2021-05-29: The Zahir

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<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

MINUTES AGO

"Ptolomea says that his team is in position."

"Understood. Increasing output of Akasha atmospheric control systems. Ptolomea's team to standby."

"Confirmed. Relaying shelter order... Relayed. They're ready to go."

"Understood. ...Atmospheric electrical output readings in region increasing... Critical value has been reached. Preparing for directed pulse--"

                                     ----

Shevat is no stranger to atmospheric phenomena. Part of living among the clouds means redundancies, shielding, and alternate pathways all with the goal of enduring or deflecting what the natural world has to throw at it.

Naturally, this includes its vaunted shield, which is able to resist tampering by not only natural atmospheric phenomena, but whatever Solaris might attempt (and has attempted) to throw at it.

What would happen, however, if there were a brief but powerful electrical pulse, directed at those points an insider would know to be the locations of the shield generators?

The sky is briefly awash in a light brighter than even the sun.

Within the floating nation, electrical activity goes dark. All of Shevat lurches, absolute catastrophe stalled by the generators coming online mere moments afterwards.

After that the alarms ring out. Shouting echoes through the halls before the emergency broadcast makes plain what fate has befallen Shevat.

-All shield integrity lost. Unknown forces advancing.-

There are ships quickly approaching the ring of the floating continent, and they do not appear to belong to Solaris.

NOW

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZz7Oz5xTwA

It can be funny, the way that timing works out.

It had only been hours ago. The Queen had said that Shevat's ability to defend themselves, outside of Maria's Siebzehn and the now-silenced shield, had been debilitated by the war five hundred years ago, to say nothing of continuing hostilities with Solaris.

She had not been misstating the matter. Shevat has but a handful of Gears to mobilize against the warships, a problem that is only exacerbated...

...when the enemy comes in from ring-level and below.

It's almost as if someone in the enemy's numbers knows the layout of Shevat quite well.

The route to the Gears is imperiled, and soon the lower levels of Shevat are too risky for the pilots -- particularly Maria -- to risk entering. Shevat has among its numbers a few skilled in melee and hand-to-hand combat, but the enemy simply outnumbers them. This will be a fight that will be costly to win, if it can be won.

Or unless the Shevat fighting forces receive an unexpected reinforcement from those who the Queen had asked for aid.

The hangar is not far from one of the central elevators, which lead to Shevat Palace itself. It is in a large room outside one of those elevators that they are, presently, engaged in a firefight with the intruders.

The enemy is not the one they expected.

Rather than armored and masked Gebler soldiers, they are battling well-armed Odessa troopers in their olive drab and black helms. Gunsmoke ARMs fire -- but so do blasts of Symbological sorcery. More and more, Odessa is supporting its forces with the strange: Moblins are as common as human soldiers; some of the human soldiers wear the faces of Dario, Romero, and others; there are a few strange, armored creatures supplied by Caina or the Prophets.

Their leader is one of Cocytus: Ptolomea.

The huge, black-haired man has but one eye, the other scarred over. His broad, muscled frame has an open-chested shirt on and two spiked gauntlets. One ends not in a hand, but an ARM with a trio of mounted blades. He stalks forward, barking out orders.

"Seize the hangar and hold this position! Once we get to the palace, we can force their surrender," he says. "And look out for any reinforcements! We can expect Drifters or ARMS to make a nuisance of themselves!"

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr was looking forward to this. (It is best left at this simple statement, rather than the myriad paragraphs of how many walls he was bouncing off of, who he irritated, and how many times he may have been stabbed or shot by those who really do not want to hear about any number of bizarre tangents.) His insight, while peppered with excitable conjecture, has proven to be of tactical value in Odessa's operations more often than not. This is not one of those times, but no one told him to temper his expectations.

     When he appears along the ranks of the rest, his battle-hungry Mother-tainted Hyadean blood is rushing to a near-boiling point, bounding across hallways with eager, bright solid yellow eyes and a grin that can't ever be less than some gradient of a smile...

     But it becomes a lot more muted of a smile, when he realizes he can't pick out Shevat's own defenders from the amount of manpower that Odessa has brought forth. Ptolomea's plan is to hold the hangar and force their surrender, and he'd be all for holding the hangar provided there's foot soldiers flooding it, but so far...

     "Who are they going to send for the surrender?" Ratatoskr muses in a question. And then... of course, exclaims. "Who are they going to send for the surrender!" Looking at this place, now that he's finally here...

     He doesn't think, so far, he's ever been more let down. He knows of Solaris' military might, and... let's say he has had some very high, lofty, impossible expectations only possible from a wide-eyed nineteen-to-twenty-five-year-old. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "On it."

    Black ARM in one hand, her longcoat trailing behind her as she strides down the hallway of the hangar. Be a bit of a shame to have to shoot one of the techs, she considers. Still, business is business -- and she's got reason of her own to settle up with Odessa in this particular fight.

    Among them is the very reason that Odessa has been able to crack the shell of Shevat to obtain entry in the first place. She's seen some interesting things in her life, and 'an electrical impulse to end all electrical impulses' takes the cake. ...And technically speaking, she didn't see that one either because if she had been looking right at it, she'd probably have lost her sight. Even looking the other way, the clouds had been illuminated.

    "Looks like the techs have gone to ground or such," she drawls, glancing back over her shoulder at Ratatoskr. "Check some of them side rooms, yeah? Make sure they're accounted for and all. Place like this looks lousy with ventilation shafts..."

    It also looks a little bit... well, not lousy, that would be rude. But Ratatoskr's not the only one thinking this is a bit of a letdown. Time was, Josie would have been surprised to learn that there was a nation floating in the sky and wandering the world. By now, though, she's well aware of the fact that there's not just one skyborn nation in Filgaia: there are two of them.

    And Shevat's clearly seen better days. Pushing through as long as they lock down the hangar will make the rest of this easy, as long as they don't run into any speed bumps.

    Like ARMs, for example. 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou (that's her full name, don't wear it out) was very busy in the hours leading up to Odessa's intrusion.

    Busy... taking a nap.

    It's only when Bienfu arrives, a flock (that's the collective noun, right?) of chu-chus hurrying with him, that someone thinks to knock on the door of the laziest and most terrible houseguest of all. "Miss Magilou! Miss MaGILOUUUU!"

    "WHUH-ZUH," Magilou exclaims, as she Magilands on the floor in a heap of sheets. She raises a fist from the pile, in anger. "Bienfu, you idiot! Don't make me jump like that!"

    "But, Miss Magilou! Those nasty Odessa people everyone was scared of are here! They're HERE!"

    "Guaaarrrgh can't someone else deal with it," Magilou grumbles, pulling a sheet over her head as she forms a Magipile on the ground.

    "No!" Bienfu huffs, stomping a foot, and Magilou s l o w l y lowers her sheet enough to glare out. She finds him holding up one of those chu-chus, demonstatively: "Everyone's so scared, Miss Magilou! We've gotta help them!"

    "What we've GOT to do is talk about your conscience sometime," Magilou mutters, as she throws her sheet off.

    ~*~*~

    Anyway, here's a sleepy witch, whose jester hat is at a jaunty angle, like she's pulled it on in a hurry. She emerges from one of those very side-rooms Josephine directs Ratatoskr towards, which means she ends up walking out... DANGEROUSLY CLOSE to...

    "Hey, you! Hyadork!" Magilou points at Ratatoskr, apparently without a single care for what's going on around here. "Did you say something about surrendering? So you're one of these clowns?"

    SHE'S ONE TO TALK?

    "Here's my offer," she pulls out a queen-faced shikigami, and it extends to an outrageous size, as she twirls towards Ratatoskr. "Spin, spin~!"

    Her heels are all a-wobble as she twirls towards victory, but be fair: Magilou just woke up.

GS: Magilou has attacked Ratatoskr with Great Cycle!
GS: Magilou has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Magilou assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Magilou's Great Cycle for 119 hit points!
GS: Delay applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ratatoskr activates Arcane Font!

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Tidus is only tangentially related to Shevat's woes--but then, he was only tangentially related to Spira's woes when he got dumped into that place, and now he's all kinds of up in its business. It is funny, though; of all the places that Tidus has ended up, Shevat feels the most like home. Not because it is in any way, shape, or form like Zanarkand, but because it's far more advanced than anywhere else he's been, comparatively speaking. It's like Shevat is to the skies as Zanarkand is to the seas.
    
    Maybe they were built in the same eras. It's kind of weird to think about.
    
    As for how he got here, Tidus has Lily to thank for that, having caught a ride in her Gear to ascend the Tower of Babel and make it to the floating city. He's walking through it with her now, chatting in casual Zeboim--to him, Zanarkandian. The differences between them are so slight that one is probably no more than an accented version of the other.
    
    "<It's a hell of a view from up here,>" he's saying, arms folded behind his neck. "<I wonder how they keep it floating? I mean, obviously it's some kind of technology, but I'm only a casual when it comes to that kind of stuff. I'm more of an athlete than an engineer, y'know--?>"
    
    Abruptly, a brilliant light floods the area, and the entire city lurches. For a moment, Tidus feels weightless before, a few seconds later, gravity reasserts itself. As he stumbles to the ground, a crisp, clear announcer states that the shields have failed.
    
    "<What the heck?>" Tidus utters, looking up and around in bewilderment. He shoots a wide-eyed look at Lily when the announcer adds that hostiles are approaching, then gets to his feet. He'll offer a hand to her if she needs it; otherwise, and either way, he says, "We gotta do something about this!" Shevat offered them their hospitality; they can't just let the place get invaded.
    
    So it's to the hangar they dash, into the fray of the many, many troops they've brought in to wreck the place. Tidus's sword is already in hand, and he scowls as he comes up short to take them in. "What the hell do you people think you're doing?! This city almost dropped like a rock thanks to what you did!" he shouts. "Get out of here, or we'll make you!!"
    
    It's not a very impressive threat coming from a single teenage boy--but then, Tidus isn't the only Drifter here, is he? For the time being, though, he spots Josie, who looks important compared to the mass of troops, and clenches a fist to concentrate on magic-casting. "Hey, you! How about you slow your roll for a tick?" he calls, right before attempting to hit her with a Slowga spell. 

GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Slowga!
GS: Tidus enters a Counter stance!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace critically guards Tidus's Slowga for 0 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.


Shevat, the city in the sky.

This place has not been quite as wondrous to Elly as it has been, no doubt, to many; but then, that's all down to her original home town. There is a lingering sense of discontent, an expectation of something bad to have happen. A premonition. Maybe it's just what Queen Zephyr had told her-- that at some point she will have to make a decision, however much she hopes it might not come to pass. And that if she hesitates...

It could devastate those she cares for.

Elly does not hold herself in high enough esteem to simply say, to herself, 'well then obviously I will not do that.' But when the lights begin to flicker, she wonders for a moment if it wasn't anything about SHEVAT that she had been sensing...

Elly had been leaning into the control block of Crescens to help out Emeralda (the designated, and potentially 'only feasible' pilot) in checking out some of the details of a mechanical-nano-technological issue that had emerged and which was in large part an excuse to just spend time together.

And then, well; then it had happened. And the forces had burst in. Up high on a catwalk intersecting with the pilot-level cockpit entrances, Elly, Emeralda and HELPFUL TOOL CADDY AND BEEFCAKE EXTRAORDINARE, FEI FONG WONG, are momentarily safe - probably overlooked.

"Oh, god," Elly says. It is half of a prayer. Even as the allure of being a terrorized onlooker to a horrible spike in the neck of history, tempting though it is, is broken by the abrupt arrival of Lily and of the irrepressible Tidus. "... I think we're trapped up here... They'd tell if we powered up Crescens, but..."

"... Is that...?"

Elly looks over the edge of the catwalk, straining her hearing.

"That's--!!"

That's Josie.

Here, with Odessa. Attacking them. Calling for a search. Elly feels a twisting knot of anger in her stomach and before she really knows it, she has hoisted up a nearby toolbox and dropped it over the edge of the catwalk, before shaking her head, looking at the others, and saying urgently, "If she's here, there must be a reason--! It's not just some sort of terrorist attack then!" (Even now, Elly hopes there is some mission, some reason, some fulsome purpose behind everything with Josie.)

But with that, she runs towards the narrow steps going down from the catwalk towards the hangar floor.

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Expressing My Displeasure Through Dropped Toolboxes!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Elhaym van Houten's Expressing My Displeasure Through Dropped Toolboxes
for 44 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mute applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Hyper applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Countermeasures!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    TEN MINUTES AGO
    Ida needed time to think after the meeting. She's already planned out her next destination--Shevat's onboard medical facility--but she's found herself tracing out a long loop through the upper gardens. The sky beyond is a great velvet tapestry, studded with stars. The moons hang in the heavens, and their cool, pale light spills into the gardens below. She's made a full circuit of the deck, and she's done her best to immerse herself in the ambiance. The priests said that Heaven was a great garden full of Light. Ida doesn't know if she believes them anymore, but this place is beautiful despite its strangeness, despite its scars.

    She hasn't walked this path alone, though. Gwen has been by her side this entire time; they've talked about what this place holds in store for them, and what it expects of them. Ida is poised between fear and hope and resolve. It shows in her face.

    And then, without warning, a brilliant light erupts from up above, drowning out the night sky. It crawls across the windows; Ida yelps in surprise, throws up an arm to shield her eyes. The deck shudders. Ida braces herself instinctively, setting her feet on the stone tile even as her heart leaps into her throat. There's a brief, sickening lurch, a sense that everything's about to fall--

    And then the lights come back on, and the flying city catches itself before it falls.

    '-All shield integrity lost. Unknown forces advancing.-

    Through the great windows, Ida can see them. Their transports don't look Solarian. "Damnation," she growls. She turns to Gwen. "The hangar! We have to get to the hangar!"

    She takes off at a sprint for the elevators, and does not stop until she's reached them. Ida hits the call panel, and waits a few agonizing seconds for the elevator to arrive. The two of them file in.

    EIGHT MINUTES AGO

    The elevator doors slide open. Ida takes all of one step before she's stopped dead in her tracks--by a whole squad of Odessan soldiers, ARMs aimed at center mass. Her breath catches in her throat. Biometal armor quickens beneath her skin, though it may be too litle, too late. "Welcome," Ida says, with a wide, disarming grin. She prepares to draw... 

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"-I don't know,-" Lily admits to Tidus in the same language that he uses, an ancient one. The differences are indeed slight, though they do exist. It's nice, to have someone else who speaks the language, and perhaps that's enough reason for her to be walking with him in the first place. She would answer what he says next, but suddenly--

This, to say it lightly, is a problem.

The brilliant light blinded her for a moment, leaving her seeing stars as Shevat lurched and the alarms began to ring out. Unknown forces...

She'd assumed Solaris at first, but apparently not.

But Lily was one of those asked for help, and here she is--is it only because she assumed it was Solaris? Is it just because fighting is what she does? Or is it that they're all trapped here now, regardless of what else is true? It's not as if Odessa is likely to just let everyone else go...

"Right!" Lily says, switching to the common language and pushing herself up before she even sees Tidus's hand up. She charges right after him--regardless of why, she's doing it. And when they reach the forces at hand...

"All right, soldiers, who's going to be the first to die?"

Lily steps forward, flame already wreathing her hands in lieu of a weapon, and then she turns and sees--

White hair, dark skin. Familiar longcoat; familiar ARM. Those eyes..

Lily stops short and stares at Josie for a half an instant. It's perhaps the first time she's seen her, since Then. Since that time. She has no sudden hope--no sudden anger, either. She finds that what she feels conflicts too much to pin down with itself. But she lifts her hand.

"I--"

She hesitates, and instead of attacking, the fires go out like the air was cut off. Instead she lifts her hand and a shield of red energy emanates from Tidus and then from herself, a sparkling aura of power that shields them against what's to come.

She doesn't see her other friends, yet.

"You..." Her hand closes into a fist, but it shakes as it does. Nevertheless...

"Leave," the sorceress says, quietly. "And that's all it has to be." 

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Tidus with Red Spark!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Lily Keil with Red Spark!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Lily Keil heals Lily Keil! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Lily Keil heals Tidus! He gains 100 temporary hit points!

DC: Emeralda Kasim switches forms to Artificial Being Emeralda!

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Shevat is under attack. It happens in mere moments, the floating city lurches unpleasant before righting itself, and emergency alarms sound. The attackers are not Solaris, their ancient foe, however... but Odessa, a more recent presence.

Clarine decides that it is a good thing she decided to join the others on their trip to the city, but a part of her cannot help but wonder if it's truly a coincidence that the attack happens so soon after the Drifter community makes contact with them.

Even so, they can't let Odessa take Shevat, and so Clarine is among those that rush toward the hangar so very close to the palace itself. There, they find its army, as well as some of its most prominent and dangerous members - and at the head of them...

