2021-07-17: You Can (Not) Redo
- Log: You Can (Not) Redo
- Cast: Judecca, Josephine Lovelace, Ratatoskr, Leah Sadalbari, Seraphita, Riesenlied, Azoth, Lan Lilac, Gwen Whitlock, Tidus, Elhaym van Houten, Fei Fong Wong, Matilda Whitehead, Cyre H. Lorentz, Dash Caskett, Jacqueline Barber, Pearl, Seraph Boudicca, Noeline, Ida Everstead-Rey, Xantia, Billy Lee Black, Grigori
- Where: Zanarkand Ruins
- Date: July 17, 2021
- Summary: As Drifters, Guardians, and other lost souls make their way into Zanarkand... they find that some Odessa forces are preparing an excavation. And then Solaris arrives.
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
Odessa is not one for respecting sacred sites.
To the people of Spira, Zanarkand is a holy place. Inviolable and sacred, a place only traveled to when making a pilgrimage. What Odessa has here feels utterly out of place: a couple of smaller working Gears, armed with drills and other construction gear, for digging down below the sacred soil to the ruins hidden underneath. There are also a number of well-armed soldiers present.
At their head is a member of Cocytus. Judecca lacks the sheer commanding presence of Ptolomea, or the powerful sorceries or otherworldly qualities of Caina and Antenora. He, instead, is dressed like a Drifter; white shirt, dust-stained trousers, vest, and boots. His pale silver hair is ordinary; his features are severe. He has a gunbelt on, with his ARMs there.
He was supervisiing work -- until several things happen. One, a nearby Moblin shouts: "INTRUDERS!"
A spear hurtles up at an unfortunate Drifter.
Then, there is a buzzing in the sky -- and Solarian Gears appear. Judecca blinks, then hisses softly, and pushes his glasses up. "Looks like we've been noticed," he says. He calls out, louder: "Get those explosives set. We need to hurry. It looks like--"
He pulls out his pistol. "--we have company."
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Gentlewoman Adventurer Ida! DC: Tidus switches forms to Star Player of the Zanarkand Abes!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
A single cigarette, its end still lit, dances across the broken paving of the stadium's floor.
"Yup. Sure looks like intruders and all," Josie drawls, unfolding herself from atop the huge piece of cracked rubble against which she had been lounging and dropping to the ground. She rolls her shoulders, stretches, as if rousing from a simple nap. Only one thing belies the languid approach she takes to the tableau currently unfolding, and that's the way in which she -- fleetingly -- frowns as she regards the sky much as Judecca does. White Gears. She knows the type.
It doesn't last. Her mouth quirks in a lopsided smile. Too bad she hadn't put actual gella on this one -- even without considering Solarian interference into the mix -- but she'd known something like this was going to happen. It really had been just a matter of time.
Her left hand snatches up the black shotgun that had been left leaning here. Coat flaring out behind her as the wayward archaeologist strides in the direction of those now approaching, that shotgun remains -- for now -- braced against her shoulder.
"I'm gonna guess you lot ain't gonna listen, right, but this here's your warning: get out of here now. Otherwise, it ain't my problem if you get hurt. Yeah?"
She's still smiling, lips parted just enough to expose a flash of white teeth. This smile doesn't meet her eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Odessa is not one for respecting sacred sites. This is something Ratatoskr has always had to be emotionally a bit at odds with, buoyed by at least one consolation prize every time they've done so - there has never been a shortage of good, valuable, memorable fights for the history that is happening today. He has made himself useful by helping secure the perimeter from Fiends, and part of it has come from hearing the laments of the Unsent for his own personal interests.
They're worth remembering.
He notices as at least one team works an old elevator, and especially notices when at least one team plows through a toppled statue, the glow of his solid yellow eyes there to greet them as much as any flying Moblin spear.
"...They're here..." Ratatoskr says, suppressing every urge to put a question mark on that. "They're here!" He calls out as he leaps down to greet those approaching from the ground...
And then, from above, Solarian Gears, and his mood improves ever more. Battles where multiple powers and parties are fighting are some of his favorites to witness and document. (All fights are his favorites, though.)
<Pose Tracker> Leah Sadalbari has posed.
Amidst the noise and the din, the lights and the roar of Gears... There is indeed company. Solarian Gears appear, but not only Solarian Gears. A passenger craft hovers over the holy city, and from it leap a group. At the head of that group is a woman in black and gold and indigo, a faceless mask and a long tabard over heavy plates of armor.
She slams into the ground and lands on one knee, but the ground does not break beneath her.
Grigori rises to her feet, unfurling into a height that is not particularly impressive and a presence that is undeniable. Her modulated voice, mechanical and strange, echoes out:
"Neutralize all opposition. The secrets of Zanarkand are not for Odessa to know." She unclips the hilt of what appears to be a sword from her belt and ignites it, creating a blade of blue Ether nearly as tall as she is, and the light illuminates her faceless mask as she does.
"...Such disrespect. Contempt for the sacred is a sign of ignorance."
Her blade, as she lowers it, does not touch the stone.
DC: Azoth switches forms to Fragmented Weapon! DC: Leah Sadalbari switches forms to The Watcher Over The Shepherds!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita has had a not-great few days.
As it turns out, Gagazet is really cold! And while she is *not* really cold (rather the opposite) it was a very unpleasant scouting mission, up one side of it and down the other. And then back over to report.
But even before that, there was the whole... issue with Shevat - not yet completely dealt with, but that's a job for later. It hasn't interfered with her duties; it's just made her a bit more thoughtful than she usually is.
Honestly, the worst part of this was that her whole scouting mission ended up not being used anyway because of the plane. On the plus side, that means she gets to jump out of a plane, which is not something she has done before and thus is extremely exciting.
Seraphita does not go down unequipped because, unlike some people, she doesn't have terrible armour to absorb the fall. She has something that looks like an extremely tiny jetpack, except she's not wearing it like a backpack - she's holding what looks like a large ring over her head with both hands, and the thrusters are affixed to the sides. It's a wonder she's not getting her arms scorched.
Well, maybe she is and just doesn't care; she is the Fire Element after all.
"Wheeeee~" At least she's enjoying the trip. Though she can't actually see where she's going right now other than 'down', between thruster smoke and squinting against the glare. She has her legs prepped for impact as she gets lower, seeing vague silhouettes - Drifters, Odessans, other Solarians - but little more.
The fact that she is coming down with her feet aimed more or less at one is something she has failed to notice.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied has been having a deeply stressful time as well.
She's loathe to admit it, but the journey through Gagazet and Zanarkand may truly well and have been too much for her worn and ill body; she barely survived an avalanche on the mountain and had to be rescued, and then Noeline, Lily, Billy, and Yulie had to work a small miracle to get her through an underwater passage through to Zanarkand and...
All that awaited there, in a city supposedly holy in nature, were... the signs of tampering -- wire-tripped explosives, Gear barriers... all pointing to Odessa.
Once more, no matter how arduous the journey, how stressful the situation... all she found were those who sought to exploit and tarnish the land. Not just Odessa-- as the unmistakable, assailing noise of Solaris' Gears fly overhead.
The Hyadean is far from her normally cheerful self; she's exhausted and huddled into herself, as she rolls her wheelchair into the stadium.
Her eyes scan to the construction Gears. The drilling.
"Why? Why, once more, just like Macalania... why do you exploit the land such?! Please, stop this..."
Riesenlied's eyes widen when she hears someone warn them -- someone. She mistakes it for the Moblins; for Odessa, for Solaris. Her heart momentarily lightens, because she sees a familiar face.
"J-Josephine! Josie!"
In what can only be considered a momentary burst of joy, Riesenlied frantically pushes her wheelchair close to the rubble Josephine is seated on. "I am so glad you are all right. I have not seen you in so long-- ever since I fell asleep. I am so glad..."
Riesenlied turns her head away to face the rest of the crowd. In particular, Leah's presence -- as Grigori, the Watcher -- draws her attention. Something wrenches in her heart. That time she killed...
GS: Riesenlied (thinks she has) joined Josephine Lovelace's party! Oh.... no one ever told her... awkward... ... ...
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Riding up the elevator with Ida and Bou, Azoth was giving little beeps here and there, making humming and songs and smiling. Until, suddenly, his attempts at song come to an abrupt stop.
"Objective detected. Locating -- Locating --"
His voice is has gone to robotic monotone, too much synth in that reverb of his to ever be mistaken for human. Azoth steps off of the elevator, eyes entirely taken over with light. With a flinch, he sputters and convulses, voice crackling. Conn -- ection lost -- Retry -- ing --" Azoth grips at his core and blasts ahead with a burst of energy from his body, rocketing himself forward into a sprint ahead, either recklessly or relentlessly heedless of Odessa's presence.
Ratatoskr leaps down, directly in his path.
Objective compromised. Eliminating threats.
Azoth's advance does not even slow. He holds out his arm, a blade of wild, red light forming, crackling with wild and uncontrolled energy as he swings his arm, the blade extending beyond the range of his grip with every intention to cleave it against Ratatoskr without introduction or question.
Red light seems to be trying to escape his body in dancing arcs of electricity, and his gaze is void of awareness even as he looks his opponent in the eye.
GS: Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with Overvoltage! GS: Azoth assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr critically guards Azoth's Overvoltage for 19 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan doesn't particularly enjoy the teachings of Yevon, or most of its followers. She's still pretty salty about being thrown into the Via Purifico, even though that was months ago. Much like Solaris, it seems like there's just... something about getting too many people together, all believing in the same ideal, that seems to sour the whole thing.
Is it just a 'people' trait?
If Guardian worship were more centralized, would it be the same...?
Fresh from the journey through the ruins, she really hadn't expected to see people drilling in Yevon's most sacred site. And even if she doesn't agree with them -- even if she thinks it's all a crock -- there are still people like Yuna who believe in the best parts of it, in the pureness of faith. So to see Gears here...
They may as well have rolled up on Xibalba.
Incensed, Lan makes a circle with her hands and calls on her patron's power, singing silver in her veins. "O you of fulfi--"
Those are Solaris Gears overhead. Lan suddenly has a very, very bad feeling about this. Like, extra bad. And it only gets worse when the first Solarian feet to hit the ground belong to Grigori.
It's deeply weird, how grateful she suddenly feels, isn't it? To hear Leah Sadalbari echo her own feelings? She knows perfectly well that Gebler aren't heroes, here. She knows.
Lan is so caught up in angsting about it that she totally misses something heading right for her. Something powerful. Something bombastic. Something pink.
Lan is knocked forward but catches herself on both hands, spinning her legs back around to sweep the unknown assailant off of their feet. "Hyaa!"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Seraphita with Move Like Water! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen knew Odessa was here, from the unfortunate Unsent soldiers, so far from home and not no longer able to ever return.
It would only be a matter of time before her group encountered the main Odessa cell, and with it, a spinning carnival wheel of people, each with their own brand of notoriety. Like Josie, for example. Gwen is briefly troubled by the sight of Riese going up to Josie, but refocuses her aim. Surely, this is a plan Riese has to get close to Josie and give her one more way to communicate some super secret plan (or not).
The flash of pale hair made Gwen focus on another Odessa agent, her distance making it unclear if that color was more a light blue, or a more neutral light grey.
Some binoculars proves that this figure is not, in fact, Janus, even if he's shown some ability to change back and forth between his two forms. .... Is she sad, or is she happy, that it's someone else?
'Looks like we've been noticed,' says Judecca.
Gwen, now laying flat on a boulder to maintain the smoothest position possible, now has her ARM's palm pointed at Judecca.
"... Bingo~"
She fires.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Not being of Yevon, even before they screwed him and his friends over, Tidus doesn't see Zanarkand as holy. But it *is* his home, and though it's been wrecked and ruined for countless centuries, he can see the echoes of his home in it. It's a painful feeling to see it. It's even more painful knowing myriad truths, and how they have shaped his story.
He'd needed a little time on his own, as a result. Some activity was going on in the near-ish distance--activity with Gears--and while that's not enough to assume wrongdoing, since Lily and Fei and the others were going to be taking their Gears to Zanarkand, it *is* enough for Tidus to volunteer to go on ahead and make sure everything's on the level.
Things are, naturally, not on the level.
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?!" he demands at the top of a broken road, already drawing Brotherhood. His question, rhetorical as it is, is aimed at Odessa and Solaris both--but mostly Odessa, since (per Leah) Solaris seems actually pretty down with kicking Odessa out of here and respecting the old city? Tidus doesn't take the time to think about that. Josie tells the assembled Drifters to leave or they'll get hurt, but Tidus shakes his head. "That's *my* line, lady! If you jerks don't leave, I'm gonna *make* you leave!"
Big words for a guy with no Gear, but that's not going to stop him any. It'll occur to him later that maybe it would be smarter to run and get Yuna and the others for back-up, but Tidus never was good at thinking things through in the heat of the moment. Accordingly, he charges straight at Josie with a ferocious yell, then leaps into a totally unnecessary forward flip to slam his blade *down* onto her.
...This might be extra awkward with Noted Pacifist Riesenlied running over to Josie like they're Best Friends Forever. Tidus has already committed to the leap by the time that happens, though.
GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Hit X to Attack! GS: Tidus has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Judecca with Crackshot! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
They're drilling for something here.
Elly van Houten had eluded most harm on her way here, other than the terror of a lingering demolition charge (or trip mine?) on one of the approaches. This is not her place; it looks as if it were a Zeboim city but most of what could be taken seems as if it had been, already, long ago. They had walked this way, into the center, into the ancient -- stadium? Yes, it must be.
In they had come, and this is what they had found.
DRILLING. Drilling for WHAT?
Elly wonders. She had noticed the hot spring, the liquid water that was this far north of Gagazet. She had thought of a volcanic upwelling such as might be found here and there in what was once the nation of Elru, or sporadically on islands. But then she had thought that perhaps...
Perhaps what? She doesn't know. Something else.
Well, whatever it is, there's drilling, and a Moblin barks and hurls a spear without much success towards where she is standing. "Ah!"
The Moblin is immediately shot by a Solaris Gear. "Ah!!"
The descent of the armored figure, GRIGORI, draws Elly's attention even as she forcibly unwinds herself from that flinch response.
"..."
She makes herself straighten, lowering the iron staff. "... I suppose I would thank you, for stopping them," she says, towards the Grigori. "But why are you here 'now'?"
Elly begins to speak with greater volume and force. In the stadium, it echoes. This is a place meant to carry sound, to contain it. The center of the Blitzball field might have balanced it out, but there is no great sphere of water thre now.
"If this city belongs to anybody ... it belongs to the people of Spira... and not to Solaris! Are you going to leave in peace, once Odessa is driven off?!"
Elly seems 'skeptical of this' but is, for whatever obscure reason, not willing to immediately blast the Grigori. Her eyes flick for a moment as Tidus's voice rings out over the growing chaos, then back towards the Grigori.
GS: Elhaym van Houten spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Grigori with Screamer! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Contempt for the sacred is a sign of ignorance is it?
"That's a comedy routine right?" Fei mutters to Leah though to be clear he IS muttering it at Leah's general direction but he's also you know, MUTTERING it so he doubts that Leah's going to hear it. Can her EVIL GRIGORI HELMET hear what he has to say even at low volumes?!
Well the truth of the matter is, even at his sourpussiest, he knows that Grigori isn't really responsible for what Solaris does. It's an Empire after all not a republic.
He jogs ahead of the group some, glancing towards Josie for a moment--specifically focusing on Tidus--and then sees Riesenlied. He should tell her but --- --- maybe she'll knock some sense into Josie or... Or SOMETHING.
Besides, it's hard for him to even say. To think about. Instead he takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly, and says, "You killed my friend and it figures you're up to something here. Well, you shouldn't have access to whatever's here either!"
He darts forward suddenly, swinging both hands to try and collide them against the side of Grigori's helmet!
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grigori with Hagan! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Tidus's Hit X to Attack for 109 hit points! GS: Charge!! You gain 35 FP! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Screamer for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt applied to Grigori! GS: Grigori has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hagan for 97 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda... honestly hasn't been having a great go of it. She has taken the second chance she's been given and promptly used it to go totally radio silent, at least as far as the Drifter community has been concerned. If there's a reason for it, some grand plan she has to make use of that time, well. She certainly isn't telling anyone.
This has extended into Zanarkand, of course. Matilda snuck along behind someone -- or someones -- else; maybe it's simple curiosity -- it certainly wouldn't be the first time for that. It could be anger at the sacred, simple drive to violate the inviolable -- it wouldn't be the first time for that, either. Maybe there's something else entirely.
Enough time has passed that she no longer looks... awkward, in her long, white coat, no longer has the last remnants of this or that hair dye attempt, no longer bears the obvious marks of transitioning between states. She's just Matilda.
And, in her just-Matilda kind of way, she moves to act at last when things start to go pear-shaped. She's *aware* of the situation as a whole -- the approaching Solarians, the Odessa troops -- but her attention locks on Judecca. She stops trying to slink forward and breaks into a jog, drawing a dagger.
"Judecca," she half-calls, just barely audible over the din of the battle as it begins. "It's been some time." She hurls the weapon, and advances behind it, already moving to draw another.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Judecca with Pruning! GS: Matilda Whitehead assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Cyre Lorentz is absolutely not an Adventure Archaeologist. In fact, he is only tangentially related to the profession in the sense that he's known to regularly explore the depths of monster-infested ruins, but as a Baskar it's is all too often his heritage that the gets plundered for the sake of profit.
Not today, though.
Today, it's an entirely different holy relic-city that is being ruthlessly exploited for the sake of personal power, world domination, and archaeological fame.
Just a few minutes ago, Cyre Lorentz emerged from an elevator shaft and locked eyes with a very confused moblin who was mere moments away from smacking said elevator with a pickaxe.
'Don't do it,' Cyre Lorentz's gaze did say. 'Don't you dare finish swinging that pickaxe.'
...
NOW:
"MOBBBBUUUUU~" Cries a moblin as it hurtles bodily through the air. "That damn near took out a knee, you jerk!" Someone shouts, leaping like a stark white shadow into a picture-perfect, shockwave-step-imbued drop kick.
"MOOOOBBBBB--UU~!" The Moblin mobbus, sent flying with a sound like a metal baseball bat slamming directly into the fragile abdomen of some kind of Crush Sibling... Directly, as it happens, towards Josephine Lovelace at the very same instant that Riesenlied rushes towards her, and simultaneous to Tidus' own sword strike.
"I swear, if it isn't one thing it's another. You guys not satisfied plundering Filgaia for all it's worth, you gotta come up to the moon too!?" Cyre huffs, and only then recognizes Josephine's presence. "...Hmn. Survived the doll ruin, huh? I figured. I guess they have you overseeing this whole... thing, huh?"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Stepping Wind! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
If it isn't on thing, it is another!
Not long after investigating the Clozer Woods Sub-Gate and a choice encounter with Juno. It left more questions than answers. What was the Directive? Why spare Dash hoping he would submit of his own volition?
Who was that woman that sounded so important he mentioned?
Never mind any of that. He was needed elsewhere. Word of tamperings in the depths of the fabled city Zanarkand by Odessa would get Dash to replort for duty. Armed with buster fire and missiles. He gets dropped off by engaging forces at the scene of the coming battle.
Helmet down and mask up, he is ready to fight! Though it is hard to tell who to fight. There are multiple people he knows engaging each other. "Oh this is gonna be rough." Though eyes fall on a familiar form. "Hey!" he calls out to Ratatoskr. "Cut that out!" he says, as Azoth engages in combat.
Some warning shots for good measure are emptied at them; low power, but enough to make a point. "There are other places to Dig besides here!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The Caravan Kinship travel up, up, up the long elevator, into the dome of Zanarkand... and they arrive to the sickening sight of Odessa tearing up the concrete of the dome. Jacqueline's heart sinks at the sight of it. Would they stop at nothing in pursuit of their goals? Her eyes track to the side, toward Josie and Ratatoskr, and she frowns.
"...I'm disappointed in both of you. Out of all people, I would have thought the two of you would be against recklessly destroying an ancient, sacred site like this." She says, shaking her head.
...And that's when agents of Solaris arrives. Jacqueline grimaces. This day... just went from bad to worse.
"Stay on guard, everyone - it looks like this is about to evolve into an all-out brawl." She warns. One of them lands near her - an armored woman with an admittedly impressive sword of blue Ether. She doesn't know who she is, but she can't deny that her presence is intimidating. ...Jacqueline doesn't know how to feel about being on a similar wavelength to one of Solaris's people.
For right now, though, she turns her attention towards the forces of Odessa. One problem at a time.
"I'll try to weaken their ranks!" Jacqueline calls out to her allies, bringing out a bottle of lavender liquid. With a Mystic touch the liquid inside evaporates, settling over Odessa's forces in a glimmering cloud centered on Judecca. She doesn't yet recognize him for the threat he is, but she can tell he isn't the average footsoldier.
But, in the chaos, she spots...
"Matilda!" Jacqueline calls out, starting to carefully move her way. It's good to see her, especially in a melee like this - they could use her expertise. And, of course, she's always glad to see her in general.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Judecca with Sapping Solution! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Moments ago, Althena's Guard had cleared their way through a Blitzball training area to make their way to the Zanarkand Dome. When they came up it was evident there were intruders in Zanarkand- much like themselves- and Solaris arrived shortly after.
Which meant the first Meribian summoner charged headlong into the fray, forgetting her allies and launching a a Moblin in her way into the air with her staff, assessing the battlefield. She's angry- but she's not entirely sure if it's just her or her souls companion. She never actually believed in Yevon but she was a Summoner. Her eyes swivel- two enemy forces, a three way battle. This could be a problem.
"This is a place for Summoners and their Guardians!" She shouts, directed at both sides. "Not for you! Leave at once!" *As though you have any authority to speak.*
She turns to see Seraphita landing near her, and reacts instantly, sweeping her staff up and wordlessly bringing shadow magic to bear. A spot of darkness appears under Seraphita's feet, and from it spikes of darkness burst out to stab into her and make her hurt. Pearl does not particular care who she fights at the moment- but it's important she does.
GS: Pearl has attacked Seraphita with Spiteful Shadow! GS: Pearl has gained 2 Combo! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Phalanx Fusillade! GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action. GS: Seraphita fully evades Lan Lilac's Move Like Water for 0 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Lan Lilac! GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus! GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Pearl's Spiteful Shadow for 86 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraphita activates Arcane Font! GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Dash Caskett's Phalanx Fusillade for 61 hit points! GS: Cover applied to Dash Caskett! GS: Ratatoskr activates Guard bonus! GS: Judecca fully evades Gwen Whitlock's Crackshot for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Ah... Azoth..?"
Boudicca was travelling down the elevator, too, at least trying to encourage Azoth's little songs, despite the disquiet in her own heart. It means she's right there, when that beep-booping dies to a monotone.
She hops out of the shuddering elevator, not quite yet flush with the ground. "W--wait!" She calls to him, and she is the wind but she is compromised by a great many more feelings than he is; Josephine's warning causes her to slow, a little flinch as she looks to her. And Solaris, coming in like that --
Her attention snaps back to Azoth, and it's only been a moment, but he's already about to impact with -- "AZOTH!" Boudicca cries warning, and in this moment it may be unclear whether that warning is for her robotic friend, or for the Hyadean historian she can never seem to get along with.
All a sudden she hurries the rest of the way to him, but the breeze which is her goes first; it curls around Azoth, cool and refreshing as a Spring breeze, a protective and projectile-confounding tailwind.
"Dash, please be cautious!" Boudicca calls to him, just as ragged, as she hurries to Azoth's side. This, regrettably, puts her far too close to Ratatoskr's everything, but she seems quite heedless of the manifest threat. "Something is wrong with Azoth! He has been struggling, and -- and now he has located his objective -- though, I do not know why he would target Odessa..."
Ratatoskr is right there, of course, and finally Boudicca addresses him. "We do not wish to do you undue harm! Please, leave at once, before something awful happens..!" Boudicca, in all her earnestness, completely fails to pick up on the fact that she has just spread catnip in front of a cat.
Or... acorns in front of a squirrel..?
GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Azoth with Fortifying Tailwind! GS: Seraph Boudicca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Stepping Wind for 127 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte applied to Cyre H. Lorentz!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
It hadn't exactly been hard to spot signs that someone had been there before them as their group trudged through Zanarkand. She had, after all, watched as Billy blew a hole in a military barrier, and despite the Zeboim trappings everywhere, Noeline is pretty sure that the giant and unsubtle slab of metal was a little too crude by the standards of the ruins around them.
What she hadn't wanted to admit to herself was the possibility that a faction might still be _there_ waiting for them. She'd desperately hoped, after everything, that perhaps Odessa or Solaris or whoever else might have been intruding on the sacred grounds would have finished their work and moved on from such an inhospitable place and its logistical problems.
The truth couldn't be further from that, given the sight that awaits her. Whatever she expected to find in the centre of Zanarkand, it isn't this. A gigantic Solaris military ambush, sure. Someone to trap them in an alternate dimension with a ridiculous name and cackle evilly at them? She could expect that. A construction project seems almost bizarrely mundane, to the point where it takes her several moments to catch up to what is happening - and then dart forwards after Riesenlied as a deep spike of concern runs through her.
Something feels terribly wrong with this situation and Riese's greeting, and every instinct she has tells Noeline to get to her partner's side right this instant. As glad as she is to see Josephine alive and well, the fact that the engineer is sat so casually amidst all of this only really points to one conclusion, and if she's right, then something 'just business' is about to happen to the other Hyadean.
