2020-08-28: Civil Discourse

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=====================<* Valeria Chateau - Ground Floor *>=====================

The grand, beautiful estate that is the Valeria Chateau rests at the top of a high cliff overlooking much of Meria Boule's central region, full of red rock into which the white walls of the Chateau seem to fit perfectly. It is ornate, lovely stone with much embellishment, and if anything is perhaps larger than one would expect of the seemingly middling noble rank of the Valeria family, and the lack of significant holdings around the Estate itself.

There's no sense of lack within, however; it holds ancient statuary, extraordinary tapestries, and as of more recently is known as the very home base of ARMS, Lord Irving Valeria's personal project and, it's said, private army. There is a great deal of history here; the knowledgeable suggest that this may well be the oldest structure in all Meria Boule. The staff welcome travellers warmly... but visitors are kept strictly out of more sensitive areas. This, apparently, includes the main courtyard...

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxWlVGd9zE
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Martial Artist Ida!
DC: Kahran Ramses switches forms to Gebler Commander Ramses!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

The Filgaia Summit has been a busy affair.

Expensive lunches are part of that, some of them hosted in rooms in Valeria Chateau by decidedly non-Merian, non-ARMS groups. One of these is a lunch by Prime Minister Shakhan of Aveh, which invited a number of Aquvian business magnates -- most from Guild Galad -- as a rare chance for merchants who deal with Aveh to meet the Prime Minister face-to-face. In one of the smaller ballrooms, a large table has been set-up.

Catering is being handled by the Chartres Hotel in Meria Boule. Food is ready in silver trays at the end, with staff wearing button-up white shirts, black vests, black pants, and bowties in attendance. The hotel had to hire a few extra caterers.

One hour ago, those extra caterers showed up, with false identities: members of the Black Wolves and two pairs of extra hands.

Now, Leon Albus smiles politely at a Galadian merchant, as he hands her a glass of champagne. "Your drink, ma'am."

"Thank you."

Nor does said merchant notice when Leon slips by -- and draws a fountain pen out of her suit coat pocket. He palms it, as he walks towards the head of the table with an even gait. His eyes dart across the room. The plan is relatively simple, in execution: the Black Wolves have been positioned as wait staff, busboys, and other likely attendants. Some are closer to the exits of the room, to interrupt attempts to flee.

Lily is near a wall. This is judged to be an exit point; there is no window or door, but they can make one.

Others are around the primary target: the balding, mustachioed man in his late fifties, Prime Minister Shakhan of the Republic of Aveh. He is dressed the red and purple robes, with gold lining, of an Ethos cardinal. However, the insignia of Aveh is sewn into his chest. Shakhan smiles, chatting amiably with a number of nearby merchants.

Leon flips his pen around in his hand. He idly unscrews the top of it -- and then drops it onto the floor. His eyes flicker between three individuals: a man in a suitcoat, eyes hidden behind glasses, taking in everyone here; two people in front of Shakhan, dressed like clerks, but expertly putting themselves in front of, and ready to intercept, an unexpected assailant. To the trained eye, all three are bodyguards in plainclothes. Professionals, to be sure.

Leon has found the most effective way to disrupt a situation like this is not just violence, but surprising violence.

He takes two steps past the man in the suit coat. His pen comes up, now a hollowed thing, except for the curved metal point that once ejected ink. Then Leon slams it, brutally, into the man's neck. His glasses fall to the floor, but his scream becomes a gurgle. Arterial spray explodes out of the half of a pen, a splash of blood spraying out. Leon yanks the dying man over to him, spraying his blood out with a channeled focus.

It catches the second bodyguard in the mouth, who doubles over with an involuntary retching. He rubs at them, while Leon's other hand smoothly draws out a sidearm, aims it one-handed, and takes aim at the third bodyguard. He shoots, the crack-boom of a gunshot followed by the bodyguard collapsing, blood pooling on the floor.

Which opens his firing lane. He aims his pistol directly for Shakhan, ignoring the way that the man pressed against him kicks, each movement weaker than before. Leon smiles, in a calm and professional way.

"Care for dessert, your excellency?"

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Sadalbari had been quite clear about what was expected from him during this event. He was not, of course, the sole person responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the minister, no, but he was to approach the task to the full extent of his capabilities.

    She had also been quite clear about how well she had regarded those.
    For once in Loren's life, this is a statement made about him to his benefit and without any sarcasm.

    Until now, the event has been dull, predicatable. The Gebler captain, wearing the dress of an Aveh official, has been keeping watch over Minister Shakhan from a respectable distance as he attends various functions. His only consolation is that this should all be over soon enough. Just about the only bit of real excitement had earlier, with that religious argument from some of the Granasites. Maybe he should ask deVriese about it. Or maybe not -- it's a question of how badly he wants to know about the fine, boring little schisms that happen with these sorts of organizations.

    Today marks yet another expensive lunch that Loren does not, owing to his role here, get to eat. Eyes forward, he stands at attention near a wall. ...That's funny, he thinks. He doesn't recall seeing some of those caterers at earlier functions. Did they just hire others for today, or did he miss them before?

    But other than that momentary oddity, everything goes just as it was meant to.

    Until, quite suddenly, it doesn't.

    There's blood. There's so much blood.

    Loren doesn't so much think as act, vaulting over a nearby table as the attendees scream in horror. There's a gunshot--

    The minister is still standing. But, perhaps, not for long.

    ...He knows that voice. He breaks into a run.

    "ALBUS!"

    He'll tackle the Black Wolf captain, if he's able.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily Keil is not easy to recognize in the moment, of course; her eyes have a different color, and she has brown hair, for one. Two eyes, though, unlike the last time she pulled this particular trick. She's also not been dealing directly with people very much; in uniform as wait staff, she attends to the trays that the others will be taking out, or to those that are being taken back. At least, that was the work she was working on.

Her eyes are apparently on the drinks in front of her, but she has taken into account the bodyguards, too. She eyes a couple more guards stationed at exits, both obvious and otherwise, notes a figure in the crowd who is a little too observant.

And Leon takes his pen, and gets to work. Lily gently sets down the last of the flutes. She waits--

Wet noises of violence begin. The woman in black then takes a breath in. The mystically sensitive in the room have this one instant to feel the power of magic burning into the air, mystical force wrenched from the world around them with all the force of a crashing car.

Bang, bang. ALBUS!

Lily extends her hand, and a circle of flame erupts around the group immediately close to Shakhan that stretches floor to ceiling, an infernal heat sweltering into the room.

Lily doesn't smile.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but this is ridiculous!!
    
    No, seriously. It's ridiculous. Tidus is in the middle of sampling some hors d'eouvres, having come out of curiosity and stayed for the food, and by sheer coincidence looks up as Leon stabs a man in the neck with a pen. He chokes, his appetite suddenly gone. That's... that's a lot of blood.
    
    What's worse is--
    
    "YOU again?!" he utters upon seeing Leon. "Why're you always freaking terrible?!"
    
    It's a little bit of an exaggeration, but, Tidus feels, not much of one at this particular moment. He runs over towards the assassination in progress, not thinking of anything but how he might stop this violence before it gets any worse, but a wall of flame flares up from the ground in front of his face.
    
    "*Woah*!!" he utters, wheeling his arms as he takes a reflexive, nimble step back. "What the hell is going on here?!"
    
    Seriously, of all the times to wander off from the rest of his friends!!
    
    At least he doesn't entirely lose his head. Just recently, Tidus made good use of the mystic knowledge he gained at Lefay, the Water Temple, to learn a bit more magic. Some pretty strong, *water* magic. He might not understand what the hell this is all about, but he can at least try to put out these flames. As such, he concentrates a moment, light flaring around him as he summons a large orb of Waterga and attempts to douse the fire wall, in whole or in part. Hopefully it'll work the way he wants it to.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

There is one member of ARMS who has been present for the entirety of the Filgaia Summit, but who has not yet been seen by anyone. There's a very good reason for that, of course.

It's because she's a spirit. Her ethereal form gives her a unique advantage that the other member of ARMS - except for one - lack. By possessing objects, she can observe the situation without being seen, with each object serving to suppress her spiritual presence to make it difficult for even the Resonant to spot her.

Unfortunately, however, for some very unfortunate bodyguards, she is not able to be everywhere at once. She notices the commotion a moment too late. She relays the events to her fellow members of ARMS... and then, in the room, there is a bright FLASH.

When it clears, Clarine is there, floating in front of the target. Her eyes are narrowed. She does not look pleased. The room is filled floating mirrors. They dart about, ready to intercept incoming attacks.

"...Release the man and lower your weapon. Please." She requests. "This is a request as a member of ARMS."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Rachiel Medry just so happens to be with Loren. She is happy to help her pal Loren out here. She is the personable one and it's pretty self evident here. Maybe all Solarian teams are between one grr person and one chill person.

And for Rachiel, chill is kind of a bit literal here. Her hand quickly goes up--to her mouth--when Leon brutally murders someone. She brutally murdered someone herself but she didn't exactly sneak a peak later and it certainly was way less messy. She steels herself managing to avoid throwing up--

and suddenly...FIRE! And a whole lot of it. Unfortunately for Lily, Rachiel has her own ether specialty: Water (Ice).

Rachiel draws her blade out and murmurs, "No we don't need her yet--!" And she punches her blade forward a nd swings it about, opening a path through the flames.

"Loren--we got to get him out of here...! Our first priority, remember!"

MEANWHILE

This mission isn't just Lily and Leon. Fei is also present and dressed in a snazzy little waiter's uniform w ith his hair let down so he doesn't quite immediately scream FEI FONG WONG though it does sort of make him look a little more like ID but his hair isn't red so it's probably not him.

It's not like the stress of doing a murder at a peace conference in front of people he respects and admires and he might even have to fight his friends again or worse Yuna who will just make him feel bad about himself is likely to bring the other guy out. Nope! That's pretty unlikely.

Nevertheless, Fei steps forward and unleashes his own flame to try and support Lily's maneuver--but there's ennough of a gap to let people move in or out without leaping through fire.

Though you can d o that anyway if you prefer. Fei is in no position to comment there.

"This isn't just to stop Shakkhan... This is for Bart!" Fei(?) says because that is the sort of dumb thing you can expect from a Fei.

MEANWHILE

Marivel pings over the empathite radios.

<Shit..! I'm busy with an important technical project so I can't go up there right now! ARMS! Make sure Shakhhan isn't killed! Protect him with everything you've got! If that asshole gets himself killed, it could ruin everything! Why did he have to be such an asshole?! Uggghh!!>

ALSO MEANWHILE

Rachiel beams at Tidus helping out. "Thanks shirtless stranger! See Loren? People on the surface can be pretty great! Even if..." She tilts her head. "They're clearly violating the dress code."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia isn't great at subterfuge, to put it mildly. So rather than being among the Wolves in caterer's clothing, she has simply been At The Summit, Acting Naturally. Which in her case means she's been generally friendly with those she's happened to run into, frequently stopping to have a chat with somebody. And even more frequently hanging out where the snacks are and partaking noticably more than anybody would consider socially acceptable at an event such as this. Anybody who knows Xantia at all would not find any of this the slightest bit out of the ordinary.

Even so, she is completely aware of the plans that have been made, and made clear her wishes to somehow assist. And so, shortly before the appointed time, Xantia takes up position near one of the exits of the room used for the Aveh delegation's lunch meeting. Though appearing to be simply taking a casual breather, leaning against the wall, she is actually listening for the tell-tale signs of violence in progress. That's her cue.

As soon as people start to scream, Xantia bursts through the door, dropping into a combat stance. She doesn't immediately take action, that's not the task she was given this time. Her job is cover the retreat of her friends, or, should things go awry, make certain that Shakhan doesn't escape in that particular direction. That's the plan, anyway. Few plans exactly work out the way they should, in Xantia's experience, but she's more than ready to improvise as needed.

She wasn't expecting the improvisation to take quite the form that it does, when a certain Seraph appears to protect the target. That causes her no small amount of dismay. "Clarine, move away from him! This isn't the kind of person you should be protecting!"

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

The job of caterer is actually a fairly natural fit for Matilda, though she's mostly been in the back, or bringing food out, rather than interacting too much with the guests. As always, she's picked the least obtrusive position -- and one that makes it easy for her to regularly pass Lily, doing a similar-but-inverted job.

Taking stock of the room would be natural for Matilda even if she *weren't* here to do what she's doing; as is, she's ... thorough, to say the least. When the violence starts, Matilda begins moving around behind Shakhan; she continues to draw as little attention to herself as possible, even as she moves to make it as difficult as possible for other members of Aveh's delegation to move to assist -- *and* for Shakhan to escape.

She gives a momentary glance to Xantia, nodding to her as she takes up a similar post, before turning her attention back to the task at hand. "There are few people living who have done more to doom Ignas than Shakhan," she says, hoping to reinforce Xantia's *point* as well as her position.

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Honestly, Ashley could care less about some weird baldy foreign dignitary, especially after discovering that he's some kind of horrible autocrat!? But it also isn't his job to worry about that now. It is his job to safeguard the diplomatic talks taking place here to suppress the rampant and hitherto largely unchecked (by any national power) growth of Odessa's influence. Right now, that's the priority.

...

This would be much more difficult... If the Black Wolves had chosen literally any other means of ingress.

Blood jets into the air. It splatters... All across a tasty looking tower of pastries.

But not just any pastries.

"You..." A voice speaks, it sounds hollow and horrified, and not just at the sudden explosion of violence. "Do... Do you know how hard Marina worked on those...?!" Ashley Winchester, Baker and Musketeer, rushes from his position at one of the banquet doors, his BIG OL GUN (and bayonet) ready to shoot (and stab) the man holding the soon-to-be-corpse.

"What are you doing...!?" He demands to know, not actually familiar at all with the Black Wolves just, in general. "To pose as caterers and violate the sanctity of supper is just... It's unforgivable! Let that man go right now, or I'll shoot!"

He means it too!

His finger is hovering right over the trigger! This is some awful trigger discipline we have here (or maybe Ashley really does just mean he's gonna shoot)

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    While Lan Lilac may not be the most suited of Solaris's many resources to bodyguard work, Major Sadalbari had assigned her to this function. Fortunately, nobody decided to put her in Aveh disguise - she's just some girl-next-door in a fairly modest linen dress. Probably the adult daughter of one of the merchants, who could say? With any luck it'll just be a boring lunch affair, and she can keep eating hors d'oevres. But she is so going to tease Loren when this job is over, 'Hey, wasn't that Shakhan guy your--'

    BANG.

    It all happens so fast.

    There's blood, and screaming, and then fire.

    Lan freezes for the span of a single breath before bolting for the punch table. The blonde grabs the punchbowl by its handles, and with a grunt upends the entire thing onto part of the wall of flames.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan is among the mercenaries posing as waitstaff. Along with the uniform, he's tied his hair up more thoroughly and neatly than usual, into a bun at the back of his head, but is otherwise not heavily disguised, leaning a bit too much on the assumption that his face isn't widely known. This is all rather familiar in an unpleasant way, but, in this instance, voluntary. Leon approached him earlier to ask him to join the mission -- and to Ivan, it seemed a rare opportunity. A way to strike at Solaris and harm their interests on the surface.

When he noticed the familiar face of one Loren Voss, he made a point of positioning himself in the room behind him to avoid catching his eye.

That means that when Leon makes his move, and Loren charges forward to intercept him, Ivan is all too ready to make some trouble for him, specifically. With a flash of his ring, he calls a dagger to hand, and sends it flying through the air toward Loren's back.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The Master might not be here, but there are some big names present nevertheless. Peter Anaheim, the Master's cousin--President of Anaheim Shipping and Freight--sits next to Yang Li, the director of one of the largest fossicker concerns. There are others, of course, but notably, none of them are members of House Everstead-Rey. Anna is not here, nor is her husband Harold, nor are any of Ida's family members.

    There's been some talk about the family's disastrous deal with the Kaiser of Kislev--and how they couldn't keep valuable fossils out of the hands of common thieves. How shameful.

