2019-05-06: A Light in the Darkness
- Log: A Light in the Darkness
- Cast: Xantia, Seraph Clarine
- Where: Luca - Residential District
- Date: May 06, 2019
- Summary: Following Operation Mi'ihen, Xantia finds Luca to suddenly be an unfriendlier place. Clarine provides a welcome distraction, as well as some much-needed treatment of a serious injury.
Note: This scene takes place after the events of If You Can Keep Going.
======================<* Luca - Residential District *>======================= The people of Luca live in the center of the city, where massive seawalls and dykes have kept the weather at bay. There are markets here, but they are smaller and less bustling affairs; these are places for locals to shop at, with predictable goods. Many of the stores trade in the official merchandise of Blitzball teams. There are also cafes, restaurants, and other amenities those from beyond Spira might be used to. The environment is cosmopolitan. It is, however, dim -- not in cheer, but in lighting. Both stone structure and huge canopies cover the tops of the city, save for the Blitzball Stadium. This helps keep frequent rains from putting a damper on the city, and life here is as frantic as it can be elsewhere in Luca. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIlRCYnZcg
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The news of Operation Mi'ihen's failure was quick to spread across Spira. Though life in Luca continues as normal, and opinions on the matter are divided, the general atmosphere tends to be a bit more morose than usual. After all, anyone who had even a bit of hope that they might be rid of Sin for good has just had those hopes dashed. Certain perspectives have also shifted, as someone is about to find out the hard way.
"What do you mean, there's no rooms available? I already have a room, you know that, right?"
A perplexed Xantia stands outside of an inn on the outskirts of Luca's residential district, her way barred by the bald, burly innkeeper standing in the door opening. The man runs a palm across his face, evidently getting tired of trying to explain what's happening here. "Maybe I wasn't clear enough. What I mean to say is that there's no rooms available here for those who defy Yevon's teachings."
Xantia just stares blankly for a moment. Then she shakes her head. "I don't get it. Did I do something wrong?"
The innkeeper's patience finally runs out, and Xantia gets the door slammed in her face. She steps back in surprise, pauses, raises her right hand to knock again... then spots an onlooker out of the corner of her eye, giving her a dirty look. She turns, and notices similar reactions from other passers-by. A child's eyes light up when she sees Xantia and seems about to call out, but is quickly silenced and hurried onward by her mother, who murmurs a mild admonishment.
Lowering her head, Xantia sighs, and slowly starts to make her way out of the city. She can tell when she's not wanted. Even if she doesn't even begin to understand that this is due to her impersonation of a Crusader, and the opinions of that organization, or what's left of it, having changed drastically.
Aside from looking down in the dumps, she also appears to be injured. Her left arm has a bloody bandage wrapped around it just below her armor's shoulder pad, and is being held mostly still. Though this bothers her less than these inexplicable unfriendly attitudes do.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
The morose atmosphere surrounding the people was easy to see - even for Clarine, who typically avoided people she didn't know. She had a feeling she knew why. She might not have participated in the fight, but she had been there to treat the wounded afterward. She had seen what had occurred.
But today, she found herself in Luca - not for any particular reason. She had no real material desires or needs, being a spirit of light, but mostly appreciated the scenery, even if it meant being around people.
There are some people whose presence she appreciates, however. And that is why she takes notice when she spots a familiar face heading toward the city gates.
She had only met her the once, but it felt strange to Clarine to see such an expression on that once exuberant face.
She uncurls from her spot - somewhere decently high up, where the sun shines down just right and she is out of view of most people at ground level - and lowers herself down, drifting after Xantia.
She's quiet for a moment, considering how exactly to approach the situation. She was never the best with words.
"...Xantia?" Clarine asks. "...Are you unwell?"
She hesitates for a moment, her eyes drifting toward the bandage.
"...Are you injured?" She asks, concern leaking into her voice.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia didn't stick around after the battle of the Highroad. Comparatively, she got off easy. So she asked the first medic to approach to just wrap a bandage around her wound and go take care of the people who really needed it. And then she left the emergency encampment. She had no desire to stay under such depressing circumstances, where she could do little to help. She instead went to vent her frustration on some fiends, taking them on with the one good arm. Though she managed fine even with the handicap, it didn't do that injury any favors.
Never one to look at the bigger picture, she certainly wasn't expecting this unwelcome surprise after returning to what she thought was a room reserved for her. Still in the middle of trying to figure out an alternative, she's snapped out of her thoughts when a voice comes from behind. She turns her head, then turns fully, looking like she needs a moment to parse the figure before her. "Clarine...?"
Then the waterfall of words begins, Xantia throwing out all her frustrations in rapid succession, now that she has someone to share them with. All the while gesturing wildly with her good arm.
