2019-04-20: You Don't Have to Be Nice to Assassins!
- Log: 2019-04-20: You Don't Have to Be Nice to Assassins!
- Cast: Lydia Seren, Jacqueline Barber, Ivan, Talia
- Where: Luca - Port District
- Date: April 20, 2019
- Summary: Lydia and Talia help Jacqueline fend off an assassination attempt against her... by none other than Talia's twin brother Ivan!
===========================<* Luca - Port District *>=========================== Luca is the largest port and second-largest city in Spira, located the southern tip of the archipelago's largest island. Its location as the central port for Spira's surrounding islands has turned Luca into a thriving economic hub; Besaid, Kilika, and a dozen smaller islands all send their goods to Luca for sale, and even the Al Bhed are known to trade here from time to time. The port district is an immense, bustling area. The largest port in Luca brings in ships from across Spira -- from small fishing ships from Besaid to Al Bhed salvage ships to large sailing vessels from Bevelle -- and a massive market to match. A large seawall keeps the waters at bay, with piers extending out past the seawall into the water. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIlRCYnZcg
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
The Azado Avenger is a boat captained by one Jack Harken (no relation to the other Harken) ((he gets this question a lot from Filgaians)) has essentially been 'lent' to Rin Travel Agency without Lydia actually talking to the captain in the first place about whether he was willing to do this all in service of lowering Prissa's debts and to help pay them off.
Well the problem with that is that Captain Jack Harken named his boat the Azado Avenger because he has a life goal and that is to murder the fuck out of Sin. Unfortunately for the captain, he is really not up to this task. Hell, Lydia isn't up to this task and that's why Lydia has asked for Jaqueline to help her talk some sense into Jack and maybe set his sights a little lower.
Lydia has been, in the meanwhile, hiring 'Drifters' from Filgaia to help bolster the crew but in actuality is probably an attempt to set up ANOTHER Kinship here in Spira as part of her long term goal of organizing the mercenary trade into something far less anarchic.
The Azado Avenger itself has seen better days. The travel from Meribia to Spira has been an arduous one, largely bereft of the support that the Althena Guard was able to provide itself thanks to a CERTAIN SOMEONE beating up one of the Four Heroes and Chosen of Althena and Leo's little sister. Actions have consequences even if they don't always hit the people truly responsible.
Lydia has led Jay up onto the deck where she snaps a salute to Jack.
"Hey," She says. "You got a minute man?"
Jack says, "Ah! Founder! And Guild Mistress Jacqueline. How may I be of service to you?"
Meanwhile repair crews are gradually fixing up the ship to return it to sailing order, fixing a broken mast, patching holes, scrubbing clean of barnacles--and so forth.
Jack himself seems to have healed for the most part, sticking to an eyepatch rather than the bandages Jay saw him wearing when they first met. He is gradually devolving into full pirate here.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Lydia had asked for Jacqueline's help with something - apparently, convincing Harken not to go chasing after Sin.
The other Harken, that is - that was Jacqueline's first question, too. If it had been THAT Harken, she probably wouldn't be here right now.
But it isn't, and so she is.
"It really is a nice ship..." Jacqueline comments, making her her way onboard alongside Lydia. Jacqueline's outfit is a little more subdued than it has been of late, with less of the brighter colors.
"Captain." Jacqueline greets Jack, with a polite bow.
"Well, Captain...we were hoping to talk to you about your, um...goals." She starts a little hesitantly. She looks toward Lydia for her view of the situation.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan has been shadowing Jacqueline for the better part of the day, waiting for an opportunity with few exits and few witnesses. So far, none have presented themselves, and there was a special kind of screaming that began to go on in his head when she picked up a -- very familiar -- companion.
Lubov, why can't you make enemies of other corrupt old men? Why does it have to be innocent-looking young women who may be friends with his sister?
Everything about this situation is sickening.
But here he is, anyway, because this is what he's good for. It doesn't matter if Lydia sees, does it? She already knows. Maybe this will make things clearer.
He followed them to the docks, where they boarded a ship that looks barely seaworthy. People do seem to be coming and going as part of a repair crew--Ivan is dressed plainer today, and seemingly unarmed, knowing he might need to blend. And that's what he does, stepping onboard behind a group of workmen like he's meant to be there and casually swiping an unattended hammer, though his movement across the deck is not to complete any repairs, but rather to find the right position and angle to keep his face out of view and -- hopefully -- end things quickly with one throw of a knife.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Typically, when Talia sees Ivan, she waves him down and talks to him. It is the same obstinacy that he knew well, focused on a different task: making him socialize with her and trying to chip away at his resolve. Today, it was different. She recognized how he was hiding.
That isn't wandering a city.
She follows after Ivan at a distance. A few little things made her harder to spot; she wore her dark grey cloak up, hood pulled atop her head, and she made sure to pull it about her shoulders until it covered her shirt and clothes. Her hair stays tucked into it.
