2021-04-09: Red and Blue
- Log: Red and Blue
- Cast: Xantia, Leon Albus, Fei Fong Wong, Elhaym van Houten, Emeralda Kasim, Lily Keil, Citan Uzuki, Xenia (NPC)
- Where: Celesti Wastelands
- Date: April 09, 2021
- Summary: Concerned about repeating the incident in which she lost control and attacked her friends, Xantia asks the Black Wolves to protect her while she looks into the source of a mysterious signal she keeps hearing. This leads them straight to someone that Xantia had been looking for... who isn't quite who she was expecting.
===========================<* Celesti Wastelands *>=========================== Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons. Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest. Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92HwM11d2FQ
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Some time ago, Xantia made an actual appointment with Leon to discuss an official Black Wolves operation. Namely, to request if they could keep her safe as she tracks down the source of a mysterious static-like signal she's been hearing.
Several of the Wolves had already been made aware of this previously, and why this is of concern: it's the same sound she started hearing some time before she viciously attacked people in Dazil two years ago. Needless to say, Xantia wants to avoid a repeat of those events, so she plans to follow this signal to its source - to go where she can feel it wants her to go. With only a vague inkling of where that is and no idea at all of what she might find there, even she is prudent enough to not try this by herself, hence the call for support.
Even aside from what might be waiting at the signal's source, there is of course the obvious concern. Will Xantia be able to remain in control of herself as she gets closer to it? She may have remained herself so far, but the risks involved in that regard are plain as day. Xantia wishes to stay with the Wolves no matter what, so this is really the main reason why she requested the help of her friends. To intervene in case something goes horribly wrong, and make sure that she makes it back.
She has also requested not to intervene unless and until something does go wrong. She wants it to appear as if she's sought out the signal at its command, concerned that the source will not show itself if she doesn't appear to be alone. After all, she's not just doing this to prevent another incident. She wants to learn more about what's happening with her, and hopes to find some clue to her lost identity as a result.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The day of the operation started in Port Rosalia, the place where Xantia had previously heard the signal most clearly. From there, it was a trek north, through the Celesti Wastelands. Not exactly the most friendly of places for an excursion, and another cause of concern given that the distance kept between Xantia and the other Wolves. In case of trouble, it would have taken some time to catch up. But luckily, there have been no Reaper incidents along the way. Lucky enough to the point where one might wonder whether luck can fully explain it.
Now, the end of the figurative road is in sight: Xantia is heading straight for one of the many long-abandoned ghost towns in the area. Crumbled remains of buildings half-buried in sand line what used to be the main road into town. Mercifully, the wind has died down, leaving the sand mostly quiet and visibility good.
Good enough to already see well in advance that there's someone there, standing smack dab in the middle of the ruins, near a broken stone structure at its center. Nothing about their identity can be discerned from this distance, but nobody would be here for no reason - this pretty definitively is someone who must have something to do with all this.
Xantia, perhaps subconsciously, increases her pace as soon as she sees this figure. She hasn't looked back in a while, perhaps on edge due to getting close, and definitely isn't about to do so now, fully intent on confronting whoever's out there and getting what information she can out of them. That is, of course, assuming she's still in control. She hasn't done anything that makes it seem otherwise, but there isn't exactly any way to make sure.
Given her wishes for the other Wolves to keep watch, but keep their distance until it's absolutely certain that she's going to need their help... what will be the plan from here?
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon is, as he said he would be, here.
He came along for the trek -- from Port Rosalia and into the wastelands, with the ruins about and the signs of past wars all about. A ghost town lay ahead; he looks at it, thoughtfully, and then he looks at Xantia. He keeps a close eye on her; he remembers when she attacked them, due to some control. They spoke about this.
He said he would look after her, and that includes getting her and running. He looks ahead, then, and at the figure. He stops, though -- hanging back in the distance. Observing and letting Xantia move on her own, but he is watching.
The desert wind blows his duster back. There, holstered at his side, is Argent Divider II. The Captain resists the urge to cross his arms. He wants his hand ready to draw, if he needs to.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei understands it as much about keeping Xantia safe as it is about keeping people safe from Xantia if shit gets real. But he's hopeful it won't come to that. He doesn't really want people to have to fear Xantia the way they...progbably should fear him, but don't, because they're weird and strange. It's hard to believe it's been two whole years since that happened.
Fei Fong Wong keeps his distance to watch, but he's naturally kind of antsy about this all the same.
He looks towards Leon for a moment and is immediately fidgeting.
"What do you...think will happen?" He asks Leon, almost immediately regretting it since now he's IMAGINING scenarios. "Every time I learn more about my pasts something terrible happens but-- It really weighs on her."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly has come forth as well. She is wearing dungarees and a denim-fabric jacket over her habitual dress and has brought a slightly different weapon with her. She also has a white gauze bandage over her left eye, attached by thin elastic -- and in the dust of the trek, she has started to see (so to speak) some of the side benefits of these short lived medical appliances.
But these are the minor things that occur to you when you're on a journey. Now the journey has reached its end, or perhaps the point where it truly begins, and it all weighs in that figure, dimly seen through the haze and the dust, far away from the already-tiny figure of Xantia.
"... It's strange," Elly observes, mostly to Leon. "I suppose I should feel 'safer', myself, in case anything should go wrong in this situation. A repeat of Dazil... but all I can think of, right now, is that we should be there with her."
"I never felt that way in the ground forces. Even my old roommate... I never felt like this..."
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda probably wasn't asked to be there, but she invited herself because she likes Xantia and wants to help her! Even if this part involves her least favourite thing:
Waiting.
Emeralda is some distance away with the others. She has a pair of binoculars (even though, strictly speaking, she doesn't need them) and is trying to keep Xantia in sight, which she has done except for the one time she got momentarily distracted by a bird.
But the binoculars are back on Xantia now. Emeralda feels like a SUPER SPY or a BOUNTY HUNTER or something cool. She is much less worried than, say, Fei - surely with so many Wolves here to help in case something goes wrong, nothing will go wrong at all.
