2019-10-02: The Bane of All Evil Spirits
- Log: The Bane of All Evil Spirits
- Cast: Eleanor Klein, Ashley Winchester, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Macalania
- Date: October 02, 2019
- Summary: Avril wanders right into a warzone, and there meets Ashley and Eleanor. Ashley introduces Avril to cocoa. Eleanor gets a hand out. Avril has a sense of forboding.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
There isn't a lot of time, before preparations are finished to move back into the warzone and try to help at the temple. Enough to handle wounds, to take a little time in a hidden spot under the cliffs, and, maybe, to meet up with some others--
Which sees Eleanor Klein, for the moment, looking out over the snowy landscape on the ramp of the Guts-Dozer, paler than usual--fatigued, with a lot of blood loss--but quite conscious. She has a robe on over whatever else she's wearing, seated in a wheelchair that Marivel cobbled together since she shouldn't be walking around yet. Back inside of course is Varius, and a lot of other things, but here--
"...Maybe you'll get to see Sielje sometime," she comments to the person nearby.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I hope so. You and Lilka are both from around those parts, aren't you?"
That's Ashley Winchester sitting there. He passes over a steaming, pewter mug filled with what can only be instant cocoa. It's nowhere near the type he'd prefer to be sharing, but beggars can't be choosers, and starving soldiers have to sometimes make do with the contents of MREs. He pours himself a cup out of a broiling-hot thermos, too.
This talk has been long-overdue. It's not even the capstone to Ashley Winchester's no good, awfully bad day, either. Though after the last two conversations he's had, this is... a lot less stressful.
Not hard when one of those conversations was with the Demon of Elru in the flesh, but still. At least here he can fret over Eleanor and drink hot cocoa and maybe not have to dwell overmuch on difficult topics like 'so i heard you're a satan now.'
(This probably won't last.)
"I bet it's a lot more peaceful than all this. Though I guess Macalania isn't usually like this, is it?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She had come to Macalania for the same reason as always.
She had the powerful sense -- unshakably so -- that this is where she must be.
Even when Odessa had begun their assault. Even when Sin arrived.
Even now.
She's had to cross a warzone to do it, but here she is.
"Are you... all right?"
She's appeared seemingly out of nowhere over a snowdrift, approaching the tank slowly, her gaze for now on Eleanor alone.
Haven't they met before? She remembers a time by the sea--
"You... helped Dean once, did you not?" she speaks, coming to a standstill. It's a small mercy perhaps that no one else seems to have seen Avril yet -- has interrogated about where she's from and what her intentions are.
Even she... isn't entirely sure. Not yet.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Yes," Eleanor answers. "Well, I'm not originally from there, but it's where I went to school. It was a bit of a second home, really." Not that Eleanor has necessarily spoken with Lilka terribly much since arriving here... For reasons. Regardless--
Somewhere she's acquired an actual cup of tea, which she lifts to sip. She hasn't yet brought up the satan issue.
"Much," Eleanor says. "Well, the snowfields are; almost nothing actually happens through most of them. The Academy... It varies, really. But the noise there is nothing like all this... warfare."
A pause. "That's true, though. Except, I suppose, for the monsters. And Sin."
But she stops, looking at the snowdrift suddenly, blinking a moment at--"Ah! ...Dean, your friend, with the swimming," she recognizes, because of course she recognizes Avril, considering last time...
"Ah--I will be all right," she says, polite as ever, not lying but still putting a nice spin on things. "I just need some time to rest, is all. ...And you? Do you need help? We'd be happy to give you a place to get out of the cold. Right, Ashley?"
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"I used to think about going to school like that," Ashley says with a note of nostalgia in his voice. "But, you know, things going the way they were, I ended up enlisting instead. Guess it... Worked out?"
Not... really? One could charitably describe his situation as having 'worked out' only if you're one of those weirdos who are really into demonic possession and like ranting about how they've got an evil dragon sealed in their eyes and/or arm.
