2022-04-22: Trial by Fire

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============================<* Goddodin Village *>============================

Goddodin Village is a tiny village in the north of Biroclef Ridge, seemingly at the edge of the Rolance Empire. The towering mountains of the ridge behind it form an imposing and awe-inspiring backdrop to a sleepy life in a village. Nonetheless, the people are happy here, and prosperous. Their village elder came from afar, carrying alchemical knowledge with him. With his aid, the people of Goddodin have began to sell alchemical products -- include, some whisper, the fabled curative known as "elixir." With this, they have built a new inn, general store, and school that makes this remote township have an unlikely level of prosperity.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtuxNee5w4g
DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Gentlewoman Adventurer Ida!
DC: Magilou switches forms to Lil Miss Witch Who Smiles Around You But Stabs You In The Back When You Are Not Looking!
DC: Talia switches forms to The Charming Sellsword!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

BGM: Death Volcano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Q8ipSgcgw

Down the corridor, past the chambers of treasure and restoratives, lies a simple, large room. At its center is a stone circle, a platform that rises from the magma. All around, the river of flowing, molten stone continues to churn. The heat of the room seethes, difficult even to stand in, and the only way down onto the platform is a stone bridge over the magma. Somehow, the stone is solid; the air is breathable. It's just desperately, incredibly hot. ...The source of the magma is clear, at least; it pours out of the back wall as if from a fountain, and drains out through impossibly hot grates beneath the stone ringing the chamber.

At the cneter is a man familiar to mny; the Seraph Yvain, but dressed in red robes, holding a wicked, flame-wrought greataxe head-down on the ground. The silhouette is his, but the face is not; he wears a draconic mask that completely covers his face. He waits impassively; how long has he been waiting? Perhaps longer than the group has been in this shrine; regardless, he only lifts one hand to gesture the group forward, and downward.

"...To reach the Trial," the Seraph says, "You have been tested in mind and body. Some have passed these ordeals. Others, through living them, have been forged anew."

The Seraph puts both hands back on the haft of his axe, and turns his head, looking over each aspirant in turn. Slowly, he speaks again; it is possible to interrupt him... but the words come heavily, and with difficulty, for those that do. The very air itself conspires to see him heard out.

"But the Trial of Igraine is not a test of puzzle or battle, of speed or strength. Those are but preparations for the end."

His shadow, cast by the flames that light this place, torches on all ends of the smooth battlefield, is draconic in the mask and robes. The edges of the platform are unprotected; to fall would be easy, and simple.

"And now that end is come. So, the test of the spirit begins. To open the path, the fire must have fuel. The Trial... demands a sacrifice."

"Who will pass into the flames, and pave the road for the rest? Who will be consumed to empower? There is no guarantee that this one will survive. There is certainty that the fuel of the flames will be forever changed in body and soul. The flame will leave its mark. Some who have come through this trial have gained great power. ...Some, terrible scars and nothing else."

The Seraph lifts his hand, a wide sleeve falling to hang loose as his gauntleted fingers point out at the center of the group. "Now choose. Or all will be consumed."

Behind him is a great brazier, as yet unlit. It is roughly the right size for a person.

His axe glints, and the impassive steel mask of the dragon betrays no hint of pity.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
Ruby and Hiro both sweatdrop simultaneously which is only remarkable for how pronounced that sweatdrop is given how much they're all sweating. "Really Magilou? How petty..." "Yeah I don't know the context but I feel like you should really give Yvain his frying pan back."
 
It isn't long though before their group reaches the center chamber, crossing the stone bridge, looking warily at the magma below. And at the center, "Yvain!" Hiro raises a hand, greets him affably. Though... he has his other hand on his sword hilt. It's easy to believe this might turn into a fight.
 
Yet, he speaks, and Hiro is silent, listening as he describes the trial.
 
Whatever smile from the thrills of this place fades the moment he says the Trial demands a sacrifice. His expression showing a deep disquiet - pensive as he asks for someone who will be consumed - with no guarantee of survival.
 
Hiro takes a moment, then says, "I accept..." A moment later he expounds on it, "... is what I think I'd have said years ago just after we started this journey. 'I can take it' 'I'll endure' 'Don't worry - I'll be fine.' I grew up on stories where people are supposed to do that kind of thing for the greater good."
 
He takes a deep breath, then continues, "But we've traveled together and learned - more about history, more about both our worlds. Some of us lived it, and are carrying that history with them. Such as Anastasia - for example, whose sacrifice Marivel taught me about while we were on the Blue Star. And as we walked Spira on this world, we learned about the Summoners, and everything they sacrifice to bring the Calm for even a short time."
 
Hiro takes his free hand and rubs the back of his head, "So I guess what I'm saying is... I think a heroic sacrifice is to be admired... but I also think a system that requires one should make us ask ourselves - should it exist? I'm not Summoner Yuna. I don't think I'm half as brave as she was, making the choice that she did. But I think I can at least be brave enough to stand against this choice."
 
A beat.
 
"I refuse. And if there are consequences, then I'll stand with everyone here against them. Our destination is Pentagulia, and whatever happens next - it won't end here."
 

<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.

Talia passed the trial -- or, well, the first part of it.

She slows a little as she gets a good look at Yvain. Robed and masked, but the greataxe that he carries speaks volumes. She can guess what this will be about. Her and Gwen all but talked about it. The crimson-eyed assassin stops in her tracks, as he speaks. She stays a little behind Hiro; her eyes widen for a moment, and then she looks at Hiro.

She cracks a smile, then she nods her head.

"I'm not so keen to sacrifice myself, no?" she says, after Hiro. "I have things I haven't finished. For one... I need to make sure that Ivan is okay. And then there are big things -- like getting to Pentagulia -- and things that are big to me. And there are little things, too."

Her head cocks to the side. She glances sideways at Gwen. She flashes her a smile; half nervous, half confident, and equal parts both. Then, she looks back at Yvain.

"So... I am with Hiro, on this!"

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Mariel passed through the Trial without severe injury, but she's suffering just because it's so damn *hot*. She's still wearing her robe and the head kerchief, after all (though she left the gloves off). Who puts something inside a chamber with active magma?

Well, someone who *really* wants to aspect the area with Fire (and, to a lesser extent, Earth... but mostly Fire). Which makes sense, given what the place is.

She has been keeping up with Hiro, because she traversed the Trial with him, Ruby, and several others, but she hasn't been saying much. She certainly doesn't even try to interrupt Yvain. Nor does she immediately respond to him once he's done speaking, for one very simple reason:

Mariel has to think about it.

"..." Hasn't she given enough? That's what part of her thinks, though a larger part of her feels guilty for even letting such thoughts into the privacy of her own mind. Mariel looks at the ground for a few moments, through the heat haze.

But then she comes to a decision. It doesn't take as long as it could, but it takes longer than some; Mariel is if nothing else patient. "I agree with Hiro," Mariel says, quietly. "Sacrifice is something worth doing when it does something to help. When you *do* something, or try, that's worth the pain, worth what you give up... I would do it." She has. "But doing it just because someone asks - someone demands - I can't. I'm sorry."

She twists some loose fabric in her robe, nervously, before realizing she's doing it and letting it fall.

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

        Likewise, Dean--and at least part of his group--makes it to the center of Igraine, the Fire Shrine. He brightens when he sees Yvain, draconic mask or no, and lifts an arm to wave to him. "Yvain! Hey! ...You *are* the real one this time, right?"
        
        At least he makes that apparent a moment later. Dean slowly lowers his hand as he frowns at the Shrine's supposed price. He doesn't know if that actually is required, or if this is one last test, but he doesn't need to think about it:
        
        "I'm with Hiro."
        
        That's about it. Hiro literally said everything he might have had to say about it. He simply makes a firm nod to Hiro, Talia, and Mariel and steps up next to Hiro, arms folded.
        
        "Anyway, we're all in this together," he adds. "So if you're gonna come at us with something like 'or else all will be consumed,' well, fine! If there really does have to be a sacrifice, we can all pitch in and give up a little instead of making one person take on all the burden and give up everything!" He smiles over his shoulder at everyone else. "Right, guys?"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        After some time for people to rest and visit the shrine (by which Gwen got her new Fire Scarf, the Scarf that sets itself on Fire), as well as converse with each other (by which Talia amazed Gwen with her magic and then got asked if she could become a fan for Gwen), the party is ready.

        Gwen and Talia talked about what Yvain might do, and what he might be feeling. Gwen was anxious over having to punch Yvain, while looking Yvain in the face.

        Seeing Yvain's getup makes Gwen instantly breathe a sigh of relief. Okay, yeah, she can follow along with this. She can take it seriously.

        Still, when he lays out the choice, Gwen is perplexed. This wasn't the kind of trial she was expecting.

        "One person becoming the sacrifice, so that everyone can pass through..."

        Hiro's answer sets the tone, for Gwen, as does Talia's. There was a time Gwen herself would have made the same answer, to say 'I can take it' and put on a brave face. And, even now-- "Y'know, I'd even be tempted, as a way to test myself against my fear. But the stakes seem higher here. And..." After a small, nervous grin to Talia, the courier allows that weariness to come over her face then, the shadow of that terrible emotion of fear she tried to hold back with jokes and making light of the situation. "... I barely came back, the last time. And the people I hurt, when I did that.... any sacrifice made here... it ain't exempt from the effects it'll have on others. That's the double-sided cost of bonds. We're strong because we're connected, but because of that, if one of those ties breaks, the group feels it. But...." Gwen shoots a grin at Dean. "It also means we can bear the weight together, like Dean said. The strength of the whole is greater than the strength of one."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

        Did Josie pass the trial?

        In a manner of speaking, yes. She'd come in from one side and passed out the other, and sometimes, perseverance is the true measure of success. Or at least, it is, in her book.

        So this is the inside of the shrine. Her gaze glides the entire interior at first, tracing what there is of an interior atop the lake of lava, before her gaze settles on Yvain at last.

        "Points for style, Yvvie, but we're still gonna have words later, right."

        So she says with a lit cigarette in one hand, standing atop the stone bridge, as if she doesn't feel the heat at all.

        It's not a trial of their wits, their skills in battle, their strength, or even their speed, Yvain says. It's all a preparation for the real test which is to come.

        It's to be trial by fire.

        An offering of the willing, letting themselves burn as tinder for... for all who would come after. Josie moves not a muscle at first, gazing at Yvain's dragon mask as if she could there take his measure.

        At length, she raises an eyebrow.

        "...Huh. A sacrificial pyre, right? Now, if it's as you say... perhaps that's all well and good." She shakes her head, gesturing widely with both arms. "But here's the thing. I've had my fill of bein' set alight, and I've enough that needs doing 'afore I'm about to go jump into this lake, whatever your needs be."

        She cracks a grin.

        "Sorry, Yvvie. Gotta side with the chorus on this one. It ain't me."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

"Hey! Anybody here? I got a cold gem last time, I'm not leaving until I get a warm one!"

Xantia's arrival is heralded by her voice echoing into the central chamber from one of the adjacent rooms. Quite contrary to the atmosphere, she walks in calmly and casually, hands behind her head. Though one hand is quickly extended in a wave, as she recognizes the figure waiting ahead, despite the unusual garb.

"Oh, Yvain, hi!" She's happy to see him, of course she is. She may not have seen him in a while or a whole lot to begin with, but to Xantia, Yvain is the Magic Food Man and thus up there on her list of favorite people. "You just kinda vanished after you weren't feeling well, I was wondering what happened. So this is where you've been!"

Xantia that was in Zanarkand and also months ago, presumably Yvain has done other things since then??

Others file in from their respective rooms, and Xantia is just all smiles at all the familiar faces that have come here. Still in high spirits, she continues in the same cheerful tone, "Sooo, there's a gem for getting through the trial, right? I kinda really want a gem if you've got one, it's important."

Uh-oh, somebody skipped Orientation Day. Xantia had no idea the real trial was still to come. That only becomes clear to her when Yvain begins to speak. Though one might expect her to, even she doesn't interrupt, listening attentively to what Yvain has to say... and looking progressively less happy the more he speaks. Her casual bearing quickly fades as she becomes on edge, annoyed, and then actually angry, though she doesn't immediately act upon those emotions. She briefly closes her eyes and takes a breath, calming herself. But when she replies, it's still passionately so, extending an accusing finger towards Yvain.

"That's an awful Trial, what is wrong with you!? Nobody should have to sacrifice themselves for others! Not only am I not going to do it, I'm not going to let anyone else do it, either!"

She turns to the rest of those present, emphatically spreading her arms. "I mean it! If you want to do this stupid thing, you'll have to go through me! Don't just give up your life for some dumb Trial, we can find a different way where nobody has to be sacrificed!"

She turns back to narrow her eyes at Yvain, a fiery aura bursting to life around her. "That's my rule - when all choices are bad, find another choice. Nobody here's getting consumed, you got that?"

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

        Boudicca told her Seers that it was essential for Lunar to recognise them, just as Filgaia had recognised her -- and that was why she could not help them, in this Trial.

        She's all prepped outside to take care of everyone's burns, though.

        Meanwhile, Magilou is not going to give Yvain his frying pan back. It's safely stowed in her kimono again, all brazenly tied in front of her. Her kitsune headband and tail are still quite intact, save for a little singing on the end of that orange fluffy tail. (It was put out, by a deeply kind? soul.) She's dressed for the flames, as the heat rolls off of the platform.

        She hangs back, behind the others, arms loosely folded about her chest as she watches Yvain give his ultimatum again. Just like he...

        MANY YEARS AGO:

        'Oh, fine, Bienfu, be that way! Who cares. Whatever, I'll do it.'

        'Miss Magilou?!'

        'We're losing time, Bienfu. They're counting on us to come through here. Besides... it's not like it's the first time. Why, it hardly bothers me at all.'

        'You can't! Miss Magilou, think! Would Velvet really be fine with something like this?!'

        'If it got her where she was going? Abso-tootly.'

        'If that's true, why isn't SHE here, Miss Magilou?!'

        '...'

        AND NOW:

        "It's not just something you can take on yourself... huh," Magilou murmurs, to herself, with a rueful smile.

        She shakes her head, teeth all shining, in the light of the flames.

        Raising her voice to address Yvain, she chirps, cheerfully: "I'm very lazy, so my answer hasn't changed a whit! Looks like you'll have to burn them all." Because, that day... thanks to him, and thanks to her...

        ... Magilou's evidently unscarred.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

It's fucking hot

Fei Fong Wong grimaces as Yvain speaks about being forged anew. He doesn't like the sound of it. It sounds too familiar. There's something resonant with the words that echoes within his heart. The thrum of Moor Gault against his breast pocket feels hotter still, even in this burning place. He wonders why he brought it along. He wonders why he didn't throw it into the ocean.

But you don't feel it, do you Junior? Barely even sweating.

Yvain speaks of the Trial of Ingraine. It's annoying, he thinks, all this talk about being born anew and tests of spirit. It fucking hurts to be sacrificed. Maybe Seraphs don't really get that. He doesn't know the first thing about how they operate. Then again, something tells him that some of the Seraphs knew all too well.

He only really came because he wanted to hang out with Ruby some, if he was being honest, and Hiro too. It's felt like ages. Even the demon ached for that snarky so and so.

Now choose. Or all will be consumed.

