2019-08-31: Divergent Paths
- Log: 2019-08-31: Divergent Paths
- Cast: Talia, Ivan
- Where: Crusader Forward Base
- Date: August 31, 2019
- Summary: With Lubov's arrival imminent and Talia determined not to run, Ivan decides there is only one way forward.
==========================<* Crusader Forward Base *>=========================== To the west of the Mi'ihen Highroad is found a long, jagged mountain chain that serves as a weather break and help keep both Luca and the Highroad itself safe from vicious storms. A large plateau in this chain, overlooking a wide, sloping beach, was selected as the forward operating base for the Crusaders' Operation Mi'ihen. The site is now a testament to their folly. Abandoned equipment and scorched stone mar the surface of the plateau, and the beach below is riddled with the remains of Crusaders, Althena's Guard, and Al Bhed alike -- and individuals still working to bury them at sea. Only scant Pyreflies remain, after Lady Yuna did a series of Sendings over an entire night. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA2mQV8iXxs
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Althena's Guard was turned back from Djose Temple. Part of the operation, however, involved a forward base on the road to the Temple -- which has not yet been abandoned. There is a wooden building there, and a few mercenaries. And, it is said, a new commander is coming to clear out and close that base:
Lubov Yemelin.
It is up in the cliffs nearby that Talia has come. There is a winding path up into them, which leads down to the outpost. Talia wasn't at the fight at Djose; instead, she had been escorting some of the most wounded away, as a member of the Wayside Outreach.
She has done so, and now come to rest there. She leans back on a rock, back to it. She has no idea that this is where her father is coming. Near her, though, is a Message Sphere. The little orb rotates and glows, prismatic light shining from it.
Just a little while ago, she told Ivan where she was, when he asked.
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan, however, knows where and when his father is coming. He had time before the temple battle broke out to prepare some things he knew he would need, but he still was hoping to have more control over the situation when the time came -- that preferably, when it did, Talia would be quite far away, and could remain there. But it seems, instead, a lot of things are converging. Did word get out? Does she know? It's a good thing she called him, at least, or this whole thing could have turned upside-down with him off trying to find her at the Festina Lente.
He approaches in a hurry, scoping out the lay of the cliffs, and the base below... ... okay... yeah, that could work... ... is he actually doing, this, though? Is this actually happening?
He's dressed a little differently than usual when he arrives -- in nondescript boots that lack the red-accented greaves he often wears, and with a long, hooded cloak thrown over his shoulders, obscuring most of the rest of his clothing.
"Talia!" he hisses. "What are you doing here!"
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia did not heed her brother's advice. She did not depart Spira; she did not try to even slip to the north, beyond the reach of the Guard. She did contemplate such actions, but it was no good. She looks up, when she sees Ivan approach.
She doesn't think anything of the way he scopes out the cliffs -- the way he takes note of his surroundings. She does the same. Work as an assassin, especially when it entailed leaping across Pendrago rooftops, meant they had to be aware of their surroundings.
His clothes are different, though. She blinks at that -- then she tilts her head to the side.
"Vanya!" she says. "Ah... I am with the Wayside Outreach and Caravan Kinship now, no? They were helping the people at Djose Temple. I was... getting a few of the wounded away, before the Guard came, no?"
She tilts her head. "...What are you doing up here? Are you in disguise?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
...She doesn't know. She's just here because everything is happening here.
Ivan takes a breath. What now? Does he lie? Does he want the maybe-last conversation he has with Talia to be a made-up story about why he's in disguise? ... Probably... probably not. He should at least say some real things.
"I'm here because you're here," he says. "But... also because Lubov is going to be here soon." He winces. "That's kind of funny, isn't it? Like fate or something. Only, like, backwards fate that makes dangerous, bad things happen."
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"Ah--ah, I did not... realize you would be nearby, no?" Talia says, with a shake of her head. She realizes, though, that he is with the Guard. He was on the other end of that operation. She might have to fight him, someday. She doesn't like that thought.
Then, she reminds herself, it doesn't matter: Lubov is coming. Once her father arrives, everything will be thrown out. And, despite the talk with Jay and the comfort that Ammy gave her, she can't quite shake the feeling that it is the end of everything.
She glances downward -- and her eyes are wider at what he reveals. "He will be coming here?" she asks. "He... he arrived, then, no? Have you--what are you going to do, Vanya?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
He moves closer to where Talia is resting against the rock wall, coming to lean against it beside her, and looking out over the view below.
"That's a pretty good question," he says, quietly.
"...You know, I've been thinking a lot about the time before, when I tried to scare him into letting us run. It was like -- if I could have a knife to his throat, and still lose, how was there ever any way to beat him? He doesn't care about us at all, but it was still like he could read my mind. Like I was so predictable he didn't even need to know me to be able to know what I'd do. And it was like, 'all right, fine! fine! I guess this is my life forever, then, I might as well get used to it!'"
He hesitates. "But now there's no way to keep being that. And you're out, you're free, and you've got a whole life built up, something too important to let him just smash... it's all so much different than the ways I pictured it going."
He hasn't, she might note, actually answered the question she asked.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
When Ivan leans against the wall, Talia doesn't even hesitate. She has always been physically clingy to the people she loves most. She leans against him, hugging him around the shoulders, the same way that she did when they were little.
She is quiet, when Ivan explains, though. She nods her head, slowly; she can't bring herself to argue. She never tried to break away, the way he did. She never raised a knife against Lubov. It still never stopped him from hurting her.
"...I know it is," she says, softly. "I--I don't want to give this up, Ivan. I love this life. I hate--I hate that I even have to say it, to justify it, no? And I know you haven't had that chance. But..."
She looks sideways at him, and she hesitates a second. "...But we need a way, for both of us, no? You deserve a happy life, too. We both do."
