2021-04-23: Mother's Ring
- Log: Mother's Ring
- Cast: Xantia, Emeralda Kasim, Fei Fong Wong, Elhaym van Houten, Lily Keil, Citan Uzuki
- Where: Port Rosalia - Seabreeze Avenue
- Date: April 23, 2021
- Summary: Xantia, awakening after the encounter with her alleged sister, Xenia, has a discussion with the rest of the Wolves after her own debriefing on the situation.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Some time has passed since the encounter with Xantia's self-proclaimed sister, Xenia. Xantia missed basically all of it, due to falling unconcious for an as of yet unknown reason following a short confrontation. Just like that time in the Aveh desert years ago, she appeared to be simply sleeping peacefully. A few hours later, after taking her back to the relative safety of Port Rosalia, she woke up on her own, no worse for wear. A cursory medical examination afterwards revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
Well, nothing except from Xantia being really ticked off about the whole thing, but that probably wasn't too unexpected. For things to end up the way they did after spending so much time looking for Xenia, expecting it would be her mother she would find... only to find someone who appeared to be roughly her own age. Who managed to anger her without much prompting, and everything just went south from there.
Of course, before anything else, Xantia wanted to know everything that happened while she was out. While having some food of course, because there's no sense in listening to others while not also eating. Despite that, Xantia hasn't been eating at her usual speed, constantly pausing to look annoyed at the next detail she hears. She doesn't comment, letting people tell everything there is to tell first, but it's clear that everything about Xenia is getting on her nerves.
Finally, when all's said and done, Xantia shrugs and shakes her head. "So what was that all even about? She wants to take me somewhere? If she can just knock me out whenever she wants, she could've done that whenever she wanted." She looks around at the other Wolves gathered around the table. "It's not me, right? This is weird, right? Or am I the only one who doesn't get it?"
Using a fork to pick at the meat on her plate, she still doesn't make to actually eat it, continuing to wonder aloud: "Is it even safe to still go anywhere on my own...?"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda is also present. She was present for the encounter with Xenia, and she hasn't really wandered too far off since. She was worried for Xantia, after all!
Right now she is sitting nearby, swinging her feet while she sits and waits impatiently. She attempted to steal something off Xantia's plate, mostly because she could, but has since given that up as a bad cause - trying to take food away from Xantia is a fool's game.
"I dunno," she says, sounding more than a little uncertain. "Maybe someone told her to but she doesn't really want to? She said she had orders. And then she ran away when we hit her... so maybe she really wants to leave you alone but smoeone won't let her!"
Emeralda pauses. "Which is silly. She could just leave then. Anyway, why wouldn't you be able to go places?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"I'm not really sure myself," Fei says. "But it felt like she was trying to get us to give up on looking into your past. Get us to convince you to stop looking into it."
He's also eating a hoagie. Because he's a hungry growing young man who likes to eat good food. He probably got Emeralda something to eat. Whatever she wanted. He certainly owed her one (1) ice cream.
He nods to Emeralda and adds, "Yeah," He agrees. "Like someone was watching over her and so she had to so--"
He nods hopefully to Emeralda. "'Course if she's in that kind of trouble herself..." He trails off. "...But to be honest I'm not sure what we'd do to fix it if it was something like that. If she wanted to leave and she could leave, she'd just leave right?"
Xantia asks if it's still safe to go anywhere on her own.
"As safe for anyone on Filgaia I'd guess ... but if you want us to keep you company, you don't have to go anywhere on your own if you don't want to."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly got a dish of cheese and potatoes with shredded smoked fish instead of MEAT. This is her way. Probably the cheese grants bonus SOR type damage. (She would also share this with Emeralda, although the potato has not been given the sacred and holy treatment of FRYING irresistible to anyone young, or young-at-heart.)
"She did seem to be... doing something," Elly says, "that she didn't want to, or at least, was not passionate about. I felt like she was trying to communicate something to us without saying it - perhaps because she was being monitored?" To Xantia, Elly - who has taken off her eye bandage, but still has a weird reddish hue to that eye thanks to capillary injury - says, "I'm just glad YOU are alright, honestly..."
"It might be wise not to take long trips, outside of town or sight of the Karlsefni, alone," Elly says. "But that was probably a good idea anyway, with the world the way it is... it would be awful to just end up with a broken leg somewhere, or..."