Fei glances to Hiro. Obviously, even Fei isn't going to off himself just to open up 1/8th of a path to somewhere. That's not a very efficient use of a life no matter how worthless you think you are--and Fei, well, he has actually been pretty happy as of late. Even the demon seems to be settling down a bit. Grumping all the way, but settling. Maybe it could work out.

But there's that threat there, isn't there? Out of everyone here---there's only one real choice isn't there?

Fei smiles at Ruby. The story about Marivel and Anastasia goes over his head, but it's a sweet sentiment. But Fei knows that life isn't really like that. Pain comes all too easy, and it's only through tough work and even tougher luck that happy stories come to pass.

Besides, the demon child is right. He doesn't really feel the fire too strongly. If anybody can endure it...It did not speak of a life sacrifice after all, not neccessarily.

"It's okay, everyone." Fei says, knowing them all to be good people. "It's not like it's necessarily fatal or anything."

He gestures forward towards Yvain. "I'll do it. Even if it gives me nothin', it's not like I need more power."

Do you really think that Fei? Seeing how they suffer, seeing all the choices they have to make while their masters don't have to choose anything

Fei shakes his head. "Do we just like run through it or what?"

He looks to Xantia. "It's just fire. It'll be fine."

He reaches up and pulls off his shirt, tearing off pieces to wrap around his arms.

MEANWHILE

Marivel hasn't quite made her way into the chamber, hanging outside in the treasure room, tossing an apple in the air.

The apple's face looks back at her, permanently frozen in an expression of horror.

"Well said Hiro," She murmurs. "But it's not as easy as that. As you'll find out eventually."

She smiles at the apple sadly and then takes a big ol' bite out of it. It screams, briefly, then goes silent as she gulps the mosnter apple down.

"The real question will come at a desperate time, voiced in the tremor of their hearts."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida follows close behind Dean, one Seer of Fire trailing after the other. She's drenched in sweat, and spots of silver mar her exposed skin here and there--burns patched in haste by Hyadean tissue. Walking into the inferno at the temple's heart is like walking into the wind, but Ida manages. She puts one foot in front of the other until she's standing on the center platform, at Dean's flank. She sucks in a breath, and lets it out. She's never seen Yvain in the full garb of his station, and it lends his words even more gravitas.

        As if they needed it.

        'The Trial... demands a sacrifice.'

        Ida's right eye tics. There is no doubt in her mind that Yvain means every word. And as Hiro and Marivel step forward, she looks at them, and her heart hammers in her chest. She knows that the others aren't coming from a place of naievete. They've sacrificed, and seen others sacrificed. She can almost feel the specter of Marivel Armitage looming next to her, all frayed nerves and broken bonds.

        The others have made their decision. But Ida's heart is saying something different, something that definitely puts her at odds with Xantia. She sucks in a breath, clasps a hand in front of her, and whispers a silent prayer--not to God or Granas, but to the spirit of flame. Something improvised, but heartfelt.

        "Lord of Flame, Lord of Embers, I trust myself to you." Her eyes open, ever-so-slightly. "I trust myself."

        "You know," Ida says, "I still remember when you almost killed me. If I'd been trained by someone less adept at fighting dragons, you would've crushed me in your jaws. We've both come a long way from where we were. And I know we don't know each other well, but something tells me you wouldn't bluff. Not about something like this.

        Ida steps forwards, next to Fei. She gives him a smile, tight but genuine. "I offer myself as well."

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
"Why?"

This is what Venetia asks.

Venetia glances around for a moment. Hiro has stated the case most cogently and so Venetia sort o gestures towards him.

Others echo it. Xantia adds outrage. Venetia's head cants towards her, and her arms fold loosely in front of herself.

She is also sweating buckets.

She opens her mouth - her eyes suddenly cut towards Ida - then back towards Fei -

Her mouth stays slightly open.

The lace mask does not do much to hide her actual expression - and it's sticking to her face real closely in the sweaty environs anyway, at this point with a light salt applique of glue. Her eyes and mouth shape and brow are all speaking without words: 'what the f are u 2 doin'

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Ahead lies Yvain, but not as Clarine as she has ever seen him. This is Yvain, the keeper of Igraine and the arbiter of the Trial, and he speaks with a weight and authority that cannot be denied. When he speaks, Clarine listens quietly. And when he finishes...

...She remains quiet a moment longer.

The Trial demands a sacrifice. Someone must risk their life to open the way - to potentially be forged anew with greater power or be burned away wholly, to put their life on the line for the sake of the others - but either way, changed by the flames. Clarine considers this quietly. She doesn't reject the idea out of hand. For a time, she even considers offering herself.

But... She doesn't.

"...The people of this age... they have taught me the weight and importance of mortal and immortal life both. To sacrifice one's life... it is a heavy thing, and nothing will ever heal the scar left behind." Clarine says. "Even the loss of a mortal life, short as it may be, will cast great tremors throughout the world for ages to come. There may be a time when it is necessary... but it should never be done lightly."

Fei and Ida have volunteered themselves. Clarine looks toward Xantia, then.

"...I am sorry. You cannot stop them - this is a choice they must be allowed to make for themselves. ...However." She looks toward Dean, then, and rests a hand over where her heart would be were she flesh and blood, and not light given form.

"I must agree with Dean. We should share this burden, in order to ease theirs. Will that suffice?" She says, looking around at the others before turning her attention back to Yvain.

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

        The Fire Shrine trial had been a significant challenge. Not least of which. But they had made it through, with minimal harm. Indeed, the most Pearl had to show for it right now as a thread of fiery red fabric running through the white on her robes. They made the heat somewhat more bearable, not that Pearl had shown any discomfort, beyond from what Magilou may have teased out of her.

        And then before her,she sees Yvain. The guardian they were warned of- and that as Guardian he would be different than the gentle, relaxed Seraph she had met. But she was used to people wearing masks by now.

        But when told there must be a sacrifice, her grey eyes look straight forward. She is surrounded by people better, smarter, kinder than her. People she has wronged so greatly. And sacrifice was the summoner's lot, wasn't it? Even without the final summoning.

        What is a little more heat to someone who has been in the crucible so long?

        Wordlessly, without consulting her comrades, Pearl starts walking forward-

        Only for her soul to ROAR in defiance. If the Lord of All Waters were in this realm, their cry would shake the walls of the Fire Shrine. Instead, they shake the walls of Pearl's heart, and her eyes widen. She stops, mid step, the roar leaving the world quiet- quiet enough to hear. Enough to listen.

        The others declare sacrifice unacceptable. The thoughts that make their answers are thoughts that would not have occurred to Pearl. Hope is still something she's learning. But it's Mariel's words that reach her.

        'Sacrifice is something worth doing when it does something to help. When you *do* something, or try, that's worth the pain, worth what you give up... I would do it. But doing it just because someone asks - someone demands - I can't. I'm sorry.'

        Pearl stops, turning to those who got her this far. She looks down at her breast. "...my apologies." She whispers, to that part of herself. She looks to Yvain. "...I am prepared to sacrifice myself. But if I sacrifice myself here, I will never fulfill the oath I made. To walk into the pyre simply because you ask... It would be no better than if I were to die on the Blue Master's orders. My soul's companion will not accept this. My... friends do not accept this. So today I will trust in them, and choose to live and fight on."

        Pearl turns her back to Yvain, and walks back to stand with Hiro and the rest. The people who have accepted her, despite it all. Then she turns back, more determined than before.

        "The waters that bring life and destruction will wash away the flames that demand we burn. That is my decision."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        "Wait, wha? Fei!" Gwen exclaims, as he begins to take off his shirt. "Don't you *dare* start! 'It's just fire'?! 'It's just fire' my ass! Didn't you hear a lick of what everyone was talking about?!" She grits her teeth. "..... I know you're probably able to take it on more than any of us, but that doesn't mean I wanna see you be some kinda sacrificial flame!"

        Then Ida speaks. Well, good, Ida might be able to snap Fei out of it--

        "Ida?! Waita minute! Not you too... Guardians, Ida, please..."

        She steps forward, one step, but stops. Not due to fear, entirely.

        To nab them away from their decision... wouldn't that be just as bad? To deny them their autonomy, like they aren't the sort to be fully aware of the weight of their decision?
        
        Her hands ball into fists, and she, grudgingly, steps back.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

        Ruth is still holding onto the winch that broke off the mechanism it was once attached, at the end of the detour to the bridge that couldn't be crossed. Smoke gently rises from her gloved palm, though the material has doubtless given way to the heat by now. Her steps are, outwardly, measured. Though she has long since lost (most) sensitivity to heat or cold, the former elf hasn't forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by flame and ruin.
 
        She doesn't meet the Fire Seraph's gaze as he speaks, fixated on what's in her hand. The demand made by the Trial. The resolve made by Hiro, and the little twinges of reflexive clenching at the remembrance of Marivel saying how she once knew Anastasia as anything other than the legendary saint that she is to the modern day... and then, a new tale entirely of a land far beyond her knowledge about how they are moving to stop a system of constant sacrifice.
 
        The rifle on her back feels a bit heavier for the conversation material, as her right hand grasps at her opposite shoulder, while Dean cheerily volunteers everyone together in defiance of one person being sacrificed.
 
        There is something that plays out within her eyelids. A great weight on her left shoulder. Gently held, at pain, at patience... and then...
 
        A discordant smile creeps onto her face, as others make their own stand against the idea of being sacrificed, finding their own answers.
 
        "Sometimes you don't get to choose for yourself." The Hellion, remarkably holding herself within her former shell in these circumstances, speaks up above all of that. A little bitter laugh. "And then... they don't get to choose what does or doesn't burn away. It feels like... if you could cry enough tears to put out the fire, why was the fire even started..."
 
        She looks over her right shoulder, to some of the others. Her right hand comes from her left shoulder, clenches gently, looking at the Granasian rosary there. Fei and Ida step forward, entrusting themselves with varying degrees of ceremony.
 
        Ruth moves forward, and holds up the still-red-hot winch in her left hand, as she stands just off to the side of Ida.
 
        "I," I, the use of 'I' here, "lived that inferno Celesti became. I wouldn't wish that on... anyone," a lowered gaze as she looks away from Ida in particular, before looking up to face Yvain. Lunar could have been a place to escape to, from herself, but she cannot help but be herself. As is the case of all of her kind.
 
        "You don't get to look away from the flames and say you'll be ready for them. That's... the talk of people who just want to scavenge what's left in the ashes!" A sudden, loud outburst. That dangerous swing of mood and tone. "Or those who don't know what they have will be the ashes!!"
 
        She dips her head, takes in another breath that simply never leaves, and turns that gaze right back up... and holds up her left hand, dropping the winch on the ground. It has indeed burnt away the fabric, showing the hand underneath (which remains ordinary, mortal, and not all that burnt but definitely stinging).
 
        "How many of you intend to just stand and watch?" Her voice grows quiet, shaky, like there's a bile in her throat ready to leap on out.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

Yvain does not greet Dean in turn, though he settles his gae on him for a moment, felt more than seen behind his mask. He doesn't reply to Xantia either; his mask is impassive as Josie searches it for her answers.

They all have their own things to say. Hiro refuses; Talia is disinclined to sacrifice herself, has much she needs yet to do. Mariel cannot, and apologizes. Dean assures that they can all pitch in a little, and Gwen says they can bear the weight together.

Mariel was right about one thing: this place is blisteringly, irrevocably aspected towards Fire, and all of that power converges on the brazier... and on the Seraph Yvain. He does not answer Magilou's murmur, but it's true that she is unscarred by the flames. But Venetia asks a simple question. And he looks to her for a moment, before she gestures to Hiro. He nods. "It is the nature of the wild fire to consume," he explains, before looking again to Hiro,and to the others.

"So it would seem," he answers Magilou in the end. "Fei Fong Wong... Ida Everstead-Rey. Walk towards the brazier, and I will administer the flames. ...Pain is only pain; it only makes sense to take on what you can handle, and spare the others." A pause. "...It makes sense to trust in the blessings of the Blue Star, when you are already sworn to the flames. Your choices are logical."

"...But Ida, I cannot accept a flame as the fuel to the flames, noble and resolute as you are, any more than I could perform this sacrifice for you. Fei, though... A flame to transform even someone like you. In this place, I hold that power."

"Clarine," he says. "You understand the weight of what I require. ...But I cannot simply accept such an answer."

He looks to Pearl. It would seem, somehow, that he heard the roar of Leviathan, though it was only in her soul. Perhaps in this place there is something different about those rules. She cannot see his face, not through the mask--but he weighs her words,and her statement. "...Very well," he says to her. "Then you will not be the sacrifice."

"...And neither will you," Yvain says to Ruth, as she finishes. He looks down, to that winch in her hand, before it falls, and then up at her again. She faces him, and he is there, still. "...It is true. Not everyone gets to choose. And that is true here, as well..."

He turns... towards Xantia, and folds his hands on the hilt of his axe.

"...You realize, Xantia. In the shrine, at the height of my power, I am far stronger than I was even as a Fell Drake. You could all die in the attempt to stave off what comes. Knowing this, knowing that you fight to change the destiny of your companions even over teir own objections, do you still stand against what is necessary?"

His voice is heavy. His gaze is on Xantia... but he is aware of all of them. He is aware of Ruth, especially, but all of them in this moment.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

When Fei moves to go along with all this, Xantia immediately rushes up to him and stands directly in front of him. The look she gives him is hotter than the flames that surround her.

"That's not what this is about. This is unfair and I won't let it happen the way he wants to. I'm serious, Fei. I will stop you. With force, if I have to."

Her head turns sharply to Ida when she steps up as well. "And you. I'll take you on one at a time or both at once, I don't care. Your resolve is not as strong as mine, I'll prove it to you."

Clarine tries to talk her down, causing Xantia's ire to land on the Seraph of Light, as well. "Oh, I can't, can I? Just watch me!" Her gaze softens somewhat, finding it difficult to raise her voice to Clarine of all people. "...look, friends don't let friends make bad choices. I'd be a bad friend if I let this happen. So I won't."

Gwen gets it, at least. But Xantia shakes her head. It's okay. She can handle this. She's not actually sure what Ruth's intentions are, that was too complicated for her to understand. But it doesn't make a difference. She'll fight anyone she has to over this. Xantia takes a combat stance, assuring Fei and Ida, "You'll thank me for this later."

Before anything can happen, however... Yvain's voice rings out, prompting Xantia to fully turn back to him. She wasn't expecting him to address her about this, but her defiance isn't any less for it. If it's confirmation he wants...

"You heard me. I meant every word I said. My friends are too important to me, I won't risk losing them just because of your rules. Bad rules should be changed, and I'll change them no matter what! Threaten me all you like, no matter how much power you have, I'll make sure that they don't lose me, either!"

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

"...You wish to bear the burden together. You believe that a sacrifice simply demanded is not a sacrifice that must be made. You believe in the value of your lives... And are willing to risk that value, rather than choose one of you. You are unable, or unwilling, or sorry... or not planning to do it today. All will be weighed."

The Keeper of the Flame pulls back his robe, letting go the axe which stands still on the ground, upright on its own. He puts his arms back, and the sleeves fall, red pooling on the gray stone beneath him like blood. He is revealed standing, broad-shouldered and muscular. His chest is bare, his hands covered in brassy gauntlets, his waist circled with a wide belt and thick greaves on his legs down into sturdy boots that could walk over lava. The light flickers against him, and through him; he is one with the flames.

And he picks up that axe in one hand, spinning it up before himself.

"...So be it. Bring forth the waters, and all that you have to bear, or you will surely perish here. You will all pass into the flame."