    Needless to say, there are a lot of bodyguards milling around, each dressed in an appropriate style--some in somber black suits, others in more colorful attire. Whatever their employers prefer, they wear; the one unifying trend is their employers' house sigil, displayed prominently.

    There is one exception. Ida Everstead-Rey stands like a stoic statue behind the table, arms at her sides. She asked Marivel for a pair of tinted spectacles to hide her eyes, and Marivel did her one better, giving her mirrorshades. She wears what looks like a perfectly normal black duster over a white button-down shirt and black slacks.

    Someone in the Galadian party requested her presence. She has been listening to the Galadian party shit-talk her family--as though this were nothing more than a power display--for the last twenty minutes.

    Ida has been keeping an eye on the waitstaff. She sees one of them pocket something from Mrs. Yang without her notice when he gives her a champagne flute.

    A splash of crimson arcs through the air, and Ida realizes who that waiter is. Who the others are. Her guts churn in helpless rage even as she rushes forward, throwing herself between the Black Wolves and a stunned Mrs. Yang. "CLARINE!" Ida screams, to no one. "Heal--!" It might be too late, she realizes, and the knot tightens. Screams erupt from the Galadian representatives--the bodyguards start drawing weapons, but Ida is already one step ahead. Her face is drawn tight in an expression Fei and Lily have seen before as she rushes them, creating a distraction with her body so none of her charges end up bleeding out, too.

    It's a look of grief, and helpless, frustrated rage. They can't see her eyes, which is good, because the haze of tears is just starting to form.

    Ida blinks it away.

<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

'THE PREVIOUS EVENING'

Myyah Hawwa shivers as a breath of air ghosts in from the open balcony doors, brushing across the silky surface of her skin. Gooseflesh dimples up along her back, and she slides more deeply under the arm of her lover, skin brushing against skin. Her right hand rises up, idly tracing along the lines of his chest, which rises and falls in slow steady, motion. The light of the datapad he is reading is the only illumination in the room; it gives their skin an unhealthy, almost deathly pallor. She frowns and looks up. "You should be there tomorrow," she says.

A noncommittal grunt is her answer.

"You should," Myyah says, her forefinger sliding along the taut flesh of his pectorals. "It's a silly idea, to host so many unknowns. And the security here is a joke. It's almost asking for an attack."

Another grunt; this time, a baritone voice rumbles out. "Sadalbari's problem, not ours. She's running security. If he dies on her watch, that ends her." A faint chuckle rumbles through his barrel chest. "Two birds, one stone."

Myyah's hand drifts lower, gliding along the upper lines of the abdomen. "We need him," she says. When he doesn't answer, she repeats: "We do need him." Another long pause, as thoughts roll around inside her head. Myyah rests her head softly against the side of his chest, listening to the long, slow steady breaths. Two minutes pass. Three. Her hand drifts lower still.

Finally, she speaks again. "It won't be Sadalbari alone," she says. "She'll bring Loren into it - call it a test of his leadership potential. She may go down... but he will too."

Kahran Ramses' mouth twists into a faint moue of displeasure. "Hrn," he growls.

'NOW'

Lily Keil will suddenly feel a twist in the lines of power she has ripped out from the bones of the world. The circle of flame she sent flowing around Shakhan opens slightly along a thirty-degree arc, both ends carving along the floor toward one corner of the room, forming a smoldering carpet of crimson flames. A stoop-shouldered law clerk, who had been hunched over a thick oaken cane that had been barely keeping him upright, suddenly rises upward, back and shoulders straightening, widening as he rises to his full height and breadth. The robes of a Granas priest rustle softly down to the floor, and a barrel-chested man in simple white trousers and a shirt, wearing a cream-coloured vest, casually strolls along the walkway, flames licking at his heels as he moves toward Shakhan, as though he had no care in the world.

As he reaches Aveh's Prime Minister, Kahran Ramses' eyes sweep the room, taking in all gathered with ill-concealed contempt.

"Children," he says dismissively. "Cease. This rudeness. At once."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    That man put a bounty on her, ages ago.

    That's the thought Gwen has as she spots Shakhan through a doorway, her hands full with a tray full of last minute supplies. Because of course there are last minute supplies. And Gwen would be the one to deliver them.

    "Is something wrong, Miss Whitlock?" The staff member with her turns, confused as the courier seems to no longer be right behind him.

    There's something oddly familiar about two of the wait staff present. Maybe it's the trick of the light, but--

    Gwen shakes her head, and gives a nod to the staff member. "... It's nothing. Got distracted."

    It takes only a few steps more before screams fill the air. Air pulls past them at the introduction of fire magic, flames licking the ceiling.

    The staff member abandons his cart of supplies, getting a quick call of encouragement from Gwen as she moves in the opposite direction, which, is simply a few steps away.

    She stares in the doorway, her eyes beginning to glaze over, attempting to move past the guards at the entryway.

    She goes to the violence, like a moth to a flame.

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Brad Evans, Man Who Was Explicitly Told To Handle Security, is outside the room entirely when things begin. A man of his somewhat contentious status is best out of sight. Not to mention, he only has the one suit and doesn't want to get it busted up if he doesn't have to.

As the violence rapidly escalates - when Clarine makes the call to intervene - there's the sound of a door slamming off its hinges out in the hall.

Heavy, HEAVY footsteps.

And then the door nearest Shakhan BLOWS inward, swept aside by Brad Evans and his Mechanical Glove. He stands firm, feet squared, and hefts the glove upward. The extended side gleams in the light with the largebore autocannon leveled at the Black Wolves. "HANDS UP!" he thunders.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Surely," Leon tells Tidus, "by now, you must have noticed I'm like this." He manages to say it, just as fire leaps up in a ring around them -- and then as Loren Voss, already inside that ring somehow, goes flying at him. Clarine issues an order to him, but he ignores it. He would have either way, but a lot of why he ignores it is that Loren plows into him.

He gets tackled down to the ground, rolling. Leon sort of expected that; trying to murder heads of state tends to get you tackled. He rolls with Loren -- rolls deliberately, trying to pull him a little further with Shakhan.

The man he stabbed in the neck falls lifelessly to the floor. When the pen falls out with a rattle, there is precious little blood coming with it. He bled out too quickly.

But more than that, Leon kicks Loren away -- and straight at that dagger than Ivan sends flying. He nods to him -- glances sideways at Xantia and Matilda -- and then reaches into a nearby cart. There, he finds what he was looking for: tucked inside of a set of folded towels, he pulls Argent Divider II out. The weapon is folded up, like a shotgun, at the moment.

Shakhan, in the meantime, has started to run -- hurrying with a bodyguard that emerges from panicking clerks. The bodyguard runs ahead, straight for Clarine -- and for Xantia and Matilda. Shakhan hesitates, for a moment, and then cries out like it might change something: "ASSASSINS!"

And for his screaming, he finds salvation. Kahran Ramses steps through the flame, sheds his literal and metaphorical skin, and comes up next to him. The Prime Minister may be daring in the political arena, but here?

Here, he does not hesitate to hide behind him.

Leon stands up, shotgun in hand. His eyes turn -- narrow at Ramses, glance at Voss, and look at Ashley with brief bafflement -- and then, finally, back at Ramses. "We don't need your kind here," he says.

'HANDS UP!'

Leon's eyes swing -- spot Brad Evans's hulking form in his peripheral vision. He doesn't blink. He takes aim with his shotgun, fires a single round at him, and then he glances about. Then, he looks back at Shakhan.

"No hesitation!" he yells to the Wolves and their two comrades. "This is why we're here! For all the lives that Solaris has destroyed--for all that Ignas has suffered! Don't let friendship blind you!"

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Brad Evans with Shotgun Blast!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Lan Lilac with Disapproving Frown!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Leon Albus's Disapproving Frown for 0 hit points!
GS: Brad Evans guards a hit from Leon Albus's Shotgun Blast for 62 hit points!
GS: Brad Evans's Force Guard activates!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei(?)'s head turns towards Ashley. "That so?" He asks. "They smell good. But you know what they'll do to her if you extend even an iota of trust to them?"

He suddenly darts forward, throwing his knee towards Ashley's hand, intending to knock his bayonet up into the air so that he misses any shot with that bayonet off his. As he strikes, he leans in and murmurs to him.

"Once they see you as a threat... They'll kill her. You'll see her lifeless body and you'll know true solitude."

Only Ashley can hear thse words before Fei pulls his head back and swings out a roundhouse for the bayoneter. "You want to save a Solarian pawn, you better be ready to lose everything for it."

He glances to Ida, hesitates, but shakes his head. Any puppet may do but Bart won't be one. Not easily.

He sees Ramses reveal himself.

"Hey... ... You." Did he seriously forget Ramses's name again? "Here to lose again?"

And with that he manages a smile and slides a foot forward, snapping her finger and unleashing a burst of ice that detonates out for Ramses's body!
R
MEANWHILE

Rachiel Medry positions herseelf near Shakhan and presses a hand against his arm--a shimmering shield of light that smells like the power of a GUARDIAN is behind it.

"Don't worry, sir," She tells him. "With The Commander here you're safer here than you would be in your own bedroom."

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Ashley Winchester with Hagan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kahran Ramses with Suikei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Ashley Winchester guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 72 hit points!
GS: Kahran Ramses takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Suikei for 123 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Between bladed Ice and a ball of Waterga, Lily's flames are beaten back, a path carved. That's before the punchbowl, that douses another section. But in short order the power twists--the fire is co-opted. After the walkway snaps back, what remains of those flames flickers out and washes up and down to floor and ceiling--Lily cutting her losses with the spell and not bothering to try to rejuvenate it after the fourfold assault.

"So you're here," she says of Ramses, and remembers that time in Bledavik--the whole approach there. Her finger twitches--but she holds onto her part of the plan. And in the moment, Lily doesn't catch Ida's eyes, but she certainly recognizes her--recognized her earlier, and avoided her in her work. Now that she's headed her way, Lily won't be able to avoid her completely. "Ida," Lily says. "We're not after your delegation. But that isn't enough, is it?" Lily shakes her head--and flames erupt into being around her again, wreathing her arms and upper body as she whirls forward hurling fireballs for Ida.

Remember what they did...

"Rikku's friend, right?" she says as she presses her advantage towards Ida, and looks for an instant to Tidus. "Say the word, and you can walk away--this world doesn't have to be your problem."

Lily breaks off her assault of Ida in an instant as she snaps out her knife from her sleeve, taking it blade-down to slash upward at Tidus, before a lesser warrior would have any time to react.

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Burning Advance!
GS: Lily Keil assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Tidus with Jagged Edge!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil's Avenger stance ends.
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda finds herself wishing that *so many* of these people weren't here -- or at the very least, knew to mind their own business. The escape route Matilda *had* been trying to cut off is now occupied by one (1) Gwen Whitlock -- a Gwen Whitlock who is presently pressing through that escape route *toward* the chaos, rather than away from it.

She lets out a slightly exasperated sigh, turning to face Gwen in earnest. She fishes in her servant's outfit for just a moment, eventually finding a handful of berries; she pops them into her mouth, biting down and quickly swallowing.

"... Turn back around," Matilda says, leveling her knife at Gwen but not immediately aggressing. "This doesn't concern you, ma'am." She's coiled and ready to strike -- though she doesn't strike just *yet*. Hurting random civilians wasn't part of the deal, after all.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Berry Shot!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Matilda Whitehead heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Burst! applied to Matilda Whitehead!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Lily Keil's Burning Advance for 146 hit points!
GS: Tidus critically Guards a hit from Lily Keil's Jagged Edge for 27 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Yeah, I kinda did!!" Tidus shoots back at Leon.
    
    But then: 'Thanks, shirtless stranger!' a stranger says to Tidus.
    
    "Uhhh... you're welcome?" he hazards. In his opinion he's not *entirely* shirtless, being from Zanarkand and having traveled through much of Spira he knows one can get way more shirtless than he is right now, but this is not exactly the time or place to debate that so Rachiel will just have to settle for getting a weird look. Oh, and a, "Wait, there was a dress code??"
    
    Then things get more chaotic. There's a bright flash of light, and a young woman appears in Shakhan's defense; then a couple other people say she shouldn't be protecting him because he's a bad guy. "Wait, really??" he utters, abruptly feeling utterly lost. It was bad enough when he was just learning the sociopolitireligious ropes of Spira.
    
    The assassination target hides behind a big ol' man who flexes out of his clothes. That's good, probably. Tidus still isn't really sure what's going on here. Then Lily addresses him--as Rikku's friend, even--and at her offer, he hesitates. This world's problems *aren't* his own. Should he really thrust himself in the middle of a conflict he doesn't know anything about?
    
    But then Ashley lays down a critical point, sort of, and Tidus mentally rallies around it. "Hey, yeah, that guy's right! It doesn't matter how bad you think that guy is--what the hell're you people doing, murdering folks at a peace convention?! You're all crazy!" He pulls his sword, now committed to a fight, because he's had enough experience with these types to know they're not going to back down just because someone tells them to.
    
    Even so, he scowls at Lily. "Leon's friend--right? Get out of here, or I'll *make* you get out!!" Gotta give a warning to start, at least. He's on his guard, at least, so when Lily responds with a knife, he's able to defend against it and only get a *little* bloodied up for his efforts. He'll respond with a quick forward step and a swish of his blade, arcing diagonally up and to the right in a crescent motion.

GS: Tidus has attacked Lily Keil with Quick Hit!
GS: Tidus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The bodyguard's corpse hits the ground with a sick thud.

    Good work spotting those assassins, idiot girl.

    It's too late. She's failed. They've failed. Ida's thoughts spiral in a vicious cycle, even as her body moves on autopilot. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" she screams, at the other Galadian bodyguards. "Move. MOVE!" There's no time for decorum. As fire rips through the banquet hall, the Galadian dignitaries flee for their lives. Several of the bodyguards fire wildly at Leon, but he and Loren are moving too fast. "I said MOVE!" Ida roars. The bodyguards break off. In a heartbeat, reinforcements arrive--Brad she recognizes, but Ida straight-up stares at Kahran Ramses as he rips free of his disguise. Solarian, she realizes. She doesn't recognize him. He frightens her.

    Lily, her doctor, looks at her. Leon lets loose with a roar of his own, all conviction. You bloody idiot, Ida wants to say to him. You are giving Solaris exactly what they want.

    She doesn't say that out loud.

    "You know it isn't," Ida says, her whole face tight. Marivel's mirrored sunglasses hide her eyes, but Lily can see the tears trickling from beneath. "Your commander chose the wrong place for this."

    Ida twists to the side, tucking and rolling across the scorched floor, but Lily is quicker on the draw. Flame traces lines down Ida's back, and only her oddly-fireproof coat keeps her from third-degree burns then and there.

    Shoot her. Shoot her with the very ARM you had her take from you because you were afraid you'd shoot yourself.

    Muscle memory takes over. Ida whips Devil's Due from its concealed holster and fires for center-mass. A cloud of thick smoke trails from behind the bullet, clinging to Ida and obscuring her. Through the smoke, she sees the form of Tidus, and feels...

    Somewhat less wretchedly terrible.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Lily Keil with Ebon Devil Cloud!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil critically Guards a hit from Tidus's Quick Hit for 20 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Ebon Devil Cloud for 98 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

Kahran Ramses' lips twist into a faintly ironic grin as Leon castigates him. The very idea of a -Lamb- disdaining him and his 'kind'... well, if Ramses was the kind of man who laughed in the face of his enemies, he would do so now. Instead, he contents himself with a private smile. "How droll," he drawls. He starts to open his mouth to add another rejoinder... but then Fei intervenes.

"Ah," Ramses says, his grin shifting into a vicious snarl as Fei makes his presence known. Ramses has little regard for the blue-haired soldier the martial artist pummeled, except to mentally register him as a potential enemy of his enemy. His focus is instead entirely upon Fei - the full force of his regard, rising upward from the depths of his soul. His teeth glimmer from between tight lips. He opens his mouth...