She slows, though, as she spots Ivan approach a ship. She does not recognize the ship. She peers around a corner of a building -- her eyes scan over the Azado Avenger. And then, finally, she catches two familiar figures: Lydia and Jacqueline Barber. Slowly, Talia's eyes widen with realization.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Really? It looks like a piece of shit t'me, but I don't know much about boats." Lydia says, to Jack's irritation.
"Yes! It seems there is a group called 'The Crusaders', rearing up to battle Sin and avenge all that have been slain!" Captain Harken says excitedly. "Everyone we've lost...they'll be avenged too. And it is Althena's command, of course, so who am I to disobey? I may not be the most religious man, but the Goddess's demand seems reasonable to me." He shrugs both shoulders. "I imagine it'll go a long way to restore your reputation with Commander Leo as well."
"Yeaaaah." Lydia says. "About that..."
There is at least plenty of cover for Ivan to approach unseen and to be honest, the idea of someone trying to assassinate Jay of all people is so inconceivable to Lydia she is hardly expecting it. She would expect it far more likely to someone to wish to murder her after what she'd done. But really in both cases, why would she expect an assassination? All the assassins she's met were actually secretly super sweet. At this rate she expects that really assassins are just the nicest people you've ever met waiting to happen.
At least she'd understand Talia's obstinancy.
"We think that plan blows." Lydia says. "Tell him Jay."
Oh god.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
If Jacqueline is aware of Ivan following her, tracking her movements, she doesn't show it. She seems, outwardly, an ordinary merchant - though those aware of her reputation will know there is more hiding underneath.
And so, her attention is currently focused on Captain Harken and Lydia. The former explains his goals and reasoning...and the latter bluntly states her opinion on it.
Jacqueline winces visibly, and clears her throat.
"U-uhh, well, I can...respect your goals, Captain Harken, and your desire for revenge...but Sin is a more dangerous opponent than I think you may have realized." She explains. "It will take more than a single ship...even more than a navy, perhaps."
"I must ask you to reconsider - you can still strike an effective blow by focusing on support and reconnaisance - delivering supplies, that kind of thing..." She suggests.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Tailing Jacqueline has taken Ivan's full attention, so he's unaware he's acquired a tail of his own. He follows the conversation from a short distance away, kneeling behind some crates of the ship's supplies. He's close enough to hear them, though -- damn it. They sound so lively and casual with one another. He doesn't want to interrupt this with death.
Don't get ahead of yourself, Ivan. You have to succeed if you want to feel guilty about it later.
He tries to switch off the part of his brain still worrying at "if" and focus on "how" -- following their attention and movements until he feels the right moment has come. He pulls a knife from his sleeve and makes a flick of his wrist, sending it flying for her throat.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia's eyes are still widened when she sees the knife fly. She knows that Ivan is a good shot; she knows that Lydia and Jacqueline are resourceful, too. She decides that she doesn't want to find out how all of these things, ultimately, average out... because the result could be Jay's life.
She throws a hand up. There is no great incantation; just a spinning circle of white-blue light, a shudder of freezing mist in the air, and then a lance of ice forms and flies. It strikes the knife in midair.
The knife spins up in a spray of ice shards; the ice javelin slams into the railing of the Azado Avenger and sticks there; the dagger ends by slamming, point first, into the deck, a few feet from Jay and Lydia.
Talia has stepped out into the street and lowers her hand, the magical circle in front of it blinking away with a crackle. "VANYA!" she yells, and there not as loud, but twice as emphatic: "Stop!"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Harken's cheer vanishes and he looks right at Jay. "Ma'am. I saw him destroy my home. I am well aware that he is dangerous. I am aware I might not survive. I am even aware it may be suicide, but what choice do I have. He destroyed everything I had. I came here to stop him. What would you have me--"
The Captain's eyes widen and he suddenly shoves Jay--too slow? Perhaps. Even in the best circumstances, he would have had a knife in his chest.
Instead, the knife finds itself frozen in midair and a javelin slams right into his deck.
"By Althena..." He mutters. "We're under attack men...! Steel yourselves!"
Lydia is also finding herself looking at that ice javelin in the ship before looking to Jay. "Jay... this wasn't an attack on the ship. This was an attack on you. And that's Talia shouting. It must be..."
She turns around and starts running towards the edge of the ship and leaps off it, her right arm enlongating, fingers fusing together and expanding to form a large mace like appendage at the end of it which she slams down against the boxes of supplies in an attempt to either catch their assassin or at least draw them out of hiding. Ivan should have no problem getting out of the way but he probably won't appreciate seeing that arm slam from the top of those boxes all the way down to the floor, sending splinters flying everywhere.