BGM: The Lava Trial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQAKYe9G_ZI

"...But know that all you need do to stop this is to allow one of your number to submit to the flames."

From the brazier spreads forth a sudden wave of fire, concussive force blasting within it to start to knock everyone away from the center--everyone except for Fei, in the moment. If they are not careful, they may well falll off the edge from such a strike.

It is only the beginning.

DC: Seraph Yvain switches forms to Keeper of the Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Yvain with Saint Litany!
GS: Seraph Yvain has canceled their attack on Seraph Yvain.
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Xantia with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Ruth Pauling with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Pearl with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Clarine with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Venetia Vuong with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Magilou with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Dean Stark with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Mariel with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Talia with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Hiro with Roaring Flame!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action.
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Yvain with Saint Litany!
GS: Josephine Lovelace solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 45 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Guard bonus!
GS: Seraph Yvain accepts Seraph Yvain's Saint Litany for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Burst and Regen applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: CRITICAL! Ruth Pauling solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 54 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Ruth Pauling activates Guard bonus!
GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 94 hit points!
GS: Mariel takes a glancing hit from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 49 hit points!
GS: Mariel activates Evade bonus and Arcane Font!
GS: CRITICAL! Dean Stark partially guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 81 hit points!
GS: Talia takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 103 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Magilou solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 48 hit points!
GS: Magilou activates Guard bonus and Arcane Font!
GS: Xantia partially guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 66 hit points!
GS: Xantia activates Guard bonus!
GS: Seraph Clarine solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 45 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Seraph Clarine activates Arcane Font!
GS: Venetia Vuong suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 106 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

        Magilou chuckles, arms folded, as she watches Ida and Fei step forward.

        She laughed back then, too.

        "You know -- I once knew a savage little poodle who was all about sacrifice. Constantly sacrificing other people to build a bridge forward from their screaming bones... and then... one day, she up and became that bridge, instead. Taking care of him, to the very end..."

        Magilou never explained what that name meant to her -- during her last Trial.

        Perhaps it's fitting she doesn't mention the name, now.

        "Actually, what she'd say in a situation like this is," Magilou wriggles her wrist, aimlessly, by her elbow, "'do it'! But, you know... heh, I never was satisfied with that. Even as mountains crumble, and the world forgets..."

        Magilou jerks her chin, towards Fei and Ida. "She's not here, because... she already made her decision. Too bad I'm a survivor, huh?"

        What Bienfu did for her -- was spark that selfsame challenge.

        ... because she couldn't just let what Velvet would say in this situation stand unopposed.

        Her eyes turn to Ruth, lidded as her curved smile, as she stretches her arms up to lace them behind her head. "Can you bear to watch?" She asks, too, too casually, one pointed word in the middle of her laziness. "To witness as they consume themselves, over and over, for all eternity... as the fire burns, and does not blind you in the middle of the pyre." Her head cants, cheerfully, elbow wagging to the side. "Think about it, wouldja?"

        She's happy, it seems, to stand back, and watch Fei step forward to his doom. But when Xantia makes her argument, Magilou's eyes fall on her, instead -- green, but for where the purple colour atop them bleeds down, easily-hidden by the way her eyelids lower.

        "Oh...?"

        Her arms swing out beside her; one comes up, to tap at her temple, cheerfully. "Hahaha... delightful! Yes, if the system disgusts you, tear it down and start anew! Even if you would crush their hopes in your palm, go forward with your beliefs about the world..! Let them rage, and hate you -- and at the end, destroy you! But not a moment before!"

        Spinning in a circle, Magilou produces her shikigami in a hand -- and prances up to Xantia. "All right! If you want to mess this idiot up, you're dealing with me, too! Trialmaster, face now the Millennium Witch -- Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou!"

        A pause, a wink to camera: "... Magilou, for short."

        The flames pour out around her, and that paper doll wraps around Magilou, suddenly large as she is, to buffer her against the flames. She manages to still be there, by the time that unfathomable heat has passed over her.

        This isn't the first time Magilou's been in a volcano, being fair.

        "Hope this works," Magilou quips, as a watery Seraphic glyph alighs under her feet. "... Aqua Split!" Gesturing out with her shikigami doll, Magilou sends a ball of water out to crash into the unrelenting flames of Yvain.

GS: Magilou has attacked Seraph Yvain with Aqua Split!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Magilou gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.

It buoys Talia that a lot of people agree with Hiro. She expected Gwen to -- she really expected most to -- but it's one thing to expect and hope, another entirely to see and hear.

She does frown, though, when Ida and Fei offer themselves up.

She tenses at Yvain's answer. Her shoulders set for a moment -- and she grits her teeth. This is Amaranth's friend. And this is where it was going; where her and Gwen worried it might. She hesitates, nods her head, and then the concussive wave of force and heat hits her. It bowls her backward, but she draws Mirage in the midst of it.

Talia stabs it into the ground, scraping through the stone. Then, she stands up, and shakes her head. "If that is what it takes... then that is what we will do, no?" she says. She holds a hand up. A magical circle alights under her feet; it traces out several triangles and patterns, and Althenan runes.

Then, a lance of frozen ice forms -- and shoots off, straight towards Yvain.

GS: Talia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Freeze Lancer!
GS: Talia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
"This sort of thing is why you keep having to deal with Hellionization incidents in the minerals field!" Venetia answers Clarine, but it's in pretty small and parenthetical letters. She very likely did not want to sacrifice herself.

Why? Well, arrogance, perhaps. Maybe she is here in large part as a favor to Marivel and as a thing to express her own puissance. There is a root deeper than that, but tree roots and fire don't go together super well. Her lips purse to the side as Pearl seems to be about to -- no;

Her arms fold in front of herself as she thinks with fervent focus on the very pertinent question of 'how do I not get consumed by holy flames?' Then there is other conversation. Her eyes flick over to Ruth for a moment, perhaps momentarily annoyed.

But that is how Venetia Vuong works. "Oh, for the love of Dinoginos," she tells her, "FINE," and then into the Crest pouch goes one hand and out comes one of those XL-sized Crest Graphs. "Let's cheat the devil--"

People start moving. FOR THE LOVE OF LITTLE ROAST DUCKINGS, Venetia thinks, as her head tilts down and she focuses on drawing out the Crest's power. There is a subtle intake of breath in the Ley AND TO VENETIA'S GREAT CHAGRIN this is when the brazier before them erupts outwards in a surging wave of fire!

Which reaches her - a horrid inverse of the usual effect, where the center gets the worst of it. Flame washes over her, and the only saving grace might be that the forming conglomeration of energy, guided by intaken breath and the gift of the stars, parts some of the ring of fire. Venetia's eyes narrow as she is left with signfiicantly less sweat and significantly more body-wide first-rank burns because she was already committed AND:

The world exhales: it exhales, in specific, on Xantia.

"There! He moved faster than I, that's all!" Venetia says at Ruth, though it honestly seems more like she's shouting towards herself. A single staggered step followed by a forced stiff-backed upright stance may suggest why. (Boy, Venetia thinks: That smarts.)

GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Xantia with Persephone Sign ~Death Defiance~!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 103 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
Hiro grins at Talia, Gwen, Dean, and Clarine. "The strength of the whole is greater than the strength of one." Hiro echoes, softly, Gwen's words. Then as he turns into Talia, "Guess we're all stuck with each other then. All the way to the end." His smile becomes a more serious expression as Mariel, Xantia, and Josie give their own answers - and as Venetia asks 'Why?' As he gives Pearl a relieved look as she decides not to sacrifice herself to fulfill her oath.
 
He doesn't hear Marivel's answer from afar, but he hopes she's in favor anyway from the lessons she's taught him. Though she gives Magilou a 'really?' look with a half smile. He appreciates the solidarity in this. It makes him feel at least like they're all making the right call. And then Fei.. Ruby calls out at him, "Don't you dare Fei! We don't know what it'll do! If you die and make us explain to Elly what happened I will never forgive you!"
 
Hiro instead looks at Ida, "I get it. You want to get stronger... but this way? What will happen once you're in the flames isn't really a test, it's a guarantee." As he tries to dissuade her... and Ruth...
 
Hiro just looks at her in alarm, then sadness. Though while he feels deep sorrow for her... it is not resignation. Because he's already drawing his blade. Yet Xantia takes the fore, and he lets her speak, he lets her act. Because, he supports her in this. "Well said, Xantia." His grip shifts on his sword, because... as Yvain says, his power is greater than the Fel Drake here, and he remembers that too.
 
Yet what spews forth is a sudden blast of flame, a concussive blast that blows Hiro backwards and pushes him nearly to the edge. Catching himself and patting them out. "That's fine by me. You think we'll take a different way than the path we've chosen?"
 
Hiro runs towards Yvain warily, using Magilou and Talia's watery glyph and frozen lance to try and mask his movement. It seems like he's going to charge him with his sword. At the last moment though, he takes a knee in an almost penitent pose. And plunges his sword into liquid shadow that spreads out to form violet glyphs. From it inky blades surge upwards from the ground below to try and tear away at the enchantments protecting him.
 
"We won't submit so easily!"
 

GS: Hiro has attacked Seraph Yvain with Dark Sword!
GS: Hiro has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 95 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Pearl takes a glancing hit from Seraph Yvain's Roaring Flame for 52 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Pearl activates Evade bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

        It's in the nature of fire to consume. Well, that makes sense, but does that really mean they have to let a whole person get consumed? Even if they might not die, that's not a 100% guarantee. So when Fei and Ida step up to offer themselves to the pyre, Dean's eyes widen.
        
        "What--hey, you can't!" he protests. "At least, not all by yourselves! If we all come in together..." He smiles at Clarine for stepping up and siding with his suggestion--but Yvain shoots it down. It *has* to be one, and it looks like he's deadly serious about it.
        
        "Why not?" he protests. "Why can't we all pitch in? I get what you say about fire consuming, but that doesn't mean we have to burn one whole single tree. We can all break off a branch or two!"
        
        Of course, just as Clarine notes to Xantia that one can't stop others from making the choices they will, Ruth observes that Dean is volunteering everyone for a solution they might not agree with--might not be able to agree with. Even if it's a little as opposed to a lot, sacrifice is still sacrifice.
        
        "None of us should just stand around and let it happen," he tells her. "That's we all need to fight together!"
        
        Which is exactly the solution Yvain functionally proposes. Dean nods firmly and bends his knees into a fighting stance, Twin Fenrir flashing into his grip. Magilou says a lot of things that, honestly, he doesn't really understand--much as he didn't really understand everything Ruth had to say--but he does understand their respective fighting spirits, and that's good enough for him. "Bring it on! We'll overcome your Trial *our* way!"
        
        Waves of flame surge out from the pyre and slam into everyone *but* Fei, who Yvain has apparently chosen to accept as the sacrifice. As sweltering hot as the Shrine has been, it's even more of a rampant burning. Dean shouts in pain as they knock into him, wham wham *wham*, knocking him closer to the edge... but he manages to stand his ground, jabbing one combat rod into the floor to keep himself anchored. He pants, the air nearly burned from his lungs, and wipes the sweat on his singed face with one sleeve. If they're going to do this, they're going to have to show Yvain they mean business, just like him.
        
        So Dean launches himself forward, charging right at Yvain and attempting to whallop him with Twin Fenrir's rods, aiming for what on humans would be weak points to make them more vulnerable to follow-up attacks. Yvain is no human, but will it somehow work the same way anyway?

GS: Dean Stark has attacked Seraph Yvain with Violence Vice!
GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Seraph Yvain partially evades Magilou's Aqua Split for 48 hit points!
GS: Hex applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Talia's Freeze Lancer for 83 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Guard bonus, Arcane Font, and Gleam!
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a glancing hit from Hiro's Dark Sword for 65 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Dispel! Burst, Hyper, and Quick removed!
GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Hiro!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
GS: Seraph Yvain solidly guards Dean Stark's Violence Vice for 52 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Break applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Venetia Vuong heals Xantia! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Xantia activates Venetia Vuong's Reload!!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

        '...And neither will you (be the sacrifice),' Seraph Yvain declares as he takes his turn to reject Ruth's approach alongside the other two would-be sacrifices, and the former Aquvy Union sharpshooter's mind starts to buzz with its usual Malevolence-fueled bile, as Magilou a ways behind talking about a savage little poodle and what they were willing to sacrifice... and what they became.
 
        'Can you bear to watch?' Magilou asks that pointed question, and Ruth freezes. "I..."
 
        Something wavers, and it's enough that the concussive blast of flame sees her sliding back by the heels of two mismatched, ragged boots. Her stance in that instant is solid - slightly bent knees, crossed arms, and a greater hiss of pain from the sudden forced movement in her left arm as much as the lingering sting of flame crashing up against her.
 
        "He's not joking," she murmurs almost inaudibly. She was there for the rage of Yvain as he edged at the precipice of becoming a Fell Dragon. Any answers she might have formulated to Magilou in the moment are lost against these facts - she's out in the open, with virtually no cover other than other bodies. Everywhere, is within Yvain's element. This is his seat of power.
 
        The former elf draws her revolver and snaps off two shots in sort order, center-of-mass, holding her present position as more decisive action is stymied by the collective call by many against the nature of things here. She wonders how many, in the moment, might end up making that same choice.
 
        (What same choice? She doesn't dwell on it.)

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Guys it's fine. He said we 'might' die, that's all. How many times have we done things that might kill us." He looks to Gwen for a long moment. "We've all taken hits to get this far. At least he's being honest about it. I know each and every one of you would step into fire for me." He shakes his head. "For anyone."

Magilou shares a story about a poodle and Fei's cheeks turn red and it's NOT from the heat, my friends, because he is feeling KIND OF called out by that line. Fei doesn't really like it when other people sacifice themselves either, of course. But see? This time he'll do it first, CHECKMATE Solaris!

Yvain says that his fire might be enough to even ensnare him.

Xantia stands in front of him. Fei looks at Xantia.

"Yvain doesn't seem like a bad guy to me." Fei says. "I don't think he'd put us through something like this if there was some alternative. He's your friend, isn't he?"

He look around. "Right?"

He gives Ida an apologetic smile. He can only imagine how aggravating it is to be REJECTED from making the sacrifice.

IT actually feels...

....Very familiar.

"Guys... you can't grab onto everything you want all the time. Eventually something'll slip through your fingers, and it'll only hurt ever the more when that happens. Sometimes...heroes lose. EVen when they say all the same stuff you're saying and believing it just as strongly. That's not...a moral failing, that's just life. Sometimes in life you can make all the right moves and still lose."

Xantia's in front of him. "I promise, one way or another, I'll be okay by the end of this."

FEI PSYCHO 60


Ruby calls him out too. So many dear friends. That's what makes it hard, Fei... That's what makes it hard to do what you need to do

Fei is having trouble approaching. Xantia would be a WHOLE kung fu fight, and that's not to say anything of the EMOTIONAL DAMAGE Ruby is putting him through by saying these things.

And maybe it would have worked but...

Make us explain to Elly what happened I will never forgive you

FEI PSYCHO 90

Fei spins around on a heel, eyes wide and teeth bared as he says, "ELLY... Of all people... Does not get to tell me to LIVE!"

Fei startles backwards as he says this, taking a moment to cover his mouth.

But before he can really think about that, really reflect on it--

--The trial begins without him.

"No!" He shouts, throwing a thumb at him. "You're throwing fire at the wrong people! It's supposed to be me! That was the deal!"

