2020-04-24: Lily Comes to the Rescue
- Log: Lily Comes to the Rescue
- Cast: Gwen Whitlock, Leon Albus, Lily Keil
- Where: Sielje
- Date: 4/24/2020
- Summary: There is nothing suspicious about seeing two bloody people staggering away from a burning tavern. Nothing at all. Lily should know, she knows what suspicious people look like. (This occurs after The Obscene Gift, aka 'Isiris Goes to a Tavern')
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
It truly was a crapshoot. Would Lily see that Memory Cube message in time, and not only that, will she be able to respond or come here quickly enough? Gwen could have used that time to get Leon and her to a local doctor.
In truth, that *is* what is on Gwen's agenda next, but only after getting Leon to safety. There's thankfully *some* room for a person to be laid down in her Gear, but considering that space is usually meant for packages, it's not the most comfortable.
But, compared to falling asleep in the snow, it's far safer.
That is, if she can get Leon into the cockpit in the first place. "... This is... going to be an ordeal." She scratches at the side of her neck, feeling the side of scarred skin. It feels weird, without the neckerchief there to shield it from the snow. But really, is vanity really that important right now?
Gripping onto the holds on the side of the medium-sized Gear, Gwen tenses, then hauls herself up, step by step.
A few moments later, a few blankets and medical supplies are thrown down onto the ground below. "... Dunno if there's enough room for Lily to work, but maybe we can make our own shelter using the Gear."
They're just outside the city, but judging by the looks Gwen saw, looking for help may not be the best option.
Especially since, looking down, she's suddenly aware of just how blurry the ground looks.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon grimaces, as he looks up at the Gear. Both for seeing what sort of Gear it is -- far from the mobile artillery platform that he hoped to dissuade any angry locals -- and for the way it will require a climb. He leans back against the wall of a nearby shed when she pulls away, eyes tracking her as she moves up.
He has been run through. In that time, he has added his jacket -- tied around his chest, tightly -- to her kerchief. Both are soaked with blood, as he leans against it. Moshe would make a comment about that, if he were here.
He can't do much to move to get the blankets. He nudges some of the medical supplies with his foot. "They'll help," he says. Lily won't need many medical supplies, though they can't hurt.
He grimaces, then looks up. "Are you all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Leon!"
Lily's voice is audible in time--after the medical supplies are dropped down, after the blankets. She sees blood, as she looks forward; she sees Gwen, too, the Gear, and every single pair of eyes that strayed this direction in the last moment.
Lily will have to serve as the artillery platform if necessary.
Lily doesn't make a joke about a tie; instead she steps up closer, immediately moving for the shed and the wounded man. "What happened?" she asks either of them in an instant. She looks around--
"I didn't have time to stop for a lot of details," she says, and isn't even looking at the ground far below right now.
There's an electric charge in the air, an energy that wrathes around her almost tangibly.
How long did they have before she got here? It's hard to say, but she can handle the matter of moving up.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
While the Halcyon has a few tricks up its sleeve (and some harpoons, as seen on its back), it is far removed from being an instrument of war.
But, as a shelter, it'll do.
"Yeah, just got a little woozy, is all. How are you holdin' up?"
Gwen is surprised to hear Lily's voice so quickly. Then again, just how long did it take for them to get from the Memory Cube to where she parked her Gear?
What happened?
Gwen finds herself suddenly unable to find a logical progression of events- at what point did she think visiting the tavern was a good idea, knowing that she'd meet Isiris there? At what point did she not think to warn people? At what point did any part of this make sense?
"That blue-eyed man happened."
She can only trust Lily to know exactly which man she means, out of all the men with blue eyes Lily could possibly know.
"The tavern, he was there. I went there. Things happened, Leon was there. Thought Leon was gonna shoot me. Tried to-" She pauses. "He had to shoot me. Then that assassin talked. And he stabbed Leon clean through. Gottem here."
She looks up from her vantage point of the cockpit, and frowns. "... Don't see anyone trailing behind us."
In the dim light, it's hard to tell, but when Gwen finally manages to chance climbing back down, dark red marrs her face.
Leon's blood.
A wound on her right hip is hastily bandaged, just beginning to turn red. "Then the tavern... we were on the second floor. He destroyed the tavern."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon takes a seat. It's more of a slump than he would care to admit. He looks up, eyes on Gwen for a moment, and then he nods. "Alive, at least."
He turns his head, when he hears his name called. He blinks, but doesn't sit up straighter. Better to stay sitting, with Lily on her way.