"Talia...! What's going on?? Why is he after JAY?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline frowns as Captain Harken explains himself. He was driven, that much she could tell. How could she ask him to stop? How could she -
Suddenly, there's the sound of something metal hurtling through the air at high speeds. Jacqueline turns, her eyes wide. Her hand reaches for one of the pouches at her side and she starts to move out of the way, but it's coming in too fast - but before it can reach her she is shoved out of the way by Captain Harken, stumbling backwards and falling onto her backside. She stares at him, both in surprise and out of concern.
In the end, however, a lance of ice catches the dagger in mid-air before it can reach herself or the Captain. Jacqueline stares blankly at the dagger as it lands on the deck point-first, then up at Lydia as she points out that this was an attack on her.
"...O-oh." Jacqueline says, still a little surprised. It isn't the first time her life has been in danger, of course. But it is the first time she can recall that someone made an attempt on her life in a place and a situation like this.
"Talia?" Jacqueline repeats, scanning the crowd for her as she, somewhat shakily, hauls herself to her feet. Lydia charges off, presumably to try and scare up the assassin and Jacqueline looks in that direction.
"Please, come out...! I have no quarrel with you. We can discuss this peacefully!" Jacqueline pleads.
But all the way, Lydia's question runs through her head - why was 'he', whoever that was - after her...?
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan turns to his sister in shock. That she was here. That she stopped him. That she called attention to him and shouted his name."
Lydia's elongated arm smashes down, messily destroying his cover, for whatever it was still worth, and sending splinters flying so that he has to guard his face.
It's Talia who gets his attention first, as he stands, his features twisting with outrage. "Do you think this is a game now that you're out?!
As angry as he is, she's not his target. He shrugs at Jacqueline, avoiding her eyes. "I don't even know what you did. But you got the attention of someone you shouldn't've."
With a flash of his Memory ring, he calls a short sword into his hand, running toward her and slicing downward, twice, with such swiftness that a ghostly sonic blade pulses ahead of each cut, flying toward her.
As for the other two, he just wants them distracted and out of his way. He raises his hand, palm up, summoning a haze of smoke, and then makes a circle, bringing to life three fireballs with rocky cores that he shoots down toward them in a spiraling pattern.
GS: Ivan has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Super Sonic Thrust! GS: A targeted player wasn't found. [#-1] GS: Ivan has attacked Talia with Smoke Bomb! GS: Ivan has attacked Lydia Seren with Smoke Bomb! GS: Ivan has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ivan has attacked Lydia Seren with Fire Swarm! GS: Ivan has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber takes a glancing hit from Ivan's Super Sonic Thrust for 77 hit points! GS: Riposte! applied to Ivan! GS: Lydia Seren completely evades a hit from Ivan's Smoke Bomb! GS: CRITICAL! Lydia Seren takes a glancing hit from Ivan's Fire Swarm for 95 hit points! GS: Disrupt! applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Talia takes a glancing hit from Ivan's Smoke Bomb for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple! applied to Talia!
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"Of course this is not a game!" Talia shouts back at him, heat in her voice.
She reaches to her side. Mirage is yanked free from her belt; the blade glints in that odd way, its whorled steel refusing to catch the light right. The smoke bomb slams down near her feet, and she is already leaping. She hacks and coughs as she breathes some in.
Talia slams down onto the docks, feet crunching into the wood, as she looks up at Ivan -- in time to see him rushing for Jay. "I don't know!" she answers Lydia, before she realizes she does: "It is Lubov, no?"
She holds a hand out. Another magical circle swirls up under her feet, this time. It spins, before a billowing and thick mist of ice, so cold it hurts to breath, swirls up around Ivan and tries to slow him, for even a moment.
GS: Talia has spent 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Talia has attacked Ivan with Dire Mist! GS: Talia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Talia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Man," Lydia says. "What does it take to get your dad to want to murder me? Jeeze." She looks to Jay. "But I'm proud of you Jay! I knew you had it in you!" But despite the sass, Lydia is taking this seriously. Talia NOT wanting to hurt her wasn't exactly easy as far as fights go and this time she doesn't have a Seraph lending a hand. And Vanya is probably, like, at least ten percent more serious about hurting them. That knife throw could've killed Jay. Maybe even Jack.
A haze of smoke ripples around Lydia, obscuring her vision. Lydia grimaces because cameras for eyes she might have but they aren't actually good at filtering out people in smoky areas.
Instead she lets out a whistle with her two fingers.
Jack takes the signal and jumps off the ship and lands near Lydia, he thruwst forward with a rapier and dispels the smoke with a single thrust, a wind vortex flaring out around the blade.
Then it's Lydia's turn to shove someone out of the way, taking a fireball to the face, flipping backward once before landing on her back.
And then she stands up anyway as if she weren't even harmed, slamming the fires out with her bare hand, revealing that metallic skeletal frame Ivan had seen before. This is where they're starting from apparently. What fun places will they go to from here?
