2019-10-12: Her Safety Is A Priority

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search
  • Log: Her Safety Is A Priority
  • Cast: Yue Rohay, Amaterasu
  • Where: Lake Macalania
  • Date: October 12, 2019
  • Summary: In search of the disturbance that is Sin, Amaterasu encounters Yue. Occurs directly after Reap More Than That.


<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    The second wave of war has come to Macalania.

    Odessa's forces have emerged in large quantity to the Temple -- invading the inner sanctum, and taking positions all around the snowfields around. Chaos and strife have erupted as ARMS undertakes the grim task of escaping a deathtrap meant for them.

    In the midst of this--

    *TSHINGG*

    Amaterasu can see it. An Odessa Gear...

    Then a bright, red-hot line sliding down its torso. A Gear just got cut in two. The sounds of shouting, battle; fire, explosion, smoke.

    When the Partisan Commando arrives, she sees the battle is over -- but curiously, the fallen Odessa soldiers are... unconscious. Bones broken, ribs bruised, heads concussed, but not a single one of them appears to be dead.

    Even the Gear has its cockpit visibly intact, abandoned as its pilot fled a short while ago.

    There's blood in the snow.

    It's leading towards a tree hidden in a bough. She can hear a young child's sniffling.

    And the prisoner, who's got that young child embraced in her shackled arms. "Shh... it will be all right. They have stopped coming."

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    Parting ways from her sister, Amaterasu made her ascent from the depths below the temple.

    She'd heard it. Calling on the winds.

    And she cannot forget. It's been a long, long time since something made her hesitate in war. Since something made a small part of her quake in war.
    Since she's seen something she cannot slay.

    She ascends over the lip of the ice, Valkyrja's blade reflecting off the rime. Snow and frost crunching underfoot, she strides across a battlefield--

    --that is not the one she left behind. Sure enough, Odessa's soldiers litters the ground here, but none are those she had so earlier slain. She comes to an abrupt stop, regarding one of the fallen. She lingers there for a moment.

    The butt of Valkyrja is introduced, none too gently, to the man's ribs. Even unconcious, he groans in pain.

    Perhaps if it were not for a certain sound, she would have finished him off -- she holds herself as if she were considering that very act.

    But instead her gaze lifts and regards the tree... and she advances on it.

    "CR-S01."

    Her faceplate folds away, revealing an expression lined in consternation.

    "...Minder."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    The sobbing continues. The Minder's helmet isn't displaying an emoji -- and Amaterasu knows even from the quirky custom that this means the helmet's camera is 'off'. Prudent, for Yue to tell her to shut off her visual feed.

    Yue strokes at the child's back some more, before lifting her head up with a groan. She looks a bit bloodied from the battle.

    "Oh. Commander," she chuckles very weakly. "I feel the part of a fool who has been fighting for twelve hours."

    A pause. A frown. "That is not an exaggeration." She slumps further, then looks down towards the Minder again. "Do you want to say hello to the Commander, dear Minder...?"

    The Minder is still for a moment longer, before shuffling up a little.

    She's kind of looking fourty degrees angle away from her as she says, "H-hello." Yue orients her a little more. "... it is okay to turn your feed back on if you want."

    "N-n-not right now," she stammers.

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    "Tch."

    The emotion thus displayed -- as Amaterasu averts her eyes and gazes down at the wreckage of the field (for now diverted from the slower approach of the thing she detests above all else) -- is not for Minder. It's not really for anyone more than it's for the situation in and of itself. She spins her weapon in hand, the blade vanishing as it does so, and leans what now amounts to a metal pole up against the tree.

    Whatever her role, the Minder is still a child yet. Eventually she will have to face these things down but she's still a child, yet.

    "And Kaguya said she was attempting to strike a bargain with them..."

    Her eyes narrow.

    A gauntletted hand rests on what she can reach of Yue -- likely, part of her leg, at this angle.

    Purple-green wisps of ghostly smoke wick up into the air. If Yue looks at the right moment there will be the outline of phantom armor about herself before it sinks in, sealing injuries where they might exist.

    "The field looks clear," Amaterasu says, moving her hand away. "As far as I am aware, the others -- the Sentinel and Ambrosius -- are still at large." Her gaze then tilts towards the minder. "How is she?"

    Other than... the obvious.

    "...She can leave it off."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue's eyebrows arc rather plainly at that comment. "With Odessa?" It is rather news to her, but she isn't aware of everything Kaguya is up to. She purses her lips quietly. "Such an alliance seems short lived at best. ... much like how ours with the Guard is inevitably pointed to betrayal."

    A lot more blunt than Yue is willing to usually be, but-- she looks on with relief as she feels that familiar healing and whispers, "My thanks."

    A pause, as she glances aside. "I should brush up on my healing arts... though," she holds up her shackles as they jangle. The anti-Ether circuit shimmers under the correct lighting for a bit.

    She hasn't quite revealed that she can dispel it at any time. ... best not to, around Amaterasu.

    "Mm. I wondered where the others' positions were," she replies. But Amaterasu distracts her with Minder again and--

    The Minder lowers her head as she murmurs, after a deliberate pause, "... scared, ma'am. I'm glad you're here."

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    "Yes," Amaterasu says simply.
    Her hands curl into fists at her side. The argument for that was...
    "...Agreed. I had said as much to her. We cannot," her eyes hood here, "expect more from humans or their ilk but a temporarily useful tool."