She doesn't realize it, but she's grimacing slightly as she catches up and then places herself-- not quite between Josie and Riese, but certainly close enough, coiled with tension as she is.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's instincts were right on the money. Odessa is here in force, and as the elevator ascends, she checks her gear one last time. ARMs loaded. Flares prepared and ready. Her hands move from her ARM belt to her pack to the tie holding her bun in place--nervous fidgeting channeled to useful, reassuring purpose. Once she's finished, she looks at Boudicca and Azoth, managing a reassuring smile. They've seen some terrible things here, but...
"...Azoth?"
But terrible things keep happening, regardless. Ida feels her heart fall into her stomach as the doors slide open and Azoth steps out; she sees Odessa's troops arrayed beyond him, with their guns and blades and tremendous digging Gears, but for one agonizing moment, all she sees is a single android.
"AZOTH!" Ida screams, reaching out a hand to grab for his arm. Her fingers close on empty air. She rushes forward, clearing the elevator landing in two long strides; a squad of Moblins sights her in that same moment, and rushes to intercept. Hyadean tissue boils from Ida's pores, encasing both arms in jagged blue-and-gold exoskeleton. She sets her teeth, crouches, and plows on through like a football player rushing the defensive line. Blades glance off her armor, each impact ringing dully in her ears. A Moblin skids in front of her, and she slams into him, throwing him aside, bodily. He lands face-down in the dirt with a whumph.
Someone slams into the ground in front of her. Ida stops in her tracks, skidding to a halt--her heels churn up a cloud of ancient ruin-dust.
"Oh," says one of the Moblins, from behind her. "Oh, fuck."
Ida glances back just in time to see the Moblins turn and retre--hastily reposition themselves to reinforce another flank. Her jaw tightens as she turns to face the figure before her.
"You," Ida says, and in the back of her head, she feels a stab of pain and anger, muted, reflexive. She sees Fei out of the corner of her eye, and falls into line with him. As he tries to box her ears, Ida sweeps in around the side, moving with graceful, deliberate circular motions. She steps around to Grigori's back, throwing jabs and fingertip strikes and open-palm blows. She's not going to kid herself by telling herself she's testing her foe's defenses.
"What did we do to earn your attention, Watcher?"
GS: Noeline spends 1 Combo on Reload! GS: Noeline has attacked Riesenlied with When I'm With You...! GS: Noeline has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied accepts Noeline's When I'm With You... for 0 hit points! GS: Shield applied to Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied activates Noeline's Reload!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Grigori 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: Judecca takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Pruning for 139 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Judecca takes a glancing hit from Jacqueline Barber's Sapping Solution for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Weaken applied to Judecca! GS: Shield applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with I don't have to be Afraid...! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has launched an attack Link! GS: Riesenlied heals Noeline! She gains 110 temporary hit points! GS: Shield applied to Noeline! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with Let's See a New World Together! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied heals Riesenlied! She gains 115 temporary hit points! GS: Grigori critically guards Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form - Wave and Ripple Stance for 20 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia was supposed to join the Black Wolves on the way here. That didn't happen, for reasons of her failing to show up at the appointed time. But she did show up eventually, and being by herself didn't stop her from trying to catch up with them on the way to Zanarkand. Thanks to some fortunate encounters along the way, she managed to make it through the journey in pretty good condition. Thanks to shorter breaks and always taking the most direct path (by smashing whatever was in the way), she made pretty good time, too. And wouldn't you know it, just in time for all heck to break loose.
She was expecting this big dome to be where she would find her friends. She thought they might need a warning about the signs that Odessa had been here that she came across on the way. She wasn't prepared for the place to a still-active site of an Odessan operation. Bit of an awkward moment when she comes bursting through a side entrance and immediately finds weapons trained on her.
"...Um. Hi. Hang on--"
It's unlike Xantia to hesitate, but in the end, she is still mainly here to find her friends. Gwen, who was with her, does not hesitate to rush the Odessan troops, affording her the moment she needs. It's Fei she spots first - it always is. She smiles, now knowing what direction to head into.
Then, just when Xantia had prepared herself for a fight against Odessa, Solaris arrives. A mental switch is flipped. While to Odessa it may look like she decided fleeing from them would be the wiser option, it's not so much that she's running away from them, more so that she's running towards the Solarian incursion point. Which happens to be closer to her friends anyway, so win-win.
From Grigori's point of view, there's a blur of red approaching rapidly from the distance. Clearly visible and heading directly for her, an obvious threat - the main issue is the speed of its approach. Xantia's form becomes visible to the naked eye a split second before she crosses the remaining distance with a short leap, crashing down with her ARM active. She must have seen the blue energy blade, and decided to oppose it with her own, red-colored one.
...There's quite a bit of similarity between the weapons, seeing them side by side like this, and possibly colliding together. Xantia's is considerably smaller, and coming from her bracer, but the Ether blade itself is nigh-identical in composition.
Hopping backwards after her strike, Xantia proceeds to point her weapon in Grigori's direction. "...was it you who made him suffer? It was you, wasn't it? I won't forgive you!"
She doesn't seem to think any further explanation is necessary. She also seems to have forgotten to actually say hello to the friends she finally managed to reunite with. Things... have changed.
GS: Xantia has attacked Grigori with Crimson Flash! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Grigori guards a hit from Xantia's Crimson Flash for 97 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO -- WARWING VARUKIAS
Judecca sits in one of the lounges of the Warwing. There is a subtle rumble from the engines, and he has a table balanced carefully. There are several paperweights -- rocks, trinkets, and the like -- that hold pieces of a sidearm that he has disassembled. He seems at ease; there is almost something peaceful about how he sits there, looking over each piece of his gun.
He lifts the barrel, and looks through it, then squints once. Then, he looks up.
He doesn't smile, but he is pleasant enough. There is something normal to him. A certain professionalism; the relaxed nature of a person off duty.
"Whitehead," he says. "Do you think this is too worn?"
NOW -- ZANARKAND RUINS
One could be forgiven for finding that same relaxed, detached countenance in Judecca. He looks at Leah -- watches as she lands on one knee -- and narrows his eyes at Grigori. He considers her for a moment, before he reaches a hand to his side. He draws a pistol from his holster, levels it at her, and fires. A round goes flying for her.
"I'll pass your complaint along," he says, calmly.
Then, he turns his head, looking at Gwen -- just catching a reflection of light off her gunbarrel, a moment before she fires -- and he ducks to the side just in time. His other hand draws a pistol, he takes aim, and then fires in the direction the shot came from. Then, he looks back at Jacqueline Barber. His head tilts a little.
He tries to duck aside from the vial of purple liquid -- and it shatters, splashing over him. He grunts, once, as he looks at her. "Gh... annoying. An alchemist, then," he says. "Well... this is what I'm paid for."
He aims, then fires a shot for her, too.
Then, finally, Judecca's pale eyes turn. 'Matilda,' Jay said. He looks at Matilda for a moment. "Whitehead," he says. He considers her for a moment. Then, he says the obvious: "You left. They call you a traitor, you should know."
She throws her dagger. It hits him -- and for all that Judecca is that eerie sort of calm, he is a human. It sinks into his shoulder, blood welling up, and there is a pained hiss.
He lifts his gun -- and fires, sending a bullet for the doctor. "Looks like they were right."
But there isn't animosity in his voice -- or maybe there is. There is the slightest crack in calm, that extends past the pained tinge to his voice.
GS: Judecca has attacked Grigori with Hair Trigger! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Judecca spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Judecca has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Aimed Shot! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Judecca has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Hair Trigger! GS: Judecca has attacked Matilda Whitehead with The Man With The Gun! GS: Judecca has completed his action. GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Judecca's Hair Trigger for 103 hit points! GS: Gamble: Low! Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Judecca's The Man With The Gun for 77 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy has been silently preparing for a battle for what feels like a thousand years, though it's probably more like half an hour. The trap charge was the first clue. Odessa, they thought; maybe Drifters. Filgaians, anyway. Then they came across the massive barriers, and they knew it had to be someone with the power to move huge amounts of material quickly. That smacked of Odessa and their mastery of the Sorcery Globe. When they arrived, and they saw Odessa dug in, it was an easy decision for Billy to draw his weapons and aim. Judecca is a known threat; Ratatoskr, too. Josie, he didn't know personally, but if she's standing at Odessa's side, that's all he needs.
Then Billy watches Solaris descend. Judecca disappears from his mind like a dream.
Grigori speaks. Billy flips a coin into the air; a trick his father taught him, as it arcs into the sky.
"Your poisonous kind have no place speaking of the sacred, snake," Billy says, with a voice like flaming ice. The coin passes into his field of vision.
It intersects Grigori's head in his field of view.
He draws a gunsmoke, snapping the ARM up, and firing a single shot that penetrates the coin and passes on with perfect precision to Grigoria's mask.
GS: Billy Lee Black has activated a Force Action! GS: Billy Lee Black spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Grigori with Adam's Apple! GS: Billy Lee Black has gained 1 Combo! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action. GS: Grigori guards a hit from Judecca's Hair Trigger for 107 hit points! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Billy Lee Black's Adam's Apple for 70 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Grigori! GS: Quick applied to Billy Lee Black!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
As it tends to be the way of things, the Drifter parties and Solaris encroaches at a choice time to interrupt.
Ratatoskr thrusts out a forearm against Azoth's swinging arm, where the red blade of energy crackles wildly in... well, let's say the exact calculations of how close he is to grievous harm by the electrical surges is so precisely small that it's a wonder the number doesn't round up to 'it touches,' and those solid yellow eyes lock into Azoth's empty eyes...
Before tilting his head to the side to better look at the blade. "That shade of red is cool," he says to someone like they're still a person, like he'd treat them as one in the middle of all this, "most blades like that I find are blue..."
Dash fires off a few warning shots, where Ratatoskr throws his other arm up to allow for a few smoky pockmarks to decorate his (human) blood red armor. (This remains the Metal Demon cultural equivalent to parading around in cute animal-themed onesies.) His stance starts to falter in his attempt to keep holding Azoth's blade arm right there in order to properly admire the novel hues of it while simultaneously having to deal with the spoken disapproval of the likes of Jay over there and Dash's own admonishment.
"I've been about here..." He says, a little bit of strain because he is currently a thing between Azoth and his objective, and you do not maintain that position without immense effort. "...it's really something... it feels like I've been late to a battle that keeps happening, over and over... always a few minutes too late to witness it."
Followed by a flare-up of his solid yellow eyes. "I saw what some of you did with those statues before the dome too...!" He finally disengages and pushes back from Azoth for repositioning's sake, as the strange floating morass of a warm wind that seems ready to spark flame at any moment - the extent of his Resonance in how he can visually perceive Boudicca even if he can hear her clearly enough - as he drops to a proper combat stance. "Something awful happening? Something awful happening!" Almost barking, mocking. "History is always happening... even right now!!"
That's when he launches into the lot of them, Azoth first with a flying knee strike, a short hop forward to sweep his tail down into Dash's legs, and with energy gathering into his horn, discharging it in a thin beam of energy towards Boudicca's relative center of mass.
"So are there any Summoners here yet? Are there any Summoners here yet!" He asks with excitement all the while in-between the violence.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Azoth with Fly Into Fray! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Dash Caskett with Root Cutter! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Yggdrasil Arrow! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita, today, is almost aggressively pink. She did not bother to wear the big coat and boots because she wasn't going to climb a mountain; her usual uniform is enough. Which means that she is the opposite of stealthy...
...which doesn't matter, at first, if you're not looking up.
Seraphita realizes something is wrong when she gets her boots on something that is definitely not the ground. It moves. She springs off Lan before she realizes who it is; unfortunately for Lan, Seraphita's legs are a lot stronger than they look. She can jump like a rabbit, far higher than most people - but it also means that there's enough force on the jump to possibly bowl Lan over if she was still standing in the first place. She goes right over Lan's sweep before she lands again, more on-balance.
"Hey! It's you!" Seraphita lets out a big smile. "I found the hat. Thank you!! I used it going back down the mountain. It's pretty good for that after all. I didn't think you'd still be here, though... you're not supposed to be..." Not that Seraphita is either, really.
Now the mini-thrusters on the ring about dead. Seraphita holds the ring in front of her like a shield in case there is a sudden attack, but it comes from the ground, a spike of darkness that stabs upwards. Seraphita lets out a startled shout at the unfamiliar sorcery, draws in her own Ether, expels it -
A plume of flame focused into a thin line erupts upward from beneath Pearl's feet, a match for the darkness - just a different element. It's concentrated, a sudden jet of heat and light rather than a constant stream. (Another couple identical-looking but weaker plumes appear near Moblins to push them back from their excavations.)
"I'm going to have to ask you to go, though! We're not going to let Odessa steal what's here but we can't let you take it, either. YOU'RE not supposed to be here either!" Seraphita doesn't know Pearl is a summoner, apparently.
"It's not personal," she finishes, almost apologetically. "You can just... leave! I won't stop you. But I'M not leaving!" Convincing opponents to retreat counts as neutralization to Seraphita, and she doesn't have capture orders for either possibly-Yevonites or Lan.
GS: Seraphita has attacked Pearl with Plasma Flame! GS: Seraphita has attacked Lan Lilac with Rabbit Bounce! GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraphita has completed her action. GS: Dash Caskett takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Root Cutter for 82 hit points! GS: Entangle applied to Dash Caskett! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Judecca's Aimed Shot for 104 hit points! GS: Cripple and Poison applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Guard bonus! GS: Pearl fully evades Seraphita's Plasma Flame for 0 hit points! GS: Azoth accepts Seraph Boudicca's Fortifying Tailwind for 0 hit points! GS: Burst, Quick, and Shield applied to Azoth! GS: Azoth takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 135 hit points! GS: Seraph Boudicca takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Arrow for 74 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Seraph Boudicca! GS: Seraph Boudicca activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Grigori has posed.
"I'm sure." The bullet slams into her chest, impacting armor and flattening against it. And then... there are the others. The Watcher turns from Judecca.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1qS9LMuK8M
To Elhaym is given the simple reply, "I would not expect you to offer thanks." Then Grigori turns towards those moving to face her, even as Seraphita drops in nearby. It's fine. "I did kill your friend," she says to Fei, and his hands slam into the side of her helmet hard enough that there's a loud noise echoing, and she is battered partly to the side. But she straightens her posture, swinging her blade up behind herself to knock Ida's blows astray as she strikes at her back.
"'Should' is a pale echo in a fallen world." A pause. "I am not here for you. But if it is your will to fight, then so be it."
Her blade swings up in a blur of blue next, but Xantia's smaller Ether blade slides off in a shower of sparks to slam down against her shoulder, battering off a chunk of a pauldron and briefly knocking the Solarian elite operative off-balance. She shifts to the side to compensate.
"I have seen much suffering. You will have to be more specific."
A bullet slams into her mask, right into the side of her head and flattens against her armor, impacting with thunderous force. There is a brief moment that suggests something human beneath as she holds still a second after impact, as if re-gathering herself.
"Ah. The Etone. On the contrary, I know the sacred well. Your order's end was most unfortunate. But inevitable, with a man like Isaac Stein."
"But I believe it is my turn to strike."
Her left hand lifts; lightning crackles at her fingertips, erupting forward at Elly, Billy, and Judecca in their respective directions, forking blasts that aim for the chest. There is suddenly a loud humming, as if gears and other mechanisms are turning overdrive, and perhaps that is what is happening as Grigori swings down at Fei with her blade first, a sweeping two-handed blow that could batter away a lesser man easily. She turns and then slams her metal fist down at Xantia next, aiming for the wrist holding the Ether blade with a followup strike of the sword.
As she whirls, she locks onto Ida next, and stares--but only the feeling of being stared at gives it away, because her eyes are obscured. Her hand comes up again, but it is not lightning this time--it is wind and water, coalescing out of nothing in a flash of Ether to grip about Ida's throat and seek to lift her into the air.
"You are in no position to negotiate."
GS: Grigori has attacked Grigori with Steel Fist! GS: Grigori has canceled their attack on Grigori. GS: Grigori has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Anemo Rush! GS: Grigori has attacked Billy Lee Black with Anemo Rush! GS: Grigori has attacked Judecca with Anemo Rush! GS: Grigori assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Grigori has attacked Grigori with Steel Fist! GS: Grigori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori accepts Grigori's Steel Fist for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Grigori! GS: Grigori has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Leaden Strike! GS: Grigori spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Grigori has attacked Xantia with Bonecrusher! GS: Grigori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori's Avenger stance ends. GS: Grigori spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Grigori has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Faithless Grasp! GS: Grigori has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Judecca takes a solid hit from Grigori's Anemo Rush for 104 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Grigori's Faithless Grasp for 54 hit points! GS: Entangle applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Grigori's Anemo Rush for 96 hit points! GS: Lan Lilac critically guards Seraphita's Rabbit Bounce for 18 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
That smile of hers falters -- briefly -- as she spots both Fei and Elly. But only briefly.
"...Listen, kiddo, you ain't got a clue what's goin' on here," Josie remarks in Jacqueline's direction, shaking her head. "Sometimes you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet, right? And this here's one big egg!" She gestures, broadly, at the arena around them with her right hand.
Which might be why she says to Tidus, as he shouts at her, "Clean out your ears, kid! We're makin' a goddamn omelet!"
But that grim mirth doesn't last long.
'"J-Josephine! Josie!"'
Riesenlied wheels herself over towards her, greeting her like an old friend again, and all that the archaeologist can do is stare at her.
'I am so glad you are all right. I am so glad...'
She notes, if remotely, Noeline's advance in turn, but in truth, there's only one person at the center of her world in this moment.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KNGBRqin78
Josie cracks a smile. It is a bitter, bitter smile.
"So they didn't even tell you, huh," she says, shoulders rising and falling with a sigh. "Leavin' me to do all the dirty work like this... I can't forgive that." She swings that shotgun off her shoulder, continuing to run down that well-worn track straight on into its inevitable conclusion.
"But let me tell you somethin' important, then, if they won't, Riesenlied..."
Her finger eases over the trigger as she directs the shotgun at her old friend.
"...the world's changed a whole damn lot since you woke up."
And then she pulls the trigger.
It's into this moment that Tidus, blade bared, enters with a shout, catching the Odessan archaeologist quite off-guard; crimson spatters across the stadium floor as Josie draws back,
just in time to catch a Moblin fastball to the midsection.
It doesn't drop her as such. Instead, she reels for a moment, hunched over and staggering. It might be an easy mistake to assume that she was hurt badly enough that this would be a golden opportunity for a follow-up strike against her.
But she snaps up straight abruptly, letting fly with a spray of bullets at close range for Tidus and Noeline. She strides forward, kicking the body of the fallen Moblin aside and takes aim at Cyre, focusing on him now.
"Yeah," she says simply, her attention on him and nowhere else at all. "Sure did."
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Riesenlied with Scorched Wing! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Noeline with Lunar Thorn! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Lunar Thorn! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Argent and Sable! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Scorched Wing for 71 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Riesenlied! GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Grigori's Bonecrusher for 76 hit points! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Argent and Sable for 76 hit points! GS: Tidus takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 55 hit points! GS: Noeline critically guards Josephine Lovelace's Lunar Thorn for 21 hit points! GS: Noeline activates Guard bonus! GS: Fei Fong Wong critically guards Grigori's Leaden Strike for 23 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Billy Lee Black guards a hit from Grigori's Anemo Rush for 78 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
SEVERAL MONTHS AGO
Matilda looks to Judecca. Like him, she is... practicedly pleasant. She seems distracted, but when she's asked a question she moves to assess. "If it were for me, I'd clean it and be done," she muses, after a little thought. Her head tilts to one side, and she admits, "... but for you, probably." Her own style is shaped by lack of access to reliable machining and she knows it; Judecca has never known such limitations.
NOW -- ZANARKAND RUINS
Judecca's bullet pings off of a thin layer of ceramic at Matilda's side, under her coat. At first blush, it looks like that's all that happens -- but Matilda favors that side for a moment, and a small trickle of red leaks through. 'Ah,' she thinks, distantly. 'Plate shard.' Better than many alternative injuries, but unpleasant.
"I don't dispute it," Matilda says, with a shake of her head. "I... got tired of asking myself how these things would change the world and having no answers that satisfied me." She continues her advance. Judecca isn't a full-on sniper, but she knows his kit; if she can get close enough that even a shotgun is uncomfortable to aim and fire, she has him.
"You realize by now, don't you? There's barely a plan. There's simply Vinsfeld -- and worse, people clinging to him in the hopes that they can take this or that piece of his glory." She ducks low, weaving slightly to one side, this time using her full-length silver blade.
She strikes low with her blade, but remains mostly noncommittal; she's trying to harass Judecca, see how he reacts to being closed on. "You're no fool, I'm sure -- you can tell as well as I that the type of strength Vinsfeld worships is transient, fragile, incapable of healing these worlds. So what makes this happy work for you?"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It doesn't matter how loudly they cry out for him. Azoth doesn't respond.
He hears them. He just doesn't respond.
He hears Dash calling for him and Ratatoskr, and that doesn't matter. He hears hears Boudicca warning Dash to be careful, that something is wrong, with him, and that doesn't matter either. He hears Ratatoskr... compliment the light of his weapon?
That gets a confused series of beeps -- however strained -- before Ratasokr and Azoth disengage. (A person, still, even now. It's not nothing.)
Azoth heats up hotter than he ever had in Gagazet trying to warm his human companions, and his whole chassis is electric with wayward energy that stands to strain him more than the static of touching it could ever effect Ratatoskr.
Boudicca's winds sweep through him, the reddened energy flickering with blue as Azoth stands, hunched and shaken, once Ratatoskr disengages. "M...miss Boudicca... I...'m... sorry..."
Everything's red again.
Ratatoskr's knee strikes right into Azoth with a clang, like kneeing a shield rather than kneeing any sort of fleshy target. It may well have left a dent from the force of it, sparks sputtering from Azoth's chassis in place of a grimace he does not (cannot) give.
Another surging blade of light forms, and Azoth moves like a blink toward Ratatoskr, slicing with his blade to detonate it against his side where he calculates he should make contact.
GS: Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with Flash Drive! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I don't? Then explain." Jacqueline replies to Josie. "Odessa has already left explosive charges all around the city, and I fail to see what purpose that serves except blowing up ancient buildings and the occasional stray Drifter or Summoner."
Judecca comments on her occupation, recognizes her as an alchemist. Jacqueline thinks back. 'Judecca', Matilda had said. That name... then, this man must be one of Odessa's elites. She doesn't have much time to consider that as he takes aim. She only has enough time to wrap her steelcloth cloak around her. The cloak intercepts the bullet, but still elicits a hiss of pain from the impact. If she had been any slower on the defense, that would have been serious...
Jacqueline repositions herself, moving to stay clear out of Grigori's way and to keep Matilda and Gwen in her line of sight to provide support.
"Matilda, Gwen - you have my support!" Jacqueline says, making a quick gesture with her left hand to invoke one of the Crest Graphs in her left gauntlet. A faint purple aura spreads out from her position, settling over weapons - providing a bit more keenness to a blade, or a bit more punch to an ARM.
She goes quiet, then, listening as Matilda voices her reasoning for why she left, and her view on Odessa.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Mage Armory! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Mage Armory! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Azoth's Flash Drive for 54 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ratatoskr activates Evade bonus! GS: Matilda Whitehead accepts Jacqueline Barber's Mage Armory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Gwen Whitlock accepts Jacqueline Barber's Mage Armory for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Oof!" Lan didn't actually see who landed on her. Or even if it was a 'who' to begin with. So at first she's actually pretty glad to have not scored a hit on Seraphita. After all, she was kind to Lan.
It's just that she's with Solaris, and Solaris isn't kind at all. Not even to its own.
"I'm glad you found it," Lan nods, and even smiles a bit. "Thanks for lending it to me. I tried to leave it where you couldn't miss it. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye before I left, but..." But she couldn't be sure. Seraphita actually seems to believe that what she's doing is right. And that's dangerous - maybe more dangerous, Lan thinks, than someone who's only in it for the money or fame.
She wasn't expecting to see spears made of shadow rise up from beneath Seraphita! A glance at Pearl - an unknown person, but an ally for the moment - and Lan shucks off her winter coat, leaving it in a heap on the ground. She can't move in thick clothes like that! How do people from cold climates do anything?
She has to fight Seraphita. But maybe, Lan realizes, she doesn't have to hate her, or be afraid of her.
"We're not here to steal it!" Lan shakes her head, easing into a fighting stance with both hands before her and her weight shifted to her back leg. "I only even came here to meet back up with my friend! But if Gebler is here for whatever's underneath Zanarkand then I'm not leaving - not until you do!"
Unlike Pearl, Lan doesn't go directly for the bloody approach. She just darts forward, suddenly all up in Seraphita's personal space, a chain of knife-handed strikes seeking out nerve points hidden beneath clothing. "So go home, okay?!"
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Seraphita with Counting Stars! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Judecca with Planting! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
For a mage, Pearl moves like a martial artist, with a speed that you'd think would be inhibited by her robes. As she sees the line of flame coming she practically dances to the left, the gout of flame and heat missing her by inches, close enough to feel the searing terrible heat off it. But that's not the part that stings.
'YOU'RE not supposed to be here either!'