Though, Fei talking about his past makes her look down for a moment, appearing to fuss with the binoculars. Past...
She looks back up a moment later, having adjusted the focus to her satisfaction. For now.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily Keil obviously wants to keep an eye on Xantia's ongoing project of learning about herself, preferably without getting attacked again. She hasn't had a great time lately, but this isn't really something that can wait...
So she's here, with the instruction to her friends that nobody ask about how she's feeling relating to the other thing. It should be easy; they're here to focus on Xantia, and with how that's gone in the past, that's enough to occupy attention.
So Lily observes from afar with the others at the moment, having been quiet on the trek and now remaining quiet for stealth purposes. She has her knife at her boot, and an ARM at her belt, but everyone knows that's not what Lily is going for first if this goes wrong. "I can't say," she answers Fei. "There's too much we don't know. ...But hopefully..."
She looks to Elly, and then looks back to Xantia, not quite voicing her thoughts there.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
About Xantia, the doctor has his own suspicions, some of which are more heavily rooted on what he has learned about her of late.
Take, for instance, the matter of her collar: not only is it near-flush against her flesh, but it is nearly impossible to damage, and when it does become damaged, it demonstrates properties of a shape-memory alloy: it returns to its original form. He had intended to investigate further, initially, but after what had happened after simply that test...
It isn't that Citan doesn't want to know, but rather that the consequences of knowing might be devastating. At times, knowing must be tempered by prudence...
He's fairly certain, too, what that signal might be, what chasing it might do to her. But at the same time he's fairly certain that she's also realized that to extent by now.
So he had simply asked Xantia whether she was certain this was what she wanted to do, and accepted her decision.
He watches and waits now. It's a particular talent of his, one might say.
"...I believe she understands already what the consequences might be... or for that matter, the outcome," Citan says, gazing into the distance. "At times... one must commit to a 'risky' action in order to proceed..."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia would undoubtedly appreciate respecting her wishes in regards to keeping distance from her, as she requested. But given the surroundings of mostly flat surfaces that don't leave much in way of obscuring one's presence... well, it probably doesn't take a military mind to consider that a location like this might have been specifically chosen to make it easy to monitor anyone who approaches. It would be wise to operate under the assumption that the Wolves's presence here hasn't gone unnoticed.
Even so, nothing seems to be visibly amiss that would indicate some kind of trap. Even with Emeralda's binoculars, nothing of note can been seen in the area except for that one solitary figure, which with or without visual aid can be seen to be shrouded beneath a white cloak. The ruined structure they're standing in front of seems like it was once a fountain - dry, of course, no source of water has flowed out here for a very long time.
Xantia's stride is filled with purpose, with no eyes for anything except that figure before her. She didn't look like anything could have stopped her, but all it takes for that to happen is the cloaked figure's voice.
"Took your time, huh? I was beginning to think you'd never show up."
This instantly causes Xantia to freeze, now just staring, mouth slightly agape. Though even with the binoculars it's hard to make out any details under the figure's hood, one may be able to imagine what she's seeing. Because even though the other Wolves are some distance away, the voice of the other figure carries easily across the empty former streets, not even trying to keep it lowered.
And it sounds exactly like Xantia's.
Soon, as if to clear away any doubt, that voice is heard again. "So we finally meet, and now you have nothing to say? You must know who I am, right?"
After a moment longer of silence, Xantia vigorously shakes her head, finally speaking up. "...No. That can't be. You can't be her. You look too..."
The other woman uses her identical voice to finish the sentence. "Young? Why thank you. Or were you going to say 'identical'? Also true. Nevertheless... that's who I am. I've got the proof right here."
With that, the cloaked figure moves, slowly and deliberately removing the glove from her right hand. From afar, all that can be seen is the sparkle of something metallic in the sun - most likely a ring.
In an instant, Xantia's demeanor changes. Her stance becomes aggressive, and she almost roars her next words: "Where did you get that?! That is NOT yours! Give it back!"
The cloaked woman, meanwhile, casually slides the glove back on her hand, places her left hand at her side, and replies: "Make me."
Predictably, this taunt provokes Xantia into a charge. Not quite so predictably is the other woman's left hand jerking forward, and without any kind of visible reason why, Xantia collapses like a rag doll before ever getting close.
This... might count as the kind of 'getting into trouble' that warrants an intervention.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I wish I knew," Leon answers Fei. "But... I don't have more than faint guess."
He glances once at Lily; there is a concerned look, before his eyes are back on Xantia. He nods at Citan's conclusion then. "Too true," he says. "And we can be ready to get her out of here -- or whatever else -- should something unfortunate come to pass."
He glances at Elly; he nods once. He understands, despite everything.
He watches Xantia meet with the figure -- and his eyes widen a fraction at the voice that comes from them. A voice that, for all the world, sounds like Xantia. But, seeing her there, he can see that it isn't Xantia. At least, not the one they know.
He can't make out the ring from where he stands. It is a glimmer; but he sees Xantia charge, then sees her collapse into a heap. That is all the cue Leon needs. He starts walking forward, hurried; his hand reaches down, drawing his shotgun.
"Step away from her!" he commands the figure. "Hands in the air!"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda has been unsettled about some things lately. This is not helping, but not for reasons she can clearly explain or even really wants to think about. She's been trying not to think about it, in fact, with mixed success. She doesn't even respond to Elly! (Though she did ask her a few questions on the way down, mostly about the eye bandage).
Emeralda, looking around with her binoculars, attempts to focus on the other woman - but the angle is such that she mostly gets hood. Maybe if she could get her to turn this way... would it help to make noise? Emeralda doesn't think it in such words, but she really is thinking about it.
"Hey..."
Emeralda lowers the binoculars. "Why do they sound the same? Are my ears wrong?" Emeralda brushes her hair back away from her ears so they're uncovered, even though this is largely fruitless - she has so much shaggy hair that as soon as she lowers her hand again, it already poofs in front of them.