"Ptolomea, of Cocytus..." Clarine murmurs, gliding onto the scene. "Be careful, everyone..."

With that said Clarine holds her hands out in front of her, emitting a bright flash in the direction of the Odessan forces with the goal of temporarily blinding and disorienting them for her allies to take advantage of.

"Go no further." Clarine warns. 

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ptolomea with Blinding Flash!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Seraph Clarine's Blinding Flash for 0 hit points!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei's initial thought: Shit!! It's Solaris!

Fei has been with EMERALDA and ELLY but due to the fact that he doesn't actually know much about gear repair has largely acted as a TOOL CADDY. Some oil has gotten on his shirt. He's taken it off a few times to shake the sweat off. It's probably a good thing he hasn't heard Tidus speaking in Zanarkand because otherwise he'd doubletake and be like 'DA FU' and lose critical moments!

Instead someone else distracts him as they see...

"Josie..." Fei says.

He looks towards the wrench in his hand. He looks back down towards Josie.

He shrugs both shoulders and throws the wrench at her before following Elly down.

"Joooosieeee...! Come ooooon...!" Fei says, havingr un out of good arguments to be honest so he's going for the 'come on' strategy which also hasn't worked out for him yet but perhaps this will be its glorious first success. 

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Shevat was very strange, and therefore very interesting, to Emeralda Kasim. She wanted to go everywhere, see everything; she'd looked off the edge, gone climbing into some of the towers, played with the Chu-Chu.

But after a solid week even Emeralda calms down and goes back to normal operation. Such as now.

Emeralda was, at the time Elly was talking to her, mostly upside down in her cockpit. Crescens' cockpit is very strange, to the onlooker's eye; there's a place to sit but there's not a whole lot of controls besides a couple pedals, a few toggles (not nearly enough) and a pair of handles to grip. The handles move, but that's not the real control system - there's a reason that only Emeralda can do much with Crescens besides making it walk around slowly.

She was upside down because she had her feet on the chair and was somewhere under the main front panel, because the extra advantage to being small and flexible is that you fit in anywhere. "Uh huh," she says, to something Elly said.

The lurch of the entire city made her freak out for about two seconds, jerking upright to slam her head into the underside of the cockpit control panel, which makes her fall back on her face. "Ow!" By the time she extricates herself, the emergency broadcast has come on, and given her at least a bit of context for the whole thing...

"All the wing bits are shutdown anyway," Emeralda says. "I can turn them on, but - but we can't wait for them!" She pulls herself onto Crescens' pilot seat, and then half-bounds out of the cockpit, closing the hatch behind her because she doesn't think thieves can get it open again.

She hears voices, and she raises her own - so much for being overlooked, though Elly dropping a toolbox probably stops that regardless. "-Hey! We're up over here!-" Emeralda, too, speaks Zeboim, after all; it was the first language she ever heard, and it feels more natural than even the common language. "-What's there? Who's there? I can't see!-"

This is not because she is blind but because she is short. Emeralda pulls herself up onto the ledge with stretched arms, trying to get a good look at... "Josie?" She is surprised, but - "Hey, wait for me!" That at Elly and Fei, as she runs after them. 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Throwing a WRENCH in your plan!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Mobile Flow!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
GS: Emeralda Kasim accepts Emeralda Kasim's Mobile Flow for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Emeralda Kasim!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    There's an itch developing along Gwen's ARM as the evening settles. It's not alarming for this to happen, especially in the sky where Gwen is certain she's got some quirks to iron out, never having been in a sky city this high and advanced before.

    *itchitch*

    It's still annoying, like wanting to itch the inside of your ear. Which is why Gwen, as she meets with Ida, idly itches under the sleeve of her right arm. Because of course her ARM will itch, on top of being a nearly indestructible weapon of an ancient war, constructed from the fossils of an unhatched metal dragon.

    By the time Gwen could even think of it as being as sign, as she chats about weighty issues with Ida with the usual amount of hopefulness and warmth she'd grant a conversation with Ida, there's a brilliant light.

    And the ground lurches.

    When the city catches itself, Gwen's ARM has etched a desperate series of jagged rows, the courier painfully grabbing onto the ground in a vain effort to keep from falling straight through one of those windows.

    Wild-eyed and panicked, Gwen simply nods at Ida and follows her hurried leave her to the elevator.

    She does press the button to call it, even as she just saw Ida do the same, moments ago.
    
    ---EIGHT MINUTES AGO----

    ".... What th..." Gwen *stares* at a goon that has the face of Romero. And Dario. And then Romero again. And another Romero, in view of the other Romero.

    She gets angry, spittle flying from her mouth as she yells at the clone soldiers.

    "_What kinda fly-infested fermenting bull shit is this_? One of each s'enough, the world don't need more of 'em! _You stop clonin' those guys right this instant_!"

    Let it be known that Gwen Whitlock, super courier, has made a request of Odessa.

    There are better things to be worried about, like the weapons aimed right at their throats. 

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Brad Evans is an engineer, which means this place is basically Candy Land.

...if Candy Land had been gutted of all wonder and slowly left to rot of all nonessential sugarplums over the course of centuries of warfare with the Vegetoids, anyway. He thought he'd be eagerly picking over tech's brains for their insights. And sure, they know more than he does about the systems here, but he's getting the unnerving sense they learned much of it the same way he did, out in the field, fixing tech with nothing but a mentor, a toolkit, and decent instincts.

The power goes out, suddenly, while he's contemplating the open sky silently overhead of Aphel Aura, and his stomach drops before physics commands it to. A power outage...no, if those were frequent, this place wouldn't be viable anymore. Even before the reports come in, he's moving.

The enemy struck with precision. They knew where to attack and how. And that means...

Brad charges toward the Gear hangar with a full head of steam. He doesn't stop as he locks eyes. "Odessa," he spits, and then, seeing the tallest man in the crowd, declares himself: "Ptolomea!!"

He rears his arm back with the Mechanical Glove and opens fire on the Odessa line, barely slowing down as he approaches, covering himself with his own cannonade. 

GS: Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with Iron Fist !
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea guards a hit from Brad Evans's Iron Fist  for 96 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

The visit to Shevat has been interesting for Xantia, to say the least. The library had some fascinating reading material, some of which containing information that felt as if she might have known it before. She got to meet Citan's family, doing much to allay her worries that the people of Shevat might have some ill intent of their own. But most importantly... she's finally found what appears to be a solid clue. During the audience with Queen Zephyr mere hours ago, she learned that the queen once knew someone who looks like her. That has to mean something - she just doesn't know what yet.

Even before she learned of this, she would have not been about to let anything happen to Shevat, prominent ally in the fight against Solaris that they are. But now that failure to keep the nation safe from invasion would mean never learning the details of this potential link to her past?

Xantia is not about to let anybody stand in between her and what she wants - what she needs to know.

She was just about to leave the hangar after checking on her Gear's repairs when it happens. All of Shevat trembles, and alarms start blaring in short order. Not even thinking to wait for her fellow Black Wolves, she dashes out into the hallway without hesitation. It doesn't take long to get her bearings, the sound of ARMsfire pointing her to where she needs to be. Xantia's eyes are narrowed, her focus entirely on swiftly dealing with the threat.

Coming from behind Shevat's defenders, a blur of red motion flies forward. Not wasting any time on warnings, the red-haired fist fighter comes out swinging against the Odessan foot soldiers in full force. Lightning crackles as she leaps into the fray, sending sparks every which way when she lands. Fiery hammer blows knock aside those unfortunate enough to be in range. A shield of light repels bullets sent her way, only serving to alert of who should be given her attention next.

Xantia is here, and she is not happy. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Ptolomea with Elemental Fury!
GS: Xantia assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Ida and Gwen are, however, not alone at the elevator, even though an entire squad is there to meet them.

    "Gwen, don't move. Your friend, too," says a voice that will be familiar to at least one of them. Whoever says it cannot immediately be seen. Some of the squad begins to turn towards the sound of the voice. For them, though, it is already too late.

    There is a flash of light on something, and those who survive the next handful of seconds will realize in retrospect that, oh, yes, that was a blade. Most of the felled Odessans don't even have the opportunity to scream.

    Yui Uzuki swings her bloodied blade once through the air before returning it to her sheathe.

    "They're below," she tells Ida and Gwen, her expression grim. "Hurry. I will keep the elevator clear." 

GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Throwing a WRENCH in your plan for 81 hit
points!
GS: Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Xantia's Elemental Fury for 110 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty applied to Xantia!
GS: Ptolomea has adjusted their boss level for 5 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

Ptolomea looks up -- and his one good eye narrows at Clarine. He can see her perfectly well; the huge commander squeezes his eyes shut with practice from training, at dealing with flashbangs. The light does disrupt several Odessa soldiers. His eye opens; then he shakes his head once. He takes aim, then, and a single shot fires -- echoing loudly -- as he fires a shell directly for the Seraph.

"That won't happen today!" he says. "I have more right than most to these halls!"

Brad rushes at him. Ptolomea doesn't move -- he swings up his clawed arm, the cybernetic limb taking the gunshots. They bounce off the blades, sparks exploding, before Ptolomea rushes in to close the distance. He swings back his fist -- and slams a mighty punch for Brad Evans's face. "Brad Evans," he says. "So--I see you have shown your face here, too!"

Xantia slams into his soldiers. Flame pitches them backward; Ptolomea grunts, turning from Brad to leap for Xantia. The blades on his arm slash down, cutting towards her as he closes the distance. He turns, then -- spots Gwen and Ida -- and aims the ARM on his arm at them.

A shot fires out, then explodes into a burst of shrapnel that rains down for the both of them.

GS: Ptolomea has attacked Seraph Clarine with Iron Shot!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Brad Evans with Steel Hand!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Xantia with Iron Saber!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Bladeburst Round!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bladeburst Round!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ptolomea with The One-Eyed Commander!
GS: Ptolomea has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ptolomea has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea accepts Ptolomea's The One-Eyed Commander for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Cover and Mighty applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Iron Shot for 142 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Brad Evans guards a hit from Ptolomea's Steel Hand for 83 hit points!
GS: Cover applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Ptolomea's Bladeburst Round for 86 hit points!
GS: Xantia guards a hit from Ptolomea's Iron Saber for 97 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Ptolomea's Bladeburst Round for 61 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Josie relays some thoughts to Ratatoskr about where this action he craves might be. "You're right... there might be ambushes being set up...!" It makes some amount of sense, in his attempt to salvage his mental image of Shevat and its fighting capability. From what he can see, it is exactly as Josie describes: plenty of ventilation shafts and side areas.

     Why, it perks his mood right up as he splits from Josie (which helps keep him away from all the difficult ambiguities of war, like FEELINGS of BETRAYAL which... is a difficult subject and it's easier to just lose yourself in the things that keep you interested), putting his boundless energy and quick movement speed to work. The horned, squirrel-like Hyadean bounds between would-be ventilation shaft entries and side rooms, each one's emptiness eroding his renewed grin, as if maybe... all that's left here is rot and attrition, not valor and glory. Of a land that is tired, battered, and only has the one trick keeping them in the fight - a trick that Odessa just punched through.

     What's even left? Who's even left? It took him so much effort to even get the name of this place and start putting disparate numbers that closely resemble - but don't match - two, and another almost-kind-of-mathematically-two together, and looking like he's coming up nearly zilch.

     Then there's a sleepy witch who just goes through one such door he's about to open, taken aback like she has somehow managed to appear without him being any the wiser there was anyone on the other side. "Hyadork? Hyadork!" He seems incredulous, and is also... missing the joke. "It's--" He gets cut off because Magilou has been given the floor by the universe as she talks about surrendering, offering... his eyes light up as he points a clawed finger out at the queen-faced shikigami that stretches out. "...Is that a Shevat combat art...?" He is so enraptured by the sight that he gets slapped a few times by the twirling shikigami, where he makes a silly tongue-stick-out face as he takes a good three or four whips upside his face before he is sent staggering into a support beam.

     He rubs his cheek gingerly, a dark gray bruise fading over seconds as his eyes light up. "Come on...! If we were here to surrender... we wouldn't be fighting..." He drops to his combat stance, which bears a strong resemblance to Muay Thai - one leg raised and slightly bent at the knee, both hands raised with palms facing downwards. "This is Shevat! I'm here! I'm really here... said to be the greatest enemy of Solaris... I finally get here to meet their greatest...! To fight them, to keep everything about them..."

     He's found it. Some exciteable, youthful joy while partaking in conflict that by its very nature sucks it right the hell out of anyone who goes through it, because that is what being a born and bred warrior under Mother does to one's psyche.

     It also gives you wicked kicks. (...As in, it gives them the ability to deliver wicked kicks. To others.)

     Case in point, the way he lunges back towards the sleepy jester-clad witch with an entirely sincere series of knee strikes ending with a high kick. 

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Magilou with In It To Write It!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance!
GS: Delay expired!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Delay! Attack weakened!
GS: Magilou critically guards Ratatoskr's In It To Write It for 14 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Ratatoskr!

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    'How about you slow your roll for a tick', rings out a voice from not very far away. The spell roils around her; Josie narrows her eyes, electricity rolling down her right hand as she leans into the incoming arte and presses through it, snapping the enchantment in twain with an expulsion of ozone into the nearby air.

    Whatever her path in life, she was raised and tutored by an archmage.
    And she had learned a little bit of Spira's own particular twist on magic.

    "A Spiran, yeah?" she remarks to Tidus. She gestures -- stiffly -- with her right hand. "Right useful stuff, that magic. Painra!" There may be fleetingly an impression of purple, before it blooms and bursts in Tidus' direction. Her shotgun sweeps into the air, as if to follow it, but--

    From above, there comes a toolbox. Now, it isn't the entire toolbox that hits her, as it snaps open mid-plummet, but it is a poor poor thing indeed to take a tool to the head from a great height. A hammer deals a glancing blow as something (perhaps it is the sound of the catwalk overhead) clues her in to the fact that there is debris oncoming, and she maintains enough presence to step sidelong and out of the way of the rest of the incoming debris. ...From the toolbox, that is.

    "Kid?!" she calls out, incredulous, as she spots Fei up there--

    As he drops a wrench over the side.

    As it, too, manages to catch her before she can get out of the way.

    "Oh, hell, what are you lot doin'--"

    And she turns just as Lily does, the both of them having a long and terrible moment to regard one another.

    Lily's the first one to get any words out.

    "...Hell of a place to have a reunion, kiddo," Josie remarks, glancing away from her.

    'Leave,' Lily tells her. It's all it has to be.

    "...Can't. You know how it is." Grimacing, Josie shakes her head. "I got what I need to do here. Same with you, yeah? ...So let's get down to it. Let's see who walks away, this time."

    True to her word, that black shotgun jerks into the air, cracking off a shot right for Lily.

    She doesn't stay there. Eyeing the others as they come running down the stairs, she breaks past Lily and unloads, spraying that space with bullets until she has no more to spend.

    The shells dance on the floor of the hangar as she ejects them, her chest rising and falling as if she were under a great exertion.

    Once they were all her friends. Now... 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Something moves in the corner of Ida's right eye. Time begins to slow as her augmented nerves accelerate the flow of data to her brain--which means she sees Yui Uzuki as merely 'blindingly fast', and not 'an artistic play of light and motion, accented with torrents of crimson and toppling bodies'. She does not move. Blood splatters her cheek. When the slaughter ends, Ida turns to the blademaster, and bows.

    "Thank you," she says. "Gwen, come on--!"

    Ida will ask how she knew Yui later.

    NOW

    It's fairly easy to pick out Odessa's field commander in the mass--Ptolomea is an imposing, impressive figure, after all. Ida runs down one of the hangar catwalks, heart hammering in her chest. "Cover me!" she shouts, to Gwen. As Brad moves in below, Ida leaps onto the railing, and then off into the hangar. Her body traces out an elegant arc, but Ptolomea already has her number. Shrapnel flies through the air, seeking her heart. Ida's body twists in mid-air--flows, rather, reshapes like clay under the hands of a sculptor--and at the same time, her flesh hardens. Most of the shrapnel whips past, missing her by inches. One piece punches through her coat as it whips out behind her. Another lodges in her side, tracing a trail of blood down her shirt.

    Despite the laws of physics insisting she should break both legs on impact, at minimum--Ida lands on the hangar floor, behind Ptolomea. Her torso twists back into standard human orientation, instead of the painful-looking ninety-degree pivot it was in for the fall.