Or ARM, as the case may be.
"Gotta say," Ashley cups his hands around his drink and barely fights back a shiver. "We've only been here for a little bit and I'm already starting to miss the tropical weather. Not that I don't like the snow, but the cold wears out its welcome pretty quick when there's too much to do to appreciate the winter wonderland. Is it just me or did it just get colder?"
Normally that only happens when there's a big old wind, but there definitely isn't one. So instead it must be...
Ashley's gaze alights on a particular snowdrift. He almost jumps out of his thermal blanket at what he sees! A ghost!?!?
...
...No, just some kind of mysterious snow waif who happens to be tangentially acquainted with Eleanor. Ashley looks between the two before nodding. "Sure! Any friend of Eleanor's is welcome. You want cocoa? We've got blankets, too."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
It's been some time since she's had a spell like this. --Which is not to say, she wandered here alone and insensate or something similar. No, instead, she has had the nagging sense that she was meant to be here, that there was something that had to be done -- and it was here that she had seen from afar the earlier clash.
And witnessed the other a touch more close at hand. Somehow, she had eluded the worst of it, finding she knew through some inuitive sense where she could travel to avoid trouble.
And here she is now, untouched by the fierce fighting, without even a apparent weapon in her hands.
Perhaps in Eleanor, she has a kindred spirit, of a sort...
It may be the same reason the first person she finds is a friendly -- or at least familiar -- face.
"Then you have been hurt," Avril says, blunt as always. She approaches, slowly. "In the fighting." She doesn't bother to form it into a question -- there is no need or reason to.
Then her attention shifts towards Ashley.
She has grown accustomed to the whisper.
There is no whisper now at the back of her mind.
There is a full-throated scream.
Not in terror, but in rage. Avril sort of stands there for several long moments, staring at Ashley as if she was herself seeing a ghost. Her right hand rises to hang in the air at about throat height.
"Who are...?"
Into this, Ashley offers cocoa. Avril blinks as if startled. "Ah... cocoa?"
The whisper continues to hiss its fury at the back of her mind, something she cannot understand, not as she is now. Somewhat jerkily she moves towards Ashley. "I do not... believe that we have met before." She extends a hand. "My name is Avril Vent Fleur."
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
"Oh, really?" Eleanor asks. "What do you think you might have studied?" She pauses, though, and inclines her head. "...Despite the difficulty, I at least do find your presence reassuring, as a Musketeer. You're a fine soldier."
Eleanor listens to the matter of the weather, and laughs softly. "Yes, I understand. The southern regions of Spira were hot, but the water was lovely."
Maybe it did get colder. It is a mystery. But it's true, too--Eleanor... is not at her best, mentally, has trouble placing some of the wisps of memory here. Nevertheless--she is friendly towards Avril, immediately, despite the obvious injury.
"Yes," Eleanor answers. "It's a long story. I'll apparently have a souvenir in my shoulderblade, thanks to Marivel."
She pauses, though. Eleanor is not possessed of the ability to read thoughts or minds, absent some special magic to grant her the ability in the moment. But she does know how to read people in the more conventional way, and even in a woman as calm as Avril, there are signs.
"...His name is Ashley Winchester," Eleanor introduces him. "He's a member of ARMS, and one of our better leaders--perhaps part of why I'm glad to have him around is it means I have to do so less." A lopsided smile. She makes it seem easy despite the tension there. "...He is, I can assure you--thoroughly on our side, and on the side of Filgaia's welfare."
Then a beat, "And of course Miss Vent Fleur has introduced herself. I met her near Luca; we had a nice time at the beach. It's a good memory."