*She's right. What place does a fraud like you have here?*
"I am a Summoner," the silver haired woman roars back at Seraphita, "and Zanarkand is the end of my pilgrimage! For the sake of the oath sworn to Leviathan, and to defeat Sin, I will not be driven back by any of you!" There is a ferocious drive there, if not a healthy one. She takes note of Lan fighting the same opponent and gives her a glance. "I will take your aid if we will drive off these interlopers."
And then she plants herself again, sweeping her staff around her, gathering Shadow Magic, and pointing it at Seraphita again. This time, a sphere of darkness forms at the tip of it expanding quickly and rolling forward at a uninterruptable pace. Should it engulf Sera, she will find no light around her, just complete and total darkness, before it shatters and explodes, releasing all it's power in one horrible burst.
GS: Pearl has attacked Seraphita with Darkga! GS: Pearl has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
For some reason Fei is really good at fighting against swords apparently. Just ask Ramses!
Fei brings up his hands just in time though to perfomr a blade catch. And he manages it, though the blade still cuts into the palms of his hand making it impossible for him to actually PIN the blade, but he does stop it long enough for him to pull back, wiping his bloody hands on his slacks as he steps backward.
"The people you're working for," Fei says. "That you're killing for. Are you sure they're even in their right mind? Or was it just easier to convince yourself that what you had to do anyway was for the greater good?"
He hefts his shoulders up. "People who speak about necessary sacrifices like that..."
He leaves the end of that thought unstated. He sees Xantia and smiles at her. Then he blinks. And he says, "Xantia...?"
Don't get distracted or you'll lose her too. Instead, Fei takes in a deep breath and channels ether power into her. Darkness crackles around at the edge of his fists as he comes in hard--striking with his fists for Grigori's stomach. He usually holds back. Is he holding back now? Can he forgive himself if he does and the worst happens?
"Everything ends eventually." He says. "Everything except--"
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grigori with Infinite Darkness Ether Channel! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Judecca takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Planting for 138 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Lan Lilac's Counting Stars for 79 hit points! GS: Break applied to Seraphita! GS: Gamble: Low! Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Pearl's Darkga for 83 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus and Arcane Font! GS: Seraphita enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Even as Riesenlied crosses the distance to Josephine, something is strange.
Noeline steps partially front of her. Their rings share in their feelings -- Riesenlied rarely feels confused at what her partner feels, but this time... she does. That her own assumption is the one that's wrong here. That this is 'just business' to Josephine. Why?
"N-Noeline..." She trusts her, of course, it would be absurd to think otherwise. She clutches her arms to her hands, tighter. Josephine first answers Fei and Elly. She decides she doesn't like the metaphor about breaking eggs. Eggs are precious.
...
So they didn't even tell you, huh.
Riesenlied feels that momentary, fleeing period of hope tug down, like a hard lump falling through her chest... into her stomach. The Dragon's Tear rests on her neckline; it ebbs with a constant flow of violets.
Leavin' me to do all the dirty work like this... I can't forgive that.
A gun is being pointed at her.
But let me tell you somethin' important, then, if they won't, Riesenlied...
Things... things don't make sense. Nothing does right now. Her finger eases over the trigger, all too casually, it seems.
... the world's changed a whole damn lot since you woke up.
BANG
At this moment, Tidus dives in with a loud yell and a strike, possibly saving her life and causing that shotgun's aim to go off-centre--
The bullet flies by, her pale locks formed into a circular vacuum in its wake. Blood -- red Tainted blood -- trickles from a graze on one side of her head, pouring down her left cheek. Her crimson eyes tremble, pupils dilated.
A Moblin tumbles high and dry through the air, as Cyre pins the whole operation on Josephine. She's left scrambling, short on breath and high on franticness and panic. What's going on? Why is everyone treating a friend like this? Why?
...
She's crying.
It's too much. The events of the last few days -- surviving Gagazet, surviving the road to Zanarkand, surviving Odessa's traps, pushing beyond the limits of her body, which feels so feeble right now...
"I--I understand."
Does she understand? Riesenlied doesn't quite make immediate sense right now, as she wholeheartedly sobs and lets tears flow down her scaled cheeks, mixing in with the blood.
"I understand... Josie..."
The Hyadean's teeth grit, and her voice breaks.
"After all... I betrayed you first, all those years ago, did I not?"
In Adelhyde, in the Fairgrounds, all that time ago. It might not really have anything to do with Josephine's own betrayal, because she utterly lacks the context of what's happening; everything that's happened in the two months where she fell unconscious and the world moved on without her.
But Riesenlied is a being predicated on understanding, and right now, she's grasping for the vain few lines of understanding left open to her.
"I apologise... I am truly..."
A cold and broken floorspace, pitoned on eight sides with thick patterned canvas. A yurt. Shattered chattel of the Fereshte rest on the floor.
That frozen and dead girl -- a fond memory of someone long-deceased -- steps forward.
"You can't fall apart here!" shouts Nasrin, kneeling down. With a grimace and no small amount of heat and anger, she shakes the shoulders of the girl in front of her.
There is no answer.
All there is right now is... a little unnamed Dragon Unit, amidst a pile of masks she can't bring herself to wear...
GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Riesenlied receives 50 temporary hit points. GS: Riesenlied enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Riesenlied with Shutting Down...! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied accepts Riesenlied's Shutting Down... for 0 hit points! GS: Grigori takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Infinite Darkness Ether Channel for 158 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
At the same time Tidus slashes Josie, a Moblin flies in out of *nowhere* and impacts her. Tidus recovers from his strike and turns to see Cyre. "Oh, hey! I know, right?!" he says, of Odessa and their plundering--but then there's the reality of Josie having shot Riesenlied right in the face. Or near enough; it looks like he and Cyre hit her well enough for Riese to avoid any *major* damage. Major physical damage, anyway.
"You okay?!" he calls her way--but Noeline's already there, placing herself between Riese and Josie, so Tidus doesn't try to go to their side. As terrible as he feels for her with her crying like that, this is no time for folks to hug it out. At this point, the best thing any of them can do is keep fighting and stop Josie from having her way. As such, Tidus gives Noeline a firm nod. "Let's take her out!"
Of course, then Josie sprays some gunfire right at the two of them, and Tidus needs to cartwheel to the side or gain a bunch of new holes. He still gets several blooming red injuries, but it's not nearly so bad as if he hadn't been quick enough to avoid any direct hits. Bullet wounds are *hella* painful even when they just graze, and all Tidus can do is power through it.
"Screw your omelet!!" Tidus shoots right back at Josie. "The only thing I'm gonna clean here is your kitchen--and your clock!" Which of course means he's going to engage in some temporal shenanigans. Rather than a straightforward Hastega or Slowga spell, though, he uses a technique to summon delaying energy into his sword, then dashes forward and slashes at Josie again. If he's successful, the strike ought to slow her movements for a while, making it easier for everyone to avoid her attacks.
GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Delay Buster! GS: Tidus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Tidus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"If -- if you care so much for history," Boudicca implores Ratatoskr, "why do you carve into the very heart of Zanarkand? This is Spira's most storied place! It is sacred, to Spira!" Why, then, is Boudicca here, who is neither Guardian nor Summoner..?
It's... complicated.
She is here for a Summoner. She can say that much.
Boudicca looks to Pearl, as Ratatoskr demands to know whether there are Summoners here; equally, she is sure Yuna is ahead of them, though she cannot quite say why she is so certain. That, of course, is the moment she sees why Ida did not follow them. "Ida--!!"
There is one bonus, at least, to being such good friends with the wind itself; Boudicca lends the breeze to her Seer's lungs, so she won't collapse from the lack of it.
Unfortunately, Boudicca has a lot of things to worry about. (Unfortunately for Ratatoskr, she does not give him any Summoners to worry about.)
Because the breeze she wends to Azoth clears his mind -- his -- circuits? -- however briefly, and in those moments, he apologises. "Azoth, please --" Boudicca starts, reaches for him, only for Ratatoskr to impact and Azoth to go to a flurry of movement again. She can't follow him so immediately, on account of Ratatoskr's energy blast; Boudicca is forced to adjust her leap to the side mid-air, and it's not, entirely, successful. The energy sizzles in past her side. The silks adorning her plate armour smolder.
"This is rapidly growing out of hand... Dash!" Boudicca calls, to her other robot friend. "I believe our best course of action is to disable the Hyadean forthwith! If he keeps attacking in this way...!" A Seraphic glyph, windy-green, alights around her, as she wends the whimsical wind about Dash.
GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Dash Caskett with Thousand Sky! GS: Seraph Boudicca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Josephine Lovelace fully evades Tidus's Delay Buster for 0 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen makes for a great ranger type, the sort that dabbles in a little bit of all classes and ensures she has a nice answer for just about any situation that arises.
She's just a mediocre sniper when it really comes down to it. An ARM has to be still, leaving the courier, with one arm instead of two. Which, it turns out, she's still quite able to navigate, but still.
The flash of Gwen's hand is enough to alert Judecca, who cleanly evades her shot, and fires one right back.
"Damn!" Gwen attempts to erect a shield, generating it from transparent gold bars that jut out from her wrist. ... It's a great function! Real useful in a fight. .... It's just not fast enough to defeat a bullet, tied to her response time as it is. "Grk!" Gwen's body is knocked back with a trail of blood, already moving in its haste to react to the Odessa agent's counterattack.
As she falls back to staunch the bleeding, she spots Lan, with Seraphita. Seraphita, the Fire Element.
... Sorry, Lan, but Gwen didn't want to pick a fight with the Fire Element so soon after her last encounter.
'The world's changed a whole damn lot since you woke up.' Please let this be part of the plan, please let this be part of the plan Riese, please be okay DAMN IT "Riese, fall back, Josie's joined Odessa! Anybody still sidin' with them at this point ain't doin' it for brownie points with Vinsfield!"
Matilda's speech to Judecca, and Jay's support gives Gwen the critical time to recover, and then some. Seeing Riese, however, throws things into overdrive.
Gold spreads up Gwen's ARM like a narrow fern, falling into the nerves closest to the surface of Gwen's body. It stops at a certain point, as Gwen isn't fully ready to commit to a further transformation.
"So fall back, recoup, n' go back in, 'cause this place can't fall into Odessa's hands, especially with all the souls trapped here, Riese!"
She's not angry, or otherwise she'd be running straight at Josie. ....There's a reason for all of that, and Gwen, someday, may learn that reason.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight! GS: Gwen Whitlock takes 25 damage from Poison! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Gwen Whitlock accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple and Poison removed! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Riesenlied - Elly can see her moving towards Josie in the corner of her eyes and a burst of dread fills her stomach.
And in that moment she thinks of something very specific and very deliberate. On the far side of Mt. Gagazet, crouched gently in a valley with no doubt several others, is... something wonderful. The memory comes with a feeling: a smiling certainty: we can set it right!
Don't worry.
She does not have much time to worry. Grigori affirms that they DID kill Fei's friend - a crackling arc of lightning comes towards Elly. The Jugend-style counter-Ether snaps into invisible presence, diffusing some of the bolt; it strikes the iron rod before her, set downwards on the bleachers near her, but this simply grounds it to go through the metal, mostly, and also her arms, which tighten and scream and paralyze for a heart-stopping second. (Not ACTUALLY heart-stopping, though! Yay!)
Her fingers are still gripping the staff. Elly's lips thin.
There isn't time to mess around here, she thinks. They're in danger. I have to set it right, and with that she strides forwards onto the now lightning-damaged stand and takes one more power step forwards -
Into a leap -
DOWN, towards the Grigori, twisting round her upper body so that she can slam the end of the rod down hard enough at the Solarian to pop-fly herself back into the air, enough to do a flip and land in a readied crouch, weapon held up en garde: "Are you the commander of this force??"
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Grigori with Sky Attack! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Dash Caskett accepts Seraph Boudicca's Thousand Sky for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Lock State and Shield applied to Dash Caskett! GS: Grigori takes a solid hit from Elhaym van Houten's Sky Attack for 99 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
'So they didn't even tell you, huh.'
"You... what?" Cyre looks positively flabbergasted. He double-takes from Josephine to Riesenlied and back again. "How did-- I thought everyone knew!?" But Riesenlied's tenuous conscious state has meant that she's become something of an exception to 'everyone.' The shaman has been around Riese often enough to know just what kind of impact this sort of thing will have.
...Even without a shotgun blasting a hole through her face.
"Damnit, this is what I get for letting bygones be bygones, even for a little...!" But he'd probably end up doing it again, if placed in the same situation. Madness, some might call it. Pure madness, the act of doing the same thing over and over again and somehow expecting different results. Perhaps Cyre is mad. Perhaps he's just... Too apt to go with the flow.
A blast of gunfire tears towards him. The sound snaps him out of his reverie before the buckshot can get anywhere near his center of mass. He darts out of the way just a split second too late, pellets shredding his tattered robes to scraps of useless cloth and painting his naked torso red with his own blood. But-- it was not a lethal shot. The fact that he's still moving is proof enough.
"What the heck are you and yours here for, Josephine? You after some kind of weapon this time? Or maybe you and Solaris are both here for the same thing, and Odessa's got an itch to shatter a faith of their own after their big sky brothers beat them to the punch?" It's a little late for that, though. Spira's own religion is in shambles as well. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask-- nor does it hurt to keep her attention off Riesenlied.
"It's like this every time!" Cyre complains to Tidus, completely ignoring the dozens of times he and his friends have plundered ruins for their own reasons. The shaman whirls in, his hands glowing with twinned arcana of wind and sky. With a prayer to Fengalon and Solais Emsu on his lips, recounting a story of the misadventures of the two in antiquity, Cyre drives his palms towards the chainsmoking graverobber...
And unleashes a pulse of energy that doesn't just look to blast her back, but to stir the very air around her into a frenzy. One which he might soon manipulate...
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Celestial Lore! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 4 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
Lightning flies at Judecca. He may have no sorcery, but he has dealt with it before. He is still unprepared for the might of her blast, electricity flying at him. It throws him backward with a spray of sparks and a burst of ozone that is rich in the air. He hits the ground, rolls, and throws himself back up. His hand swings up, and he takes aim.
This time, he fires two shots off -- one for Grigori's midsection, and the other for her left leg -- and it's a lightning fast motion.
He reaches his hand up, and knocks Matilda's dagger away. The weapon falls -- hitting the stones with a clatter -- and the hiss is a low one with pain. He sees her advance, and he draws a pistol with another hand. Her blade slashes, low, across him.
"Don't deny it," he says. "I can respect that."
She catches his coat. Judeccas coat has specialized armor plating sewn in; padded sections of leather around some steel plates, which make blades catch on it. The result is her sword strikes in -- catches there -- and slams into his ribs with a hard crack.
He grunts. He stays close to Matilda, even as he finds Jay providing them support. His eyes dart up; he hasn't forgotten about Gwen. He tries to keep track of her.
r ut Matilda is right in front of him. He keeps his eyes on her.
"What makes it work for me?" he repeats, to Matilda. "You're right. Vinsfeld... they're following him for their own selfish reasons. He isn't going to change the world. But I'm not in it for changing the world."
He looks at her. His expression is blank. "The world won't be changed. Change it and it breaks again. Fix it, something new breaks. I've realized, Whitehead, that I could lie to myself..."
He moves. Her sword is in his coat. He tears free, fabrics spilling. The shotgun that he fired at Leah rises, catches Matilda's sword and lifts it. Then, a slug fires, hurtling off for Jay's midsection. And his other hand swings up, a pistol aimed at Matilda.
He fires, point blank. "...But I could be honest. There's a feeling when you have power. When you don't have to worry where your parts come from. When your aim is true."
And there is a hint of smile. "When you can kill, instead of fight, and not have to pretend there's guilt. A world where the strong don't need pretensions."
The smoke wafts from his revolver's barrel -- and then keeps wafting,, as he moves it to where Gwen was, as she speaks to Riesenlied. He fires in the blink of an eye, loosing a shot in her direction with but a glance.
GS: Judecca has attacked Grigori with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Jacqueline Barber with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Point Blank! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Judecca has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Hair Trigger! GS: Judecca has attacked Judecca with Gunner's Heaven! GS: Judecca has completed his action. GS: Judecca accepts Judecca's Gunner's Heaven for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify and Lock State applied to Judecca! GS: Jacqueline Barber critically guards Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 37 hit points! GS: Grigori takes a solid hit from Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 190 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Grigori!
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
"I don't care what you think you know," Billy yells, a flame in his heart that has been quietly burning for weeks leaping into his throat. "I said you have no right to speak of it, Solarian dog!"
The Ether blast roars toward him. He just barely jerks his habit up; the protective Etone magic in it prevents the shot from drilling completely through him, scattering the blast around him like a prism. Billy himself grits his teeth, too tightly. His jaw hurts. He doesn't know why. "Hundreds of people dead, and you talk like it's no worse than a man stepping on his toes at the mill! THOUSANDS of supplicants sent to what they hoped would be a better life, and you gave them a lifetime of agony!"
He snaps his other arm and gunsmoke up, leveling it at Grigori and firing repeatedly as he draws nearer. Despite the guns, an Etone's fighting style relies on strikes, too. "The only holy thing in your life will be where you die, sky-devil!"
GS: Billy Lee Black has attacked Grigori with Colt M1873 Single Action Army! GS: Billy Lee Black assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Billy Lee Black has completed his action. GS: Grigori critically guards Billy Lee Black's Colt M1873 Single Action Army for 19 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Billy Lee Black! GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead guards a hit from Judecca's Point Blank for 127 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
"What do you mean, Boudicca?" Dash calls back. It takes but a glance to see Azoth is having some kind of problem. He recalls running into them regarding the Ouroboros? Was that it? And times before as well. Now, they look and sound quite off. "Oh, uh, yeah-- what is up with them? What are they doing here in that condition?!"
Shots land against Ratatoskr's armor, though is well-forged and does not puncture. It also is a not-so-friendly color. he hopes the Metal Demon dropped it in a barrel of wine by accident.
Speaking of, a large tail whips out at blinding speed and takes Dash clean off his feet. "OufUH--" he lets out, clanking to the ground with the sound of a heavy oil drum. "Rude! Why can't you just study history being made with a book and quill like all the other historians?!" Obviously the fella just wants to be in the event, but.
The power of elemental sky and wind ensorcells Dash, assisting his ability to stand, though internal gyroscopics are still out of wack, for now. "Yep yep! On it! Just be careful around Azoth for now! When the combat is over, we can try and see what is wrong!"
The Mega Buster is aimed, but this time is brought to full nominal power, and unleashes a stream of plasma orbs for the Hydaean!
The extra power brought forth is reserved for on the off-chance Ratatoskr doesn't back down.
There is a high probability he won't.
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Rapid-Fire Buster! GS: Dash Caskett has gained 2 Combo! GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action. GS: Grigori has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Don't ask Seraphita how to fight in a giant coat. There's a reason she's not.
"It's okay," Seraphita says, but does not go into details. It gets a little awkward to say 'I know you probably don't want to be around someone from Solaris' when both of them know it already, which may be why she sounds a little sad about it.
Seraphita will be friends with everyone, but not everyone will be friends with her. And half the people who WOULD be her friends won't be, because of what and who she is - a Gebler officer. It's enough to make a rabbit sad!
But she's certainly not going to stop being what she is. She has to make Ramses proud. "I can't tell you what Gebler wants and doesn't. But I CAN say I'm not leaving just because you told me to. So I guess we have to fight... and you!" That, louder and more strongly, toward Pearl. "I want you to beat Sin! It scares me too! So I'm not going to stop you from doing any pilgrimage! Just from getting in the way!"
Lan has the right read: Seraphita is a believer, in some parts of Solaris - some people in Solaris - if not always the whole thing. And that's the most dangerous person of all, someone motivated not by greed or adoration but an idea.
What idea? Well...
Seraphita isn't telling, at least not right now. She's fighitng! Lan coming in close seems to surprise Seraphita (she assumed she was not going to break into martial arts), and Seraphita doesn't exactly have any armour to protect her. She has a ring, which is not very good at stopping knife-hand blows, which jab into Seraphita as she tries to clear out, out of reach.
She doesn't get there - or she does, but Pearl's sphere of darkness surrounds her. It pulses weirdly before it shatters, revealing Seraphita - but a Seraphita on fire, glowing with the attempt to burn out the darkness. It didn't work this time, but she was getting closer.
As the flame aura around her expand and goes out, the whole area around Seraphita ripples and wavers, making it harder to see her clearly. It's also brutally hot - it might be more comfortable for Lan at the distance she is now, but if she tries to get any closer it's going to get scorching.
Especially as Seraphita does something else - she turns around and... wiggles her butt at Pearl, waving over her shoulder. "So there! Nyah!"
The insult is harmless. Childish even. Less harmless is the gathering energy - not Seraphita's gathering energy, but Pearl's, as Seraphita draws off some of her magical reserves. Rather than wasting it, she energizes *herself* with it, feeding her Ether potential.
GS: Grigori guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Searing Ember Strike for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Grigori! GS: Seraphita enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraphita has attacked Lan Lilac with Heat Haze! GS: Seraphita spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Seraphita has attacked Pearl with Ether Drain! GS: Seraphita has launched an attack Link! GS: Seraphita has attacked Seraphita with Burning Heart! GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraphita has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr fully evades Dash Caskett's Rapid-Fire Buster for 0 hit points! GS: Ratatoskr activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida steps back as Grigori swings for her, her upper body bending backwards at the waist. The Etheric blade misses, barely; she feels the crackling, burning energy through her clothes as it passes over her torso and chest. For a moment, it looks like it's going to strike her chin, but she keeps flowing, twisting until her torso is very nearly at a right angle to her lower body. It's graceful and alien and unsettling all at once.
And then, like a coiled spring, Ida snaps upright again, her duster billowing behind her. "It always is," she says, baring teeth. "You would cage this world, and call it God's will." Grigori speaks to Billy, and Ida remembers Father Xiao, who mistook her for her mother--his student--in his dying moments. She remembers her mother sobbing, and Aunt Isabel trying to comfort her, despite her own tears.
"I'll ask you again!" Ida cries. Distantly, she knows the others are there--Xantia and Fei and Elly and Billy--and that they, too, have grievances. Elly risked everything to help people she was trained to see as subhuman. Billy lost everything when Stone decided the Ethos had overstepped their reach. Fei remains a pawn in some grand, cosmic plan that makes Ida feel like a dust speck in comparison. She can only guess at what Xantia's been through, since that time in Dazil when she lost herself.
In that moment, there is only Ida, and her foe. The one that wants her dead. The one that killed his friend.
"How many more have to die before you're satisfied?!"
In that moment, Ida charges, flowing motions giving way to a lunge, and a straight punch for Grigori's helm--
It never lands. Something pulls tight around her throat, lifting her off the ground, and it feels like she's strangling and drowning and burning all at once. Armored fingers scrabble at her neck, but touch only misty air threaded with a current of ozone. Sparks ignite behind her eyes.
And then a gust of air sweeps past her face, a warm spring breeze that slices through the Watcher's sorcery. Boudicca, she thinks, as she sucks in a ragged breath, feels herself falling. Ida's feet hit the turf, kicking up dust; her body sways and wobbles, and her feet instinctively find that stance again, bracing her before she topples over. Her right hand twists into an 'OK' sign, a signal to her partner that she's all right.
And then she ducks, dipping low; the armor on her hands broadens and flattens as she digs them into the accumulated dust of ages. With a single shove upwards, Ida raises that dust, sending up a cloud of grit and particulate in Grigori's direction--a veil to camouflage her for a critical moment or so. She lunges through the dust, her fingers pressed together, their tips glowing gold and burning. A roar escapes her lips as she strikes, one hand twisting towards Grigori's sternum, and the other towards her solar plexus. Should they touch, they make contact with a violent SNAP-CRACK of Breath, and a deep burning pain as Ida's lifeforce infiltrates the Watcher's body.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Grigori with Searing Ember Strike! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 3 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Stoic stance ends. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Pearl takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Ether Drain for 0 hit points! GS: Mute and Weaken applied to Pearl!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia's steely gaze as she faces Grigori briefly wanders, and there's a momentary grimace when she notices that Seraphita is fighting nearby. It's still difficult to accept that someone who inspired her so long ago, helping to put her on the path of who she is today... is someone she's going to have fight. Thankfully, she already has another Solarian operative to worry about today. She can't help but smile wryly as she turns her attention back to Grigori, saying something that the Watcher probably rarely hears from her enemies. "...I'm glad you're here."
When asked to be more specific of which suffering she was referring to, any hint of a smile is quickly gone again. She doesn't respond in any other way, at least not before Grigori declares its her turn to strike.
Taking a defensive posture, she readies herself to intercept a blade strike, but the initial strike is a bare-handed one. Unbalanced by the unexpected maneuver, her dodge is somewhat awkward, and the follow-up manages to get past her blade, striking Xantia's bracer. There's a crackling and sizzling noise, the bracer generating some sort of Ether barrier to soften the impact, but ultimately, both shield and blade fizzle out as she's forced backwards. Xantia shakes her arm afterwards, the experience not exactly a painless one.
Still, she smiles when Fei speaks her name. "Hey. I'm here to help you get revenge. Like I said I would." It's not why she was originally here, but it's why she's here now. That will have to serve as the answer to whose suffering she was talking about just now. Although, Fei might wonder when Xantia said she'd do that, because it's not him she said that to...
