyahaha--!!"
...He's not running after the Kislevi Drifter, though.
"You think you're the only one?! You think you're the only one...! Come ooooooonnnnn!! Why would I stand down?! With all of this going on...!" His excitement reaches a fever pitch. "It's taken me this long to finally get one! Just one, thanks to you!" Thanks to who, one what? This makes little sense, in all the noise and posturing. "I want more... I want more!"
His cackling - arrogant, over-the-top, youthful... he falls into a ready stance, arms raised, one leg bent and also slightly raised. It bears some resemblance to a Muay Thai stance. "Hard way? The only way! The way that we all share...! Come on, come on...!"
He taunts, he goads. Their cause is righteous - a pitched battle for the right to continue to exist, for the very planet of Filgaia itself. He appears to have chosen his side...
Is there no other way?
GS: Ratatoskr has spent 1 Combo on Inspire, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Talise Gianfair with Shoot The Messenger! GS: Ratatoskr has spent 1 Combo on Inspire, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Layna Manydays with Shoot The Messenger! GS: Ratatoskr has spent 1 Combo on Inspire, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Shoot The Messenger! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Shoot The Messenger for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Talise Gianfair! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Talise Gianfair gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Shoot The Messenger for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Layna Manydays! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Layna Manydays gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Shoot The Messenger for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise's armour is some high-grade metal polished to a silvery finish, and it's definitely not Hyadean; if anything, it looks Lunarian, and the white and blue-green surcoat she wears with it just accents that even more.
She doesn't follow the tackle up, stepping back to see what Ratatoskr actually does, but she blinks as Ida and Layna show up too. "Wait, his name's Ratatouille?"
Then the Metal Demon catches a bullet.
"That's new," Talise says, her eyebrows arching sharply as she takes a single step back to square herself. Her voice lowers as she glances back over her shoulder towards Ida and Layna. The way this Demon behaves is putting her off her game a little. "...I take it you know this one," she murmurs, lowering her eyelids ever so slightly. "You're gonna have to brief me on is later. Or whenever."
The swordswoman gives her weapon a whirl and puts herself in a ready stance, sliding one armoured heel away from the other. For a moment, she holds her ground, digesting that stance - in truth Talise doesn't know much about martial arts unless it's the martial art of swordsplay or the Ten Thousand Fists of the Kick-Your-Ass Pirates School of Punch-Fu*, so she falls back on her own defensive stance, figuring he's just trying to goad her into letting her guard down.
"We've got better things to do than watch you jumping around like an idiot," Talise says shortly. She takes a half-step to the left and makes her move.
Not for Ratatoskr himself. For a ceiling panel above him. With a slash, she rips through it, sending a spray of debris spilling out from the ceiling, some of it sparking and trailing cut wires. She's aiming to just dump it on Ratatoskr, evidently intent on not springing what she assumes to be a trap by attacking him directly.
* Registered trademark of Captain Goldhand.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ratatoskr with Gathering Tide Stance! GS: Talise Gianfair has gained 1 Combo! GS: Talise Gianfair has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Gathering Tide Stance for 138 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida glances after the Kislevi Drifter as he makes his exit, thankful that someone here realized the value of cutting and running. She keeps Devil's Due trained on Ratatoskr's chest--no mean feat, given how agile he is--and listens to him. Her heart almost skips a beat as he snatches that bullet out of the air, but a calming breath sets everything right. "Why are you still here?" Ida says. "You need to leave before someone less merciful finds you!" He wants to fight. Of course he wants to fight. Ida bares her teeth. Part of her is very eager to give him exactly what he wants, and she doesn't know why.
"Breathe!" Ida commands. She steps to the side, moving so Talise and Layna are out of the line of fire. She snaps off a quick shot at Ratatoskr's center of mass, chi glimmering around the bullet as it flies. "Explain yourself!"
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ratatoskr with Chi Bullet! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
"Couldn't tell you much, only met him the once." Layna admits with a shrug toward Talise.
She can't help but whistle appreciatively as Ratatoskr manages to snatch the bullet right out of the air. And he seems so proud of himself for it, if she's reading that grin correctly!
"Aye, Ratatoskr." Layna confirms with a nod. She glances away from him briefly to ensure that the Drifter gets out alright - he'll find a distance back the way Layna came from a sector that has been secured by Layna's crew where the crew's chaplain, Lysander, is tending to the wounded.
But Ratatoskr, in a general state of excitement, keeps talking and Layna turns back to keep listening. Is he really that excited about catching a bullet, or is there more to it than that? But still, his intentions are clear.
"The way we all share...?" Layna chuckles in good humor, stowing her revolver away.