...and then Myyah's scent drifts into his nostrils from the silk kerchief tied around hic neck in place of a cravat. His heartrate slows, and he regains the fine edge of his control. Focus, he thinks.

"Ah, I thought I smelled the reek of hypocrisy," Ramses says, his tone amused. "The Black Wolf crying fain about all the lives lost in the continent of his birth... and yet he allows you here at his side," the big man notes. "Do you think he'd do so if he knew the truth of you, Demon?"

Ice hurtles toward Kahran Ramses who - for all his power and preparation - hadn't really figured out how to bring a hand and a half sword concealed into a disguise meant for an ancient Etone priest. "Bother," he grumbles, glancing over his shoulder at the cowering Shakhan. No point in avoiding only to impale the man behind him - so Ramses instead lifts his left hand and fires an unfocused flash-burst of flaming Ether, detonating the ice wall into thousands of shards. Ramses takes more than a few himself - others fly into the onlookers, some toward Fei himself. The Gebler commander flicks a line of crimson away from a cut under his left eye and reaches his hand backward. "Weapon," he says laconically.

Shakhan gapes. "What?" he asks.

"A weapon," Ramses repeats himself. "Standard security procedure. You're the guest of honour. Sadalbari should have given you a holdout weapon. It will be more danger to you in your hands than mine. Give it to me," he orders the man. There is a rustle of silk, and Ramses feels a slim, polished wooden hilt slap into the palm of his right hand. His eyes flicker as he shifts into a guard position, bringing around the...

...cheese knife?

Ramses' lips tighten; Shakhan cowers even further behind the big man. "Hrn," Ramses grunts. "Of course she did."

GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Mirror Stance!
GS: Kahran Ramses enters a Counter stance!
GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

"They got blood all over it!" Ashley complains to that person with the commendable taste in pastries. "We can't let anyone eat them now! It's unsanita..."

Ashley sees Fei, but he recognizes him as someone else, "...ry"

A thunderous crack resonates up Ashley's arms. His weapon is knocked off-target, the jolt causes it to discharge. A section of ceiling cracks and crumbles, sending a chunk of plaster tumbling right into a basket of wilted cabbages.

Poor cabbages.

"You... What are you talking about!? This is all to deal with Odessa! Who the heck is this 'them!?'" Is there yet another global conspiracy that wants to trap an ancient evil inside Ashley Winchester's soul!?

No. But it sure sounds like they want to do something even worse.

The thing that looks like Fei whirls, delivering a powerful roundhouse that crashes into the Bayonet's reinforced barrel as Ashley brings the weapon down to cover his fragile bone-parts. "I guess that just means I have to not make myself look like a threat, right!?" He answers, darting forward to take a cleaving swipe at the martial artist's legs and ankles. If he knows anything about kung fu, it's that it's hard to do when you've got cut-up legs.

Ramses... appears. Ashley has no idea who that guy is either! He has no idea who a lot of these people are. Right now he's mostly just busy with fighting things!

GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Shockslide!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "--I know! Take care of the minister!" he barks at Medry.

    His focus is on the man who seems to be about to murder Shakhan.

    He runs through just as the ring closes behind him. For an instant, this cuts him off from the rest of the room, leaving seemingly only him and Leon.

    But Medry is here, and most importantly, she has much better control over Water (Ice) than he does. She carves a paththrough. (That (mostly) shirtless man (who Loren might appreciate a little more if it weren't for the fact that he's currently in the process of tackling Leon) also helps with settling the blaze.)

    And then he's for Leon, bearing the man down to the floor. Leon does not go quietly: a struggle ensues. He attempts to slam his fist into the other man's face, more than the once, but--

    One solid kick to the gut and he's dislodged, flung from Leon at just the wrong moment. In the wrong direction.

    Staggering, he's half-risen just in time to receive an expertly thrown knife in the back.
    Just as Commander Kahran Ramses steps through the barrier of flame.

    He has a moment to process this, among other things -- the knife stuck in him perhaps topping the list -- and drops to a knee. Twisting, he reaches for the hilt and yanks it free, green light burning outward to twist inward in an infinite fractal mandala about him. Soon there is no wound, just the telltale signs that it had been, and Loren takes one good look at the blade in his hand.

    His gaze sweeps the room, and it's not long until he finds its only possible owner. Of course it would be him.

    "Medry! Get the minster out of here!" he yells, already up and running for Ivan. If there's a logic to it, it's that someone with that ability is an enormous threat, but it's arguably less logic and more bloodlust.

    "Lan! Where's my sword?!" Because this knife won't cut it, and the security protocols were clear... about representatives and staff.

    Water Ether, rising as streamers and weaving together into a tight wave, precedes him.
    Then bursts, a short sharp hard downpour, all for Ivan.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

While Xantia would have liked more time to clear things up with Clarine, so much is happening, so quickly. Surveying the situation as it develops, she can identify several Solarians in attendance, causing no small amount of trouble for the assassination attempt. It's taking every bit of willpower to stop herself from rushing in and lending direct assistance in the only way she knows how. But she can't. She needs to stay where she is and guard the exit. She flinches when Brad Evans bursts into the room as well. Last time she saw that face it was on an Odessan clone, who did quite a number on her.

While she's still deciding how to act, Shakhan's bodyguard is coming right for her, which helps to make up her mind. You don't just run straight at Xantia, as the bodyguard soon discovers - she throws a punch well before the distance can be closed, propelling him backwards at high speed with the invisible wave of force that accompanies it.

"Nobody's getting past me!" she declares resolutely, reinforcing her fighting stance while glaring at Shakhan. "Especially not you." She redirects her glare to Rachiel when she encases the prime minister in a barrier of some sort. Then she smiles, and shakes her head. "You think that'll enough to protect him?" Xantia purposefully strides forward, activating her ARM as she goes, brandishing its red energy blade threateningly. She may not have been meant to be directly involved with the actual assassination, but if this is what it's come down to, then...!

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Ivan with Aqua Sequence!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: Ivan critically Guards a hit from Loren Voss's Aqua Sequence for 17 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

The shotgun blast slams into Brad's nice suit that Irving got tailored for him, the shot peppering the front and then falling out from the internal layer of shielding and armor.

Brad grimaces more than usual. This is why he sticks to compression shirts.

"'nother day I might've helped with this one," Brad grunts. He thrusts the Glove forward and fires, once, twice, shells the size of a baseballs ripping through tables and chairs as he tracks Leon.

"Rings some old bells, attacks like this."

Shakhan has taken shelter with some Gebler elite. Good. Probably take good care of him. His eyes cut around, briefly checking for the position of Wolves, and then he surges. He's big, and slow, but that bulk means that when he gets there it's all MASS coming at Leon's chin! "But you missed your shot!"

DC: Brad Evans switches forms to Prisoner 666!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Leon Albus with Iron Fist !
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Of all the people she expected to see here, Xantia is not one of them. ...Well, perhaps she expected to see her somewhere, perhaps making short work of a snack table... but not here, participating in an assassination attempt. She looks, momentarily, conflicted, and then, a voice calls out to her. Her eyes, momentarily, meet Ida's. She shuts her eyes and shakes her head quietly. ...It's true. Unfortunately, even the healing of the Seraphim is not absolute.

She returns her attention to Xantia, then, and she still seems conflicted as she speaks.

"...I am aware. However, he is an invited guest of ARMS. Therefore, he is under our protection." Clarine replies. She looks toward Matilda, then, as she follows up on Xantia's statement. Several of Clarine's mirrors move to block Matilda away from Shakhan, ready to act if she should make her move. Prior knowledge of the way she fights helps in this regard. "...Knowing that, do you expect me to simply stand aside? To knowingly allow another of our guests to be murdered, regardless of his character and actions, would violate the sanctity of this Summit - and the trust that has been placed into us. This disturbance may already serve to shatter the fragile peace."

Things rapidly begin to escalate. The chances that this will end peacefully - slim enough as they were - rapidly begin to drop toward zero. The minister shouts 'assassins' and runs straight for her. She isn't sure if he can see her, or if he's just running for the first exit possible. But, someone is there to save him. That man, the 'Commander'... he gives off an ominous vibe. She's not sure she likes it.

She turns her attention back to Xantia, though, regarding her quietly. ...She doesn't like this. It seems like everything Clarine does, she always ends up fighting friends, for one reason or another...

"...Is this path one you are set on?" She asks quietly. ...And, indeed, Xantia declares her intentions and starts moving toward Shakhan with purpose. Clarine casts a hand out, and in response, a searing ray of light bursts down from the ceiling toward Xantia. It's more of a warning shot than an actual attack, but no less dangerous for it.

"...If so, I will... respect your choice. But... I still cannot allow this." She says... but no longer with the same surety she had displayed when making her original request.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Limited Ray!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Leon Albus critically Guards a hit from Brad Evans's Iron Fist  for 25 hit points!
GS: Xantia critically Guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 24 hit points!
GS: Quick! applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "... Lily, Leon...?"

    Lily, the one who healed her wounds, who she's fought alongside many times. Leon, the man she had tried to kill under the influence of Isiris's powers, and then had helped escape (and vice versa).

    The cognitive dissonance of acknowledging this, on top of what Gwen has done since, makes Gwen's mind run blank for a moment.

    She's not supposed to be here, a tiny voice says. She'll have to fight friends somehow, this isn't her fight.

    A tiny pinprick of concern, echoed in the words Matilda says to her, as Gwen stands there, seeming oblivious, keeping Matilda from securing that nice escape route.

    Her eyes relax, the scent of blood, looking at the knife Matilda brandishes, all other noise drowning out.

    _She is exactly where she needs to be._

    Matilda's coiled stance is the correct one, as Gwen whips her right hand towards her and fires a quick shot, aimed specifically for that knife.

    "I'm not sure what's going on, but I ain't that eager either," she manages, a second later, her eyes refocusing. "There's a lot more quiet ways of doin' this without getting people involved. What's up here?"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Crackshot!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 58 hit points!
GS: Cripple! applied to Matilda Whitehead!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Ashley Winchester's Shockslide for 80 hit points!
GS: Cripple! applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Mirror Stance for 73 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong's Force Guard activates!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

That quick shot grazes Matilda's hand, getting her to drop the knife, sure enough; she winces a little, taking a moment to reposition a little further away from Gwen. "How many opportunities do we get to move on *Shakhan* somewhere other than the seat of his power?" Matilda counter-asks, at the question of 'what's up here'. She reaches into her servant's outfit again, this time withdrawing a simple pistol.

... okay, there's more motivations at play here than *just* a shot at Shakhan, but Matilda thinks that one is probably suficient for the moment. "The world is too messy to have every intervention against a tyrant be -- simple, straightforward, unassuming," she adds, backpedaling another few steps.

Then, all at once, she moves hard to the side, closing in on a table; she could use a slightly better tactical position than the one she's in, to say the least, and a table is at least *something* to work with. As she moves, she fires three quick shots from her pistol at Gwen, then ducks low, ready to follow up with... well, *something*, at any rate.

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Repositioning Shot!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Lan discards the empty punchbowl, throwing it to one side with a silver CLANG. There's too much happening at once. Everybody here... it was more than just that one person. It ws a setup all along. Frozen in place next to the table, Lan takes a long look around the room, as well as a deep breath.

    Don't be scared. Don't think. Just move.

    Even with her limited understanding of just who and what Shakhan represents, Lan doesn't really want to see anybody else die today. There's still a chance, no matter how small, that things might actually get better. That people can work it out on their own, that the future could get brighter.

    And that won't happen if Shakhan is assassinated here, in the middle of the summit.

    'For all the lives that Solaris has destroyed--for all that Ignas has suffered!'

    Ignore that, too. Even if the assassin himself is right - even if she agrees...

    Lan realizes that she's wasted precious seconds, snapping out of it only when Loren calls her name. Blinking, she looks down, fumbles with her skirt, and undoes the clasp. The garment falls to the floor in a heap of linen, leaving her in the top half of a nice dress and her usual shorts, with a one-handed sword strapped precariously to the outside of her thigh.

    'Don't worry. I can't carry it, you understand? Anyway, if you get caught, we'll pay your bail.'

    She unties the ribbon holding the sword in place as she scrambles across the floor to press it hilt-first into Loren's hand.

GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Lan Lilac with Move Like Water!
GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Then don't act bloody surprised!" Leon snaps back at Tidus.

His eyes dart. They linger on Ramses for a second, before he shouts: "I've no intention of sharing my personnel decisions with you. But there is a difference between wanton devastation... and bleeding a land dry, Solarian!"

Brad moves like a locomotive through the crowd. The people who weren't smart enough to move away at the fighting part before him as he rushes through the crowd. Leon turns, spotting the huge soldier, and then he sees the fist coming for his chin. Leon is a large man, but not as large as Brad Evans; his height and frame still have a speed that can be surprising, and he ducks back. A trio of triangular pieces of metal drop from his belt.

They unfold as they fly up, and Brad's fist slams into a shield of aquamarine light that explodes into existence. The barrier gets a series of cracks running through it, as Leon ducks around, eyes on Brad. "We'll see," he says. "I've more shots in me!"

His eyes glance at Gwen. His expression isn't quite apologetic; 'it is what it is' might be more accurate. At the moment, though, his attention is on Brad. Lan has not, yet, registered as a particular threat. The three Raid Funnels swirl, in a continuous and dizzying pattern, about Leon; it might be distracting. He snaps Argent Divider II to the side; the shotgun's barrels split, and a long, narrow blade comes telescoping out.

Red light flashes off it -- chi, as he unleashes a sweeping upward slash across the front of Brad. "Peace doesn't mean a bloody thing, when it's reinforcing a situation I can't accept! I've no reason to honor it!"

A short distance away, Shakhan looks... perturbed, but maybe not disturbed, to have surrendered his weapon to Ramses. He stares at his back for a moment, before his eyes turn towards Rachiel. Then, the Prime Minister nods. "Yes," he agrees. "Yes, just so."

The Prime Minister finds his escape route still cut off. But, with Kahran Ramses between him and the battle, he feels that much safer.

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Brad Evans with Raze Slash!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Leon Albus with PMU-Z2 Raid Wall!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Leon Albus heals Leon Albus! He gains 150 temporary hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Ivan watches as as Loren closes the wound from his blade in a burst of mysterious power. His brow furrows in surprise and indignation. "Is that a thing you can do?!" he demands. Perhaps he might have guessed at some propensity for healing from the earlier glimpse of Loren rushing to offer Lan medical aid, but he had other things on his mind at the time.

Loren responds with a fierce downpour of water, which crashes down on Ivan down with bruising pressure, holding him at bay for the duration. Ivan weathers it as best he can any storm -- but being soaked with water always leaves him shivering, angry, and demoralized, not unlike a cat.

"There's no reason to protect someone like that," he calls over to Loren, shooting a hand toward their target, who is cowering with damned Rachiel, of all people, "But if you insist on doing it, it's no big deal to me if I have to cut through you!"

As the storm abates, Ivan vaults over a table between them with a crash of cutlery, somersaulting in the air and calling a short sword to hand. He punches it swiftly forward through the air as he falls toward Loren, sending an onrushing burst of ki ahead of his strike as the blade pierces toward him.

GS: Ivan has attacked Loren Voss with Super Sonic Thrust!
GS: Ivan has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Tidus is right; when he gives his warning, Lily just inclines her head and rushes him. "I'm his partner."

Lily leverages her knife hand to block that crescent slash from Tidus with her own blade. The impact is jarring and powerful, and a cut still bleeds through her sleeve--but she doesn't so much as flinch from the pain. "I won't underestimate a Guardian," she assures him before she breaks the clash by jumping back.

Her reflexes are good, but her strides aren't as long as his, and she's not quite as fast. She's also fighting two people...

"I know," Lily tells Ida, that it wasn't enough. "But this is the only place."

Lily takes the hit from the Devil's Due; the thick smoke that obscures Ida doesn't do a thing to halt the bullet that slams into Lily's chest, impacting heavily against some unknown material that still results in bashed ribs and bruised body.