Though without her energy blade now, this doesn't deter Xantia from going right back onto the offensive. Fei might wonder whether he's holding back - Xantia most definitely is not. She targets the same area Fei just did with a deceptively simple palm strike, devoid of Ether, but backed by all of her considerable physical strength.
"...Don't worry. I'll make sure you won't see any more suffering."
It's unclear who she meant to direct those words to. Maybe both possible interpretations are equally valid.
GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action! GS: Xantia spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Xantia has attacked Grigori with Shatterstrike! GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Xantia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Josie's world is not the only one that shrinks in on itself. Noeline is fast, but once again she isn't fast enough - and so the battlefield suddenly wrenches to a halt, time stopped as her field of vision narrows to a pinpoint, centered on the sight of Riesenlied with a shotgun pointed at her face.
Something breaks within her all over again, and it takes her a moment to realise she's roaring as her muscles carry her forwards. She dimly registers a flurry of scattershot in her direction, but the idea that something like that might stop her in the face of everything else at stake here is simply absurd, and she dives into the hail of bullets with her sword in front of her, leaving its bulk to direct the multitude of shots and simply not caring about any that might get through.
Worse than any physical pain is the wrenching feeling over her link with Riesenlied, the fractured and raw sensation different to any she's ever felt from her partner. It leaves her own gut twisting and churning. Something is terribly wrong. Something else is about to break and there might just be nothing she can do to stop it. And despite every other instinct she has to immediately go to Riesenlied's side, her body is telling her there's something she needs to do first. 'Get the enemy away from her'.
She catches herself with a hiss of breath, sudden clarity telling her she can't think like that - that trying to think like that is going to only send Riese sinking further into herself.
So when she lands in front of Riesenlied, her arm pulled back and straining with the weight of her sword as she wrenches it forwards, she takes care to remind herself that this is Josephine Lovelace in front of her, and not some random member of Odessa. Even if the two, right now, amount to the same thing. The actual strike itself is with the flat of her blade, more to send the woman flying than actually hurt her - though between its size and Noeline's panic, there's not much of a difference.
"To think," she hisses afterwards. "Odessa's reasons must be compelling for even you of all people to descend into cryptic bullshit. You could have just said 'for money, haha' and it would somehow be a more satisfying answer."
If she has anything more to say she bites it back. There's a frantic look towards Gwen - as much as she might agree, this is absolutely not the time - and risks kneeling urgently in front of Riesenlied as she trusts Tidus and Cyre to take the brunt of Josie's counterattack. Part of her recoils at the wound itself; she presses a hand to it, prepared to offer part of her own metal if need be, and the rest of her tries to search for a spark in her partner's eyes, over their link.
"This is not your fault," she whispers urgently, swallowing a lump in her throat. Anything else she could say eludes her, so she leaves it up to her emotions instead, closing her eyes as she maintains their connection, even if one-sidedly.
GS: Noeline has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Material Adept - Sky Splitter! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Noeline assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Though Matilda is at least well-braced, in part thanks to Jay's support, she's not expecting Judecca to be as comfortable in-close as it turns out that he is; this time she actually *does* catch the bullet, albeit heavily slowed by what it has to travel through. Moreover, she's genuinely surprised by his answer.
"... Th-thank you, Jay," she stammers out, as she regains her footing. "So that's really it. To think we ever shared a common cause -- oh, to be sure, you can't pick your allies, but..." The emptiness gnaws at Matilda. It'd be enough to make her retch, if she had the time.
She can't *quite* afford to act like she's got certain footing at any distance... Judecca has speed on her, to be sure, and that's not something she has the chance to say often. She needs to try something else. She shifts to a single-handed grip on her blade, backpedaling a few inches and drawing a holdout pistol as well. Her shot is quick and, honestly, a little sloppy; again, it's really more about buying herself time to think than anything else. The give and go of combat continues, automatic as ever.
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Judecca with Repositioning Shot! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Celestial Lore for 100 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Guard bonus! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Noeline's Material Adept - Sky Splitter for 166 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock critically guards Judecca's Hair Trigger for 35 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Guard bonus! GS: Judecca takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Repositioning Shot for 142 hit points! GS: Grigori critically guards Xantia's Shatterstrike for 24 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The squirrel-like Hyadean whirls and pivots as Azoth comes at him with lightning precision by mechanical standards, up against a living creature who was born and bred to be the closest thing to an immortal killing machine by Mother's cruel hold on a conquered people.
It is that close to being a killing blow even for all the world it looks like a grazing hit, the detonating blade cutting through armor and Hyadean flesh to coat the ruins of Zanarkand a new layer of quicksilver. Ratatoskr goes into a three-point stance as he sizes up the momentarily mournful mumbler.
"Come onnnn," Ratatoskr intones to the red-wreathed Azoth, "aren't you going to say anything? Aren't you going to say anything!" He glowers, and misses the personal nuance about how he used to be so annoyed that most would just talk at him and be all 'I don't want to fight.' "I want to know... where that blade came from... who you are."
Boudicca - that morass of swirling air ready to spark into flame - accosts him with words. "It is... that's why I'm here." Also, because he's with Odessa, but especially this. "Not many get to see it... I've never met or found anyone who's been there to tell me, so I have to see it..."
He braces for an 'attack' from Boudicca that is just more supportive magic towards Dash, and he shoots Boudicca a Look(tm) as Dash verbally accosts him next. "Hyahaha--! That's ridiculous! Where do they get the material to write?" Is he going to-- "Where do they get the material to write!!"
He whirls up again in a leap that just clears the stream of plasma, pointing a foot down as compressed air discharges out the heel with shotgun-like force just above Dash, and giving him an effective double jump to come down to Azoth's side to whirl with an elbow strike into an outstretched palm that also discharges that shotgun air at around head-to-chest level... but from there, a sharper glance to Boudicca.
"...You're here too," his fang-filled grin lowering to a smile as he dashes the length up towards her, trying to ram into that floating person-shaped gust of wind in a shoulder tackle to carry her into the nearest wall and pin a sparking, surging laser horn with disorienting, shocking energies.
"So... why won't you fight? Why won't you fight!" He admonishes her, for as Jay may already know - Ratatoskr has a particular dislike of passive buff-bots.
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Dash Caskett with Overhead Shoot! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Azoth with One Armed Dual Wield! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Seraph Boudicca with What's Wrong...! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Azoth guards a hit from Ratatoskr's One Armed Dual Wield for 91 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Azoth gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Azoth activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraph Boudicca takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's What's Wrong... for 98 hit points! GS: Disease applied to Seraph Boudicca! GS: Seraph Boudicca activates Sufferer!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Explain? Nah," Josie replies, shaking her head. "Don't think I will. Hang around and see for yourself, if you want," Josie drawls. "Just keep in mind if'n you meet the Reaper: I warned you."
Already, Riesenlied is realizing it. The little tells are as clear as day across her face, her demeanor, the way she holds herself in her chair. But the only good lessons are the ones that stick.
So be it.
The shot goes wide as Tidus impacts her. In those few seconds as she rights herself, before Cyre similarly intrudes upon her space at a distance, Josie happens to glance Riesenlied's way.
There are tears rolling down the Hyadean's cheeks.
And Riesenlied still says she understands.
"The hell are you--" is as much as she gets out, before Cyre's makeshift projectile slams right into her. And after that, she has reason enough not to look. It makes sense not to look.
'"After all... I betrayed you first, all those years ago, did I not?"'
Josie's jaw tenses. "...Shut up," she hisses, not even looking at Riesenlied. "Shut up, shut up! Stop-- stop apologizing!" Her grip on the black shotgun tenses; one might well assume that she's about to roll Riesenlied's way for another shot. But instead there's a snap and a scent of ozone in the air; electricity is already coiling its way down her arm and hissing like an angry snake. Wheeling hard to the left as Tidus slashes for her, temporal enchantments coiling off his blade, Josie only narrowly evades the blow. She can hear the blade whoosh past her ear.
"Bolt Lance--" she shouts, pivoting as she closes towards Tidus, throwing her right hand out Riesenlied's way.
"Better luck next time, kid," she says to him.
Tidus, instead, receives as his present of her being rather into his personal space the butt of her shotgun towards the side of his head.
What is Odessa here for, anyway?
"Shatter a faith? Hardly," she replies to Cyre, glancing the once over her shoulder. "Use that big brain of yours, yeah?" Hadn't she just said to Jay moments before that she wasn't about to explain. "Think about it. What all is even under a place like this?"
...Under?
The air around her burns with light, shimmering with the pulse of Filgaia. It's not the sort of magic that Josie ever practiced -- not even using a stone tablet like some others -- but all sorcery has some basic principles in common. She takes a breath as if to center herself, light flickering around her own form for the moment.
And exhales sharply as the force passes around her, through her. She backpedals then, ascending backwards the collection of piled rubble she already knows is there. Standing atop it there she takes a shot at Cyre, only glancing the once through the sights.
Noeline chooses this moment to close on her, a retaliatory strike for what she had done to her beloved. Josie has enough time to consider what's happening, her eyes widening, before the flat of the blade slams into her. She stumbles and, considering her current perch, falls from where she'd been to land on the stadium floor.
"Ha... you didn't know, neither? Someone's really dropped the ball here, Noeline. And it ain't me," Josie finishes, lifting her shotgun where she's still crouched and taking aim at her former ally.
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Riesenlied with Bolt Lance! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Hunting Minotaur! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Scarlet Tiger! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Noeline 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 has completed her action. GS: Noeline used Defend! She takes Josephine Lovelace's Bolt Lance attack on Riesenlied on herself! +VOTE: Asgard is currently set as an observer. If they should be getting sparkled, please do so separately! +VOTE: You have voted for Noeline. +VOTE: You have voted for Seraphita. +VOTE: You have voted for Ratatoskr. +VOTE: You have voted for Lan Lilac. +VOTE: You have voted for Grigori. +VOTE: You have voted for Ida Everstead-Rey. +VOTE: You have voted for Matilda Whitehead. +VOTE: You have voted for Dash Caskett. +VOTE: You have voted for Xantia. +VOTE: You have voted for Pearl. +VOTE: You have voted for Billy Lee Black. +VOTE: You have voted for Gwen Whitlock. +VOTE: You have voted for Riesenlied. +VOTE: You have voted for Azoth. +VOTE: You have voted for Seraph Boudicca. +VOTE: You have voted for Jacqueline Barber. +VOTE: You have voted for Elhaym van Houten. +VOTE: You have voted for Fei Fong Wong. +VOTE: You have voted for Tidus. +VOTE: You have voted for Cyre H. Lorentz.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear! GS: Noeline guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Hook for 29 hit points! GS: Dispel! Shield removed! GS: Disease applied to Noeline! GS: Noeline activates Guard bonus! GS: Noeline guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Bolt Lance for 89 hit points! GS: Noeline activates Guard bonus! GS: Noeline enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The shot misses Noeline. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The shot isn't what the Hyadean has to worry about. Josie lunges upwards instead, wielding her shotgun like a battering ram, and slams into Noeline with all her strength.
GS: Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Heat Haze for 61 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lan Lilac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind applied to Lan Lilac! GS: CRITICAL! Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Scarlet Tiger for 89 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! Riesenlied (Riese) pages Josephine Lovelace and Noeline: I am thinking there might be a big chance Riesenlied might transform and run away in a few rounds if that is okay... Riesenlied (Riese) pages Josephine Lovelace and Noeline: maybe take Noeline with her
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
If it helps, Pearl has not worked out friends yet. Maybe you can work it out, Seraphita! Just... not today. "You are stopping me right now!" Pearl retorts, indicating the battlefield at large. "All of this is!" And even if Solaris weren't, she wouldn't want there presence here.
*Because this isn't a place for otherworlders, is it?*
Is it just Seraphita that's scared, or all of Solaris? Poor sample size. She could ask the violent armoured person, but well, they seem occupied, She wants to know what Odessa are up to, but maybe the Guard can round some of them up. Right now she has bigger problems.
As she's able to weaken shadow with flame, Pearl steps back to reassess Seraphita. Despite her attitude, she's definitely seems dangerous. r
And then she waggles her bunny booty and Pearl is just... confused. "...What?" She asks, but she can feel a slight heat in her face. What sort of fire spell is that, that burns so weak? She doesn't realise her face is a little red. "What in the world are you-"
And then the actual spell hits and she feels her magic drain from her. It's unpleasant- not painful, but wrong, and she can feel her magical power limited. This is... bad. So instead she rushes at Seraphita, and lets out a 'Hya!' (Oh no, she's been around Day too long.) And then she swings a wild, wide, desperate attack with the staff at Seraphita. It looks, quite frankly, risky and clumsy.
Looks, being the operative word.
GS: Pearl has attacked Seraphita with Desperate Swing! GS: Pearl has gained 1 Combo! GS: Pearl assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Pearl has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Grigori has posed.
Fei is good at swords. Grigori notes his blade catch, though her expression is unseen; he is able to deflect her blow, and she follows through in order to get her sword back into a fighting position.
"A fair question. To the outside, much of what we do must seem like madness or perhaps pointless cruelty. I accept this."
Necessary sacrifices. Is Fei holding back? Or is Fei always holding back, by virtue of being 'Fei' at all? His fist crackles with darkness and he strikes, and slams his Etherically enhanced fist into her. The darkness surges through her body, and for a moment it is more obvious what is flesh and what is not because the parts that are still bone and skin and muscle underneath are briefly illuminated by tenebrous power.
Grigori is knocked backward to one knee, though she keeps hold of her weapon, and rises a moment later. "Everything except for you."
Elly impacts hard--she can feel the resounding clang of hitting metal when she slams the rod down at Grigori, hitting her shoulder and bouncing just as she'd attempted. Her readied crouch sees her across from the Grigori, who turns towards her at her question. "I see you have continued to practice the forms. ...Yes, I command this force today."
Judecca's first shot sinks into her armor, but it penetrates; as fast as he is, he gets a weak spot, and there is the shine of blood at her midsection. But the second is if anything faster, and it shreds a bit of plating, sending up sparks as it passes through metal and synthetic fiber. She is forced to adjust her stance, and turns toward him, extending a hand. This time it is not lightning she passes towards him, but it is recognizeable as Water-aspected Ether to those who can feel it. A blue aura surrounds her hand before she curls it into a fist, and a sick aura of pale white surges for Judecca to open wounds and make them fester, worsening whatever has already been done if its magic settles.
The Grigori's blade flashes upward in a rush of blue light, and a crackling barrier of Ether erupts from around it. Billy's bullets slam into that barrier rather than into the Solarian's armor, one after another, but she does not draw away from him as he draws closer.
"Your anger will betray you, Etone." He rushes closer into melee, and she throws up her sword for an instant, letting it hang in the air; they clash bodily, his fists and feet to hers in a blur of motion between them before she slams her forehead straight down into his, sending Billy flying into a pile of debris.
"Righteousness will avail you little in this godless world. You must temper it with wisdom."
"It may be none. It may be ten thousand. You understand little and less of what I must do." This is the Watcher's answer to Ida as she hangs in the air, and then she turns from her, dismissive.
<Pose Tracker> Grigori has posed.
Fei is good at swords. Grigori notes his blade catch, though her expression is unseen; he is able to deflect her blow, and she follows through in order to get her sword back into a fighting position.
"A fair question. To the outside, much of what we do must seem like madness or perhaps pointless cruelty. I accept this."
Necessary sacrifices. Is Fei holding back? Or is Fei always holding back, by virtue of being 'Fei' at all? His fist crackles with darkness and he strikes, and slams his Etherically enhanced fist into her. The darkness surges through her body, and for a moment it is more obvious what is flesh and what is not because the parts that are still bone and skin and muscle underneath are briefly illuminated by tenebrous power.
Grigori is knocked backward to one knee, though she keeps hold of her weapon, and rises a moment later. "Everything except for you."
Elly impacts hard--she can feel the resounding clang of hitting metal when she slams the rod down at Grigori, hitting her shoulder and bouncing just as she'd attempted. Her readied crouch sees her across from the Grigori, who turns towards her at her question. "I see you have continued to practice the forms. ...Yes, I command this force today."
Judecca's first shot sinks into her armor, but it penetrates; as fast as he is, he gets a weak spot, and there is the shine of blood at her midsection. But the second is if anything faster, and it shreds a bit of plating, sending up sparks as it passes through metal and synthetic fiber. She is forced to adjust her stance, and turns toward him, extending a hand. This time it is not lightning she passes towards him, but it is recognizeable as Water-aspected Ether to those who can feel it. A blue aura surrounds her hand before she curls it into a fist, and a sick aura of pale white surges for Judecca to open wounds and make them fester, worsening whatever has already been done if its magic settles.
The Grigori's blade flashes upward in a rush of blue light, and a crackling barrier of Ether erupts from around it. Billy's bullets slam into that barrier rather than into the Solarian's armor, one after another, but she does not draw away from him as he draws closer.
"Your anger will betray you, Etone." He rushes closer into melee, and she throws up her sword for an instant, letting it hang in the air; they clash bodily, his fists and feet to hers in a blur of motion between them before she slams her forehead straight down into his, sending Billy flying into a pile of debris.
"Righteousness will avail you little in this godless world. You must temper it with wisdom."
"It may be none. It may be ten thousand. You understand little and less of what I must do." This is the Watcher's answer to Ida as she hangs in the air, and then she turns from her, dismissive.
Xantia's strike swings home, and she hits. She could tear a man apart with a strike of that power, and indeed there is a loud noise--the armor plating over the Grigori's stomach shatters suddenly, shards of it digging in and otherwise hanging as near-useless for protection now. But she does not move back. She looks down to Xantia, instead.
"A weapon's nature is to strike. I wonder--whose weapon will you be?"
But in time Ida recovers, thanks to Boudicca, and there is that cloud of grit. The Watcher does not move--she simply raises her blade. However, Ida moves not to overpower but simply to touch, and this she can do, for she is faster than the inevitable Watcher. Snap-CRACK.
"Ah," the Grigori vocalizes. "To burn. I remember this feeling well. But I have survived the flame before." It should be absolutely debilitating; it is impossible to tell how she is feeling through her modulated voice, however, tinny and mechanical. She turns to fully face Ida this time. "The Guardians' power is strong you. An irony, given what you have become. But it will not be enough."
Suddenly the Watcher is in motion once more, bringing a two-handed strike down on Elly and her staff with great enough force that the air whistles with it. She swings from there, extending a hand as Ether builds up and becomes a man-sized torrent of water that crashes towards Fei with concrete-busting force. Xantia is next, as smoothly, smoother than even the Jugend forms allow, the Grigori swings that watery force to become a great bubble in the air that turns into a hammerblow slamming towards Xantia and the ground. Finally she brings her blade back down, striking again and again at Ida one after another.
GS: Grigori has attacked Judecca with White Horse! GS: Grigori has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Solarian Blade Arts - Form 4! GS: Grigori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Aqua Decree! GS: Grigori has attacked Xantia with Aqua Breaker! GS: Grigori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Hammerblow! GS: Grigori's Avenger stance ends. She enters the Stoic stance! GS: Grigori has adjusted their boss level for 5 opponents! GS: Grigori has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen is helping! Maybe. Noeline probably has a better shot at this.
Besides, Judecca's words to Matilda, meant especially for Matilda, are like a splash of freezing water against Gwen's back.
Or maybe, more like a discordant melody, as Gwen finds those little bits of herself, likely left over fragments of the Stranger's meddling (as she tries to assure herself), that find some sense in parts of Judecca's speech, but not all.
And then, there's the part she is convinced is fully hers, that finds the entire package of what Judecca is selling so fundamentally wrong.
So wrong that Gwen can't see the possible irony in how she reacts.
The power of the Mockingbird has made Gwen's movements just that little bit faster, an amount that the courier can only hope is enough.
Judecca's second shot fares far worse than his first, ricocheting off the energy shield generating off her ARM as Gwen rushes foward.
"How's this for honesty?!"
It is not the best argument, aiming a fist at the man expressing how great power is in freeing one's self from the bonds of worldly worries.
It's just the best retort Gwen has, for this conversation she's not even a part of, technically.
<Pose Tracker> Billy Lee Black has posed.
Billy engages closely with Grigori - swift kicks, gunshots fired swiftly and precisely. He's good, a true and proper Etone trained. Bullets fly, then in the space of one exchange he tucks away his gunsmoke, whips a fist out, and his ether gun slots into his hand, firing a bullet of scything kamaitachi toward Grigori, which flies just past.
Then she gets him, piercing straight through his defense by simple expedient of a headbutt to the face. He tumbles away and lands in a pile of ruin debris, producing a cloud of dust as he lands in a boneless heap.
GS: Seraphita accepts Seraphita's Burning Heart for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Break removed! GS: Hyper and Surge applied to Seraphita! GS: Tidus takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Hunting Minotaur for 49 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Tidus gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break applied to Tidus! GS: Judecca fully evades Grigori's White Horse for 0 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Judecca with Gut Reaction! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Xantia critically guards Grigori's Aqua Breaker for 41 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey critically guards Grigori's Hammerblow for 23 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Guard bonus! GS: Elhaym van Houten guards a hit from Grigori's Solarian Blade Arts - Form 4 for 87 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dash Caskett critically guards Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 22 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dash Caskett gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Josie decides she won't explain, and Jacqueline frowns.
"Suit yourself. But in that case, we're going to have to keep interfering - but I'm sure you knew that already." She replies. But if what she said to Cyre is an indication... it has to do with whatever is underneath Zanarkand. That explains all the excavation, at least.
In the corner of her eye Jacqueline can see Riesenlied suffering, and her heart aches for her friend... but the foe she's picked is too fast on the draw. She can't afford to take her eyes off of him, to go to try and offer some form of support or reassurance.
She sees the way Judecca starts to raise his shotgun and its only instinct that saves her, a quick gesture bringing up a pillar of earth that intercept the slug, slowing it down enough that when it finally breaks through, the impact hurts that much less.
"No problem. I'm with you, okay?" Jacqueline replies with a nod and a smile toward Matilda, before turning her attention back to Judecca as he explains his reasoning. As he speaks, her expression darkens.
"...Is that what 'power' is to you? The capacity to kill who you want, when you want? ...You're a monster." Jacqueline replies. She gives her conjured pillar a gentle tap... and then suddenly it shatters, the pieces sent flying toward Judecca in a volley of earthen shrapnel.
In a situation like this... she can appreciate Gwen's brand of honesty.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Judecca with Rubble-Rouser! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Boudicca is here, too. And she remembers the last time she fought Ratatoskr. But...
Even though she knows how much he hates inaction...
She has some sense of where his aggression is about to fall, at least. Boudicca leaps -- but Ratatoskr is a Rapid Attacker, and he's not so tricked by the form of flesh she has taken. He barges into the wind before she can displace herself, and that facsimile of flesh rams up against one of the ancient walls of Zanarkand, rattling sacred stones to roll across the ground.
One even lands in front of Azoth. Too bad he's got other things on his mind.
She does, too. Boudicca doesn't sound winded, as she speaks, though there is that thread of pain which translates from the tribulations of her current spiritual manifestation. Lasers hurt, even when you are a ghost. "I am sorry to disturb you, but... I have greater priorities than bloodshed at the moment. Stay your anger! I do not say this to incite you! Only -- Ida is in grave danger, and Azoth is shattering against himself..!"
The wind flows from her again, and it feels far, far too gentle, refreshing and reinvigorating as it finds her mechanical friends. Pinned down by a laser as she is, it's more difficult for her to extend her Artes to everyone who needs it, but one may get the distinct impression of how much she wishes she could.
"You must leave," she insists to Ratatoskr, instead, and she can look at him so intently, even if he does not have the eyes to see. "You and your allies, at once! There is still time to avert what will come! But should you interrupt the Summoners, then -- then--!!"
GS: Seraph Boudicca has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Boudicca spends 1 Combo on Reload! GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Azoth with Soothing Breeze! GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Dash Caskett with Soothing Breeze! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Judecca takes a glancing hit from Jacqueline Barber's Rubble-Rouser for 64 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Judecca enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Weaken expired!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Don't worry, Gwen. If Seraphita hadn't landed right on her, Lan probably would've tried to fight Judecca too. And when it comes down to guns versus bare hands, Lan probably would've been on the losing end there.
A Summoner? Lan hasn't seen many, even after months spent in Spira. But their beautiful art is one that even Lan has envied, just a little bit... To dance like that, to Send the waiting dead... to bring comfort to them and their families as well. It's a far cry from Lan's spirit-talking and well-meaning wishes.
"That's fine by me!" she calls to Pearl, before Seraphita's heat haze engulfs her. Having grown up on the edge of the Badlands, Lan is used to heat. It's why the snowy world of Mt. Gagazet and places like Sielje and Nortune are (varying degrees of) fun to visit but she'd never want to live here! But this isn't just heat - it's fire, the intense kind of flame that only a furnace could replicate. It singes her eyelashes even as Lan leaps back, rubbing at her bare face with gloved hands. "Owowowow--"
It's probably the entire reason why she doesn't get hit by Seraphita's taunt as well as Pearl, who is suddenly Discovering Things.
"O you of infinite wishes," Lan murmurs, lifting a hand skyward. A dozen lights twinkle above, with the roof of the dome as their 'sky'; Lan slashes that hand downward, as if to pull the very stars out of the sky. And the stars respond - pencil-thin beams of light cut their way out of the heavens, falling like a rain of silver bullets around Seraphita.