    She immediately presses the attack. Ida has maybe a third of Brad's mass, so she has to take a more discreet tack--she starts circling the commander, throwing palm-strikes and punches while keeping her guard up. "Commander Ptolomea," Ida growls. Punch, finger-strike, palm-strike. "You picked a devil of a time to show up. Unfortunately, you just missed your aucience with the Queen, so your 'right' to this place has to wait another day." She remembers what happened at Macalania, and her face splits in a snarl.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ptolomea with Water Dragon Form - Wave and Ripple Stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Your status has been set to Mute:3.
GS: Your HP has been set to 1475.
GS: Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form - Wave and Ripple Stance for 94 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Your FP has been set to 95.
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Poison and Interrupt!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Painra!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Scorched Wing!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Lunar Thorn!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Lunar Thorn!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Lunar Thorn!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Heart and Dart!
GS: Josephine Lovelace accepts Josephine Lovelace's Heart and Dart for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify and Hyper applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 58 hit points!
GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Evade bonus!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Scorched Wing for 130 hit points!
GS: Jam applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Emeralda Kasim fully evades Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 0 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "...!" Gwen freezes at the sound of that voice, doing as the voice bids.

    The calm woman who had served her tea and played with Midori, who endured Gwen's visits, first as a courier and then as her husband's occasional patient.

    That same woman is slicing through these soldiers like she was conducting a work of art, her brush the sword, her paint...

    Blood sprays, some of it catching onto Gwen's white blouse. "... Yui..."

    It takes Gwen a few moments before she reacts to Yui's command. "... R-right!"

    --NOW--

    Gwen nods to Ida, as she takes the glove's leather belt off the center of her right palm. "Right!"

    Sharpnel finds the courier as well as Ida. Gwen barrels through it rather ungracefully as she finds her vantage point, hand raised and aimed straight for Ptolomea.

    "_This is for that time in Spira_."

    She still hasn't forgiven him for what he said to her, back then, and how it so deeply scratched against what she believes.

    Shots fire in a well-timed spray, covering Ida as she lands.

     "N' _that's not mentioning the fucked up clones here_! Seriously!!" 

GS: Formation! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ptolomea with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

There are friends here, fortunately. It is good to fight alongside Brad again, it feels like it has been much too long since they fought together. It is good to see Gwen and Ida too, of course, and Xantia receives a pleasant smile. She feels quite a bit better facing an army with such a good bunch of friends behind her.

Unfortunately for her, Ptolomea can see her and fires a shell right for her. She can't get her mirrors out in time and the iron shell collides with her mid-section, the force of it sending her reeling back through the air before she manages to right herself. The wound, bleeding motes of light, soon patches itself up. It still hurts quite a bit after that, however.

"You bring bloodshed and an army into these halls... What right you once had is forfeit, Ptolomea of Cocytus..." Clarine replies. "You...are an invader."

She retreats back to safety behind the others, and with a gesture a series of mirrors fly out of her sleeves, floating behind her protectively as she works a spell. Winged balls of light flutter about her in a circle before dispersing toward her allies, settling on them and offering them a warm, healing light before dissipating. 

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Nurse!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Nurse!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Brad Evans with Nurse!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Nurse!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Ptolomea guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 91 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Xantia! She gains 110 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Ratatoskr (henceforth HYADORK, because Magilou can't be bothered remembering what the aliens are called..?) seems genuinely enraptured at the idea of Shevat combat artes. (Magilou adds the e on the end, just, habitually.) It's so genuine that Magilou can imagine someone feeling bad for him.

    Not her, though! Boy, it sure is great not to worry about annoying feelings like worry or doubt, huh?

    "Boy, we sure wouldn't, huh? Guess that means we're not surrendering!" Magilou concludes, cheerfully, bouncing back on her heels in no particular martial style, unless playing the fool counts. She grins knifelike, and it suits the mood: "Hate to disappoint you, but this is a wonder to me, too."

    Ratatoskr lightnings forward (that is CERTAINLY the word to describe his motion), and Magilou doesn't even bother trying to outrun someone clearly faster. Instead she thrusts her arm forward, palm out, shikigami held between her fingers; a beehive barrier of magic meets Ratatoskr's metal knees. It rattles against the force of his kick, but somehow, behind it, her face remains just as punchably smirkful as it was.

    "I happened to hear some rumours of a lost city in the sky -- you know how Drifters talk. But you know, the funny thing? No one in town was talking about this place before. So I thought, hey! Let's go crash the party!" Magilou throws her hands out, in a grand gesture. "As for how they fight... who knows! I bet they just throw those squirrel-looking guys at the enemy until they give up. I know I would! Those annoying little things are always going, 'Magichu, Magichu'... it is SUCH a hullabaloo!"

    Magilou puts the back of her hand to her forehead, and it might seem like she's discounted the rocket-powered raccoon (Magilou, that's not a raccoon) in front of her, except for the way a -- Seraphic? -- glyph lights at her feet. "By the way... ready to feel the burn?" Flicking her wrist, waving her shikigami towards Ratatoskr, she answers her own question: "Fire Mine!"

    It's a ball of red energy, between her and him, roiling with flame power and just DARING him to try and move over it.

    "No," Magilou answers him, after her incredible tangent, "my fighting style's a different kind of old entirely."

GS: Magilou has attacked Ratatoskr with Fire Mine!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: COUNTER! Tidus counterattacks Josephine Lovelace with Counter Attack!
GS: Tidus takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Painra for 0 hit points!
GS: Poison applied to Tidus!
GS: Tidus has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Brad and Ptoloma clash on the approach; Ptolomea counters Brad's approaching gunfire, and Brad brings his Mechanical Glove up to block that initial punch from the Odessa elite. "I still have things to do here, Ptolomea. You or Vinsfeld won't get rid of me."

Fighting with other ARMS members is a relief, after so long - though in a way, so is 'confirmable phyiscal existence.' Ptolomea dashes away toward Xantia, and Brad takes that chance to start manipulating the Mechanical Glove, keying in sequences and flipping switches hidden in its side panels. "What brings you here, Ptolomea? Old grudges? Unfinished business? Or are you just here to bite because Vins decided someone wasn't playing his game?"

He shifts the Mechanical Glove forward, eyes darkening. The whole thing shines with an uncanny light, a blessing of ice conferred by a Shrine's power expressing itself in a thin layer of frost around the barrel.

The tension runs across his shoulders as he fires, bolts of ballistic frost firing downrange and scattering into capturing spatters of ice on impact. 

GS: Seraph Clarine heals Brad Evans! He gains 110 temporary hit points!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with Coldcock!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace critically guards Tidus's Counter Attack for 24 hit points!
GS: Gamble: Lowest! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Magilou's Fire Mine for 53 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Drowsy applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Ratatoskr activates Arcane Font!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 110 temporary hit points!
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Brad Evans's Coldcock for 23 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia tends to be an explosive presence normally, but today is exceptional even by her standards. She very efficiently deals with every threat in her path, wasting no time and expending exactly as much effort as required to thin out the opposing forces. Only Ptolomea's interference stops her advance, forcing her into a guard stance. Her ARM springs to life, a large red energy blade appearing to block the Odessan commander's blades. Sparks fly for a brief moment, allowing Ptolomea a good view of her cold, menacing glare...

Then she is forced back, tumbling backwards but quickly leaping up to her feet. "Hmph. Not bad, Solaris!"

Xantia blinks, and takes a moment to actually process the enemy she's been fighting. "...wait. Odessa? You're Odessa? What are you doing here?"

She just kind of assumed what seemed the most logical enemy to turn up here. This development clearly rattled her, the menace gone from her expression. When she lays eyes on Clarine, always a calming influence, she returns the smile in kind and nods. That's right, it doesn't change what they need to do here. Her determination quickly returns.

"Ahh, whatever, it doesn't matter! 'Commander Ptolomea', is it? If you're the one in charge here, then all I have to do is take you down!"

Back on the offensive, something has notably changed about Xantia's approach. Less... uncontrolled, and more precise. Clarine's healing light washes over her, further energizing her as she seeks to deliver only a single strike with her ARM, attempting to find a gap in Ptolomea's guard while others distract, quick to dart back again after.

She then notices Brad close by, and gives him a look. "Another clone!?" Wait, he's firing on Ptolomea. The gears in her head turn, and grind to a halt. "...Wait. But if you're fighting with us... is that really you, Brad? But... they said you were dead!" 

GS: Xantia has attacked Ptolomea with Crimson Flash!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Xantia's Crimson Flash for 23 hit points!
GS: Riposte applied to Xantia!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "-Thanks, Lily,-" Tidus says to his for-now companion, nodding in gratitude when she calls up her magic to improve their health and make them tougher in this upcoming battle. He also appreciates her to-the-point mannerism--but when a toolbox drops down onto Josie from the railings above, and someone *else* calls down at them in Zeboim, he double-takes in that direction. "What the--?!" he utters in the common tongue, then remembers himself and calls back, "-I'm Tidus and this is Lily! We're trying to stop these guys from wreacking havoc!-"
    
    Sorry Fei, looks like you're going to have to do a double-take after all.
    
    He hesitates when Josie IDs his type of magic, though, frowning over at her with eyebrows furrowed. A moment later, she calls up her own Spiran-style magic, answering his unspoken question of how she would've known that he had anything to do with Spira--even if he couldn't honestly reply that he is own. As the purple magic writhes and boils over Tidus's skin, he (perhaps unwisely) charges through it, letting it cling to and fester on him in exchange for getting in an extra sword-swipe on Josie, first a regular one, and then a second aquatic one that summons up a blast of water upon impact. He hops back a step and holds his sword out in front of him defensively once he's done. There's a lot of guys here, and if they're going to handle everyone, he can't be too impetuous.
    
    "Anytime *you* wanna surrender is fine by us, by the way," he adds, though the sarcastic ring to his tone makes it clear he doesn't think that's happening. 

GS: Formation! Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Riptide Cutter!
GS: Tidus assumes the Stoic stance!
GS: Tidus takes 25 damage from Poison!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Tidus's Riptide Cutter for 76 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 67 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

Ptolomea doesn't let someone stay behind him for long. He turns, spinning to face Ida -- and her palm slams into his chest. He holds against her blow, teeth gritted, and shakes his head once. "That girl will see me," he says. "I've known her longer -- and better -- than you. This is for her own good."

He swings back his bladed claws -- and slams them down with a diagonal strike across Ida's body, then a hard thrust at her.

Then, he turns, looking at Gwen with a furrowed brow. It might be taking him a moment to be sure what he said -- but then two shots hit, bullets punching into his skin. He grunts, blood welling up, but the big man takes it well. "We make do with what we have!"

He shoots out a round near Gwen. It explodes; a fiery blast explodes outward, hurtling on towards Clarine and Brad alike. The fire licks at the metal ground, burning it black, and scatters debris about.

Brad's bolts of frost shoot through it. Portions of the frost rounds flash-burst to steam, making it cloudy, before they slam into the raised blades of Ptolomea's arm. They shatter into icy mist.

"More personal than that, Evans." Ptolomea turns his head, then spits. "Shevat has hid away long enough -- and it won't be Drifters than bring it out. I've come to bring my old masters to heel. To remind them... and make them end this war with Solaris. And take the role in Filgaia they should have... under Commander Vinsfeld."

He turns, then, as Xantia rushes in. He can't appreciate the change in her approach. She strikes in, but he parries it on the arm blades, and his head turns to look at her. "Easier said than done, girl!"

He swings out a large, armored -- but still flesh -- hand in a meaty fist for the red-haired woman.

GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Old Soldier Strike!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Fireburst Round!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Seraph Clarine with Fireburst Round!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Brad Evans with Fireburst Round!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Xantia with Odessa Crush!
GS: Ptolomea has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ptolomea has completed his action.
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a glancing hit from Ptolomea's Fireburst Round for 125 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine activates Evade bonus!
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Odessa Crush for 161 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Xantia activates Power Burst!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 115 temporary hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Ptolomea's Old Soldier Strike for 108 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Reaper applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes an additional 25 damage from Reaper!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Hell of a place to have a reunion. ...'Kiddo.'

"...Right," Lily answers. Who walks away. Lily watches Josie--and the shotgun jerks into the air. Lily can't be surprised at it, and she isn't. But the shot hits, Lily not even moving; she trusts her magical shield to absorb most of the impact, and it does, fading away after a pulse of red where it blocks the slug. Then... Already Josie is moving, and Lily at first does not move to intercept her; she doesn't move at all, in the moment, staring forward.

Emeralda breaks her out of it first, between her and Tidus's thanks. "-Emeralda! Be careful!-" Lily calls out to her suddenly, and draws in a breath like she hadn't been breathing--she thinks she might not have been. Turning around to see Josie firing on the others, the sorceress ducks down and pulls her knife out of her boot holster, bringing it up point-down for defense though she doesn't close in yet--instead...

"I should be angry," she says, hollowly. "...At myself, if nothing else. You never hid what you were. But I'm not."

"But this is what I was trained for, isn't it? The whole idea all along was that I'd be fighting 'friends' one way or another. It was his plan."

"All right. We'll see who walks away." Tidus charges blade-first--Lily has a different approach. She brings out her back hand and throws it forward, the temperature around her rising sharply as she channels a beam of frost straight for Josie's center-mass, a blast that will burst into an explosion of snow and ice on impact in all directions, clinging and tearing.

...Nevermind that Lily's hand frosts over when she does it, the magic not quite aimed perfectly. 

GS: Lily Keil has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Polar Burst!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Lily Keil's Polar Burst for 38 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The wrench, the toolbox; these were frustration. As she wheels round the staircase onto the open spaces of the hangar floor, Elly looks at Josie as she brings up her shotgun. She fires her weapon; Elly throws herself to try and get behind a parts crate, feeling the snipe-swip of angry bees at her calves mid dive.

She does not stay down for long.

As she raises to a crouch, then a partially covered stance, she answers Josie:

"Why can't you?" She sucks in a deep breath, lets it out - falters for a moment - and then says, "Why-- are you doing all of this? This is... Why are you attacking this place? What does Odessa want with Shevat? Why..."

did you leave us, Elly is saying without saying. She spreads out her hands, but the words don't come. What does, though, is a sudden snapping tension of Fire-ether - aimed towards Josie, but primarily at her weapon, a flame burst to try to disARM her. Without the weapon, perhaps she hopes they can talk.

Or at least that they can pin her down - stop her from fulfilling her mission. Or...

The thought feels like it's trailing into a dark room, but Elly has little time to woolgather.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei glances to Tidus with wide eyes, "Hold on--how do you know--"

And in that moment JOSIE STRIKE. It could be worse. She could have shot him in the chest in a moment where he trusted her most, but instead it's just a spray of multiple bullets. They crack into Fei, but don't seem to find purchase on anything major--lots of glancing blows.

"Josie, this is our chance to take down Solaris. Why is Odessa even here? If they destroy Shevat, there will be nothing that can get in Solaris's way. They'll be free to do whatever they want. Their belief in Shevat's strength is protecting us more than you know!"

Fei jumps forward, hand lighting up with flame as he punches an explosively charged punch towards Josie, fire erupting out of his fist as he strikes.

His eyes widen when Ptolomea explains just WHAT his plan for Shevat is.

"You can't...! That's just trading one master for another!"

FEI PSYCHO UP

"No no...!" Fei shakes his head quickly. "We can't! Not here!" 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Kakei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Thermo Crystalmelt!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

"-I'm Emeralda! I'm here with Fei and Elly! Lily's a friend of ours so I guess you're a friend too. We'll try to help!-" Emeralda waves down at Lily and Tidus as she gets to the edge of the platform and leans down over it as if preparing to jump or climb; it also lets Tidus spot her if he's looking up.

You wouldn't shoot a kid, would you?

Emeralda finds that that is very not true as she pulls herself back up, *not* following Fei and Elly for the moment to use the lip of the walk as cover. A bullet (shell? She can't tell them apart) hits the platform and makes it ring like a bell, even with her weight on it.

Emeralda's expression is more than a little shocked. Her head pops over the edge again as she looks back down at Josie and her friends (and parents). "But why attack here? It's nice! And you almost made the whole thing fall!" She assumes that Shevat did not wobble for no reason at all, even though - being indoors - she could not see the light.

Taking a few steps back, Emeralda picks up speed, running at the edge - and then she leaps high into the air. She curls up as she falls, tucking in as her body flexes and shifts - less of a ball, more of a discus, though perhaps because it is Josie Emeralda couldn't convince herself to make the edge sharp.

Still, Emeralda weighs a couple hundred pounds. If getting hit by a falling wrench is bad, getting hit by a flying Emeralda is worse. 

GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Leg Cutter!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Fei Fong Wong's Kakei for 33 hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Crystalmelt for 70 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Emeralda Kasim's Leg Cutter for 61 hit points!
GS: Break applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Countermeasures!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr is so overjoyed at the idea there's no surrendering that he throws that much more into the beehive barrier, where the rattling between witchy sorcery and genetic blasphemy is entirely mutual. His assault ceases for critical seconds as the final impact sends a discomforting rattling through the leg that forces him to pause and internally re-center everything there. (Magilou can see some tiny movement of bone underneath the skin, where human-blood-red armor doesn't hide it. It's freaky and weird!)