"Yeah well. I've got guys too. JACK!"
Most of the crew are strictly noncombat and start evacuating. Captain Jack Harken does not. He darts forward and sends a single stabbing vortex thrust with his blade for Ivan.
"Don't kill him!" Lydia shouts. "Just beat him up a little bit so he feels bad about himself!"
"Easy for you to say," Jack mutters. "But I am not one to kill a child."
LYDIA reaches for her medium but luckily that particular set of problems is not one Ivan has to worry about yet.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Ivan with Hired Help! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The attention of someone she shouldn't have...it's hard to tell who that's referring to - it could be anyone. There's one group she can think of, considering their location, but...
...Was hiring assassins really their style? (She has no idea.)
"We don't have to do this." Jacqueline says. "Please, stop-"
But he's charging at her, a short sword coming into existence in his hand. That causes her to double-take - a key distraction in his favor. She backpedals to avoid his swings, but doesn't quite account for what comes afterward. The ghostly blade tears into her twice, with enough force to push her back toward the wall of the ship's cabin.
Jacqueline grimaces, rummaging through her bags. She listens to what Talia says - the mention of 'Lubov', who from Lydia's words would seem to be her father.
"I-I don't know what I did, either!" Jacqueline protests in Lydia's direction, but quickly turns her attention back to Ivan.
He's trying to kill her. She's not sure why, but she has to focus on the here and now.
She looks to both sides, as if looking for an exit, before...
"Sorry about this..." She apologizes, tossing a bottle at his feet. It breaks open, emitting pleasant, lavender-scented fumes - fumes that slowly sap the strength of those who breathe them in too much.
She also takes a moment to assess the young man in front of her carefully - come to think of it, doesn't he remind her of someone...?
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ivan with Sapping Solution! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ivan takes a solid hit from Talia's Dire Mist for 54 hit points! GS: Ivan has been weakened by Disease! Temporary hit points tick down 1 round! GS: Ivan suffers an additional 24 from Poison's Combo effect! GS: Disease, Disrupt, and Poison! applied to Ivan! GS: Ivan completely evades a hit from Lydia Seren's Hired Help! GS: Ivan takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Sapping Solution for 0 hit points! GS: Weaken! applied to Ivan! GS: Shield! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Talia's icy mist rises around Ivan, creeping into his lungs with a feeling like needles. He has to struggle not to outwardly react to it, to stay focused, when he can feel the chill taking hold. "Then what are you doing exposing me!"
Meanwhile, Lydia is doing absolutely absurd things to fireballs and all the while chattering on as if this is all still light and casual. It's good that the crew are scattering. He doesn't want to deal with them. But Lydia calls one down to provide backup, and (insultingly!) bids him to go easy on Ivan...
"Who are you calling a child?! I'm 18--I'm 19--? Talia! How old are we!"
The man wields some sort of tornado-rapier, sending a powerful burst of swirling wind at him from afar. He has no idea what such a burst of magic could do to a person--perhaps put a hole in him? Or maybe worse, sweep him off the deck and into the water. He leaps, flipping in the air and feeling the air rush by him as it passes.
...Close. He lets out a breath.
In the next moment, Jacqueline is making perhaps the world's politest bid to defend herself from unjustified murder-- but all the same, whatever's in that bottle is nasty. He coughs, his head starting to spin, and he finds himself a bit heavier on his feet, and giving into the shivering that he was able to stifle from the icy mist, before.
He can't let them all chip away at his strength like this.
He sweeps his sword in one violent cut in front of him, which seems to tear a hole in the air itself, revealing roiling light and flame behind the rift.
"Beasts of fire, show your fury! Molten Roar!"
From within the rift, a column of liquid fire erupts, raging toward Jacqueline.
He snaps a glance toward the others, needing something more serious to occupy them with.
"Heads up! Scorching Rain!" A magically summoned hail harries them above, each particle red-hot and dancing with flames.
GS: Ivan has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Molten Roar! GS: Ivan has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ivan has attacked Lydia Seren with Scorching Rain! GS: Ivan has attacked Talia with Scorching Rain! GS: Ivan takes 20 damage from Poison! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Ivan's Scorching Rain for 154 hit points! GS: Ivan assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Ivan's Molten Roar for 98 hit points! GS: Disrupt and Shieldbreak! applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Talia takes a solid hit from Ivan's Scorching Rain for 146 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"I can't let you kill her! She is Lydia's friend, and--and this is just some scheme of Lubov's! It is not worth someone dying for!" Talia starts to stammer it out. Then, she looks incredulous.
"Twenty!" she yells.
She was not expecting, however, for Ivan to summon up a storm of flame. She tries to duck through them; one fire blast slams into her shoulder, pitching her backward. The second strikes her stomach, and she goes rolling. She comes into a three-point stance, letting out a jagged sigh, as she looks up at her brother. "Vanya! I said--"
She goes into a quick run, bolting across the ground, and then she jumps. She lands on the post of a pier; she kicks off it, and then does a twist at her waist.