FEI PSYCHO 95

A crimson aura starts crackling around Fei Fong Wong.

The grip on the leash is slacking. Five fingers. Four Fingers. Three. Two.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Despite giving her answer firmly, Mariel is nervous. She doesn't know what Yvain might be planning - she has never been a part of a Trial like this, she doesn't know what is expected, she doesn't know what may happen.

But she does know that it isn't right to *demand* a sacrifice. Sacrifice is only sacrifice if it is freely given. Demanding it from one so the others are allowed to pass - or live - is just cruelty in varying forms. And if that is what the Trial is, she'll take her chances another way.

Fire washes toward Mariel, and she dives - forward, not back. She actually manages to roll through it, slightly smouldering; her first instinct is to check her hair to make sure it isn't burning rather than her robe, though she does check both.

She does not speak again. Even confronted with the flames, she doesn't want to fight *Yvain*. Yvain is almost accessory to the problem. What she needs is to protect people from the flame, and -

Is she overthinking this?

Mariel cannot stay out of Yvain's line of sight, but she doesn't fight back, quite. Instead, from her bag, she raises a bundle of dried tiny red flowers as little pink motes of light dance along her fingers, amplifying their virtue. Some of them begin to look less dry, swelling back into the tiny flowers that they once were and blossoming with light and energy.

Several people feel energized, accelerated - she's picked people who had trouble dodging, the slower.

As for Mariel, she has a plan now - but how is she ever going to actually do it? There's no way she's Yvain's equal, not here and now. So she focuses on what she can do for now:

She addresses Fei. She doesn't know Fei very well but she *does* know him; he was one of those who came to see her, to put her on the road to Drifterhood. "Fei," she calls, then louder: "Fei! If you do it - do it for a reason, not because he told you to!"

Well okay. It's *almost* telling him not to. Mariel is most times not very good at saying 'no'.

Her path takes her further away from Ruth. Mariel doesn't even realize she's doing it, but the churn of Malevolent-tinged energy is making her nauseous.

GS: Mariel has attacked Hiro with Red Verbena!
GS: Mariel has attacked Venetia Vuong with Red Verbena!
GS: Mariel has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Red Verbena!
GS: Mariel has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Red Verbena!
GS: Mariel has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Mariel has completed her action.
GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Seraph Yvain with Two Shots!
GS: Ruth Pauling has entered Stoic Stance!
GS: Ruth Pauling gains 1 Combo from she Cautious!
GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action.
GS: Hiro accepts Mariel's Red Verbena for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Hiro!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

        Most of them say 'no'.

        But two of them say 'yes'.

        Josie's gaze holds level on Ida, then on Fei for a long, long moment. Then she simply casts her cigarette to the ground.

        "It probably won't kill, you, no," she says, grinding it underfoot even though such is laughable -- truly! -- in a place like this. "But maybe you'd wish you were dead, after. You ok with that, kid?"

        This is as far as she goes before Ida's offer is rejected. Before Xantia intervenes.

        And before Yvain stakes his ultimatum.

        Her left hand goes for her shotgun, holstered against her back.

        "...Like I said, I've burned enough, Yvvie. I figured I'm owed now, right? So," she continues, glancing down at her weapon once as if to check it for its own readiness, "If I'm gonna play in the fire again, if I'm gonna burn, it's by my own choice. Just like last time. But you ain't demanding nothin'. And you ain't getting nothing for free, right? So come on. Take your best shot!"

        She's slung the shotgun against her shoulder.

        "'Cause I won't hesitate."

        And when the fire comes for her, she doesn't dodge or so much as attempt to sidestep the deluge that follows. Instead, she stretches her right hand before her slowly.

        There is, before it is lost in the glow of the flame, light.

        Flamelets singe the edges of her clothing, dance on along the length of her weapon.

        "Nice trick," she tells Yvain, her gaze just for him in the moments that follow the inferno. "But guess what?"

        She moves, quickly, a spray of bullets erupting forth from the black shotgun.

        "I've tricks of my own!"

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Yvain with Figure of Eight!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Venetia Vuong accepts Mariel's Red Verbena for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Venetia Vuong!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Mariel's Red Verbena for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Ida glances sidelong to Gwen, and then Ruth. She says nothing, but there's a steely resolve in her eyes, and it stays there even as Yvain addresses her.

        He cannot accept a flame to fuel the flames. Ida's brow furrows. Noble. Resolute.

        Inappropriate for the task at hand.

        Idiot girl. Are you upset that you don't get the chance to play hero again? To suffer in agony when everyone else thinks it's pointless?

        Xantia will not allow it. Ida's eyes darken. Her hands curl into fists, even as she turns to look at the woman, and sees her own determination mirrored in those eyes. There is nothing to do but let her speak. The heiress turns to Yvain again, her body already slipping into a fighting stance as he makes his proclamations. One way or another, this is life or death.

        And then, a familiar and oh-so-infuriating voice. Ida glances up towards Magilou, an unspoken question on her lips, but there's no time to ask it. The brazier erupts, and the shockwave sends Ida flying back. She falls head over heels, tumbling towards the edge as superheated air traces burns down her exposed skin. But she grits her teeth nevertheless. Reddish-silver fluid surges from her pores, coating both arms and hardening into exoskeleton. Blue and gold plates gleam in the firelight as Ida digs in her new claws, and tears furrows in the stone platform. She heaves herself upright, and slips into a sideways stance, hands held out before her.

        A memory bubbles up. Kalve, asking her what the difference between resisting a force of nature and a conscious foe. In the latter, there is will. Intent. A powerful enemy who seeks to shape what they have no right to shape.

        "Come on then," Ida says, and in the next heartbeat, she steps towards Yvain, flowing around him with circular steps. "You'll see my steel regardless--"

        And then she hears Fei's voice. It sends chills down her spine, despite the heat. "Fei! Fei, I'm here! We're here!" A step back, and she reaches out, trying to take Fei's hand. "All of us or none of us! And that means both of you!"

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Fei Fong Wong with We Forge Ahead!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has canceled their attack on Fei Fong Wong.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Fei Fong Wong with We Forge Ahead!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong solidly guards Ida Everstead-Rey's We Forge Ahead for 0 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Ida Everstead-Rey's Reload!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Xantia challenges that she, in fact, can stop them - that she can't let them make a bad choice. Clarine frowns a little... but after a moment, nods.

"...I see. If that is what your heart tells you, then that, too, is an important choice to be made. I should not have tried to stop you. I apologize." Clarine decides. She should trust her friend, after all. And Yvain rejects the notion of sharing the burden - it is an answer that he cannot accept.

And thus, the decision is made to reject the notion of sacrifice. Yvain draws his axe, makes his declaration... and the flames rise from the brazier, surging against all present. With one swift motion, Clarine's mirrors fly out of her sleeves, arraying themselves in front of her. They intercept the wave of flames, causing them to wash around her even as the force acting on the mirrors still pushes her back.

"Very well. Then I shall stand with them." Clarine decides. "I offer them my brilliance against the flames... see now how I shine!"

With that, she casts a hand out, sending several rays of light of light shooting down from above toward Yvain's position.

She's used to fighting her friends by now. It's fine, though - they've always been the measure against which she's tested herself. It's the quickest way to let them know how much she's grown, too.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Yvain with Limited Ray!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Ruth Pauling's Two Shots for 59 hit points!
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 100 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Guard bonus and Gleam!
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Seraph Clarine's Limited Ray for 119 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        Fei looks at Gwen, and Gwen returns the gaze, remaining silent, even as he answers her.

        'I know each and every one of you would step into fire for me. For anyone.'

        "... Damn it, Fei..." Gwen laughs, tears flashing in her eyes. "... You always knew how to make your punches count." As well as his words.

        "Xantia..." Gwen nods, registering that shake of Xantia's head. Xantia knows Gwen's willingness to jump in, even if Gwen herself had talked herself out of it.

        But Yvain knows their answer. There are disagreements as to how their answers will happen, but the common thread shows him the path they all have chosen.

        "... And even if this goes down real badly, Yvain.... we ain't a buncha rare diamonds in the rough. The heat that made us is still out there." She grins. "Unfortunately, I think I like us bein' the sorts that make your life all nice n' complicated, so I think we'll be winnin' this trial!"

        Then there's fire. Lots of fire. And Gwen, unfortunately, is just as prepared for it as before, which is: not at all.

        It would be real shitty for Gwen to be so snippy at Fei and Ida for volunteering themselves to the flame and then be crying when her option, which is 'set everyone on fire' was picked, right?

        She bites down on the scream, hard enough to cut into her bottom lip, causing droplets to fall to the sizzling ground.

        Somehow, when Fei yells like that, it just makes the pain feel a little less, because it makes her redirect her fear onto something else.

        Oh crap.

        "..... I don't.... think I can take you n' Yvain... at the same time... If I go full power, the trial won't count!" Dubious logic, but the reasons that bind Gwen here are also her shield and anchor. "Ida! Are you gettin' through t'him? I'd punch him but I don't know the special punch he did on me back in Luca!"

        Damn. It.

        "Fei, pretend this is that punch, okay?!" Gwen... does not attack Yvain, but turns on one heel and runs forward with all the grace and stealth of a rapidly derailing smoldering train straight at Fei. "_Please!_"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: Gwen Whitlock accepts Mariel's Red Verbena for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Formation! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 119 hit points!
GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Guard bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia allows herself a little smile when others chime in with support for her point of view. See, she wordlessly tells Yvain, they understand, this is not going to go the way you want. And then she unexpectedly receives more direct aid from someone with a name that's way too long, but thankfully can be shortened. She's surprised, of course. She's never met Magilou before, and can't quite piece together what exactly is so amusing about all this or what is even being said here - wait, was she just called an idiot? - but all too soon it's clear that proper introductions will have to wait.

Xantia fully expected an attack directed against her from Yvain for her interference. She was not expecting him to bring everyone else into it too. But what can you really do against such a massive wave of fire? She can only protect herself, crossing her arms in front of her and bracing herself - her bracer's anti-magic properties and her own aura of fire aiding in her defense.

It somewhat works. It's not a painless affair, nor can she avoid being pushed back... but she does remain upright during it all, and she successfully stops her momentum before getting pushed off into more hazardous terrain.

In the unlikely event that this would have caused damage to Xantia's resolve, that definitely doesn't happen after she's suddenly infused with... something. Something of a magical nature, is all that Xantia can really determine about what Venetia granted her. Whatever it may be, it brings back her energy in full force, directing another defiant glare to Yvain. If anything she's only become more defiant following this.

"So that's your plan, huh? If I won't play along, you'll make everyone suffer, and I'll think it's my fault, was that what you were expecting? Well too bad, I know this is no one's fault but yours, and I know exactly how to make it stop!"

Xantia covers the distance between her and the Fire Seraph in no time flat. If he likes fire so much, she's going to punch him with it, so many times. While Fei's shouting 'it's supposed to be me'. "Have you even been listening to me?!" Xantia shouts back, while raining down blow after blow on Yvain.

Unfortunately, she too hadn't been listening quite as well as she should have. In all the commotion, she missed the obvious signs that something was going on with Fei. She only notices it right around when the crimson aura appears. This prompts her to shout back to him, "Fei! It's alright! This is how it was always going to go, and everyone's fine with that! You don't need to carry the entire world's burdens by yourself, we'll all do it together!"

As much as she might wish to though, she can't exactly... disengage right now. Regardless of other concerns, Yvain needs to be stopped too, there's no backing down from the position she put herself in. Besides, it's like she said. There's no need to do everything herself. There are others who can take care of Fei while she does what she does best: punch the obvious threat in front of her.

GS: Xantia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Elemental Fury!
GS: Xantia has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain critically guards Xantia's Elemental Fury for 30 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Mighty applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


        Pearl's moving reflexively, twisting into a leap and jumping over the majority of the fire wave, but they still lick at her flesh. But the flame enhanced robe spares her the worst. "Drive us all to pain until we throw one of us upon you just to make it stop." Her voice is harsh, cold. If this is the true Yvain... Or the Guardian...

        "Will next you tell me that 'the pain is the point'?" That anger is rising, and anger she could call on, wield like a poisoned knife. But that knife's hilt is envenomed as well. But it's there.

        And then she hears what Fei says. Her own anger peaks. "You of all people, have the audacity to claim that. Did you and yours not *hear* the words you drew out of me, before you decided I was too interesting to kill? This guardian billows so similar a philosophy and you choose to dive into it? When you told me you saw ho to break free?" The dark chi of the Shadow Dragon starts to rise around her. She could make this all so easy, if she just...

        Today, she refuses it, and starts into what could be a summoning ritual- but she's not. It's a Spiran dance, with slow arcing movements, and the darkness dissipates, replaced by flowing waters. She will need strength today- not power. Her OWN strength. The water bursts upwards around her, cooling her, and flowing into her limbs. Let the Six Seas face the flame.

GS: Pearl has attacked Pearl with Torrent Dance!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.
GS: Pearl accepts Pearl's Torrent Dance for 0 hit points!
GS: Burst, Hyper, and Surge applied to Pearl!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Pearl!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

The Keeper does not commenton whether the trial is fair. He simply administers it. And Magilou calls back to him. It's not the first time. Will it be the last? He does not answer Fei's address to the others at all. Ruth says he's not joking, and he lets that be the answer for a moment.

Because it's true. Some things will always slip through one's fingers. Time will not wait...

Mariel speaks up, and Yvain doesn't answer her either. Her words are for Fei. But Josie does get a response, as he turns towards her. "You understand," he says. "...So it's time to roll the dice."

Gwen speaks up; they aren't a bunch of rare diamonds, si it? "...If you fall, there will be others, or there won't. That's just how it is." He sounds distant as he says it, though.

The Keeper steps out of the path of Magilou's magic--but as quickly as he moves, Magilou's magic is sneaky and she knows him well; the splash still affects him, sizzling against his muscle and metal. He cannot bring up his axe in time to destroy Talia's Freeze Lancer, so it shatters against his body, frosting over his shoulder for an instant before that too melts. Hiro's blade of darkness succeeds in hiding itself--the liquid shadow of those violet glyphs tears away the magic Yvain has already started building up around himself. The magic breaks as Dean launches forward, swinging forth his rods. Yvain blocks one strike with a gauntleted arm, swings his battleaxe into another, meeting strike for strike every time. But the plates of his gauntlets dent under the force of Dean's attacks. Perhaps it will work the same way; he is 'human' enough.

He turns to Fei, mask still on, in the moment. Fei has shouted. The crimson aura is something Yvain can recognize, but the Keeper is unfazed. He stares, for a moment. There is something different about this place, about this heat.

"Very well, Fei. If you wish to be the sacrifice... In this time, in this place, it is possible. All you have to do... is accept your fate."

A projection of force erupts around him, forcing everyone around him back as he raises his axe towards Fei. Charging power, he holds it over his head for a long few moments, during which any attempt to approach him fails. Then, with building power, he slams his axe down, and a shockwave hurtles across the platform, like to knock Fei off completely into the lava.

The wave of force drops, and the attacks come in. Josie's spray of bullets slams into him, and there is something like blood that comes from his wounds. Is it? It is steaming, whatever it is. Ruth's shot meanwhile is not her terrible rifle, but is still a powerful revolver. Center mass hits hard, but he doesn't stop moving. And Clarine's resolve and ray shine against him, burning even flame with her light.