Golden circuitry starts to erupt around her hands and face, on all the exposed skin her 'uniform' shows. "Do what you have to do," Lily tells Ida, her voice firm but not hard. "I'll do the same." She extends her free hand, and golden nuclear fire erupts from it, briefly burning hotter than hot as it crashes in a sphere towards Ida. "There can be no peace as long as Solaris pulls the strings."

The markings turn from gold to blue as Lily turns back to Tidus. Her knife extends, a chill so cold that the air begins to mist becoming a long blade of ice. Adjusting her grip, she brings it horizontally, like a broadsword, where she seeks to make it burst on impact into jagged fragments.

"Maybe," she allows about being crazy, and there is a certain flicker of rage in her otherwise calm eyes. "But this time, it's them who are going to be hunted."

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Hell's Redoubt!
GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Tidus with Polar Blade!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Loren Voss critically Guards a hit from Ivan's Super Sonic Thrust for 21 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Ivan!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Lily Keil's Hell's Redoubt for 66 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: CRITICAL! Tidus takes a glancing hit from Lily Keil's Polar Blade for 84 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Tidus gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Why *shouldn't* I be surprised when someone gets MURDERED out of NOWHERE at a PEACE DELEGATION?!" Tidus snaps right back at Leon. Maybe they should be fighting each other...
    
    But right now, Lily's the one in front of him. "So there was no hope of you leaving in the first place, huh," he replies grimly. "At least now I know!" She says she won't underestimate a Guardian. "You better not!!"
    
    Another woman--Ida, though he doesn't recognize her in her armor--rushes up to help with the fight and lay suppressing fire on Lily. "You with me? Thanks!" he calls before focusing back on the Black Wolf.
    
    "What d'you mean, hunted?! What're you guys even trying to do here?!" he demands. Lily sweeps in with her icy blade, so cold that when it cuts through his side, it freezes the wound shut. A very weird and not at all pleasant sensation, on the whole.
    
    Tidus grunts as he falls back a step, then shakes his head to clear it. He tightens his grip on his blade and channels temporal magic through it; when he launches in at her with another slash, it should hopefully slow her down and make her easier to both hit and evade. Whoever this lady is (beyond Leon's partner, but that's *what* she is), she seems strong. Btter not underestimate her, either.

GS: Tidus has attacked Lily Keil with Delay Attack!
GS: Tidus assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"And how many killings of Id's..." Fei(?) says, narrowing his eyes faintly. "Were on behalf of Solaris? You made him into what he is. You don't get to protest..." He grins faintly, a strange light in his eyes. His own ice is unleashed upon him and Fei grimaces, raising his arms up as several shards slice into his arms. "You don't get to protest the reprecussions of what you've made. How many times has Solaris killed hope?"

He meanwhile has to turn to look at Ashley who is slicing his bayonet into Fei's leg. Fei hisses as blood drips from the wound. A brief aura crackles around him but it's subdued.

"Solaris loves deals. Solaris loves peace... All the better to slaughter those that don't fall in line." Fei(?) mutters to Ashley. "You'll align with them and they'll stab you in the back and team up with Odessa should it suit them. We can't trust any peace with them in the mix!"

And with that he slides back, twists around, and kicks out a blast of fire towards Ramses before throwing a knife hand thrust for Ashley's throat!

"Yeah...maybe you should! But it won't save her. She'll die screaming...!"

He follows through with the knifehand for another kick towards the chest. "--Screaming for you to live!"

MEANWHILE

Rachiel sticks close to Shakkhan rather than joining the fray herself. Xantia says it won't be enough!

"Don't underestimate Lydie's power." Rachiel says. "But if she's not enough, I'll be plenty. Leah entrusted this job to me and I won't fail her OR the Commander."

Speaking of, Rachiel turns her hand and unleashes another wave of ice, trying to open up a path for Shakkhan to use to escape. "But just in case... We'll get this going in case ARMS has a change of heart." She mutters to the minister. "Gebler always makes contingency plans. That's part of what makes us so great!" Seems like she's taking Loren's advice to heart.

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Ashley Winchester with Hagan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kahran Ramses with Kakei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: COUNTER! Kahran Ramses counterattacks Fei Fong Wongwith Counter Attack!
GS: CRITICAL! Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Kakei for 93 hit points!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Ashley Winchester takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 58 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

As much as Xantia and Matilda's words will not sway Clarine, so do Clarine's words fail to deter Xantia from what she'd resolved to do. Backing down now would feel like betraying her friends. Moreover, she is very much in agreement that doing this is in everyone's best interest. She may not seem like the kind to kill in cold blood, but... at this moment in time, she certainly has the air of someone who would be capable of it.

Of course, she's fully prepared for somebody to try and interfere. She just didn't think it would be Clarine of all people who'd act first. She only realizes that when she hears the words 'I still cannot allow this'. This causes her eyes to go wide, and sharply turn towards the Seraph. In an instant, light of her own springs forth. A bright aura that surrounds her body, shielding her from the beam of light that comes her way - absorbing the worst of it on impact. Using the very powers that Clarine helped her develop to protect from the attack.

Xantia yet staggers back, the mental blow heavier than the magical one just now. She stares at Clarine, incredulous that she would go that far. Slowly, the hurt expression melts into a frown. Of course, Clarine wouldn't know just who it is she's dealing with here. Looks like she'll have to make that clear to get anywhere.

"That man," she begins, pointing an accusing finger at Shakhan, without taking her eyes off the Seraph, "should not be welcome at any sort of peaceful summit. He's not interested in peace, or cooperating with anybody! He's done terrible things to my friends, but more than that..." She gestures in the general direction of the ongoing chaos. "Those people protecting him are Solarians! He's betrayed the entire planet! I won't forgive anyone as harmful to Filgaia as that man is!"

Her tirade over, Xantia takes a deep breath before speaking again. "...I'm sorry, but..." In a flash, her fist lashes out, sending another shockwave of the kind she used to blow away the bodyguard in Clarine's direction. "I need you to get out of the way!"

Completely focused on Clarine, Xantia fails to pay attention to what Rachiel was doing in the meanwhile. A sudden wave of ice necessitates her leaping out of the way... thus creating a slippery, but clear path to the exit. But it's not likely to stay that way for long, if Xantia is left to act as she pleases.

GS: Xantia has attacked Seraph Clarine with Massive Shockwave!
GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Brad Evans takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Raze Slash for 103 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Xantia's Massive Shockwave for 93 hit points!
GS: Disrupt! applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The last time Ida and Lily fought one another, Ida had given up hope on life. Lily was one of those who roused her from her slumber, and forced her to face them--and in doing so, to face herself. Ida is no longer a Hellion, but she can feel the faintest echo of the knot of contradiction that took the place of her heart in those days. She was ordered to come here. She was belittled. Lily is a dear friend, and she hates Solaris for what it has done. And yet--

    And yet--

    'Careful you don't have a relapse,' says the memory of Kaguya's voice, in the back of her mind.

    This time there's more at stake here than just her. Dean. Boudicca.

    "Thank you," Ida manages, her voice hitching as she addresses Tidus. The knot in her chest tightens as she hears Fei in the background, the emotion in his voice more than the content of his words.

    'There can be no peace as long as Solaris pulls the strings.'

    "I know," Ida whispers. "Killing one man won't stop it. But if I must be the monster, then--!"

    No one from the Galadian delegation is here. Solaris already knows what she is; Grigori all but told her as much. Ida flashes Tidus an apologetic look, and braces. Lily's nuclear fire slams into her crossed forearms, burning with a heat beyond heat. The buckler-shields snap free from Ida's arms as exoskeleton boils through the pores in her skin. It flows up through her coat, solidifying around the garment; it forms ray-like pinions at her right shoulder, and a sleeker, more streamlined pauldron at her left. It spreads out, regenerating almost as quickly as Lily's spell can burn it off. Ida bites back a whimper of pain.

    And then the light winks out, and Ida stands, armored from neck to toe in protective Hyadean exoskeleton. It's a mixture of blue and gold--her family crest colors--and red, black, and gold. The former bits are more baroque-looking, stylized and industrial. The latter bits are sleek and military-issue, the armor of a trained killer. A single golden wing unfolds from the right side of her headgear. Her hair, unbound, streams back.

    "I accept this tempering," Ida says. Her mirrored sunglasses have transformed into a visor that hides the upper half of her face. It hides the tension in her eyes.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell !
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell  for 0
hit points!
GS: Shield! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Cover! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Tidus's Delay Attack for 81 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Slow! applied to Lily Keil!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

"Oh indeed, there is," Kahran Ramses answers Leon Albus calmly. "But I don't think that the comparison is quite the rhetorical coup you believe it to be." The fingers of his right hand dance as they tap along the hilt of his borrowed 'blade.' "The devil is in the details, you see," Ramses says thoughtfully. "Details... and the dispassionate analysis of a historical view."

There is all kinds of nonsense going on - Ida deploying her demonic armour, Lily Keil demonstrating talent that once again should make her the target of at least three Solarian kill teams. And somewhere behind him, his actual mission objective. But Ramses' focus is fully on Fei Fong Wong right now. He has been anticipating a moment like this for months. He wishes to relish it.

The Gebler commander clears his throat and begins reciting. "Quoting the Report of the Board of Inquiry into the loss of C and D Regiments of the 3rd Division of Gebler, known colloquially as the 'Elru Disaster,'" Ramses says, his tone that of an instructor beginning a lecture. "Incident date... oh, you would date it as the third of October, year 493 of the Post-Collapse Era," he says, choosing not to reveal the mysteries of the Solarian calendar to the -Lambs-.

Fei Fong Wong launches a blast of flame toward Kahran Ramses, who lifts his foolish, borrowed blade in one hand. The acrid crackle of Ether rips across the senses of those in the room capable of registering it, and a faint shimmering energy gathers along the edge of the thin line of stainless steel. Kahran slashes downward, and a blade of wind Ether rips out into the onrushing fireball, splitting it to either side of his body; the wash of heat and flame singes his clothing and licks at his flesh, but Kahran Ramses simply draws in a breath and resumes his remarks.

"Quoting from the Executive Summary, page 4, third paragraph," Kahran says, then clears his throat. "'Total losses of Gebler forces amounted to one thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three killed in action and sixteen wounded in action, amounting to a casualty rate of 99.901 percent,'" he recites, his voice level and even. "'With a total loss of all materiel assigned to both regiments, with the exception of one salvageable Gear and personal equipment belonging to the wounded effectives. This loss represents the most significant military defeat in the history of our nation.'"

Kahran Ramses channels his Ether again, firing two more blades of shimmering Ether toward the black-tailed martial artist. "Continuing in the fourth paragraph," Ramses says, his lips curling into a mocking sneer. "'But this loss, total as it was, pales in comparison to the devastation on the non-combatant populations of the immediate area, whom Gebler forces were in the process of defending from attack,'" he says, pitching his voice to carry. "Of the roughly twenty-seven thousand people who saw the sun rise in the central plain of the continent, not one lived to see it set again. Each of them,'" Ramses quotes, his smile nearly splitting his face, "'Little more than crimson paint on the tapestry of death crafted by the Red Demon of Elru.'" The big man turns his head in Leon's general direction. "Would you like all of their names?" he asks aloud.

GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Skill of the Wind Element!
GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

The Mechanical Glove whines as it slams into that barrier field. Brad lurches back, shaking out his hand. "Not while I'm still here," Brad rumbles back to Leon's boast!

He then nearly stops being here, his eyes widening in alarm at the flash of chi along that blade. It slices through the armor on his chest, drawing a sharp line that weeps blood upward and cleaving his suit clean in half. Brad growls and grabs it, tearing it off and rendering himself shirtless.

Scars and muscles on dark skin. But the way he holds himself isn't the stance of a close-in fighter. Military CQC basics, probably, not much more. That, and that Mechanical Glove. He twists his fist to hit a trigger point and the whole mechanism whines loudly, charged with electricity. He thrusts a quick jab at Leon, trying to box him in. "You'd tear everything apart to kill one man?" he calls. "Do you really think it's men like Shakhan that will destroy us!?"

He accompanies that one by swinging his Mechanical Glove in hard, driving to blast it into Leon's torso and release the stunning electric charge into him!

GS: Brad Evans has attacked Leon Albus with Punch Drunk!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

"You have a lot of issues with these Solaris guys!!" Ashley Winchester, sweet cinnamon roll who is woefully unaware of how many spiderwebs of intrigue he's currently balled up in. He's a really gross, sweet cinnamon roll, all webbed up and such. But at least it means he comes with extra protein! "But even if you're right, is attacking during a *peace conference* really the best idea!? If they're as good at planning political stuff as you say, they'll just use this as an opportunity to get an advantage in the negotiations!"

Something something 'ARMS ISN'T DOING A GOOD JOB LET GEBLER TAKE OVER MERIA' something something. Ashley really doesn't want a bunch of goosestepping pantyhosed skynazis to take over his town either, but he doesn't exactly know too much about them, either!

What he does know is that getting kicked in the chest hurts, but it's a far cry better than having his throat chopped open. Narrowly evading Fei(?)'s fingertips, Ashley is spared the horror of learning to breathe out of a new orifice and instead almost gets his ribcage caved in by Fei(?)'s kicking boots. He fights to keep his breath firmly in his chest and his heart from stopping entirely, and manages both by slim margins.

"I'd never let something like that happen to Marina...!" Ashley reaches for a certain canister at his hip-- before switching to the next one over. Setting the peace conference on fire is not presently his best option. He goes for a less indiscriminate form of firepower. "Not watching me die, not dying herself! Not as long as I can do anything to stop it!"

He fires. A silvery canister sails toward Fei(?) at barely sub-supersonic speeds... And bursts upon approach, exploding into a web of crackling, electrically charged webbing designed to send the affected into a convulsive fit!

GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Canister - Electromagnetic Net!
GS: Ashley Winchester has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    And he'd figured that the worst that would happen would be that Lan would get caught and he'd have to get her freed. He hadn't expected to need the sword.

    But fortunately, the medical officer is extremely paranoid.

    "What, you didn't know?!" he shouts back at Ivan, and it takes him a moment to realize that the answer is, no, he kind of didn't. Shaking his head, he veers towards Lan as she lets his blade free from its hiding place, and casts that knife -- still in his hand -- aside. Taking the blade in hand, he looses it from its sheath in one smooth motion and tosses that, too, to the side.

    "Save it. I'm tired of you Lambs attempting to justify your excesses," Loren tells Ivan, brandishing the blade before him. "If you want him dead, you'll have to go through me. Besides, I still owe you for last time!"

    Ivan takes to the air briefly, and brings down his own blade like an angry bird of prey for the young captain. Narrowing his own profile and angling that sword of his own before him, Loren surges to meet that diving blade.

    Steel meets steel, and rings out; Ivan's weapon deflected, Loren takes a step backwards and

    exhales.

    His awareness shifts, a subtle thing, but enough that he's... more for a moment. Even without looking, he has rough idea, in a metaphysical-synaesthetic way, of where people are standing. More importantly, where specific people are standing. More importantly yet--

    That churning infinite mandala makes its appearance at his feet, his specific manifestation of this particular strain of Ether. It swirls for a moment without apparent end--

    And then unfolds and spins unwinding unfolding tendrils of itself across the room. One for Lan...

    The other for the Commander.

GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Brad Evans's Punch Drunk for 90 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Leon Albus gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break! applied to Leon Albus!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Kahran Ramses with Restorative Order!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Lan Lilac with Restorative Order!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Loren Voss with Restorative Order!
GS: Loren Voss has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Loren Voss assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Repositioning Shot for 120 hit points!
GS: Loren Voss heals Kahran Ramses! He gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Kahran Ramses!
GS: Loren Voss heals Loren Voss! He gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Loren Voss!
GS: Lan Lilac takes a solid hit from Lan Lilac's Move Like Water for 147 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Lan Lilac!
GS: Loren Voss heals Lan Lilac! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Lan Lilac!
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Canister - Electromagnetic Net for 135 hit points!
GS: Jam! applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Skill of the Wind Element for 71 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Kahran Ramses!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Kahran Ramses's Counter Attack for 86 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

That hurt look on Xantia's face... it hurts more than any wound to Clarine's form could. But, she doesn't look away. Instead, she steels her gaze.