"Fancy meeting you here, love," Leon says, with a crooked and exhausted smile at Lily, when she arrives. His tone has a joking lilt, but the smile on his face is all relief. He sits up, a little straighter, when she gets closer.
"Ran me through, here--" Leon points at the shirt, bloodied, and the soaked kerchief and jacket tied against it. He shakes his head. "And some damned illusions, too. Except the fires--those were real enough."
Leon frowns. "The one you ran into, Lily."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily knows the one immediately--Gwen can see it in the way her eyes contract, in the way that that energy about her strengthens for an instant. The shelter will have to do. But Leon's response...
"At least you've got enough blood in you for jokes," she answers him, and that itself relieves her. She looks between the two of them after that, putting it together. "That one," she says darkly. "Don't worry about what almost happened," she says to Gwen--
She cught it. She caught whose blood it is; she caught the hesitation.
"He and his damned illusions," Lily says as she makes her decision. "And don't worry about the ones who aren't here right now either. Worry about yourself. He's not here."
"And if anyone decides to follow, they can go through me."
Lily moves to the wound, and nods, beginning to undo the matters tied against it. She doesn't bother explaining what she's doing; this is not new, after all. "Gwen, try not to move too much."
Lily will have to examine the wound; in her approach she pulls disinfectant from the supplies. "This..."
She scowls. "I'm not going to trust any of these wounds to ordinary treatment if he's involved."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Of course you are. That's my lucky kerchief." Gwen manages another half-grin, leaning against the side of the Halcyon.
Then again, every kerchief is lucky, a large silk banner of colors up until it's needed for such a task.
It's interesting to see Lily and Leon interact in such a setting, rather than the semi-formal setups she's seen them in before. .... Or, well, the battlefield settings.
"I was thinkin' it'd just be illusions. I think, the people in the tavern, maybe they could've..." She trails off, connecting the dots.
No one was gathered in the front of the tavern, from what Gwen could see. And if that was true, no wonder no one really trailed she and Leon; if there was a tavern, and possibly people trapped inside, why waste time going after any possibly suspicious folk limping away from the wreckage.
And what if there were people, staying in the second floor? Gwen didn't see any, but that didn't mean there weren't. Especially with isiris involved.
"If people decide to follow," Gwen concludes, "best t'give 'em some room. If what we saw was real... people died. They wouldn't have had a chance. We barely got out ourselves. Had to make our own exit, from the second floor."
Try not to move around too much, Lily says. "Right, right." Gwen nods, settling on the ground with a laugh. "Mine's normal, at least. But his... yeah."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon's smile stays, for a moment. Then it flickers, vanishing a little, under the discussion of their unidentified assailant. He looks down for a moment again, at the wound that Lily indicated. He doesn't protest, as the kerchief and jacket are pulled away. The wound itself is a grisly thing, though it has had some healing.
"I took two Potion Berries," Leon informs Lily. "To make sure we could move away."
He glances at Gwen -- and then he nods, once. "They could be. I can't say for certain, but... no one else certainly seemed to see him. When he entered--not a soul, there, seemed aware he was there."
He lets out a shaking breath. "Except for me. And for you. Which... makes me think they were illusions. Or, perhaps, he used them on himself."
He scowls. "Hopefully they don't decide to follow, then."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Noted," Lily answers Leon, examining the wound carefully. Despite her obvious feeling here, there is no moment of hesitation, no pang where she holds back from her task in order to worry at how severe it is.
She trained that instinct out long ago, though she cannot train out the one that makes her memorize it.
"Good move. It was necessary, by the looks of it." She can account for that much; that level of exactitude, she knows what she needs to know. "I can check into that while you two are recovering," Lily says simply. "But I couldn't say; his illusions are real enough."
Lily breathes out, and focuses. "Right," she says. "This is worse than usual, so brace yourself."
Lily puts hands over the wound, applying her palm directly for pressure, and her hands begin to glow. Red circuitry blazes about her arms, up her neck, higher still than it used to go when it appeared. She puts a great deal of energy directly into the wound, to force it to a proper configuration, to bring it the way she knows it should be.
Enough that when she finishes she breathes a little heavily, looking between them. "Yours," Lily says, "Is probably bad, too. He just knows better than to hide it."