"Alright then, lad." Layna says, rolling her neck in preparation. Talise says they have better things to do, and Ida warns him that there are less merciful people out there than the three of them. She isn't wrong. Layna herself, though? Well, if he wants a fight... "Let's get rollin', then."
With a wide grin of her own she charges in, sending a right hook sweeping right toward him, listening for Ida's warning and moving appropriately at the last moment.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Ratatoskr with Swab the Decks! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Chi Bullet for 66 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Swab the Decks for 159 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Talise's combat instincts could yet ring true. The red-hued squirrel-like horned Metal Demon seems to have all the hallmarks of a wily, agile opponent. His build is limber and, with the help of that tail, can probably get away with stances and maneuvers that would leave others without imbalanced and in a bad position. This is proven true - the agility part, anyway - when he deftly avoids a high slash like he thinks she was actually going for his head. She was going for over it, and Rastaban sings the song of the roof's destruction, as heavy debris pelts and showers Ratatoskr down to a three-point stance.
Rastaban also seems to tug something in a way that causes the entire chamber to come to life...
...Human-sized figures, flickering holograms. Indistinct. Care seems to have been taken only to account for the general details of an average (by Elru standards) human male or female of near-peak physical conditioning, appropriately. Physiques appropriate of warriors who train day in, day out. But... there are no faces. No details. Nothing to tell them apart, aside from the sexual dimorphism present. Just light projections, like three-dimensional shadows. They carry weapons that seem equally... indistinct. Projections of melee weapons, gunsmoke ARMs. They start to proliferate as Ida opens fire. None of them get in the way of her shot.
Ratatoskr probably wouldn't let them, the solid yellow of his eyes shining brighter as he hurtles himself towards Ida as she commands for him to breathe. Cackling is not the same as breathing. Insubordinant, the chi bullet streaks across his armor as it just breaks past flesh in a blurred line between a grazing hit and a shot that actually lands. He comes just shy of throwing an elbow up into Ida's face.
Layna's right hook sends him flying across the room, tumbling until he catches himself against the wall.
The light holograms approach with aggressive, well-trained stances. These are well-researched, realistic depictions of some of the human combat styles about the Elru continent.
Even so, the three of them - Layna, Talise, and Ida - are elites among Drifters. The light holograms are highly skilled, from the aspect of a technician, but these are three very atypical warriors in their own right. It is unlikely any of the projections will ever 'hit' them. The quotation marks are important.
Should the 'lethal' part of a weapon touch any of them, the hologram turns a bright quicksilver - the blood color of most Hyadeans - and there is a loud-pitched noise. But there is no impact. There is no pain. There is no effect, other than a brief startling and maybe even a longer-lasting shame. That's it. Likewise, when any of them are 'struck' anywhere believed to be fatal they turn red like shed blood and fall in turn... but that same sense of impact is missing. It's all for show.
Hollow.
Like humanity were nothing more but near-identical bodies filled with the color red. This same red shows up from lights - marks? - used to denote what could be presumed as an evaluation, a score. A sense that the use of this very color were a reward unto itself, to deeply ingrain into the minds of the young that to seek this red is to be glorious and honorable.
It doesn't last, as Ratatoskr slaps a palm into some part of the wall - five, with increasing pace between strikes as though desperate - and it all disengages as he at last takes in Ida's demands to 'breathe.'
"She gets it," he points to Layna, as he rubs a forearm across his face where quicksilver starts to leak. His grin widens, somehow. "Merciful? Merciless? Does it matter? Does it matter! No! It doesn't...! This is something even better than just the legacy of the Demon Fist being here...!" He should stop talking and take in some more breath. His body might be begging him to take in air, while he's running his mouth. "You've got nothing better to do! You've got the only thing to do... the only thing to do!!"
And running those digitgrade feet - followed by his more humanoid hands, going on all fours as he speedily runs across the ground, then to the nearby wall, and even a momentary stint on the ceiling before he dives down upon Talise with an overhead kick that - she will soon find - is host to a compressed air shotgun that fires compact wind at hurricane force or maybe even greater. She's the only on there who doesn't know of that capability.
He rises up to thrust an elbow into Layna's chest with a similar burst, going to an outstretched palm strike from the same arm that - yes - ends in another burst.
"Is fight! Fight! Fiiiiight!! Hyahaha--!" He caps it off by trying to raise one elbow above Ida as he brings his knee up to her, and then swings that elbow down as if to try and crunch her between elbow and knee simultaneously.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Talise Gianfair with Overhead Shoot! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Layna Manydays with One Armed Dual Wield! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Cracker! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 78 hit points! GS: Layna Manydays takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's One Armed Dual Wield for 146 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Cracker for 69 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise is pretty sure this guy cannot possibly be as stupid as he appears. Nobody who can catch bullets out of the air is fool enough to pick a fight with three Drifters without knowing he has a strategy with which he can win handily.