GS: Lan Lilac has activated a Force Action! GS: Lan Lilac spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Seraphita with Meteorain! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Gamble: Moderate! Seraphita takes a solid hit from Pearl's Desperate Swing for 138 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraphita enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraphita fully evades Lan Lilac's Meteorain for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraphita activates Arcane Font! GS: Judecca fully evades Gwen Whitlock's Gut Reaction for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
"Plenty of people in Odessa lie to themselves," Judecca answers. "I'll let them lie. I know my truth."
Her holdout pistol comes up. For the second time today, Judecca flies back. The bullet fires into and through one of those padded plates, steel broken, and the bullet wedging into him. Thanks to the armored plate, it doesn't rip through, but he bleeds. He stumbles.
"Gh..."
And he is, indeed, repositioned.
He holsters pistol, and takes his shotgun in both hands, whirling it on Matilda. He aims, then fires. There is silence from him -- filled by the crack-BOOM of the shotgun's report.
"If it helps, you probably left a bunch of people trying to tell themselves there is a world to be saved," Judecca tells Matilda. His voice is louder, but it isn't a shout; he just has to call out louder as his ears ring from the shotgun. And while his ears ring, his eyes are active.
His eyes snap to Grigori, in time to see water coming. He ducks down, sweeps out a foot, and kicks into a piece of rock. It flies up, and the pale white aura slams into the chunk of stone that flies into the air.
"Solarian," he says. "Do you bleed red?"
He speaks with a certain coolness, almost scientific. There isn't glee there -- but there is a casual cruelty, as he aims the shotgun with a quick two-step, and fires the shotgun blast off in Grigori's direction.
"Not a monster," Judecca says, with a certain calm, to Jacqueline. "Just human."
Shards of stone explode from her pillar. Judecca goes running, darting under it and lowering his body. Several slash into his back, drawing blood, and he hisses. He glances sideways at her, then opens the shotgun; he slides another fast loader of bullets in.
He raises it, then fires, sending a slug off at Jacqueline with a quick blast. This is when Gwen rushes in, catching up to him. Speed meets speed; she throws a punch at his face, and Judecca ducks down under it. Her punch flies over his head.
Judecca slides past her and turns, coat whirling. His shotgun raises just as he breaks past her, aiming at her back, and he fires.
"Try that," he says.
GS: Judecca enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Judecca has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Douglas! GS: Judecca spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Judecca has attacked Grigori with Keelback! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Judecca has attacked Jacqueline Barber with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Gwen Whitlock with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori has activated a Force Action! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Judecca's Keelback for 127 hit points! GS: Disease and Poison applied to Grigori! GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 195 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Jacqueline Barber!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
An ancient stone lands in front of Azoth, and he ignores it with nary a beep of excitable interest.
Discussions of history. Sacred lands. The drilling. Summoners. It's all important. Normally, Azoth would be pleading the most logical appeals he could calculate -- logic in the name of minimizing harm. And maybe an opponent like Ratatoskr wouldn't listen, but Azoth would try.
His maneuvers would be poised to help defend Boudicca and Dash. Instead, he's all red lights and violence -- is is eerily like that Ouroboros Ring incident, even if he's wearing his human-like visage instead of being the faceless android in black. He'd at least answer Ratatoskr. Give a name, maybe even have the confidence to introduce himself as a construct. Maybe he'd make up a story about the swords, because he couldn't tell him the truth.
"You do not have the authorization to access that data," Azoth responds instead.
Ratatoskr comes down on Azoth with his shotgun-like limbs. In a flash of red light, a hexagonal veil of light forms as an energy shield, catching the blast. Yet it shatters like glass with the force of Ratatoskr's shot, sending Azoth sailing back.
He skids several feet away, crouching down low to dig into the ground with his fingers as if they were claws. They are not, offering little friction. But several blades flicker to life around him, forming a, well, ring behind his back as they slowly orbit there.
Once he finally comes to a full stop, Azoth stands up and thrusts his arm out, directing the blades to fly toward Ratatoskr to converge upon him, one after another, each with its own explosive detonation.
Boudicca's winds cradle him again, and Azoth staggers, gripping at his chest while all his red lighting turns blue -- even the blades, mid-flight. He lets out a pained, glitched beep.
"Objective... detected... I... I have to..."
GS: Seraph Boudicca heals Azoth! He gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Azoth activates Seraph Boudicca's Reload!! GS: Azoth spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with Blade Server! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock takes a solid hit from Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 190 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Judecca has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
As for Tidus, he's pretty sure he's never *not* known Josie as an Odessa agent and all-around jerk. The fact that this is something someone would need to be told is genuinely surprising, and thus doesn't dawn on him as a thing until Cyre remarks on it. So *that's* why Riese ran over to Josie like that... Not that Tidus really knows Riese that well, mostly just by reputation, but still?
"Yeah, can't they do something different for once?" Tidus complains right back at Cyre. If there's some hypocrisy in the air, it's somehow not managing to hit him. Then again, Tidus doesn't really consider himself a Drifter like Cyre and many others present are; he's got a lot of Drifter *friends*, but he himself is a Guardian. He's not drifting; he's on a journey. And one day, the journey will end. After that...
...
He won't think about that for right now.
For now, Riesenlied seems to be... falling apart? Falling into herself? Tidus can't exactly tell, but Noeline seems to be on top of it. What's more, she seems to be trusting him and Cyre to have her and Riese's backs. Tidus takes that to heart--he is, after all, a Guardian--and when he misses Josie, he does a forward roll and comes up on the *opposite* side of her relative to Riese and Noeline. If Josie's not pointing in their direction, she can't hit them, right? Right.
This seems like less of a good idea when she whirls around and butts him in the side-to-back of the head with the butt of her gun. For a moment, he reels, eating ancient pavement as his head spins. He's at least cognizant to hear what's going on around him, and he groans as he picks himself up. He shakes his head, then frowns as Josie tells Riese to shut up.
"I hate to agree with Josie on anything, but she's right--*she's* the jerk here. You don't need to apologize," Tidus calls Riese. Whether she can even hear him in the state she's in right now, he doesn't know. He can only hope it helps.
But Josie says that there's something *under* the ruins that's valuable (after of course saying she's not going to explain). Tidus's expression shifts with confusion as he remembers his own Zanarkand. "The sewer system?" he guesses, baffled. "That's all I could think of, unless you mean--" His expression shifts again, this time with alarm. "The power grid?"
Tidus might have been born and raised in Zanarkand, but that doesn't mean he's familiar with every aspect of the city, especially its underground construction. But the power grid's always been out of the way where it won't bother people. If they're looking for some kind of power source... do they think they can just dig it up and have it work?
"Not like it matter," he adds a second later, "because we're gonna stop you from getting whatever you're trying to get your grubby mitts on, *grandma*!" Yeah, that's a good one. Nice cadence. Hopefully it'll keep her attention on him and off Noeline and Riese. He concentrates on a full-on spell this time, then thrusts his free hand out towards Josie as light surges around him. An instant later, a massive orb of water blobs together right where she is--or maybe right where she was an instant ago, if she's quick enough on her feet.
"You're all washed up!" he adds at the same time. Lulu would be proud.
GS: Tidus spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Waterga! GS: Tidus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Tidus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Ever so briefly, Gwen's words can be heard -- Riese, fall back, Josie's joined Odessa! Fall back, recoup, go back in... because this place can't fall to Odessa's hands. Do it for all the souls trapped in here...
Nasrin lifts her head up, then back towards the little Dragon Unit curled up in fetal position. "Your friends are calling for you. Listen to them. Listen to their words."
Cyre exclaims his disbelief. He thought everyone knew.
... everyone knew? Did... did everyone know... but they didn't tell her? Why? Was it just... too hard to say? No, that makes some sort of sense, it's just... too much to bear. Everyone has their baggage too, why would...
Somewhere, Noeline is feeling pain from the burst of activity of rushing through a hail of bullets, sword in front of her; she catches wind of that thought. Get the enemy away from her. Noeline remands herself, but it sinks the reality of the situation in further.
The world moved on without her.
This is not your fault, she hears Noeline's urgent words echoing through the chamber, through the security blanket of the patterned canvas, into the coldness of their own yurt.
"You-- you should at least run," Nasrin stammers, looking ever more frustrated. "Come on! DO SOMETHING!"
"I can't," whimpers the little Dragon Unit, her voice echoing through the cavity where her face should be. "I can't...! It's too much..."
Noeline's blade thunders with the flat of the weapon slamming earth; she vaguely hears her talk about Odessa and reasons. What were the reasons? She knows nothing about any of the reasons why this happened.
Enemy...
What does it mean... for someone to become an -enemy-?
What a strange... scary word. With the utterance of just one word... everything changes.
Back in the real world, far removed from any safeties where one truly is content to shield themselves with memories, Riesenlied mutely lifts her head up. Her words are incensing Josephine. Did she intend for it to go this way? She didn't.
Shut up, shut up, shut up! Stop-- stop apologizing!
Riesenlied has no idea. She can't do anything but apologise, when she doesn't understand. Maybe it's a self-defence mechanism. It utterly is a self-defence mechanism. It is, when one's too busy hurting to have anything but a self-defence mechanism as a personality...
The little Dragon Unit grapples with herself, holding her chest. Her other scaled hand is frantically tossing through masks. The mask of Riesenlied -- the daughter of Siegfried... the mask of Nazgul -- adopted by the Fereshte...
"What CAN I do? No mask I can wear here will help...!"
The rigours of combat feel alien to her. Her nose is introduced to ozone, and there's a snap and crackle -- but suddenly Noeline's come to defend her, and she feels the pain--
Not from her own body, but from her shared rings; things get violent and close very fast, and some instinctual part of her shrieks out a, "No!" as Josephine tackles Noeline.
Her hands lift up before she even knows what's going on.
There's a THUNK as the little Dragon Unit's hand stumbles on something heavy.
She didn't want to look at it before, but there is one solution. One black and awful solution that is available to her all this time.
A swirling cascade of energy erupts out of the Dragon's Tear, pulsating with a vibrant gradient of reds and oranges in panic. Something-- something erupts out of the lines shining and burning through her body, and a momentary sea of borrowed Ley cuccoons Noeline in a protective shell.
Whether she hears Tidus or not is another question, but perhaps she can't really reconcile just dismissing Josephine off as a traitor, like there must be some special reason, there must be some bridge she can find...
"Stay away from her! Please!! I--I will take the punishment... anything... what did we do wrong, Josephine? Tell me... let me understand--"
-THUD-
Riesenlied gurgles a moment later, as if a violent shock has just ruptured through her. She can feel it. That black heartbeat... coming before...
The little Dragon Unit holds an enormous mask -- no, more like a monstrous helmet, in front of her face... ... somewhere unseen, the images of Mother and Alhazred shine their wicked smiles.
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Ley Channeling - Border of Life! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jam expired! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Judecca's Douglas for 134 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Matilda Whitehead activates Evade bonus! GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Tidus's Waterga for 32 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Grigori's Aqua Decree for 108 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Guard bonus and Arcane Font! GS: Noeline accepts Riesenlied's Ley Channeling - Border of Life for 0 hit points! Disease prevents the heal! GS: Restore! Disease removed!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
As far as Seraphita is concerned, if Sin doesn't scare you, something is wrong. Something like that is *very* deserving of your fear, and she's not so weak that admitting fear is impossible.
"Can't you go around?" Seraphita asks of Pearl, and - somehow - she seems earnest about it. She doesn't know what the Summoners need from here. Do they have to go to somewhere hidden, too? Or do they just have to go to somewhere in the city? And is there a difference, given how hard Zanarkand is to get to?
She straightens up just in time to catch a staff from Pearl. Literally, but not well; Seraphita tries to catch it with her hands, fails to arrest the more-powerful-than-it-looks swing and gets jabbed in the stomach for her troubles, doubling her forward and threatening to headbutt Pearl when she does it. It's hard enough to rock her back, off-balance...
...and rather than try to force herself upright, Seraphita rolls with it. Literally. She lets herself tumble backwards in some kind of reverse somersault that looks somewhere between intensely awkward and difficult to actually manage, but she does, hopping back to her feet with a pose that looks like it should come with a 'ta-daa'. She's not intentionally showing off for Pearl. It just happens.
Shame about the meteors. None of them are big, but Seraphita has *no* idea what to do about them. 'Running in a circle' seems like a good first step; Seraphita has a long stride and is not adverse to jumping or bouncing over obstacles, such as rocks, Moblins, a part of a Gear that must have broken down sometime during the Dig, and a ledge that was probably meant for a row of seats. Like a lot of things Seraphita does, it looks comedic but is remarkably effective.
She's not an Element for no reason, after all.
Seraphita bounds up another row of formerly-seats, having a few feet of height on the others now. She's still full of energy, and she lets it energize her, making her feel healthier (even if she isn't) and giving her hands full of flame to work with. She reaches out, one hand toward each of the two -
There is a tremendous upwards explosion as the ground bursts under the two, forming a pair of vertical pillars of flame. The two pillars bend toward each other, orbiting to make a braid before rocketing upward, looking almost like a dragon with wings spread for a moment as it circles back around and impacts the ground, breaking apart in a second explosion.
"Sorry~! But this is last chance now!" Despite all this Seraphita isn't trying to kill. Though, it's not going to be fun, and when you're playing at that power level, the boundary is a little fuzzy.
GS: Seraphita has attacked Seraphita with Ether Shroud! GS: Seraphita heals Seraphita! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Seraphita has attacked Pearl with Thermo Dragon! GS: Seraphita has attacked Lan Lilac with Thermo Dragon! GS: Seraphita has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraphita has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Azoth's Blade Server for 227 hit points! GS: Pearl takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Thermo Dragon for 109 hit points! GS: Seraph Boudicca heals Dash Caskett! He gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Entangle removed! GS: Dash Caskett activates Seraph Boudicca's Reload!!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline tries to track Judecca's evasion as he darts under her volley of stone. He's too quick for her this time, however - by the time she notices the shotgun leveled at her again it's too late. The slug catches her squarely in the mid-section before she can duck out of the way and she's sent reeling, wheezing as she collapses to one knee.
"...Wh-why?" Jacqueline coughs out, slowly forcing herself back up to a standing position. "...There has to be some reason you think that. What happened to you...?"
She looks around at Matilda and Gwen, too.
"...Are you both alright? Here - let this be a little pick-me-up." She says, drawing out a bottle of golden liquid. It's brimming with energy, gathered from the fight - energy that is released with a Mystic touch, evaporating into the form of a shimmering cloud that settles over Matilda and Gwen, its light healing and empowering.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action! GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 1 Combo on Inspire! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Aura Bottle! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Aura Bottle! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Shield expired! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Matilda Whitehead! GS: Matilda Whitehead activates Jacqueline Barber's Reload!! GS: Matilda Whitehead gains a Combo from Inspire! GS: Jacqueline Barber heals Gwen Whitlock! She gains 210 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Gwen Whitlock activates Jacqueline Barber's Reload!! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Weaving back away from Judecca, Matilda does her best to move into the blind spot of his shotgun -- and feels it bite into her regardless. The plate under her coat shatters completely this time; a few shards of it can be seen tearing through and falling out. She groans like she's been punched in the gut by a piston -- which is honestly not far off from the sensation, on the whole, if she ignores the armor shards digging into her.
"... Right. And I'm with you," she breathes out, giving Jay a nod. It feels... maybe not good. Not yet. But something like it, maybe. "... you know, I'm actually glad to hear you say all this, in a strange way," she says, to Judecca, now, as she tries to close again. "Perhaps the way it makes me feel is a little hypocritical, even...?"
She shifts her blade to a reverse grip, seemingly intending to use it defensively, while advancing forward, holstering her pistol on the run. Her actual attack, such as it is, seems to consist entirely of an attempt to sweep Judecca's legs with her own. As before -- little fancy, but nothing overcommitted either.
GS: Matilda Whitehead enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Judecca with Quick Sweep! GS: Delay expired! GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Matilda Whitehead's attack becomes clear! GS: Judecca takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Iron in the Garden for 198 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Judecca enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"The outside huh?" Fei says softly. "Are you sure you're on the inside? You sure that's the truth? You can justify anything with the right words, I s'ppose, and I guess Filgaia's current state makes it all the easier."
But Xantia tells him why she's here. His eyes widen then he looks down at his hands. He curls them into fists. Did he ... accept that? Was he just mad at the time? He doesn't remember but--
--the way Xantia says that, it makes him hesitate.
It almost makes him hesitate.
everything except for you.
Fei's eyes surge with a kind of (metaphorical) fire at htose words. He grits his teeth, forgetting for a moment the example he's setting here. Fire erupts around him as he steps forward and--
*SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH*
Fei is sent crashing backwards into a structure, leaving a Fei sized impact, thoroughly doused and his fire extinguished. "Uggh..."
He flops forward onto his face. "...bgggh...." She's survived the flame before.
Fei places one palm on the floor, then another, and pushes himself up slowly before he finally manages to steady himself onto his own two feet.
"I don't want to lose myself to rage again. It might be inevitable, but I don't need to leap into it excitedly." He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "But if you're going to just do what you gotta do, then--we have to do what we're going to do. And that's all a big shame. Maybe you just think you're gonna win. You'll get your dream. One way or another."
5RAnd then he darts forward into a smooth motion and punches both palms forward, unleashing a wave of ice that erupts out of him and threatens to encase Grigori!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grigori with Suikei! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
The reverse grip, it turns out, has less to do with defense and more to do with following up the sweep. A reverse grip is of course nearly useless offensively against a target in front of you, with one notable exception:
Having the height advantage and transitioning to a downward stab.
"It's much easier to do this," Matilda finishes, "knowing that you don't believe in anything."
GS: Grigori takes a glancing hit from Fei Fong Wong's Suikei for 64 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
'Under Zanarkand?' "Yeah, no shit! I kind of figured out you guys were after something under the city with all the digging equipment!" Cyre shouts in reply, his voice utterly exasperated. Of course Josephine is going to be elusive. This is kind of what she's done ever since she decided to turn coat. Though to be honest, it's probably better than the alternative. Old Man Lovelace does have a tendency to rant a little bit too much.
"What, the sewers?" Apparently Cyre and Tidus briefly share the same (singular) brain cell. "Did some ancient Zanarkandian have some kind of terrible intestinal disease that caused them to crap literal gold or something!? Is Odessa THAT scrapped for--"
A gunshot rings out. But not from any ordinary gun. The weapon Josephine holds is an awful, almost alive thing. A monstrous weapon made of spiritual poison distilled into lethal form. Cyre's voice dies in his throat as blood splatters the pavement. He can feel the toxic energy pulse through him, struggling to get a foothold. He grasps the wound, his own spiritual sensitivity telling him exactly what that weapon must be. "You... have one too." Of course she does. Josephine Lovelace would never leave a place like Linaweyul unexplored.
And maybe, just maybe, that shot could have taken him out of the fight. Except...
There's a rush of ley. A pulse of the planet's own power radiates through the world. Cyre draws it in with ravenous breaths, only noticing its source after he draws upon it to purge the pain and the aftereffects of the Devil Arm's bite. "That-- Riese, what the hell is happening to you...? Did finding out like this really have that much of an impact...?"
'Noeline,' his eyes seem to say, 'Do what you need to do.'
He sucks in one more lungful of ley.
...Then darts forward. He moves with the swiftness of the wind, striking with a singular, rising blow--
No! The punch is a feint! The storm he had stirred finally awakens, surging upward in a geyser of pure force. With a roar, Cyre follows through, a gale surging around him spiralling skyward to launch the archaeologist high into the air!
He's there, rising right alongside her, a tornado in miniature surrounding the both of them as Cyre reaches out to grab hold of his opponent...
...To try and and make use of the centrifugal force and hurl her straight into a nearby wall.
Whatever the heck is happening with Riesenlied, they can't afford anything or anyone taking advantage right now...!
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Sow the Storm! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has launched an attack Link! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters the Avenger stance! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Reap the Whirlwind! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters a Counter stance! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Josephine Lovelace critically guards Cyre H. Lorentz's Sow the Storm for 33 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Guard bonus! GS: Please react using the attack number in +queue. GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Reap the Whirlwind for 172 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Even on a portion of the Mockingbird's power, Gwen is fast.
Judecca, free to be his true self, is just as quick.
The exchange of fist and fabric is over in the space of a few heartbeats, ending with a crack of gunsmoke and heat, straight at Gwen's back.
The reaction she makes is enough to make the counterattack not immediately fatal, but it does throw Gwen back, twisting in the air and skipping once, twice, and landing on the broken flooring. Blood still coats her back, tinging red the greys and whites of her already dirty and sweat-stained blouse and vest.
Jay voices her disbelief that a man like Judecca could exist, but Gwen knows better. "It don't take much to make a man into a monster... Thought the Badlands was the primary place, but people like you can sprout up anywhere."
Gwen raises halfway, from the ground, aided by Jay's craft. She positions half her body facing away from Judecca, her attention focuses squarely on the man. "..... heh... no wonder I thought you were Janus... It ain't just the hair, is it. But really..."
Perhaps it's better to fight fire with fire. Not literally, of course.
Matilda strikes, and it's all Gwen needs, now that she has Judecca in her sights, and the hard handle of a handle clasped between two fingers.
A glint of a different sort of metal is all the warning Judecca would get as Gwen flicks the whole of her right ARM around, flinging a throwing knife straight at the hamstring of one foot.
"... But you ain't half the challenge he'd be!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Judecca with Letter Rip! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Billy's fury is intense. It is deserved, and earned, and perhaps futile. It feels dangerous, even so. Elly's grip tightens on the rod as the Grigori 'compliments' her. "..." is her immediate response.
The iron staff comes up. It tightens within and --
That is why it stops Elly from getting, at the very least, 'extremely injured'. Perhaps worse. A downward stroke from certain kinds of weapons would cross the lateral line of the human body.
However, in a huge shower of sparks as if the Grigori had just set her laser sword to WELD MODE, the iron staff is split in half, both ends glowing! Elly recoils away after this, with the main thing saving her from any followup strike being...
All of the other people who the Grigori is fighting, Elly thinks with a moment of bleakness.
What can I do, Elly thinks desperately. She's been through fire before, and while I might be able to match her if it were a one to one situation - she would just call in aid. I -
- that clearing -
Fine, yes, Elly thinks, which will be important in a little while, and senses a certain relief as well as an unbidden thought. Don't meet force with force. (Elly has never heard that phrase, nor read it in a book, although of course there have been parallel ideas.)
Her eyes focus on the Grigori.
"I imagine you would enjoy murdering all of us for our own good," she says to her, just straight out, "but I thought you might have concerns for your forces. Something is going to happen here and if you and your forces are here, you're going to be in great danger. If you retreat now, you can tell them it was a strategic withdrawal."
Elly's two iron sticks are crossed before her in a guarded posture, and a sudden flare of Ether sends a superheated packet of plasma out from round Elly's right side towards the Grigori, but there is a sense of holding back.
Please, Elly prays. Please swallow it.
GS: CRITICAL! Judecca takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Letter Rip for 52 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Entangle applied to Judecca! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Grigori with Thermo Calcinate! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
"I-- that is actually a good question," Dash replies with toward Ratatoskr. A clueless expression crosses his face. Where DOES paper come from??? Is there a paper forge or paper smithy to make these parchments? Do they hammer it out of trees?
There is little time to think as a powerful blast of compressed air gets shot at Dash, who digs in his feet despite being dizzied from the previous attack still. It is enough to not be sent flying, though hair gets whipped everywhere, and is hard to keep an eye on the figure.
The next wind to come helps revitalize and protect. This is starting to get confusing! Which wind is on his side?! A skate and jump, and he leaps over to Boudicca's side. "This is looking bad! Having this many people here at once will attract Fiends for sure!"
Fiends, the souls past given form, unwilling or unable to depart to the beyond. This place, Zanarkand, so much concentrated emotion at this place, for Summoners and Guardians that pass through. The Fiends here must surely be a threat. "Hey! Ratty, buddy! Look I respect your ability to enjoy history, but if we dont all get out of here, all of us will be history! No telling what creatures will come running with this much noise!"
He aims the Active Buster forward. "Even if I gotta make you go!"
A multi-report of micro missiles taking off comes from the sudden puff of smoke produced. Some fly for Ratatoskr directly. Others arc upward and look to potentially come down on the target in the near future.
"Hey, uh, Azoth, we need to get up and out of here! Not a good idea to remain!" What objective is he even after? "What is it you need? If we can hurry up and get it done we can flee before this gets worse."
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Homing Mortar! GS: Dash Caskett enters a Counter stance! GS: Dash Caskett has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Dash Caskett's Homing Mortar for 103 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Billy's anger boils over. Ida's heart tightens at the sound of his voice--at the young man's pain and helplessness. As she catches her breath, she sees the micro-motions of Grigori's head and shoulders, the leadup to an unexpected strike. "BILLY!" Her voice is a raw, agonized shriek.
CRACK.
She watches as the young man collapses, eyes wide. Rather than capitalize on her burning strike, Ida steps back, putting herself between Grigori and her fallen foe. Rage flares again at the sight of yet another fallen friend--but he's survived worse, Ida reminds herself. He's survived worse. Oh God, Billy, please be all right.
"You're right," Ida says. "I don't. But everything you've done speaks for you."
She steps forwards, twists her foot, telegraphs the start of more circle-walking--but it's a feint. Ida steps back, drops to a crouch, sweeps away some of the rubble from where Billy fell. An armored hand waves in front of the young man's mouth, and she feels his breath on her palm. The cold dread retreats, for now.
