2019-06-20: Crocodile Tears
- Log: Crocodile Tears
- Cast: Ivan, Pearl
- Where: Kilika - Jungles
- Date: 21/06/2019
- Summary: When sent on patrol duty, Ivan attempts to get some answers about someone hiding in the guard. Pearl obliges, in a fashion.
=============================<* Kilika - Jungles *>============================= The island of Kilika is filled with a massive jungle, which is no stranger to Fiends. The recent attack by Sin has made the jungle a dangerous place indeed; powerful Fiends patrol, and a few Sinspawn are rumored to be sighted. Much of Althena's Guard, having arrived, is devoted to making headway into the jungle and protecting the route to the Temple, which is nestled up in the mountains beyond the jungle. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHw2V0C-D-o
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Despite advice to the contrary, Ivan is still on a mission to FIND THE (other) SECRET ASSASSIN IN THE GUARD. Pearl is not presently a prime suspect in the search, but nor is she an exception! So when he happens to be assigned to patrol duty with her, he takes that as carte blanche to turn the spotlight on her for his sneaky investigation.
His sneaky investigation goes like this:
As they're walking along, keeping an eye out for Fiends and criminal behavior and so forth, he turns to her, apropos of nothing, and says: "So, what was your childhood like??"
...like he's a super bad therapist or something.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Patrol Duty was one of the few things Pearl could do to relax sometimes. Search the jungles, kill some fiends, maybe luck upon some force that Yevon had sent to retake the island and kill them. She hadn't been lucky enough for the latter yet, but it was only a matter of time. It is rather less relaxing when someone is asking her questions.
The upfront question about her past is unexpected. She hasn't talked about it much, if ever. She hasn't talked about a lot of things. Thoughts run through her head as she tries to analyse why Ivan would be asking.
Does he know something? Is this an attempt to get closer as colleagues? Is he just asking questions because he hates silence?
Based on prior experience, the last one holds water, but there's not enough information to be sure.
Eventually, Pearl speaks. "It was not pleasant. Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan is going for the impression of the "closer as colleagues" one, even though up to the point he started searching for an assassin, his demeanor had been standoffish and awkward bordering on surly with said colleagues. But this is not the first time his interrogations have been met with a kind of subdued 'WTF' reaction, so he's prepared. Sort of. He's got the lie ready, but doesn't know if he'll nail the execution.
"There was Sin... and then that big undead guy and his Fiend army... and we're going to be, uh, making some changes all across Spira, now... It seems like things are only going to keep getting more serious, so I wanted to understand the people I'm fighting with. Comrades in arms and that stuff." Did that sound plausible? He has no idea.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl stands there with her arms crossed as Ivan goes into his explanation, scouting around with her eyes at the same time. Where's one of those murderous plants when you need them. The worst thing she sees is a monkey running across the branches.
"I see. I suppose the things we have faced would encourage this." The martial artist lets out a small sigh, but nods. "Very well. I will answer your questions, if you so wish." She starts moving again as she says this.
"What of your own childhood then?" If she's going to be answering questions, she may as well see if she can get anything of use out of Ivan in exchange.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan's face screws up as she turns the question on him.
"Uh... mixed, I guess. Yeah. Pretty mixed." She only divulged a single adjective, so why should he volunteer more?
"You didn't really answer it, though, you know. Too horrible to discuss?"
Pearl's reluctance to talk about her childhood is on his List of Suspicious Potential Cultist Answers, but honestly it's been like 50-50 on whether that question unearths a Tragic Past the person may or may not want to talk about. No one is raising their children properly in this stupid world!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Apparently, that was not enough to satisfy Ivan. "Most people do not care to know more." Pearl's response is curt, but she continues on after that. "My parents were murdered when I was young, and I was in an orphanage in Horam. As soon as I was old enough, I sought the means to avenge their deaths. The wolfmen of Horam took me in, despite my being human." She looks down briefly at the scars that cover her arms. "Wolfmen do not pull their punches." She offers, in an attempt to be seen as 'offering information'.
"I trained with them for several years until I joined Althena's guard. It felt the best opportunity to find my parents killers." She stops and looks down again.
"...And then when I found them, I was no match. I still do not know how I survived that day." There's a tinge of emotion behind Pearl's words. It is as though the walls she keeps up have slid down a little. Perhaps this is the first time she has had someone ask that much.
Or it is a carefully calculated showing of false emotion, released to manipulate and shift suspicion.
Either way it doesn't change the tears forming in her eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
An orphan... that's another Potential Cultist answer! But also... he's talking to someone who just told him about being orphaned! And is having to relive it! And the frustration of training under harsh (non-cultist?) masters and still not being able to take out the killers!!
A guilty grimace settles onto Ivan's face, and he looks off into the greenery to give her some privacy for the tears if she needs it.
"Yeah, okay, that sounded as bad as you warned it would. Sorry I made you talk about it if you didn't want to. ...Unless you did want to talk about it and nobody ever wanted to listen. If it's that one then -- no worries, and go ahead? ...But probably more likely it's the sorry one."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The tears fall silently down Pearl's cheeks, and she turns away from Ivan as they do so. It's an awkward few moments, as she stares into the distance of the jungle. It takes her a few moments before she speaks again. She seems to be trying to hold it together, but...
"I barely remember them." She sounds like she's on the verge of a sob. "I do not have anything from them, it was all taken by the orphanage." It seems to get worse, naturally. Ivan has opened the floodgates, it seems. "I had one thing driving me, and I failed utterly."