"It's possible that whatever method she used can only be used at very close range," Elly says. "Or perhaps it's like a ... Drug, or something, and you'd develop resistance quickly. But she didn't seem to act as though she'd 'lost her only chance', either."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily remains quiet--not exactly tense, but not exactly relaxed either. It's not just because of what happened with Xenia; she's been like this since the incident at the Ethos headquarters, and is likely to remain this way until they go through those ruins, too. But it doesn't stop her from paying attention to what's at hand, or to explaining to Xantia what happened so far and noting her reactions to the same. The fact that Xantia is eating slowly, for instance.
That's notable on its own.
Lily is not eating at the moment though. She has a drink! That's about it. It is definitely alcoholic.
"So you think she might be being monitored or in some dangerous situation herself? I suppose that's possible." Lily shakes her head. "She did seem... very unconcerned, by a lot of what was going on. She could definitely have put up more of a fight than she did, but she didn't."
"She didn't seem to act as if she was particularly inconvenienced, either--and sure, that might've been bluffing... But we're at a disadvantage here."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Just like the last time, Xantia had woken up again once out of harm's way, given enough time.
She had, naturally, been quite furious about the situation she'd been put in.
Once everything had been explained, that is -- though, most likely, she'd already been upset before they'd gotten down to brass tacks after she'd woken up and had a quick medical exam.
No memory loss this time, it seemed.
"It is strange," Citan agrees, standing towards the corner of the room, arms folded over his chest. "If 'capture' were her only goal, she would have had numerous opportunities. ...There must be something else involved with this situation. If only we had more information...!"
Because while he could speculate -- oh, could he speculate -- none of it is based on an ounce of solid information.
Well, save for one or two things. Xenia had demonstrated some interesting physical properties when they had fought her.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Just because Xantia doesn't usually leave enough pause to steal anything doesn't mean she isn't alert for such attempts when she does! She hasn't done anything about it except eye Emeralda suspiciously, but just having noticed seems to have been enough to discourage that.
She quietly listens when the others weigh in, quietly mmm-ing as she mulls it over. Having to, but not wanting to, huh. She seems particularly surprised by Elly's statement about communicating without saying it. That sure sounds like something she'd never have noticed even if she'd seen it.
She then briefly smiles at Fei in particular, before she clarifies her statement on going places by herself. "I understand there's risks in going places alone, but that's never bothered me before. And while it's nice of you to offer, Fei, I don't want to bother you all the time. I just mean, even if she's only going after me when she has to, who knows when she'll have to again? What if I happen to be alone that time? I can't even fight her if she can do that whole knockout thing."
When Elly suggests it may be a close-range method, Xantia nods, recalling the moment when it happened. "You could be right. I couldn't see it clearly, but she was holding something out in my direction. If it's some kind of object that does it, I'd feel a lot better if we could get that away from her somehow."
She nods to Lily next. "See, I don't get that. Especially because of what she did at the Main Gate. She didn't take me anywhere then, she just left me there to recover. If she wants to help me, fine, but..." She shakes her head. "Actually, no, I don't want help from someone who'd hurt my friends for any reason. I don't care what the reason is. And I'm definitely not doing anything she says just because she said it." She looks around the table. "But you already knew that I'm not going to stop looking into my past, right? You can try to convince me, but it won't work."
In the end, it's just as Citan says. What they need is more information. Is there something else that she hasn't told them yet? With that thought, Xantia suddenly slams a fist down on the opposite palm. Of course, that is important to mention.
"That's right, you didn't mention that just now, so you probably didn't see it... and you couldn't know about it, anyway. But Xenia... she was wearing Father's ring. I'm certain it's his, I remember it. It says 'Xenia' on it... and that's why I felt so sure that Xenia is my mother's name. Because it's a wedding ring."
Xantia's expression clouds over as she crosses her arms. "So why does she have it? Did something happen to Father? If she did something to him..."
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"I'll come though. It's an adventure," Emeralda says, brightly. Well, at least someone is looking on the bright-ish side.
If there is one thing Emeralda does *not* have, it is a picky palate (to the point that it's a little worrying; once she ate her lunch in its tin foil without taking the foil off first). She is perfectly happy with a bit of Elly's dish, though she has her own dinner too. Ice cream comes later.
"She said," Emeralda says, and hesitates. Does she remember the words correctly? "She said you had things you need to do. I don't know what those are! But maybe that's got something to do with it."
Emeralda breaks to chew vigorously. She's going to keep looking into her past... Emeralda doesn't try to convince Xantia of anything. But she looks uncomfortable for a moment. Until the bang on the table, anyway, w hich gets her to jerk upright and sit straight for a moment before relaxing slightly.