"STOP IT!"
And she slams her foot, light flashing up her boot, for his jaw.
GS: Talia has attacked Ivan with Demonic Swallow Kick! GS: Talia has gained 3 Combo! GS: Talia has completed her action. <DICE ROLLER> Lydia Seren rolled 1d100 <58> + 0 = 58
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Shit--" Captain Jack Harken hisses under his breath. He barely has time to get up a guard before he is slammed back away away thanks to fire slamming into him. That's the good news. The bad news is that he got hit hard enough that he went over the pier and crashes into the water. The good news there is that he's not burning alive. Hopefully he is still conscious because he is not Spiran and for him the Water Dungeon timer is far more stringent. Also, it exists.
Lydia raises a Silver Medium into the air and shouts, "RIGDOBRITE! LEND A HAND WILLYA!"
Into the air above the Luca Port, an Aeon appears! Yeah that's it. It's an Aeon! An Aeon that doesn't really fit but you know they change based on who summons them right? Right. So Lydia must just be a particularly weird summoner! It works!! Don't question it!!! But regardless, the Guardian looks like a giant three-eyed ROCK with a tail. It hovers in place for a moment before looking down on Ivan with all three eyes.
And if Ivan looks (and honestly, it's understandable if he doesn't) he'll see that inside those eyes.... are not pupils, but stars.
But maybe Lydia shouldn't have said to go easy on Ivan because that's when fire slams into her again, burning away her clothes and body and frankly it looks like for a moment she might've been immolated in those scorching flames.
Yikes, but Lydia always had a trouble dealing with fire. Ivan didn't know that, but Lydia did. She tried to go easy on him anyway.
Rigdobrite flickers out of existence--having not even had the chance to strike. At first it seems like Vanya dodged a bullet but then...
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SGmjBrHArQ
A figure covered in blindening light steps out of the flames, Two Mediums and one Original Medium floating aroud it. It looks vaguely humanoid at first. Two arms. Two legs. A head. But then a 'mouth' opens up in the light but it's not a mouth, it's the void--no! Not the void. It's space. An inky blackness filled with little white dots. Somehow, the galaxy inside her mouth shrieks at Ivan.
The two arms become four arms as they slam into the ground, a fifth ripping out of the back and swinging back around to slam into the creature's face, pressing against it for no readily apparent reason. Is it unstable? Perhaps so.
Gravity suddenly upends itself for Ivan. He finds himself no longer anchored to the ground. The moon. Whose Original Medium Lydia had found in the Ruins of Memory.
Then it leaps for Ivan, intending to seize him up in all its limbs and scream out several blasts of energy from its mouth like light.
Considering Lydia didn't seem emotionally conflicted or anything before this happened, it probably wasn't triggered by anything Ivan did or said. Maybe it's just been a rough stressful time on Lunar this go around? Or maybe she just messed up?
Or maybe she's just getting better at doing what Krelian had wanted to do. It's not as if Lydia would ever know.
Regardless despite her condition, Lydia's will is clear: She will do whatever it takes to protect Jacqueline Barber, the one who did whatever it took to save her.
DC: Lydia Seren switches forms to Stardust Sequence!
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Ivan with Peekaboo! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline blinks, realization on her face as Ivan asks that question. She looks toward Talia, as she gives her response. Then...this must be her brother. For a moment, Jacqueline is saddened. She feels awful that they have to be fighting like this - and over her, no less.
But before she can feel too badly about this, he shouts an incantation and a column of liquid fire erupts toward her. Jacqueline draws something else from her bags - a gauntlet, one of a pair through which she worked her Crest Graphs.
A shell of power forms around her with a gesture, but she realizes something at the last second. With a gasp of shock, Jacqueline adjusts her spell.
They're on a boat right now. A wooden boat - and that doesn't play well with fire.
The shell shifts to catch some of the liquid fire, turning the away from the ship so it won't catch. But where it's protecting the ship, it can't protect her. The heat is immense as flames burn around her.
But when it drops she's still there, scorched and sweating, but alive. She takes a deep breath.
"B-be more careful...! If this ship goes up in flames, so will you!" Jacqueline warns Ivan...even though he's trying to, you know, murder her.
But something else does catch - Lydia. Jacqueline couldn't see her through the flames before, but now...something wholly unlike anything she's from Lydia before emerges.
"Lydia! Lydia, stop!" Jacqueline calls out to her in concern, rushing toward her as Lydia leaps for Ivan in this new form. She's afraid - she doesn't know how much control Lydia has like this, and she's afraid of what she might do. She looks toward Talia, then.