"Then stand with them, Clarine. And we will see if your light can guide them!"

But Xantia and Pearl both have more pointed words. "The trial is the trial," he says to her impassively. "You make your choices, and you face the consequences. That is all."

Xantia rushes forward, and in her anger, he is ready for her. Blow after blow rains down on him, and he should not be able to meet each as strongly as he does. A gauntleted arm blocks one; a fist hits another; the haft of his unbreakable axe stops a third. Blow after blow, Yvain trades violence for violence with Xantia, until he brings down his axe with a clash of flame that explodes in all directions to try to drive her back.

"Bring me your all. It is what is necessary."

And Pearl... Pearl speaks of the pain, and Yvain shakes his head. "Pain is pain." he watches her, more intently than she can see through the mask, as he senses that aura. He knows well the power Pearl could bring to bear. That envenomed knife...

"But yes. That is your way out. Battle, against a foe you know not whether you can face--or hope, at the cost of one of your own. Fire must have fuel."

And Dean... he says they will do it his way, does he? Yvain turns towards him. Venetia speaks of cheating the devil--and maybe Yvain heard her.

But it is his chance to move, and move he does. He points at Venetia with one gauntleted, claw-like hand. Fire bursts out of the stones up towards her even as she enchants a friend to stand against death, and he whirls into motion, slamming his axe down on Clarine as he leaps towards her and shakes the ground with his passage. Ida is next; she claims that he will see her steel, and he nods towards her. "Then let us see it." She steps closer, and he wields the flames around him casually, extending his hand and letting a spear of fire crash towards her.

Whatever Mariel is planning, he seems disinclined to allow it; he whirls and shatters stone at her feet, sending a ripple through the battlefield that only seems to empower him. In the next moment he lifts his axe to the sky, and from the lava rises great flaming stones; they crash towards Dean, Talia, and Gwen, ready to bulll rush them right off the platform. But Magilou gets a special touch.

"You've danced this dance before... but how well do you remember the steps?" he asks her, and fire suddenly begins to blaze around her, forming a cage. "Mighty flame, rise from the depths of the underworld to entomb my foe! Infernal Prison!"

Then towards Ruth, Pearl, and Hiro, he stands facing them. He brings his hand up, and then down, channeling white magic. "...Look upon the wrathful face of the Goddess, and know fear! Fear Litany!"

A disabling blast of white crashes toward each, to scramble and muddle the mind, even as he devotes his next spell to cleansing himself with a rush of sparkling light.

"Show me your resolve, or die!"

GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Armor Crush!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Xantia with Blast Drive!
GS: Recover! Hex removed from Seraph Yvain!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Venetia Vuong with Eruption!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Ruth Pauling with Fear Litany!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Pearl with Fear Litany!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Hiro with Fear Litany!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Clarine with Weapon Crush!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Flame Lance!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Mariel with Batter!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Dean Stark with Burning Strike!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Talia with Burning Strike!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Burning Strike!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Magilou with Infernal Prison!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Yvain with Cleanse Litany!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain gains 60 THP from Regen!
GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action.
GS: Seraph Yvain accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Break removed!
GS: Riposte applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Hiro suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Fear Litany for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Hiro gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Blind, Disrupt, and Drowsy applied to Hiro!
GS: CRITICAL! Mariel suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Batter for 64 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Mariel gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Mighty applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Low! Talia takes a glancing hit from Seraph Yvain's Burning Strike for 38 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Talia gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Disease and Poison applied to Talia!
GS: Talia loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Ruth Pauling's Blind Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Ruth Pauling's Disrupt Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Ruth Pauling's Drowsy Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Ruth Pauling takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Fear Litany for 0 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Weapon Crush for 105 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Weaken applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Venetia Vuong partially guards Seraph Yvain's Eruption for 104 hit points!
GS: Poison applied to Venetia Vuong!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Fei Fong Wong suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Armor Crush for 85 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Sufferer!
GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Magilou solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Infernal Prison for 110 hit points!
GS: Disease applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font!
GS: Magilou loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Burning Strike for 165 hit points!
GS: Disease and Poison applied to Dean Stark!
GS: Dean Stark loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Pearl fully evades Seraph Yvain's Fear Litany for 0 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 1 Combo on Poison!
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Eruption!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Eruption for 158 hit points!
GS: Poison applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Blast Drive for 149 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Xantia activates Power Burst!
GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Xantia receives 100 temporary hit points.
GS: Xantia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.

"Hiro is right!" Talia calls out, after he launches himself in. "We've got so much to do, still. If you're going to test us... then we have to succeed, and we have to do it together!"

She is aware something is happening with Fei. She doesn't know the details -- and can't really appreciate the danger. There is a worried glance at Gwen, though. Maybe she has an idea. She grits her teeth, and then she looks back at Yvain. Flaming stones rain down around her -- and she manages to duck around one, before another slams into her.

The blast throws her forward. She uses the momentum, to rush forward, and close the distance with her and Yvain.

She slashes up with Mirage as she closes in. Talia sleaps, slashing upward -- then spins -- and swings the sword around in a chop aimed at cutting down into Yvain.

"Tiger Rage!"

GS: Talia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Tiger Rage!
GS: Talia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Talia takes 29 damage from Poison!
GS: Talia has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain solidly guards Talia's Tiger Rage for 56 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Slow applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Quick applied to Talia!
GS: ROU|LET|TE: Severe! Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Burning Strike for 194 hit points!
GS: Disease and Poison applied to Gwen Whitlock!
GS: Gwen Whitlock loses 0 THP from Disease!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Flame Lance for 122 hit points!
GS: Delay applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"It wouldn't be the first time!" Fei shouts at Josephine. "I think the last time was when you shot me!!"

Mariel tells him to not do it because he told him to. Fei hesitates. Is this just because of Id? He hadn't felt like he was clawing back until the last few moments, but could he be wrong. There's a moment of doubt that starts to creep in. "You know better than anyone, huh...?" He asks softly.

Oh Junior, it's not about you or me. You've known that for a while, eh?

Xantia shouts at him and Fei tries to push it out. Please, Xantia, don't make this any harder. You're going to make him cry.

She doesn't get it. What it means to bear the weight of the world.

"Xantia, I'm bearing it either way. I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. All you're doing is getting burned TOO--"

Gwen runs in and clobbers Fei in the face, sliding in too quick for Fei to put up his guard. He slides back, brushing blood from his cut lip away from his face. "Gwen. If I don't make it back, thanks for being a good friend. And for looking out for those who otherwise nobody would look out for. There's lots of monsters out there, Gwen, who didn't decide to be monsters. They were made that way, or forced to be that way."

He looks to Pearl and says, "You're talking to the wrong me there, Pearl. Maybe Id'd be content to destroy everything. But me? I'm just tired of seeing everyone else burn.

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
A herbal ambiance fills the air, a pleasant pinkness which suggests things like spring, and quickness, and the joy of life, and not being on fire, and not being near other people who are on fire. Venetia is glad to smell it because she's not getting a lot of joy from other sources right now.

"You tell 'em," she mutters as Xantia addresses their trial operative, but she is trying to think. This is a TRIAL, after all, Venetia gathers: and they were faced with a big honking choice. It would be one thing if they were plundering an ancient dig site and a Reaverbot had come online, bellowed something about justice, and sprayed ancient rocket artillery at them.

Speaking of which. For a fleeting moment Venetia can tell on some subliminal level that SHE is the one whom Yvain, in his current role as the master of the trial, is targettinig. The certainty comes to her with the knowledge that the ground beneath her feet is about to erupt. She attempts on reflex to reach down but without a Crest all she could do is buffer, buoy, buy time; and she rolls to the side, undignified as it may be. The eruption throws up stone, nearly sends her sprawling, showers her with shrapnel, but does not blow her clear forwards.

Or backwards.

"Well, Mr. Fireman," says Venetia as she pushes herself inwards, "I'm afraid to say -- my question stands."

"Give me an answer," Venetia calls out as she reaches into TWO pockets at once. "Tell me WHY all of this is necessary. Because I think I can see the outlines, old dross, but I don't know if THEY do." (Venetia takes a moment to explicitly glare at Marivel, which she has trained to be able to do as a free action at any time.)

"Because this isn't just a lock or anything... or a security system. There's a PURPOSE here," Venetia states, "and I would have you speak more clearly. Twenty words or fewer, sir, that's plenty -- and then I'll show you my resolve!"

But in case: Venetia does something else. One hand raises up one of her outsized Crest Graphs and SOMETHING happens - rippling outwards to wash over Yvain. It feels... strange. Like planetary magnetic fields or something, but they fade to nothing, or at least narrow. And her other hand...

EARLIER:

"Armitage, I need every five gella coin you have in the establishment," Venetia says. "This is not a prank. All of them. I have change."

* Got 5-GellaCoin x 47!

NOW:

Reaches into a pouch... and pulls out a ragged handful of -- change? Change you can believe in? Venetia hurls it up into the air, where it rises, sort of like you'd expect with thrown money, and then stops, hanging in the air (money doesn't usually do this) for a moment, jittering on the edge of potential--

-- Before snapping downwards with vicious hailstorm force at Yvain!

GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Seraph Yvain with Precious Metal Sign ~A Fistful of Gella~!
GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Venetia Vuong takes 24 damage from Poison!
GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Seraph Yvain solidly guards Venetia Vuong's Precious Metal Sign ~A Fistful of Gella~ for 54 hit
points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

        "Sure was," Josie replies to Fei, without missing a beat. "Just remember what I said last time, kid."

        Her attention doesn't last long on a former ally."Sure is, Yvvie. And if us lot win here... time for you to ante up!"

        So she says before. Before she charges into the fray, shotgun blazing. Josie turns hard, as if to keep her left and thus her ARM facing towards Yvain as she focuses fire. Is that his blood? Can Seraphim truly bleed?

        But in so doing, she spots out of the corner of her eye what is happening with Fei.

        It's because she knows that tone of voice. And whether or not she's tread her own wayward path of late... she knows what that change in posture presages.

        "Oh, no you don't," she starts to say, turning hard in his direction. Shells rain on the ground around her feet; in this moment she turns her ARM away from Yvain and towards Fei. But there is not even a single moment for her to turn that preamble into anything more than that. Not even a single moment.

        Not when Gwen rushes right in there, causing Josie's arm to waver. And not -- and this is critical -- when Yvain demands their full attention, drawing upon a mighty incantation. Josie whips back towards him. There is heat.

        And then there is flame. If there was light before, it is impossible to know.

        There is just Josie in the aftermath, her overcoat singed and burnt, down on one knee.

        "Cheap shot," she complains, pushing back up onto both feet once more. "Lucky for you..."

        She fires twice. One will miss, without question, the bullet streaking past Yvain's head whatever he does. The other--

        Is more of an open question.

        As will be the third, following her movement sharply to Yvain's left, circling about him.

        "...I ain't above it neither!"

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Yvain with Scarlet Tiger!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes 23 damage from Poison!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"It wouldn't be the first time!" Fei shouts at Josephine. "I think the last time was when you shot me!!"

Mariel tells him to not do it because he told him to. Fei hesitates. Is this just because of Id? He hadn't felt like he was clawing back until the last few moments, but could he be wrong. There's a moment of doubt that starts to creep in. "You know better than anyone, huh...?" He asks softly.

Oh Junior, it's not about you or me. You've known that for a while, eh?

Xantia shouts at him and Fei tries to push it out. Please, Xantia, don't make this any harder. You're going to make him cry.

She doesn't get it. What it means to bear the weight of the world.

"Xantia, I'm bearing it either way. I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. All you're doing is getting burned TOO--"

Gwen runs in and clobbers Fei in the face, sliding in too quick for Fei to put up his guard. He slides back, brushing blood from his cut lip away from his face. "Gwen. If I don't make it back, thanks for being a good friend. And for looking out for those who otherwise nobody would look out for. There's lots of monsters out there, Gwen, who didn't decide to be monsters. They were made that way, or forced to be that way."

He looks to Pearl and says, "You're talking to the wrong me there, Pearl. Maybe Id'd be content to destroy everything. But me? I'm just tired of seeing everyone else burn."

He is not just talking about today. He turns to Yvain. "Besides..."

"I'm the Knight of Fire. I'm the Sixth Extinction." Repeating Id's words now. But it isn't Id. "I'm the burning scarecrow in the nightmare. I never could break free from fate. Maybe in accepting it... I'll finally escape."

There is a brief moment, hair flickering crimson. "Heh... This really whawt you want Junior?"

"Makes sense," Fei says. "Doesn't it?"

Ida reaches forward to his hands and clasps them.

Fei turns to her, reaches forward, and brushes hair out of her eyes.

"Beat you to it again," Fei says, smiling-- "Maybe..."

What is this place? My execution site?

"No, thank you for standing with me even through everthing. I always thought..." He sighs. "That once you really learned about me, you'd all abandon me."

He pushes Ida away moments before the projection barrier would have locked her in.

Why do you turn on me? I thought we were friends!

"People like you definitely don't need any extra pain.." Fei says, closing his eyes.

The shockwave crashes into him, and it doesn't hurt as much as he thought it would.

He feels the heat of the magma rising up to meat him as he plummets. He thinks of Emeralda. It'll be okay, he thinks, I'll see you soon.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYYMghd5so&list=PLDp_PtuyOwCbt_MBte4PrbPbvygybjOP6

It's not the first time you've burned, he thinks.

And it won't be the last.

"Right...Moor Galt?"

I'm not like you...! I think if that happened...if the worst came true...

I'd want it to hurt! I'd want it to hurt and hurt and I wouldn't want it to stop! I would never - WANT to get used to it!

"Turns out we're pretty much alike, after all..." Fei murmurs.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Gwen gets to Fei a few seconds before Ida does, leading with her punch. Ida winces at the sound of metal on flesh, and silently hopes it won't make things worse. She reaches out, the metal encasing her fingers gleaming in the firelight. For a few precious seconds, Ida grasps Fei's hand. The biometal of her gauntlet is hot, but not hot enough to burn; she holds Fei as though he would slip from her grasp at any moment. "All of us," she says, meeting his gaze. "Or none of us." Tears well up in her eyes. Her grip is so much like Luisa's, when she finally dared to reach out and shake Lee's hand.

        'No, thank you for standing with me, even through everything. I always thought...'

        Yvain comes for him. Ida tries to step forwards, to lunge at him and tackle him, but her feet won't move. It's like she's rooted in place.

        'That once you really learned about me, you'd all abandon me.'

        Fei shoves her away.

        "FEI!" Ida shrieks, and she grabs for him, but it's already too late.

        Yvain gives her no time to process this, much less recover her wits. A lance of flame rushes at her, slamming into her shoulder and rolling across her. Her shirt catches fire instantly; she feels her flesh smoldering, burning. More exoskeleton pours from her, smothering the flames as it shapes itself.

        White-hot fury ignites within her breast. Golden light traces lines across her arms as she twists on a heel, looking up at Yvain with what can only be described as 'righteous fury'. She clenches her fingers, and launches a knife-hand strike at Yvain's collarbone, following up with another at his midsection, and another at his heart. Ida's lifeforce erupts from each blow, forcing itself into Yvain's spiritual corpus if she makes contact. It interferes with the flows within him. It burns.

        "FEI!" Ida screams, as she casts her gaze about, her heart racing.