     "What? Really...?" Ratatoskr has not seen these 'squirrel-looking guys.' He crosses his arms for a moment in contemplation as Magilou goes on about it. "That must be a mantra of theirs... 'Magichu, Magichu.'" He'll have to remember that, should they show themselves. (That he's taking someone dressed like a jester at their word is... well.)

     His tail perks up again as the odd glyph appears underneath her. He's seen indistinct anthropomorphic bodies of light and wind (including one such indistinct wind-thing that also seemed to be sweltering hot) project those underneath themselves. He stays there for a moment and lets Magilou show what it is she projects. A roiling ball of red energy, right there, burning hot.

     Openings appear about his elbows and knees as he visibly sucks in and compresses air through them, which is a precursor to something tragic as he just leaps over it with only a momentary exposure to uncomfortable warmth that doesn't make the compressed air expand, uh, messily.

     "Different kind of old?" Ratatoskr calls mid-leap, seeming ready to clear Magilou's head and miss her entirely were it not for him pointing a foot down. She can see an opening there too, sort of like the end of an ARM. Then, a shotgun-like burst of compressed air. "Different kind of old! That's fine too!!"

     He touches down opposite of her in a three-point stance. "Show me...!" Evidently, Odessa's strategy appears to also involve throwing a squirrel-looking guy at the enemy until they give up.

     A very tiny part of it. 

GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Ratatoskr receives 50 temporary hit points.
GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Magilou with Overhead Shoot!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Magilou takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 66 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Gwen Whitlock critically guards Ptolomea's Fireburst Round for 82 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida's snarl only deepens. "'That girl,'" she says, and the anger in her voice is palpable. "Is that all she--"

    It's strange, sometimes, how veteran warriors can lace a conversation through the fabric of a violent encounter. Ptolomea's bladed claws descend, and she raises her arms to meet them. Exoskeleton flows down her flesh, forming gauntlets--she doesn't even have to think about it, the response is that automatic. A sphere of light bobs in from the side, and goes off like a tiny charge of magnesium, forming a glittering shield that hugs Ida's body. There's no time to thank Clarine for the assist.

    The Cocytus commander's weaponry meets Ida's armor with a hideous metallic CRUNCH, not unlike scrap iron being thrown into an industrial shredder. His claws rake down her arm, then down her chest, shearing off ribbons of biometal. The followup gouge meets her from the side as she twists, but that just turns an impaling strike into a hit that slashes her lengthwise. It meets with resistance, both in the skin, and beneath it. It's like Ida's body has turned to armor.

    It still knocks her back. She takes a staggering step away, then another, and gasps for breath. Blood drips down her abdomen and forearm, a mixture of crimson and quicksilver.

    She listens, though, to what he says. What he tells Brad.

    "How long did you serve 'that girl'?" Ida croaks, "And when did you start to disdain her so?" Her chest still aches. She still bleeds. She meets Ptolomea's eyes, anyway, still speaks. "Was it because there were things she couldn't do--or things she wouldn't do?"

    Ida twists on a heel, and starts circling Ptolomea again, trying to keep him pinned between her and Brad. The exoskeleton on her hands lengthens into long, blade-like protrusions, and she strikes at him with fierce slashing motions. Something changes in her body language as she does so--there's a sense of deep-rooted violent intent there that was not there before. Fafnir's reflexes have come to the fore.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ptolomea with Muscle Memory!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes an additional 25 damage from Reaper!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Ptolomea guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 70 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"It is truly Brad..." Clarine confirms with a nod toward Xantia and Brad, and a smile. "We believed him gone, as well... but he returned to us when we needed him most..."

Ptolomea reacts to her statement with an explosive round. Clarine's mirrors move to protect her, absorbing part of the explosive flame before being scattered at as the shockwave hurtles out toward her. Clarine braces herself as flames wash over her. She's still standing(or, well, floating) when they dissipate, looking a little worse for wear. Her mirrors return to her side, their metal backs charred black from the flame.

She frowns a little as Ptolomea speaks.

"...So you were an agent of Shevat, once..." She observes. "What lead you to leave them...? What drives you now to turn against them...?"

She shakes her head, then.

"...Regardless... Odessa cannot be allowed to succeed." She says. With a gesture of her hand a sphere of light appears above Ptolomea's head, building in intensity for a moment before firing off a searing ray of light in his direction. 

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ptolomea with Limited Ray!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea guards a hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 97 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Quick and Shield applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Brad Evans takes a glancing hit from Ptolomea's Fireburst Round for 145 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Brad Evans gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Brad Evans activates Evade bonus and Countermeasures!

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Note to Magilou: Hyadorks have a fungible definition of solid flesh. (How nostalgic.) Strangely, she doesn't seem put off by the shifting of bone; nor by the way his limbs rearrange themselves to suck in air.

    "Hey!" She protests, as he soars elegantly over her mine, like some kind of flying gerbil. (Still wrong, Magilou.) She hops from one foot to the next, the tips of her jester-boots all a-flappy. "That's cheating!"

    It's a good thing he calls out to her, because she looks up to sass him back, only to see -- "Ohhhh boy." Turns out those weird limb holes also have guns! Flesh guns! And Magilou does a little hopping dance backwards, arms pinwheeling. It's a good thing Ratatoskr passed by low enough to trigger her mine, or Magilou would have tripped right into it.

    "Well, that's interesting," she concludes, with a grin, once she manages to regain her balance. She reaches up to re-adjust her very big, very floppy hat.

    "But don't you 'Magichu' me! I'm MAGILOU! Magilou, the greatest sorceress to ever live! The wicked witch who has seen cities rise from settlements and mountains crumble to the sea! Herald of calamity, and witness to all the tragedies of the world! And,"

    this she adds with a wave of her finger, that shikigami still clutched between middle and index,

    "I just so happen to be on Queenie's side, right now." Another of those strange glyphs spark beneath her feet, green as the wind, and it's the first warning she's leaning into another spell. The second is her incantation: "Is it hot, or is it just me? Crown Fire!"

    A whirlwind on FIRE spirals up from below Ratatoskr; apparently, Magilou has decided that if he's so good at jumping, she'll just make taller attacks.

GS: Magilou has attacked Ratatoskr with Crown Fire!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: High! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Magilou's Crown Fire for 213 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disrupt applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Mighty applied to Magilou!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    With those shots made from her vantage point on the catwalk

    Fire explodes startlingly close to Gwen, drawing a scream from the courier's throat as she protectively crouches down, arms over her head. She feels the lick of flames and the hot pain sparking pain wash over her, and she struggles to keep from screaming again.

    Listen to your friends down there. Center yourself. Cover Ida.

    It may have been a temporary command, but if it keeps Gwen from spinning into her own raw fear, it'll do.

    She breathes, and Clarine's healing light washes away the pain, giving Gwen some respite. It's fire. She's dealt with it.

    "... Ain't lettin' you get your hands on anything else in this world..." The soldier's conviction is a worse taste for Gwen than Ganondorf's words; both have the feel of someone believing they are right. But Ganondorf didn't seem to have the same convictions as Ptolomea. Or the same manner. Or the same... what? What is it?

    Gwen just doesn't like Ptolomea's whole deal.

    So, like the upstanding former native of Little Twister, she'll just shoot him from afar as her friends deal with him directly. She readies her ARM, loading a bullet into the cartridge and-- ah, there we go. She uses Clarine's light attack as her distraction, aiming for a bullet on that very arm of Ptolomea's, similar to hers.

    She fires. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ptolomea with Crackshot!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Ptolomea wards off Brad's shots, forcing the big man to edge back. The fiery blast forces him to throw up a defensive arm, his flesh burning in the heated wave. Used the magic against him, even. Still not entirely used to how all that interacts. He's more about the gunpowder than the blast crest.

Xantia's alarm does grab his attention somewhat. "I decided not to die," Brad says, which is both basically the case and also explains nothing.

"Personal, huh," Brad says, considering it. "I can understand personal. I can even see why you'd think she's not getting much done. But if you think putting this place under Vinsfeld will help...well, Ashley's more the type to talk about justice."

He swings the Mechanical Glove up, its interior buzzing like an engine revving up. "But I can tell you you've got terrible taste."

The cannon on the Mechanical Glove finishes revving up and starts to fire, rapidly, tatatatata!! 

GS: Brad Evans enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Formation! Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with 100 Knuckle!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Clarine and then Brad himself confirm that this Brad is indeed The Real Deal, prompting a bright smile from Xantia. This is fine, she doesn't need more explanation than what they've given her. After all...

"Of course! What was I thinking? Heroes never die!" She may be taking that one a bit too literally, but it makes good enough sense to her!

No time for an extensive reunion in the middle of a fight, though. Unfortunately Xantia was more distracted than Ptolomea was, and gets her blade caught in the greater amount of blades that her opponent has to work with. In hindsight, perhaps she should not have made a contest in that particular area. She is punished for it by means of an unceremonious punch. "Ghuh--!"

Xantia took that one right in the face, and she staggers backwards. She buckles, but manages to stay upright, though her focus is definitely gone. The remnants of elemental power fade from her body, and her ARM deactivates as Xantia slides a hand across her mouth. She doesn't pay further attention to the blood she wiped away. Instead, she grins. "Ooh, you punch very good. Great, then I won't have to hold back!"

She doesn't strike right away, however. She takes a moment to process the explanation of Odessa's plan, taking it more calmly than Fei does. "Old masters, huh? That explains how you were able to get here. Well, I want to end the war with Solaris too, but if you ask me..."

Her movement is once again quick and precise. A rapid dash seems to indicate a frontal assault, but she side steps at the last moment, attempting to take Ptolomea by surprise and outflank him. This time it's not her ARM that lashes out, but the flat of her palm. In the likely event that the Odessan commander is familiar with Shevat Open Palm, it should be immediately clear that this is much more dangerous an attack than it looks. Should the strike connect, the outward pain will be nothing compared to the havoc it causes on the internals, disrupting the flow of natural energy and sapping strength considerably.

In real time, mere seconds pass before she delivers her strike, and finishes her sentence. "...Filgaia doesn't need either of you!" 

GS: Xantia has attacked Ptolomea with Essence-Rending Palm Strike!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Business is business, kiddo! These lot weren't playing nice with us so we had to do it the hard way!" she shouts up at Emeralda.

    Fei attempts to reason with her. "And? Don't give a hill of beans what it is what Solaris is doing. But we'll get 'round to 'em, too, kid! Just stand down and we can make it real easy!"

    "'Cause I can't. Easy enough, right, kiddo?" Josie says to Elly, her mouth twitching. 'Why is Odessa doing this', Elly asks of her next, and Josie snaps her head over in Ptolomea's approximate direction. "Like the big guy said. We're stoppin' a war, right," she says in response. "You want this to go easy? Then hands up, now."

    Elly does not put her hands up. Heat blooms around her in the next moment and out of reflex, Josie recoils from it, ARM cradled (because she's realized it, in her own way, what Elly's aim is) against her body.

    She smolders from the heat, particularly around the shoulders and where she grips the ARM. "Heh... nice trick," she says, before leaving the rest of her answer to come from that overheated ARM. Instead of warping the way it ought to after an application of temperature like that, it seems to be... completely unscathed, ejecting a single spiralling bullet for Elly.

    It's in this moment that Fei leaps for her, fist blazing; it slams into her upper right arm as she turns to try to evade it, sending her stumbling back a step. But he's still close to her, and this is a fact she takes advantage of, hooking out a leg to try to trip him, and once he's down, well,

    She holds there for just a moment before shooting him.

    Tidus isn't one to stay put, either; he comes in fast for her, but she's also quick: she brings up that black rifle to bear against his blade, batting it aside. Whatever it's made out of, it's without question something seriously tough--

    But in doing so she also leaves herself open for his follow-through: she can't as easily attempt to force his weapon back at this angle a second time and so he scores a hit.

    "Long way from your island, yeah?" she remarks, dropping back a step as blood oozes from the cut along her upper left arm. "Just sit down and we'll make this nice and easy-like."

    But Lily is here, and Lily being here makes things much more awkward.

    "...Yeah? You havin' second thoughts now?" she says, and for a comment like that, there's hardly anything cutting about it. Then again, Lily would know best to what she's referring.

    Just as Josie knows who the 'he' is when Lily refers to 'his plan'.

    Her lips crack in a bright, lopsided grin. "Then let's get right to it!"

    There's ice in the air, a terrible freezing burst that aims to lay Josie out right then and there. But there's a snap of ozone in the air, a burning burst of electricity spinning in a netlike weave from Josie's right hand. It catches the frost, sends it scattering back around Josie in a jagged array.

    Through the this explosion of magic upon magic Josie, one eye shut, cracks off a single shot for her erstwhile companion. That wide and almost manic smile, even if it doesn't meet her eyes, hasn't left her expression.

    Into this moment comes Emeralda, and though Josie tries to evade the discus-shaped young girl, the fact remains that getting clipped by a several-hundred-pound object is no laughing matter. Josie is send stumbling and drops to a knee for the moment; her right hand touches the floor and elecricity flows in a roll down her arm, into the floor, and out, towards the young girl... who is a nanomachine colony.

    Rising to her feet in the next moment, Josie sighs out a breath. Then quite nonchalantly, she tilts the shotgun back over her head and fires, seemingly at nothing. 

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Argent and Sable!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Liquorice Piercer!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Scarlet Tiger!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Bolt Lance!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Misery's Many Friends!
GS: Sneak! You have gained 1 Combo! Only you see this message.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Brad Evans's 100 Knuckle for 42 hit points!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!
GS: CRITICAL! Lily Keil critically guards Josephine Lovelace's Scarlet Tiger for 32 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear!
GS: Tidus takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Hook for 59 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Tidus gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease applied to Tidus!
GS: Ptolomea guards a hit from Xantia's Essence-Rending Palm Strike for 65 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Cover, Hyper, and Mighty removed!
GS: Cripple applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    There are a lot of surfaces for a bullet to richocet off of in a place like this. The single bullet travels far and wide, dancing across various surfaces before coming, like a bat out of hell, right for Tidus at a quite possibly unexpected angle. 

GS: Emeralda Kasim guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Bolt Lance for 87 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Elhaym van Houten guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Argent and Sable for 96 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

"Years. And I saw men die -- I saw us lose, consistently, to Solaris. I don't disdain her... but I disdain this system. It must be broken," Ptolomea says. "And better--ggh!"

He gets slashed and grunts sharply. "Better to live amongst ashes, than die like dogs!"

Clarine's ray strikes him. The light cutting into his side and burning. He hisses once. "A war without end--and an enemy without mercy. We've shown restraint... and it bought us nothing but dead soldiers and Solarian ascendancy."

Gwen's shot fires and slams into Ptolomea's ARM. Like so many other shots, it seems to be parried at first; sparks fly and spit, shooting up -- then the blades begin spinning rapidly, out of control. "The hell--"

He turns, looking at Gwen. "Gh--good shot, girl!" he yells. "But it looks like you know where to aim!"

Then, he looks back at Brad. "Vinsfeld will do something. Can you say that for your master?"

He turns the still spinning blades -- and many of the rounds are clipped by it, sent flying, though a few get through. Gashes and gouges are left in Ptolomea's skin and shirt. Surface wounds, to be sure; scars that add to a sea of them.

"High ideals! But ideals don't translate to action!" Ptolomea shouts back at Xantia. He is, in fact, familiar with Shevat Open Palm. His eye widens; his arm comes up, but her hand hits him.

"Gh...!" He staggers back, energy sapped, and takes a shuddering breath. Then he holds his ARM into the air -- the blades, with a worring CLICK, stop spinning and open -- and he fires a round up. It explodes above them, a powerful shockwave rolling through the nearby chamber and at all of his nearby opponents.

GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ptolomea with The One-Eyed Commander!
GS: Ptolomea has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Tidus glances at Lily, a flash of concern passing through his face. From the way she's talking, it sounds like she's got history with Josie--and that Elly girl too, from the way she talks and looks at Josie. But... well, this is hardly the first time he's felt out of place or out of the loop. All he can do is roll with it and do what he can to stop these people from wrecking the place.
    
    "-Okay! Thanks for the help!-" he thus calls back to Emeralda, waving back to the little girl as she and her parental figures hurry to join them down on ground floor. While Fei doesn't get a chance to finish his question, Tidus can guess what it was about. However, this isn't really the time for explanations, so he just says, "Later! We gotta kick these guys out first!" He doesn't know all the politics involved, but if that Ptolomea guy wants to put Shevat under Vinsfeld's heel--and Tidus *does* know him--then he's all *against* that.
    