"T-Talia, I'm not sure what to do!" She calls out.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ivan takes a glancing hit from Talia's Demonic Swallow Kick for 44 hit points! GS: Ivan guards a hit from Lydia Seren's Peekaboo for 87 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan hears the impacts of his flames, and turns his attention to the action on the dock with growing horror. Talia's hit, Lydia's ally was knocked into the water, and Lydia... They were supposed to dodge, they were supposed to dodge! He's only here for one person!
Talia's quick recovery--and her flying kick--take him not exactly unawares, but unready, still rattled by the harm he's done and without his guard properly raised. There's a crack as it connects with his jaw, and his head flies back, and he's knocked back onto his back, skidding across the deck.
That's when... things get weird. He rises into the air, as gravity reverses itself, and some strange being with the stars in its mouth moves toward him, grasping him in Too Many Limbs as it mutates before his eyes and screams energy beams at him with some kind of cosmic fury. His mind races, with no idea what to make of this new opponent. ...is Jacqueline calling it Lydia?
Is this Lydia?!
...How?! What?!
It's all he can do to just ride out the assault, crossing his arms in front of his face to catch the worst of the blasts.
As they come on, he calls flames to his aid in an expanding column to try to throw her off of him, already forgetting Jacqueline's warning to spare the ship. The flames answer his call in what is essentially a panic reaction, not even entirely conscious, seeming to erupt almost from his body itself.
GS: Ivan has attacked Lydia Seren with Burning Pillar! GS: Ivan has attacked Talia with Burning Pillar! GS: Ivan has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Burning Pillar! GS: Ivan takes 21 damage from Poison! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Ivan's Burning Pillar for 60 hit points! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Ivan's Burning Pillar for 97 hit points! GS: Talia takes a glancing hit from Ivan's Burning Pillar for 54 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia lands in a three-point stance. She isn't ready, really, for what Lydia does. She watches as the strange, multi-limbed thing that--that is, she realizes, Lydia. Her jaw drops; then, her eyes and face screw up, and she nods once. That new form is also Lydia. She can't let herself doubt that.
She knows, though, that Ivan can summon powerful flames. The pillar of fire explodes outward -- and she has to leap backward, just barely landing on the ground. Feet skid across the boards, before she runs. She bolts towards the side of the ship, and actually runs along the side for a moment--
"Swiry, cold, brr, something something, um--wind--" She chants as she casts.
--and then leaps onto the railing of the ship, crouching as she perches on it, before a swirl of ice and snow erupts into a tornado centered onto Vanya, and Talia calls out: "ICE TORNADO!"
The ice might be an effort to contain the fires, as best she can.
GS: Talia has attacked Ivan with Ice Tornado! GS: Cripple expired! GS: Talia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia doesn't say anything. The only sounds she makes comes as wisps of air being pulled into the vaccuum of her head and wordless shrieks.
But there's clearly enough of Lydia in there to not just turn on Jay when she runs up to her. Instead the creature takes one of its arms and pushes Jay away as has been so often done to the poor woman as of late.
'Let me be the monster that protects you'.
'I'm sorry, but that's hopelessly naive.'
'I don't think that's so true. We've refused to act, so many times, out of some sense of what's 'proper', what's 'reasonable'. We've given so many undeserved second chances to so, so many evil people.'
Has Lydia been thinking similar things deep in her subconcious? Jay might remember how desperately Lydia wished to help her people. To save the beastmen in Kislev from being kept in a prison ghetto for all their lives, for being third class citizens forever. A people who so often don't even seem to crave their own liberation.
Lydia of all people knows the neccessity of acting no matter how risky it is because to stay still is to be dead, to react is to never find freedom. Some part of her always believed what Matilda revealed to Jay. She just didn't join Vinsfeld. She stayed here in a place she feels ever more helpless.
And even if she thinks she's okay with it, even if she believes with all her heart that she is being a better person--she is despairing. Something in Ethius's reckless behavior, in his violence appealed to Lydia.
And it has never left her.
Lydia is set aflame by Ivan. It's honestly difficult to tell how effective it is. There's another shriek, so clearly it didn't like it, but it's scarcely got a human form, or even a monster form by most credits.
It summons another Guardian. This one the Guardian of the sky. He hovers into the air and gestures with his hands, a pentagram-like shape hovering in place before a blaster from above comes crashing down upon Ivan.
But at least it lets go, the flames weakening its grip.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Ivan with X-Summon! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Disrupt expired! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia turns her head towards Jay, afterward. Her eyes are wide. "We need to force him back!" she says. "Get him out of here! If he won't--if he won't stop, and come with us, but--"
She looks at Ivan, and she feels dubious. It hurts to feel dubious; like a dagger driven into her heart. Talia's teeth grit. "...I do not want him to burn up the ship and the dock, or kill any of you, no? Or hurt Lydia any more..."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline hurries to Lydia...but Lydia pushes her away with one of her arms. Jacqueline stumbles back, surprised and a little hurt.