"I've got him--" Ida says, to the others, before she realizes what she's doing. And then...
Grigori's blade drops at her like a guillotine. Instinct takes over. Ida all but throws herself in front of Billy, ensuring none but she take the strike meant for her. Armored arms cross in front of her; her exoskeleton unfolds into paired shields, plates overlapping like the petals of a flower. The Etheric edge slams into her with bone-shaking force, again and again. Horrible, grinding shrieks split the air. Ida skids back, jostling the pile of debris. Sparks fly as Grigori's cybernetically-augmented strength clashes with Ida's biologically-augmented durability.
"I promised them I'd save this world," the Seer says, "and I intend to keep that promise." Hyadean tissue coils and twists, forming layers of reinforcing muscle. It's visible as a subtle crawling beneath her armored arms. But something catches her eye, an eruption of power--and Ida finally takes her eye off Grigori to see Riesenlied. Her throat tightens. Regret and self-reproach hammer at her in waves.
"But let me show you--"
Ida trails off, steps forwards, sucks in a breath. Her eyes go unfocused as Breath surges within her; it flows through her body's inner channels, pooling in meridians and trickling through pressure points. The glow condenses around her heart, and on her back, along her shoulderblades. Ida meets Grigori's eyes, and begins to change. Hyadean tissue pours from her collar and cuffs, seeps through fabric and leather and armor. It slicks up Ida's neck, across her torso, down her legs; it hardens into exoskeleton, as it's done before, but this isn't the patchwork assembly Ida produced in the past. This is all blue and black and gold--the colors of Ida's family crest--sleek and deadly-looking, but baroque and stylish all the same. Golden vanes protrude from her shoulders, like the stubs of wings. Matching vanes emerge from her temples, like the headdress of a valkyrie.
Ida clenches a hand, and opens it. The transformation is a challenge, a reassertion of what she is. She's a contradiction. She's something that doesn't fit into Solaris' plan. And she's perfectly all right with that.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Third Method - Shaping the Battle-Forged Shell! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey 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: CRITICAL! Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Thermo Dragon for 143 hit points! GS: Lan Lilac activates Evade bonus! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Elhaym van Houten's Thermo Calcinate for 71 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Weaken applied to Grigori!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's attention isn't completely on Riesenlied. It's one of the habits she most likes to make fun of herself for, and occaionally consider a point of genuine concern - that thanks to all her training as a spy, there's still a sharp little piece of her mind that can't help but keep a watchful eye out even at times like this, or over-analyze everything she learns, or whisper in the midst of her hopefulness that the worst can definitely still happen.
It has its uses at times. Even though she's hunkered down with her partner, she hisses softly under her breath, recognizing Josie's strike on Riesenlied. Something tells her that it's not meant as a deadly attack so much as a way to keep pressure on all of them - but she doesn't have the luxury to take any chances right now, and she twists aside to place herself in between the fallen Hyadean and the bolts of lightning, forcing herself to not make a sound of pain as the arcs ground over her, aware that doing so would only hurt Riese more.
"Why are you angry?" she retorts over her shoulder, teeth clenched before she lifts herself up and turns to face Josephine more fully. "Whenever this happens - and gods know we've seen more than our fair share - it is always anger. Why?" her voice rises, knuckles white around her sword hilt as she hears Riesenlied's frantic plea, feels Riesenlied's instincual reaction to defend her and the ebbing energies of the Dragon's Tear. "Surely you must know Riese well enough. Surely you must have expected this would be her response. Surely you must have prepared yourself for this when you decided to take this route."She keeps talking, walking forwards, keeping herself between the engineer and the other Hyadean. Despite her own anger, she doesn't want to press Josephine with violence in kind, not when she can tell how much worse that will make things for Riesenlied. If she can squirm out some kind of answer, maybe that would be for the better for Riesenlied's state - and besides, when it comes down to it, her own words are all she's got.
"But, of course. It is someone else's fault we didn't learn about the decision you made. It is Riesenlied's fault she's apologizing for your actions. It is the fault of Drifters for not thinking about a problem you could explain." Josephine's shot doesn't catch Noeline by surprise, but the lunge afterwards does; even if her feet were planted for the sake of her balance, the Hyadean makes a noise of exertion and pain as the archaeologist slams into her.
She has enough momentum to twist with the strike, at least, and rams the hilt of her sword into Josephine's gut in return. Her strike is not exactly a strike - just a burst of raw and unfocused sorcery all around her, a wave of energy that intended to both buffet Josephine away and try to offer some amount of defensive cover for the two of them. "It's always someone else. That's worked so far, hasn't it?" she adds, her voice withering.
Anything else is stopped. She doesn't convulse as hard as Riesenlied does, but the sheer pressure of the sensation over their link stops her dead with a twitch. In the blink of an eye she's thrown a fearful glance back to Riese and then rushed back in her direction, going so far as to slide the last part on her knees so she can more quickly cradle the Hyadean's head in her embrace.
"No-- you mustn't," she whispers urgently, hissing the words out. They don't quite seem to be for Riese directly, but something deeper. "You mustn't. That-- can't be taken back. Riese!--"
GS: Noeline enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Noeline has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Material Adept - De Le Metalica! GS: Noeline has gained 1 Combo! GS: Noeline has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Noeline's Material Adept - De Le Metalica for 209 hit points! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia is visibly shocked by Grigori managing to keep her footing after a hit like that, stumbling a bit as she backs away. That's not how that was supposed to go. People go flying when she hits them that hard, that's never not been what happened before. What's going on here?
"I... I'm not anyone's weapon! I mean, I'm not a weapon at all!"
She can't muster a better objection than that. That's only half explained by her flustered state. Those words definitely hit a nerve. It's self-evident in how as soon as she collects herself, she gets angry.
"I know why you're saying that. It's because where you come from is warped and twisted - you don't see any of us as people, just tools for you to use. But that's going to stop!"
It's not even necessary to go 'make me', Xantia is more than ready to put her fists where her mouth is. But the Watcher swings first, employing water Ether. And Xantia responds by... swinging her fist to meet the magical hammerblow. Even though she was just surprised by witnessing a thing that shouldn't have worked that way, now she's the one putting such a thing on display, using a physical punch to blow apart a magical one. Apparently she was able to cause some sort of disruption in the flow of Ether through mere contact with her fist.
Immediately after, she briefly looks aside to make sure Fei is okay, as he had to deal with that same attack before her. Good, he's getting up. She watches closely, ready to follow up again. Fei chooses ice - then she'll choose lightning. Forming an aura of the element around herself, she darts in for a literally lightning quick series of electrically-charged punches. Because as everyone knows: if one punch fails to solve the problem, you just need more and bigger punches.
GS: Xantia has attacked Grigori with Elemental Fury! GS: Xantia assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Grigori guards a hit from Xantia's Elemental Fury for 96 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
'Running in a circle' is in fact the best thing to do about a rain of pencil-thin meteors.
Lan returns to a ready position, shifting her weight fluidly from foot to foot. Her physical power is in her legs, and standing still is a death sentence; when Seraphita lifts hands filled with flames, Lan is already preparing to jump. She kicks off of the ground as a great gout of flame spews forth from the stone underneath her feet, its heat rushing past her legs as Lan reorients herself midair.
First she gains height, and then she redirects herself by kicking off of the very air itself, rocketing towards Seraphita. A hand loosens the ribbon tying her long, pale hair back and whips it forward, the silver starsilk acting almost like a thing alive. "You move too much," she explains as the end of the ribbon seeks to tangle around the Element's wrist.
With the ribbon being so sparkly and flashy, it might be easy to ignore Lan's other hand until it's pointed right at Seraphita's face, light refracting off of the tips of her first two fingers in a crescent shape.
Silver starlight lances out for her - think fast!
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Seraphita with Ribbon Dance! GS: Lan Lilac has launched an attack Link! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Seraphita with Paper Moon! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
This is the awkward question. Pearl doesn't exactly know where she has to go and what she has to do here. That's one of the gaps, and Pearl is not sure if it's because her training was incomplete, or if it's because Yevon keeps that part secret. That doesn't show on her face however. "There is no 'around'," she says a little unsure. "It seems there is no other way."
The way Seraphita moves, there's no way Pearl can't see the skill behind it. It looks humorous, but she's a skilled fighter. Even with that pose. "You deliberately make a foe underestimate you." She states it out loud but, she can understand it. She's doing the same. But she's still off balance, if she can't understand why. She'll work it out later, she'll have to talk to someone. Fight now, weird stuff later.
And then then fire comes, and Pearl tries to dart out of the way again, but this time isn't fast enough. Flame singes her summoners robe, burning away a chunk of it, and she drops to the ground and rolls to put out the flame. The scars all over her right arm and lower right leg are visible now, plentiful and old. She stands up, with a grimace, as Lan fires burst of starlight. She takes this opportunity to rush forward, as Seraphita offers her last chance. "I will have to disappoint you. I made a promise and I cannot go back on it."
And then Pearl flips the staff in her hands, driving the bottom end into a thrust rather than swiping with the embellished upper end. It's not actually a desperate rush, it's a solid atack coated in clumsiness. Two can play at that game, Seraphita.
GS: Pearl has activated a Force Action! GS: Pearl spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Pearl has attacked Seraphita with Lucky Strike! GS: Pearl has gained 1 Combo! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: Seraphita takes a glancing hit from Lan Lilac's Ribbon Dance for 0 hit points! GS: Entangle and Slow applied to Seraphita! GS: Seraphita activates Evade bonus! GS: Seraphita guards a hit from Lan Lilac's Paper Moon for 90 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Seraphita! GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Pearl's Lucky Strike for 174 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Seraphita! GS: Hyper applied to Pearl!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Ratatoskr keeps himself pressed where he is, as Boudicca pleads her case. His eyes light up at the mention of Ida being in grave danger. He wants to see what sort of thing is putting her in grave danger because that must be a hell of a fight, but he doesn't let his squirrelly focus get... unfocused. He seems ready to press further into her protest for violence when she loosens more supportive wind sorceries...
Blades form around Azoth, and that catches his attention. It does not catch his fight-or-flight response, as they lance for his position, converge, and explode, throwing him out of melee range from Boudicca with the expected wounding and damages to his armoring - and the equally gut-wrenching sight of watching what exposed wounds there are quietly scabbing up and re-absorbing themselves into his Living Metal flesh.
It would have been enough to fell anyone else, but it may never have been enough to wipe the grin on Ratatoskr's face as his left hand spasms with repairing nerves. "That was cool," he intones as he catches Azoth struggling, clutching himself. Boudicca was saying he was all but shattering against himself - but he doesn't get much time to ponder or admire(??) it when Dash peppers him with Active Buster micro-missiles that could always have a little room for further tinkering, further improvement, as they all catch, batter, and move him further away from Azoth and Boudicca alike - where all three are now at an equal distance from him. With room to breathe, and react, to what he does next.
"...So, what're you holding back..." Ratatoskr looks to Azoth, standing with crossed arms at his impressive full height. "If I don't have authorization for that... do I have authorization for your worst...?" This is not behavior he should be encouraging, but there he is, giving that little unwise push, tail swishing with certain excitement. A messenger, begging to be shot.
Dash tries to convince him, of course, to leave, under threat of what might be under there. "...You know, when I visited the Farplane... the names and faces I could pick up and remember from Operation Mi'ihen... I wondered if they liked being remembered," he muses aloud, "if there's a whole lot of Fiends waiting underneath... I wonder if they'd like someone to know and remember them too..." (and fight them, it goes unspoken)
He hurls himself at Dash with a flurry of blows and strikes, a ceaseless wave of violence, as once again energies build around the horn.
"Why would I not want to be in the way of the Summoners?" He says, belatedly, to Boudicca. "Why would I not want to be in the way of the Summoners! One of them could be the next High Summoner! And then I won't be able to ever really meet them..." The laser discharges at its highest built intensity towards Boudicca, quietly eyeing Pearl all the way over yonder but not being able to dedicate much more than that.
He wants to see what Azoth's holding back.
GS: Ratatoskr spends 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Azoth with Shoot The Messenger! GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Dash Caskett with Ceaseless Conflict! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Ratatoskr receives 50 temporary hit points. GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Yggdrasil Burst! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"You're the one what asked," Josie says, her lips curling a slight but no less amused smile as Cyre shouts back at her. "Don't blame me none for my answer."
Her amusement doesn't have long to linger.
Had she expected Noeline to throw herself in the way? Expected, not precisely, but it's not exactly surprising either. She makes a small sound, a hiss of sorts, and draws up, back.
"Why?" Josie closes her eyes the once and shakes her head. "Can't speak for others or none," she spits back. "So count me outta that argument." Her gaze -- and her weapon -- remain trained on Noeline as she advances.
Noeline keeps talking.
"Should I've put out a bulletin, then? Sent out some letters? If those lot're keeping secrets from you two, it ain't my problem. Sounds like somethin' maybe you'd best raise with them, yeah?"
It hurts, when Noeline slams the hilt of her blade into her gut; Josie makes a sound that's at once gasp and gurgle. The sorcerous forces behind the strike come too quickly to even attempt to negotiate.
It might only be at Riesenlied's cry that she pulls back from Noeline, rounding on the other woman as they continue to regard one another on this arena-turned-battlefield.
"Yeah. Always has been," Josie agrees, and it's a grim parody of a smile that graces her expression at that. "Ain't you figured that one out yet?"
'I--I will take the punishment... anything... what did we do wrong, Josephine? Tell me... let me understand--"'
Even she can't remain smiling -- even like this -- in the face of that statement.
And instead she lifts her ARM as if to shoot at Riesenlied -- at Noeline -- once again. Only, she seems to hesitate--
"...Painra."
Or was it just a trick of the light?
A bruisy haze erupts from about Josephine; it winds its way outwards, off for both Hyadeans and seeks to sink in and wrack the body.
'The sewer system?' Tidus and Cyre both wonder. Josie's response is to laugh, in spite of recent complications and even the very fact that she is in the middle of a fight with him. "No, think, boy!" she exhorts, shaking her head. "Deeper'n that. Deeper'n any of that!"
Josie has never been the most vain of sorts, regarding her age. But--
"'Grandma'? Can't you try harder'n that, boy?!"
It doesn't mean that it doesn't work. He's got her attention now, if only because she appears to think it's hardly an insult. If she realizes what he's up to, it's only at a remove: a massive sphere of water forms right at her feet. Light shimmering about her as she appears to realize the nature of the trick, she leans into the spell as it blooms upwards about her. Once again, she's forced to rely on the lessons her father taught her--
The water sloshes past her an instant later. She breathes hard, her right hand trembling from the effort. Pushing through that spell took almost more than she had. As it stands she's still soaked.
"And ain't you got a better line than 'all washed up'," she says, snapping that dark weapon of hers up and at Tidus, the prefunctory way she takes a shot at him after all that almost the punctuation on her statement. "Try somethin' more like, eh..."
Cyre remarks on her gun, then -- Agares the Bitter, as it's so named.
"...Yeah? You got one too?"
It means that in this critical moment, as Noeline and Riesenlied struggle towards their own ends, her attention's on Cyre. Particularly when he darts in towards her, carried on the winds themselves.
But it's not a punch, she realizes, nearly too late. No, this is a working.
She has but a moment to work a pulse of sorcery counter to his own, to wind herself into and through and out the other end of his spell, riding the wind for the moment as she tries to take aim and,
and he's still there alongside her. He's still there as he grabs ahold of her and sends her hurling towards a nearby wall.
The fact that as she spirals away from him she still brings up her ARM and snaps off a singular shot may be a testament to Josie's tenacity... or dogged stubbornness. The bullet whistles through the air like a single long scream, racing towards Cyre with terrible intent.
She slams into the wall then and slides down its length, slumping but a moment at the bottom.
She's too stubborn to die here. She rises to her feet, slowly now, and releases her spent shell with a ringing clatter on the arena floor.
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Poison and Interrupt! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Riesenlied with Painra! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 2 Combo on Poison and Interrupt! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Noeline with Painra! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Tidus with Figure of Eight! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Blinded Sphynx! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Painra for 0 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Riesenlied! GS: Riesenlied activates Arcane Font! GS: Riesenlied has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: COUNTER! Cyre H. Lorentz counterattacks Josephine Lovelace with Counter Attack! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Blinded Sphynx for 220 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Cyre H. Lorentz gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Boudicca guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Burst for 93 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Boudicca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Seraph Boudicca activates Sufferer! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Counter Attack for 133 hit points! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP! GS: CRITICAL! Noeline critically guards Josephine Lovelace's Painra for 0 hit points! GS: Noeline activates Guard bonus! GS: Noeline has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Tidus takes a glancing hit from Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 79 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Tidus gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Tidus activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Grigori has posed.
Judecca's shotgun sprays across Grigori's armor, but the places in it that are already compromised take some shot; indeed there is a glint of red glistening in places as a result, the blast enough to knock her a step back.
"Your time will come."
Fei's words, meanwhile, are soft. Is she sure? Layers within layers within layers. "'He' doesn't tell me everything. That may be true. But I do believe that I know the truth--that I know what must be done. The words are simply a tool."
Fei's anger sparks. Grigori sees it. But he crashes backward before it floods, and she turns towards him again for a moment when he speaks what he must do. "You may have to. If you give in to your rage, I do not have the 'power' as I am to stop you myself, for all my strength."
"I am where I must be." The wave of ice rushes forward, and indeed it hits her--but it only hits her, her movement sufficiently quick that it blasts her in the side instead of fully entrapping her in ice. That one arm shudders before it breaks the ice encasing it, as the Grigori turns towards Elly.
"I do not enjoy your destruction," she says first, simply. She doesn't sound particularly defensive or emotional about it, though it's hard to tell with her voice modulation. But what Elly says there...
Her iron sticks--once a staff--cross, and flames. "You hold back," she notices as the flames impact the place where she'd been frozen. "Is it because you speak the truth, or because you hope to deceive? What is it, really, that you hope to achieve?" There are crackles and pops as bits of metal plating buckle and fall, but indeed the strike slows her more than it actually harms her. "Very well. Tell me of this danger that approaches, and I will consider your suggestion." She takes a step back, and watery Ether flows about her--but this time, not to attack. Grigori instead lets it wash over her form and sparkle there, causing some of the damage and weakening she has already undergone to flow away. She does not strike at Elly just yet. Elly's words have bought her at least a moment's reprieve. How she plays it from here may determine what else it gets her.
But the Watcher also does not strike at Billy now that he has fallen; her blow goes to Ida, and just Ida. Hyadean tissue crawls around--it is there. It is interesting. Grigori too notes the swell of power in Riesenlied, but it is impossible to see her eyes, to see her reaction to it. Instead...
"Perhaps you will save this world in your way," the Watcher tells her. "In that we share an intention, though we disagree what must be done to accomplish this goal."
"So this is what you mean to show me. Yes, I see it. You have learned much of your new form. Very well. I shall test your shield. Prepare yourself."
Grigori steps forward--and her hands abrubtly start crackling, power rising up her cybernetic limbs as electricity rushes about her weapon. She swings up--and then performs a blast with all the force of the wind, energy blade hacking across Ida's enhanced, strangely augmented, contradictory form, left to right. If her shield is insufficient, then that may be the end.
From here she turns to Xantia. Lightning--it is a good choice. She has made her protests, and then she strikes at Grigori. Electricity explodes between them as the strikes come, and this time the Watcher is forced backward by the sheer force of Xantia's blows, though the ground at her feet cracks with her effort to stay where she was.
"No," she answers. "I see your individualism, your selves. And I see that you wish to be a weapon today. You said you would 'get revenge'. But what have you accomplished without the use of your fists, Xantia?" She meets Xantia's charged grasp with another hammering blow, weapon dropping towards her as if falling from a great height, though Grigori swings it back up a moment later as she turns.
Turns towards Fei. "What will you do?" she asks of him, and steps again towards him, blade spinning in her hand as she starts forward, faster, and then it seems to grow, carving through debris along the path as it slides along the ground and then SLASHES straight up towards him, as if in answer to an earlier statement. The sheer force of the blow scatters rocks and dust in all directions.
"We both have a role yet to play, Fei Fong Wong. What will yours be, in the end?"
From here she hurls her blade, letting it spin through the air as an energized greatsword towards Judecca, with the clear intention of cleaving him in half. "Human, yes. For better or worse. Are you here only to play?"
GS: Grigori has attacked Grigori with Healing Wave! GS: Grigori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Grigori accepts Grigori's Healing Wave for 0 hit points! Disease prevents the heal! GS: Restore! Disrupt, Poison, and Weaken removed! GS: Surge applied to Grigori! GS: Grigori spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Grigori has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Anemo Charge! GS: Grigori has launched an attack Link! GS: Grigori has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Hurricane Cutter! GS: Grigori has attacked Xantia with Falling Guillotine! GS: Grigori spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Grigori has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Colossus Dispatch! GS: Grigori spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Grigori has attacked Judecca with Colossus Dispatch! GS: Grigori has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Judecca takes a solid hit from Grigori's Colossus Dispatch for 257 hit points! GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Grigori's Falling Guillotine for 83 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute applied to Xantia! GS: Xantia activates Evade bonus! GS: Fei Fong Wong guards a hit from Grigori's Colossus Dispatch for 144 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
"Nothing 'happened' to me. Do this long enough, and you realize what you can control. What you can get," Judecca answers Jay. "And what you can't. I realized what's mine... and what mkaes me feel something."
He glances at Jay -- spying the bottle of golden liquid -- and he can't fire in time. Matilda is on him -- despite the way he blew through a plate in her coat, and the blood that comes with it -- and he grits his teeth as she gets closer. He steps back, when her legs sweep, trying to aim the shotgun down--
And that leaves him ill-suited for the downward stab. It catches the front of his coat, hooks into the top of a padded plate, and then shoots underneath it. The blade stabs down along his midsection, a slash that's shallow until it cuts along ribs, and then out the back.
"Hrrggk!" he screams, before he rips free -- the coat breaking away, with a tear -- and it's wrapped around Matilda's blade. He breathes, raggedly. "You think... you think they believe in things?" he asks. "That you do?"
A pause. "No--of course you do. But do you think they'll keep believing, Whitehead?"
Gwen sends a knife at him. It slams into his leg, cutting into tenon. He hisses sharply again, blood welling from that wound, and his stance shifts -- he immediately favors that leg, with a sharp his, and he glowers at her.
"Cascade? I'm not some dog of the Prophets," he says to Gwen. His eyes dart, back towards Grigori. It takes some work to follow her, and the greatsword. He grunts, sharply, and shifts to the side.
Her blade still strikes, cutting into him. Blood splashes on the ground; he breathes, raggedly, when he does. Judecca stumbles back, closer to the wall of the dome.
He dropped his shotgun, between Matilda's and Grigori's assaults. He pulls out, as he limps, another revolver. Judecca's hand moves fast; he fires at Matilda, first, shooting to get her further away. Then, he fires a round for Jacqueline's right hand -- and another for Gwen's mechanical arm. Then, finally, he fires a bullet for Grigori's neck.
GS: Judecca has attacked Gwen Whitlock with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Grigori with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Jacqueline Barber with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has attacked Matilda Whitehead with The Fastest Gun Alive! GS: Judecca has gained 1 Combo! GS: Judecca has completed his action. GS: Matilda Whitehead critically guards Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 38 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Matilda Whitehead gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead activates Guard bonus! GS: Grigori guards a hit from Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 121 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Grigori!
<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.
Wow. Tidus's eyes widen as Noeline calmly, evenly calls Josie *out*. It's almost like, why even pipe in? She's got this *nailed*. Though Josie makes some decent retorts too... Considering he doesn't really know *any* of these people well, he decides, actually, he'll let them hash this out between themselves. He doesn't seem to be making a positive influence on Riese, either--and he can't exactly stop fighting Josie and let her get away with whatever she wants just because it makes Riese sad. It makes him feel bad, but... that's something else he's going to have to leave up to Noeline. In the end, emotional support really should come from the people who actually know you.
As for the insults, honestly, they don't need to be good as long as they get her attention. To that end, Tidus calls back, "I *could* do better, but I wouldn't wanna overload your droopy old person mind, grandma!" She laughs about his and Cyre simultaneously guessing the sewer system (Tidus shoots a look Cyre's way), then yells at them. "Wait, deeper than that?" Tidus's brows furrows, and he shakes his head in baffled disdain. "This is an ocean city, idiot! What's gonna be down here that you couldn't just get out of the sea?" (It doesn't occur to him that there would still be enough land to mine *something* out of it.) And, just to annoy her: "You so old your brain withered up, grandma?"
And while Tidus's Waterga might not have been as effective as he would've liked, it *did* still provide a distraction for Cyre to do his own working and send Josie flying into a wall. This isn't before Josie shoots at *him* with that strange gun of hers, though, and Tidus is once again sent scrambling for cover before getting lead in his guts. Bullets really do hurt a hell of a lot, though...
But it looks like Josie's nearly at the end of her wick. Tidus has no intention of killing her outright, but she's been countering his moves this whole fight, so he'll have to give it his best shot. When he races forward, he swings his sword down and around--but rather than striking her dead-on, he jumps, rebounds off the wall, and jumps backwards high into the air. Time seems almost to slow as he raises his blade--as energy forms and intensifies around it--and then returns to normal speed as he swings *down*, sending a rain of force lasers down to explode on and around the Odessa agent.