In the distance, Xantia becomes aggressive, and then falls. An instant later, any one of the Wolves looking for Emeralda finds an empty space where she was... well, almost empty, as she left the binoculars behind.
This is because Emeralda herself is running straight across the ground, waving both arms while approaching at top speed. Which is pretty fast, as it turns out. "Hey! Don't hurt her! If you hurt her I'm going to beat you up!!" Emeralda may have learned some of the wrong lessons from her adventures, but it seems Leon at least has a similar idea, minus the running.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Both Leon and Lily tell Fei they don't have more than a slight guess. And that just outright makes Fei puff out his cheeks in a pout. He was hoping for a little more than that, even if it wasn't actually true.
Once Xantia starts moving, Fei tenses--and he's off like a shot when Xantia actually TUMBLES.
"Hey!" Fei shouts. "Stop hurting Xantia and being enigmatic, in that order!"
He doesn't know what the RING means, offhand, but his initial instinct is like 'A wedding ring' maybe? That's what would make sense to him. Anything associated with weddings is trouble.
He once thought that only really it was the one wedding that was the problem and mostly because he was involved with the wedding, but after the whole Rosaline thing happened he started wondering if maybe weddings themselves are a little bit cursed. Now sure, that was an EVIL WEDDDING but Fei never expected ONE wedding to burn down a town, let alone two. Did this clone mom(???) burn down Xantia's dad (clone dad?) village or something???
He is not going to give any warnings though, he's just going to make his way to Xantia in the hopes of making sure everything's okay with her.
He does allow a smile at Emeralda and says, "Nice job, Em."
It's important to support your daughter's interests.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
They're all here. They're here together. They're here, in specific, for Xantia, Elly thinks.
Something about this feels...
Elly can't cohere the thought before Xantia and the other figure, who sounds like Xantia herself in a damnably certain way, speak to each other. They converse and it feels like eavesdropping except of course with its own terrors, its own tensions.
"I don't know," Elly answers Emeralda quietly, about why they sound alike. "But I hear it too. Perhaps they're..."
Something goes *pwing*--
Xantia drops.
Leon and Emeralda move faster than her. Elly makes a spontaneous decision to just sort of toss her staff aside -- if she has to, she can get it later -- and to take a deep breath, a deep enough breath that it slows her down.
"EXCUSE ME!" Elly shouts forth.
"Please!" she continues. "Whoever you are - please, let her be! Speak to us! She's our friend, but we aren't your enemy!!"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Indeed... we know little of who they are, let alone their intentions."
Though he has a slight suspicion, if not one he can easily attempt to prove given his current situation.
And there, right on cue...
"So there are two of them," Citan muses, trying to get a good look at the cloaked figure. It's no good -- at this distance and at this angle, there's no helping it, even with binoculars. He frowns, faintly--
Until the moment that voice carries out. The doctor stands stock-still, nearly a statue: he barely even seems to breath. Even his face betrays no particular expression.
His attention is only on the two of them -- on the cloaked figure in particular.
"A... ring?" It's barely more than a glitter even with binoculars (and forget making sense of it) but it's the first thing that leaps to mind given the apparent size of it.
And then everything goes south.
"Wait--" he starts, even as others make their presence known. "She has Xantia close at hand...!"
But it may be too late to do anything about that, too. Shaking his head, he falls in after the others.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily frowns as the exchange goes on. She does not respond to Leon's concern at the moment--save to look back and nod, and then look back to Xantia. Suddenly though they have reason to be very concerned--
"A ring...?" Xantia collapses. It is definitely trouble, all right. And Lily moves forwrd immediately, and as Leon draws his shotgun, Lily instead lifts her hand, golden light dancing along the circuit patterns on her hands.
A shining barrier of burning light appears between the figure and Xantia; if she can take Xantia out that easily she can probably get through the barrier... but it might slow her down while they get there.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Oopsie-daisy~"
Sing-songing, the cloaked woman shrugs exaggeratedly after sending Xantia down so effortlessly, continuing to talk even though no one is listening anymore. "Gotta watch that temper of yours. Could get you in serious trouble."
With that, she briefly moves her hand into her cloak to put something away, then proceeds to just... stand there, making no further moves towards Xantia. Very much giving the impression of someone who's waiting for something. Given that she keeps looking in the direction Xantia came from, that something she's waiting for is probably exactly what happens next: the arrival of the Wolves.
For those who decide to check on Xantia: she is completely out cold. Breathing normally, but any common ways to rouse someone from slumber aren't going to work. This condition, and the sudden way in which it happened, may actually be familiar to at least some of the Wolves: those who were there when Xantia led an expedition into the Great Aveh Desert to seek out the place where she was found, or were informed about that event later on. That venture had ended rather abruptly when Xantia suddenly collapsed into unconsciousness for no apparent reason.
But perhaps the exact cause of this is best kept for later worry. For now, the Wolves gather to protect their fallen comrade. The speedy Emeralda gets there first, and is thus the first to see some more detail beneath the figure's hood. What can be made out of her face is indeed an uncanny match for Xantia's, though her eyes still aren't visible - the Xantia lookalike is wearing a pair of dark shades. She doesn't seem very unconcerned about Emeralda's threat, just smiling down at the girl. "Oh, I believe you. Don't worry, I wasn't planning to."
When Fei arrives as well, she places her hand at her side, shaking her head slightly. "Xantia's just taking a nap. As for the second part... no promises. We'll see what I feel like telling you."
Leon's demands are met with - surprisingly - immediate compliance, the figure putting her hands up and stepping backwards. "Alright, alright, no need to bring guns into this. Look around, I'm completely alone. What could little ol' me by myself do against all of you?" Indicating Elly with a nod as she approaches as well, "See, she gets it, we don't have to be enemies, do we? Play your cards right, and maybe we can all just have a nice little chat."