She's frozen in place for a moment, but the flames erupting from Ivan bring her attention back to the situation at hand. She casts another spell to try to disperse some of the flames before they can catch the ship, but this once again leaves her open to them, scorching her even further.
She's going to have some burns to treat once this is all over.
But Lydia is undeterred, and set aflame. Jacqueline gasps out of worry, and looks toward Talia as she answers.
...Force him back...it might be best for him as well as them.
"Sorry, this might hurt a little...!" Jacqueline says, gesturing with her left hand.
A pillar of earth rises in front of Ivan, rushing toward him forcefully with the goal of knocking him off the ship and onto the docks below.
And if it'd prevent him from taking the full brunt of Lydia's attack...so much the better.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ivan with Pillar Crash! GS: Shieldbreak expired! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ivan takes a glancing hit from Talia's Ice Tornado for 67 hit points! GS: Mighty! applied to Talia! GS: Ivan completely evades a hit from Lydia Seren's X-Summon! GS: Ivan guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Pillar Crash for 51 hit points! GS: Cover! applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Ivan enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Disease, Disrupt, Poison, and Weaken expired! GS: Jacqueline Barber assumes the Stoic stance!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"I can't fail this mission! I don't fail anymore!" Even as the words come out of Ivan's mouth, he can't believe how selfish and absurd they sound. Why would he bother--how could he dare to say anything like that to anyone? What does he have to say to them that would mean anything?
It used to be there was one person on the other side of that divide with him. Someone in the same situation, who he had the right to speak to. But now there isn't.
The flames that erupt around him buy him a bit of space to breathe and find his own footing, which he needs, because the attacks are still coming. He dives and rolls as Talia's ice tornado races toward him, catching a spray of shards that cuts at his skin and deepens his chill.
The being that Lydia has become summons another strange ally, which calls down a blast from the sky. Ivan leaps backward onto the railing, grasping onto some rigging to catch himself from going backward over the edge as the blast crashes down on the space he had occupied just a moment ago.
He holds even tighter as the Pillar Crash knocks into him, feeling the force rattle through his bones, but even as it knocks him off his feet, he uses the rope for leverage to climb over it and vault down in a crashing stab toward Jacqueline, accompanied by another ball of flame.
GS: Ivan has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 3 on Gatling! GS: Ivan has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Hell Pyre! GS: Ivan has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber critically Guards a hit from Ivan's Hell Pyre for #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Ivan goes vaulting into a stab at Jay, despite everything thrown at him. Talia grits her teeth, and glances at the rope that he is gripping onto. She makes a decision, and she leaps into the air. She jumps right at Ivan as he crashes down at Jay from above -- and then tries to check him with her shoulder and Mirage's hilt. She drives that up into his gut, and wraps her other arm about his waist.
Then, she throws Mirage. The weapon slams into the side of the stone pier -- the blade buries into the rock, near the lapping waves, and Talia glances sideways at Ivan. He might know what's coming. He has seen her use this trick before.
If he doesn't break away from the one-armed hug, he splits apart when she does. Her body erupts into strands of shadowstuff -- dark, smoky tendrils that all fly across the field, and reform on the side of the pier. Her hand reforms around the hilt of the blade, while her lower half splashes down into the water -- and then she drops into the water, the sword yanked free by her weight, and Ivan (if he was pulled with her) is dropped too.
GS: Talia has spent 4 Combo on Link and Gatling, including 3 on Gatling! GS: Talia has attacked Ivan with Mirage Edge! GS: Talia has launched an attack Link! GS: Talia has attacked Talia with Warp Point! GS: Talia takes a solid hit from Talia's Warp Point for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! applied to Talia! GS: Riposte! applied to Talia! GS: Talia assumes the Stoic stance!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Captain Harken blinks as Talia drops into the water nearby even as he's pulling himself out of it. Is he supposed to do something about it? HE decides 'maybe not' and finishes pulling himself up onto deck where he looks at Lydia for a few moments.
Then he quietly starts climbing back down and splooshes back into the water as well. Yep, he's staying here.
Jay makes a choice and Lydia stalls--she sees Talia making a move for Ivan, aiming to tackle him into the water. Somehow she sees.
Regardless, Lydia's current form isn't exactly great for...precise aim. With Lydia right on top of him, Lydia can't exactly blast at him like this, not without risking blasting Talia too.
So instead she crafts a glowing shield around Jay, a curtain of stars to potect her as best it can.
The light fades from the form, the extra arms dissipitate, the darkness, the un-space along her face dissipitates and Lydia flops forward, her form utterly restored to normal as she collapses onto her hands and knees.
She throws up a huge chunk of silver matter before flopping over to her side.
"I kinda spaced out." She says. "Why is everything on fire?"