        No. No, not like this.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Seraph Yvain with Searing Ember Strike!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
Fei's response actually takes Ruby aback for a moment, but then she shouts it, "Then let me be the one to tell you that!" Motes of pink light from Mariel dance over Hiro's form as his movements just quickens as he follows up on Mariel's plea, "Fei! Come on! This isn't how it should be and you know it!!" Then he winces as Gwen socks him one, as if feeling that pain second hand. Not that he disapproves of it. Fei though recites all of his titles, of his connection to fire. "Fei! I don't care about any of that! Please don't do this! Please! Don't!"
 
However... Yvain forces the issue...
 
"FEI!" Ruby starts flying after him as he tries to submit to sacrifice - unwilling to accept it. Despite the heat of battle, Hiro grabs and throws a grappling hook from his climbing gear across the platform. "Ruby!"
 
The grapnel falls just short and skids across the remaining distance to the edge with a horrible scraping, it's hooks wedging in as the weight of the rope drops, as its unfurls far too slowly as it falls down at the same rate as Fei. Hiro disengages from the battle to run to the edge herself, and that's when the wave of fear hits him, as he gasps and crumples to his knees before he makes it to the edge. Hands tremoring and pupils dilating. As he understands far too well... what is actually at stake in this moment.
 
Ruby dives after Fei frantically, the walls too smooth for him to recover from if he even wanted to, the grappling hook unfurling far too slowly, as she pushes herself, catching the tip of the rope in her mouth and descending ever faster, flapping her wings furiously.
 
'Right Moor Gault?'
 
Yet Fei's ahead of her - and she screams despite the rope in her mouth. As she dives with the magma heated wind nearly blinding her she gets close... close besides as precious pink pawsie reaches out and brush against his hand. Yet it is not her pawsie that needs to reach him, for it cannot grasp and she is too small even if he managed to grasp her. It is her mouth that contains her only chance to save Fei. They're only mere meters above the magma... and the line snaps taut, arresting Ruby's flight and that pawsie grasps... nothing at all.
 
She'd once thought in her naivete that if Fei dies, she'd be able to meet him again some day, be friends with him again in his next life. But... no she won't. Id made that perfectly clear. When they're gone, he won't be the same person anymore.
 
Which would leave only a hurt, a hurt she asked for... a hurt that she'd never want to stop... but... she doesn't want that yet. Years from now. Decades. A century even. Caught in this exact moment of horror, she proves that even in place of sacred flame something can still freeze. Time itself caught between a world where Fei and Id exist and a world where neither of them do...
 
... something inside her says not yet.
 

GS: Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Scarlet Tiger for 126 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Delay! Attack weakened!
GS: Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Searing Ember Strike for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Seraph Yvain loses 0 THP from Disease!
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
~Several Years Ago~
 
"Grow up!" "You first!"
 
Shouting was not uncommon in Taben's Peak, when your home is made of ancient metal plating the reverberation ensures that only so much can be kept a secret. During the Vile Fiend's stay however, Ruby and Nall were sparring, again - even if the contents were distorted. Ruby is gesticulating in mid-air. Nall has scratches all over his face, and some of his hair is still smoking.
 
"He's obviously not into you!" "Shows what you know!"
 
"Okay - then say it flat out - how do you think Hiro sees you?"
 
"His girlfriend and future wife of course!" "As if! You're not stupid enough to actually believe that - so why are you running Ruby?"
 
Crossing her arms in mid-air, Ruby looked away. "I'm not running from anything you half-baked phony! If you're too dumb to realize what we have together then butt out!"
 
Promptly, Ruby turned to leave Nall's 'throneroom'...
 
"I think you are. I think you're using him as a convenient excuse to run away from actually thinking about your future."
 
For some reason, that stung enough that Ruby stopped momentarily in her flight, "Is that what you really think?! You've known me for a few days! Don't even pretend that's long enough to psychoanalyze me buster!"
 
"Yeah? I don't need a degree to understand something so obvious. You keep calling yourself a Red Dragon without really considering what that means for you - for them - for your future. And I think that's because it hurts."
 
"Shut up." Ruby says quietly, dangerously even, "Who asked for your opinion on anything? You don't know a single thing about me!"
 
"I know you want to protect them. And I know you're not going to be capable of it - not really. Not until you stop deciding to just play house and make the decision to grow up."
 
Ruby looking extremely hurt, snaps back at him, enunciating every word angrily, "Don't say another word. Not. One. In fact. Don't talk to me. Ever again. I don't want to hear it. Or anything from you." Promptly, she left the room, leaving Nall to stew - she needed to be alone for a while.
 
-=-=-
 
~Ambiguously Later~
 
Ruby sits on her haunches in the dark upon a simple wooden chair, a spotlight overhead. "Looking back on that moment - I hate to admit it - but he was right about one thing. Just one thing. I don't really understand what happened right then and there. I just knew that I wanted to save him - more than anything. I know if I lost someone I cared about - I'd want it to hurt and never stop... but..."
 
~Now~
 
BGM Change - Moon Halo (Instrumental) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqPpZ-enm2s
 
There's a glow, that expands outward in a fraction of a second, filling the air with a different kind of warmth.
 
No ungrasping precious pink pawsie reaches out in futility any longer. Instead five fingers cross the gap she couldn't before to grab a hand tightly, while another catches the rope in mid-air. The two lurch precariously, as the weight of the two of them pendulums to strike against the stone - and she almost loses grip as she yelps in surprise. Yet she redoubles her grip despite the strain and the burning in her ... palm.
 
"Got you...! I've got you!"
 
Who has him? Well, what he sees is a teenage girl sporting a head of boyishly short pink hair and a sweat-stained brow from the intense heat. A yellow bow is tied at the back of her head. She's wearing a simple white tunic with a yellow sash, tied in the back in another bow, and a pair of white pants of the same material that look cut off into shorts, on her feet a simple pair of pink shoes. Or at least there were, as they dangle, one of those shoes falls into the magma with a sizzle. And a pair of red eyes stare down at him. They're the same eyes as Ruby had before albeit larger.
 
Does she even realize what happened? Not really. All she knows is that for some reason that the one she worked hard to save is still here. And she wants to make it count. Trying to lift her arm with the weight, eyes stinging with tears and sweat, she fails leaving him hanging, her fingers barely holding on. Her tears blurring her vision. "Fei... you... you BIG DUMMY!! Don't you dare let go! Don't! Let! Go!" A tear splatters from her face, it's nearly evaporated by the time it strikes Fei by the intense heat of this place... nearly. "Climb up... right now... this... instant!"
 
Later again, in the chair, the light shining down flickers and Ruby - in the form of a human girl continues saying what she needs to say, "... I want us to hurt together... for years yet."
 

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

        "Looks like some of us are already hitting our limits with something like this," Magilou remarks, idly, as the horror pours in. She beholds all the people railing against Yvain's cruelty, and she smiles, to him, as they break upon him.

        But that... is a secret!

        "Can you shine a path through the smoke?" Magilou wonders, to Clarine, specifically. "Both Light and Fire illuminate... it's one thing to brighten the gloom, and another entirely to brighten something already red-hot."

        They say that happiness comes to those who accept their fate -- but glory is reserved for the defiant. Magilou's gaze follows Fei, in that attack...

        ... and Yvain asks her a question. "Hahaha..." Magilou laughs, as her paper doll swings about to catch the worst of the flames. "Are you accusing me of getting attached?" Interesting note about her warning, up there --

        Magilou referred to 'us', rather than 'them'.

        "Make your choice," she says, to Fei, hearing his reflections from the other side of the fire. "But people like these might save you from a really boring conversation, one day..."

        The flames broil at the boundaries of her, sweat slicking at the edges of her white-blonde hair, bright as a flame. "A grimy prison cell, huh," she remarks, to herself, with distant amusement. Her hand stretches out -- pulls back, at the feeling of sweltering heat.

        "Oh, greatest tragedy... the villain is contained!" Magilou cries, that hand reaching up to the back of her forehead.

        "Except --"

        Her hand lowers, to stage-whisper, through the flames --

        "I think you're forgetting... how this went."

        Light blooms, around Magilou, as she intones: "Spell Absorber." All a sudden, the magic around her falls into her -- annulled, absorbed, stripped to its component power and woven straight through her veins. All the heat around her abates, as Magilou absorbs the magic, around her.

        This is not to say it doesn't burn -- but on the outside, in the world, it doesn't.

        In the middle of this awful consumption, Magilou looks up, directly to Venetia, and says:

        "The Gods may forgive you for throwing money into the fire, but I will not. I'll remember this, Venetia Vuong!"

        Magic all pulsing, Magilou watches Ruby change her shape to save someone, hit by another wave of nostalgia. "So it works both ways, huh..." Magilou reflects, and makes no move to help them at all.

        Never mind that absorbing the magic around them is itself making her the biggest target in the room.

GS: Hiro has attacked Seraph Yvain with Never Let You Go!
GS: Hiro has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Hiro has completed his action.
GS: Magilou has attacked Seraph Yvain with Spell Absorber!
GS: Magilou enters a Counter stance!
GS: Magilou gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Magilou enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain accepts Hiro's Never Let You Go for 0 hit points!
GS: Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Spell Absorber for 0 hit points!
GS: Mute applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

        Ruth is about ready to squeeze off two more rounds in this frenzied dance of ideals and searing heat, but another moves in front in the melee and it is trigger discipline that prevents her from discharging it again. Who it is that moves in front of them is indistinct, in the moment, but the restraint has its quiet costs under the hood. Without a clear shot, she's left holstering it as the anger, the denial, the emotional tenor of the room flares up to her senses.
 
        She is brought out of her reverie when Yvain's gaze breaks of those about to be toasted by the Infernal Prison, and the two meet. 'Look upon the wrathful face of the Goddess, and know fear!'
 
        Ruth's lips form a neutral line, breaking away from the gaze... and she takes off moving closer. Licks of flame from the crossfire tickle at her, as the bright white force comes crashing down upon her. It appears, spatially speaking, a direct hit.
 
        She moves forward as if she weren't just blasted by one of the best-crafted Althenian sorceries, a broader smile. "What is there to fear from your Goddess...?" The bright light does not blind. The invitation by the spell's suggestion to take leave of conscious thought sees a jolt run through her eyes, now open and lively.
 
        There is the whiff of guilt. Shame. Regret. Despair. It remains a sensation that can be sensed - the Hellion within just shy of escaping the shell of who they once were. "Granas couldn't stop what befell Zoara! Couldn't stop a heartless monster from being the curse upon everyone who thought she was anything but!" There is laughter - all but laughing in the face of that idea.
 
        "What chance does she have when I'm seeing it happen again!" She yells about the nearby Fei drama, and there is the enticing scream of anguish about what Fei's doing and it is both delicious and deeply upsetting and that's... just how it is.
 
        A Crest Graph is pulled free with her right hand as her left shoulder surges with pain under the struggle of moving so much and all she carries. The seeming mockery comes to another violent swing to a quieter, tired personality as she clasps the Crest Graph closer like it were something more cherished, quietly casting and intoning something bearing both marks in Muse as pooling rain (with 'clean' Crest Sorcery, for now) upon Yvain's position.
 
        "Why is she not being asked to prove herself, after Azado...?"

GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Seraph Yvain with Pooling Rain!
GS: Ruth Pauling has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Ruth Pauling gains 1 Combo from she Cautious!
GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Even Mariel isn't sure if she meant Id or Yvain there. Ultimately, it doesn't matter; her answer to Fei is the same no matter which of them it is.

Stone shatters under Mariel's feet, around Mariel. She lets out a yell without meaning to as the air around her seems to be filled with flying chunks of stone, some of which is extremely hot.

She tucks herself in to make as small and protected a bundle as possible, curling up around her bag. She ends up tumbling several yards - fortunately not toward the edge of the stone but instead along it, but it leaves her incapable of doing much else but being thrown for a few critical seconds.

During which Fei is launched. Mariel's response is instantaneous - she can't leave him to burn, but there is no way in the world that she will ever get there in time. She shoves herself to hands and knees, then up -

Someone else has got him. Someone she does not immediately recognize by sight but does by feel; different on the outside but not the inside, or at least not so different that Mariel can't tell them apart.

Mariel shoves herself upward, all the way to her feet. A bottle of some liquid is already in her hands, shining from the inside out - an enchanted bottle, magicked so long ago in a different place and time. Mariel raises it.

An aura of *wet* surrounds Ruby and Fei. It doesn't burst into steam as one might expect, nor does it boil or even get uncomfortably hot. It's more the idea of water than actual, physical water. But it will help, for a moment.

And then, Mariel flings the remainder of the bottle - right at the brazier, in a high arcing toss, just to get it inside. The bottle, enchanted with Water from another trial, if not quite of the same caliber.

GS: Mariel has attacked Seraph Yvain with Purifying Salt!
GS: Mariel has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"We shall." Clarine agrees. She intends to guide them, for as long as she is able... but before that, they must all survive this trial. Yvain descends with his axe, and Clarine tries to glide backwards out of the way. But he is too quick, too vicious - she is forced to bring one of her mirrors against the axe and it shatters, cleaved in two. The backlash sends Clarine reeling as the mirror shards dissipate into motes of light. It takes her a second to regain her footing(figuratively speaking, as she is usually seen floating).

"I can." Clarine asides to Magilou. "Someone must try, at any rate - when the air is smoke and the path is uncertain, that is when guidance is needed the most."

She turns her attention back to Yvain, then, assessing him. She sees what has happened to Fei, and those who have gone to save him. She doesn't have the same level attachment they do - doesn't revel in what has happened. But what she can do is try to distract Yvain long enough for them to rescue him from his predicament. Light builds in her hands and she directs it out toward Yvain in a bright, blinding flash.

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Seraph Yvain with Blinding Flash!
GS: Seraph Clarine has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.


        The blast of white bears down on Pearl. Her eyes stare up on the 'face of the goddess' that surges towards her-

        And she charges, dashing forward and low under the attack. And she keeps charging. "I have seen what is at best her apathy. Her wrath can be no worse."

        'Why is she not being asked to prove herself, after Azado?'

        "That's the whole point of this. To drive to the Goddess' heart and, supposedly, give her a chance to show she is not the monster she shows herself to be." That voice might cut through Ruth's rage, or it might be empty. "And to act if she is found wanting."

        A miracle happens outside her view. But here and now there is a fight. She doesn't have time for Miracles that aren't ending this fight. Nor, perhaps, the emotional capacity to process them.

        Pearl finally follows through with her charge, a surging closed fist strike, wrapped in watery chi. Into the chest of the dragon masked Seraph. She knows how to fight. That's the bit she can help with. Leave the rest to the rest of them.

<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.

        From the ceiling of the underground Shrine shoot down (goodness gracious!) great balls of fire. Dean attempts to defend himself, but his timing is off, and they smash into him and knock him to the floor, ever closer to the edge of the podium. This puts him in a great position to see Fei also get knocked to the edge--and then over, seemingly content to accept his fate.
        
        In a word, Dean is shocked. He knew Fei had offered to sacrifice himself--he knows that Fei suffers from a lot of very complicated feelings--he knows Fei has a complicated relationship with himself and his past--but he didn't think Fei would actually accept *death*. That he would actively push a hand away that's trying to help him. Mouth gaping, gasping for breath in the smoltering heat, he shoves himself upright and tries to run over to his friend.
        
        "FEI!!" he shouts as he stretches out a hand.
        
        But it's of course already too late. And even if he had made it, Fei wouldn't accept his hand.
        