A wedding ring? "I saw the ring! With the binoculars. I couldn't tell it was a wedding ring, though. Isn't that what she showed you? Before you fell down...?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"One possibility is that she felt obligated to give you that kind of a statement, if only for her own conscience," Elly says to Xantia, in thought. "So that even if she knows there's no chance you would stop - or only one chance in a million... It means she wouldn't feel guilty, that she didn't take that opportunity."
Elly is quiet for a couple of seconds.
"Well, I mean, or it could be something more like a secret communication," Elly says, straightening up. "If I took pains to tell Fei that he *absolutely shouldn't* --"
Elly pauses again, glancing at him, with a faint smile. "... Well, maybe more of a... a public conversation. If you were to say aloud in the town square, 'nobody check underneath the clock because I am quite sure that is where I left my ten thousand G and I am going to come back for it later'... someone would surely go and check underneath the clock!"
The topic of the ring comes up. Elly looks at her potatoes for a moment, stirring them with her fork. "Do you remember anything about your mother? It could be your mother's ring..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"A close-range method of amplification... perhaps so," he reflects, on what Elly has just said. "Possibly even some amplification between the two of you? She, like you, wears that collar."
Which is a statement that might carry more weight if he had made it clearer what that collar can do to anyone besides... Xantia. Who was present when he had inspected it.
Citan meanwhile carries on without skipping a beat. "But, that still does not resolve the matter of what happened at the Main Gate. Or was it possible those were not her orders at the time..." He rubs at his chin, mulling the matter over.
Only to glance over at Xantia as she remarks on a particular element. "...Was it a ring?" Citan muses. "I had thought that may have been the case, but I could not be certain, particularly at that distance. But, what did you just say, Xantia? It was 'your father's ring'? And you are able to recall this for certain...? What do you remember of your father, or your mother for that matter?"
He has not often heard her speak about her family, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I think that while some precautions are a good idea, you can't let yourself get too tangled up over what might happen. We should make a plan and execute it--but if you busy yourself worrying too much about it, you won't be prepared if something does happen again."
But the Main Gate... "Of course. I wouldn't expect you to give up at this point, even if someone you actually trusted advised it instead of this... person."
She considers Elly's suggestion. "So you think she might want her to investigate?"
"--I didn't realize she was wearing his ring," Lily says with some concern. "Let's not jump to conclusions. Can you send him a message? He may be fine--or he may know more."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"It wouldn't ever bother me," Fei says with soft conviction in his voice. "But I understand. And even if she could just do this in the middle of a crowded street, that'd probably attract attention and seeing how hard it was to find any clues in the first place..." He pauses. "I'm not sure she would. But speaking as, uh, 'the pilot of SLIDE-1' and all, I get that we can't really live every day in fear either."
He looks to Lily for a moment and gives a small nod to her. "A ring....?" He frowns. "How would that do it?"
Some kind of...sorcerer's ring? That doesn't make any sense, Fei thinks.
"...Maybe there's like some kind of... secret... to the ring?"
"...My guess is that it's more likely that 'Father' is in control here..." He sighs. "But it's just guesswork from here on out."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"Things I need to do..."
Xantia repeats Emeralda's words, trailing off as she considers what those things might be. Clearly it's nothing to do with her past if Xenia doesn't want her looking into that. But that doesn't really narrow it down much. She ventures, "Maybe... I'm already doing what she wants, and as long as I do that she'll leave me alone?"
She scrunches up her face. "That's kind of annoying. I don't really want to do anything she wants me to do. But I'm not just going to stop everything I'm doing." Does that mean Xenia's going to get whatever it is she wants anyway? That's a frustrating thought. Xantia is in no mood to be at all cooperative with this alleged sister of hers.
Elly brings up a theory regarding Xenia's words, causing Xantia to momentary brighten. "Oh! I know what that is! She's doing that thing, you think?" She needs a moment to actually think of what that thing was called again, then she nods. Yeah, she's got it. Confidently, she states, "Well, her perverse psychology won't work on me!"
...She was close.
Citan mentioning that Xenia has the same collar prompts Xantia's hand to raise up to her own. "Really...? I... didn't notice that..." Though that's all she says about it, that statement clearly has weight to Xantia. Even if she's not entirely certain what it might imply, she knows that it's definitely not a piece of jewelry that could have been picked up from just anywhere. This detail feels like the most solid evidence yet that she's somehow related to this Xenia. Yes, even moreso than the identical face and voice.