Lily doesn't smile here; her hands are still hot to the touch, the fire of her healing having partially melted some of the snow that was still clinging to her.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"I don't think Leon bein' alive is something that happened by accident, either." Gwen's lips thin in a grim line. "He'd know where to strike. Either he wanted me to actually kill Leon, or there was something he wanted to see, from both of us. And, like I said to Leon, I could have just been a tool for that to happen, at this point. He may have an interest in Leon."
"....." Seeing the circuitry of red trailing up Lily's arms and up her neck, the courier goes silent, watching on with a certain measure of fascination.
"Lily..." Maybe, Gwen had seen Lily's healing prowess before, but she's never given it her full attention like she is now. Mostly since she's a captive audience, in some respect.
"I guess I never really thought t'ask, but are your powers... are they from an ARM, like mine? Or, like, something symbology related...?" She clears her throat, the awestruck look gone from her face. "I'm mostly askin', because... my ARM gets weird when I'm depleted like this. I can't guarantee that it won't try to drain you due to what you got... goin' on." She waves a hand, as if trying to illustrate.
Defeated, she concludes, "... What I'm sayin' is avoid touchin' my ARM until I've had a rest or gotten some food in me."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Gh--" Leon grunts, as the healing takes hold. He sees the way that the circuitry expands; there is a faint amount of concern at that, as he watches it grow. But then, he isn't focused on much at all, except for the way that the skin smooths out. Dried blood, some falling away in flakes from the heat, and no sign of as much as a scar.
He looks down and stares. Then he slumps back, his breathing even, but still labored. "Still a miracle worker, Lily."
Then, he looks at Gwen. "I shot her," he says. "In the illusions. So, please do heal her."
He is quiet for a moment, at Gwen's questions, though. He doesn't explain. That, he decides, would be Lily's to share. However, he does glance down. His expression is stormy, as he considers that Isiris may have had an interest in him. And, as he so often does, he locks that fact away.
He may need what Isiris offered.
"We should get some food, then," he concludes. "It wouldn't do to have that affect you. It is quite the ARM, from the sound of it. I'm alive because of it, I have no doubt."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I take your point," Lily answers Gwen. It is a very deliberate answer because that is about all the talking she intends to do on the possibility of otherwise. An interest...
"There," Lily answers. "...Heh. Thanks." She responds a little differently to Leon's comments on her magic than most--it might be subtle. It might not.
"Right," Lily answers the matter of Gwen. But she pauses, before actually doing the healing--with the questions, nd with the implication. She considers Gwen's ARM/arm thoughtfully before looking to Gwen, and... hmm. It's different, to see that kind of reaction, now.
"I don't know," Lily admits simply. "I've come to believe that the markings themselves are a kind of ARM, but there's no projectors, nothing in there. I'm used to dealing with attempts at draining, but..."
"No sense in risking it while only one of us is that healthy," she agrees, and will avoid actually touching Gwen's arm as she approaches her next. "The question is whether he has a separate interest in the three of us, or it's because of the meetings and links over time that he's built them. And that, I don't know. "But I do know food would be good for both of you. Gwen, hang on."
Lily will do the same for Gwen as she did for Leon, if perhaps with a bit less intensity; examine the wound, and set her magic to work. As she does, she thinks. ...Yes... "We can't rule out his interest in you, too," she decides before she moves for the next flush of heat. "We should all be careful; things like that... stick in your mind. After the ambush I told you about last, I was still seeing bugs for a few days."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"... Yeah. Same for me, too," Gwen admits, with a mix of embarrassment and pride at Leon's compliment. "But you gotta give yourself some credit there, Leon. You could've just killed me. But you didn't."
Maybe, that was what caused Isiris to be interested in further intensifying the situation. All Gwen had to do was-
The courier clears her throat. "And Lily, well, I'm glad I messaged you first. I don't know this town well enough t'find a doctor I could trust on such short notice."
As Lily looks her over, Gwen lets out a quick laugh. "I mean, it'd just be my ARM. Honestly, I think you'd be okay? It's never happened before." The redhead does tense up as the magic does its work, but takes care to keep her right arm away from Lily. The wound, while on her right hip, is easy to get to, the bandages merely a matter of slipping down to reveal the gunshot wound underneath, surrounded by denim caked with blood.
There's a smidgen of disappointment as Lily's magic leaves behind gnarled stretched scar tissue, matching the pattern surrounding it as old blood flecks away.
But It's not as if it'd be all that great to have unblemished skin in the awkward shape of a gunshot wound, she realizes a second later.
"... bugs, huh..."