As the holograms flicker into existence, though, Talise starts and pulls back a little, clicking her teeth together and flashing pointed incisors. The light images bear down, and Talise finds herself whirling her blade to parry a couple of strokes, whirling to one side and slashing through a hologram. But she keeps half an eye on Ratatoskr. "Trust me, I absolutely have something better to do," she grunts, her eyes narrowing, before the Metal Demon makes his move.
What she expects to be a kick turns out to be something much more. She opens her mouth and sweeps a hand up to slam into the nimble Metal Demon's heel. Compressed air bursts across her, whipping her short hair back and forcing her down to a knee, but she's able to swat the more agile fighter away before can seriously do any harm.
"You don't know anything but trying to turn humans red like this, do you," she murmurs, her stomach churning with something resembling pity as she regroups and sweeps through what she assumes to be training holograms. She lashes out almost perfunctorily, turning a few more of them red with a sweep of silver blade and armour accented with white and green. She's not as fast as Ratatoskr; even without armour, Talise tends to be quick at short range but not the sort to jump around and do flippy shit. She makes do without that agility by positioning herself tactically, coming around to try and flank the weird squirrel demon and force him to turn his back to one of the three of them whenever he attacks.
"You know, there is life beyond this, and you can have it if you just stop for a second!" Talise barks more loudly as she closes the triangle. Darting to the left, she feints, trying to throw off Ratatoskr's guard --
In the middle of the move, she does something unexpected: She jabs her left hand out as if she's going to punch Ratatoskr in the face.
But it's a lie. She snaps it back at the last second, whirling instantly to swing a brutal backhand at him, then flowing into another slash, then another. She's trying to catch him off-balance with a series of quick strokes aimed to leave a mark.
GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ratatoskr with Infinitely Rippling Waters! GS: Talise Gianfair has gained 2 Combo! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Infinitely Rippling Waters for 244 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Light flickers to Ida's left. "Talise, behind you!" she cries, thinking at first that they've tripped some sort of defense system--but then she stops, and stares a moment at the silhouette that appears there. Then another appears, and another, and another. Ida jerks back as Ratatoskr almost elbows her in the face, but one of the training holograms takes up where he left off. It lunges at Ida, blade racing at her neck in a halfway-decent approximation of Fast Draw--lightning-quick, but lacking the true killing edge. She twists at the last second, the solid-light weapon slamming into her left shoulder with a loud brazzt. Part of the hologram glows the color of quicksilver.
The right arm takes up the slack. Before Ida even knows what she's doing, it twists free of the cloak, surging forwards in a knife-hand strike that becomes a bit more literal than she intended. The fingers flatten out, forming a single plane with razor-sharp edges; the hand slams clean through the hologram's chest, all but unimpeded. Crimson lights up the 'human' form as it fades from existence. Some part of Ida feels satisfied. Horrified. Angry. Hollow?
"Would it matter if he did?" Ida says, to Talise, as the hand becomes a hand again. She grips the edge of the cloak with the Demon arm's fingers, and throws it back over her shoulder. The entire limb is visible now, awkwardly excluded from armor and duster because it wouldn't fit in the sleeves of either. Instead, they're tied into place across Ida's chest. It's a clumsy setup. "After all, this isn't just the legacy of the Demon Fist, as brilliant a warrior as she was."
"Ida Everstead-Rey," the naturalist says. She holsters Devil's Due and slips into an empty-handed fighting stance, one hand held high, the other low. She starts to circle Ratatoskr--or tries to, given how fast he is. "Student of Demon Fist, Five Precepts Chained Devil, and--" She steps forwards, striking at Ratatoskr with a palm, then a jab, then a palm again. "Method Mercury."
Method Mercury? That Method Mercury?!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ratatoskr with Lotus Sets Its Roots! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Lotus Sets Its Roots for 46 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna watches as a rain of rubble causes the chamber to come to life, generating humanoid figures. It's a bit of a surprise, but it doesn't take much effort to figure out what they are or why they're here.
"I think I get it." Layna comments, mostly to herself, as she straightens up from her punch. It was a training room - a way to train them how to fight and how to incentivize victory.
"You lot've been trainin' on these ghosts for what, how long? ...But it's not the real thing, aye? It'd never match the real thing." Layna comments with a shrug. As if to prove her point, Layna walks right through as a group of 'ghosts' lunge for her. They turn quicksilver in quick secession as all of them connect with their attacks, the loud-pitched noise indicating failure intensifying with each landed attack. But Layna continues forward, as if this entire program doesn't matter to her. She rushes to meet him head on as he lashes out with an elbow thrust, following up with an open-palm strike that sends her flying much as he did earlier. She flies through holograms, her momentum enough to count as an attack. They all turn red as a result. She crashes into the wall on the opposite side of the room, but with a grin equalling his own she gets to her feet, cracking her neck.