"I will admit, my grasp of Filgaia, politics is not the most well-developed, but my understanding is this. If Aveh was not invited, what do you think would happen? Do you think they would simply accept it? Would that not, in their eyes, be as if a declaration of war?" Clarine asks. "If they were not invited, what would happen to this Summit?"

She shakes her head.

"...I was... briefed, on Solaris. My personal feelings on the matter... are irrelevant. I am sorry." She concludes, with an uncertain look. Xantia attacks, and Clarine, her defenses focused elsewhere, is not quite ready for an attack on her own person. The shockwave is enough to blow her back a fair ways, with as light a grasp gravity already has on her.

It is not, however, enough to put her out of the way for good. Clarine moves, returning to her original position...

...But, there is a second Clarine as well, appearing in front of Xantia to cut off her avenue of pursuit. Both Clarine's extend their hands, sending a flurry of light projectiles their way.

...Though, they seem aimed more to restrict her movement than to cause any real harm - not that actually making contact with them wouldn't be painful.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Dispersion Feint!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Dispersion Feint for 128 hit points!
GS: Riposte! applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Leon's glance doesn't go unappreciated, as Gwen's eyes lock with his. Somehow, the fact that there isn't burning hatred behind it for all besides the Shakhan and his ilk comforts Gwen.

    They have their reasons. It's just that they have the ill fortune of having to fight their allies.

    "You're throwin' a lotta weight on one guy who is currently hidin' behind another guy right now. What exactly would killing him stop? There's tons of men like that who'd appreciate a turn at the wheel--"

    Matilda's backpedal is Gwen's first warning, as is her dash to the side. Gwen moves to intercept, earning the first bullet in her side for her efforts, as well as a following two that hit against the metallic surface of her right ARM.

    There is another concerning thing that pierces Gwen's concentration, as she looks at the very, very surreal fight between Fei and Ashley, two people who would, in another context, would have a lot to bond about.

     But Fei's words, placed against the backdrop of Ramses's baritone words, throw things in a different light.

    When Fei woke from his comatose state in Citan's room aboard the Thames, was it really Fei?

    "What's happened to Fei?" Gwen asks Matilda, slamming her fist to try to clean past the table and into Matilda herself. "This ain't like him!"

    As if Matilda could answer, or that the same questions have not been asked of Gwen's behavior, as well.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Now you know," Lily answers Tidus directly, and inclines her head.

As Ida joins in, Lily has to recalculate of course--but she takes the instant she's given to do it. Tidus asks a question, though--and while Lily's frst answer is that strange, unpleasant situation of ice. Her second will have to come after Tidus's counterattack--the temporal magic he channels into his weapon is unfamiliar to her. Not as fast as he is, she can't fully escape the blow this time, taking a hit on her side and seeming to slow in place further. "...Interesting," Lily says with the voice of a researcher. "So that's the sort of power you use."

Then she shakes her head. "He's a puppet of Solaris--a nation that seeks to rule all others. One of the things they do to maintain their power is hunt people like me--who demonstrate the same kind of magic they use."

There are so many reasons for Lily to be the target of Solaris kill teams. But the ones she faces aren't those enemies.

"Killing one man will start," Lily tells Ida next as she steps back, preparing herself. She remembers well how Ida was, then--how she got there, the fall, and the way she came out of it again. And she recognizes, now, the exoskeleton that burns through Ida's wounds; she recognizes the colors of Ida's family crest, and the look and nature of this form.

"...All right then," she says, acknowledging the transformation. "...Ida, of the Method. Be tempered in my flames!"

Lily brings her hands together and focuses; the temperature near her abrubtly drops as she gathers all the heat into the space between her palms. Blazing orange-red replaces what was blue, and the sorceress begins to float a few inches from the ground.

An arc of flame erupts from her hands, growing and growing until it makes a 'v' in the air and slams towards Tidus and Ida both, hammering with concussive force and deadly flame.

Her lips twitch as Ramses reads out parts of the report. She doesn't immediately counter Tidus or Ida with further words; instead, she lets the flames pass, and then draws in a breath, violet light surrounding her as she draws power with it. Shadows suffuse her limbs; her eyes begin to blacken over, without pupil or sclera, the strange aura all the stranger for the little stutter-delay from Tidus's magic.

"...But I know monsters well."

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Tidus with Flame Break!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Flame Break!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Lily Keil with Dark Aura!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil heals Lily Keil! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Hyper! applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Mighty! applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Gut Reaction!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Gut Reaction for 141 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Lily Keil's Flame Break for 83 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Tidus guards a hit from Lily Keil's Flame Break for 106 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Tidus gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple! applied to Tidus!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

I'm tired of you Lambs attempting to justify your excesses.

"And you don't feel like you have to justify anything, do you! Do you think you're on the right side or something? Is taking a person's body and mind over to make her into a weapon just one of those things that has to happen for your great society to do whatever great wonderful crap it's so proud of?"

Ivan crashes down into Loren in a clash of blades, his own strike deflected before Loren disengages and calls more magical arrays, lending aid to his allies.

"Hey! Stop that!" Ivan spits out, his face heating with irritation at having given his enemy enough breathing room to intervene in other conflicts within the chaos.

"Eyes over here if you don't want to lose them!"

Ivan was cautious about bringing actual throwing knives onto the premises, but most silverware can pierce flesh if thrown with sufficient determination. And a sheath of fire won't hurt, either.

He sweeps up a fork and two knives and sends them winging through the air at Loren with dangerous precision despite the unconventional weaponry.

Along the way, flames burst to life around them, taking the form of angry hornets made of flame.

GS: Ivan spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Ivan has attacked Loren Voss with Fire Wasps!
GS: Ivan has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ivan has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    There. With the sword in its rightful owner's hand, Lan can just... just duck out of here or something. She doesn't have to see this, she doesn't have to stand by and watch everything go wrong, she doesn't have to feel this way.

    Maybe later he'll thank her for helping, even if it was something relatively small--

    "Save it. I'm tired of you Lambs attempting to justify your excesses."

    Lan's feet slow as she realizes. As she remembers. Kept in a mansion in a floating city, unable to leave the yard for a month while Loren slept in a recovery tank. Her only dependable company the Voss family maid. Mirza, who smiled all the time and never argued. Who went home to a honeycombed cell block at night, who was the only person in that entire godsdamned city to treat her like a human being.

    She's never going to be a real person to him, is she?

    _Life is not merciful. But..._

    He's never going to be any more than this, is he.

    _Then you chose to kneel._

    Lan's footsteps pick up as her body veers, turning to slip past the others.

    Heading right for Rachiel Medry and Minister Shakhan.

GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Ivan's Fire Wasps for 108 hit points!
GS: Poison! applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"Maybe there are -- but this one is here, now, and can be stopped!" Matilda shoots back, as she starts a partial reload rather than aggress. Unfortunately for her, this proves to be a tactical error in just a few short moments.

Gwen demands answers -- and Matilda, unfortunately, doesn't have them. "I don't know! If you want answers about Fei, ask Fei!" she shouts, shortly before taking a fist squarely to the midsection. Her eyes bug out a little, and she looks noticeably ill when she staggers back. It takes her a few moments to even orient herself again.

Matilda doesn't regret leaving Odessa... but for a moment, she remembers why she joined in the first place. Drifters so often lack stomach for real change. Still not feeling especially great or ready to advance, Matilda continues to weave backward, trying to buy herself time to recover. She only fires once, this time, rather than multiple times; the shot is aimed for Gwen's leg, though, in hopes of slowing her advance.

GS: Matilda Whitehead spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Snap Shot!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Snap Shot for 63 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock's Force Guard activates!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"Don't get mired down in specifics!" Leon calls back to Tidus.

He looks back at Brad, his teeth gritting, as he he gets a glance at those scars. He has enough physicality on Leon that it might make up for their relative skill differences in close quarters. Case in point, Brad's fist swings down -- slamming into Leon's torso, and electricity explodes across him. The arcs of it streak out, scorching and burning some of the floor.

Leon hits the ground, rolls once, and then throws a hand out. He pushes off mid-ragdoll bounce, and comes up to land on both feet. He skids back. His bowtie is undone; it hangs limply around his neck, and his vest is missing a few buttons.

"Everything? No--because this isn't everything," Leon says. "Typical Aquvian pride, eh? The way the world is--if this is everything, then we could do a damn sight better!"

He pushes himself to his feet -- and then the Raid Funnels come sweeping in. They sweep and snake about, before they come crashing down at Brad. The elongated golden triangles sweep and slash, cutting across him as they harry him.

Leon is already starting to move again. His eyes glance once at Lan. He considers, for a second, as he sees her. He watches; he doesn't strike. His eyes are back at Brad, as he starts moving closer, blade in hand.

Shakhan is looking at Lan, too. He blinks once -- then recalls. "Ah, yes--good," he says. "I must commend him. Commander Ramses... he certainly has every situation under control, doesn't he?"

GS: Leon Albus has attacked Brad Evans with PMU-Z2 Raid Fang!
GS: Leon Albus assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Brad Evans takes a glancing hit from Leon Albus's PMU-Z2 Raid Fang for 46 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Brad Evans gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cover! applied to Leon Albus!
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Don't *you* run around killing or kidnapping people!" Tidus shoots back to Leon.
    
    For a second, Tidus doesn't understand what that apologetic look Ida flashes him is for.
    
    Then Ida gets set on fire and grows an exoskeleton, and after several seconds of "?!?!?!?!", Tidus is all 'oh yeah that makes sense now.'
    
    "...That's really messed up," he admits to Lily when she explains what her beef with Solaris is. "I can get why you'd wanna take a guy like that out, if that's who he represents. But attacking a peace conference isn't the way to go! *Look* at all this!!" He sweeps an arm around the room to encompass the violence just about everywhere now. "Is *this* what you wanted?! You're gonna start a war at this rate!"
    
    Like. Another one. Cough.
    
    Also, is it just him or does it seem like his opponent and his ally have some history together or something? Tidus just gets that vibe. It makes him feel weird, like he's the one who shouldn't be here rather than Lily. He doesn't like that feeling. He's going to do his damnedest to ignore it. He's got bigger problems right now.
    
    Like, for example, when Lily starts shooting flames from her hands at him and Ida. It *explodes*, blowing up Tidus along with a significant chunk of the floor, leaving his ears ringing as he lands. He's somewhat punch-drunk as he rises, wobbling back and forth--that hurt like hell. But...
    
    "You think--that's gonna stop us...?" He pumps a fist at Ida, or at least in her general direction. "C'mon! Let's keep this going! We're not gonna just let them do whatever they want! We can do this!" Considering Ida's eternal voice of self-doubt, this kind of morale boosting message might be just what she needs.
    
    Well until Lan does what she's aiming to do, but Tidus has no idea that's why she's slipping away from Leon!

GS: Tidus has attacked Tidus with Cheer!
GS: Tidus has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Cheer!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
GS: Tidus takes a solid hit from Tidus's Cheer for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Tidus!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Tidus's Cheer for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei quirks his head thoughtfully as he studies Ramses. His blades of ether slam into his body painfully, spraying thick gushes of blood out from the man, but it doesn't seem as effective as it SHOULD have been despite the impressive looking damage. The wind too carves into his arms, knocking away the man's aura.

"An empty argument." Fei says, countering Ramses's own with a koan. "From a man who didn't care about those civilians he is protesting on behalf of."

He slowly extends a hand. "You think he was breaking free from your control, doing what he wasn't supposed to... But his destruction of Elru..."

Fei fans his arm to the side. "...Is precisely what Solaris wanted, isn't it?! They don't care about your men, or you Ramses! And you know it! " And only for Ramses and Ashley is there a small smile. "You know it. You know the worth they assign you. You're both just sacrifices for their ultimate plan. Fitting that you two choose to be peas in a pod with one another here."

MEANWHILE

Rachiel has no reason to suspect Lan. She trusts her. She has never been able to quite see Lambs as NOT people--even as she may have struggled on how to express that through her conditioning and privilege.

She smiles as Lan a pproaches. "Hey Lan..! Thanks! I could use the backup!" She nods to Shakkhan. "That's right, Lan's a capable woman of the surface. We're always willing to bring in talent from there."

BUT THEN

Ashley declares that he would never let anythiing happen to Marina andd unleashes a web of crackling webbing at Fei. Fei lets out a pained cry as he's electrocuted, sinking underneath the trap. He lets out a pained howl as he's stuck there, a howl not unlike one a wolf may cry.

Panting for breath, Fei murmurs, "I thought so too, once." to Ashley. "I thought so... But let me show you TRUTH!"

And with a sudden red aura flare, Fei bursts forward and slams his hands across Ashley's skull and throws his headd right into his own. But that's not the real attack.

No. The real attack is a memory.

No, it's nothing so specific as that. It's a feeling.

He feels it, the pain of losing his loved one right before his eyes.

He feels it, the pain of dying with his loved one.

He feels it, the pain of dying before his loved one.

He feels it over and over and over again, five times, ten times, a hundred times. The situations play out differently each and every time. The circumstances are different, but the trap is always the same.

Death. Painful Death. Murdered. Destroyed. Betrayed. Over and over again by those he can't even confront with a bayonet.

"Isn't that right hero..? You're just like me..."

He lifts Ashley up, throwing him at Ramses.

"Show them. Show them who you are."

GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Boss Action!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Ashley Winchester with I'm A Hero Too!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kahran Ramses with I'm A Hero Too!
GS: Cripple expired!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Fei Fong Wong's attack becomes clear!
GS: Kahran Ramses takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Ultra Idstinct for 86 hit points!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Fei Fong Wong's attack becomes clear!
GS: Ashley Winchester guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Ultra Idstinct for 108 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ashley Winchester gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    'Killing one man will start,' Lily says.

    Ida's left eye twitches, a small but noticeable tic.

    He remembers watching, helplessly, as Siegfried fell lifeless against the hull of the Photosphere. He watched Glumzamber drop from cold, dead fingers. He watched as the Watcher, Grigori, pulled her arm loose from his chest, and it was coated with quicksilver, like--like Luisa's was, like his own arm was when she--

    ...killed him? And then he... something...

    Ida's jaw works. She seems to snap back into reality as the foreign feelings stop scrabbling against her forebrain. Ida, Lily says. Ida, of the Method.

    For once, the horrible voice of doubt has no reply.

    Ida twists, leaps--her body flows through the motion, her limbs moving as though her skeleton was oh-so-slightly flexible. She doesn't quite clear the arc in time, and whips her torso around, twisting it a full ninety degrees. Her arms snap up, and the paired shields reemerge, this time different from one another. It's reminiscent of Xiumei's hybridized armor.

    Flame pours over her. The edges of Ida's shields melt and deform, allowing more fire to break through. It scores long black streaks across her exoskeleton--the pain is dull, but increasing in scope. She hears Fei's howl from across the room. Her heart twists in her chest.

    "You're right," Ida says, through gritted teeth. She wipes a streak of quicksilver from her face, and turns back to Tidus, offering a bloody grin before turning to Lily again. "I am not the monster here. Nor are you. But we both know--"

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOF7A6E5JXA

    "How cruel this world can be."

    Platitudes.

    Ida surges forwards. If nothing else, Tidus has given her focus. She sinks back, and lets Fafnir's muscle memory take over. The sudden change in Ida's movement may be startling--she blurs forwards, the footwork all wrong to be Method Mercury, exactly. Ida drives one armored fist for Lily's sternum, before following up with jabs to the brow and throat. That, Fafnir remembers, is how you stagger a sorcerer.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Lily Keil with Muscle Memory!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends.
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

"If you think Odessa will stop in Aquvy, you've been asleep," Brad snaps.