    Josie says they're here to stop a war. Tidus rolls his eyes. "You guys are full of crap," he says, before locking arms and ARMS with Josie. They push off against each other, and Josie opens fire. Tidus definitely isn't one to stay put--but that means, since Josie's able to read his movements to an extent, he puts himself right in the way of her ricocheted bullet. Fortunately, it scores only a shallow hit, but it still hurts like crazy, adding to the agony that Painra spell is still prickling into him.
    
    "Augh!" he groans, hissing through his teeth. He grits them, then channels a technique through his watery-looking sword. Three different unpleasant-looking lights cling to its edge, and when he jumps forward to slice into Josie's ARM-wielding arm, they might then cling to her in kind. It's not so much a spell as a technique, but it's a strange power all the same. 

GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Triple Foul!
GS: Tidus takes 19 damage from Poison!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea has activated a Boss Action!
GS: Ptolomea accepts Ptolomea's The One-Eyed Commander for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Cover and Mighty applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Ptolomea spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Seraph Clarine with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Brad Evans with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Xantia with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has canceled their attack on Ida Everstead-Rey.
GS: Ptolomea has canceled their attack on Seraph Clarine.
GS: Ptolomea has canceled their attack on Gwen Whitlock.
GS: Ptolomea has canceled their attack on Brad Evans.
GS: Ptolomea has canceled their attack on Xantia.
GS: Ptolomea spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Seraph Clarine with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Brad Evans with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Xantia with Ptolomea Dynamite!
GS: Ptolomea has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ptolomea with The One-Eyed Commander!
GS: Ptolomea has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea accepts Ptolomea's The One-Eyed Commander for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Cover and Mighty applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Brad Evans guards a hit from Ptolomea's Ptolomea Dynamite for 182 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Brad Evans gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Brad Evans activates Countermeasures!
GS: Seraph Clarine critically guards Ptolomea's Ptolomea Dynamite for 58 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Brad Evans has activated a Force Action!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Tidus's Triple Foul for 74 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dispel! Amplify and Hyper removed!
GS: Disease and Disrupt applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Ptolomea Dynamite for 300 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes an additional 15 damage from Reaper!
GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Ptolomea's Ptolomea Dynamite for 160 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Magilou introduces herself, and there is an enraptured grin on Ratatoskr's face which is generally there, and he's taking in all the boasts and proclamations like they might even be the truth despite never having really heard the name before.

     "Hyahaha--! So that's your name," he rises, but that's as much as he gets to say between 'and,' and 'I just so happen.' Since his eyes are solid color, it's not easy to read where he's tracking by eyes alone, but they light up again as that strange glyph appears underneath. He gets ready to move again, looking ahead... and not at his own feet beneath. The moment he feels the heat, it's too late.

     Also there's a 'pop' noise as compressed air violently expels itself aaaaaand guess what Shevat better like quicksilver as a paint color because they might not be able to get some of that out.

     (he's okay)

     "Hyaaaa---!" A screech as the intense heat overtakes Ratatoskr, launching him up and drowsily disorienting him as his innate Hyadean regeneration goes to knitting the worst at his limbs. He's down at a kneel for a bit, energy sparking from his horn.

     "...Most don't introduce themselves to me," he says in a low voice, "...it means a lot that you did... I'm Ratatoskr," he finds this joy enough to start standing back up, "designated Rapid Attacker of the Metal Demon armies prior to Mother's fall... and one who seeks to fight all the great war heroes amongst humanity so that they'll be remembered...!" His voice is breathy, but still carries that youthful arrogance as smoke hisses from partially melted armor plating. "...And I really want to know, Magilou..."

     Energy continues to build at the horn on his head, a widening grin. "Why aren't you made of fire?"

     The beam shoots out, threatening to strike her dead-center but the bigger threat is that he's not shutting up and further elaborating because Patience Damage has very few resistances. "I see patterns like that on the ground from walking and floating masses of shadow... wind... light... electricity... and they produce that, just like that...!" He reasons, sustaining the beam while he asks.

     "You're making fire the same way but you don't look like fire! How? How! I want to know...!" 

GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Magilou with Yggdrasil Burst!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Drowsy expired!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Burst for 158 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Liquorice Piercer for 64 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda hits the ground after clipping Josie, ricochets off the floor slightly with a sound more like the ring of steel than the thump of someone landing from a jump, unrolls into a more normal shape (it could have been your imagination...) and lands more properly, skidding a foot or two before she gets her momentum under control.

"Yeah, but..."

Emeralda doesn't really have a response to that, or at least not a great one. Not at first. She's hesitant for a few moments, as if she doesn't want to keep attacking Josie, who gave her a nickname, who she spoke with so long ago.

"...I figured it out," Emeralda says. She says this with the tone of voice that suggests she's just figuring things out right now. "You were always lying, weren't you? Nobody wanted to tell me where you went or why but I heard, later. And now you're here, fighting Shevat, when all they want to do is help!"

"I don't know if you're a bad person, but you do *bad things*. And... that's wrong!" Emeralda is not stupid, but she is - in some ways - simple. Black and white, still. And what Odessa does - what Josie does - is not right.

"...Were you always bad? Were you ever anyone's friend? Or did you just want to do this?"

Emeralda might have said more, but there's still combat going on. And Josie is going after not only Lily, who is a friend, and Tidus, who she doesn't know well at all, but Fei and Elly - and Fei and Elly are the two most important living people in Emeralda's life.

And, of course, herself. Emeralda takes a step forward, just in time for the ground to turn against her. Lightning courses through her from foot to tip, sparking; it dances across her in crawling bolts in a way that electricity really shouldn't on a person. It makes her slump for a moment before she reenergizes, pulling herself together (possibly literally) and sees her shooting at Fei.

"Stop it! Don't hurt them!" Emeralda practically bounces in place. "If you're going to fight, fight me instead. And - I'll stop you!" Like a hero, she thinks. She can be a hero. After a moment's hesitation, Emeralda swings her head, sweeping it around in an arc. It makes her a little dizzy. It also seems harmless.

It seems harmless right until the point that Emeralda's hair, already very long and very shaggy, begins to braid itself into an oversized green arm with an even more oversized green fist on the end of it. On one of Emeralda's head-sweeps, it swings at Josie, a massive horizontal blow at full extension, even bigger than her hair normally is. 

GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Hairmaker!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Tidus's courageous statement to Josie is heartening to Elly, somehow; it takes away some of the seeping dread of this feeling. He came to join them, without hesitation, despite his other duties, his other responsibilities. Elly breathes out, even as she feels her jaw tighten to see Emeralda vault forwards--

Her eyes cut towards Fei for a moment, then back to Josie.

"... These people have made their decision," she says to her. "They have no interest in pressing any claim on the future the surface will make. If you want to stop and to reach out with them, you might be able to defeat Gebler and Solaris once and for all. I know Odessa has enormous power," Elly continues. "If your goal is really to defeat Solaris, then--"

MEANWHILE, OVER TOWARDS A SEALED SPACE IN THE HANGAR, enclosed in layers of metal and carbonite-protective material with a signal junction box: an indicator bar, that had sat at one glow point out of eight so long that the light had faded into near-death -- flickers up to two bars out of eight. For a moment, three.

BUT THAT'S NOT WHERE ELLY IS:

She is making a broad sweeping gesture with her hand towards Josie. As she does it, Josie shoots at her -- well, that isn't that much of a surprise, is it? The spiralling bullet runs another bloody gash into her arm, though at least this is not the kind of bloody gash that has high pressure behind it. Elly's face blanches but she finishes what she was doing; a sort of horseshoe of red on the ground which erupts into an enclosing, fencing shape round Elly that ripples out a moment later, as if to force Josie back.

This has been kind of gentle, in a lot of ways? Even Elly isn't sure why. She finds something that is close enough to a fighting staff - a two-meter metal rod, probably used to tamp some Gear crap into other Gear crap (or which is, itself, Gear crap) - in the space behind that cluster of boxes.

But --

I don't want to hit her again, Elly thinks bleakly. Oh, god, she thinks, for the second time in perhaps the last five years: I can't break down right now. Come on, she thinks, just fence them in, drive them out, or OFF... Emeralda, she prays, please be safe--

GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Thermo Boundary!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Emeralda Kasim's Hairmaker for 160 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Boundary for 100 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Entangle applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Ptolomea Dynamite for 311 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"No," Lily answers Josie. "I'll do what I have to do."

Emeralda, Elly, and Fei being on the way down is at least--well, it's worse in some ways, but reassuring in most. They're in danger too, but... there's not people she could rely on more in a situation like this. Even if Josie brings a question to that. Who else would turn on them that way?

But to stop a war, is it? "The war doesn't need to stop," Lily answers darkly. And she notices Josie snapping her magic back away--of course, Josie would know better than most Lily's style of casting. So she'll have to do something either different... or overpowering. Maybe both.

She sees that mania. She sees the shot. This time, Lily brings up a hand and a barrier of dark force shimmers into existence, shredding the bullet whose pieces slam against Lily's armor, a single piece deflecting to slash along her cheek in a red line. "Careful," Lily says to Tidus. "She's good. ...But she has a weak point in her hand."

Emeralda--she figures it out. Lily listens to the way she answers Josie, and her lips press together.

"No," Lily says. "You're acting like this is no big deal, but..."

She brings her stance together, and looks to Josie. "Lying all along, or things changing... It doesn't matter right now. We both know that."

"I should be angry," Lily says. "...But I'm not."

She then surges forward, fire gathering all around her form before she jumps and lands in a crouch, an arc of blazing flame rushing forward like in a shockwave of magical power that narrows down in transit to a single column, horizontal at Josephine. Lily keeps up the blast, fire blasting out in a torrent until it changes--not orange-red but sickly yellow-gold, bursting into an explosion that could blind anyone looking at it easily, that makes certain atmospheric alarms even worse than before.

"...We'll see who walks away. But I won't give you my anger." 

GS: Lily Keil spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Flame Break!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has launched an attack Link!
GS: Lily Keil enters the Avenger stance!
GS: Lily Keil spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Catastrophe!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida's lips tighten into a thin line. "On that," she says, "we agree. But you won't be the ones to break it."

    Ida's body sweeps through a final slashing arc, and ends up facing Ptolemy; she stares him down, even as his blood drips from her blades. "Vinsfeld is fighting a war on two fronts," she says, matter-of-factly. "Do you honestly think Solaris hasn't infiltrated your ranks? That they haven't made plans in case he's victorious? The last time Solaris happened to you, they caught you completely off-guard, pinned you between them and us. How many of your soldiers died when the Warwing fell? I saw you're using more clones these days."

    And then, before she can say anything more, her mouth falls open. Ida's arms whip up, exoskeleton flowing back into place, but it's already too late. She's at point-blank range. The shockwave slams into her, sends her flying like a thrown ragdoll. She hits the ground back-first with a horrid, scraping crunch. Pain shoots through her right shoulder. She feels something warm and slick pouring down her right arm.

    Ida looks down, and sees a chunk of shrapnel poking out of her. It lodged in the floor, and she landed on it. "Ngh," she chokes out. Sparkling dots shoot through her vision--not Clarine's shield, which is long gone, but phantom imagery from blood loss. She braces her teeth, sets her feet, prepares herself for pain.

    Ida forces herself upright. Her flesh parts around the shrapnel. Biometal flows to plug the hole, but every inch is agonizing. She grits her jaw until her teeth begin to creak. "You've lost..." Ida chokes out.

    In the back of her mind, he stirs, sees Ptolomea through the haze. A soldier, returned to force his people into a war they will not survive.

    Biometal flesh sluices out from every pore, hardening into armor as it contacts air. It's blue and gold and black and red, sleek and streamlined--baroque and artful in places, scaled and businesslike in others.

    "We've endured worse," Ida breathes, as she finds her balance and rises to her full height. "And we'll endure worse, to keep these people from becoming fodder for Vinsfeld's ambitions."

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes an additional 15 damage from Reaper!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts 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: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Reaper expired!

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"R-right," Fei says to Tidus. Good to know that the blitzball superstar has his priorities in order because Fei sure didn't.

His eyes widen as Emeralda demands to be fought instead of them. "Em... We're your family, we can't just--" He remains completely oblivious to what's going on in that sealed space.

He nods once to Elly instead, taking in a sharp breath. He can hear Ptolomea's shouts. It hits hard. He knows how it feels to see good men and women die. They weren't always by his hand, some part of him tells him.

He's not wrong

"You're not wrong. But we're going to break it our way, not in a way we'll be ashamed of later." Fei says to Ptolomea, then to Josie. "Will you be able to say the same in the end?"

He is swept out from underneath his feet and goes crashing to the ground. Josie follows up with BULLET but Fei brings his arms in the way. The bullet slams into his skin, indenting harshly--

--before tumbling away from his body.

Fei spins his hands around once before slamming both palms towards Josie's midsection, unleashing an equilized burst of chi to explode out from him and into her, stabilizing his own equilibrium in the process.

"If I just start breaking things because they need to be broken," Fei says. "Then who will be left? I can say that ashes aren't all they're cracked up to be." 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Yin Yang Strike!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 3 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

"Brace!" Brad shouts, just as the blades abruptly stop spinning. He's got his Mechanical Glove up already when the shockwave from Ptolomea rips down, fragments of fractured metal and raw heat washing across a projected energy barrier that ripples worryingly with each strike. Nothing quite breaks it, but Brad still looks shaken from it, releasing a deep breath. "Irving? I think he's got more in mind than he lets on...but I'm not that interested in him, honestly."

He stands up taller, and starts quietly programming the Mechanical Glove. "But I know what Vinsfeld's gonna do, 'cuz he did it to me already. That man will burn everything good in world just to rule over ashes he calls 'orderly'. 'N' you're gonna let him."

He looks up to Ptolomea as the white-light particulate of the Glove starts forming a heavy-duty machine on his shoulders, supporting struts casting down toward the floor. "Me, though. I've got a good team. I've got a good leader who's got a good girl waiting for him back home. I've got a good friend who's gonna find her way back to a good person she lost come Hell or high water!" The weapons materialize ontop of him, two heavy-duty missile launchers (and matching noise-canceling headset, thank you) which roar and release a barrage of fire across Ptolomea and all of his men.

Then Brad grips a handle on the Glove and yanks it hard, causing the whole apparatus to shatter into scattered motes, which swirl around him as the ARM rapidly assembles a new piece. "And as for me, I've got a good man waiting for me, and a good girl I owe more than I can ever repay! And You can't have any of it!"

He shifts his stance, grabbing a support handle at the same second it becomes solid in his grip, a tank-scale minigun materializing in his hands.

"The girl's right, Ptolomea. I almost let myself forget what 'he' taught me. A hero never dies. Not as long as he's got something to fight for. Which means you'll never kill me!"

Thunder drowns the room, as the minigun spins up and fires a seemingly endless supply of bullets at the Cocytus elite. 

GS: Brad Evans spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with Force Limit Released - ARM X1!
GS: Brad Evans has launched an attack Link!
GS: Brad Evans has activated a Force Action!
GS: Brad Evans has activated a Force Action!
GS: Brad Evans spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with Dual Heavy ARM Deployment - ARM X2!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Gamble: Low! Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Brad Evans's Force Limit Released - ARM X1 for 160 hit points!
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Brad Evans's Dual Heavy ARM Deployment - ARM X2 for 40 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Oooh, that looked like it stung, Magilou thinks to herself, without much remorse to speak of. Neither does the thought have much malice about it; Odessa isn't really Magilou's personal bugbear, so she doesn't really have a reason to be mad at this young man who really just seems like he's having a good time.

    Later, everyone will tell her about how they almost dropped out of the sky courtesy Odessa, but Magilou absolutely slept through that, so she's not holding any grudges. (Aside from the one for Bienfu for waking her up.) (Magilou, did you really expect to just sleep through the invasion?) (Oh, right, of course you did.)

    All that to say Ratatoskr introduces himself, and Magilou taps her fingers to her forehead, with an easy grin. "'Rapid Attacker', huh? You sure are that. Nice to meet you, Ratatoskr!" At no point does she... holster? Pocket? Put away, the strange paper doll which seems to be the conduit of her magic, so evidently despite her cheery greeting she's still in the mood to fight.

    She might have launched into a grand triade about how she's the greatest war hero (war villain? It's kind of hard to tell) in history, except that the combat chinchilla (YOU'RE DOING THAT ON PURPOSE, MAGILOU!) has both a question and an astoundingly dangerous trick building up. To both of them she leans forward, cupping a hand behind her ear, as if to say, 'oho, oho!'

    And then she straightens up, and her grin absolutely says, 'oho, oho'. Eyes on the laser, her first answer is... "Look, a shooting star!" -- wait, no, that's not an answer, that's her habitual invocation of lesser magics, as her hand lifts and drops with that shikigami to invoke a hurtling meteor of ice. It barrels through the energy as Ratatoskr launches it towards her, and thus carved the beam scours at her limbs instead of blasting straight through her middle.