"It's all fake, and that really riles you up, don't it? No matter how many times you 'win', or 'lose', it don't really matter. It's all fake. It's empty. You want a real thrill, aye? You want to put it all on the line. You want a real fight, with real opponents an' real risk. An' you know what?" With that Layna rushes in.
"...I get that. I know how that is." She admits...but the way she says it leaves a lingering 'but' that isn't yet elaborated on as the next words out of her mouth are an incantation. She swings, sending out a dangerous blade of wind that goes flying right for him.
A part of her could sympathise with the Metal Demons, at least in that regard. She, too, was someone who had built her life around combat. She was someone who knew what it was like to long for a good fight.
GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Ratatoskr with Cutlass Gale! GS: Layna Manydays has gained 1 Combo! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Cutlass Gale for 147 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"No you don't!" There is the beginnings of a childish 'nuh uh, uh huh' shouting match between Talise and Ratatoskr as she skillfully overturns his advance, smoothly continuing into the rest of his sequence as she chides him for the narrow view of his world, of what he can do. To know nothing but trying to turn humans red - to do nothing but kill. If so, the Kislevi Drifter's life really must have been moments away from being snuffed out...
"Tch! Shows what you know--" His voice grows more excitable again as she even dares impl-- "Beyond this... beyond this!!" He's not even letting the transcription finish, wow.
Mockery, or frustration? "After you gave me one!" Gave him one what?! What did Talise give him? This is the first time they met! She didn't shoot him with the bullet he caught. "I finally got one!" He's using past tense. She definitely gives him a beating, feinting him as she backhands him so viscerally hard that his tail's plates flare out from shock as he gets knocked across the chamber.
In the process, Ida hears a noise she's never heard before. Something... rattling. It's tough to describe. The pitch feels strange, like she shouldn't, but is. Something is rattling, from the demented alien battle squirrel-unicorn-whatever. (Squirrel-unicorn-...rattlesnake?) It stops as soon as he gets a hold of his balance, coming down to a three-point stance again. His eyes light up with what might be the very element of glee, watching that knife-hand. That's a weird emotion. This should be horrifying, watching a Metal Demon's own body just be grafted to a human's own... but there's this weird seamlessness to it that's just as strange as his reaction.
She reintroduces herself. Most of it's as he expects from a previous encounter, as he weaves about with that three-hit combo. Palm pushes him back, he shoots right past the jab, palm again as he twits his body to move into a strike, but then she adds--
"Method Mercury?! A human, practicing... how hot a foundry can a human stand in for weeks...? Can she stretch an arm across the length of three whole hallways of the Domicile Level...?" He starts trailing off as if to talk to himself. It stops him from taking the advantage he was just poised to take against her.
All the while, Layna talks about the doldrums of stuff like this. This... fake training area. It shows the motions. It is an amazing reconstruction. She hurls out a most potent blade of wind herself. He seems kind of surprised by it as it sweeps him off his feet, pushing him back like he were having a taste of his own medicine. "That... that kind of sorcery, that kind of sorcery...! That's not the one with the tattoos or the graphs...!" Frightened, or... no, Layna seems to have the read of it.
He's excited. Wounded, his gaze seemingly unfocused by the dimming of his eyes for lack of any irises in which to follow, he once again rises to a fighting stance...
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"It's more than that... more than that!!" Ratatoskr sneers, while quicksilver comes down from his forehead. "How can any of you not truly see it...!" Oh joy, more yadda yadda Mother this, mother that. "The day the humans came to the Photosphere... the day they set foot through its invincible barrier... the day they delved deep by the dozens... the greatest warriors and heroes... not of the past... but today! Not of the past, but today!!!"
His smile can't go any wilder. No, yes it can. "Can you see it?! That one before! The one from western Ignas! Uses an ARM loading technique by hand equal or better in speed than the humans who put a whole load in by the clip... Bud!" ...His name was Bud? Um. Really? "His face, his name, his technique... the birth of a historical legend among humanity, here today! That's not all..."
"That bullet from the lady with the wind I've no idea where it comes from...!"
"The giant of a beastwoman with a sword and armor I've never seen...!"
"A human bearing the Demon Fist, who claims to practice Method Mercury..."