Brad jukes back, buying himself some space as the Raid Funnels scatter around and bother. No single hit is too severe, but each forces him back a step, gives Leon some room.

Unfortunately for Leon, it also gives Brad some room.

"...I can't say I blame you. But I can't let you do this on my watch," Brad finally says, as his hand begins to glow - a too-white light, strange and soft and sparkling, elongating from his hand.

He whips it up, the light cracking off and fading away in shards as he levels it at Leon.

'It' being a shotgun that looks like it could put a hole in a Gear.

He squeezes the trigger, the double-barreled shotgun releasing a noise like God slamming His car door, the recoil shoving Brad so far back he is launched into and through a catering table.

GS: Brad Evans has attacked Leon Albus with Super Shotgun!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Politics. Even with her limited understanding, Clarine undoubtedly has the better grasp on it when compared to Xantia. Trying to explain it to her is just met with furious headshaking. At least she honestly admits, "I don't know! But, even so, this is like sabotaging the summit yourself! Who cares if they'll accept it, you shouldn't accept it!"

If there's one thing Xantia understands less than politics, it's the claim that Clarine's personal feelings are irrelevant. In her opinion, one's personal feelings never are - at least, they shouldn't be. She'd like to understand the reasons for this better, but there isn't time for that right now. Right now, for her friends, for Filgaia as a whole, she needs to act.

And act she does, or at least, she attempts to. As soon as she's back on her feet following her dodge of Rachiel's ice blast, she turns her attention back to Shakhan. She only gets two steps further when Clarine appears in front of her. Xantia, frustrated, makes no further attempt to reason, aiming to simply push past the Seraph with whatever force required.

But before she can approach much further, a series of small yet plentiful light projectiles force her to go on the defensive, strengthening her own aura of light as she continues to try and push through in spite of this. When there's no longer one, but somehow two Clarines bombarding her with light, it becomes too much. Xantia can no longer move at all. Actively protecting herself is all she can do, and it's rapidly tiring her out.

"Let me go!" she shouts angrily upon realizing she's completely trapped. "We can't let him get away! This has to end!" The angrier she gets, the brighter her aura glows. She's pouring in more and more Ether to push back against Clarine's assault. Until finally, a bright pulse of light flies outward, reflecting the final wave of projectiles back towards the twin Clarines. Her anger and frustration having reached their peak, Xantia loudly shouts out her intent.

"I'm going to kill him!!"


Shouting it out loud like that has far more impact than Xantia thought it would. Of all the things that might sow doubt in her mind, she wouldn't have guessed that this is something that could do it. But hearing herself say those words just feels... wrong. She'll fight for what she believes in, absolutely, but... she's not a killer. ...Is she?

For an instant, she flashes back to the Photosphere. Brief, fragmented flashes of slain Metal Demons. There were so many. Unable to fight back. There could have been so many more survivors. She doesn't remember doing it. But she knows what she did.

Xantia sinks to her knees, with a far-away look in her eyes. From an outside perspective, she may appear to be simply exhausted. Either way, she's not exactly in any state to follow through on her stated intention.

GS: Xantia has attacked Seraph Clarine with Lustrous Aura!
GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xantia assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Clarine guards a hit from Xantia's Lustrous Aura for 58 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cover! applied to Xantia!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 92 hit points!
GS: Mighty! applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "Shut up!" Loren snarls at Ivan in an inelegant response, his grip on his blade tightening for a moment. "You don't understand anything!"

    The problem with this sort of working of Ether is that it leaves him open for a crucial moment. In the field, typically someone would be backing him up during, or he'd have body armor or a shield to lessen the blow if it did come. Body armor however is not part of the Aveh governmental clerk uniform--

    And just as Ivan said in a sense, 'eyes up front'. He moves from trance-like moment to guard quickly, but not quite quickly enough.
    Especially when there are so many flying flaming projectiles.
    Or bees, as they've become. One, two, he's able to knock aside in their flight. Another whips past his cheek as he ducks sidelong. He cuts one in two.

    But more yet strike him dead-on. In places the borrowed uniform burns. The medical officer ducks back, seeing to the flames.

    It-- reminds him of something. Fire.
    But like reaching into a reflecting pool, the image distorts and dissolves the moment he tries to grasp it.

    Lan slips away, and he doesn't even notice.
    He's never been good at noticing certain things.

    Instead, he moves, trusting in the swordplay if nothing else. The rest of it all blurs into the background; he can only catch bits and pieces.
    Fire. Fire was the problem, according to Sadalbari. If you go by the forms of the blade arts -- forms he's still in the process of learning -- 'fire' is 'ephemerality'. The moments between the moments. Stability, flow -- those come more naturally. Even the world moves.

    But fire-- he still can't--

    ...Someday, perhaps. Until then, he has what he knows. As practiced, he keeps his profile narrowed until that final push, until that moment he siezes the blade with both hands and swings at Ivan.

GS: Loren Voss has attacked Ivan with Astral Hammer!
GS: Loren Voss has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Loren Voss takes 28 damage from Poison!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

As much as he is enjoying this assault on Fei's reputation - and with nothing more than the truth, to boot! - Kahran Ramses is a commander first and a soldier second. He is keeping his distance from the Demon of Elru for a simple reason - Shakhan's presence behind him, with only a single soldier as a guard. He sees Lan Lilac approaching, and a sliver of tension leaves his body; with two bodyguards on the minister, perhaps he can be freed to engage with more than words.

"Oh, but care I did," Kahran ripostes, his position shifting slightly. They were valuable resources, after all. "I fought to save them. As did my fellow soldiers. But you killed them all - even when you had struck down all who could defend them. Hunted them down, one by one. For sport? For the sheer pleasure of it? I've always wondered," Ramses admits. "And once they were all dead, you moved on. To cattle, to horses. To cats and dogs, after." The big man shakes his head. "Presumably other chattel as well... but anything smaller would have left no body for us to count, after. Not with what you did to them."

As Lan Lilac passes into his rearward arc, Kahran Ramses strides forward. His body starts shimmering with the force of his Ether as he moves, drawing in the forces Loren Voss has sent his way; his head twitches once in the slightest of nods before he resumes his advancement.

"I know exactly how my nation cares for me, Demon," Ramses snarls. "I am a soldier. It is my lot to place my body in between my homeland and wanton devastation... the kind which you represent." His lips twitch once more. "I must say, however, that I find one thing of interest in this exchange. You keep saying 'he.' 'Him.' As though there were some other person who did what you did." Ramses says, lips peeling back from his teeth. "For all you scorn me for what I have done - I stand by it. I have done the things I have done for my comrades. For the people I must defend. For my nation. And you..." A faint chuckle escapes his lips. "...you will not even acknowledge that you did them. Do you wish to know why?"

Fei Fong Wong hurls Ashley Winchester toward Kahran Ramses, and in the moment that the Demon's vision is blocked, Ramses draws a small flask from his vest pocket, downing it in a quick pull. The pharmaceutical dissolved within is known as Speed Star to the Gebler rank-and-file; a reaction-boosting drug that was one of the precursors to Drive. It was discontinued because it had a tendency, in its undiluted form, to cause people's hearts to explode from their chest.

Kahran's heartbeat rises to about 40 beats per minute. For him, it's a lot.

The big man surges forward in a sudden rush, awkwardly shouldering past the hurtling member of ARMS. Kahran calls upon his Ether as he closes the distance, channeling it into his body, using it to accelerate his motion even further. The Gebler commander's voice rips out in a wordless battlecry as he closes to within four strides. Three. At two, he tosses the cheese knife toward Fei's face, the foolish weapon experiencing its greatest utility as a feint. Ramses' hands rise up, and a shimmering blade forged of will and Wind Ether coalesces into his hands, emitting a howling keen that rattles the senses of any who can feel it.

One more step, and Ramses whirls in a circle, sweeping the wind blade in a vicious horizontal cut.

GS: Kahran Ramses has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Brings A New Meaning To Cheesing Your Enemies!
GS: Kahran Ramses has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Not unless you beat the guy in front of him, n' I don't even know where he came from," Gwen points out. "As for Fei..." She grimaces. "... When all of this is over, maybe I will."

    The courier's eyes suddenly move their gaze to one side to a spot past Matilda, showing surprise at another face she hadn't expected.

    A face, a body, a friend, moving towards Shakhan.

    Lan wouldn't, would she?

    Something inside Gwen's gut twists, like a pulse of recognition, but of what, Gwen's not entirely sure. Just a thought, really.

    'What if--'

    A shot rings out, and Gwen attempts to block it with her ARM, a minute gold force field projected from where it covers her leg.

    That same arm comes up, and Gwen leans in for another punch, her lips open as she closes in.

    With a message, for Matilda's ears alone.

    "Maybe you'll get your wish. And if you do--" Her fist pivots forward, attempting to throw Matilda backwards with a punch to her gut. "Protect that person."

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Formation! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 154 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ivan completely evades a hit from Loren Voss's Astral Hammer!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ivan gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ivan's Force Evade activates!
GS: Lily Keil used Defend! She takes #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE's attack on #-1 NO SUCH OBJECT VISIBLE on herself!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey used Defend! She takes Kahran Ramses's attack on Fei Fong Wong on herself!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Kahran Ramses's attack becomes clear!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Kahran Ramses's God of War for 222 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters Critical health and gains 25 FP!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    She's obviously a surfacer. Skin as dark as hers is rarely seen in Solaris, much less in the ranks of Gebler, though she does have the pale blonde hair prized by the elect of the nation. Moreover she doesn't even seem to be a combatant - probably some kind of farmhand or village girl, scooped up and reeducated until she was as malleable and sweet as taffy.

    Loren's sword was the only weapon she carried; there are no holsters or belts visible anywhere at her waist or on her legs. There's not even room in her leather sandals for a bootknife.

    "Don't worry," she blurts out as she comes to a stop in front of Rachiel and the Minister, facing away from them like a guard. "It's going to be okay. Okay?"

    The silver ribbon that she'd used to bind the sword to her leg is still in her hands, one long end drifting past her to flick lazily near their legs. "Don't worry. I know what to do."

    I won't be afraid of the dark, ever again.

    And should Leon Albus ever look her way again, Lan gives him a look.

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

For a moment, amidst the stench of burning flesh and acrid ozone, Ashley makes the mistake of believing that Fei might have been neutralized-- that at least one threat had been dealt with.

This was a grievous error in judgment.

Crimson power erupts in a column of hateful red light. The very sight of it makes his skin crawl, sears at the surface of his brain in a deeply uncomfortable way. The good news is that he doesn't need to spend long staring into that terrible field of crimson.

The bad news is that this is entirely because Id takes the opportunity to grab him by the head and--

And--

Death. Betrayal. Ten times over. A hundred times over. Hate, trust destroyed, a hundred or more lifetimes of suffering and anguish and helplessness. A litany of nothing but pain. Ashley's mind burns with the vision, centuple generations of sorrow compressed into the span of a single moment. Id asks a question, and can almost hear the musketeer's mind *shatter* under the weight.

He is sent hurtling toward the Gebler commander, but scarcely notices until he hits the ground.

His breaths come in staggered fits. Flame licks at his limbs, twisting in thin streams of apocalyptic heat. Fire. Fire eternal. Fire impossible. It scorches the ground underneath. It burns the stone itself to blackened ash. The banquet table is set aflame. Ashley's body is cracking, it's breaking like overheated clay-- only for the very light of the End Times to leak from the gaps in his flesh like a Kintsugi pot.

His scream is a sound that resonates in the hollow of the human skull-- and reverberates like nails on the chalkboard of the soul.

There is no internal dialogue before the overwhelming tidal wave of emotion. Flame consumes him entirely, leaving him a burning, coal-black husk--

No.

A golden shell flashes beneath the conflagration. The heat is overwhelming, impossible and utterly incomprehensible. He screams as he rises, the form of the Knight Blazer flickering from black to gold to blood red crimson as Ashley's mind slowly b r e a k s.

And then, with a sudden rush of sirocco wind, it fades away. He stands there, a demonic knight, with head in hands, sobbing tears of white-hot fire. "You-- you--- I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. The things you've suffered. The pain you've endured. It's so much. It's too much. The hate, the anger, how can you stand it? I--"

He takes a step forward, aura of flame still rippling from his body like the corona of a newborn sun. With a sob, his arms spread wide.

As he tries to take Id up in a great big hug.

While... still... on fire?

Id told him... To go show them who he was...

As it turns out, who Ashley Winchester is happens to be a colossal cinnamon roll possessed by an entity of incredible, incomprehensible destructive power, but...

One whose sorrow and empathy is, at least as of now, still greater than his wrath.

DC: Ashley Winchester switches forms to Knight Blazer!
GS: Ashley Winchester has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Blazing Aura!
GS: Ashley Winchester has completed his action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Ashley Winchester's Blazing Aura for 152 hit points!
GS: Cover! applied to Ashley Winchester!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Xantia admits she doesn't know. Clarine watches her quietly.

"It would be a massacre. We would have both Solaris and Odessa upon us." She says, pressing the matter. "We must, at this moment, pick our battles. We cannot afford to make enemies unnecessarily. This, too, is for Filgaia's sake."

Clarine notes Xantia's rising anger. She notes the way she's been forced on the defensive.

"...Do you truly believe it will end with him? I have seen his ilk far too many times. There will always be another." She replies, shaking her head.

And then, Xantia retaliates - a wave of projectiles is forced back to her. Clarine is forced onto the defensive - the other Clarine, the one in her original position, joins with the Clarine barring Xantia's way as her focus is put toward arranging her mirrors defensively. She finds herself pushed back by the force of it.

And then, she flinches back, as Xantia shouts. This level of anger... it's unexpected.

"...You will not. Not here. Not this day." Clarine replies, shaking her head. ...It's very specific. She readies herself to retaliate, but... then she watches as Xantia sinks to her knees. Is she... exhausted? Where did her energy go...? Concern flickers into Clarine's eyes for a moment.

As dedicated to her mission as she is, she doesn't really have the heart to strike her while she's like this. So instead, she focuses on her specialty - healing. A Seraphic glyph spreads out beneath her feet.

"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life... Revitalize!" She intones. Light spreads out from her position, settling over her allies - at least, those who can still be reached. It does not, however, seem to touch those of Solaris... is it an intentional exclusion, or merely a miscalculation?

When the light settles, Clarine turns her eyes toward Xantia again.

"...Xantia... are you... alright...?" She asks. Her defensive stance from before has faded a little.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Brad Evans with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Tidus with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Leon Albus guards a hit from Brad Evans's Super Shotgun for 78 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Leon Albus gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte! applied to Brad Evans!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Brad Evans! He gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

The hits just keep on coming! Gwen drills a fist into Matilda's gut yet again, and this time, she goes *flying*. She looks... rough, to say the least, when she stands up; she's tough, but she's *very* vulnerable to simply being overpowered. She doesn't have the raw strength or bulk of a lot of other combatants in the room, and with big blows like that, well...

Matilda starts to circle arond Gwen, remaining 'out' for now rather than trying to 'go in.' Really, what she's *hoping* to do is circle around to the exit, to prepare herself to book it; whether or not the mission is a success, *she's* in a position where she wants to start thinking about, if not evacuating, at least knowing what her plan to do so is.

"... Of course," Matilda replies to Gwen. She takes several seconds to consider her next maneuver -- and in the end decides to keep it simple. Starting to back toward the same place Gwen made her entrance, Matilda fires shot after shot. It's not exactly elegant, but sometimes you just need to stick to the basics, taken to their logical conclusion.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"And what of it?" Leon asks. "Sometimes, you have to do unpleasant things to make the world better, kid! Or are you just going to shout about it, no matter what the world looks like?"

'I'm going to kill him!!'

Leon's eyes widen a fraction as he approaches Brad. He looks at Xantia, breath in his throat for a moment. "Xantia! Take a breath--we don't have to do everything now! We'll open up a shot together, so don't feel you have to do it yourself!"