    Also Ratatoskr now has another comet to deal with, alongside the meteoric existence which is him. See, Magilou is nice! She got him a friend to play with.

    Spell launched, she stretches her scorched arms out over her head, scuff-marks on those strange detacted sleeves which betray the hurt below. Her voice is amicable, despite the wounds. "You know, most people aren't brave enough to come out and ask. You're right! A mortal would have no hope of using Althena's Blessing like I do. Buuut..."

    She streetches her arms out to either side of her, before they fall to her sides. "... I'm a duo act!" She winks to Ratatoskr, lifting her hands again to point finger-guns at him, shikigami doll held in the curled knuckles of her middle and ring fingers. "Call us 'old-fashioned'."

GS: Magilou has attacked Ratatoskr with Spirit Drop!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Your next attack with the Sneak flag will display with the name Yesterday's Hit and Run.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Heroes never die, huh...? Clarine goes a little quiet at that, eventually deciding it would be better to let Xantia continue thinking that for a while longer. It's good that she can still have that kind of optimism.

"...I see." Clarine replies, as Ptolomea explains his reasoning. "You have my sympathy, though I acknowledge it may mean little in the current situation..."

Even if she can understand why he's doing this, it won't stop her from trying to, well, stop him. She doesn't want to think of what will happen if Odessa is able to take control of the resources of Shevat.

Worrying even still is that click as Ptolomea raises his ARM. A round is fired upward... and in such close quarters, the shockwave engulfs all of them. Once more, Clarine directs her mirrors forward to take the brunt of the attack. Several of them crack, splinter, and shatter into motes of light of the strain and Clarine winces from the backlash and the aftermath both, but with some effort she remains upright.

Brad's speech, and Ida's defiance... they're buoying. Clarine nods in agreement.

"...As they say. We shall not falter, whether it be before Odessa or Solaris, or any who threaten this world..." Clarine says, and holds her arms in front of her. "So, everyone... hold strong...!"

A Seraphic glyph flashes to life beneath her feet, shining its light around her.

"Root of all creation, grant us the breath of life..." Clarine incants. And then she spreads her arms, and as she does the circle expands, encompassing her nearest allies. "Revitalize!"

As she completes the incantation, light shines from the circle - warm and invigorating, washing away pain and giving the strength to stand once more. 

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Brad Evans with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Revitalize!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Ida Everstead-Rey! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Ratatoskr fully evades Magilou's Spirit Drop for 0 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Xantia! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Fei Fong Wong's Yin Yang Strike for 40 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine heals Brad Evans! He gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Lily Keil's Flame Break for 34 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Lily Keil's Catastrophe for 130 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Ptolomea is... complimenting her?

    Gwen looks bewildered.

    Well, it *was* a fine shot. Gwen *did* know where to aim. But so does Ptolomea, now, if he decides to pay in kind.

     What Ptolomea comes up with is much, much worse.

    The shockwave is enough to through Gwen off her perch, leaving her on a fast descent down to the ground where the whole lot of them all are, with a painful-sounding impact of body hitting hard stone.

    "... frickin.... _ow_...." She raises halfway, squeezing one eye shut with a wheeze that seems theatrical, and in some sense, it is. One second is all this man or any of the other Odessan operatives needs to turn the tide, and if she can play the foolish courier taking a bump, she'll do it. Because movement seems like a far cry from a good idea right at this second.

    Until Clarine comes and translates her faith in Brad words and Ida's bravery into a balm, giving Gwen the necessary push to get back to her feet.

    "You've been through hell, sounds like, but it don't mean that you have justification. Xantia's been through hell n' back, and she still believes in what she says. Ida has seen the darkness in her soul and in others, but she still stands solid. Brad defied *death* by survivin' the hell dimension as long as he had, n' he's still holdin' to his ideals. Clarine is older than I can imagine, yet she still chooses t'fight alongside us all! I could go on n' on, but I think I'm makin' my point pretty clear here. We hold true to what we believe in. People like us... we're a threat to Vinsfield just because we don't fall into the box he needs. We still keep hopeful, and that's the worst part of all!"

    Her voice did crack a little there, and Ida will likely recognize the grin on Gwen's face as she runs in to throw her fist straight at Ptolomea's face, if Ida herself isn't already occupied as it is.

    It's the grin she always has when she's biting back a scream. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ptolomea with Gut Reaction!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Ptolomea guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's Gut Reaction for 89 hit points!
GS: Ptolomea activates Guard bonus!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    ELSEWHERE

     A disaffected Shevat soldier speaks his desires for something other than this losing battle. Good friends have to reconcile dealing with someone who has built up their trust and betrayed them for some purpose. It's a desperate, pitched war zone for the sake of a nation on its last legs in its long, long war against Solaris' ambitions - threatening to be torn apart not by its ages-long foe, but someone who has found enough disaffected people underneath a charismatic banner.

     HERE

     There is currently a game of catch underway.

     Ratatoskr tilts his head to avoid the ball of ice, the last of the horn laser's discharge slicing it into two as he tries to raise a clawed hand to catch it, but no, the halves just go straight past. One clatters low, another bounces off a support beam up high where he leaps up and catches it on the rebound - large enough to require both hands. Though the presence of claws are there, and ice is an ephemeral thing at this temperature, he clutches it with such care that not even direct contact with said claws leave a scuff mark.

     "This is ice...!" He states the obvious, but his interest is continually piqued. "A duo act? A duo act! Hyahaha---! I see it now... fire and ice... yes." His eyes light up as he thinks to kneel and set the half-of-a-comet down on the ground with ginger and frankly unnecessary care, its fate is sealed. "Such subterfuge," he approaches, where the more threatening prospect in all of this is that he has looked at a thesaurus lately, going down on all fours and bolting towards... no, a bit off to the side of Magilou? He rights up, slams a hand against the wall in a space between her face and the shikigami doll if allowed, as he leans in menacingly towards said shikigami doll.

     "So... where are they? Where are they!" He leans menacingly towards the shikigami doll like... it could answer. "This 'duo...' where is the fire and the ice? Where is the fire and the ice! I want to meet them too!"

     His tail flexes, the segmented metal plates relaxing. "I bet the two of them are strong... if they're brave enough to show themselves...!"

     He appears to be fundamentally misunderstanding the answer and working himself into a particular kind of youthful, boyish enthusiasm someone of his background should have lost at least a handful of years ago. 

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Bearing Witness!!
GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Ratatoskr accepts Ratatoskr's Bearing Witness! for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify and Burst applied to Ratatoskr!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Heartened by the successful strike - if not exactly where she aimed, but that matters little for the effect - Xantia raises her fist in response to Ptolomea's assertion. "I think I translate things into action just fine, don't you? I'm sorry for your losses, but it'll be different this time! We'll show you!"

She looks on with confusion when her opponent directs his weapon somewhere where there's no one to attack. Then her eyes widen with alarm when she hears something snap into place. Her instinct tells her she needs to move - now. As always, she obeys her instinct, quickly leaping back and dropping to the ground.

Quick reflexes save her from being forcibly flattened instead of doing so voluntarily, but that doesn't mean it feels great to have an explosion that massive going off in the same room. The shockwave presses down on her hard, and sends a considerable amount of heat washing over her.

It takes a bit of time to pick herself up afterwards, looking considerably worse from the back than she does from the front, but... she's still conscious, and she's still in one piece. Which means she can still fight.

Brad's words further revitalize her, bringing a smile to her lips in spite of the pain. She doesn't believe she counts as a hero anymore, but that's still a sentiment she can get behind. She certainly doesn't intend to die when there's so much to fight for.

"...I really am sorry for what you've gone through," she begins, even as she stretches out her right arm, reforming the energy blade generated by her bracer. "But like Brad said... nothing will change with you in charge. It's just trading one form of control for another." Her smile deepens when she feels the familiar sensation of Clarine's healing magic, giving her the strength she needed. She once again assumes an offensive stance, ARM blade at the ready.

"No matter how many of you there are... I will keep fighting until Filgaia is finally free!"

With that, she charges. There's no feint involved - this is a true frontal assault using her energy blade. And it's bigger this time, burning more intensely than before. As ill-fated as it was before, she now purposely seeks out a blade-to-blade duel. Slashing away again and again, seeking to overcome the disadvantage through sheer tenaciousness. Her eyes have that look from before again. Full of determination and a certain subtle menace, seeking to relay that no matter the odds, no matter what it takes... she will succeed. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Ptolomea with Vermilion Sundering!
GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Riposte expired!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Low! Ptolomea takes a glancing hit from Xantia's Vermilion Sundering for 87 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Heh," Josie replies, a bright smile on her lips as Tidus says they're full of crap. "Same as everyone else, right?" she asks of him, grinning as they first lock and break away, taking up their respective positions again on this makeshift battlefield. "C'mon, show me again what you're made of--"

    Tidus does, after a fashion, a strike with that watery blade of his that cuts more than skin, that leaves Josie recoiling as she breaks from their latest entanglement. "Guardian's green hell, what was that?"

    She doesn't wait for an answer, instead laying in on him more directly than before, raising up that shotgun and swinging it directly at him as if it were a bludgeon rather than a ranged weapon. It would be a silly proposition except for this:

    That's no mere shotgun. It's a Devil Arm.

    There is a moment's pause Josie answers Emeralda.

    "...Heh. Got it in one, kiddo. I was just usin' you lot, right from the start." She takes one step towards the girl, watching her carefully there on the floor. She smiles; it's not kind. "So, what're you gonna do now?"

    The declaration that Josie has been doing bad things isn't what causes that look on her face to falter. Neither is the one wherein Emeralda wonders if she'd always been bad. It's the question of,

    'Were you ever anyone's friend'?

    "Tch. Ain't you got the answer by now and all, kiddo?" Josie wonders.

    "Then go 'n do it," she answers Lily. "...Thinking like a soldier again, are you? You and he were always lookin' for the next fight... Then again, I ain't so different now, right?" Though she does shoot Lily a glance that could cut glass. "Now that there's just dirty, kiddo. Kid," and now she's addressing Tidus, "you even try that and I'll make you regret it. Promise."

    "And? We'll deal with Solaris when we come to it. But if you think that shit's any concern of mine, kiddo," she says to Elly, "you've got another think comin'. Now, what's it gonna be? We keep dancin' like this and all? Or are you gonna stand down?"

    That bullet rolls away from Fei's body.

    She stands like that atop Fei, ARM aimed as she watches him almost expectantly. Her finger eases over the trigger as she takes another breath. But before she can do anything, he's risen to his feet, raising both hands against her and slamming into her midsection.
    Or perhaps it would be better to say, they slam right into that black ARM. With all the strength she can, she tries to press back against him, to force him back just long enough to attempt to, again, trip him up and drop him. How does the saying go, fool me once, shame on you... 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Ashes, huh," she says to him, regardless of how he ends up, regardless of how their dance unfolds. "A little late for more 'n ashes. Say 'hi' to Leon for me," she says, then pulls the trigger.

    It's as she shoots at Fei again that Emeralda takes those growing feelings of hers and bounds directly into Josie's path, shouting at her to stop. "Then make--"

    Josie doesn't get to finish that statement. Sweeping her entire head of hair for her, it would have seemed to have been a useless attempt at a distraction, except for that fact that Emeralda is Emeralda. Josie tries to twist out of the way of the hairfist but it connects with her solidly, a blow that takes her right off her feet and sends her sprawling across the metal floor.

    Elly takes quick advantage of this situation. Heat floods the area directly surrounding where Josie is laid out, keeping her away from immediately striking back at Emeralda.

    "Tch," Josie hisses out again, rising slowly to her feet. There's no easy way for her to advance or maneuver, but so be it--

    That black ARM of hers sweeps first for Elly, perhaps in the idea that felling her might make short work of the obstacle keeping her pinned in this particular spot; the shot crackles with magical might, the better to force it through the barrier. And then, Josie aims higher. At a glance, this shouldn't hit anyone. But Josie, as her old allies may know, does not necessarily have to be shooting at something in order to hit it.

    "Is it a big deal?" she shoots back to Lily. "Maybe to you 'n yours. Me, I've got other things due thinkin' about, and it ain't you lot." Her lips curl in a cruel smile. "And you're still not gonna get angry--"

    There may be fire between her and Lily. It doesn't matter much to Lily, who comes right on through it like an avenging angel. The flames that had once curled around Josie curl around Lily now, and even now, Josie can't help but smile. Especially when that golden fire comes burning for her.

    She sways when the flames clear, her jacket smoldering.

    "You won't, huh... so what am I gonna get to remember you by?"

    When she shoots at Lily in the next heartbeat, it isn't for her but rather around her, the air peppered with bullets. It's a warning, a taste of what is to come. Josie leaps into the air, vaulting high above Lily in the next. She only pulls the trigger once, golden flame swirling down her arm as it travels along with the electrical current, feeding it into the chambered bullet and returning it to Lily. 

GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Mute expired!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Hunting Minotaur!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Figure of Eight!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Scorched Wing!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Sneak!! Your feint does not reveal that you spent 2 Combo on Headshot Better get that pose addition ready.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Yesterday's Hit and Run!
GS: Sneak! You have gained 2 Combo! Only you see this message.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with The Herald!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has launched an attack Link!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with The Flame!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo!
GS: You have finished a Link/Follow chain!
GS: Break expired!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear!
GS: CRITICAL! Emeralda Kasim critically guards Josephine Lovelace's Silver Cloud for 38 hit points!
GS: Emeralda Kasim activates Guard bonus!
GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's The Herald for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam and Slow applied to Lily Keil!
GS: Lily Keil guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's The Flame for 102 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Slow applied to Lily Keil!

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Of course it doesn't need to strike directly at Emeralda -- Josie has a good idea of where Emeralda is standing and what angles might take her bullet from where she aims at to the young girl. It rebounds across the vents and the ceiling for a long time before finally finding its way to Emeralda. 

GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Scorched Wing for 68 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam applied to Elhaym van Houten!
GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Sufferer!
GS: Elhaym van Houten enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

"Of course I do. Solaris isn't in our ranks, because I shot the six Gebler that we found myself. You provide a great deal of advice. I prefer deeds," Ptolomea answers Ida. "And no, I don't think you have."

He lunges at her, the bladed claws snapping open. They grab down at Ida's body -- then he lifts her, and the blades CRUNCH down, before he snaps his ARM and arm to the side, and tries to hurl Ida away from him.

The missiles that Brad fires slam into him, a moment later. Explosions push him backward, causing him to grunt sharply; blood runs from the corner of his mouth, as he turns, and starts to run forward. "A hero... a hero does a damn lot more than not dying!"

He charges Brad, slamming into the minigun shots. The blades spin, deflecting some -- but not all -- but he rushes Brad because he knows well that while he's grabbing that support handle, he is less mobile.

The blades snap together -- and he SLAMS them at the side of Brad's head, then follows up with a slam downward across the other soldier. "A hero is the one left standing... when the cowards have thrown away his comrades' lives!"

He looks back at Clarine -- and shakes his head. "Your sympathy is appreciated... but isn't what will change things!" He rushes in, closer to Clarine. He sweeps the blade out in a powerful arc, cutting at her with a mighty swing.

Gwen's on him, a moment later. The punch knocks him back, and he spits to the ground, with a grunt. He swings the blade arm for Gwen, then turns. Xantia charges -- and he just manages to swing his bladed arm, parrying her blade.

He breaks it -- and she slashes into his side, as he stabs the closed triple blades at her.

GS: Ptolomea spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Power Lift!
GS: Ptolomea has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ptolomea has launched an attack Link!
GS: Ptolomea spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Steel Crusher!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Brad Evans with Old Soldier Strike!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Seraph Clarine with Saber Shatter!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Saber Shatter!
GS: Ptolomea has attacked Xantia with Saber Shatter!
GS: Ptolomea has completed his action.
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Saber Shatter for 178 hit points!
GS: Seraph Clarine enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Seraph Clarine has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Ptolomea's Power Lift for 0 hit points!
GS: Entangle and Shieldbreak applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ptolomea's Steel Crusher for 188 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Ptolomea's Saber Shatter for 113 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Xantia guards a hit from Ptolomea's Saber Shatter for 112 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Xantia activates Guard bonus!
GS: Xantia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Brad Evans guards a hit from Ptolomea's Old Soldier Strike for 102 hit points!
GS: Reaper applied to Brad Evans!
GS: Brad Evans takes an additional 15 damage from Reaper!
GS: CRITICAL! Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 122 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

The confidence displayed in Clarine helps strengthen her own sometimes-shaky confidence. If they think so highly of her, then, well... she must surely step up to meet it.