"Why are people being so mean to me? I didn't do anything wrong! I mean yeah, we didn't manage to kill Sin, but it can't be about that, can it? We tried our best! We just... we just need a better plan next time! I still want to help everybody! ...But..."
The momentary fire dies down, Xantia returning to a more subdued state as she concludes, "But, I guess maybe people don't want me to help them anymore." In the end, that's hitting her the hardest of all. Not being able to do anything to help people is the worst thing to someone who aspires to be a hero.
Only then do her eyes drift to the bandage on her left arm, and she shrugs with her right. "It's not so bad. There's just a hole all the way through it, and I can't move it very well."
That's what she calls 'not so bad'?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine listens quietly as Xantia vents. Truthfully, she doesn't know, either. She did not know much about the Spiran people - she couldn't know that their concerns lay with way their methods had defied the teachings of Yevon.
To her, it seemed simply that the people had gotten their hopes up, only for them to be dashed. ...But to say that aloud would not help matters in this situation, so she keeps her thoughts to herself.
Xantia's fear, that people don't want her to help them, however...something about that resonates with Clarine.
"That is...something I know all too well." Clarine murmurs, her gaze falling to the ground. She startles a little, though, when Xantia mentions her wound, and says it is 'not so bad'.
"I-I admit that I do not know much about human anatomy, but that seems far from 'not so bad'..." Clarine protests. "Please, let us find a quiet place to sit so that I may take a look at it..."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia wasn't really expecting any answers. She's not certain if there are any answers. Dashed hopes would be her best guess as well, but to someone who rarely fails to take an optimistic view of things, any other attitude just doesn't make sense. Even if taking on Sin has gone terribly twice now, they haven't failed yet as long as they haven't given up. And she's certainly isn't about to do that. Nothing is impossible, there's always a way. They just haven't found it yet.
She doesn't actually go on about this verbally because of Clarine's response. That seems to have piqued her interest, gazing at the Seraph thoughtfully. An actual response to that doesn't come right away.
Rather, in regards to the wound, she notes matter-of-factly, "I've had worse wounds." She leaves a short pause before admitting, "But I guess this is one of the less good ones. I usually heal pretty fast just leaving it alone for a bit, but maybe this one's too big."
She suddenly brightens a bit, excitement leaking into her voice. "Ooh, are you going to heal it? That's great, then I can see how you do it, and maybe learn something! I've been lying in the sun a lot, but I don't think it's really helping." Or giving her all that much of a tan, apparently, assuming her definition of 'a lot' doesn't wholly differ from from most people.
"We can go to the beach where I did my sun training," she suggests. "It's just outside of town, I'll show you!" She makes a sudden attempt to hook arms using her good arm.
In whichever manner she ends up leading the way, the first topic she broaches is what Clarine said before. "So... people don't want you to help them, was that what you're saying? That's weird, why's that?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
"It is...important to take care of yourself. If a wound does not seem to be healing properly, please seek aid." Clarine says, gentling chiding Xantia. She nods, then.
"Yes...th-that is, as long as you are okay with that..." She confirms with a nod. She 'hm's slightly when Xantia says that lying in the sun isn't helping.
That always worked for her, so she wasn't sure!
There's an 'ah' of surprise as Xantia hooks one of her arms and starts to lead the way, but Clarine doesn't protest - she merely follows along right beside her, and goes quiet when Xantia asks 'why'.
"...I do not know." She replies, after a moment of thought. "There...was a place I called home. It was a treacherous place, full of twists and turns...humans would get lost, and I felt it was my duty to lead them to safety - they could not perceive me, as you can, and as others can, so I could only appear to them as a mote of light."
There's another moment of quiet.
"...I did what I could, for a time...but gradually, they began to reject my aid...and one of them even attacked me. I was...distraught." She comments. It's...not the entire story, but its as much as she feels comfortable bringing up at the moment. "So...I think I understand, in some manner, what you may be feeling now..."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Okaaaay," Xantia readily agrees to the chiding. It's that child-like type of agreement that makes it hard to tell whether they've actually learned their lesson. Xantia's case is a little special, since she so rarely needs to worry about this sort of thing that she may actually need to be told this before even realizing that she needs help.
That said, she sure doesn't see why anybody would ever object to being healed, providing nobody else needs it more. "Of course I'm okay with that! The best way to learn is by doing what others do!" In her experience, anyway. And clearly the learning aspect is a lot more important than the actual healing of her arm.
Two things are quickly obvious about Xantia once she starts to lead the way. She has a strong grip, and she walks at a brisk pace. This isn't exactly going to be leisurely stroll - not unless this is objected to, anyway. No malice intended of course, it's just how she is - the quicker she gets to the places she's meaning to do something at, the better.