Leon does spare Lan a look. He doesn't know Lan Lilac; he has hardly ever spoken to her, hardly ever talked to her, hardly even knows who she is. He only has that look to go on. A look that, maybe, speaks volumes.

He told Xantia about opening up a shot. Together, working as a team. They have, it seems, another team member today.

"If you think Odessa is a greater danger than Solaris, then you're deluded," Leon retorts to Brad, easily. The massive shotgun fires, and his Raid Funnels swing down. A barrier forms -- and the massive round hits the aquamarine light. It punches through it.

It slams into Leon's side, going just askew, and the near-miss sends a splash of blood onto the ground. His footing staggers, but he snaps the blade out to one side. And then Argent Divider II ignites. A flicker of deep crimson light, which bends and burns like a flame, and then shoots up the length of the sword -- and forms a cohesive, coherent blade of light.

There is a brief flash in Leon's silver eyes.

And then he swings the weapon down, with a mighty slash. It shoots out, a trio of red arcs of light, that careen through the air and come crashing down on Brad Evans, with enough force to explode.

And buy Leon one precious moment, bought in blood and pain from Brad. His eyes meet with Lan Lilac's -- and he swings Argent Divider II up, snapping the weapon so both barrels unfurl, snap together, and a round fires. Just over Lan's shoulder.

And hurtling straight towards Shakhan. The Prime Minister screams with terrible realization.

GS: Leon Albus has activated a Force Action!
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Brad Evans with Code.29 JOYEUSE!
GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Cripple expired!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Freeshooter!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Brad Evans has activated a Force Action!
GS: Brad Evans takes a solid hit from Leon Albus's Code.29 JOYEUSE for 180 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Brad Evans gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Tidus! He gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Cripple removed!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida leaps away from Lily once the flurry is delivered; both Ida and Fafnir take a moment to reassess the battlefield. Instinct guides their gaze towards Ashley, her teammate, and Fei, her friend.

    It settles on the man she doesn't recognize. He knows Fei. He knows Id. Ida's world slows down around her, and the man speeds up to match it--he's moving normally, while everything else is a crawl. Ida can sense the loathing seeping out of his every pore.

    She sees the feint the moment the knife leaves Ramses' hands. He's going to kill Fei. Ida doesn't know if it's panic or guilt or martial instinct or some combination of all three--he's going to kill him.

    He will not let Solaris kill another friend.

    Ida is a blur. In her rush, she shoves a chunk of table aside, splintering it on contact; she grits her teeth, raises her arms, and throws herself in front of Fei.

    There is an ugly sound, like a massive pair of shears trying to cut through Gear armor, underscored by ripping meat and popping cartilage.

    Ida Everstead-Rey stands between Fei and Ramses, a look of grim defiance on her face. Ramses' blade sheared off her right buckler, tore through her forearm, then her upper arm, and then landed in her shoulder. Crimson and quicksilver spill down her chest, even as threads of undifferentiated Hyadean stem-tissue try to seal the massive wound. She should be dead. That sword should've cleaved into her lung, her heart.

    Her lung and heart have moved.

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2LdF1RlSL0

    Ida coughs up blood, even as she looks Kahran Ramses in the face. "That's-- enough out of you," she croaks. "Are you doing this to--" Another terrible cough; blood dribbles down Ida's chin and splatters the floor. "--To torment him, or justify yourself?"

    Ida's eyes flicker, waver. They close, and when they open, one is bright green. "You've taken enough," she chokes out. She sags to a knee.

    Ramses could easily drive that blade deeper, or attack Fei. But does he dare, with Leon going after Shakhan?

GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Freeshooter for 188 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"This peace is a pretense. There can be no real peace as long as Solaris works its will on the surface--and if that means a war, then it's one I'll fight!" Lily sets her jaw--but it's true that it's violence erupting all over. Is she really comfortable with the collateral?

It's hard to say, but she doesn't pull back. Quite the opposite; she's only unleashing greater power as she goes. And she looks back, as Ida's eye twitches. She watches, as the two react to her magic--Ida shielding herself, the long black streaks scoring across her exoskeleton. Tidus, thrown backward, wobbling.

Ida's movement shifts--and the back of Lily's mind analyzes the difference, noting that it isn't at all what she would expect of Ida. That back of her mind doesn't give the rest of her any special move to react to it, however, and instead Lily's black eyes settle on Ida as an armored fist slams into her once, twice, three times, enough to send her backward and to silence a conventional spellcaster.

Indeed Lily hits the ground a little ways back, from where she'd been floating, but her eyes snap back up through the haze of dizziness as she hangs onto that aura of dark magic. Tidus, though--he's encouraging Ida at the momnt, and Lily finds herself in an unusual position there. "...I was thinking it might," she says, voice raw and not as loud as she'd like from the strike to her throat. She starts to glow further, calling up more power to answer Tidus's cheers and Ida's prowess. But Ida moving back gives her that opportunity--

Or it would, if two distractions didn't get her attention in that set of moments.

"--Xantia!" Lily hears the other woman's voice, that uncharacteristic intent, and looks towards her--seeing her near-collapse. She spends the next moment looking to her foes, and towards her target and the ones protecting him. With Tidus in front of her, she doesn't have the liberty of focusing her range in that direction, and the people in front of Shakhan are not her main targets. And Xantia...

No, Ida has moved away from her, between Fei and Ramses. "Ida--"

She cannot intervene. There is no time, there is no room. So instead, she looks to Tidus. "Maybe you could've," Lily says. "But I have a feeling I know what you'll do next."

Lily floats back upward, and the circuitry on her face and hands and arms glows brightly in five colors, prismatic as it becomes iris and sclera for her eyes, as wings erupt from her back of pure light and unwholesome magic.

"<Limiters released>," she intones in an ancient language, and adopts the same transformation that was seen that day in Bledavik. She looks towards Matilda, and Xantia, and each of her allies, seeing Leon take the shot at Shakhan--

Fire erupts from every place around her; a square of being near Lily simply ignites, taking with it a chunk of wall and window completely. The flames don't disappear; the greatest mass fades, but tables, chairs, the walls themselves blaze, threatening to catch more of the room still. "FEI!"

She feels something in Knight Blazer--and whatever that feeling is, she doesn't want it near her friend much longer.

DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Omega - Awakened!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 250 temporary hit points!
GS: Restore! Cripple removed!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

You don't understand anything!

"Yes, because it's impossible to claw any real information out of you all! But there's no justification good enough, so who cares what it is!" Ivan shouts back at him.

There's a fierce smile from Ivan as the hail of burning silverware manages to set fire to a few patches of Loren's uniform.

But Loren makes quick work of the flames and directs a skillful attack at Ivan, his double-handed sword strike coming in a burst of sudden motion at the last moment.

Ivan has a brief instant to reflect gratefully on the success of Mariel's medicine and how remarkably light on his feet he feels now that he's not overcompensating for failing and unreliable muscles and reflexes, before the moment for action arrives. As Loren launches into his swing, Ivan throws his own weight off balance and dives sideways into a roll, the blade rushing just past him as he dances back up to his feet.

"Try to take this seriously!" he taunts, although he's breathing heavily enough to betray the difficulty of that narrow escape. He then sweeps his own sword through the air, though he's not nearly close enough to reach Loren anymore. Instead, it cuts through the substance of the air, opening a portal that unleashes a torrent of roiling magma toward Loren.

This is a terrible thing to do at a fancy dinner party, but that ship has probably sailed at this point.

GS: Ivan has attacked Loren Voss with Molten Roar!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Ivan has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Oh...well I'm just saying it how he'd say it. That Coward will never accept us. But the one you call Fei isn't us at all, really." 'Fei' quips back to Ramses but he isn't too focused on that. Instead,'Fei' is so focused on Ashley in this moment, he doesn't even seem to think that Ramses is going to go for him too. His grin widens. He wants to see Ashley's demon. He can FEEL that hatred-absorbing THING within him. He isn't alone, even he understands that now, but something like THAT could truly understannd him, right? It would understand?

Come on, He thinks. Kill them all. Kill everything. Reveal the lie. End Shakkhan for us. Kill the Solarians.

But then something unexpected happens. Ashley apologizes.

"No..." Id's eyes widen as he steps back, not afraid of the power of Knight Blazer...

...But afraid of what is perhaps the very reason that Marivel gave the metaphorical ring of power to this hobbit here instead of anybody else. Instead of literally anybody else. Why she trusted it. Why she acccepted the promise.

Id stumbles back. He's not like Him at all.

He is like HER

He leaps back, as if trying to escape--but he can't! Knight Blazer engulfs Id in a hug.

It's a burning hug, but Fei's flesh doesn't burn either. He's well attunedd to fire itself. Ashley might only need to TRY to burn out his soul, but he would at least need to try.

"Please no..." Id begs. "I'm tired. You're supposed to... You're supposed to devour it..."

But all AShley has for him is sympathy.

MEANWHILE

Leon is goiong for Shakkhan. "Not fast enough...!" Rachiel says, starting to step forward, readying her blade to deflect the strike.

"...!" Rachiel finds her legs bound by magic string. And sees that string around Shakkhan. Leon fires.

She can't reach. Her only choice is to...

"If my blood is what it takes... Then my blood it shall have!" Rachiel shouts with sudden and unexpectedd ferocity befitting her character. She can't walk so she LEAPS instead, diving into the way of Leon's shot--

--taking the hit square in the chest, her blood bursting out of her body and splattering towards Lan and, really, around.

Besides...

...If Shakkhan died here, Rachiel thinks distantly as she feels weakness enter her body.

...Then Loren...He'd... He'd pay the price.

She stumbles once, somehow still standing for a moment as she looks defiantly at Lan. She raises a hand towards her, ice bursting around her body as she points towards her.

And then she sags suddenly and collapses against her ice shards. "Commander... Get...Shakkhan out..."

And she crumples into the floor.

AND THEN

Ramses takes his opening while Id is preoccupied. It's his chance, not even just to kill FEI but to strike him down as the Demon of Elru himself, even if he isn't wearing the costume. The Demon is too stunned to react properly.

Ida is.

Ida jumps into the way of the strike and that jars Fei out of his stupor. He cranes his head to loo at her. His eyes widen. Ida...

...She...

...It's a distant memory but...

That Castle...

A beach...

They...

Fei screams in rage and pain. It's enough to even push Ashley back though he doesn't strike at the man again, instead throwing himself at Ramses, diving in on him and wholly intent on beating the man into mulch with his bare hands. He has no intention of stopping, striking at pressure points.

The Idnergy dissipitates partway through and Fei pauses, blinking.

"wha...Where...Where am I?"

GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Kahran Ramses with Tenbu!
GS: Jam expired!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Kahran Ramses completely evades a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Tenbu!
GS: Reaction bonus! FP up!
GS: CRITICAL! Loren Voss guards a hit from Ivan's Molten Roar for 123 hit points!
GS: Disrupt and Shieldbreak! applied to Loren Voss!
<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Good ol' Super Shotgun. The recoil throws Brad so seriously that it actually limbers up his joints. That's definitely how things work. Yes.

It doesn't help him a ton against Leon's blazing light, though. His eyes widen as he sees the weapon shift forms, igniting with crimson light. With scant heartbeats to spare he manages to bring his arm up between the blade and his body.

The blade of crimson rips entirely through the Super Shotgun, andthen the explosion goes off, a blazing eruption of light that blots out even Brad's massive frame, filling the room and blinding anyone looking straight at it for precious seconds.

In that precious few seconds, Leon gets his shot off toward the Prime Minister.

One second after that, he feels the flare of an anti-materiel rifle's ventilated muzzle against his cheek.

"Impasse, then," Brad says. He is holding the massive weapon one-handed, the Mechanical Glove gripping the trigger. Brad isn't using the scope because he's too far forward, so he just has his face pressed against the main body of the gun.

"Didn't need to hear anyway," he mutters, and fires.

The recoil should rip his arm off, and probably his head, too. It does force his arm back, stagger him away from Leon and send him spinning.

He slams that foot down once he makes a full 360, swinging the weapon back up in a better firing stance. He breathes, once, and fires again as soon as he spots something Leon-shaped, twice more. If she shells hit wall, the wall blows out, the round tearing through to splinter trees in the grounds beyond.

GS: Brad Evans spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Leon Albus with Anti-Gear Rifle!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has launched an attack Link!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Leon Albus with Cover Your Ears!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Leon Albus guards a hit from Brad Evans's Anti-Gear Rifle for 103 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Brad Evans's Cover Your Ears for 259 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

If Xantia had been thinking more clearly, she might have been able to articulate better how stupid she thinks politics are. But she just doesn't want to hear the points Clarine is trying to make. Solving one big problem is still one big problem solved, there's no point in worrying about whatever other problems might result. Just have to keep solving problems until none remain, simple!

Unfortunately, in forcing herself to go beyond her comfort zone further than she fully realized, she pretty much took herself right out of the equation. She goes non-responsive for a moment, suddenly reminded of a most disturbing event - doubly so because she can't clearly recall it. One of the few instances of that since her original memory loss.

Leon's shout reaches her first, causing her to snap back into the here and now. What is she doing? She can't just sit there, they're in the middle of an operation! She takes the suggested breath, and rises back to her feet, much calmer than before. "...okay! I'm here! Anytime you're ready!" she shouts back, in regards to the original plan of retreat that she was supposed to cover. That's all she had to do. She could use another moment to refocus, but she's sure that she can still manage to do that much.

When Clarine questions her, Xantia offers a faint smile. "I'm... fine now," she confirms with slight hesitation. "I'd really rather not fight you, but, if you do anything to get in the way of my friends... well, I have to support my friends too, just like you have to support yours." Though her aura has faded, and she seems to have no intent on getting in anybody's way right now, the implication is clear: she'll act if she feels she must. "...healing suits you better than fighting," she adds, apropos of nothing.

A lot happens, following that. But before she can fully take stock, the shot rings out. But Rachiel... If Xantia hadn't already decided to hang back for now, that would certainly have rooted her to the spot. "Wha... but... why?" A Solarian, taking a bullet for a Lamb? That doesn't make any sense. Why would they ever--

But, in the end, Xantia's thoughts are first and foremost on one person. Two people, technically. Now that she's found her presence of mind again, she's suddenly keenly aware of Fei and/or Id having suffered some kind of distress just now. And while she doesn't know the details, given everything that just happened... she has only one suggestion.

"Fei! Everybody! I think... I think we should go! Hurry, this way, I'll cover you!"

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    A whole lot of things happen all at once. Healing magic settles in on Tidus's skin, knitting the burns and wounds Lily gave him; he looks around for the source, but with the battles as chaotic as they are, he can't tell it came from Clarine. "Whoever did that, I owe you one!" he calls anyway.
    
    But then as he's getting healed, the woman he's fighting alongside spots a battle happening on the other side of the room and chooses to *fling* herself over and intercept a sword slash meant for someone else. Someone who, as far as Tidus can tell, is trying to kill the guy that she's trying to protect? And Lily says that this peace is fake and she'll fight a war gladly.
    
    "You really *are* crazy! Both of you!!" he utters as much to Leon as to Lily, shooting her a wide-eyed, horrified look. He's torn for a moment--run over to help that poor woman, or try to keep *this* woman from doing any further damage? Thankfully (?), Lily makes that decision for him when she blows up half the restaurant with columns of fire. 'I have a feeling I know what you'll do next,' she'd said, and Tidus curses, knowing she absolutely called him.
    
    "This isn't over!!" he yells at her. Then he starts spamming Watergas, though he hopes to at least aim them as much between Lily and her target as he does the fires, to keep her from causing any more collateral damage. Or, you know, regular damage. Ironically, this might just create a safer escape route for everyone else--not to mention a convenient, steamy smokescreen. But Tidus won't notice or realize that, being too busy trying to keep the place from burning down.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    There is... a lot happening.

    Xantia shouts something that Gwen could never imagine coming from her mouth.
    Ashley is hugging Fei _while on fire_.
    And Ida i s b l e e d i n g
    Lily ascends.