The cackling continues. "Today! Mother kills Filgaia, and us with it... or you all kill Mother, and us with it... it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!!! The war heroes of humans... and beastmen!! My kind don't even tell them apart... just bodies! Just bodies to turn red! No!! I won't accept that! The history before they didn't care to remember... even if this is my last day, my last day... this is... this is the history I want to meet! This is the history I want to fight!!!
His voice calms.
"I'm living it...!"
He launches towards the three of them with a rapid-fire set of blows. They are just that - regular blows. Punches, kicks, knees, elbows, even a tail sweep in there, moving so fast as to try to box them in. "Give me yours...! Your name!! Just like you gave me Bud's!" Oh. Is that what Talise gave him? He... might be disappointed in the near future.
"Each and every one of the dozens here! Bring them here, bring them here!! I want to fight them all!! I want to experience them all!!! I want to remember them all!! No one will forget them, whether Mother takes them as her own or not! I'll scream each of them in my dying breaths loud enough the worlds after Filgaia will hear them!!"
That might be hard to do while he's trying to pummel them, though, until he makes an upward sweep with the horn on his head that (somehow) has enough force to try and lift all three of them up. A light begins to build...
There is a dramatic cut-in of Ratatoskr's face here (somehow), mouth agape in joyous laughter that shows off his jagged teeth, gaze angled as such there's only one solid yellow eye glowing brightly, light gathering upon his horn from what's visible in the cut-in with a cupped clawed hand facing upwards.
"SERPENT'S OUTRAGE!!" He yells as the light from his horn reaches maximum intensity and tries to fire and catch anyone of the three, maybe even all of them hurled upwards in the laser blast. More of the paneling falls apart, something of a cascade effect, as the functionality of this chamber stands to be forever lost by the sheer ferocity of this combination.
"Hyahaha--!!"
GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Boss Action! GS: Ratatoskr has spent 5 Combo on Gatling, including 4 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Layna Manydays with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Talise Gianfair with Serpent's Outrage! GS: Talise Gianfair critically Guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 32 hit points! GS: Talise Gianfair has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has lost 1 Combo! GS: Layna Manydays takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 84 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Serpent's Outrage for 161 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
Talise blinks as Ida rattles off her list of techniques. "I see you've picked up some skills since we last rolled together."
Ida and Layna unleash their powers on the Metal Demon, but even they can't cut off the shouting and battle-lust. The swordswoman blinks a couple of times as she tries to figure out what the hell Ratatoskr is talking about.
"I think he might even be less coherent than the garbly yellow one," Benedict Greygust mutters from where he's taken cover near the junction, trying and failing to line up a crossbow shot. The battle is simply too fast-paced for someone who's a competent fighter, but not an elite Drifter like Ida, Talise and Layna are.
But he's beginning to explain himself. Whirling Rastaban back to a defensive angle, Talise continues to move along the flank of the battle to try and keep Ratatoskr in her triangle - but as he starts raving again, her eyebrows rise sharply. "...My name's Talise, and I don't know who Bud is," she growls. "And if you want history, then--"
Ratatoskr goes nuts on them before they can finish.
Talise can't really parry fists with a sword, so she relies on plan B: Shifting Rastaban to her off hand, she reverses it, slamming her right hand into Ratatoskr's fist a few times, her left arm coming up to sweep a few blows aside. Keeping ahead of him is all she can do, even with her eyes moving quickly and her body following to where he telegraphs his next blow. "Ghh," she manages - before his eye lights up like a beacon of madness and he unleashes the outrage of the serpent. The horn sweeps, and the three of them hurtle into the air. Talise's gut lurches as she's flung, unused to being tossed around in this way.
The ray shines like a death boat lantern coming for all three of them - and at the last second, as she begins to fall back to earth, Talise grabs ahold of something.
It's a large metal plate that's been torn off the ceiling. Gripping it in both hands, she braces in midair - and the laser blast slams into the plate.
The piece of debris isn't armour. Within a couple of seconds, it's torn apart, melting away at its edges; the rest of the beam slashes through it. But it does what it was supposed to do: It breaks the momentum of what would've otherwise been gravity causing Talise to fall right into the beam. The impact of outrageous ray against the plate deflects her away, and when the blast does tear through, Talise is being propelled off to one side.
The impact lands mostly on her shoulder plating and side. It still hurts. With a gasp, she hits the ground and rolls, wincing. But it's not what it could've been: Probably lethal.
Smoke wafts from the left side of the collar opening of her armour as she rolls to a knee, then pushes back up. Angry burns scorch across her left cheek. "History's what you want?" she grunts. "Fine! Then I'll show you why Green Knight Fredo entrusted Rastaban to me."
A blast like that demonstrates the truth: The time for holding back is long past. Talise jukes to the left, again trying to resume a semblance of her tactical triangle - but she shoots forward from there. The two-handed sword gleams dangerously as she bears down on Ratatoskr like a human bulldozer.