GS: Tidus spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Tidus has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Energy Rain! GS: Tidus has completed his action. GS: Jacqueline Barber guards a hit from Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 114 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Josephine Lovelace guards a hit from Tidus's Energy Rain for 100 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dash Caskett takes a glancing hit from Ratatoskr's Ceaseless Conflict for 78 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dash Caskett gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Grigori's Anemo Charge for 41 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disease applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Evade bonus! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Entangle expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Grigori's Hurricane Cutter for 198 hit points! GS: Azoth accepts Ratatoskr's Shoot The Messenger for 0 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Azoth activates Ratatoskr's Reload!! GS: Azoth gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
'You got one too?'
"In a manner of speakin'," Cyre answers through gnashed teeth, the screaming storm-winds that surge around him steal his words and threaten to devour his breath. Still, he is one with them. He can speak through them if he must. "Mine... Heh. I don't know what they are. What they do. All's I know is that the Trial Knight uses them. So that's all the reason I need--"
A bullet lances through the tornado. There's a sound like a bag of blood bursting. Cyre hangs in mid-air as the shot tears through him, carving a crimson crater into his shoulder. An anatomist would call it a near-miss of the heart. Yet, even a near-miss is still enough to cause blood to boil in his throat. A fatal shot...!?
No.
"--T' not use it so lightly. That stink... The Malevolence, it's thick in them. I thought for a while that I could use that power without it affectin' me, but... All power has a cost, right...? Even in all this chaos, I can trace it." His eyes burn with viridian light in the haze of the storm. An explosion of wind sends him sailing forward at outright ridiculous speeds, raking his bestial, claw-tipped fingers across his opponent's flank as he surges right into her. "Right to you!"
They need to finish this. And soon. Whatever is happening to Riesenlied, the worry in Noeline's voice is enough to make that abundantly clear. The shaman, bleeding from a sucking chest wound, issues a bloody roar and drives hand... into the ground underfoot. Even as Tidus unleashes a hail of radiant energy from above, Cyre strikes from below. The wind stirs as his fingertips dig into the pavement... No! Not his fingertips! The wind itself, whirling around his fingers, weaving outward in a spiral-- a tornado of raw force that seeks to sweep the Odessan agent off her feet and straight into Tidus' assault...!
Is he aiming to kill her?
...No. Not today. Is it out of nostalgia, or is it because he still has hope that what was once can be again...?
Or maybe he just figures that Josephine dying here would break Riesenlied utterly, and that's just not something he wants on his conscience?
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has activated a Force Action! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Tornado Fang! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cripple and Jam expired! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Tornado Fang for 304 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Josephine Lovelace has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Everyone's going to die, Elly thinks with a sort of creeping anxiety that threatens the borders of her mind. They're all going to -
Her head tilts down as the Grigori nibbles the hook.
"No," she tells the Grigori.
"If we or the Odessa forces don't defeat you, your wounds will be treated in the finest medical facilities on this world or Filgaia," Elly tells her. "You'll eat a tasty meal, and you'll rest in a warm bed in a cool room. The ones Solaris claims to shepherd will bleed, and starve, and weep over their dead. That's what you have already have. You should be thankful, and control your greed."
A beat passes.
"But you didn't choose how you were born," Elly concludes. "Taking the time you, or your soldiers, have in the world won't give it to someone else... But I can't guarantee that everything else will see things the same way, either..."
Elly snaps out her right arm, pointing with a rod out towards the Spiran sea. She doesn't break her gaze, legs tight, the other rod still guarding herself. Sweat runs down her back, but not her face.
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Elhaym van Houten with To Get OUT One Must First Get T. Then One Must Get UT. And So At Last...! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Elhaym van Houten accepts Elhaym van Houten's To Get OUT One Must First Get T. Then One Must Get UT. And So At Last... for 0 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock fully evades Judecca's The Fastest Gun Alive for 0 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
Matilda can tell when someone's trying to manage their space -- and absolutely refuses to let Judecca do just that. She indeed presses in *closer* rather than ceding space, giving pursuit as he starts to fire. When he fires on her, she ducks low -- about the only place she still has any functional armor is over her left shoulder, which is... certainly a risky place to take a shot on purpose, but she has few options.
It works out, overall; she can feel the hit, but the plate doesn't crack this time and the bullet ricochets off of it into the air. She keeps moving forward. "If they haven't stopped yet, I'm not sure what's going to make it happen," she answers. "But you could well be right. Say there's a half-life on belief. I'd be delighted to give you that."
Matilda at last draws Freischütz. It is, despite everything, what brought her to the dance, even if in some ways she's outgrown it -- or perhaps come to fear its power. Still, she keeps it with her -- and of course, she keeps it loaded. "Even in an outlook as nihilistic as yours... wouldn't it be better to make use of it while it lasts, than strangle it?"
The first shot is point-blank; the remainder come as Matilda circles around to the side and just a *little* bit outward, trying to make it easier for her friends to aggress without having to worry about her.
GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Judecca with Freeshooter! GS: Matilda Whitehead has gained 1 Combo! GS: Matilda Whitehead's Avenger stance ends. GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action. GS: Judecca takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Freeshooter for 163 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
Seraphita lowers her hands after the tremendous outpouring for the Thermo Dragon. She's not completely out of energy, but no matter how much you have, that's going to take a bit out of you!
"I do *not*," is her response to Pearl. Maybe she does it at a level below consciousness, because Seraphita is easy to underestimate. Lots of people do it. And sometimes, t hat's saved her - though just as often, it's put her in a worse place.
She was expecting one (or both) of her opponents to charge her; that's why she went up the 'stairs'. She was not expecting Lan to jump off of midair to get to her faster or more acrobatically. How come she can do that? Seraphita can't do that!
"Hey - " The ribbon catches Seraphita's left arm, wrapping just above the wrist. It tangles, though Seraphita pulls against it to try to force Lan to change her flight path, pivoting to reangle that incoming assault.
It ... sort of works; Lan might not land as neatly as she likes, but nothing stops the silver starlight. Seraphita ducks, but too late; it shines into Seraphita's face, causing her to recoil from the blast with a whole lot of flailing.
It leaves her open for Pearl. Half-blind from having light in her eyes, not to mention the upper-body blast, Seraphita can't even find her opponent to dodge. The thrust makes her double up again, staggering. She puts one foot wrong, off the ledge she's on - and falls!
She might drag Lan with her if she doesn't unhook the ribbon or let go of it. It's not on purpose.
"Ow ow ow!" Seraphita rolls down three ledges before she comes to a stop, flopping on her back, at the bottom. She is dizzy, still seeing mostly spots, and battered and bruised. So there's only one thing to do!
Seraphita simply explodes everything more or less upwards of her in a completely profligate discharge of ether and hopes like hell both Lan and Pearl are in it. It gives her the cover she needs to stand up and rub her eyes until she can actually see out of them again... without that she won't be able to find the exit! "Ooogh..."
GS: Seraphita has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraphita has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraphita has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraphita has attacked Lan Lilac with Wildfire! GS: Seraphita has attacked Pearl with Wildfire! GS: Seraphita takes 33 damage from Poison! GS: Seraphita has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! ROU|LET|TE: Low! Pearl takes a glancing hit from Seraphita's Wildfire for 63 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
There's a conversation between Tidus, Cyre and Josephine that Riesenlied doesn't quite understand right now. Underneath Zanarkand? Some kind of power grid? Digging for something... yes, she gathered that much, with the presence of the construction Gears, but...
Cyre asks if learning the truth really had that much of an impact. She really doesn't have an answer for him, right now, just... that at the end of a few extremely hard days that's made her quesetion so many things... someone she hadn't been able to meet for months and worried for...
If Riesenlied had hairs, it would be standing on end from the way the crackle of lightning falls across them; she can still feel Noeline's pain. She quietly clutches any fragment of fabric she can for comfort, though at the same knowing she's just restricting Noeline's movements.
Noeline retorts. Asks Josephine about her anger. She speaks about fault; she wants to rebutt, in some way, to just gather that all up into a ball and place that inside of her...
But Noeline herself can feel what's happening, and it's with urgency that she hisses out that she can't take -that- back--
"Listen to -her-. This... this isn't something you can just take back," Nasrin limply says.
"... I am sorry," whispers the little Dragon Unit, cradling the bulky black mask in her arms.
"It hurts a lot to know I will be disappointing Lily and Leon, and Elly and Fei..."
She glumly looks down.
Josephine retorts that if the others didn't tell them, that's their problem. And then states that it's always been -- someone else's problem. But her own haphazard attempts at communication aren't answered, only met with pain. Painra.
"I am sorry, I am sorry...!"
Something wracks hard inside of her--
"At some point, I became known as someone who carries Hope with them, someone who brings peaceful solutions. But... but I am not so sure. I never had that confidence in me..."
Her fingers timorously clutch the mask, so much that her little scales dig into the black material.
Riesenlied is grappling with a painful haze rattling her body -and- a black heartbeat echoing inside of her right now.
"I know the truth, of course. I am prone to playing the roles other people assume me to be. Ever since the Fereshte. Ever since Father. Ever since meeting all these wonderful Drifters. The pastiche of a personality these people know as 'Riesenlied'..."
Nasrin grabs her again at that point. "Don't you dare say that. Don't hurt Janey and Mikaia that way. Don't hurt Noeline that way!"
There is an utter moment of pained silence.
"N-Noeline..." Riesenlied whispers, clutching her partner's hand. Her vision is milky and hazy, as if staring through a thin layer of cotton; her head swirls, her veins burn, her throat is sore and red. "I am sorry to be so selfish, when you have been so steadfastly been by my side... but..."
"But... I am going to... disappoint everyone a little longer."
Nasrin backs away slowly as the little Dragon Unit slips her faceless head underneath the mask. It is a mask only in technical terms, in the way a helmet is a mask; in the way a monstrous visage is a mask.
-BEAT-
It's a mask bearing no tenderness, no emotion. It's a mask tempered by people who cared for no such thing, enabled by wicked little machines from the depths of Solaris.
-BEAT-
It is the Ley Dragon.
At this specific moment, that despicable black word is forced upon her:
-Accession-
A SHATTERING plume of lightning strikes the very spot where Riesenlied is sprawled, cocconing her in darkness; a jet-black sphere blasts outward with immense force where everything happens too her all too rapidly, extremities stretching and mutating, her face distending, her horns sprouting--
"eeeeaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH-----!!!!"
A hot, earth-rending scream distorts the stadium, becoming less and less Riesenlied by the moment, mutating into little more than a dragon's fiery ROAR.
The sphere splints, blown away into ribbons by fierce winds.
There is no more Riesenlied. Now, the enormous Ley Dragon towers over them, perched on two scaled feet, the full flow of the Ley saturated within her veins. The last time this happened, Riesenlied and Noeline's senses mingled, beteen their rings, relying on her partner to be there, to be her eyes, ears and guide...
... Josephine ...
Haphazardly, the Dragon moves her two arms forward, approximating a scooping motion to bring Noeline up into a protective cradle. Her majestic white wings furl over them, as a tremendous excess of Ley exudes from her body.
And though she doesn't intend to attack her directly, even the mere buffeting of her wings sends tremendous heat enough to be a problem for Josephine, hot and searing, if she isn't careful.
DC: Riesenlied switches forms to -Accession- Ring-Promised Dragon!
GS: Riesenlied spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Breath of Fray - Sigrun! GS: Riesenlied takes 24 damage from Poison! GS: Shield and Stagger expired! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: ROU|LET|TE: Moderate! Lan Lilac takes a solid hit from Seraphita's Wildfire for 175 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lan Lilac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riesenlied has canceled their attack on Josephine Lovelace.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Get... out...?" Azoth says the words to Dash in glitched reverb. "Erroneous request submitted... Objective... detected..."
There's a sincerity to Ratatoskr Azoth finds envy in. They've worked together before, here or there, and Azoth admired his bright spirit then. To say Azoth doesn't want to fight him would be its own cruelty -- Ratatoskr craves battle, as many of his people do. There's play in that.
But there's no play in Azoth's current operation. Not like this, goes a quiet calculation.
OVERRIDE.
Boudicca's attempts to cool Azoth's overcharged operation only last in short bursts. Blue becomes red once again, and it crackles all over his body while he stumbles forward toward Ratatoskr. His arm twitches as he holds it out, an energy sword forming, but at a rate that feels like he were a slideshow, not a person in real time. Azoth's red eyes gaze up at Ratatoskr. Up. Ratatoskr towers over him.
He shouldn't. He should fit into Azoth's palm.
Azoth grabs the sword out of the air and swipes it to one side. It leaves a trail of several others in its wake, like a streak of light -- except they're all just as real. He dives at Ratatoskr, and...
"Connection established."
Vanishes.
Only to reappear behind him, swinging upward with a multibladed uppercut that cleaves a groove into the ground. Then he's gone again, reappearing back in front, a little in the air, to descend down with the formation of blades into a single, massive sword that detonates as he lands.
The force sends him flying, all of his limbs trembling so violently they rattle while sparks escape his joints.
GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action! GS: Azoth has activated a Force Action! GS: Azoth spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Formation! Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with If Then! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth has launched an attack Link! GS: Formation! Azoth has attacked Ratatoskr with End If! GS: Azoth's Avenger stance ends. He enters the Stoic stance! GS: Azoth has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
It's because where you come from is warped and twisted
Fei flinches. He's not sure why, but he flinches. Does he even KNOW where he's from? If being from Solaris twists you, what does being from nowhere do to you?
But even so, this is Xantia. It's good to see her being able to give as good as she gets in the philosophy battle department.
'You may have to'
"It won't be because of you," Fei says, sounding more confident than he actually feels. "Tell me, Grigori."
He is interrupted by Grigori as a SLICE carves the world between him and Grigori, impacting him hard, sending a spray of blood as he stumbles back and slinks back, wavering-- and then as if through willpower, standing tall through it all.
"Tell me, Grigori..."
Is he even conscious, his eyes are closed as he runs in with a smoothness and grace that belies his built form. The dust that is starting to fall from Grigori's strike that she had previously displaced is weaved around as if they were deadly attacks but it doesn't look like Fei is dodging, it looks more like he is dancing. Natural movement in response to natural phenomena.
He is on her faster than most would be able to track, sending those two crackling hands forward in a double palmed strike for Grigori's solar plexus, sending a push of chi into her, past the armor--into her if he can manage it.
"Do you desire the power...?" Fei asks. "The power to make the world as you'd like it to be. Empire won't save this planet."
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action! GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Grigori with Third Eye Sleepwalking! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Azoth's If Then for 179 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr takes a solid hit from Azoth's End If for 264 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Grigori takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Third Eye Sleepwalking for 305 hit points! GS: Grigori activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's snort of laughter is too sharp, too brittle. "Whatever it takes to justify it, I suppose. It is not the killer's fault they pulled the trigger. It's the gun's fault, for firing the bullet." There is no disdain in her voice, just flat acceptance. It's a conversation she's had with others on Filgaia, other people who decided to defect for their personal gain then act shocked that someone might be upset. She tries hard to keep the cynicism out of her mind, but it gets harder each and every time.
Instead, she cradles the almost prone Riesenlied against her, and gives Josephine a harsh look in the moments before her spell impacts. The grim, self-mocking smile from the archeologist is met with a flat and solemn stare, as Noeline does the only thing she can in this situation - accepts it for what it is. "... I hope it has brought you satisfaction."
The bolt of disruptive magic twists around her, lost in the shifting aura of her sorcery; Noeline lets it be, accepting Riesenlied's hand as the other Hyadean clutches at her. She seems willing to forsake defence - to call Josephine's bluff - because as far as she's concerned, the feeling and the power that she can feel swelling behind her is far more important, far more urgent, and far more dangerous.
It doesn't feel like Riesenlied's usual Accession into the Ley Dragon, and that's what terrifies Noeline the most, leaves her jaw clenched in fear and nervousness that she can't afford herself the opportunity to feel. She tamps it down as best she can, at least partially relieved aby the way the Dragon draws her into its grasp; drawing in a shaky breath, she shakes her head, pouring the rest of herself into keeping their connection active, to offer her partner a lifeline to this world in fear that if she doesn't, that will be the end of something critical.
"It's alright. I'll be with you, no matter what," she promises softly, her hand resting on and gently gripping some of the dragon's scales. What comes next, she doesn't honestly know, but there seems nothing else to say to Josephine. She stares down at the battlefield for a long moment, and then closes her eyes on it.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Seraphita's response is... a little confusing. "...Interesting. It serves you, regardless." A complement? From Pearl? Good job, Seraphita! Still, she's an enemy, and as Seraphita herself said, there's no going back at this point. As Seraphita lets a burst of flame into the sky, Pearl elegantly flips backwards, landing back on her ledge. She has the high ground now.
"I would tell you to retreat but you have already demonstrated you will not."
*Finish her. End her. Kill her. Destroy the threat. Do what you were made to do.*
Pearl pauses, looking down on Seraphita. She won't run. But she doesn't have to kill her. It might... still hurt, though. She channels two elements of Althena's Blessing at once, shadows and frost building up around her staff. "Your people will retrieve you if you fall, yes?" Not every force does that. "Then let this battle end.
She thrusts her staff forward, and a jagged shard of ice flies towards Seraphita, but instead of light reflecting through it, light is drained into pits of impenetrable darkness. "Dark Blizzaga!"
Wherever it hits, it explodes into jagged spikes of ice and shadows, piercing in all directions, before shattering into a thousand pieces.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"I..." Boudicca is caught off-guard by Ratatoskr's question far more than his laser; regardless when the latter joins the former, she is too flat-footed to flee, raising her tonfa up to try and catch the blast, instead. Something of his full intensity is nothing to simply stand in the way of; she is slammed back, against the wall. Perhaps her blood would boil in her veins, if it worked the way it ought to. There are embers all burning in her silks, instead.
"I know," she says, all through grit teeth, though what hurt more is an open question. (It really should have been the laser; it was a VERY good question.) "I know! It is a miserable choice, but she has -- they each have made it!" There are two Summoners coming to Zanarkand, after all, though one did not come through the traditional journey. Boudicca does not, immediately, realise what she has revealed. "For their sake, I do not wish them to make it alone..! Nor do I wish to see them pushed to some crisis point by -- by Odessa's meddling!"
Oh! There's where Boudicca's anger was hiding. It turns out the wind can get mad, and not just blatantly distressed.
But it's not just the Summoners who are being pressured by this battle, is it? That Solarian is pushing Ida to the very brink of herself; Boudicca can feel the strain through the connection they share, even if Ratatoskr gives her few chances to look across the battlefield. She doesn't need a chance to see the Ley Dragon pour forth, meanwhile: Boudicca, who was born of the Ley with such a gift for her casual magics, feels it so much like she tastes water, or sees the sky. And, of course...
... there's Azoth.
There's a reason Boudicca was so worried about him. Did she realise it, fully and completely?
Could she have stopped this, if only she yelled one more time, stop! Cease! Discontinue your invectives!
Maybe not. Some things can't be stopped, even if they're sad. This is Zanarkand, after all.
Azoth vanishes, and Boudicca says -- "Dash! Please see to Ratatoskr!" -- and it might be slightly unclear whether she means to help him or fight him, with such an explosive reappearance.
It's a touch strange, because Boudicca charges for Ratatoskr, and finally, maybe it seems like she's going to attack him. Except...
She runs past Ratatoskr...
And her gauntlets lash out, towards...
Azoth.
GS: Pearl has activated a Force Action! GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Azoth with Savage Claw! GS: Shieldbreak expired! GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action. GS: Pearl has attacked Seraphita with Dark Blizzara! GS: Pearl has gained 1 Combo! GS: Mute and Weaken expired! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: Seraphita takes a solid hit from Pearl's Dark Blizzara for 191 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraphita gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay and Entangle applied to Seraphita! GS: Seraphita activates Arcane Font! GS: Seraphita enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Seraphita has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Judecca says that nothing happened. That this is what happens when you do this long enough. Jacqueline frowns.
"That's..." She stops herself, shaking her head. "...I'm sorry."
She's not really sure what else she can say to that. She has a little room to move so she backs away, glancing briefly toward Matilda. She listens quietly as she and Judecca talk about belief.
...And then, Judecca begins to move. Jacqueline watches as he raises the revolver and she's ready for it, backpedaling away and drawing her cloak around her for protection. ...But it isn't center-mass he's aiming for. Jacqueline chokes back a cry as the bullet strikes her right hand. Her gauntlet protects her, but it still sends a stab of sharp pain through her hand. She backpedals, holding it protectively and flexes it once, experimentally. She winces at the shock of pain that results.
...She doesn't have the dexterity to gesture in this state. So, she'll have to do this the old-fashioned way.
"Let's... put an end to this." She decides. She draws from the deck on her right hand, aiming it at Judecca with a flourish. Her big spells require both hands, so she falls back on an old classic - sending a bolt of lightning streaking down from the heavens toward Judecca.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated a Force Action! GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Judecca with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Seraph Boudicca's attack becomes clear! GS: Azoth takes a solid hit from Seraph Boudicca's Be Not Afraid for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Dispel! Burst and Quick removed! GS: Judecca guards a hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 90 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Judecca has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Seraphita has posed.
It's Pearl's spell that does it. Seraphita is still trying to get her vision back when the ice explodes around her. Her flames rip at it, but not fast enough, and they don't burn away the shadows as well as the ice.
Seraphita falls a second time, though this one seems less reverseable. She lets out a faint whining noise as she starts to roll, then evidently thinks better of it and just flops.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Those savage claws come down on his shoulders.
... but they haven't been claws for over a year.
And this is not an attack.
Firmly Boudicca grasps Azoth, and though her hands flows the breeze, purifying and steadying; this is the wind which returns all conditions to the sacred 'zero'. "Azoth," her voice is insistent, "you must listen to me! You must see me with your eyes! Return to us, Azoth, lest you flee where none can enter!"
For a Seraph like her, such a physical grasp is truly the last resort. She doesn't know if it will work. But she cannot hope to repair all the horrors of this arena; she can only address this one.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan doesn't land well -- but then again, she doesn't have to.
The antigravity power stored in her ribbon lets her float, and while Seraphita reels from both her attack and Pearl's Lan is already trying to pull the Element closer. At close range like this she's stronger, and that Summoner can really--
Seraphita, however, is not on as good a relationship with gravity as Lan. Seraphita falls and Lan goes with her, unwilling to release her grip on her most treasured possession. They bounce down the ledges, though Lan necessarily hits much lighter - and grits her teeth through a blinding-hot wash of flame once Seraphita has hit the bottom.
The Element of Fire stands and rubs her eyes...
When Pearl strikes, a breath-stealing, bone-chilling darkness shattering all around the Element who was already trying to retreat. "Enough!" Lan calls upwards, pulling herself back to her feet. Standing between Seraphita and the strange Summoner, Lan gives Pearl a measuring glance before untangling her ribbon from their hands. "That's enough," she continues in a softer voice. "We won. I'm going to take her back to her people. Thank you for helping me."
Ribbon stuffed safely back into her pocket, Lan stoops to slip an arm underneath Seraphita's waist and hoist her up onto her shoulders. "Uff!" Sadly, the ribbon only makes Lan weightless -- and its magic is used up for the moment. She looks around the battlefield, wincing when -- is that a fucking dragon?! -- Riesenlied takes flight, but ultimately finds who she's looking for.
The star shaman that trudges across the battlefield towards Grigori is a bit toasty, but for once she isn't afraid.
"...Watcher," she calls out for the woman's attention. "I..." Lan is silent for a long moment, unable to think of anything to say. Eventually, she just kind of shrugs a bit. "She's getting heavy."
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
A third bullet, and Gwen manages to clip past it entirely, her feet feeling much lighter than she ever does, weighed down by the metal of her ARM's setup.
"He might be, but you're just tied to another master. To completely cast off the world's troubles... that just means you've unloaded them onto someone else's shoulders."
-beat-
It's like standing just close enough to a lightning strike, close enough that you feel that expanding air and the blasting crackle of thunder ring in your ears. Close enough that the similar currents of electricity in your body react vaguely, unable to understand the passing of something larger in the air nearby.
-beat-
"Ngh...." Gwen closes one eye and clutches the fabric over her heart. It isn't really pain she's feeling, but a full body shudder that can't be placed on the scale from bad to good. "... What the heck's goin' on...?" Her open eye, faintly ringed by a fine sliver of beating gold, jumps across the field.
.... oh. Maybe it's the dragon that's there.
Matilda and Jay are able to keep their eyes on Judecca, who is arguably even more dangerous now than he was when they first exchanged blows. Gwen pulls herself back channeling back some of the borrowed power into her ARM. ".... But I don't think we're all that different, in that way...."
She pinpoints a spot on Judecca's body and fully extends her right ARM. "One of these days... I'll find a way t'free him." Maybe then...
The collecting energy increases sharply in intensity before firing a concentrated lightning bolt, avoiding Jay and Matilda completely to connect the weight of its energy... straight at Judecca.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Judecca with Quasar Palm! GS: Gwen Whitlock has launched an attack Link! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Judecca with Corona Discharge! GS: Cripple expired! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Judecca takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Quasar Palm for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Judecca gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam applied to Judecca! GS: Judecca has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: CRITICAL! Judecca takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Corona Discharge for 201 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Judecca! GS: Judecca has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Dash Caskett has posed.