She says this in by far the most insincere tone anybody's ever heard Xantia's voice say anything in. Given Xantia's general inability to be insincere to save her life, this may be quite jarring. But moreso than anyone to Lily, as it proves completely impossible to directly read this Other Xantia's emotions. Unnaturally so, it's like peering into a black hole. With the broadening smile she directs to Lily and the barrier she forms, it's easy to believe that she may be aware of this.
"Fancy. Well now, if you all feel quite safe in your numbers and powers... do you need complete introductions, or have you at least figured out my name by now?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon keeps a close eye on Emeralda. Let her run in, make sure nothing jumps at her. But, he trusts Fei to keep an eye on her -- and check on Xantia. He looks, instead, at their mysterious cloaked opponent. Or, perhaps, not an opponent. He grimaces, a little, to see that she looiks so much like Xantia.
He lowers Argent Divider II. He doesn't holster the ARM, though; his patience has only so much.
"If it is Xantia, then you are not the one with us," Leon says. He tilts his head -- then glances at the other Wolves, to try to see if they know something. Then, his eyes are back on the hooded figure. His eyes narrow.
"Who are you? And did you call her here, or is it something else?"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda doesn't slow down until she gets there, when she pulls up short, either confused or intimidated by the other Xantia's reaction to being menaced by an entire gang of Wolves. In her experience, when this happens and nobody is intimidated, someone is about to get hit, but nobody's actually shooting yet.
And she is apparently not going to be the first, though she keeps looking between Xantia and not-Xantia. Something is wrong. Something *feels* wrong. More wrong than the obvious, which is pretty bad to begin with.
She plants herself in front of Xantia, between her and the other woman, but otherwise does not aggress aside from getting close.
"You want me to say you're Xantia except you aren't," Emeralda says, "because this is Xantia and you're a jerk. So I'm going to say your name is..." Emeralda trails off for a moment, racking her brain. "Your name is... Atnax! Wait, it's Aitnax," she corrects herself, not being in the habit of spelling Xantia's name out.
She looks at Fei and Elly, then the others, for at least vague approval. Fei provides some.
Really, Emeralda is really worried. This stopped being fun, but she doesn't know what to do for Xantia. She keeps shuffling between the other Xantia and her, but also keeps looking over her shoulder at the fallen Xantia as if to check on her. As if they didn't have a doctor right there. She has never seen Xantia in quite this state before...
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei appreciates the warning from Citan but sometimes you gotta try to protect your sister or defend your town against killer robots. Even if you don't know how to pilot a robot or how to protect them. That impetus to help even if the 'how' was unclear hasn't left him even with that trauma.
"I mean considering what Xantia was able to do to all of us." Fei says. "...But I don't really want to be enemies either. You and Xantia are family right?" He rouches down to feel for Xantia's pulse and the like. "It doesn't have to be...toxic, right?"
This new Xantia sounds pretty insincere but Fei cares enough about Xantia's happiness to sort of just let that wash over him. Sometimes family is work after all, clones of some kind or whatever.
"...Is it Aitnax?" Fei asks, though this isless because he wants to support his daughter's interests and more because he's genuinely uncertain.
Hey. Idiot. It's Xenia.
"Oh thanks." Fei says absentmindedly to the voice in his head. "Xenia right?"
*sigh*
"Xantia's been hoping for the truth to her past for a long time. She wants to know, even if it's hard." He pauses before adding, "So if she's a little aggressive about it that's why."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Dr. Uzuki must think we're terribly reckless, Elly thinks as she moves forwards. Not a run, but not slow either. The topic of the RING comes up again - her eyes cut towards Lily for a moment as she sends forth a barrier, and then the strange woman talks.
Elly glances to Emeralda for a moment. Her lips quirk in a hint of a smile, and she steps up to stand beside Emeralda, turning to face the strange woman. She holds her hands loosely. "... If we seem hostile, it's because we're afraid for our friend," Elly then says.
She blinks (though the eye gauze makes it look like a wink), and then she says, "I don't speak your language perfectly. So, I don't understand what you mean." Elly looks towards Citan for a moment before putting a hand to her heart. "My name is Elly."
And then Fei reveals a name. Elly looks at him with abrupt surprise. Her mouth opens-- but she does not actually exclaim, even if it takes some effort.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily doesn't notice at first--not until this other Xantia's smile is directed her way, and Lily is certain of that awareness. She looks with narrowed eyes, because the ability to hide implies other abilities still.
There is, of course, the instinct that comes to mind--Lily has some similarities to her friend, there. The implicit challenge of her statement brings the wish to use her Ether and find out about it--but Lily is used to holding that back. She does here.
So perhaps out of stubbornness, she doesn't dispel the barrier until she's stepped into place in front of it, between the figure and the fallen Xantia. She is still frowning. "Right," she says. "So go ahead and talk, then."
Xenia... Yes, that's it. Lily remembers that name.
She sets her jaw. "What do you want with Xantia?" Lily demands. "Clearly you want her intact, but you don't seem inclined to fill her in on what's going on, either. I remember what happened back at the Gate."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
In a way, it can't be helped -- if they had left her where she was and hadn't made their presence known, there's no telling what could have happened. But it's the doctor's nature to worry and spin out those terrible 'what ifs' that might need to be countered.
Citan reaches Xantia and kneels alongside her. A quick check of her vitals reveals what he'd already suspected: she's been rendered unconscious, though that is the only thing obviously 'wrong' with the young woman: everything else about her seems normal.
As he gazes upwards at the mantled woman, there is a decided lack of shock on his part at (what can be seen) of the face there.
It's Fei who makes the attempt to put a name to the 'face' in question. 'It's Xenia, right?'
"Xenia... Lily, is that not the name Xantia had mentioned to us before? 'The figure at the Main Gate'..." Indeed, just as he remembered. His attention returns to the unconscious Xantia, unable to so much as get a word in as she is now. Her face is much like 'Xenia's'.