When she asked her question, she was expecting it to be something that could be easily related to. But it's kind of hard for her to relate to 'nobody being able to see you very clearly'. Still, she sees the similarity. It takes the edge off of her exuberance a bit, even if it doesn't slow her down a lot. "Oh... yes, that sounds... upsetting." After a moment a thought, she suggests, "Maybe that's kind of like the time I was covered in blood."
Wait, what?
"Back then, people were afraid of me. I guess most people just scare easily if they don't know what happened. So... maybe they were afraid because they didn't know what made the light happen."
Xantia has a talent for arriving at correct conclusions in unusual ways. But, this does make her frown, and wonder about the townspeople. "Is that what's happening now? Are people afraid of me? ...Is it the blood again?" Which isn't to say that she always arrives at correct conclusions.
Regardless, this leaves her with a question regarding Clarine's story. "So... if you don't do that anymore, what do you do now? Or are you like Ragnell, just doing whatever you feel like?" No judgment there, valid choice as far as she's concerned.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine just frowns, unconvinced. Well...she just had to hope that Xantia would take her advice to heart next time something happened...or, perhaps, that she wouldn't have to worry about it in the future.
She accepts healing, though, and Clarine nods.
"Very well, then I shall..." She replies...and is pulled right along. Clarine is light - very light. It takes no effort at all to pull her along. She almost seems to be gliding after Xantia, at least once she recovers from the initial surprise.
She looks a little confused at the mention of the time Xantia was covered in blood, but she starts to get an idea once she elaborates...a little bit, anyway.
"...I am...unsure. Perhaps... I have...never been the best at deciphering human thought processes..." Clarine considers, then thinks further.
What does she do now...?
"...I am unsure." She says. "...The latter, perhaps. I am...without purpose. So... I am travelling in hopes of finding one."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has a way of making it hard to tell whether she knows how to take care of herself. But considering the rarity of her getting seriously injured doing things nobody has any business surviving, she must be doing something right. ...right?
Pulling along someone so lightweight is a little weird. Xantia is far more used to hauling around heavy things. Even though she doesn't weigh that much herself, which is completely unfair considering how much she eats, and how many times her own weight she can lift. Clarine just makes her wonder whether the Seraph is still there at all, prompting her to look over several times along the way, just to make sure.
"We've got that in common too then," Xantia notes cheerfully when Clarine notes her difficulty in understanding human thought processes. "I also have trouble figuring people out. Must be because of my amnesia, I'd probably understand people better if I had all my memories." Unless she was always kind of clueless about that, but she's not going by that assumption. At least it's become a lot easier for her to talk about that sort of thing without getting down about it.
She does kind of feel that way when she hears about Clarine not having a purpose. "...Oh," is all she manages to say about that at first. Soon followed by, "I know what that's like, too... I still wonder what my purpose used to be, before I lost my memory." She shakes her head, forcing a smile. "But I've met a lot of great people since then. Helping the people I care about feels like a pretty great purpose to me! And hey, you're teaching me about Light, that's a start, right?"
Soon enough, the pair arrive at Xantia's 'beach'. It's a fairly short strip of sand by the seashore, partially obscured by rocks, not exactly the most popular place for beachgoers. But then, Clarine did say a quiet place. "We're here! Will this work for, um... what do you need to do, exactly?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine nods quietly. That made sense to her, too - she could see how that would make figuring people out difficult.
So, Xantia had lost her purpose, as well...though, in a different manner she had. Still, it was something she could sympathise with. Still, helping the people she cares about...Clarine manages a small smile.
"That is...a noble purpose, indeed." Clarine agrees, with a polite bow of her head.
They arrive at the seashore. Clarine takes note of the obscuring rocks, but they shouldn't pose a problem.
"Ah...it should be fine. I do not require anything special, I simply needed a place where we would not be interrupted..." Clarine explains. Particularly if people were being hostile toward Xantia. "If you can show me your wound, I can get started."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"No problem!" Xantia remains cheerful when it becomes time to show her wound, bring her right hand to the opposite arm to do just that.
She soon frowns, when she learns that it can in fact be kind of a problem to undo a tightly wrapped and bound bandage with one hand. That hasn't come up before, how was she supposed to know? "Hang on, I've got it," she insists, to dissuade any offers of help.
It's a bit of a humorous display, the way Xantia tries to figure out how to undo knots with one hand, employing brute strength as well as her teeth to aid her in getting it off. It just takes a while, and it may be a bit less humorous to see her occasionally grimacing. What she's doing can't be entirely painless. But she stubbornly wants to do it all herself.
Until finally... "There!" Xantia can't even manage to sound particularly triumphant by the end of that, especially not when she soon has to grit her teeth pulling off the part that was directly stuck to the wound. After that, she can only let out a deep breath and be glad that part's over. It's pretty nasty-looking wound she's got, alright. "I got stabbed by this thing with big scythe-claws," is her simple summary of the situation that led to this.