There's at least some visible relief also, in Fei and Lily's remarks regarding not living in fear of what might happen. It's not as if she wanted to do that, it just felt like she had no choice for a bit there. She smiles warmly. "Then... I'll try not to let it get to me. Besides... I know I can count on all of you to help when I really need it."
Regarding the ring, she nods to Emeralda. "When she showed that to me, I got so angry. I mean, that's absolutely not hers, she must have stolen it from Father." Elly posits it may have been her mother's ring, which visibly confuses Xantia. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would Father wear Mother's ring?"
This has caused the matter of her family to logically come up, which causes Xantia to look a little uncomfortable as she scratches her cheek. Responding to Lily first, she notes, "Well, no... I don't actually know where Father is. Or who Father is. Or even what his face looks like. All I really remember is his hand. And his voice. ...sort of. It sounds all strange when I hear it so it's hard to know how it sounds, but when I do hear it, somehow I just know 'that's Father's voice'."
She sighs, and scratches her head. "This probably doesn't make any sense to any of you, does it? Well... maybe it does to Fei." She turns her head in his direction. "Do you ever remember anything from the past like that? Not any specific events, or people, just... bits of them? And some of them you can piece together and others you can't, and you just have no idea why you know certain things but not any more than that?"
Regardless of the response, she continues, "That's how it is for me. I don't know a thing about my mother, I've never 'seen' or 'heard' her like I have Father, in that way. I have no idea how I felt about the both of them, or how they felt about me... except that Father wanted me to do something very important. And I just can't feel like it's something bad, because..."
Xantia casts her eyes skyward. "'The Hope of Filgaia'. That's what he called me."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"I think a ring with a 'secret' would make a good wedding ring," Elly says, while looking at her potatoes, and then towards Citan. (Lily gets a confirming nod.)
Xantia speaks at some length. She blinks several times, and she keeps eating - at this point Elly has few potatoes left - while making the occasional minor nod or affirmative sound. It's a lot to take in and Xantia has to kind of flow through a few different thoughts.
Her lips purse for a moment at the perverse psychology.
Xantia poses a question.
Elly's eyes turn down towards the dish before her. To the metal cover on her left pinky, but...
Once, that arm was in a white robe.
Once, that arm had a nebular constellation of Symbological markings.
Once, that arm had...
She raises her eyes back to Xantia, and says, "I understand what you mean."
"... But... That's a very heavy burden to put on someone..."
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda doesn't say anything for a while, which is not too remarkable - sometimes she's loud and opinionated and sometimes she isn't, either because she's watching and learning or sometimes just because.
But she does blurt out, "Maybe they gave each other the same ring?" Emeralda says, thoughtfully. "Or traded! If it was a - a promise, or something. That's what you do, right? You swear something and then you give each other a thing!" Well, it made sense to her. Please don't remind her that that step already happened at the wedding.
And then Xantia keeps going.
She calls out Fei as the person who it makes sense for, but it's very clearly hit Emeralda. She freezes. Just stops moving entirely, for a few moments. Bits and pieces from the past; a face but not a voice; a voice but not a face. Fragments she can't put any kind of sensible order to. Some people that loom larger than others, even people you should be equally close to.
Xantia is looking to fill those holes. So why is she, Emeralda, so unwilling to? What makes her different? Why can't she either remember that moment, or let things change?
Emeralda starts to slip down in her seat, slouching. She pushes away the remains of her dinner (admittedly it was pretty much gone anyway) and lets the grownups talk for a while, lost in her own thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Ah... er, well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it strongly resembled your own," Citan amends, briefly rubbing at the back of his neck. "Without any sort of empirical test, of course, it is impossible to rule it out being something more... mundane."
He glances towards Elly when she remarks on the ring and sort of half-smiles in her direction.
"Are you certain that was 'her ring', Xantia?" says the only actually-married person in the room. He readjusts his glasses. "It is not unknown to exchange tokens with each other's name inscribed-- yes, precisely, Emeralda! Though, I admit, that is not what Yui and I had done..." Speaking of that, it's not as if he's (visibly) wearing his wedding ring, either...
She doesn't remember her father as such, she explains.
"Aha... Well. That in and of itself is not unusual. Memories from an early age tend to be fragmentary, or so I have read. Indeed, if I think back to my own earliest memories... I can recall nothing more than vague impressions of place and emotion." He shakes his head. "However, the difference is, I retain context from the memories that followed in my life. Whereas, for you..."