ELSEWHERE
A fellow looks at a small pad in his hand. Through it he sees Ivan and Talia plummeting into the water in one window while in another he is typing commands. He examines a status window and examines the status window. A good day's work.
He hits a button, and closes the connection for the time being.
"One step forward," Krelian says.
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Stardust Curtain! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action.
DC: Lydia Seren switches forms to The Lightspeed!
GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Lydia Seren's Stardust Curtain for 0 hit points! GS: Lock State, Quick, and Shield! applied to Jacqueline Barber!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline grimaces. Even after all of this, he was still going...! She sees him vaulting down toward in a crashing stab, flame erupting from him once more.
"I'm sorry, sir...I really can't die here. Not even for the sake of your mission." She replies quietly.
With a quick gesture of her left hand, another pillar of earth rises from the ship - this one acting as a barrier to intercept him and his flame. But before he can reach it, a glowing shield erupts into being around her.
Neither flame nor dagger reaches her...and Jacqueline thinks quickly. She draws out another bottle and hurls it in Ivan's direction - another lavender mixture, this one more potent than before. It'll erupt into similar lavender fumes, but deeper in color and sweeter in scent - and all the more effective at sapping one's strength and tiring them out.
She sees Talia going for a shoulder check, but Jacqueline doesn't see if she's successful - instead, she hurries over to Lydia's side, kneeling down next to her and resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I-It'll be alright." She tries to assure her. "How much, um...do you remember?"
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ivan with Diminishing Draught! GS: Disrupt expired! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ivan guards a hit from Talia's Mirage Edge for #-1 ARGUMENTS MUST BE NUMBERS hit points! GS: Talia's Stoic stance ends. She enters the Avenger stance!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"You don't have to be so freakishly nice about it!" Ivan accuses Jacqueline with irrational ire, even as he dives toward her to attempt a killing blow -- only to be blocked off by a pillar of earth and knocked off course by his sister's attack. "TALIA--" This comes between coughs, and hoarse, as the blow from her sword knocked some of the wind out of him, and some new poisonous mist is assailing his lungs. "DON'T YOU DARE--"
It is too late. The two of them are teleported over the water and then dropped into it with a splash. The waters of Spira are quite warm--but Ivan is already quite cold, and considers almost any water to be cold, in any case.
He isn't a great swimmer, but he isn't going to, like, die.
... probably. He's not in the greatest condition right now. There's some touchy bobbing and sputtering, before he manages to make it to the side of the dock to pull himself up. He rests on hands and knees a moment, shivering and coughing and looking quite miserable, before casting a glance back at the ship, making a silent decision, and breaking into a run, mercifully away from the ship rather than throwing himself back into the conflict again.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia hears her brother's protest, but there isn't any response. There isn't time in the moment she mentally activates the teleportation.
And after they splash down into the water, they're separated. She is a much stronger swimmer than him; it takes her a few strokes to get to the edge, but it takes a moment longer to pull herself up. She crawls onto the dock after him, leaving it wet. She ends up kneeling, and Talia looks up in time to see Ivan breaking in a run away from her.
"Ivan," she says, "wait, we could--"
It does with a cough. She looks down after that, looking down at herself. She is sodden, hair and clothes soaked, and she looks like a drowned rat.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"You gotta sound confident, Jay." Lydia hacks and coughs. "When you stammer like that it makes it a little hard to believe."
But she sees Ivan fleeing! Kind of. "Yeah! You better run...!" Lydia shouts before throwing up more. "Urggh....swim? Swimrun? Run."
Jay asks an important question. "Uhhh, I got set on fire." Lydia says. "So it must be tuesday."
It is not tuesday.
"Maaaan, Talia's gotta be so bummed. I better go, like, hug her and shit."
She flops over.
"...Talia...!" Lydia calls out. "Swim back here so I can hug you and tell you it's going to be okay and that he's a dorrruugggghh."
She flops to the side.
"...Man I feel great." She wipes gunk off her chin.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"F-Freakishly nice...?" Jacqueline stammers, taken aback. Sh-she wasn't 'freakishly nice', was she...?
But there's no time for a response - Talia's gambit works and the two of them are teleported out over the water.
Jacqueline sighs and looks back to Lydia.
"...I'm sure..." She murmurs, a bit sad. Fighting with family couldn't be easy. She winces as Lydia flops over...but at least she seems to feel great, according to her?
Jacqueline can't tell if that's sarcasm.
"...I'm going to have to watch my back from now on, I guess..." She murmurs with a sigh. "At least no one died this time, thank goodness..."
She shakes her head, and looks toward Lydia.
"...I-I'm not 'freakishly nice', am I...?" ...That was really sticking with her, huh?
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
It's hard for Lydia to tell if it's sarcasm too.
"Jay," Lydia says. "If Ivan HAD killed you, you probably would've apologized for staining his knife."