"LIVE THIS HISTORY!" Talise roars, and swings for the fences, a swing aimed to cleave a diagonal blow through the Metal Demon warrior.
The silvery hiss of a blade through everything in its path hangs in the air, a single vibrating note, as if Rastaban could somehow cut not just Ratatoskr, but also sound and the concept of time. Everything seems to hang for a moment.
GS: Talise Gianfair has spent 3 Combo on Headshot, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Ratatoskr with Cascading Steel Dragon! GS: Talise Gianfair has gained 1 Combo! GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Cascading Steel Dragon for 304 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida is already on the razor's edge. That rattling noise makes her even warier, and her steps grow faster--she keeps circling Ratatoskr, her handwork slow and deceptively languid. The whole style seems to focus on circular motion, whether it's moving around an opponent or--as Ratatoskr finds out--pushing his striking hand away, gently, before it can make contact. Redirecting the force elsewhere.
Still, she can't help but smile, enigmatically, as the Metal Demon marvels at her claim. "I can't tell you," she says, the smile widening. Even while bleeding from a head wound, Ratatoskr shows a sheer excitement for this that may well put Zed to shame. He lays it all out there, even as he launches into a blindingly-fast chain of strikes. Ida steps back, settling her weight onto her rear foot and sweeping both hands forward to meet him. She greets his first strike with the palm of Fafnir's hand, gripping his forearm gently and turning it aside. What follows is more of a dance than anything else, as Ida deftly weaves from strike to strike, doing her best to keep up with Ratatoskr until she suddenly can't.
Ratatoskr crows about meeting history, and Ida faces him, her hands out of place. She feels vulnerable, of course, but for the first time since she actually entered this place, she feels profound respect. If she weren't in the middle of a fight, she'd bow. Ratatoskr's headbutt knocks her off her feet, throwing her into the air. She sees light gleaming on the tip of the horn, and she throws Fafnir's arm up to guard herself--fiery chi blazes off the palm, surrounded by a corona of brilliant golden-white. Is it all her, there? Or--
Ratatoskr's beam slams into the outstretched hand. The impact races up the arm to Ida's shoulder, a burst of white-hot heat and agonizing pain. For a moment, Ida forgets where she is, and panic grips her. The catacombs. The arm. Fei, shouting at her.
She falls, and before she knows what she's doing, she sets her legs beneath her and catches herself. The impact jars her back to the present. Her head snaps up. Her eyes focus on Ratatoskr with laser-like intensity. "It's an honor," she croaks out, and while her voice is heavy with pain, the words are genuine. She steps forwards, slipping into Talise's shadow and then out again. She drives the blackened, smoking right hand at Ratatoskr's side.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ratatoskr with The Hand Of Fafnir! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna listens to Ratatoskr as he speaks, as he responds to their words. She watches as he fights. She can see how excited he is by this. This rare, once in the life-time opportunity. Gradually, everything begins to fall into place.
She understands and then laughs raucously, moving to block attacks as he rushes in with a flurry of blows on all three of them. She sees that he's trying to box them in...but she lets him.
And then, finally, an upward swing with a horn sends them all flying before lauching a powerful beam from said horn. Layna adjusts her positioning to prevent it from striking anything vital, but overall she takes the hit head-on and crashes on the floor behind, ceiling panels falling down all around her.
"Good...good! I like you, lad!" Layna says. She coughs once as she hauls herself to her feet, then rolls her shoulder. It seemed to take the brunt of the attack and isn't moving quite as quickly as she'd like, but it's not too serious. "It's names you want then, aye?"
Layna stands to her full height with her arms folded in front of her, her coat billowing behind her.
"I'm Layna Manydays, Captain of the Ruby Empress!" She shouts, then lowers herself into a fighting stance. Her eyes trail over to Talise briefly before returning her attention to the squirrel-like Metal Demon.
"Ratatoskr! There's a whole world of strong fighters out there for you to discover! You can see them for yourself! But today...today, I'll show you mine!" She declares, her grin growing even wider. The wind begins to pick up around her, howling ominously. She rushes toward him...and then vanishes. But the wind doesn't quiet.
It picks up, and intensifies as she reappears behind him, delivering a powerful, wind-enhanced punch!
GS: Layna Manydays has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling! GS: Layna Manydays has attacked Ratatoskr with Dead Men Tell No Tales! GS: Layna Manydays has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Ida Everstead-Rey's attack becomes clear! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Quicksilver Blade for 200 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Layna Manydays's Dead Men Tell No Tales for 209 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr asks for it - rather literally in this specific example given, and he receives it. Their names. Their everything.