Also Eleanor got a giant ass headache because Avril is really, really hard for her to look at, but maybe the painkillers are taking care of that.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Ashley, on the other hand, still hasn't realized that his childhood friend with whom he has been living for the past ten or more years is very much in love with him. He doesn't even know that he's in love with her, too! Ashley Winchester is, in other words, approximately as dense as a lead slug. So he doesn't actually pick up on Avril's sudden hesitation. In fact, he just kind of thinks that it's part and parcel with being a strange winter-waif from places unknown. "Yep, cocoa!" Ashley chirps, cheerfully foising a nice warm cup into their guest's hands. "It's a drink made from ground-up chocolate. It's great in weather like this."
It's also definitely not poison, Avril.
No need to worry even a little.
"I'm Ashley Winchester, and I think Eleanor might be overselling my talents just a teensy bit," Ashley says, forcing a tired but genuine smile that looks only slightly out of place on a face with such prominent I-haven't-slept-in-way-too-long bags under its eyes. "Up until recently, I was a Musketeer with the Meria Boule special forces. Now I'm one of ARMS' field commanders. I also bake! But I'm unfortunately out of everything right now. Things have been..."
He glances away, furtively. "...Difficult. Lately."
He sighs, but brightens a bit as he looks back toward Eleanor. "And really, I think I'd get into history. Especially the mythological stuff. I'm a big fan of the Sword Magess, you know?"
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"In... your shoulderblade." Something about her eyes -- she has the look of someone who has just realized what it is that Eleanor means by that.
"So you are ARMS... I have heard of you." In fact, she had seen some of them, in the battle against Odessa in Elru. "It is a shame that we could not meet under better conditions. I was..."
She pauses, and considers the fact of her traveling her versus how it may play out.
"...I was traveling to the temple, but it seems that a war has erupted here," she says, instead.
Thoroughly on their side, and on the side of Filgaia's welfare.
She doesn't understand the implication of that now, but perhaps before long, she very much will. For now, it's enough that she nods.
The whisper -- the scream -- at the back of her mind has not ceased.
It's sort of akin to having someone shout at you from a few blocks down -- indistinct and distant. Part of her mind tries to drift towards the sound but the rest of her...
The rest of her leans away. This is division, she's reminded, even as she does so. This is a division, and she may pay dearly for doing so.
This is a division, and she must not remain silent on it forever. At some point...
But it's like waking up one day and realizing, all of a sudden, what you were missing out on all this time. Except perhaps in her case that may be somewhat literally the case.
She had woken up in a Golem's hand into such a world and...
...and...
Perhaps such concerns may fall to the wayside at least for now, now that she's had a cup of cocoa thrust into her hands. It's interesting how many terrible things can fall to the wayside in the wake of something that smells rich and sweet. "...Oh," she says, gazing down into the cup.
The voice is fading.
"I did not know that one could drink it," she says, before taking a careful sip. Her eyes widen.
Oh. This is nice.
Then she gazes up at Ashley.
"I see," she says, quietly. "I am sorry, that things have been difficult."
She stares down into her mug for a long moment, as if regarding her own reflection darkly. "..." She's come all this way to a land transformed into a warzone to do...?
What did she think to find here?
At length she sets down the mug into a puff of snow and approaches Eleanor, drawing a strange octagonal disc out and displaying it to the wounded elf. "Would it be trouble for you if I healed your wounds?"
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
Eleanor has not seen the true depths to which Ashley is clueless as hell. ...She's also diplomatic. But that only goes so far, eventually. For now the offer of cocoa is Good and Proper and she will have to have some when she feels a little more up to the thicker drink as compared to her tea.
A little smile Ashley's way. "Modesty isn't a bad quality," she allows. ...She happens to let her gaze linger at the matter of baking. And for history--
"Ah, yes--Of course! What Merian isn't?" she replies good-naturedly. "I could see that, for sure."
And to Avril--she nods. Yes, she does seem to understand it. "...Mm," the sorceress agrees about the war. "Unfortunately so. I worry, for Summoner Yuna in particular. Talk of marriage and now all of this...?"
Eleanor is used to things not always making sense until a little later; it's fair that her words might have the asme effect on someone else.