Ptolomea charges her, then, weapon at the ready. Mirrors rise to defend, but they are already weakened from his previous attack. The Iron Saber cleaves right through Clarine's mirrors... and right through Clarine herself. Were she a mortal, it would be a rather grisly wound. Even for a Seraph it is quite grievous - an arc cut right through her form, emitting golden light.

Clarine lets out a small gasp of surprise and recoils back... and yet, there is still a small smile on her face.

"No... no, it will not." She admits, shaking her head sadly. "But... that is why I have put my trust in these people - cast my lot in with them. Because I believe they will change things for the better..."

With those words her form dissipates into a sphere of light, which retreats away above...

Those familiar with the Seraphim may know that she will be fine once she has had some time to recover... but it's still rather alarming to see! 

GS: CRITICAL! Tidus takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Hunting Minotaur for 38 hit points!
GS: Break applied to Tidus!

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Tidus gives a thumbs-up to Fei and a hopefully-uplifting nod and smile to Elly--he doesn't know her *super* well, but he remembers from the last time they met that she has a sort of nervous disposition, and things have seemed rough for her of late--before double-taking at Emeralda. She seems like a sweet kid, but did she seriously just hurl an oversized punch at Josie with her *hair*?! He shakes his head, bewildered, and focuses. There's lots of weird stuff in the world(s). Now isn't the time to get mind-boggled by them.
    
    "Break it our way, huh," he instead mutters, thinking of Sin and many Sin-adjacent things. Then he shakes his head and grimaces at Lily's warning. "Yeah, I can tell," he says, of Josie being good--but she has a weakness on her hand, huh? "Got it!" Before he goes in on the attack, though, Josie tells him she'll make him regret it if he tries. He scoffs. "What, scared I really will show you what I'm made of?"
    
    Still, it's not as though a hand is an easy target, and with Lily having just said that out loud, Josie'll probably try to protect it--violently, if need be. Maybe it'd be better if he *faked* going after it so she'll raise her guard over her hand and drop her guard over the rest of herself.
    
    He also doesn't explain what in guardian's green hell that attack was. Tidus instead jeers, "Like I'd tell you that!" She can just go ahead and wonder!
    
    She can also swing around a Devil Arm to bludgeon him. While Tidus isn't familiar with the weapon, it has a creepy, dangerous vibe to it, and he twists to try to avoid getting struck. This is mostly successful--he gets sideswiped rather than hit dead-on--but makes contact all the same, and it hurts like *hell*, especially with the effects of Painra still lingering. He grunts in pain and staggers back a few steps.
    
    Then he digs in his heels and crouches, leaning forward to boost his speed when he launches himself into motion. Then, dashing towards Josie, he swipes at her from one side, screeches to a halt, dashes in another direction, swipes again, halts, dashes, swipes, halts, dashes, swipes, until Josie is potentially covered in injuries and dizzy from all the running around Tidus has done around her. 

GS: Tidus spends 1 Combo on Link!
GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Slice and Dice!
GS: Tidus has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Tidus has launched an attack Link!
GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Quick Hit!
GS: Tidus takes 24 damage from Poison!
GS: Poison expired!
GS: Tidus has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily wishes she could think of philosophy now, but... It all rings hollow, in comparison to the moment. What they will break, and how...

Thinking like a soldier again. "It's what I am," Lily answers. "For better and worse." A wry look, though. "Dirty, is it? I'll keep that in mind."

A big deal? Josie inquires, and Lily shakes her head. It may be inaudible, over the rush of fire in her magic, but it may not. "I don't believe you," she answers.

The air peppers with bullets around Lily, and it is not a surprise somehow that the impact doesn't hit her to start. She's penned in by it all the same, unable to move out of the way in the moment, and she notes that electrical current--the golden flame shooting straight back for her, her own magic as always a vulnerability. She doesn't bother dodging the attack that isn't an attack--she focuses on the Flame, and suddenly her skin ices over. All over her form frost chills outward to counteract the fire rushing at her, even as her armored jacket burns up under the force of it. It still hurts, of course; there are still burns and scalding there, when Lily is done. Particularly as, after that, she shrugs out of her jacket and lets it fall to the ground, blue circuitry fading even as her ice shield does.

'So what am I gonna get to remember you by?'

"...If you can't remember me by now," Lily answers softly, "Then that would hurt more than the fire, easy."

Then she springs into action. Darkness wreathes her form--and she disappears into shadow, fading from easy view in a cloud of darkness that surges for Josephine. Along the metallic ground her footsteps rustle softly, pads of her thick boots shifting faster than they should be able to. She moves straight into the heart of Tidus's multi-strike attack, moving around him as smoothly as the dark itself.

Above all it is cold when it comes, the cold of the void as Lily makes her way up and is suddenly properly visible again--right in front of her enemy and friend, knife point-down and blade out as she hacks with it across in a diagonal, rushing past and stopping on the other side still facing the other direction for an instant before she turns.

"...I know I won't forget you." 

GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action!
GS: Lily Keil spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Lily Keil has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Black Wolf's Claw!
GS: Lily Keil has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Tidus's Slice and Dice for 113 hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Tidus's Quick Hit for 107 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Delay applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Lily Keil's Black Wolf's Claw for 141 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    This is, in fact, a terrible battle, with terrible weight behind it, all the horrors of letting a little light in only for a nuclear horizon to dawn behind their eyes.

    But that's Shevat's problem. Magilou is just -- technically -- helping out.

    Oh, be fair: Ratatoskr is a threat unto himself, and it may well be a mercy that Magilou is tying him up here off to the side instead of letting him run rampant across Shevat's forces. But let's not kid ourselves, that is absolutely not Magilou's main or even ancillary goal in entertaining this hyperactive hamster. (Just say he's a squirrel, Magilou, you even called the chu-chus squirrels, why are you constantly thinking of him as ANY OTHER RODENT?)

    "It suuure is!" She grins like a shark. "But just calling it ice is selling it short. That's certainly the end product -- but both water and wind go into that particular trick." Two elements, coming together to make a third...? That's certainly an odd trick, for Althena's Blessing.

    Then again, didn't she already show it off -- with that tornado flecked with flame?

    'Subterfuge' might be a ten-point thesaurus word, but it may well be apt, in Magilou's case.

    Ratatoskr bolts forward, but Magilou doesn't run away; she seems perfectly confident that she can deal with anything he puts on her. Perhaps a little too confident, because Ratatoskr is very, VERY fast: before she can throw another of those barriers up, he's already hurtling his claws for her face.

    Wait, no, not quite her --

    "Oh my gods," Magilou bursts out laughing, head back against the wall, irrespective of the danger inherent in so much lethal Metal Demon being right in her face. There's something particular to her exclamation of mirth, compared to most Lunarians, but she doesn't explain just what it is.

    Magilou is too busy laughing to stop Ratatoskr from interrogating her shikigami. It looks to him, unblinking, because it is a paper doll. Perhaps, staring into its eyes, he might encounter its heart..? The little spirits of the shikigami have their own desires, after all, hunger and excitement and sleepiness.

    Or maybe not. It took a particular kind of Seraph to see that deeply. Even Magilou was surprised; but then, that was hardly the last time that kid would surprise them.

    (Ratatoskr would enjoy that story, but it's one for another day.)

    "You're looking at one of them," she explains, voice still full of mirth. "Maybe I was born under a lucky star... I've always been this good. My partner, well, he's here too, but he's hiding. Right here!" The hand not being interrogated comes up to her chest, as if the strength was in her heart all along. (Maybe it is. There's a lot of room in there, after... well, never mind that.)

    Magilou, here, leans forward rather than back, closing into Ratatoskr's space just as surely as he invades hers. She's not quite as fast as him, but she's quite deliberate -- as she leans in to peck his cheek, on the side of that thing like a helm which is his face. "But hey, for a Blue Star native, that was a pretty good guess. Just for that, I'll show you something good!"

    oh no,

    Thankfully, 'something good' seems to involve a blue glyph lighting at her feet, as Magilou yadda-yaddas the beginning of her spell chain and cuts straight to the point. Ratatoskr will get an excellent view of the way that shikigami doll spins in the air over her palm, during her invocation. "Better watch your step... Flood Wall!"

    And just like that, water -- water, a third element! -- explodes in a wall between Ratatoskr and Magilou, and she takes the distracting moment to cartwheel to the side, out of his grasp. Don't worry, she's wearing shorts under her book skirt.

    If nothing else, Magilou is very good at distracting this particular section of Odessa's elite forces.

GS: Magilou has attacked Ratatoskr with Flood Wall!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Mighty expired!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Gamble: Moderate! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Magilou's Flood Wall for 189 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Delay applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Cover applied to Magilou!
GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.

Emeralda feels her hairfistwhatever connect and unclenches it, letting the hair break apart into... well, hair again. Though she has a lot more of it right now, as it's a shaggy mess down to her waist instead of just around her shoulders. But even that 'fixes' itself shortly, pulling back up to her more accustomed length.

Emeralda may not be fighting with Brad, but she takes heart from what he says.

'A hero never dies. Not as long as he's got something to fight for.'

From this, she stands straight. She wants to keep her family safe, her friends alive, and defend Shevat; maybe it's a childish dream, to be a hero, but she's allowed. She's a child. Fei objecting to her defending him isn't going to stop her from doing it.

"No! You don't get to do that! You can't try and make me feel bad for you doing things like this!" Emeralda has opinions, apparently. "But I think - I think you don't have a real friend, because anyone who lies like that isn't honest with friends either. And that's sad. Because everybody should have them!" She pauses, and then adds a moment later, "Penelope doesn't count."

Sorry, Penelope. Emeralda won't apologize to Josie, but she might have apologized to the bird.

Emeralda takes a step forward and then gets shot in the back; a vent disgorged a bullet that just flew straight at her and she never saw it. The impact makes her stagger forward, and there's something like a splash of silver from the impact - drops that fly up and out before being pulled back in, splattering against her back and regaining the colour of her flesh and her shirt.

"Ow!" Emeralda might be damn hard to kill, but that doesn't mean things don't hurt. And that bullet is still in her; she can feel it. "I hope you figure out what you really want to do! Because I don't know if this is it!"

And then she explodes.

The bullet that was stuck in her falls to the ground with a ringing noise as Emeralda breaks apart, shifting from a short human (?) girl to a glowing indistinct silhouette as she loses all her colours and texture, and then not even that - she becomes little more than a glowing mass hovering in the air.

Parts detach from the central mass, looking almost like a swarm of midges or tiny flecks before they condense into spheres of their own, slamming into Josie from left and right. The central mass of Emeralda crackles in midair, caught in her own magnetic field; faint chains of dust ('dust') connect her to the striking masses.

She starts to pull herself together afterwards - near Fei, as if preparing to protect him. Maybe she is. 

GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action!
GS: Emeralda Kasim spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling!
GS: Formation! Emeralda Kasim has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Reycount!
GS: Quick expired!
GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Josie comes within a heartbeat of firing her weapon directly into Fei's body. Elly's eyes go wide as she grasps the staff, raising it up -

A third green light lights up.

Fei is able to draw his chi together, to tough out the shot. It was telegraphed, of course, and Fei's arts and his energy control are powerful but it came so close. So terribly close.

A first amber light comes on.

Josie speaks to Emeralda and avers that it was a trick all from the start.

A second amber light.

Josie speaks to Lily, begins to fire again. The gun comes towards her and the crackling shot hits the Etheric barrier which Elly, almost without thinking, contracts inwards, an inverse schwerpunkt defense that means that when the round gets through it has lost most of its enchantment and 30% of its mass, the remainder being liquid. It splatters over Elly, who yelps at the feeling of hot lead flash burns, but it's not a *deadly gunshot wound* --

A third amber light.

Bullets rain down as Josie asks what they WILL give her to remember them by - Elly crouches, her feelings whirling for a moment as she feels some sort of interior magnetism, drawing her down towards-- towards what?

(One red light. Then, for a moment, the second flickers.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb34jtc03ZY

Elly stands upright, suddenly. Her head turns to look towards Josie, eyes suddenly clear and bright. "What is it going to be? I don't know, Josie," Elly says to her. "From what you've been saying, I think that you want us to think of you like we did the Trial Knight, or Mother, or all sorts of other things... but you also want us to get out of your way if at all possible. You're strong, but I know you're not overwhelmingly strong."

Elly steps out from behind cover. "... And I don't think that you were entirely pretending."

"Not because of the power of love," Elly continues, with that strange light in her eyes, her head tilting back slightly. Her expression is not exactly angry but it is certainly intense in a way it typically is not. "I believe in that... but I know it isn't the 'only power'. You pretended for a very long time. You convinced all of us. You even convinced people like Leon, Lily, Dr. Uzuki. I don't think you can pretend that long if it isn't at least a little true."

"Whatever your purpose... I'm not going to give up on you as a person," Elly says.

"But," she continues, raising up a hand, "I'm not going to stand by and watch you hurt other people... people I love!" That's when the phoenix arrives.

'The phoenix' is a complex Fire-Ether construction. Elly did not build it up, which is kind of weird because it looks really big, and Lily in particular would know that ever since she blew a gasket fighting some liveliest horror in the labyrinth the Trial Knight held, she has not managed things like that without buildup. It is coming over from the direction of one of the sealed blocks.

'The phoenix' looks like a bird; it's an approximate outline, a body and two great wings and a head with a point at the front. It is also screaming but in the way that superheated metal in general screams.

The phoenix descends while spraying hot spikes of fiery, almost feather-like plumage down towards Josie. There are gaps, spaces for others, for people who Elly knows may be at risk. (If Tidus looks at her at this moment, for once she doesn't seem nervous.) The bombardment diminishes its intensity slightly, but then the great bird comes to a landing, wings spreading as it lets out a hellacious shriek and then throws itself downwards -

"Are you alright?" Elly asks Emeralda, though her attention is still turned forwards; some wizard tricks do have to be watched, especially when you're trying your best. "If - you're in there, don't stay too long...!"

And then: Bursting! If Josie is not cautious she will be surrounded by superheated plasma -- yet most of the heat bursts outwards, like a bomb going outwards. Like standing next to a blast furnace. (But not quite IN it.)

GS: Elhaym van Houten has activated a Force Action!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has activated a Force Action!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Thermo Phoenix!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

Ptolomea is right; while Brad has that weapon in his hand, his already-low mobility is a shadow of itself. Brad has found his steel, even if Ptolomea doesn't understand it. Ptolomea swings 'round and slams that cybernetic into Brad's head. He staggers aside, one, two steps...but recovers in time to bat aside the second swing, roughly, with his Mechanical Glove's armored side. "No!" Brad rallies into a roar. "That's just giving them as much power over you as they always had! We've suffered! We've wept over broken bodies! We've bled enough for oceans! And for that loyatly their knives will stick out of our backs for our entire lives!"

He reels a little, momentarily losing focus as his head rings. Fortunately Ptolomea has veered away to crash into the others for a moment, leaving Brad free to configure the Mechanical Glove. Another cloud of light-particles bursts from it, spinning together into atomic solidity. The new construct is even bigger than the last, with a structure the size of a shack next to him, building forward into a gunbarrel as wide as thick as his torso. It doesn't look like it swivels. Fortunately...Ptolomea is engaged. "CLEAR OUT!" Brad screams, just before the machine makes a horrible voOOOORm noise and then an equally horrible PZZZAK as a ray of scintillating colors blasts toward Ptolomea, the floor scorching a bit from the passage.

Brad grits his teeth, tension leaving his shoulders as the battleship cannon housing next to him starts to cool.

"...that's why," Brad breathes. "That's why we can't stop at being the men they made us." 

GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Emeralda Kasim's Reycount for 47 hit points!
GS: Brad Evans has attacked Ptolomea with Thunderbolt!
GS: Brad Evans has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Brad Evans takes an additional 25 damage from Reaper!
GS: Brad Evans has completed his action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Phoenix for 208 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Shieldbreak applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    'You provide a great deal of advice. I prefer deeds.'

    It feels like another lifetime ago, but Ida flashes back nevertheless--to Doctor Bridges, and his condescension. Her entire chest aches, but she breathes deep, feels the anger that wells up within her. It's intimately familiar; first, the likes of Bridges beat it into her heart, and then the likes of Berserk beat it into her bones. She's not good enough. Too naive. She hasn't suffered enough.

    "I'm sure, from your perspective, I haven't," Ida says, her lips parting in a rueful smile.

    And then she hears Clarine's words, and looks over her shoulder just in time to see her vanish. "Clarine!" she cries, because even though she knows, knows it's just a temporary setback for a Seraph, she's still a friend in pain, fading into nothingness before Ida's eyes.

    To someone far more weathered, someone who's lost countless soldiers to a grinding, slow-burn war, it might be sentimentality. A distraction. Ptolomea seizes her in those claws, hauling her off her feet--she's heavier than she looks, and she braces hands against them, tries to push the bladed ARM open. But Ptolomea's stronger.