        So it's a good thing that, before a hand, someone reaches out to him with a pink pawsie. (And a rope, but shh.)
        
        "Ruby!! You got him!" Dean utters joyously, seeing her--seeng her glow bright and then change into a *human*?? It's a shock of a different kind, but as long as she's got Fei, he can accept anything right now. He swivels around and hurries forward to position himself between Ruby and Fei on the edge and Yvain well over there. "I've got your back, so you tell 'im!" he calls over his shoulder as he holds up the Mountain Medium.
        
        Channeling the power of Dinoginos, Dean calls up a shimmering magical wall up around them. It'll serve as defense against knockback, hopefully, for the precious moments until Fei's back to safety. That magic spreads not just to Ruby and Fei to protect them against the vicious flames, but also over Magilou who is Dean's *very best friend* (and never mind the hyperbole), Ida who is his partner as a Moor Gault Seer, and Xantia because no one tries harder than Xantia.
        
        What? Protective magic for Dean himself? Pshawwww. He'll be fine.
        
        The Mountain will protect him.
 
Last connect was from 152.37.142.68 on Fri Apr 22 17:44:37 2022.

GS: Pearl has attacked Seraph Yvain with High Tide!
GS: Pearl has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Pearl has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Ruth Pauling's Pooling Rain for 112 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
GS: Seraph Yvain solidly guards Mariel's Purifying Salt for 46 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Hyper, Mighty, Regen, and Riposte removed!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font!
GS: Seraph Yvain solidly guards Seraph Clarine's Blinding Flash for 0 hit points!
GS: Blind and Delay applied to Seraph Yvain!
GS: Shield applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font!
GS: Seraph Yvain solidly guards Pearl's High Tide for 55 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper and Mighty applied to Pearl!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Protect Crag!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Hiro with Protect Crag!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Magilou with Protect Crag!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Protect Crag!
GS: Dean Stark has attacked Xantia with Protect Crag!
GS: Dean Stark takes 20 damage from Poison!
GS: Dean Stark has completed his action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Delay removed!
GS: Shield applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Hiro accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Blind, Disrupt, and Drowsy removed!
GS: Shield applied to Hiro!
GS: Magilou accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Disease removed!
GS: Shield applied to Magilou!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

        Perhaps that third shot may not quite strike its mark as intended, after all. Too late, Josie is made aware of the figure knocked aside by that shockwave of Yvain's, mere moments before her finger closes over the trigger for the last time.

        "Junior--?!"

        It may be testament alone to Josie's shock at this turn of events. But even if she had been equipped to save him, there is one further complication:

        She is too far away to do anything more but watch it happen, watch as Ruby wings after him, watch as her paw grasps nothing at all.

        Then, there is a miracle. The distance that a paw could not hope to cross is bridged by an arm, by a hand. Against all odds, Ruby, in humanoid form, seizes Fei's hand. And it's in this moment that Josie's attention snaps to Yvain.

        "Yvvie, look sharp!!"

        The fact that she then unloads upon him, shells dancing about her feet, may go without saying.

GS: Seraph Yvain has activated a Boss Action!
GS: Xantia accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        Yvain seems to have gotten some of Gwen's point: there are others like them out there in the world. But, the way his voice sounds distant, even if it's just to keep from straying from his duty, causes her heart to break, just a little. "Yvain..." Her eyes tear up, but with the combination of smoke, pain, and emotion, it was a matter of time, at this point. The smile that accompanies it, afterwards, though-- ".... After this is done, we'll have a chat."

        A promise to survive, at the very least. What they may talk about? Probably nothing Yvain wouldn't already know, just by watching them struggle against him.

        It's also a promise to herself, to make sure that whatever happens, she can look on Yvain and still see the easy-going Seraph underneath the mantle of responsibility.

        But that is later, after this particular bill is paid.

        Gwen's punch lands, and Gwen looks surprised. Was it because of Mariel's boost? She should have held back a little...

        But then, Fei's words make her wish she had punched him even _harder_. "Fei, y'can't just say that..." Her tears are flowing freely now, making trails of salt down her cheeks. "I do it because there are monsters, not because I wanna pretend they don't exist! Fei--"

        The impact of Yvain's ax throws Gwen backwards, nearly off the cliff herself if not for the indents in the rock, courtesy of the Mockingbird's digits.

        Everything hurts. The haze nearly obstructs the struggle to rescue Fei, and how Ruby goes down, and...

        .... her eyesight must be really going to shit, because that's a person down there, not a Ruby. Not...

        Guardians! That is Ruby!

        Gwen screams her will wordlessly to her ARM, forcing the energy partially into her body, but not enough to completely override her present mindset. "Hold on, I'm comin'!" Her nerves bleed yellow hold on her right side and into her right eye as she leaps over to help pull the rope up. "We'll do this!"

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight!
GS: Gwen Whitlock takes 27 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! Disease and Poison removed!
GS: Amplify, Hyper, and Quick applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

One may question the wisdom of fighting fire with fire, but in Xantia's experience that usually works out pretty well. Usually. She might have guessed that a Seraph of Fire and Keeper of the Fire Shrine might not have such a hard time dealing with that particular aspect of her punches. Which isn't to say that there's still plenty of force behind them, but that alone is clearly not enough to break Yvain's guard. That axe isn't just for show, she soon discovers, as it can both effectively parry her strikes as well as dish out enough power to send her tumbling down to the ground just from a nearly impact. Even as she rolls with the fall, flames from the axe wash over her, which even sporting a fiery aura can't possibly be a painless experience. And yet...

"...Speak for yourself. Was that your all? You won't stop me with just that!" Xantia has rolled back to her feet in one smooth motion, already back into a fighting stance. Her motivation for pushing back against the Trial imposed by Yvain is still as high as it could possibly be. She realizes now that she'd be in real trouble without any support, but with everyone gathered here together, she sees no reason to doubt that they can win. Here's Dean now, fortifying her further, prompting a smile and a thumbs-up from her. Everything is okay. They're going to win this.

That thought is quickly forgotten when she notices her mistake. In rolling with her fall, she's become further seperated from--

"FEI! Don't do it! Don't you dare! You promised me...!"

Yvain is between her and Fei. The best she can hope to do is try to stop the blow meant for Fei. But Yvain is ready for that. Xantia charges in, and is repelled by a wave of force, her blow never landing. Tumbling end over end, she doesn't see the axe land. But in rising back up, she can see the end result. And all she can immediately tell is that Fei is... no longer there.

Xantia's agonized wail echoes through the chamber, followed by an explosive burst of energy. Anyone who can sense magic even a little will notice an exceptionally sharp increase of it within Xantia, now glowing with a multi-colored aura as she draws the magical energy the air of the shrine is flush with into herself, rapidly converting it into Ether. The exact nature of what is happening may not be clear, but one thing absolutely is. This is dangerous.

In the next instant, Xantia is directly in front of Yvain, moving fast enough to be mistaken for teleportation. In her hands are a pair of flaming greatswords, normally wielded two-handed, but Xantia effortlessly swings them with one hand each, hacking away at Yvain until the weapons explode out into a burst of flame. Smaller blades of Light in one hand, Ice in the other replace them, and Xantia continues her onslaught, each slash causing an elemental explosion, each blade lost in the process instantly replaced. Countless blades are created and lost in the process, but Xantia shows no signs of stopping.

Until she abruptly rears back, creating an absolutely massive hammer composed of pure Lightning in her hands, and bringing it down on Yvain in a massive explosion of electricity. Then she does it again. And a third time. But when she attempts it the fourth time, the energy explodes in her hands, and she's sent flying backwards, hitting the ground hard.

She doesn't get up after that, all that gathered magical energy completely spent. But she's still conscious, staring up at the ceiling, her expression the same as it had been throughout that entire sequence of events. Utterly blank, devoid of all emotion.

GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Xantia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Transcendent Etherforger!
GS: Xantia has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Yvain takes a solid hit from Xantia's Transcendent Etherforger for 347 hit points!
GS: Purge! Blind, Cripple, Disease, and Mute removed!
GS: Strain! Xantia takes 76 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei hears Magilou. Something tells him this is a woman who knows what it's like to be left behind. Maybe one day, he can find her again and apologize. She can berate him and insult him all she likes and that'd be just fine. Sometimes being berated and insulted is kinda a treat, really, if it's from someone who really knows you.

It's probably a blessing for Josie that Fei didn't see him trying to stop his self sacrifice even if it meant killing him to do it--but don't worry Josie, Fei is never going to give up on Josie--not even if she dies first. That's his method.

It hurts to hear Hiro say that this isn't the way for it to be. He knows that it feels wrong. But he has never managed to find right, has he?

He doesn't want to hear Ruby cry anymore. She's a good kid, They're all good kids. They need the maximum advantage for what is to come.

Even if that means taking a particularly dangerous piece bound to explode in their faces off the board. Maybe then they can finally break free of the chains of causality.

The chains that have tightened around the throat of this galaxy ever since he made the mistake of coming here...

AWAKE: 58

The atmosphere around him burns

A falling bird of fire, fledgling, with only one wing. Never to soar again. Not alone.

Even Lombardia was but a fleeting test of the atmosphere. But even so--A second wing comes by in the form of a precious pink pawsie.

"It's not that easy to fly..." He murmurs. The paw misses--It's over. No miracle. Not unusual. There are no miracles. This sector refused miracles long ago. He dreams of Lombardia divebombing to the earth below, he imagines Sophia screaming in delight, he sees Siegfried there with them--and in him, that glimmer of hope in his chest surges even though he knows it's long gone and so is he. Maybe he can see the real him again--Because one wing alone cannot fly.

Until a second wing manifest itself. A hand, impossibly, grabs hold of Fei's hand tightly. His half open eyes startle into a wide open stare.

He is at a total loss for words.. PInk hair. Red eyes--

"Ruby...?" He says, in stunned awe. "You..."

She's calling him a big dummy. He doesn't argue.

a miracle happened. The shadows flicker over Fei and as it does, Id is looking back up at her, then it flickers again--and it's Fei again.

Mariel proves that it's actually pretty hard to burn yourself alive when stubborn Drifters are near. The aura dims and sparks away from the WETness.

He's going to hurt her again. By living, he's going to hurt her again.

And it seems she wouldn't have it any other way, even if the last hurt is always the worst

A tear lands on his cheek and makes it real.

He's too heavy, he realizes. "Ruby you can't--"

Gwen moves to help them BOTH up. But can Ruby hold onto him for that long?

FEI: HE EATS A LOT! KINDA OF A HEAVY GUY EVEN IF IT'S MOSTLY MUSCLE!

He can see it, Ruby's fingers starting to slip.

Raftina gonna leave you, gonna fill your heart with tears

He feels the arms dragging him away from the woman he loves, the woman who told him to live as surely as it was happening now.

But he didn't want to live without her.

Eventually he didn't want to live.

No, all he wanted was...

to hurt together... for years yet.

Tears well up in Fei's eyes. He knows now he can't do this to Ruby. Not after she showed him this miracle.

Fei takes in a deep breath, not even bothering to wipe his eyes. He swings his free hand down to the magma. Maybe for a moment it might even look like he's trying to throw himself in there even so.

But instead, an eruption of magma explodes up towards Fei and he twists his body so that he's standing on it. And the magma rises up--just a bit--coming to a stop to slightly above the 'ground level', Gwen's assistance in pulling them back up giving him the seconds he needs to let Ruby's hands rest so she is not forced to drop him, and carry that with her forever. That, Fei can't do. Not after Ruby said those words.

He steps out onto solid ground and embraces Ruby.

"I'm sorry." He says. "I am a big dummy."

He sobs openly like a child which is a kind of strength. "I'm sorry everyone...!"

He feels something is wrong with Xantia but does he really have the right right now to say anything to her before she says anything to him?

He doesn't think so. He just repeats it, again and again, 'I'm sorry.'

He didn't really think flight was still possible in this world.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

"Then you'd best fight hard. I won't hold back." Yvain answers Talia, though his voice has that same hard-to-ignore quality in here as it has. Talia closes in though, suddenly slashing up and down--and Yvain meets the blow with his axe, clashing loudly weapon to weapon in a shockwave that drives him a step back--and continues to hamper his moves.

Venetia asks again; Yvain's expression, as before, cannot be seen. But Venetia's magic sure works. Yvain has no choice but to step right into it, and so he does. Battering and bruising and in some cases cutting with their sharp edges, the coins slam into the Seraph and crash down at his feet as they fall, those that don't stick in the wounds.

"The stakes are simply that high; the power of the Goddess herself resides in these shrines. The power to bring about an era of peace... or ruin one. The path to the Goddess." Hmmm. More than twenty words. "...The Shepherd is expected to pass these trials to prepare her to face the Lord of Calamity. But your friends have a different goal. Nothing less than your full resolve will win the right to wield this power."

The anger towards him is something he accepts. Much as he accepts Fei's choice. But Ruby... Ruby doesn't. Ruby dives, and there is futility in that moment. She is simply not strong enough to lift him up, too small to make any change here. Until...she isn't. Until she's not too small, takes on another form, and grips tightly onto Fei's hand.

'Are you accusing me of getting attached?' "I am," he says. "...And you know why." But Magilou has a different approach. An appoach very familiar to her; themagic burns... and moves straight to Magilou, absorbing the spell completely. The magic within burns hotly, but it does not singe her flesh. And she speaks of money...

"I remember," he says to Magilou. "I remember well. But we'll see, this time." He looks towards Ruby and Fei and the others.

'Why is she not being asked to prove herself, after Azado?' Pearl answers this question, much as she answers the question of fear. "...Yes. Yes, you have," Yvain answers Pearl. He does not answer Ruth further, not yet. Instead... he watches her. Her considers her own answer. What is there to fear? The guilt. The talk of what Granas could do. And what is happenin again, and again,a nd again...

Rain crashes down against him, and steam wreathes the Seraph, briefly sending him out of view completely with its haze.

"Perhaps so."

And Clarine... Clarine seeks to distract Yvain, with her guidance. And indeed her beam does blot out his vision, because a Seraph can be affected by light as surely as a mortal. For a few moments he can see nothing around him.

So the next miracle is outof his view. But Dean's magical defenses will protect the group against knockback in the next few moments. Dean moves to protect Ruby and Fei, now...

AndPearl moves up with her charge. That watery chi seethes against Yvain's heated aura, and slams into his chest. It is not the vicious, terrible power of the Shadow Dragon--it is something altogether different. It knocks him backward, prevents him from aggressing immediately onto Fei again before the others can move into a defensive formation.

"You have seen much. But you have not seen all, yet."

Mariel's magic helps. But the high, arcing toss--with Yvain distracted, it lands home. The water douses into the fire, opening up. Two unstoppable forces collide with one another. Abrubtly, the brazier steams, no longer ablaze obviously but the water unable to end it, either; it suffuses the room with humidity more and more, a cloud rising all through the chamber....

And prevents anyone else from diving into those flames.

But Xantia is not stopped by the cloud. Xantia, even as Josie draws his attention with her shots, is suddenly there, fast enough that she almost may as well have not crossed the distance in the first place. It is certainly dangeorus; he senses that power... and it goes.

She swings, and in the mist and in the explosions of her attacks, it is impossible to see exactly what happens; but she sees it. She sees flesh and blood give way to pure flame, until he is a silhouette of fire alone standing against his attacks, his body briefly almost completely discorporated by the force of her attacks. It entirely prevents him interfering with the others for the moments it lasts, and that final explosion of electricity knocks him backward into the brazier itself.