    And everything is... on fire

    Everything is on fire

    Everything is on fire

    Gwen begins to laugh.

    It is likely, around this point, that Loren may feel that nagging feeling of familarity, a nonexistence pulse of heat that shoots out from where the courier stands, laughing.

    Matilda's shot couldn't have come at a better moment, startling the courier with a splash of blood from her side.

    It startles Gwen, but redirects her. She turns to Matilda, stiffly, regarding her. "...."

    Clarine's healing energy calms her in that single, important moment, soothing her composure, leaving Gwen.... blank.

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Ashley Winchester does not know who this 'HER' of Id's might be. All he knows is an eternity of suffering, life on repeat having nothing but pain. Nothing but sorrow. "I'm sorry," he repeats again, the flames flickering and cooling, even though the sobs never do. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't. I'm-- I'm not Lord Blazer. I'm not. The world everyone loves, I can't. I know, somewhere, deep down, you must too. You must love this world, or else this pain wouldn't hurt so *much.*"

Id screams. Rachiel takes a shot to the chest that blows out her center of mass. Ashley's tears continue to flow, even as he's blasted aside and sent sprawling across the charred floor.

The form of Knight Blazer falls away, but the memory seared into his brain is as vivid as ever.

Ashley... Is going to need some help after this.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    It's a shame, in a sense. He doesn't see that nod from the Commander. Or maybe it's for the best. It might have made things more complicated.

    Right now, his attention is on his opponent and his opponent alone, perhaps as Ivan wanted it. "That's because-- you're an ignorant Lamb!" he retorts, shaking his head. "Maybe if you took better care of the world you live in--"

    But talking and swinging a sword, particularly while under attack by blazing wasps, is a bridge too far for the still-novice swordsman that the young captain has become. He's forced into a sort of silence, his focus almost, almost that sort of mindless state necessary to really begin to understand the blade.

    Ivan ducks out of the sweep of his sword, dodging then rising to face him unscathed. Before Loren can attempt to press him, pin him into some corner of the room and finish this, Ivan swings his own blade, well clear of where Loren is.

    It cuts through the air. Magma pours from the rent, roaring in a tide for the young officer. Throwing his left hand forward, a crystalline-walled barrier rises before him, holding the tide at bay. "Do you think-- this will..."

    And then

    things happen

    A gunshot. Medry cries out. A certain pressure in the air. Loren turns his head in time to watch her drop, his focus anywhere but the spell he is holding back.
    The spell overtakes his barrier. Destroys it. With a shout, it overtakes him, swallows him.

    He's left sprawled in the wreckage once it ends, breathing hard as he forces himself upright. His limbs don't seem to want to cooperate quite right. But that's fine, he thinks, exhaling a sharp breath, as he slams his left fist into the floor with force.

    The warning is the rumbling sound. And then, from beneath, there comes rising a pillar of jagged rock and stone. Crush him, impale him -- his intent towards Ivan is not kind.

    And then, as suddenly as that, he's off like a spooked hare for Medry and the minister.

    "Medry! Hang on!"

    He's still not used to seeing people die.

GS: Loren Voss has activated a Force Action!
GS: You have activated the Force Action Lock On!
GS: Loren Voss spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Loren Voss has attacked Ivan with Terra Axiom!
GS: Loren Voss takes 28 damage from Poison!
GS: Loren Voss has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

    Faced away from the Minister and his last line of defense, Lan swallows the lump in her throat when she sees that Leon Albus sees her.

    She doesn't know him. She doesn't know if he'll understand, if he'll out her in front of everyone.

    If he'll shoot right through her to kill Shakhan, and whether or not she'll try to move out of the way if he does.

    Everything is worthless. She wants to pull that floating city down out of the sky. She wants to pierce the glass dome and watch everyone suffocate in their gilded city, fed by the blood of Lambs like her.

    She wants to save Mirza.

    And even now, she still wants to save Loren.

    Her silver ribbon, laced with threads of darkest night, squeezes tighter around Rachiel and Shakhan. It's not that she wants Rachiel to die. It's not that Rachiel was ever cruel to her.

    It's just, if this is the Wolves' only chance--

    It feels like slow motion, so different than being underwater in that bottomless sea. Leon raises the weapon, his finger tightens on the trigger, and Lan...

    Lan turns, oh so slowly, as the bullet clips a few long strands of her hair. As it slams through Rachiel, and into the Minister behind her. Eyes wide, blood splattering across her front as the force animating her ribbon retracts and goes dormant again.

    Lan can't say anything to Rachiel, who points her out accusingly before slumping to the ground.

    "Ah... I..."

    Lan goes to a knee beside her, and starts putting pressure on the wound. "...I'm sorry...!" Loren calls out for Rachiel, and Lan makes sure that her ribbon is limp on the ground beside her before he arrives.

<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

Kahran Ramses's expression darkens as he cuts something harder - stranger - than flesh or bone. An irritated breath hisses through his teeth as he turns to see Ida impaled in front of him, and though it would be a simple matter to finish cleaving through her. Unless, of course, Hyadean technology (he's seen enough of it to recognize the like) proves more resilient than he expected, at which point he would be wrestling for a sword inside the reach of a martial artist. Which would be foolish. So instead he just answers, "I need no justification from you, -Lamb-," he snarls. "I am what I am. And so is he."

And then he twists the blade and leaves it there. Because he is who he is.

The Gebler commander turns from his fallen foe, then, and moves the one in front of him. And for the first time in more than a year, Kahran Ramses casts eyes upon the Demon of Elru - true and in the flesh. A lightning bolt of ancient fear (mud and blood and shattered teeth in my mouth, the screaming, the burning, those eyes those eyes those RED EYES) floods through his spine and up into the hindbrain, a part of him that will always be screaming from the fear and pain his failure cost. But then the scent of lilacs on rosewater wafts into his nostrils, and Kahran Ramses remembers a critical fact - he is not a boy any more. And he is ready for this.

The Demon of Elru descends upon the Gebler commander, red rage meeting blue-green calm. Kahran Ramses lifts his left hand up and forward - and as his fingers extend, those close to him will see the faint glitter of fine silver jewelry, consisting of silver rings around each of his fingers, the rings tied to a wristband of the same make by web-thin, finely-linked chains. It's an artifact Lily Keil, at the least, has seen before - an Ether Booster, like the one she uses, except overclocked to discharge itself in handful of powerful blasts rather than a lifetime of simple enhancement. Faint circuit lines of light crawl along Ramses' hand as he activates the Booster, energy flowing down the links into the bracelet--- and then down Ramses' arm on another web of chains, across his back, around his chest, and down into his abdomen. And for a moment, the two Ether users stand tall - Lily as a technicolour angel, Ramses a pillar of brilliant, piercing light.

And then the Demon of Elru unleashes his power, and Kahran Ramses pours every ounce of strength he's gathered into a defence, shielding himself from the assault. Dark lines rise up on the outside of Ramses' sclera, and a thin trickle of blood drips down from his left nostril. He screams a cry of wordless agony, strains on the precipice, and then blasts the Demon away from him. Ramses takes a step forward, his eyes blazing...

(lilacs on rosewater)

"Damn it," the big man snarls as he turns back toward Shakhan... and finds the guards he left on the man down, or under assault. Gritting his teeth, Ramses starts moving back toward Shakhan, his Ether Booster crumbling to silver power around him; he gathers his remaining energy and hurls it at the wall Brad Evans weakened, seeking to blow open an escape route. It's not like he cares about this... Ramses blinks. He really doesn't care about this place, does he? He smiles, and speaks two words.

"Call Gear."

A golden frame rips through the outer wall, shattering the hotel's superstructure and sending stone and chunks of wood tumbling everywhere (as well as a particularly unlucky and confused-looking chambermaid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time). Ramses points at Shakhan, bellowing at the man. "You!" he roars as Wyvern's cockpit opens. "In! NOW!"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Xantia says she's fine now, so Clarine nods, returning her smile with one of her own.

"It is alright, I understand. I could never blame anyone for that." She replies, shaking her head. And then, Xantia comments that healing suits her better than fighting. That gets a small, good-natured laugh out of her. "Do you really think so...?"

...But, it looks like a lot has happened. Things are substantially more on fire than they were a moment ago.

"Everyone... please be alright..." Clarine murmurs. She won't try to stop their retreat. Right now... she has a lot of friends that need healing.

It's true, what Xantia said. Healing really does suit her better.

<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.

"God damn it!" Leon shouts, when he sees that he shot Rachiel. It isn't out of regret for shooting her -- the truth is, anyone working for Gebler isn't an innocent or deserving of mercy, in his eyes -- but an expression of raw, angry frustration at a moment stolen. He sees her crumple to the floor.

He looks away, not bothering to check if she is dead. He catches how pear-shaped this has turned. He is pretty certain, in fact, that Lily has set some of the room on fire. And Fei seems dazed -- is asking where he is, now -- and Leon feels his gut clench. What could that possibly mean?

The air shatters.

The first shot smashes into the barrier of the Raid Funnels, making it glow a brilliant blue, before the round PUNCHES through. It flies over Leon's head, exploding behind him. That pitches him forward. The second explodes nearby, and he gets hurtled bodily through the air. He slams into the floor, then stands. His eyes blink.

Tidus is talking; his lips move, but no sound comes out. Leon allows a small smile. That, he thinks, is kind of nice.

Then he looks at Xantia, as she speaks. "What?" he asks too loudly. "Xantia, I think we should leave! I think--did you hear that?"

The Gear comes down. Shakhan is backing away from the bloodied form of Rachiel Medry. He steps back -- and then nearly trips over the hole torn into the wall by the Wyvern. But, he trips into safety -- and then he nods at Ramses's shouted order, scurrying up into the Gear.

Leon swears, under his breath.

Valeria Chateau shakes again, violently. Leon looks up -- and realizes, dimly, that it is not the explosive ordinance being used in her, nor Lily's magic. It is something else, instead.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

As Gwen starts to laugh, Matilda... is more unnerved than anything else; it's really just as well that it's happening, though, because it's looking very much like it's time to go. The chaos level spikes into the ceiling, and Matilda -- despite having lined up an exit of her own -- instead books it across the room to form up wih the rest of the Black Wolves' intervention squad.

As she moves, she sees that bright golden Gear burst through the wall, Ramses shouting at Shakhan to get in. That... stings, despite the fact that Matilda is a professional and can deal with failure; she'd been hoping *something* would change as a result of all this, but it feels like the world just... refused to move, yet again.

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

A blast tears through the ceiling. Burning timber and chunks of stone rain down into the now largely emptied ballroom. At the center of the debris field, a large man stands up. Ptolomea, field commander of Odessa and member of Cocytus, stands up. He cracks his neck, once, and turns his head -- his lone good eye scanning across the room. It lingers, momentarily, on Matilda Whitehead.

But then it settles on Kahran Ramses. Ptolomea steps forward, one foot after the other.

    GEBLER COMBATANT DATABASE
    NAME: Karl Askina
    RANK: Colonel
    ORGANIZATION Shevat Special Operations Command
    STATUS: MIA, presumed dead

Ptolomea takes a few more steps forward. He is very much alive; he is very much not missing. He lifts his mechanical arm, bladed ends spinning, and stares at Ramses for a second.

"Long time, boy."

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

"There's something you need to know, boy."

Colonel Askina met Lieutenant Ramses's eyes. So did the young Gebler soldier, who was gripped by Askina's flesh and blood hand by his hair. His feet struggled -- beside him lay four others, face down. Blood pooled under them. The young soldier looked at Ramses, and pleaded: "P-Please, sir."

"You kill one of mine, I kill five of yours," Askina finished--no. He dragged the knife across the young soldier's throat, and then he finished.

NOW

Ptolomea moves forward in a stark blur of light, utterly belying his speed, and slams his ARM for the Commander's stomach -- and possibly slams the Commander himself through the nearest wall.

GS: CRITICAL! Ivan takes a solid hit from Loren Voss's Terra Axiom for 220 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ivan gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ivan has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Kahran Ramses has posed.

Kahran Ramses' irritated expression softens with the faintest hint of satisfaction once Shakhan gets into the damned cockpit. At least one damned thing has gone right today. He starts to turn, hoping to finally be able to finish up with the Demon. But then another blast rocks the building, and Ramses suppresses a groan, because nothing else could surp---

long time, boy

The commander of Gebler's face - which was the picture of controlled, icy anger for this entire encounter - suddenly explodes into hot fury. "YOU!" he roars, and takes a step forward. "BY YOUR MATH, I OWE YOU TWEN---"

Ptolomea's charge catches Ramses hard; the big man's breath hisses out of his body. He grabs the ARM with his left hand, raises a fist of blazing Ether in his right, and then the two of them are through the wall and gone.

Explosions ensue.

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.

Rachiel's cry and Loren's distraction is enough to get Ivan to turn as well, and his mouth drops open as he sees her lying from the shot that may well have killed her. He sets his jaw, pushing away at whatever unnamed jumble of emotions are welling up. He doesn't have time for them, whatever they are...!

Although he's trying to pull his attention back to the battle at hand, he's not watching below him, which is where Loren's next attack emerges. The jagged spikes toss him upward, tearing into his limbs with the initial impact and then catching him again in a second, equally violent encounter.

He dangles from the spikes as further chaos erupts below, a Gear charging into the fray and their quarry escaping, among... other things.

Ivan groans in frustration and fury, flames bursting uselessly from his back.

He hears Leon calling for a retreat below, and begins to extricate himself from the stone configuration so he can join the others.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks around in complete confusion.

"This isn't my fault is it?" He asks. "...Or uh..." He looks towards the sobbing Ashley. He listens. And then he knows it is his fault.

"Aw geeze." He tells the crying demon. He barely seems to recognize it is a demon. "I'm sorry, man. Uh." He looks around and sees the Wyvern.

"Yeah this is definitely somehow my fault." Fei agrees. HE almost--almost, but not quit, misses Ptolomea's arrival. And his maneuver. "You..." He says. "You must be..."

But he isn't goingn to have a chance to grab that lead, damn it all, of all the timing... Instead he sees Ida has now been freed from a Ramses and he rushes towards her, hefting her up. "Shit..she needs real medical aid...I think?"

He looks around one more time before rushing off with his friend. He sees Xantia clearing away and says, "Thanks Sis..! Sorry if I said anything stupid..!"

MEANWHILE

Marivel, in the basement, looks at her watch.

"...Right on cue." She murmurs. "Guess I have some time to mess around." She's glad she could rely on Ashley as always.

MEANWHILE

Rachiel is not unconcious yet. Her brief period of fury has subsided and she manages a small smile at Lan despite everything. She isn't getting up though. She tries to speak and instead coughs up some blood of her own.

"My..." She tries again, staring at the ceiling. "Beliefs...still mean...somethi...ng."

The last thing she sees is Loren rushing towards her. She tries to live long enough for him.

He's been touched by enough death hasn't he?

AND MEANWHILE AGAIN

Some distance away, OS receives their orders.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida is limp as a ragdoll in Fei's arms. The stem tissue keeps up its slow, steady work, trying doggedly to mend her wounds. It's going to need help--lots of it.

    Still, Ida opens her eyes, and manages a weak, bloody smile. "I'm sorry," she chokes out. "Couldn't--stand the thought of losing you." A raspy, wheezing cough--but at least there's no sucking from the chest wound. "Or maybe I'm still a coward after all."

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Brad does not, quite, blast Leon entirely to smithereens. But he still forces him to go all the way on defense, and maybe that's good enough. Brad's nearly as dazed after the assault as Leon. But he still manages to catch Ptolomea arriving, slamming Ramses through the wall and away. He shakes out his head, rips his Empathite radio up to his mouth, the soft chunk of rock embedded in it glimmering. "ODESSA!" he roars into it. "Breach! Breach! Breach! It's Odessa! Get the VIPs to safety! All personnel, prepare to repel intruders!"

Brad seems to have taken Ashley turning into a nightmare monster from beyond the darkest star as a sign that he's in charge.