Talise bears down upon him with all her might, and what might it is. A might recognized as worthy by Green Knight Fredo, as she wields Rastaban without hesitation or compromise. It is a combination to remember as he is bore down upon, posture thrown open as she swings the blade diagonally.
The only thing that seems to stop him from being bisected clean in two (or more) is that he is positioned just far back enough that he'll escape a mortal wound. There is a wound. He seems suspended in the air for a moment before quicksilver vacates him.
Through the Hand of Fafnir, Ida finds a way to survive the brunt of a spirited series of attacks that might yet put the likes of the exuberant, enthusiastic squirrel-like Hyadean right up there with some of the finer soldiers that still live.
It is an honor. He can't reply to that, as the super-hot hand all but cauterizes the wound Talise inflicted on the spot as he slams and bounces off of the distant wall. The wall crumbles behind him from when he vacates the wall.
Layna lets herself find the joy in the moment, of the weight of what this whole day must mean, even if it might be the end. Layna adds to her greeting with an all but spoken invitation to see the whole world of strong fighters out there. She offers to show him his. She seems to run in as the wind builds. He still yet staggers closer...
Creating space for her to reappear behind, striking past his tail to nail him in the upper back. He lies prone for a while, as the smoldering ruin of the training area surrounds them.
"...Talise, blessed by the Green Knight Fredo..."
"Ida Everstead-Rey, Student of the Demon Fist... Five Precepts Chained DEvil... Method Mercury..."
"Captain Layna Manydays of the Ruby Empress..."
When all's said and done, there's enough quicksilver about Ratatoskr that one could be forgiven for believing the color of his armor is the blood of his own people and not that more vibrant red... he rises again for one more 'hyahaha,' adopting that stance he entered combat with, raising and lowering his arms twice...
"That's... four... there's more, there's mooooore..."
Before he falls over into a kneel. "Tch... am I history? ...Not yet, not yet...!" Even his nervous laughter is sort of giddy and maniac. He knows there's more of them through the Photosphere. Some of them might already be dead before he could ever fight them. Dead to Mother's Metal Beasts, dead to Metal Demons who don't stop to think about anything beyond the pools of red...
His tail lifts once, and there's that odd sounds-like-it-shouldn't-be-heard, meek little rattling only Ida can hear, before he lets it go to rest flat on the ground.
"H-Hey... don't forget about me, either...! I'm part of it... I'm part of it!" He repeats the second one, a bit more forcefully. "Ratatoskr... Rapid Attacker...!"
Mother took the Hyadean people like domesticated pets after taking their world. What of their culture did she snuff out in the process, that many are now only identified by their roles in combat? He keeps that grin on his face, like having such a humble designation is his to carry into forever, as he holds his arm across where Talise cut him.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
When she comes out of her strike, Talise finds herself with one knee nearly touching the ground and Rastaban held low at her side, in both hands. Quicksilver beads in the air in an arc behind the blade, individual droplets glittering like metal stars. A few of them eventually spray across the shoulders of her armour. It isn't the first quicksilver blood she's had on her today.
Holding her position a moment, she looks up and watches with quiet satisfaction as her friends finish the job, hurling the Rapid Attacker around violently and nearly consigning him to the footnotes of history.
But he's made of sterner stuff than that. And when Ratatoskr finally lands and goes prone, Talise straightens and draws a heavy breath, then lets it out, far more tired than she thought she would be. She touches a hand to her left cheek, wincing a bit at the feeling of those burns from earlier.
Behind her, Benedict's moving forward, his crossbow trained on Ratatoskr, but he doesn't go much further once the downed Demon starts talking. Talise clicks her teeth sharply and begins to move into a resdy stance again when Ratatoskr rises.
...Laughs at them. Falls over again. Talise frowns, glancing sidelong at Ida, then towards Layna.
"If you stay here, you're not going to be a part of much of anything except Mother's slaughterhouse," Talise points out, her tone softening a little now that the actual fighting's over. She takes a step back and sets the point of her sword against the ground, putting a bit more of her weight on it than she'd like but otherwise trying not to telegraph that she's as beaten up as she is. "There's lots of history out there. Some of it you don't even have to punch in the face. But you'll never experience it if you stay here."
A part of Talise feels bad for this guy. Whatever battle fervor he may have, he's got one thing in common with her, at least: A love of history.
Besides, she reminds herself. Lady Chloe would do it this way.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida steps back, shaking out the right hand as though she'd merely touched a piece of metal a smidge too hot for comfort. She swallows, biting back the pain--her human hand darts into a pocket, and comes up with a white packet with silvery stripes and Hyadean script. She tears the first-aid packet open with her teeth, revealing a strip of soft, metallic material, which she presses against the palm of the right hand. Smoke wafts up from it. It takes several more patches before the burned parts are completely covered.