"You are 'in the mood to provide some answers', are you..." he remarks, still kneeling on the ground. "There is, in fact, something I would like to know..." Citan says at last, looking up from Xantia's stilled form.
"What role does Shevat play in this?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
The cloaked figure is visibly displeased by the guesses that her name is Xantia, or giving her an anagrammed name instead. "Come on now, that's insulting. Xantia's the one on the floor. I get that it's easy to mix us up like this, but I'm my own person, thank you very much. I have nothing to do with her." She pauses for less than a second before adding, "Okay, yeah, obviously I have something to do with her, but I'm not after her identity, or whatever's left of it." With a sigh, she adds with a nods to Emeralda, "Though I grant you that's closer than I'd like."
She initially laughs at Fei's assertions, which is probably an indicator of how sincere she is when she replies, "Oh, sure. I'm just here to catch up with my dear ol' big sis." Shaking her head, she adds, "It's funny how you're dumb and smart at the same time. I can see why she likes you. Both of you."
She leaves an opening for the realization to hit that she knows enough about Fei to know about the Other Guy. But of course she doesn't explain, she only grins. She may be doing this on purpose, with Fei having expressed his dismay at people being enigmatic. Only then does she confirm, "But yes, Xenia is my name, you do have that right."
She then looks to Elly, and makes just how much she knows more clear with the flat response, "You don't need to tell me your name, Elhaym van Houten. I already know who all of you are." Then, more pleasantly, "Of course I know alllll about my big sis's bestest friends, the Black Wolves. You all have such a variety of interesting powers and abilities."
Her gaze turns sharply to Leon. "Except for you. Or is that what you want people to believe? Just an ordinary soldier boy who happens to be in charge of people powerful enough to save the world, or end it on a bad day? Why would they listen to you?"
It's probably no coincidence that Lily gets more close and personal with Xenia at that moment. In response, she raises her right hand to her face... and slightly lowers her shades. It's then that an obvious difference presents itself. They could be a match for Xantia's eyes... if not for the fact that hers are a light red tint, in contrast to Xantia's bright blues.
"Well, at least someone's been paying attention. Then as you'll recall, I saved her ass back there. Can't have her dying in such a dumb way, she's got things she needs to do. Apparently. But that's not any of my business. I'm just following orders."
So far, Citan seems to have been on the mark with Xenia being in the mood to provide answers. But as soon as he mentioned Shevat, something changes. Xenia's expression turns into a frown as she slides the shades back in place. "As usual, the good doctor's got to poke his nose in things where it doesn't belong. But hey, this is something even you wouldn't know about. So I'm only going to say this once." It's easy to imagine the glare behind the sunglasses as she intones, "We don't talk about Shevat."
With that, Xenia leaps back, higher and further than a regular human could, putting distance between herself and the Wolves. She adjusts her gloves as she states calmly, "Now, I'm afraid we do have a problem here. I was ordered to bring Xantia back with me. So I need to ask you all a question." She grins as she makes a 'come at me' gesture. "What are you gonna do about it?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
'Xenia,' Leon thinks. Now he has a name for this woman who looks so much like Xantia. He glances about at them -- and then, finally, at Citan. Shevat? His eyes widen for a moment. He heard of them.
He looks at Xenia, then lifts his chin when she asks that. He squares it; squares his shoulders, too, and has the look of a man on the defensive -- or maybe a wolf about to pounce. "Ordinary, is it? I'm insulted. I suppose they listen to me because I listen to them. As best I'm able."
His eyes narrow. "But yes. I don't have the things I do. I'm happy to bear witness and help them as best I'm able."
He glances sideways, at Citan. Shevat seems to have hit a mark; afterward, Leon looks back at Xenia. He scowls for a moment. "Well. We'll have to stop such a thing, I fear," he says. "And if it inconveniences you... you'll find I've committed far worse crimes."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"That's me." Fei says. "Dumb and smart." BIG sis? "Xantia's my sister too. It's not by cloning or science, but that doesn't make it less real. The families we make are more important than the ones we're born with. If I've learned anything on my journeys it's that. And it's never too late to start."
He quirks his head a bit and adds, "To find a family that's not sending you to fight a group of people who can 'end the world'."
But he is quiet for a moment before he adds, "I bet if you just asked Xantia to come along to find out the truth of her past, she would. But I'm not gonna just let you take her when she's in no condition to make that call herself."
He is already crouching down by Xantia, brushing some hair out of her eyes.
"As for Leon, I guess I listen to him because he's my friend. Once he learned the truth about me, he could've killed me in my sleep or asked me to leave. Anyone could do that with a clean conscience. But Leon didn't. Because we found each other."
He looks to Elly for a moment and looks sheepish for a moment, and then considers Xenia again. "Xantia loves a good brawl too. I'd be happy to spar with you if that's what you want, no reason needed. But..."
He hefts Xantia up in his arms.
"This is what I'll do about it!"
And he just starts running in the opposite direction, no doubt intent on taking Xantia somewhere safe...r. Safer. He trusts in Leon's ability to handle this fight but honestly part of Fei doubts it'll be that easy.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
'I know allllll about you.'
Elly frowns, a tiny bit, as her clever plan explodes on the launchpad. She shifts her stance but more from one leg to the other rather than anything aggressive; there is no need to play dummy, if she already knows who she is. If Xenia is aware of them all.
Citan tables the topic of Shevat. Elly slow-blinks again, keeping her face neutral with more effort, as inwardly--
(Sweet cloudy day what did I miss?!) Elly thinks. (I can't believe it... I'm a failure as an intelligence agent. At least I wasn't trying to investigate Xantia at all, so I can at least comfort myself with that...) She breathes in and out once, her mouth tightening but then relaxing. She shares a momentary look with Fei.
"He's right, you know," Elly continues, looking up towards Xenia. She shifts back the other way. Her fingers curl, loosely. "If you spoke to her - approached her with a little care, to get past her surprise - she would probably have come happily with you. Do you know how much she's been hurting, because of her memories? Underneath the smile?"