    Eventually, all such alliances will end.
    Eventually, all these humans and the like will die.

    "Indeed," Amaterasu agrees, though she arches an eyebrow. "Though those will prevent any practical use thereof."

    She makes no move to release the shackles, regardless of their current situation, though.

    Certainly best that Yue mentions it not, given that lack of oversight to prevent Amaterasu from doing something rather... drastic, if she thinks Yue a flight risk.

    She had essentially said as much to her, months ago. Without someone else here to manage the wayward prisoner...

    "Kaguya is below. Once I have made a circuit I will retrieve her if she has not relocated herself already. Its spawn will no doubt be here soon." Her eyes narrow. "...Normally, I would request that you accompany me but--"

    The Minder finally speaks up.

    "..."

    Amaterasu shakes her head.

    "...Scared is fine. Many are scared in their first battle. I am certain you will get a commendation for this, No. 7."

    Her gaze lifts to Yue next.

    "These are your orders, CR-S01. I trust that you will heed them."

    She points at the Minder.

    "Relocate to a safe location with her. If she is harmed or killed, you may consider your life forfeit." She pauses, regarding Yue as if she were attempting to read her mind. "And I will find you. There is no escaping justice, CR-S01. ...We will reunite once the situation has resolved."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "A tool, hmm..." muses Yue as she thinks on the nature of humans and the alliances the Veruni have had with them. How peculiar, she thinks. The nature of thinking between the races in a way hasn't changed despite the milennia that have passed, in some ways.

    A pause, as she pats the Minder again.

    "... thank you, Commander," the Minder answers, but there's no vigour behind it -- not even from someone like the Minder, who's usually easy to ply with treats and rewards, like many children tend to be.

    "Below," Yue confirms Kaguya's position. "I will see about moving her to a rendezvous point outside the Temple quadrants. But..."

    She frowns. "You saw it, Commander? They possess teleportation technology -- and enough to move battalions all at once, even Gears." She looks at the hull of the one she cut in half. "It is a rather troublesome factor, I must admit."

    That's putting it lightly.

    "This may not be a wise battle for us to be engaged in overlong."

    She draws in a breath. "But, I am certain you have a keener eye on our strategy. And..."

    The Minder's eyes light up as she finally turns her feed back on. She quietly waddles back to Yue's side as she lifts herself up gently.

    "... worry not," speaks Yue as she fixes Minder's black mage hat. "The Minder's safety is a priority of mine. ... my dear mother in the ministry has made that crystal clear to me."

    The Ministry... she refers to, of course, Shijie Rohay. A known figure in many respects -- some more cruel than others, but all in the name of the Radicals.

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

    Ever so slightly, Amaterasu's lips twist in a frown, when the Minder seems more... lackluster than usual.

    "Yes. Though as you may be aware, my sister is willful. I fully expect to not find her there."

    Not when things are on the move.
    Not when her sister is experiencing a mood, so to speak.

    "Indeed. As much as I would prefer otherwise, that," and here she glances off at the thing that does battle with the dragon in the distance, "is more than we can handle. Perhaps if all five," she appears to be including Yue and dis-including Minder (due to size), "of us were to apply ourselves..." She considers this a moment then shakes her head.

    "No. I believe it would at least take all four of the Sentinels." Her hands at her sides outright ball into fists.

    She knows she cannot. And yet a part of her still wants to stake her life into trying anyway.

    "Once we have made a rendezvous with the others I will ensure a retreat. Destroying Odessa is no matter to me, even if I must mow down hundreds of their number, but I must consider the wellbeing of the others... and the presence of that 'god' on the field."

    And her mind keeps drifting, over and over again, to the disagreement she had with her sister.

    There is a long pause.

    Perhaps Amaterasu is attempting a sort of mental math on the probable age of Yue's mother.

    "The ministry was able to reach you? Then they must have contacted the Sentinel."

    Recently? Not as recently?
    There are things to which she is not privy, and that is expected and welcomed.

    But...

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    The five of them, against Sin.

    Yue chuckles a little at that; perhaps there was a time she would've thrown herself readily. Back when she was so fresh-faced and insecure and wanting to appease others so much...

    Well. Has she changed at all?

    "Your battle spirit is commendable. But in the end, the Metal Demons' -- the Hyadeans' 'goddess' fell under very specific circumstances, did she not?"

    She tilts her head.

    "I believe the battle may be won with information, not through might, as Operation Mi'ihen showed us..."

    She's kind of digressing.

    Amaterasu asks about the ministry.

    She shows a spent, broken little crystal in her palm after procuring it from a ... place. It's a miracle that Yue can procure items from her person. Call it a trick of the hair.

    "My mother has... ... Means," she speaks with the M so incredibly capitalised it hurts. "Rest assured she has also given support to the Sentinel Elvis."

    The Minder looks a little confused at this, but it's difficult to not see the way she lights up at the mention of Yue's mother. Why?

    "Now. We must away, dear Minder," she speaks to the Minder, looking to Sin in the distance. "'Tis not safe here. Please, be well, Commander."

    She reflects a little on how...

    ...

    She actually still means that.

    Even after all that's happened, some part of her still wants her people to be well. After being left behind, after being arrested and tried, after being pitted for slavery and combat...

    There's no helping some things.