"Ah!" She beams. "Yes. It's terribly addictive," Eleanor admits of hot chocolate. But before she can come up with an answer to the difficulty...
Eleanor blinks, faintly, looking up at Avril and looking to the strange disc, to Avril. "Well... No, not at all," the young elf answers. "Marivel saw to the worst of it in the moment, but... Well, if you think your magic can help, I'd love to have to spend less time recovering. Even a little help would make it easier for me to look after..." She pauses, bites her lip. "Ah, I mean--by all means. ...I admit I'm curious to see that object in action anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
Everyone knows that hot cocoa is the bane of all evil spirits, brain-ghosts and no-good inner demons. Even Lord Blazer must bow to the delicious, heart-warming power of powdered chocolate in piping hot water. "Yeah!" He says, smiling around his own cup. "Some places don't have it, I hear. But back home around winter-time, the bakery puts out a whole bunch of different kinds. My favorite is where you put a bit of peppermint or red chili in the mix, but I know Marina likes her pumpkin pie blend. Ahahahaha~"
Truly, the Merian culinary arts are a formidable thing.
"And... don't worry about it," he shakes his head, "I appreciate the sympathy. It's not anyone's fault but Odessa's though. They're the ones who shot Eleanor, y'see, and the ones shooting up Macalania in general at the moment. Nevermind Sin and that huge dragon queen getting into a fight nearby, too. Honestly, we're lucky to have a few hours of quiet to rest up, but I think we'll have to get moving sooner rather than later."
"Oh, but not like... Not immediately. We're in no state, I don't think. Eleanor's still injured and-- oh. Uh. Healing magic...?" That'd be handy, but... "What's that you got there?" Ashley asks, peering at the strange, electronic disk.
He glances at Eleanor and... his expression falters, just a bit. "I wish I knew that that Seymour guy was... the way he was. I wouldn't have gotten so excited for her." He'd gotten so hyped about it, too. Weddings are great! They're happy, joyous occasions, and that blue-haired jerk had to make a mess of it.
There'll be a reckoning, that's certain.
"...Well, anyway. I guess instead of going to college I learned how to shoot and bake instead, which are pretty good life skills if I do say so myself."
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Cocoa isn't as much a thing on Ignas -- perhaps because more than half the continent is effectively desert besides. Although Kislev may favor it -- or perhaps they just stick to Kislevi coffee. Who can say.
(And in Elru, they met a total of 'a camp of Arctican survivors' so perhaps cocoa was not the first thing on anyone's mind).
Perhaps someday -- perhaps someday soon -- Avril and her friends will have a chance to visit Meria Boule for themselves.
"I had heard of marriage," she says. "But not of what had befallen those to be wed." She glances over at Ashley as he explains some of what happened -- and what else has been happening here as well. "Odessa... I saw their soldiers," Avril says, shaking her head. "I had wondered if they might not make their return, after what had been in Elru. ...I suppose it was but a matter of time." Her gaze slips, off and away from the both of them, both members of ARMS.
Matilda...
"I can feel its presence." She says this abruptly, shortly after Ashley brings up Sin. "Sin, that is. Has it... will it be as it was in Mi'ihen? I saw..."
There were more than one dragon fighting against it. She had seen that. But perhaps... it would be best to not share Riesenlied's secret here. "I wonder if that Dragon will be able to fight it alone," she says instead, glancing down at her feet. Two together are better than one alone. And better than two are...
Right now, she finds herself keenly missing her friends, finds herself dwelling on what Noeline had said to her.
But there is what she dwell on and what she can do, and of the two, she ultimately opts to land on the latter.
"This?" Avril glances down at the disc she bears, standing there just a couple of feet away from Eleanor.
Which has started to glow, obligingly.
"This is a Medium," she says, her eyes hooded. Then, she intones:
"Lucadia, please..."