Examining it, though, shows that Xantia's claim that there was a hole in her arm isn't exactly true. Or... not anymore. The evidence is clear enough that this used to be the case, but the tissue has since started to mend itself to a degree. It's still far from anything that could be considered 'okay', but she wasn't exaggerating about her natural healing. The average human couldn't even begin to recover from a wound like that without treatment.
Xantia isn't too concerned about that part, though. She voices her main concern soon after. "Could you tell me exactly what you're doing as you're doing it, as well as you can? Every little detail helps!" She really, really wants to learn more about how healing works.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine watches with a hint of reluctance as Xantia struggles to remove the bound bandage. It looks...really quite painful. Should she...help in some manner?
But before she can decide on a way to do so Xantia finally removes the bandage, revealing the wound. It looks...quite severe to her eyes, if it has clearly healed since the state Xantia described it in.
"I am...surprised you were even able to function in this state." Clarine says, in a sort of disturbed awe. She sighs, and shakes her head.
"E-exactly what I am doing? That is...hm, difficult. It is...largely instinctual. But..." Clarine takes a step back and reaches into her sleeves - somehow, she manages to draw a decently-sized mirror out from within.
"These mirrors...they act as a focus for my power." She explains...even though, by all accounts, it appears to be just a single mirror. "For a Seraphim...our power comes naturally to us. We can direct it as easily as we can our own limbs... We do not require the incantations that other magic users do, but it can still help provide direction..."
With one motion the mirror sweeps outward, beginning to separate into multiple. The mirrors begin to spin around her.
"I can direct the flow of power to take the form I desire...in this case, a spell of healing." She explains, then shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath - a centering gesture more than anything, since she doesn't need to breathe.
Suddenly, she begins to emit light, a glyph shines on the ground below her.
"Light of creation, stoke the glimmers of life... Revitalize!" She recites. In response to her words, another, more elaborate glyph appears on the ground, this one encompassing both of them. Light pulses out from it - and where it passes, it brings comfort and healing.
Soon enough the light subsides, and the mirrors return to one before floating back into Clarine's arms.
"Um...how do you feel now...?" She asks.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia cants her head at the expressed surprise that she could function like this. She doesn't say anything in response, but she's clearly surprised that this is surprising. She doesn't know any better - it's normal to her, making it difficult to guage what most would consider normal.
This certainly isn't that. Those earlier grimaces don't seem to do it justice, the pain alone should be debilitating. Should be. But that evidently isn't the case.
She does speak up when Clarine says explaining might be difficult. "That's fine, that's fine," she encourages, "What I do is pretty much like that, too." Probably not exactly the same, not even Xantia expects being able to do the exact same thing. But she figures whatever she can learn about may help in some way, even if she doesn't immediately know how. That's how it was for Fire, too.
The mirrors, though... that complicates things, that's almost certainly not something she can do. She only mumbles, mostly to herself but easily overheard, "Yeah... power that comes naturally. I know what that's like." She never did clearly define the nature of her own power, but apparently it's similar in that regard. As for incantations that provide direction... well, she shouts made-up attack names sometimes, that counts, right?
Xantia remains quiet and carefully observes once Clarine begins to emit light, making sure to burn every word, every gesture and especially every feeling into account. She does so many things based on feeling that this seems like the most important aspect by far. Even if she can't do glyphs, or mirrors... as long as she can reproduce the feeling, that might be enough.
She ends up getting lost in thought to such a degree that she doesn't even realize that the light has subsided, looking up with a start when asked how she feels now. "...Oh! Um. Let's see..." She raises her left arm, casually looking it over, before even realizing, "Oh hey, I can move it again! Great!" A real problem with priorities, to be sure.
She gives Clarine a bright smile, declaring, "I feel much better now! I feel like I can do anything! Maybe even... heal you! You'd need to be injured first, though..."
It's probably time to stop encouraging Xantia now.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.
Clarine watches carefully as Xantia tests out her arm. She's certain that the spell worked, but...it's good to make sure, especially for someone as active as Xantia seemed to be.
"I am glad I was able to help..." Clarine replies with a smile...though she hesitates when Xantia suggests she could heal her now...but she'd need to be injured first.
"Th-that is...that is okay!" Clarine replies, shaking her head. "Just...focus on that feeling. Belief in yourself, and your abilities...that is important."
She says...though she didn't always take this to heart, herself.
"I-instead, how about we...let's see..." Clarine thinks, then comes up with a solution. "Ah, I can...show you a few other small things that might help..."
From there, Clarine will demonstrate a few small techniques for handling light. She isn't sure how much it'll help...
...But it's the thought that counts!
And it'll avoid potential trouble.