"I-I wouldn't provoke him!" Dash retorts to Ratatoskr, as they close in with a fersome use of tooth and claw. Little damage is actually shown on the armor, but the internals are far more fragile to each impact, the shockwaves rattling and damaging numerous systems badly. Alerts to damage spring into the edge of Dash's vision, but there is little he can do in the moment about it all.
"Well, some Summoner's might not hold up so well to your 'meetings' and then there wont be a High Summoner!"
It is then that a reverberating roar takes the battlefield, as a dragon emerges! "OH JEEZ--" he shouts over the roar. "Okay I have no idea if that is the one good dragon I heard about, but that is still terrifying!"
Dash looking away misses most of the devastating spectacle Azoth performs upon Ratatoskr. But the time he turns around, a concussive blasts causes Dash to shield his face, before seeing Azoth is now in parts. "What just happened?!"
Boudicca goes on the offensive after Azoth, making this even MORE confusing. "Aight, sure," he says, pretty much giving up on understanding the situation. Sure, lets continue fighting in the backdrop of a DRAGON.
A swift weapon swap-out has a magenta energy saber light. "Well, bud. You got one thing right. Today sure is interesting!" he says, swatting the blade out at multiple angles toward Ratatoskr!
GS: Dash Caskett has attacked Ratatoskr with Refractive Edge! GS: Lock state expired! GS: Dash Caskett has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'Prepare yourself.'
At those words, Ida's world narrows until it's just the two of them, the ruined street, the dust-choked air. The others register in potentia--comrades who could, hypothetically, aid her, but not in this moment. The heiress clenches her fingers. Breath moves through her, white-gold and bright; from behind, Fei and Elly can see it streaming through vents beneath the stubs of her 'wings'.
Ida steps back and to the side, her whole body flowing like water. Grigori's Ether blows her hair back, flattening her bangs and snapping the band holding her bun in place. Lightning crackles down her side, tracing blackened patterns across her armor. Her hair, freed from its restraints, rises from the static. She grits her teeth, and endures the burn. It lingers, even as Grigori draws back her blade for a second, more decisive strike.
Ida's arms snap downwards, her hands clenching into fists. Once again, those shields erupt from her forearms, only this time, they're pure white inside, like the blooming lotus of her family's crest. She raises both arms as the blade rushes at her, hoping to catch Grigori's sword and deflect it--and it almost works. Her left shield shatters on impact, breaking apart into falling "petals". The blade traces a long, blackened rift across her left forearm, then her stomach, before cracking into the shield-carapace of her right forearm. For a moment, Ida grapples with the blade, redirecting that terrible force. It wasn't so long ago that Lady Harken almost cut her in two. She's learned a thing or two since then, and it saves her life.
Ida shoves, breaking free from the grapple and skidding back. Smoke trails upwards from her body, and her breath comes with some effort--but she's alive. Wounded, but alive. Both eyes meet Grigori's, blue-grey with no trace of emerald. Crimson and quicksilver trail down her forearms and belly, even as fresh tissue wells up to patch things up.
"I accept this tempering," Ida says. "But--"
A feral ROAR splits the air as Riesenlied reaches an inevitable conclusion. A frisson of fear races down Ida's spine, along with something she can't identify in the moment. Excitement? Fierce joy? Pride?
The runt did it again, didn't she?
"You've got bigger problems now." Ida's right hand clenches into a fist. Plates sprout from her armor to reinforce her knuckles. "Take this message to your master, and your God."
Ida surges forwards, her form blurring at the edges as she closes the distance. She doesn't have Fei's effortless, natural grace, but she does have near-mastery of the form. Everything aligns behind a single point, flowing into the strike. Phantom lotus blossoms bloom in her footsteps. The air quakes and trembles before her. Her fist ignites, glowing like a tiny golden-white sun.
Then, conclusion. Ida's fist flies for Grigori's gut with enough force to splinter bone and pulverize concrete. More lotuses blossom at the point of impact, tiny fragments of beauty surrounding terrible, artful violence.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Grigori with Unbroken Lotus Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Ratatoskr guards a hit from Dash Caskett's Refractive Edge for 30 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Ratatoskr activates Guard bonus! GS: Grigori takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 86 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Grigori gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Grigori activates Evade bonus and Power Burst! GS: Grigori has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Judecca has posed.
Judecca can tell what Matilda is doing -- keeping him from disengaging, moving in closer, and not letting him have the space that he needs. His eyes widen, when she draws Freischutz. "If it goes away--then is it really there?" he manages to ask her.
The shot slams into him, point blank. The plate it hits ablates, spreading out sharply, and denting into him hard enough to draw blood and crack a rib. It would be audible; it isn't, under the sound of the gunshot. Judecca hits the wall of the place and slumps against it, bloodied. Jay fires her lightning into Judecca. It slams into him; he convulses, sparks flying, and some of the damaged wall of the Zanarkand Dome blackening where electricity hits.
"They can deal with it, then," Judecca answers Gwen.
The blast of lightning strikes him. He is hit -- spasming -- and then crumples down. It might look like he is unconsciously, the way he rag dolls down. The way his hand falls... touching something. A small device, blackened, but bits of chrome shining through. But, they might realize, with just enough time, that it's a feint.
It's deliberate.
Judecca presses the button on the detonator.
The ground near the center of the Dome rumbles. A wall shakes -- a huge chunk of stone comes falling -- and then the ground begins to rumble. Judecca looks up. His eyes meet Matilda's for a moment. He looks at her...
...and despite the calm, despite the claims, there is an anger there.
Three rings of light appear around his battered body. He vanishes in a flash. Then, a moment later, the ground gives way -- and they all go tumbling into the dark.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia certainly isn't thinking about the fact that she still has no idea where she herself is from, and whatever that may mean. She just knows that she can't trust anything that someone from Solaris has to say. And that goes for the response she gets. Xantia presses her lips tightly together gives away that the Watcher is getting to her. Not that there's any need to watch for subtle hints to that effect, she makes it quite plain in her reaction, accompanied by emphatic hand gestures.
"Shut up! You're twisting the truth, just like you people always do! Don't even try to upset me, it won't work!"
She may genuinely not realize that it already has. She can't worry about it right now - she soon has another blade strike to contend with. This time, she raises a hand to intercept, concentrating her Etheric aura into a solid barrier at the point of impact. This works to soften the blow on the downswing, but the upswing catches her off guard. Her lightning shield pops like a balloon as she falls backward, landing painfully, though managing to escape serious injury through being thrown clear.
It's not long before she's back on her feet. Once she levels her gaze back on Grigori, there's a different look in her eyes. Cold and indifferent. Her voice sounds similar, as she gives more of a response to the previous assertion.
"There'll be plenty of time to accomplish things without my fists... after you're all gone."
Everything about her presence now suggests that something bad is going to happen. That is, until...
"Do you desire the power...?"
Life, and alarm, instantly returns to Xantia's expression as her head jerks sharply to the side. What did he just say...? No, he'd never say that. Something's wrong, something's very wrong. And that's disregarding the dangerous-looking injury. In that same instance, she becomes acutely aware of the Ley Dragon's presence. What else has been going on that she failed to notice, while laser-focused on this one Solarian operative? Suddenly, this fight just doesn't feel as important anymore as it did a minute ago. Xantia feels that she must intervene... but not in the way that she would have, had the circumstances not changed.
"Wait, wait, stop, stop! You have to stop!"
She gets directly in between Grigori and Fei, then... hugs the latter. Possibly inspired by an event on the way here, where a hug turned out to be the best answer for the situation.
"Fei... calm down. Come back. You can't do this now, you're hurt."
...a bit less hurt, now. Xantia hasn't even noticed as she isn't doing it consciously, but a faint glow is coming from her body, having a positive effect on Fei's less than ideal physical condition.
It could have been to her detriment, not paying close attention to Grigori anymore, but 'luckily', that problem is about to solve itself. At least in the end, she managed to demonstrate that there are indeed things she can do...
GS: Xantia has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Without The Use Of Fists! GS: Xantia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Sometimes Ratatoskr gets what he asks for. Usually, his eyes are widen open, and attentive and ready to see, learn, and take in -
But pain has never been that great of a teacher to him.
Azoth moves too fast, and Ratatoskr cannot fathom where he is even in the moment in which the multiple blades rake through his tail and up his upper back, a few segmented plates shearing off dipped in quicksilver. The time he can cognitively accept the idea he might be there, he isn't - because Azoth has descended and run him through multiple stabbing, detonating blades.
It's like he's missing his own near-execution, and it would rub him the wrong way were he not... grievously injured, sent tumbling and sprawling where... well. Let's say last rites would be performed for anyone else, and it is instead far more horrifying that there are no pyreflies rising from him, and we are moving on.
Boudicca raises her voice, at last - to stand up and say she simply does not want them to make it alone, pushed to ever greater distress because of Odessa's drilling and/or whatever the hell Ratatoskr is doing other than being annoyingly chipper in his equally scholarly and violent pursuits. There is a horrible wash of heat, as the Ley Dragon emerges and ratchets up the danger...
"Today... interesting?" Ratatoskr says as he starts to slink up, eyes dimming but that grin never fading, bringing his forearm up to rest against the swinging magenta-light saber (which doesn't elicit commentary on the novelty of its color in the moment). "Interesting! ...This is history in the making..."
He knows the signs that the detonator's about to go off, as in his free hand he picks up that busted-looking teleportation device, crystal-shaped as it is, seeing to an anguished Azoth, a concerned Boudicca, and an eager opponent to hold him off.
"...and we're all getting to see it... we're all getting to be part of it," he says as he escapes in a flash of distorted light as the ground gives way underneath all.
<Pose Tracker> Grigori has posed.
The Watcher turns as she spots Judecca starting to go for his gun; he is far too fast for her to dodge. The best she manages is to interpose her shoulder for her her neck, and the bullet shatters the pauldron there, sinking in and sticking, her fingers twitching as the mechanism glitches.
"Yes," Grigori says to Elly. "I have been given much. And yet I am here. There is a reason for that. It is not greed that motivates me; as you say, I could simply retire. But I do not. There is much I have yet to do."
"As you wish," says the Watcher to Xantia as she tells her not to try, and indeed it seems she is willing to leave it at that. But she has a great deal else of a fight to attend to, too, now. With Xantia thrown clear, Grigori has a few moments to operate without her--and she intends to make use of them.
Ida shields herself with the blooming of the lotus, and Grigori's blade hammers down on those shields. The shove is more than enough to get her free of her opponent in the wake of the strike; the rift she leaves burns, shudders, and Grigori inclines her head when Ida looks towards where her eyes should be, nodding. Tempering. Yes, that is correct enough.
The air quakes and trembles, and Grigori moves this time, rather than simply blocking head-on. It does not strike her now nearly-unarmored gut, but it shatters the rest of the armor at her arm, burning through plastics and metal and fabric to reveal synthetic fiber beneath that smells of melting. A bit of raw metal shows in the aftermath of the burning flash, another sign of what is different about the Watcher.
"I accept your anger. But my 'master' already knows much about you."
Fei's attack connects with an explosion of power. It bypasses her armor completely, slams into the person beneath and knocks her from her feet to sail through the air some distance away, hitting the ground and skidding there. She is still, for a moment. But only for a moment does this stillness matter; white-clad soldiers suddenly rush up from behind, forming a semicircle behind her, lifting guns towards the others. They aim--
"Hold."
Grigori reaches out, and pushes herself up, first to a seated position, and then to one knee. Her voicebox glitches; 'Hold' comes out staticy, strange, and she reaches up and depresses a button under her jawline which seems, at first, to do nothing. But then:
"...It is not my vision that I serve," a woman's voice says. "Gaining the power to destroy all in my path would not save this world. But 'he' can. As 'he' saved me, once. ...I am where and as I must be, Fei Fong Wong. Demon of Elru. If I had your power I would only crush what I hoped to spare."
"...Will you do the same, in the end?"
Some of the soldiers glance nervously to the Ley Dragon nearby, but frankly the party of Fei, Elly, Xantia, and Ida gives them enough to worry about as it stands. As does Lan's arrival, holding a ranking soldier.
"Very well," the woman in the Watcher's armor says, turning her faceless mask to Elly, and gestures to one of the soldiers, who lowers his weapon to move towards Lan and Seraphita. "Bring the Element," she instructs, and that is all she instructs for now, holding a hand to forestall further attack as Xantia works to heal Fei. "A message..." She rises from one knee, and one of her arms is still sparking, obviously inhuman.
She notices Judecca going, and prepares to say something else--to Elly, in particular--
And then the ground rocks, and Grigori turns. "What--"
She snaps her fingers--
There is a hum, and then she too is lost from sight in the falling and the explosion.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline sees what's about to happen a second too late.
"W-wait, stop-" She calls out... but he presses the button, and the Dome rumbles. Soon enough the ground gives way and Jacqueline finds herself falling - falling into the darkness.
"Everyone..." Jacqueline murmurs. They're all falling, too. ...But to where? What was Odessa after? Right now, there's only one thing she can do.
"Get close to me...!" She calls out, gesturing with her left hand. A green wave spreads out from around her, catching anyone she can reach with a spell to reduce falling speeds.
From there... well, she just hopes that whatever is waiting below, it's something survivable, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Tch. Call it what you like. I ain't been nothing' but plain on what I'm at," Josie fires back.
It might not help that Josie's response to that from Tidus is to laugh, again. Only this time, there's no further correction, no additional remark to help lead them towards whatever it is that's under Zanarkand besides infrastructure. Then again, it's hardly to her benefit to be plain about it, whatever it is that Odessa has sniffed out ahead of anyone else.
They might have to find out for themselves.
"Tch, what's wrong with 'old hag'?" she replies, as Tidus again calls her a grandma. "They not teaching you kids more words in school, what?"
She doesn't look at the after-effects of that particularly cruel brand of sorcery she unleashes on Riesenlied. She perhaps ought to, but she doesn't.
She can hear the other woman's cries and this, maybe, might be enough.
"Hope it does, too," she murmurs at Noeline's statement, perhaps only just loudly enough to be heard.
She's not in good shape once she rises from the ground after Cyre's previous one-two punch of a sorcerous working, a fact that's plain to Tidus. "Don't... count me out just..."
The words seem to die in her mouth as Riesenlied screams and, her body wracked by the convulsions of the transformation that's upon her, becomes something else untirely.
"..." Josie breathes. Her left glove creaks as she clutches her weapon ever tighter. Even as the flame spills out about her -- too far to hit; even like this Riesenlied is pulling her punches -- she can only stare at the dragon and feel the heat of the Ley.
We enter the circle at night...
The weapons are full of Malevolence, Cyre tells her.
"So, what, they're traps, you think?" she says to him, glancing down at the weapon she holds the once. Slowly she directs it up and at him, her finger easing over the trigger. "...Doesn't bother me or none."
The way she's thinking, it's not going to be a problem to worry about for long.
"Power's to be used. Don't you think--"
Indeed, even when she attempts to deflect the incoming rain of lasers rent by Tidus' blade with her ARM, even this seems sluggish, slowed.
And not just because of Tidus' temporal manipulations.
Just as he'd said to her, Cyre follows that trail from her weapon's spiritual traces right to her doorstep. She has a moment to parse this action of his, the stirring of the wind that follows, until the blast of force comes that takes her off her feet and into the heart of the storm that is Tidus' attack.
She stumbles, falling to her knees. Josephine Lovelace has only a moment to look at her immediate opponents -- Cyre, Tidus -- and glance just the once at the transformed Riesenlied.
"Light Flare," she intones, stiffly turning her right hand upwards towards the heavens. The sphere rises upwards into the sky.
Her gaze turns finally towards a particular point in the arena, and the corner of her mouth twitches as if in a sort of smile.
The light above her bursts in a brilliant explosion. She's not here anymore by the time it fades.
...Just moments before the bombs go off.
<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.
"..." Matilda wants to answer Judecca -- but then, she doesn't really have one. What makes impermanent things real? She gropes for the words, but doesn't find them -- and is so off-balance from the question that she doesn't even think to start moving as the ground rumbles.
Her eyes meet Judecca's for an instant -- and then turn away. She meets the anger with despair, and then, cannot meet it any longer.
The ground gives way. Matilda is left no more time to ponder the question.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
The pain of overrides is multifaceted, and Azoth certainly has the processors to run them all at once. Destroying Ratatoskr is not what Azoth 'wants', despite calculating behaviors that intend to lead to his elimination. But Ratatoskr is not destroyed. Nor is Ratatoskr's spirit. For once, Azoth, under the effects of horrible programming, cleaves into an opponent who still has all his joy.
...He's grateful to Ratatoskr for that, with no means to express it.
Whatever Azoth's made of, it responds to sorcery -- to seraphim and their energy. This wind, too, cradles his core. His trembling slows to stillness in Boudicca's grip. The crackling energy fades away.
"Error. Connection lost."
The color of his eyes shifts, not red, not blue... For the moment her sacred winds of 'zero' hold him, Azoth's eyes shine light mixing that bright blue with fuchsia. "Subject Boudicca -- you previously submitted the query -- of who I am --" A glitched, distorted beep briefly interrupts his speech. "...Not this."
His eyes dim, lightless, as the world around the rumbles before everything gives way, and Azoth falls.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Senses are a murky, tricky thing for Riesenlied in this form.
Alhazred's work was a hack, done in the absence of time and deliberateness; many would argue he never cared, and perhaps they are right. She's never really been able to access her regular five senses -- vision is a murky cloud of bright lights, a riot and shock of colour; it blends right in with hearing and taste, so much so that she can't tell where one ends and the other begins.
Emotion, then, is her guidepost.
She can block out the world, but she can't block out her heart.
Maybe that's the failsafe she herself introduced, on that day, that eventually let herself be rescued...
Just like she's going to be, again, today.
It's alright. I'll be with you, no matter what.
Those words, that everpresent promise, which has brought her through so much... she cradles in just a little bit tighter, careful to not crush--
Josie...
There's no time. A detonator is set off. Josephine flees with a spell that momentarily blinds her; when the light fades, she is gone.
The ground breaks beneath them, and...
Riesenlied cheats by flying, an enormous presence swooping down to rescue those that she can by virtue of pure instinct.
(Who does she catch?? Find out in... the Dig I guess!!)
"... ..." Nasrin quietly shakes her head as she watches the still and quiet little Dragon Unit, ensconced in her own world underneath the all-encompassing mask. "#-1 INVALID ANSI DEFINITION: +term196 So tired of this..."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Senses are a murky, tricky thing for Riesenlied in this form.
Alhazred's work was a hack, done in the absence of time and deliberateness; many would argue he never cared, and perhaps they are right. She's never really been able to access her regular five senses -- vision is a murky cloud of bright lights, a riot and shock of colour; it blends right in with hearing and taste, so much so that she can't tell where one ends and the other begins.
Emotion, then, is her guidepost.
She can block out the world, but she can't block out her heart.
Maybe that's the failsafe she herself introduced, on that day, that eventually let herself be rescued...
Just like she's going to be, again, today.
It's alright. I'll be with you, no matter what.
Those words, that everpresent promise, which has brought her through so much... she cradles in just a little bit tighter, careful to not crush--
Josie...
There's no time. A detonator is set off. Josephine flees with a spell that momentarily blinds her; when the light fades, she is gone.
The ground breaks beneath them, and...
Riesenlied cheats by flying, an enormous presence swooping down to rescue those that she can by virtue of pure instinct.
(Who does she catch?? Find out in... the Dig I guess!!)
"... ..." Nasrin quietly shakes her head as she watches the still and quiet little Dragon Unit, ensconced in her own world underneath the all-encompassing mask. "So tired of this..."
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Lan calls enough, and Pearl pauses. Had Seraphita been retreating? Had she failed to notice? Or had her instincts taken over. A killer's instincts. "...I understand." Pearl blinks, as her ally carries her enemy of the field. She's not used to it. But she's more used to it than her fellows coming for her. Jean has saved her more thna any Shadow Dragon did...
And then the ground shatters, and Pearl falls, she casts out with her grapnel, but there's nothing to grab onto. It's going to be a drop. A long painful drop. And she has no means of flying. She spreads out her arms and legs to slow her descent, and readies for a hard landing.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei says, "I'm sure he does," eyes still closed. "But if he knew me, if he knows me... Then you..."
Hold.
Fei finds himself obeying inexplicably. It isn't magic or social conditioning. It's just....politeness. Fei, even when furious, is still not Id. If someone asks for a moment, he'll give it to them. He's raised off sparring matches not true fights and the sparring matches are more engrained in him than war. Even now. Fei is somewhat old fashioned and the idea that he was beating up a woman, that reality--it sinks in. He doesn't like it. He curls his hands in faintly into fists and Xantia--
Xantia hugs him. She asks him to stop. Fei jolts out of his fugue and he says, "Huh?" He blinks twice. "What...what do you mean? I was just--"
It wasn't Id. Just plain old Fei.
All the same he focuses back on Leah and tries to collect himself.
"If he knew me, if he knows me--and he was still doing what he was doing, to an end that he would make... Then you would be terrified. You'd run away and hide deep deep underground hoping that he couldn't reach you. I mean..."
He shakes his head. "He surely hates you more than I do. That much... I'm pretty sure on."
He then takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. For a moment he's not sure what he should do.
But Judecca knows what he should do. Get crushed by rocks and fall to his death!
Fei plummets in an instant. One thing's for sure, he's probably going with Xantia.
Even as he falls to his untimely death, he reaches out towards Elly.
But even if he can't reach, he thinks.
At least he'll be with his sister.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Soldiers come hustling up behind the Watcher and Lan can't help but stiffen invisibly. Were any of them present at Assyria Base? Did she eat in the mess hall with them, or their friends? Will that stop any of them if they're ordered to shoot her?
...Will that stop Lan, if she has to fight back?
But the Watcher herself holds them back. One of them steps forward to take Seraphita from her and Lan lets out a long quiet sigh as she carefully lets her slide off of her shoulders and into the Gebler soldier's arms. "Careful with her," she says, and then feels stupid because duh.
She can't help but glance worriedly at the Watcher's sparking limbs. Even now she wants to reach out, ask if Leah is all right. But she must be, because ...well, it's her.
With her burden turned over, Lan makes as if to step back. She'll find Gwen, and they'll regroup, and maybe get out of here--
--why is the ground rumbling??
The stone beneath her feet gives way, and Lan has just enough time to yelp out a single note before she disappears, dropping away into the dark.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
It is Ida, brave Ida, who tells more blows against the Watcher as Elly continues her stare-down, receives the reply of a sacred empire. Elly is saying words, she knows, while Ida strikes blows. I should help her, Elly thinks. I should blast the Grigori or something. Freeze her, perhaps. Her jaw tightens. Because...
In a sense, she has the Watcher on her line...
... and she can't cut loose, right now. Her attention turns towards Fei as he smashes inwards, and Elly steps up on the ancient bleachers to stumble downwards, the giants' steps thrown off for a moment. "Ah! Xantia! I'm, I'm coming," Elly calls before they are asked to HOLD
Elly's eyes turn towards the revealed form of Riesenlied. Oh, please, she thinks. The Element. A message. And then the ground is exploding--
-- why?? --
An enormous updraft of wind billows upwards but it is too little, too late; moving fragments, perhaps, making Elly's hair billow as she reaches out towards Fei. But this trick is not perfect. It does not let you dance on air. Their hands remain separated, even as they're reaching out; and then a falling piece of the ancient stadium separates them;
And then, down, towards the truth.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
He says the connection's lost, but he's looking at her, not through her, now.
Isn't he?
The subject called 'Boudicca' looks into those eyes, as he demonstrates who he is not. "I know," she says, again, and this is pained for another reason entirely.
The world explodes.
Boudicca wraps Azoth's shattered-tattered chassis in her arms, and falls with him, a leaf on the wind. She can make the landing gentle for those she can reach. She can at least make it gentle for him.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The punch connects, and Ida feels armor splinter. Through the blood and smoke and dust and cordite, she smells something burning, and she can't place it, even with her rarefied senses. Everything feels sharper. Was it always that way? There was a time when this was all so new, when she was adjusting--and a time after that, when the graft spread, and she had to learn everything again.
Ida is on the cusp of something. She felt that way earlier, but now she's sure. Fear and excitement chase each other down her spine.
It's Fei, though, who strikes the final blow. Ida shakes her head, dark hair streaming out behind her. She glances to Riesenlied, then looks down at Grigori as she rises--the look on Ida's face is calm, even, and wholly unconcerned with the elite Gebler troopers pointing guns at her.
'Hold', the Watcher says, and it takes Ida a moment to realize she's speaking to them, and not making a request. Her face grows unreadable as Grigori addresses Fei. "You speak as though you know the history," Ida says. "But you don't know him."
She glances across the battlefield--and then double-takes the moment she sees Boudicca clasping Azoth's shoulders, sees the red glow in his eyes. She looks at Fei and the others, then at Boudicca and Azoth, and it feels like she's being torn in two.
Judecca presses the button, and forces her hand. The ground shakes, rumbles. "GET BILLY AND GET OUT OF HERE!" Ida shouts, over her shoulder, to Fei and Elly and Xantia. Ida begins to sprint, streaming motes of Breath from her shoulders. The pinions at her shoulders flex and extend, even though they're not real wings, and there isn't anything resembling a proper integral ARM beneath them because so much of her is still human beneath the shell of Hyadean armor.
The ground gives way. Ida finds herself falling, reaching out for two dear friends even as the fates of all the others remain a coin toss. "BOUDICCA!" she screams. "AZOTH!"
The last thing she sees is the glow in the android's eyes. Then vertigo, then darkness.