He trails off. The gap in Xantia's memory makes the situation rather more complicated.
'The Hope of Filgaia', though...? Were those the words of a father towards his daughter, or something... more?
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"The... Hope of Filgaia." Lily watches Xantia thoughtfully. She can say a lot about not living in fear--has to, really, is used to things like being hunted by Solaris. ...And there's no need to embarrass Xantia by pointing out that it was close enough. It's fine.
"Knowing things you don't know how you know isn't particularly strange to me," Lily admits.
"But hopes..." Lily can imagine ways in which hopes might be less than wonderful--it depends on the perspective. But is it worthwhile to say that here? No, probably not; it's just speculation.
"There are plenty of reasons that a man would have his wife's ring," Lily agrees. "...But regardless, you can count on us."
"...I think for better or worse, Xenia may well be one of the keys to your memories. You're already talking about things you recall now."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Well..." Fei rubs at his neck upon being called out like that. "Yeah, sure, but it's not--" He trails off and doesn't actually finish that hthought aloud.
"They could be a matching set?" Fei asks though he doesn't really know the answer either. Why does it feel like the closer they figure out Xantia's past, the less they know about Xantia's past? But he's getting the feeling that deterring Xantia from finding out more about her past just isn't really happening which means they're likely to conflict with Xenia again.
"The Hope of Filgaia..." Fei murmurs. "That's a lot ot put on a kid's shoulders."
His player hadn't even read Elly's pose yet before writing that so Fei feels he's earned a cute smile at Elly when they seem to be sharing a braincell here.
But he catches Emeralda...
"Are you--" He begins. Then more softly to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Normally speaking, when there's food available, no amount of talking is going to keep Xantia from using any slight pause to catch up on missed food time. This time, Xantia has just plain forgotten to eat while she's been talking. This conversation must truly mean a lot to her if it can manage that much.
She can't help but chuckle regarding the further ring theories, deciding to let those remain as possibly valid with only slight nods. But privately... it doesn't really matter who's it was originally in her mind, she's only still thinking about the ring as it relates to Xenia. All she knows for sure is that it was once her father's hand the ring with the Xenia inscription was on. She can think of no reason for there to be more than one with the same name, making her pretty convinced that the ring from her memories and the one on Xenia's hand must be one and the same. Which means it's important to know why she has it now. That's what her instincts tell her, anyway. And she always listens to her instincts.
Of course, the main reason why she doesn't verbally respond is because at this point, she's started to look within, trying to figure out how she can explain her fragmented memories to others. Few could have any idea what it's like to have all these fragments from the past stuck in your mind that don't form a complete picture. So she thinks, anyway. Though it's Fei she looks to, it rather affects others that she wouldn't have considered. She doesn't particularly notice this right away.
The first time she actually speaks again, it's to finish Citan's words as he trails off, "...Whereas for me, I don't even remember when those memories happened. Maybe they were from an early age, maybe it was from just before I somehow ended up unconscious in the desert. I just don't know. To me, the memories I lost are just one big blur of 'the past'."
She's a little taken aback by the reactions to being called The Hope of Filgaia, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Really? A burden? You think so? I... actually, I just always thought it was really nice. It made me feel like I could be someone who makes a difference, you know? That motivated me a lot, especially back when I had no idea who I even wanted to be."
She looks thoughtful for a moment, then shakes her head. "Anyway, I think you're right, Lily. I can't say I'm very happy about what Xenia did, but... I don't know. Maybe it'll help me in some way I can't really see right now. It's good to talk about these things, at least... I honestly never thought of mentioning some of these things before, since nobody could know what it's supposed to mean. But it's interesting to hear what you all think about it."
Xantia takes up her fork, and is just about to resume eating at long last... when she finally notices, with some help from Fei's reaction, that Emeralda has gone quiet. Elly looks a little different from before, too. She can't help but wonder aloud a question she has to ask herself quite often: "...What happened, did I miss something?"
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda remains almost aggressively slouched.
DOES she want to talk about it? Part of her wants to. Part of her doesn't. (Part of her wants to quiz Xantia but only when nobody else is around, and that part is kind of fading.) "No," she says, followed almost immediately by, "I'm okay."
She sounds pretty neutral, honestly. Certainly not excited as she was when she came in.
"I'm going to go clean up," she says, which is itself a slight sign, but given she also proceeds to start gathering up emptied plates (and not Xantia's) for scrubbing, it's kind of hard to tell her no.