The strange inklings of dreams she's had, memories of cold oceans, a boy on a throne, and-
*all she had to do, all this time, was to Kneel*
"... I need to eat something, yeah," the courier suddenly spits out, as if just remembering that her stomach existed.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"We know little enough about the bastard," Leon says, with a sigh. "Not even his name. I'd like to know, if there is a common thread--but I feel we don't have enough information to be certain. We'll have to find a way to get that information."
He rubs his fingers down his chin, and then he looks at Gwen. "I don't typically kill people without--" His expression shifts, face scrunching up. "I don't always kill people on the drop of the hat. They have to irritate me a little more, first. Ask Loren Voss, sometime."
He falls quiet, as Lily heals Gwen. Leon sits back, then, and then he hooks fingers about the back of his neck. He nods, after a moment.
"Food, then," he says. "But I think we should get out of this town, first. We did burn a building down."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"One way or another," Lily agrees, though she isn't sure how; whenever she gets near him she just seems to end up so angry. Well--"I'm glad you did, too," Lily answers, and then is wry to Leon. "I'm sure we don't wear enough hats in general for that to be true."
The ARM though... "I'm interested in seeing sometime," Lily admits. "...Sorry about the scarring."
"Agreed. Let me take point; I haven't burned anything down here, yet."
It's kind of inevitable.
"..." She eyes Gwen a little longer, at that, but shakes her head. "Yeah, getting out of here first is best."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"He's from Solaris. That much I've been able to figure out, in bits and pieces. But he ain't a *part* of Solaris, or otherwise they wouldn't have been trying to track him way earlier. Maybe someone who escaped."
What sorts of things could be in that floating city, if they could produce a man like him?
"Oh, you know Loren?" Gwen seems to perk up at the name. ".... Well, I guess he *does* have that tendency. But he's got some good in him, underneath it all." Underneath all that is Solaris, she realizes.
Waving the topic away with her left hand, Gwen continues, "It was one of that man's illusions. He convinced me you would, and every way you'd be able to do it." The shock of pain, the sensation of flying free from her body, the blue-eyed man delicately brushing a lock from her head, her body strewn in another direction.
"... yeah. I guess, to this town, we pretty much did burn the tavern down." The dawning finality of Leon's statement seems to finally settle on Gwen, dimming the little enthusiasm she had before. "... Isn't there something we can do? I mean..."
A courier can't be known for burning down taverns.
Or killing people.
.....
Lily's apology causes Gwen to blink.
It takes a second before Gwen bursts into a small fit of genuine, relieved laughter, like the comment was all that was needed to break the seal of fear and dread.
"Nono, it's okay, Lily," she says, coughing back a snort of a laugh as she wipes her eyes. "... You can't heal time. Those scars have been with me since I was a kid. Please accept the fact that you've kept me from havin' to change bandages."
Glancing up at her Gear, Gwen looks at the two of them. "... I 'spose there's room for both of you, unless you came in your own gear, Lily."
She stands, wobbles a bit, then corrects herself. "... Let's fly further than bad news, then, and find a place to eat."
Maybe then, she'll think of what she'll need to do.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Fair point. I've never looked good in the ones so popular on Ignas, besides," Leon says, with a shake of his head.
He forces himself up to his feet. It is a little wobbly; his knees protest the movement, but once he stands, he straightens out. He lets out a deep breath. "Solarian... that explains a few things. He indicated that he knows about Solaris."
He looks at Gwen, then, like she has a bug on her face. Leon opens his mouth, then closes it. Better to not say that he once had to be stopped from killing Loren in cold blood. "We never got along," he says, mildly. "Good to know, though."
Then, he looks at Gwen and blinks a few times. He seems ready to volunteer--well, that there isn't much they can do without putting themselves at risk. When she laughs, though, he hesitates, and finally smiles. "Well--we can all fit in for a bit, then."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
<poem> Lily nods in agreement on hats. That's just how it is. As for Loren and Solaris... "Mm. Solaris." There's not much she can even start to get into though, though she looks wryly at Leon as he mentions they never got along. She does however consider Gwen's statement, and shakes her head. "You probably won't be recognized long-term, or attached to this, especially if you get out now and lay low for a while. Especially with your reputation. Just... give it some time before you deliver here again."
Illusions of that? Lily shkes her head again.
But she laughs, and--heh. Lily actually smiles back. "All right," she answers. "Maybe I can't. I'll take what can get, for now." She pauses, at that, shakes her head. "We can fit. It's fine."
"Though considering you two, maybe I should drive..."