Elly seems to want to say more, but the words don't come, if not for linguistic reasons. Not least because of Fei's motion -- which is when Elly steps forwards, raising up her left hand curled up into a rather defiant fist! "I'm not going to stand by and let you hurt her, or take her somewhere against her will, if I can do anything about it!"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"Well I know you're not the same person! I just thought you'd want us to say it, so you could say we were wrong," Emeralda says, though she's feeling a little lost again, possibly because she hasn't spoken to Xantia enough in the past.
And not just lost: unsettled. 'Because of her past', Fei says, and Elly: 'Because of her memories'. It stings. Emeralda was happy to put hers off as a dream, from when she was sleeping, but...
...but that's a problem for another day. She does what she usually does - she puts it aside, to be forgotten. But not as deeply as she used to, and not as well. She is uneasy about this whole situation with Xantia and Xenia.
"What's Shevat?" she asks, which is absolutely not going to cause some awkward questions later. She has more important questions. "Who ordered you? You don't have to follow orders, you know! You can just not, if you don't want to!"
Emeralda is still in front of Xantia this whole time - and when Xenia asks what she's going to do about it, she draws her hair across her face and upper body, the whole thing stretching like a wing - no, a shield, as that length of hair has smoothed into itself and become a rigid, curved plate that she's using to cover herself and, by extension, Xantia.
"That's what I'm gonna do!" she declares, slightly muffled behind her scarf, as Fei starts to motor behind her. It's for the best. Emeralda can't run with Xantia.
It's not that she's not strong enough. It's that she's too short and Xantia's feet would probably end up dragged across half of creation.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily holds back from directly threatening Xenia at her proximity to Leon only barely, because she is not actually acting against him. But the tension in her jaw is plain. It doesn't go away as the difference becomes clear.
"Your eyes..."
"They're right, you know. If you just asked, it'd probably go a long way. But you know that already, don't you?"
"I do recall that you saved her. Who's giving the orders, then?" She notices the 'hit' with Shevat, and maybe tries to trade on it some. "Since it's not you." Red-eyed Xenia. Powerful and fast enough to do what she's already done--much faster than Lily can move. Leon uses words, but Lily takes a different approach. She decides she has to do something that doesn't require time or moving.
Instead of answering the question, Lily calculates the right forces in her mind and then, without so much as a swing of her hand, invokes Etheric power. The ground between them explodes in a rush of golden fire, the shockwave battering the ruined stone structure nearby as Lily lifts her hands after the spell. It's not actually targeting Xenia--but it might serve as sufficient distraction to transform.
"Whatever it takes!"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
For just a moment, his gaze meets Leon's own.
What's Shevat, Emeralda asks, a response that only earns her a shake of the head -- right now, Citan can't quite answer the question directly. But.
He might not get a straightforward answer as it were. But the doctor does get a response. Ever so slightly, Citan Uzuki smiles. It's a calm, easy smile.
"I see... well then." He nods. "I am merely confused if the matter is one of which you will not speak... or whether it might be one of which you cannot speak?" Semantics, yes, but the answer would be telling regardless.
What are they going to do about it, Xenia challenges them.
And Citan's response is to slowly stand up.
"Fei, I assume that you know what to do?"
He glances the once at Fei.
Then at Elly, as she puts voice to the idea that Xantia might have come willingly had Xenia dropped the mindgames and attempted to establish trust with her sister.
"Indeed," he says, touching a hand to his glasses. "Elly has the right of it. If she is indeed your sister, would it not behoove you to treat her as a sibling might?"
Fei does indeed know what to do. As do Lily and the others. "Fei, I shall cover your retreat!" the doctor calls out, taking a breath and drawing forth a small portion of his 'chi'; the air about him shifts, as if it had grown subtly brighter.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xenia's only response to Leon is a short 'hmph'. That doesn't appear to have been a particularly unexpected reaction. Perhaps she was hoping to get information about Leon's super secret hidden powers that he obviously must have, but no such luck. Either way, the time for talk seems to be over for her now. And with Leon not biting at her taunt to come at her, he's not of immediate concern at the moment.
She seems similarly vaguely amused at Fei's reply, though she just full blown laughs when he and others expound on the fact that Xantia would probably have come willingly has she simply asked. "You know, I bet she would've at that!" And yet, even knowing that, this is the approach she chose.
Emeralda adding in the claim of not needing to follow orders... that gets more of a wry smile as Xenia shakes her head, and for the first time speaks with something that resembles kindness in her voice. "Y'know, Emeralda... we've got a lot in common. Except I can't afford to go around acting like a kid, like you do. You'll understand one day. Don't be in too much of a hurry to."
That kindness quickly disappears when she turns to Elly, just kind of sighing at her fist of defiance. "Come on. What do you expect me to do, come over and walk into your fist? Where's the fire? No, seriously, where's the actual fire?"
It's hard to gauge her exact intentions, but one might get the impression that she was able to act on what Fei is about to do earlier than the moment where he picks Xantia up and makes to run away. Yet she waits until that exact moment to actually do so. A bright blue aura suddenly envelops her - the same aura that surrounded her when rushing to Xantia's aid at the Main Gate at an incredible speed. Those who saw this before will realize - at that speed, it would be extremely easy for her to overtake someone at regular running speed, which she declares as her exact intention: "I can't let you do that, Fei!!"
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NE8Z0ZxPjQ
Lily cuts Xenia off, by being the first to bring Ether to bear, sundering the ground in between. Xenia however proves to be both intimately familiar with what Lily can do as well as what the intention behind that was. And is equipped to deal with it, as her own speed is such that she can generate her own shockwave to counter this and power through. All it takes from there is a leap through the destruction zone to be directly in front of Lily in no time flat, aiming a single, simple punch for the solar plexus. Simple... but a match for Xantia in the amount of strength behind it. She clearly knew what would happen if Lily managed to transform, and put her first priority on preventing that from happening.