She turns to Ivan again, and the streaks of tears are obvious. "Do you remember-" She pauses, and starts again. "Were you with the Guard when the Blue Master's tournament was held?" The question may not mean much to Ivan, but the following question might be entirely of interest.
"When the Shadow Dragon Cult attacked?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan weathers the awkward silence; it's certainly not the first of its kind that he's caused. When she continues, he just nods quietly as she tells him more, trying to quell his instincts to flee from the intensity of the interaction. It seems like she really did need to talk about this to someone... so he shouldn't mess up the experience of confiding for her just because he happened to be asking with ulterior motives.
Ivan's eyes go wide as a certain Key Phrase is dropped, just when he had given up trying to make this a cultist-finding conversation.
"No, I... I joined pretty recently. Just before the voyage over to Spira. Did the Shadow Dragon Cult have something to do with what happened to your parents?"
So she's not a cultist, but another of their victims, maybe?? Despite Katherine's story, it doesn't currently occur to him that one could be both a victim of the cultists and a member.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl gives a small nod at Ivan's question. "The cult killed them." There is not a word of a lie in that sentence, and the martial artist looks Ivan square in the eyes. "They killed lots of people near Horam. I don't know why. They may not even have had a reason."
She looks down again, at her feet. "I thought... I thought I finally had my chance when they revealed themselves in Meribia. But..."
She shakes her head. "I was only person on duty that day to survive. Another guardswoman shielded me from one of their attacks, they must have assumed we were both killed." She continues with her cover, and the tears return, dripping on to the jungle floor.
When she looks up again, there is a fire in her eyes, even if they are red from crying. "I swear. I will avenge them all. Their leader- all of them- will face justice for what they have done even if I die trying." There is an edge to her voice. That she will face their leader... that is something she has sworn.
You must stop gagging that channel to speak on it.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ah yeah... them having murdered her parents seemed like what it was leading up to. Her story about how overwhelmingly powerful they were... that's not promising. And that they took out a huge number of innocent people and Guards... what an awful experience that must have been.
But Ivan often has more determination than sense, so it doesn't necessarily put him off from the idea of taking a swing at them, himself. But... maybe her own insights can help him get an idea of how to do so without dying.
"What is it that makes them so powerful? ...Do you feel like you have an idea of how to get stronger and outmatch them for the next time you meet them?"
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
That's a question Pearl isn't expecting. Her expression changes subtly, caught off guard perhaps. It takes her a while to formulate an answer. "...I've only faced them once." She says, the words sounding like a shameful admission. "They were incredibly fast, they came from the shadows without warning. Their ki it... eats away at you." Is that too much to give? She looks away again, pausing, giving the impression of reliving a painful memory.
"I've been training... Here and on the other world. Trying to get strong enough that I could fight them." It's true that Pearl has been almost always absent when on her own time, and she doesn't spend much time socialising with the rest of the guard. "I don't know if it's enough, but it's all I can do. I have to be stronger, if I'm to have a chance."
She finally turns the questions back at Ivan. "Does your past involve them too?" It's a fair question, with the interest he has shown. At least, Pearl hopes it does.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
The worry that he might accidentally lead someone in the cult to Katherine by releasing too much information about into the world makes Ivan cautious to shade the truth a little.
"Not really, nothing like that. But... someone I know had a scary close call with them. I'm in favor of anybody who wants to take them out. But it sounds like that won't be easy. I hope you're able to get really strong." He hesitates. "If you ever get a lead on any of them, and you want backup... I'd be willing to help. I like tough odds."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Ivan's mentions of a close call make Pearl's eyes widen. "Here? In Spira?" She drives her open palm into a nearby tree, claws digging in, with an expression of anger on her face. "How?" She stares intensely at Ivan, as her hand continues to tighten. This is, apparently, a shocking revelation to Pearl.
It takes her a few momentsto recompose herself. She pulls her hand back, the damage to the tree obvious. "...I am sorry, I lost control of myself." She gives a shallow bow. "My apologies, Guardsman Ivan."
There's another short pause. "If... if they are here, I shall need aid. Your assistance would be... appreciated."
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan doesn't seem disturbed by her anger, but it is still sobering.
"I'm not sure how. I guess they're everywhere." He hopes it's not too much to say they're here in Spira -- what if Katherine was their only target here and that's a super weird thing to know? But from the sound of Pearl's story, they tend to just massacre people indiscriminately, so maybe it's not like they're so incredibly subtle you'd never know if you were on the same continent as one.
"But yeah -- just say the word, I'll join any fight you want to get into."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Pearl gives a solemn nod, "Thank you." She may hold him to that. It's a careless oath to make. "We should return to our patrol. We have spent enough time here."
As she turns away to start moving again, her mind goes through what encounters the clan have had here in Spira. There are very few people who could have identified the clan that have had run ins with them here.
And she already had plans to hunt down Miss Katherine Weaver. Perhaps a connection is there, perhaps not. She will not press the issue today. Earn his trust first, and he could lead the way. Thousands of treacherous thoughts run through her head. She shall have to be careful, for now.
She stops, again, momentarily. She doesn't turn to Ivan as she speaks. "...Guardsman Ivan. Thank you for listening. It... helped." She doesn't let the words linger long, continuing the Patrol.
But as she walks away, one more thought crosses into her mind.
'Idiot.'