Then, Ida steps forward, taking a knee beside Ratatoskr. "You are," she says. "But first you need to live to see it." The protective metal bandaging(?) numbs the pain. She can already feel the Living Metal seeping in to replace and reinforce the damaged tisue. She takes out more of those packets, rips them open, and starts applying them, one after another, to the slash across Ratatoskr's midsection. "I said it was an honor to meet someone with such respect for history--" Here, Ida glances up at Talise, and then at Layna. "And I meant it. I'd take Talise's advice, though, if I were you."
Then, realizing that she has perhaps left out a very important element, she adds: "I'll explain the arm when this mess is over, Talise. I'm sorry."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
Layna's strike lands solidly, and Ratatoskr falls. The winds quiet, slowing to a cool breeze before eventually vanishing completely. She stands up straight, watching Ratatoskr closely. She knows he's got more in him than that.
She grins as he repeats their name and rises. He's tired, obviously wounded, but even so his fervor hasn't been snuffed. Fortunately, Ida has come prepared.
"Not a chance, lad! I'll remember that name of yours." Layna replies, then nods in Ida's direction. "It's as she says - it's been an honor fightin' you."
She looks toward Talise, then, who provides a very important suggestion - it'd probably be better to get out of here.
"Aye! I expect to see you make a name for yourself out there, lad. Don't disappoint me!" She says.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The three of them all relent - even where Benedict's caution could be seen as highly warranted. The concept of mercy being applied for a thousand-year grudge rematch is a new one, indeed, but somehow the lot of them have been willing to see past the initial differences. That a true origin for a lot of this tragedy has decided to gloat in the revelation might yet be a bridge towards something more.
'There's lots of history out there. Some of it you don't even have to punch in the face.'
'First you need to live to see it.'
'I expect to see you make a name for yourself out there, lad!'
With these words of encouragement - not the only ones, but some of the standouts - and timely care, Ratatoskr keeps fighting to stay upright. The youthful, squirrel-like Metal Demon who just spent the better part of the last few minutes cackling and raving about his subjects of such intense interest is largely quiet. No alarms raised, no (...outward?) attempts to smack them in the face again anew. The idea of seeing him at rest for all the twitchiness and movement expressed just about every time prior might be kind of weird.
He lets them leave in peace, without yelling at them to stay or to call others here for him to fight or something ridiculous like that. Maybe he just has that much to unpack - they all do - with uncertain futures looming ahead.
"Out there, huh... out there." How far out there? He's only ever gotten to leave the Photosphere a few select times in his life. There probably won't be a Photosphere left in a day's time, at this rate.
He bides his time while he recovers, if only just. He is living history, after all.
...Later, by his lonesome, technically still in the same spot...
"Hyahaha... you'd want to hear it, Berserk. The time humans got in the Photosphere! This many... this deep... you'd beg me to tell you for once...!"
A knowing grin. Berserk's long gone. He didn't really get to hear where or how the material might've been recycled. If only he got to go to Lost July...
All the more important he rememebers this day, for as long as he's here to remember it.
<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.
A cynical part of Talise can't help but wonder if letting Ratatoskr go won't come back to bite them all in the ass someday. The rest of her can't do anything less. What's the alternative? Chop his head off? The thought's so outside of Talise's wheelhouse as to be nigh-inconceivable.
Even Benedict doesn't make a huge issue of it. He lowers his crossbow towards the ground and sighs, withdrawing a little ways.
Talise slides a gauntlet off, curving her fingers to push them roughly through her hair. When Ratatoskr doesn't respond to them, Talise finally just nods to him quietly, flashing a wry smile. "...Stay alive, Ratatoskr," she says, before turning to move off once Ida's got him patched up.
Only once they're well away does she answer Ida. "I meant to ask you about that after we almost got killed by the garble spider," she admits. "When we've got a minute, tell me all about it. And I'll tell you the Green Knight Fredo story. I think we've got a lot to catch up on."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"We do," Ida says. She looks up at Talise and smiles, but it's soft, and a little rueful. "Once we're done here. Over drinks, perhaps? I imagine we'll need them."
<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.
There's a lot to think about, for sure. Layna tended to put it all aside for the future, but even she had to stop and consider things sometimes...she was a Captain, after all.
"Let's meet back up with the crew - get Lysander to patch us back up, aye?" Layna suggests, turning to leave. She starts to head back, but she can't help but grin to herself as she hears Talise and Ida agree to swap stories.
They had to focus on the future - for there would indeed be a future. They'd ensure it, no matter what Mother tried to do.