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan doesn't resist the hug -- under other circumstances, he might return it, but there's something grave and focused in his manner, where he just accepts it and goes on.
"I just feel like -- if I had only been able to kill him, then, or been less easy to read, been able to make him think I would, then we could have run away that day and both had cool lives trying to be normal people. But... I didn't, I lost my nerve instead, and it's like... ... because I messed up, this whole different future played out instead. And it hasn't been all bad -- if we had run away then, I don't know if you would have met Katherine, or I -- well, you know, some things happened I wouldn't really want to take back, either."
He looks up a bit, more toward the sky.
"...But I think the way it worked out in this version of the future might mean it's only possible for one of us to live."
Talia feels a prick then, along her side, and there's a quick movement as Ivan puts a dagger away.
The cut isn't severe, but deep enough to draw some blood, and there's a strange sensation spreading out from the site of the wound.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
"Vanya... it wasn't just you, no? I never... I never stood up to him. I never told him no. I always did what he said, and my hands are bloodied and I feel like my soul is worn, on some days. I look at Ammy, and how she smiles at me, and I don't know if I deserve that. But... but I still wouldn't trade it, no? I am glad that you found those things."
Her eyes drop downward, and she glances at the ground while he looks at the sky. But, then he says what he says next, and Talia's red eyes go wide. She looks sharply to the side at him.
"Vanya, no, you--"
Then she feels the prick in her side. She knows it, instantly. She knows the feeling of a dagger cutting into her skin -- and she realizes it wasn't a fatal stab. Then, she feels the tingling sensation; the way her skin grows numb, radiating outward.
Her hand grabs his arm, and her eyes widen as she looks at him. "V-Vanya, what are you--" Her fingers dig into his arm, tight, as she stares at Ivan. "What are you doing? What did you put on the dagger?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan grimaces back at Talia in apology, and his heart is hammering, because now he knows he's committed.
"...it's just going to keep you from being able to move for a while," he says, pulling free of her grip and taking a few steps back, watching and waiting for the potion in her bloodstream to begin to take effect.
"Do you remember when we were little and we'd dress the same way and try to get people to guess which of us was which, and Lubov would just be like--" Ivan lowers and flattens his voice to do an unflattering impression: 'Why exactly should I care?' "
He pulls his hair loose from its ponytail so it falls in a style similar to Talia's, and rolls up the sleeve cuffs of the cloak he's wearing to reveal a blue lining.
"I mean, it's a lot easier to tell us apart these days, but I bet he still isn't going to look too hard..."
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia's grip on Ivan's arm was strong, but it goes slack. Her fingers fall, finally, from his sleeve. She watches him step away, and then leans back against the wall of stacked mushroom-like cliffside because she can do nothing else. She wills herself forward, but it ends up a stumble -- and then she falls over, slumped against the ground..
She can still manage to speak. "Vanya," she says softly. "Please. Don't--don't do this. You know he wants to kill me. You know... you know he will try to kill you! He would know it was you, if he does, and--"
She tries to shake her head, but it's hard. Her eyes still look up at him.
"Please," she repeats. "You... you can't leave me, no?"
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
"Maybe I'll win," Ivan offers with a shrug and a weak smile that manages to get a bit fiercer after he works at it for a few seconds. "But if I lose, I want Lubov to walk away thinking we're both dead. So there will be no one to look for, and you can be free again. And if I win, you can yell and yell at me, and it'll be great. Tomorrow will be -- just amazing, if it happens."
He kneels in front of her. "The next best thing I'm good at doing besides killing people for real is killing them for pretend so they can run away, so can you please trust me and do your part and vanish if I don't come back? I'll try to come back. But I don't want it to be for nothing if I don't. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia looks up at him, with desperation plain on her face. She stops trying to lurch forward. She slumps, as if she gives up; her hand stops grasping. She looks up at Ivan, and her eyes start to well up with tears. Talia shakes her head, but can't manage the firmness that she wishes. "I don't--I don't want to do this without you!"
It becomes a sob once she says it. "I don't need him to be dead. I don't care if we have to live scared. I just want us to be together, Vanya! Please--please don't do this," she says.
She reaches a hand out, and it rests on his shoe. She can't grab hold of much more. "Ivan, please. I--I'm not ready to say goodbye."
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
They could both run away. It's an option that drifted into his mind a few times. But the two of them are on different paths, and the choices available mean different things to them. For Ivan, there's no way forward except through Lubov -- to try to redo the moment that he feels his future went off track.
"I don't know if I can have a life unless I do this," he tells her. "I wrecked it -- I wrecked who I wanted to be and who I saw myself as. I became such a coward I was barely alive at all. I have to face him and get my courage back, Talia."
He swallows back an upwelling of emotion. "If you don't want to say goodbye -- then, wish me luck."
He squeezes her hand that reached out for him, giving her the best smile he can manage under the circumstances. And then he leans forward, and takes Mirage from her, fastening it at his side."
"I'll...see you later, Talia."
He turns away, and begins walking down the cliffside path.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.
Talia's fingers squeeze at his, but it's weak. It's so weak that the paralysis must be taking hold. Talia can scarcely feel more than the pressure of her fingers against his. Tears run down her face as she looks up, and she shakes her head weakly.
"V-Vanya, please... don't..." But her words trail off. "You never disappointed me. N-Never, not once."
She can't feel it, as he takes Mirage off her belt, and clips it to his own. She only watches, as he walks away, descending down the path. She stays still -- and feels guilty.
Because she has a little more strength left.
She can't stand, but she can roll to her side. She manages that much, tilting to one side, and then one hand presses onto the glassy surface of the message sphere. Her fingers slip down it, as she closes her eyes.
And sends off one message.