    CRUNCH

    Ida's body jerks as the ARM compresses her, threatening to stave in her ribcage and snap her limbs like twigs. If she weren't augmented, she would certainly meet a grisly end before Ptolomea even got the chance to throw her. But throw her he does, and she's alive when it happens, eyes wide, a scream of pain and rage and fear rending the air.

    Ida flies. She twists in mid-air, her breath churning within her, allowing her to defy physics for a split-second. She hits the stone wall with a sharp CRUNCH. Pulverized rock drifts serenely into the air. Chunks of it fall to the increasingly-battered hangar floor. For a moment, there is worrying silence.

    It really is like old times, for him. A senior warrior is trying to murder him because he's in the way, or weak, or maybe he's just trying to prove a point. But he remembers the dreams. He remembers... her. A woman who exists largely in abstract, in hands that aren't his, in a face that isn't his, in thoughts and feelings that sometimes draw so close to his own experience they're almost running in parallel.

    Ida.

    He should fight. He should preserve himself, as he's done before. But...

    There's a feeling. It's like when he was learning how to shift, but it's not from him. He can't interfere.

    Let's see what this 'Ida' can do with the power of a Hyadean warrior.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgTdQGzlJZ8

    Golden-white light flares, shining through the cloud of dust. The wall begins to shake. More rubble falls. And then something rips free, a blur of blue and gold and black rushing through the air towards Ptolomea.

    It's Ida. Her mangled carapace gleams in the light of her breath. The parts at her shoulders have opened wide, forming wing-like vanes; her breath boils freely from them, as if she's overclocked her very lifeforce to enable the impossible. She flies, and as she does, her body twists. She aligns her hips, waist, torso, arm--the breath within her flows into the shape it's taken countless times before. A coruscating aura ignites around Ida's right fist.

    The roar she lets out is almost drowned out by the shockwave of her fist rushing at Ptolomea's head.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ptolomea with Unbroken Lotus Fist!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea guards a hit from Brad Evans's Thunderbolt for 119 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 202 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr is one of the few living survivors of the former Metal Demon armies, and every inch of him survives elements of the horror Mother unleashed upon Filgaia. The nearly matchless reflexes, the famed regenerative capabilities, the desire to engage in and perfect combat, the way they integrate advanced ARMs into their very bodies, the way their bodies can shift and change to accommodate needs and situations in battle.

     Perfect killing machines, were he not possessed of the same affliction as any other: being a person and all that entails in the face of desires, interests, a personality, and a worldview that fluctuates and shapes around circumstances. All of which has him standing in a seeming moment of intimidating superiority... opening himself to ridicule and tactical vulnerability.

     "What? What!" He doesn't turn his head to MAgilou because his arm's in the way. "This is serious...! See! They're not laughing!!" He stares at the unblinking shikigami, eyes dimming with the anatomical equivalent of closing his eyes. "I am treating their martial acumen with the dignity they deserve!"

     Magilou goes on to explain, and just as he stands a bit more erect to try and look over his shoulder, suddenly he gets bit in the face. (wait, what, hold up, bit? Bit? That was a ki--)

     "Why did you bite me with the soft part of your mouth..." he says understated and almost as a whisper, as if bewildered as his grin goes to a softer smile, so bewildered he doesn't repeat that as an exclamation, "that's weird... you have teeth.... they're right there...

     He misses the thought involved in how he has claws but almost never uses them in direct combat. Moving on.

     He gets shown something good. The shikigami doll slaps the side of his face once as it spins during the invocation, and he can feel that foreign sorcerous energy course about him. (For most Hyadeans, it's a weird and unwelcome situation because it's not something they can grasp, which is inherently threatening - to Ratatoskr it's neat and novel.)

     He doesn't watch his step because he's busy watching that, and then an exploding wall of water lifts him up. There's not enough space between the apex of the wall of water and the ceiling, which leads to an impact that is both literally and figuratively crushing in pressure, a quiet gurgling-grunt noise where his tail segments stand on end before flattening and going limp. The descending wave of water releases him down a decline, allowing his barely conscious body to roll prone on the ground.

     "...Oh... that's true, isn't it... I was 'born' on this world, huh," as if reflecting momentarily on his own place in history, whatever that is, when his interest has been utterly obsessive on almost everyone else. "...But you know... this is why I'm glad everyone's fighting everyone now... I get to see and fight all of it... and I get to keep it," he works up that grin again.

     He might get up and back off under his own power once his body knits back enough of him together to do so. (Alternately he can get sorcerously punted, to Magilou's taste.) "This world's really great, that way... I hope it keeps fighting..." 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

It was a gamble, of course. Obviously someone with a blade like that attached to them would be more than a little adept in blade combat, overwhelming them would not be easy. Xantia knew that, but she still tried. Violence is the best way to make a statement anyway, if you ask her.

It doesn't work out quite as well as she hoped, with the Odessan commander more than willing to trade blows even at the expense of taking a hit himself. She finds the bracer of her opposite arm insufficient in blocking all of a three-pronged blade, yelping in pain as she takes a nasty stab wound. Once again, he ARM's energy flow collapses, and she quickly backs off, clutching the wound.

In spite of this, she is quickly ready to speak more of her mind... except that's when something distressing happens, watching in dismay as Clarine's form collapses. She can't stop herself from shouting the Seraph's name when it happens. She's seen this before, and knows it will be alright... but that doesn't mean it isn't still extremely upsetting. Xantia lowers her head, and starts shaking. It doesn't have anything to do with tears, but everything with anger.

"...Clarine is kind. Too kind. I'm sure she forgives you for doing that to her. However... I will not."

It's as if a floodgate has opened. A floodgate of bright light - pure Ether - is drawn from the surrounding area and pours out of Xantia herself, pooling into her cupped hands. Appearing to transition from a gaseous, to a liquid, and finally a solid state, as it rapidly molds itself into the shape of an enormous Hammer of Light.

Gripping its handle tightly, Xantia raises her head, directing a dangerous glare towards Ptolomea. "You came using violence because you know your words are empty. So I should have known from the beginning... we have nothing to talk about. Be gone, Odessa!"

With that, the hammer is dropped, quite literally, and forcefully, causing an explosion of energy as it shatters upon impact. 

GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action!
GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action!
GS: Xantia spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling!
GS: Xantia has attacked Ptolomea with Ethereal Weapon Construct!
GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Ptolomea critically guards Xantia's Ethereal Weapon Construct for 42 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Xantia!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Ida!!"

    If Gwen was still feeling that fall, it feels even worsw to hear that *CRACK* from those blades as Plotomea reaches for the martial artist.

    Gwen's lips fold in a thinning line, her eyes growing watery from tears.

    "To be the one left standing..." If she dares to pause, she'd imagine how that would feel, and that kind of empathy could be deadly. "That ain't bein' a hero, that's _surviving_."

    Clarine dissipates, and Gwen cries out, even as she knows that the Seraph will eventually reform.

    Yet Clarine still voiced her conviction, as if she didn't regret it.

    The thought of that quiets the dark thread of the Blue-Eyed Stranger's logic for now, always lurking at the edge of Gwen's despair, and the point of every blade that cuts deeply into her, as Ptolomea's does now.

    His blade hits something not quite flesh and not quite metal, Gwen holding up her right ARM to intersect with Ptolomea's own weapon, her ARM shaking from the impact as she disengages. "A hero is not the one left standing, but the ones who keep pushing forward." Her ARM shakes as rage begins to draw out that veiny patch of lines of yellow hold from her ARM, matching the steadily increasing glow of her ARM. "It's the people who give others the will to keep going, even after they're gone."

    She bows her head. "I ain't one who could call myself a hero; there's still things inside me that I still haven't quite gotten to the bottom of... but, I'll be the one who will stand by her friends, so maybe, by surviving, I'll keep the heroes I know from following a path like yours... And stand by the folks who've been shaped by the same forces you have, but still chose a different path!" People like Brad.

    Gwen holds her right hand out, and aims. "No... *we all* will keep surviving, and we won't be bled for Vinsfield's twisted idea of heroics!"

    She hesitates, seeing the floating form of Ida, looking up in awe.

    She smiles, her words a soft whisper. ".... thanks, Fafnir..."

    Her own ARM is now pulsing visibly, and she realigns her aim on Ptolomea. "Xantia..." Xantia was the one to get to the bottom of it all.

    He is... empty. Yes. It's her duty to deal with such cases, isn't it?

    She fires, a bolt of her own lifeforce combined with the energies absorbed and converted by the Mockingbird, set in a glittering spiral towards Ptolomea's body. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ptolomea with Quasar Palm!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ptolomea with Corona Discharge!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Josie manages to shoot Fei right in the same spot she shot before. This time there's a spray of blood that erupts out of Fei's limb as he lets out a pained gasp. He clutches at his arm. He briefly isn't sure if Josie is speaking entendre or something else. No, he tells himself, that's not what that is.

He hopes.

He rolls back up to his feet. He sways. He sees Emeralda staying near. Fear grips his heart. Every time she takes a wound--even if it doesn't really DAMAGE her significantly--it gives Fei reason to wince. He can't help it. It's supposed to be his job to defend her. Isn't that right?

Isn't that how it always is? The idea that it could be seen the other way around, it makes his heart pound with trepidation. Please, he thinks.

Don't get hurt for me.
Don't die for me.

I can take anything else just please... PLEASE...

He wills himself to ignore the pain spasming through his arm. "Not... Not even I will... And giving up is my favorite thing to do," He cracks a self-effacing grin as he spits some blood out of his mouth.

And then he throws himself at Josie. "But I can't let ya do this, regardless of how I feel!"

He leaps into the air once and then punches down against the floor, unleashing a wave of rocks that threaten to slam hard against Josie! 

GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Chikei!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
GS: Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points!
GS: Jam applied to Ptolomea!
GS: Ptolomea takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 200 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ptolomea gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ptolomea has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Chikei for 109 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break and Delay applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Ptolomea has posed.

Ptolomea's experience with Seraphim remains limited. He seems surprised how she fades away -- her words lingering in his mind.

Ptolomea shouts out, wordless, as the colors of Brad's ARM fire into him. They blast him backward, arms crossed, and send him flying back across the Gear hangar. "Gh... the deaths have to mean something. Even if we burn the world down to make them mean something!"

Ida comes back at him. It's a surprise; he thought he'd beaten her down. The fist slams into him and hurls him away; Ptolomea smashes into a wall, with a grunt. He stumbles. Then, Xantia's hammer strikes -- but light meets the battered, three-bladed ARM. He holds it at bay, even as he is ground backward.

"No! I will not stop here!" he says. "We won't be cast aside!"

Gwen fires. Her energies slam into Ptolomea -- and hurl him backward. He smashes into the side of the hangar; a dent is left there, and he crumples down to a knee. His breathing is haggard. He looks about -- at where his subordinates fight. More than a few lay dead. "Damn..."

The voice comes through. A crackle in his ear; Antenora. "Ptolomea, we're pulling all of you back."

"...Understood."

Rings of light flash up, rising around him -- the sign of the Sorcery Globe -- and he vanishes in a flash. More and more Odessa soldiers, too, do the same. But some don't.

The ones who weren't coming back, even if the day was won.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "If I die laughing," Magilou asides, with cheer, "it'll be an act of God."

    The song doesn't play, because God hasn't acted yet, but the premise is nonetheless true.

    Look! Despite making a joke of it all, she's very much alive!

    She giggles at his confusion, but it doesn't distract her from the truth of the thing: a Metal Demon is very much in her face, and while Magilou hasn't died for a very, very long time, that hardly means she's IMMORTAL. As lightly as Magilou seems to be treating the subject, she still takes the effort to separate them without lingering too, too long.

    Crash! Crush! Poor Ratatoskr falls down, and Magilou puts a hand to her hip, still standing. "I was amazing, wasn't I?" She asks, fanning the fingers of her opposite hand beside herself. But poor Ratatoskr seems quite dazed, so she settles back, after a moment, lacing her hands behind her head.

    "One day, I've really gotta introduce you to Rokurou. Old friend of mine -- swords where his brain ought to be. Heh, you'd really get along. Funny, maybe that's why I like you..."

    She turns, lifting a hand in a wave. "... you've got my style, but you're a charming idiot, just like that dweeb. Don't kill anyone on your way out, would you?" It's a loose request, and one she leaves hanging, as she exits the hall.

    ... only to run into some of Shevat's beleagured forces. Magilou holds a hand palm-up. "There's nothing much back there. Focus on what's in front of you, okay?" Her head cants to the side, with a charming wink, and surely they've had far too much to deal with to deal with her, because they keep on moving.

    And Ratatoskr is left to pick himself up, alone.

    It's as much kindness as someone like her can offer him.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "Born a soldier, live a soldier... gonna die a soldier, too, kiddo," Josie remarks with a bitter smile. "Same's true here, though, huh?"

    "Shut up," she says to Emeralda, then who may have struck a nerve. "Stop talking about stuff you don't right understand," she tells the child (who is in truth far older than Josie will ever quite manage to be). There's a grimace even when she brings up the wayward archaeologist's still-missing bird.

    "Scared?" Josie shakes her head vehemently, more locks slipping from her brains and bun. "Hardly. Come at me like a real warrior, kid!" There's just one hand it could be, too -- her right, given how she seems to favor her left, and how 'armored' that hand is in its gauntlet. But it's again not likely the easiest target to make, particularly with, as Tidus observes, that fact that she's likely to guard it all the more now that she's overheard that warning from her to Tidus--

    Which is also a tactic he can make good use of, in time.

    Josie lands, easily, just behind Lily. Flipping the shotgun about in her hand, she ejects shells onto the floor in a ringing downpour and stops for the moment to glance back at Lily, who is still standing.

    "Don't you worry or none. I ain't forgettin' you that easy, kiddo," is Josie's reply at last, and just for the moment, there is a more honest smile on her lips.

    It only fades when Tidus comes in at her from her right and when she predictablely draws that hand inwards and darts in the opposite direction, it is to her utmost surprise that he's there waiting for her on her left. She tries to parry with the shotgun but is just a touch too slow to meet the blade: Tidus' sword cuts into her arm, her back, across her chest and countless other points.

    Into this Lily enters, heat-consuming darkness in one hand as she swings. It's as if she appeared out of nowhere: Josie doesn't have the chance to do more than look at her, a gasp forced from her lips as the blade in her former friend's hand cuts once.

    Twice.

    "That's... good," Josie slurs, taking that one staggering step backwards as she tries to maintain her balance. Easing her finger over the trigger, she lifts the ARM the once into the air.

    But Emeralda intrudes before she can even attempt another shot.

    'I hope you figure out what you really want to do!' says Emeralda, and Josie's eyes widen just a touch. If there were anything she was about to say on the matter, however--

    It's lost when Emeralda breaks into pieces and slams into her; juggled about in the air by the various 'pieces' of the young girl, it's only at length that that she's released and let to drop onto the floor again, whereupon Josie then scrambles to her feet.

    Elly addresses her.

    Elly, more or less, calls her a liar and claims that it wasn't always 'just an act'.

    "And? What difference does that all make?" she says to Elly, gazing at her with certain intensity. "I'll kill you if you and yours keep gettin' in our way. You get that, right?" She takes a breath, actual vehemence beginning to flood into her frame. "This all's just some mercy 'cause we used to be-- 'cause we once traveled together. But you keep tryin' me, kiddo, and I won't hesitate--"

    Perhaps it's fitting that, in her own way, Elly won't hesitate either.

    "--The hell's...?!"

    Is as much as Josie gets out before the bird, descending from overheard, lets out a scream. Electrical pulses roll out about her, chaining upwards in a net as to stave off the worst as the bird plugnes for her.

    Even if she hadn't a barrier, it wouldn't have consumed her utterly. She realizes that. And even with it, it's far too hot, far too overwhelming. Slowly, Josie drops to a single knee, exhaling sharply as she tries to simply breathe.

    She had reached for her hand on that night but she had never made it. She had collapsed, mere feet away from her sister's body.

    Slowly, amidst the flames, Josie begins to stand, forcing herself up onto her feet in spite of the flames (or perhaps to spite the flames). Her lips move, but there does not seem to be any sound. She stands like that even as the flames eventually dissipate around her, she stands like that as Fei makes his last promise to her and punches at the floor, as the wave of stone rolls towards her. She doesn't move, a single sphere of light bobbing in a dance about her head.

    "Light Flare," says Josie at last, and the shimmering thing that had hovered in the air before her detonates in an explosion of light as the rockwave crashes ashore.

    "Seeya next time... kid," is the last thing Fei -- or any of them -- will hear of her.

    She's not there when the light dims. There's blood spattered, here and there, about where she had stood, but other than that, not even a trace remains.

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