Citan only has about a second to process this before Xenia appears in front of him next, attempting to simply slam him down to the ground, face-first, hissing, "Stop meddling." That seems to be all she has to say to him, she's gone again just as fast as she appeared.
Given how -fast- she's moving, she could probably have moved to catch up with Fei at this point, even with the help Citan gave him. But instead, she reaches into her cloak, and in one fluid movement tosses what she withdrew from there far, far ahead. A moment later, she extends her hand, and a bright blue bolt of energy - Ether to be precise - flies out to strike the object with pin-point accuracy. The metal canister explodes, not with a great deal of force, but it certainly expels a great deal of smoke that irritates the eyes, enveloping Fei and Emeralda as they attempt to make off with Xantia.
Then she turns to Leon and Elly. And perhaps surprisingly, doesn't make the first move against them, instead demanding, "Well? Are you done taking me lightly now? Are your weapons and Ether just for show??"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon watches Fei run, with Xantia in his arms. This, he decides, is a good solution. Nor, really, does he flinch when Lily makes such an overt display of power. It communicates their intent clearly.
And it sends Xenia at Lily.
Argent Divider II comes up. He turns, aiming at Xenia. She gets the word 'show' out -- and he shoots a second later, a shotgun slug hurtling at her face. He expects her to dodge it; he saw her speed. He walks towards her, in that half-jog of someone moving quickly in a fight without losing control in a sprint.
He comes up for her fast, though. His other hand comes to his belt; he pulls off a standard issue Kislevi canteen. His fingers pop the lid off. Then, he splashes up a large amount of what's inside. It glistens in the sun -- but not like water, but with a pearlescent sheen. It smells strong, even as it splashes down at Xenia.
Like kerosene.
He looks at Xenia, but it's not who he talks to. "Lily," he commands. "Fire."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily figured Xenia knew. How does she feel about Xantia--and does it matter how she feels, with her orders? Lily can't be sure. There's too much she can't be sure of, even as Xantia counts on her to understand things, to point the way to knowing. The strain of the last week settles on her a little further, but she keeps her focus. She has to ensure that Fei can get away with Xantia--
Her Ether blasts outward, and already Lily starts drawing more Ether into herself. Her eyes start to turn black, her circuitry blazing--but before the second pulse, Xenia is there, and the blow violently interrupts her intention. "Gh--!" The Lieutenant is sent backwards, hitting the ground hard. The breath is knocked out of her along with the Ether she'd absorbed, and for an instant she's stunned. Nevertheless--
Leon calls, and Lily's hand rises even before she gets up, flames blazing from her fingertips in a swirling whirlwind of heat aimed straight for Xantia and that chemical.
She starts to push herself back up, with difficulty.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"..."
This is Elly's response to Xenia's question - where is the fire? It would be rendered more descriptively as a faint 'mmf!' and a pursing of the lips with a faint tension as if to suck on the teeth, but there is no meaningful reply. Especially since Xenia is already moving with stunning speed. "Ah!" Elly says when Lily is struck -
She pivots on her heels, watching Xenia throw that canister and - shoot it. Whatever it is; her jaw tightens, and she answers Xenia with:
"LIGHTLY???"
"Xantia is our friend!! Do you think we were going to pick a fight with you when you were standing right next to her, or moments after we met you?! Even if you think the absolute worst of people-- we might as well all go jump in the ocean with iron boots on!! Most of us have never even seen you! You all but tell us you're on - on some kind of mission! If you want to see fire, then I -"
At this point Elly stomps on the ground.
"am NOT going to give you what you want!" During that happy little exclamation, of course, Leon moved, and Elly is not JUST yelling. Her arms swing forwards and she breathes out, fingers splaying out. This looks a great deal more natural when she's holding a stick, or a staff, but even now it's not too extra, perhaps. There is a ripple in the already-disturbed ground; shards of rock twist out from several meters below, like mole claws, aiming to roll overthrougharound the legs of Xenia--
-- at which point the back-splash of the Earth wave rises upwards, like some sort of HORRID SOIL MOLE, in a tide from behind her!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Sorry Xenia, Fei is completely oblivious to whatever secret powers Leon might have. Except for one secret power.
The power...
OF FRIENDSHIP!!!
But to be fair that is a pretty mighty secret power indeed.
Except I can't afford to go around acting like a kid.
"You're acting like one right now." Fei counters, which might be why he's trying to AVOID fighting Xenia. Even if she seems to be a willing participant in whatever's going on here, he can't emotionally afford to assume that she's ACTUALLY willing. When dealing with what seems to be clone soldiers, consent given isn't neccessarily consent.
Fei is faster than the average drifter, but it's not exactly super speed. He needs some handy dandy Id support for something like that.
"Why not?!" Fei shouts back to her. "We know basically nothing as to why you're doing what you're doing! If you actually believed in it--you aren't even trying to convince us! And I bet that's because you don't really believe in it yourself! Because..."
He is about to say because but an explosion of dust and smoke erupts around him and temporarily blinds him. Fei grimaces and stumbles around, hugging Xantia close to his body as he is forced to slow down if only to avoid running full speed into a building which would stop him faster than a kung fu battle would.
after a period of coughing he adds, "Em, you okay Em? Can you see okay?"
But he does, after a moment, speak up after all to finish his earlier thought.
"It seems like you're trying to scare her away even as you're trying to catch her. You deserve a better life than as a weapon or a science experiment or some kind of clone soldier or whatever. Because you're a person."
"We're all children. You can stop 'growing up' whenever you want to." He says.
He hears Elly's own shouting and smiles faintly. His heart skipped a beat. This in of itself doesn't slow his escape, plenty is doing that already.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"...?"
It's clear that Emeralda doesn't understand what Xenia is talking about, exactly as predicted. She isn't sure whether she should feel like she's being insulted or not. From Xantia she'd know she wasn't. From Xenia, it's a little less clear. It makes her think, again. She doesn't like it.