The air gentles. Fleetingly, as the Guardian's power descends, there is the scent of seawater in the air. Just a breath--
Just a touch--
And the presence lifts. The light from the Medium fades.
"This is... an artificial Medium," Avril explains. "To be specific, it is an original. I suppose that is why..."
Her brow knots. No, that is not why, or she would have never been able to use a normal Medium, either. And it does no take a wiseman to realize why it is that she is exempt from the denial of other Veruni.
"...Ah, I was thinking out loud," she amends, glancing away. She moves to slip the Medium away, then stops, looking at Eleanor. "You are... are you feeling any better?"
On the snow behind her her mug is in the process of slowly generating a small shallow puddle of icemelt.
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.
You can't have a secret magical academy in the snowy sky without hot cocoa. Of course Eleanor's familiar!
"Aaah," Eleanor answers Ashley, "I've heard of it--but I rarely get the chance to visit Meria City..." As opposed to other places in Meria Boule, naturally. "...Of course, we do get the falvors elsewhere--I happen to have a fondness for the pumpkin pie blend, myself."
Odessa. Eleanor nods; it is them. "...So far as we know, there's no confirmation that Lady Yuna has been hurt. But a man who would kill his father to assume his position..." She trails off, then.
Eleanor tries to reassur Ashley a little--she can't help it. "It's okay," she says--and then on the matter of Sin, "I can see from here--there's people trying to help, from the shoreline. Taking on its Spawn... I think I saw someone drop part of a cliff there, somehow. I wish I could help, myself, but I have no magic on that scale..."
"Haha--it's true those are very good life skills! Especially baking. Ah, you'd be terribly popular in the Sielje dormitories..."
A Medium, Avril says. "I see..." Eleanor watches, as she senses the seawater aroma, feels the light, and the presence. It reminds her of her meditations on Muse, but isn't quite the same--but it reminds her most of home, of the docks...
"Artificial," Eleanor answers, thoughtfully. "It's quite impressive..." She trails off, though. Avril seems troubled. "--It's all right," Eleanor says. "You have a lot on your mind."
...Is she guessing? It doesn't sound like it. Eleanor speaks like she knows... something.
But she sips her tea and then nods. "I am," she says, a bit more brightly. "I'm still... very tired, and rather weak, but--the raw, ragged feeling in my chest is... much, much less. Thank you. ...And, I suppose, thank you to Lucadia, as well. I'm very fortunate that you approached when you did, I think."
She smiles. "You should definitely stay with us for now."
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.
"Ahahaha, you think so? I don't think missus Irington is looking to open branch bakeries, but you never know. Every place deserves good, fresh-baked meals, you know?" Speaking of fresh-baked things, Ashley does very politely pick Avril's now warm cocoa from its snowy doom. He frowns somewhat, but it's okay-- she was probably distracted with the whole healing business. She can pick it back up now, right? Right!?!?
(Ashley might be one of those people who begins to explode on the inside when there's good food being wasted)
"That's a medium...? I thought they were all... stone tablet-like things?" Ashley is pretty sure that Tim doesn't have any that look quite like that, at least. "Artificial though, huh? I didn't know they'd made those. Neat!" Even if he knew about its origins, would Ashley even hold it against her? Contact with the Veruni in Meria seems to be a little... uncommon, it seems. "It helped Eleanor, at least. Can't complain too much about that."
He frowns just a little at Eleanor's admission of pain, though. It's always rough hearing about things like that, even for a soldier. Ashley isn't Brad-levels of battle-hardened badass yet, after all. "You feel like you should lie down? It might be a good idea to get some rest before we have to move again, now that the pain's a little less intense." Every hour of rest right now is precious. A bit of sleep can mean a world of difference.
"Yes, please stay for a while," he says, offering Avril back her cup... And a woven thermal blanket. It's not spectacularly cozy, but still way better than the cold. "I'd be beside myself if we let you go and you got caught in a crossfire or something."