(What she's thinking about, not the actual thinking. She's not that dumb.)
"I'm not really like you at all!" Emeralda snaps back, still muffled behind shield-hair and scarf. She's backing up to make sure that she can cover Fei, even as he runs, though he's going much faster than she is; she's staying closer to Xenia, clearly ready to act if she tries something.
Which, you know, she does. So Emeralda does, too.
The smoke explodes, and Emeralda's hair unfurls, flapping to blow it away from her. She can see better than Fei can, both because she was further away from the bomb and because of the impromptu fan. "I'm fine," she tells him, and she probably is; she's squinting now but otherwise apparently unbothered. Having her scarf up over her mouth helps; she ducks down a little bit to hike it up over her nose too, just in case.
Emeralda does not attack, at least not in a way anyone can see. She scuffs one foot, grinding it into the ground, and otherwise doesn't do anything at all. "I just want you to go away! Instead of hurting people! I don't know why people like to do that but if I have to fight you to make you stop I will. But why do you want them to hit you??"
Emeralda grinds her foot further into the dirt. Her boot appears buried halfway to the top of her foot, in a little pile of soil. But that's all...
...unless Xenia tries to run past her, in which case a black-and-red hand the colour of Emeralda's booth bursts up from the soil, anywhere within about twenty feet of Emeralda, and tries to grab Xenia's foot to stop her from rushing past.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"...And even knowing that, this is your response?" Citan is silent a moment more, as if considering what Xenia has said. "What is Xantia to you, Xenia?"
Citan has enough time between her attack on Lily to blink.
Ah. So that is--
He thus has precisely enough time to make a decision, to twist as she strikes at him. And then he's simply down, laid out across the ground as she rushes after Fei.
Ether -- bolstering his own defenses still -- shimmers about him still as he pushes himself up on one forearm, watching as she moves to catch up to Fei.
Even with his spectacles askew he can see a number of things. The liquid that Leon sets spraying about for one. He is reminded, then, of a particular 'force' that Elly and Lily both tend to favor.
He pushes himself upright and closing his eyes, takes the moment to both readjust his glasses and exhale a breath.
The effect is at first a subtle one -- a hazy ripple in the air around Fei (and by proxy, Xantia). It's followed by a sudden veil of water swirling around the both of them -- a protection, should it become necessary, from the firestorm that might come.
Which it certainly just might, as Leon gives the command for it--
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Of course Xenia was completely prepared for her taunts to have better results this time. And Leon is completely correct about Xenia's ability to dodge bullets - she moves at the exact moment he fires, too fast to even see much of a blur. She's just several feet to the side all of a sudden. "That's more like it," is all she has to say to that.
She's less smug in her reaction to Elly, a bit taken aback by the outburst. "Whoa, okay. You don't have to yell, just--" She doesn't muster much of a response before she gets that application of Ether she asked for, just not in the exact form that she did. With the earth threatening to swallow her up if she doesn't move, she is forced to do exactly that, and thereby put herself in Leon's path. Perhaps thinking that whatever he could do wouldn't be as bad nor as humiliating as getting crushed by moving dirt.
She's not sure if getting splashed by a smelly liquid was in fact the better deal here, and she starts to complains accordingly. "Hey you jerk, this stuff better wash out of--"
Leon commands Lily to fire, and she does. As Xenia's words trail off, he has a good view of the smile on her face. Especially in light of that, it's hard to believe that her not even attempting to dodge wasn't on purpose.
This doesn't make the results exactly pleasant. The general area around Xenia burns into an explosion of flame, a momentary conflagration billowing out with her at the center. Citan aids in protecting others from the blast, and after that the flames quickly die out due to having nothing to feed on. What remains where Xantia's self-proclaimed 'sister' used to stand is the smoldering remains of her cloak.
Then after a moment or two, Xenia's voice can heard, coming from quite a distance away from everyone else. "Oh nooo, I have been vanquished! Ugh, agh, ack!"
Obvious theatrics aside, she at least didn't head for where Xantia is, she retreated in the opposite direction. As for her condition... now without the cloak, several additional details are revealed. Perhaps most immediately eye-catching is her hair, this being another obvious difference between her and Xantia: hers is blue, and very short.
Secondly, the outfit that she was wearing underneath the cloak. Given the events at the Ethos Headquarters, it's likely that to many, it will immediately remind one of the uniforms of the Solarian purge team. It's not exactly identical, but enough so that it's likely for the words 'military special forces' to come to mind. There's blues and white visible in its coloring, but given what just happened... quite a lot of it is blackened now, if it wasn't already that color before.
As for the effects of that storm of fire she was just in the middle of... she has a pretty nasty burn across her face, but it doesn't appear to bother her, judging from the grin on her face. "Welp! Looks like you're getting your wish, Emeralda! I'm gonna have to leave now, right? You saw it, they came at me all at once, there was no way I could beat them all by myself, I had no choice but to withdraw!" Fei's words may not receive a direct response given, well, everything that just happened. But they were heard. And the way Xenia is acting... there may be a reason why she doesn't have a response to what he said.
She runs a hand through her hair, seemingly untouched by the fire through some miracle. "Well, you've been good sports about playing along and I appreciate that, so let me give y'all some advice before I go." Her strangely playful attitude in this moment instantly comes to an end as she turns deathly serious.
"If you like Xantia as much as you seem to, convince her to give up looking into her past. If she keeps digging deeper..." She chuckles. "Well. Let's just say that it's gonna be bad. For her, for you, and for me."
Snapping off a quick salute, she hesitates a moment longer, then offers one more response, to Citan. "I told you, didn't I? Xantia is my dear, dear, big sis." With that final flippant remark, she vanishes in a blue blur of motion.
...two more details may have stood out while she was talking. The first is that the burn on her face was visibly healing, already less pronounced by the time she ran way. The second... is that she was wearing a collar identical to Xantia's.