For a few moments, there is silence... and then he emerges once again, flame giving way to a body--but it is clear that the magic of this place is what makes that possible, is what reforms him... and he is somewhat less bulky than he was the first time, more like his usual build. And he looks down at Xantia, for a moment. Utterly blank...

"You are strong. You have the power necessary to do what must be done, certainly. ...But strength alone is not the test. ...You have, however, demonstrated more than strength."

"I am testing you," he says to Talia in particular, his eyes blazing orbs of flame rather than ordinary eyes. "And we shall see, if you will live to do those things you must do together."

Many help Ruby pull. But not all. Some remain to guard... and as Yvain centers himself, seeing without sight, that guard is put to the test.

"A sacrifice was demanded. And more than one of you stepped forth to offer yourselves up for the others. But can you truly understand the nature of fire?"

"The final trial is upon you. You have demonstrated your beliefs. But can you stand up for them against the true might of fire? ...This is the end, one way or another." He lifts both hands, and begins to ascend into the air. "...O sovereign flame, beating at the heart of our star! Bring forth your radiance and purge all that is unworthy!"

The room becomes flame. ...And yet...

GS: Seraph Yvain has activated a Force Action!
GS: Seraph Yvain spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Magilou with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Dean Stark with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Xantia with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Ruth Pauling with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Talia with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Venetia Vuong with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Pearl with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Clarine with Fervent Conflagration!
GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 2 Combo!
GS: Fei Fong Wong accepts Dean Stark's Protect Crag for 0 hit points!
GS: Restore! Shieldbreak removed!
GS: Shield applied to Fei Fong Wong!
GS: Ruth Pauling has activated a Force Action!
GS: Ruth Pauling solidly guards Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 107 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Ruth Pauling!
GS: Ruth Pauling activates Guard bonus and Sufferer!
GS: Venetia Vuong takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 224 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Venetia Vuong!
GS: COUNTER! Magilou counterattacks Seraph Yvain with !
GS: Magilou partially guards Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 205 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Magilou!
GS: Magilou activates Arcane Font and Gleam!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Cripple Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey partially evades Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 180 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Jam applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Evade bonus!
GS: Seraph Clarine suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 235 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Clarine activates Arcane Font!
GS: Seraph Clarine enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Dean Stark takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 260 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dean Stark gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Dean Stark!
GS: Pearl has activated a Force Action!
GS: Pearl's Cripple Ward prevents an effect!
GS: Pearl takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 231 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Jam applied to Pearl!
GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 225 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Talia suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Yvain's Fervent Conflagration for 247 hit points!
GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!!
GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Talia!
GS: Talia enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

        Magilou steps up, beside Xantia, lying there on the ground. The light pulses around her, all lilac and ice-blue consumed to white, butterflies in the gloom. Beside her, that horrible heat does not cook. It is reduced to nothing.

        Dinoginos's power floods over Magilou... and disappears, absorbed into her. In one sense, the magic never existed -- a prototypical 'Absolute Zero' from which no will or expression escapes.

        It is taken in Magilou, made hers.

        But it joins the magic which Yvain pours out, and informs an important point, about Magilou's alterations to the altar. Spell Absorber isn't just something which absorbs spells, any more, but something had to give -- and that was the effect of the attack, internalised rather than externalised.

        Which is to say that when Magilou accepts Yvain's assault, draws it into herself, neutralises its effects on the world -- they flood through her, instead. All that unyielding flame, the burning...

        ... in this fashion, absorbing defensive magics just the same is its own salve. That the two powers create magma, in the hollow where her heart should go, still means they are consumed together. It is -- by degrees, by fractions -- a gentler experience, all thanks to her best friend in the whole world, Dean Stark.

        Well, she can accept something like that, because...

        Once upon a time, she was saved from a really boring conversation, too.

        The nature of fire is something Magilou has meditated on for quite some time, herself. It's one of the elements which comes easiest to Bienfu -- and therefore, easiest to her.

        "The nature of fire, huh..?" Magilou reflects, as she takes Fervent Conflagration into herself.

        "... Calamity Flare."

        And she pours the force of his Mystic Arte back against Yvain -- in a wall of flame to wash over him, to shroud him from the comers who have entered to challenge his Trial. Taller still than any one of them, long as the platform, the tidal wave of flame separates him from them --

        -- scours him --

        -- and leaves him standing on the same platform as the rest of them.

        It's a statement she makes through magic, rather than words: flame fueled not only by Yvain's killing-power, but crafted with Dean's wish to protect them, too.

        She leaves the implications unspoken, the differences between the last time she came here, and now.

        She's sure he'll get the point.

GS: Magilou has attacked Seraph Yvain with Calamity Flare!
GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo!
GS: Magilou has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's  for 169 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Magilou!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font!
GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Very High! Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Calamity Flare for 271 hit points!
GS: Seraph Yvain activates Arcane Font!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

And yet. Mariel's water shields some of them from the heat, in the brazier. And Dean's magic prevents the spell from penetrating through towards Fei and Ruby, as Fei makes his final choice in the wake of the choices the others have made.

The fire abates, and Yvain lowers down to the ground again, ruined boots shredded but touching against the wrecked stone. Magilou's Calamity Flare washes over him... and in that moment, he does feel it. Te tidal wave of flame scours him, as well, as surely as his did the rest of them. But it brings with it Dean's protective wishes... And yes. He does get the point. "Heh. Always have to have the last word, hm?" he tells her. "But I see. Perhaps this was a trial for me, as well..."

"...Still. Even when one of you tried to make that sacrifice, the rest of you came together to refuse to accept it. To be greater than the sum of your parts. Indeed, sometimes you cannot choose who is sacrificed... But the belief that sometimes you can, the hope for those you can yet save--"

"That is the very essence of fire, the burning truth at its heart."

The group is whole. They could keep fighting; each feels a strength welling up within them that readies them to continue.

"...I find you worthy of the flame."

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
It might be a moment of triumph, but only a momentary one - the peril is still quite real, and far too close. As she shouts back at Fei telling her she can't. "I CAN - AND I WILL!" The aura of wet from Mariel sheaths Ruby and Fei, providing much needed relief in the moment. Ruby isn't feeling the heat as badly as the others perhaps, but in this moment she is more than usual... and she is all too painfully aware of the weakness of her arm right now, the strain it's taking to even hold on with every passing second. Fei himself is calling attention to it, and she's in denial. "AaaAAAAAA! HELP! HELP! I can't hold him forever! Gwen- Pull us up! Pull us up! Hurry!" Her legs flail wildly in panic - only barely cognitive of the fact that Dean is running defense on blocking with his Guardian magic to prevent them from plunging in from Yvain's next attack.
 
And then there's a sudden detonation and the two erupt back up top as Ruby screams, not realizing what just happened. Once back on the platform. Ruby pants, her arms trembling and shaking, as she hugs him back, and places her head against him as he apologizes. "Duh-Don't ever... Ever! Thu-That! Gain!" As she openly bawls, and then... as the two embrace. There's a subtle puff, like smoke. The subtle smell of sulphur. And Ruby is back to her winged cat form again, slumped against him, her pawsies unable to circle him.
 
She is hardly cognizant of what happened there, and whatever it was couldn't maintain it for long... and yet, it happened.
 
And coming down from the physical strain, and the emotional rollercoaster... she is just, so, very tired. As she curls up against Fei like a housecat (though don't you dare tell her that).
 
Hiro caught a glimpse of Ruby's form. Just a glimpse, and yet the fear dissipates... and he feels a smile creep onto his face. "I'm so proud of you Ruby." Hiro says quietly, he may not know how she did that, or why it happened or even what this means for her from here on out - she just knows... somehow she saved Fei from what he regards as a mistake.
 
Yet Yvain isn't finished, and the hungry fire will not be denied. The room becomes flame. And it's only thanks to Dean that their section of the platform was spared.
 
"Dean!" Hiro tries to scramble back up to his feet to help him, but... it's already over by the time, Magilou turning back some of the flame against him.
 
And just as soon as that's done... it's over. As Hiro comes down from the highs and lows of the battle himself, seeming in disbelief at first as he holds his sword at the ready, then it... relaxes.
 
"So that was you were trying to test here..." As he feels a very intense sense of relief. "Thank you, Yvain... for the trial." Hiro gives Dean a shoulder pat of solidarity, (though not too hard in case the flesh under there is hella burned) "Thanks Dean for the save." Though he means less for himself and more for Ruby and Fei there.
 
And... in the quiet not long after, his gaze moves over to Magilou... as he asks a very important question.
 
"Magilou do you think you can give the man back his frying pan now?"
 

<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.

"Ruby! Hiro!" Talia cries out, and there's a crack of hesitation in her voice. "What--be careful, please! We said we're doing this together, no--but--"

But is it together if Fei sacrifices himself?

Her brow furrows, with hesitation. But Ruby seems to get through to Fei -- which is some relief. She can't look long, though; she is face-to-face with Yvain, and Mirage collides with his axe. The blades ring off each each other.

Trials meant for the Shepherd -- but there isn't a Shepherd. Talia frowns, for a moment. "Even so... it's a power we need. Not just for Pentagulia, but..." But to save her brother. For their own reasons.

He is, as he says, testing them. Flame explodes around her; it blasts her backward, and she grunts. She hisses with pain, skin blackened from where fire brushed by her face. Parts of her gauntlets are charred; some of her jacket still smolders. She grunts, then pushes herself upward.

She breathes, hard, and wipes at her brow -- and then blinks. She didn't, quite, expect to pass then. And there. Talia hesitates for a second. Then, she smiles.

"W-Well... good," she says. "I'm glad, no?"

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

        Magilou laughs, hand to her hip. "And you passed!" She announces, cheerfully, as if she was grading Yvain this whole time. Is this the power... of having the last word?!

        Hiro, however... has a very important question.

        Magilou pulls out the frying pan from where she's stashed it in the front of her kimono, and considers it, thoughtfully. "Weeell..."

        Strolling up to Yvain, she pulls it back... and whaps him over the head. The frying pan goes *KLONG* against his draconic helmet.

        "... nope!" Magilou reports, cheerfully, resting the pan against a shoulder like a baseball bat. "It's way too useful to me like this! Besides," she adds, with a broad shrug of her shoulder. "He never gave me back my lamp."

        Wait, HER lamp..?

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
"Not my money," Venetia answers Magilou, directly and specifically. But without looking.

Because there's quite a bit going on. Plus side: Dear old Dean the lean, mean courage machine has called upon Dinoginos, minus side: just about everything else.

Fei Fong Wong - who to Venetia is just a guy, if a guy she's worked with in the past and found to be a pleasant and hard-working guy who did what he was told and didn't fight too hard over getting his slice - is about to go over the edge. Her eyes widen -- and widen further when that flitting cat dives in and reveals...

A true form? A false form? Another form: that's for sure.

They're weeping. Perhaps Fei's younger than he looks, or suffered harder; Venetia doesn't know. But children are weeping, and something about that makes Venetia feel like her spine is turning into iron - no, steel - no, *wolfram-reinforced titanbronze alloy* -

Praise. No, Venetia thinks, it's not praise. It's acknowledgement: And then a moment later comes the flame.

Searing, fervent, agonizing. Intense. For a moment Venetia thinks she will boil away and become vapor and smoke-- but then something intrudes-- And even as she staggers, separate perhaps from them, Venetia feels a moment of pique.

A moment -- as strength rises. Anger is there, easy to hand. She reaches for it often and fruitfully. Her heart's hand rests upon the anger and--
Lets go.

She is holding another Crest Graph in her actual hand and she doesn't put it back. She raises it up as she crosses her arms, head tilted downwards. She counts three, which also lets the ring in the septum of her nose cool down, because that was not helping her mood.

"Fire is what transforms," Venetia says. "By fire can earth become water, water become air; and even, to complete the great work, may air yet become earth. Each lives by the sufferance of fire, just as all emerge from earth and are sustained by water, yet moved by air."

Venetia's head tilts back. "The power to bring about an era of peace, eh?"

Her eyes cut towards Yvain. She passes the Crest Graph to her hand, and reaches the other one down for her pistol--

That 'deep breath of the world' moment comes again: a great dipper appears in ominous silence.

"It was a hard one," Venetia tells Yvain. "If you're the theatrical manager, good work. Only rougher from here, I imagine?" Behind them, the dipper tilts forwards, spilling out light -- no, burning metal -- a trailing vessel that threatens to pour out into-- what, the crevasse around them, filled with magma and a dreadfully long drop?

Venetia then suddenly kneels-- because she's taking aim!! She actually sticks her tongue out a little and holds the tip between her teeth to focus before opening fire, not at Yvain but at the impromptu waterfall of metal. Hot lead strikes molten-hot bronze:

And they said you can't have fireworks underground.

<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.

 
Rebecca who is likewise pretty badly burned from the battle, is panting, when she looks Magilou's way...
 
... and thinks of something in her pack...
 
A lamp with the initials M.M.D.D.N.D engraved on it that their party found in this place. Which is definitely not anything close to Magilou.
 
"Nah, couldn't be." She dismisses the thought.
 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia may seem miles away, when Yvain looks down at her. But her eyes turn towards him as he speaks. She's there. She's aware, and listening. More than strength, huh? But what was it all for? In the end, she wasn't able to stop things from going exactly the way Yvain wanted. And now Fei is...

Xantia turns her head. Fei is... right there. He's right there, he's fine, he's apologizing.

One might expect Xantia to suffer some sort of after-effects, considering the massive energy expenditure and possibly even greater psychological trauma incurred when she thought she'd lost Fei. However...

"...Do I pass?"

She's smiling. And why shouldn't she? What she had feared didn't actually happen. Fei is fine. They're all fine. And it sure sounds like they passed, so everything's peachy! And if such a quick recovery seems unnatural... wasn't everything she just did unnatural? Who even knows what's going on with her at this point. She at the very least is acting like the Xantia everyone knows. Isn't that a good thing?

Yet Yvain still has one final trial in mind. A trial Xantia is spared from by the presence of... "...Magilou?" She's not sure what she did to earn this lady's interest in particular, but it's certainly welcome. It's a bit difficult to react to the whole room being on fire in her current condition. What else can she say but, "...Thank you."

The trial concluded, Xantia feels her strength returning to her, prompting her to sit up, then stand, looking somewhat confused about her ability to do so. Then she turns to Yvain, arms crossed.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't have been a very good Trial if you didn't make it hard. But let's make this the last time we fight that seriously, okay? I understand now why you wore a mask - this wasn't your real face. I hope that from now on, you'll only show me the kindness you showed before." With that, she makes to turn away from him, only to immediately turn back, adding, "Oh, and I still want that gem. You do have gems to give to people who pass the Trial, right? If you don't, then I take it all back and this Trial was dumb and bad. But hang on, there's something I have to do first."

As one might expect, Xantia takes off and marches straight to Fei. And does she ever look pissed off. It's looking like Fei may want to be clench his teeth for this one. As soon as she's within striking distance, Xantia rears back a hand...

...and pokes him hard in the chest with one finger, punctuating each of her words.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."

And then she hugs him. Tightly, uncomfortably so. He doesn't get to complain, he owes his sister that much.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

        There are no feints, this time. No tricksy shots or attempts at misdirection. Instead, Josie stands her ground and pulls the trigger, unloading as many times as she needs to make her point--

        Or, more accurately, get Yvain's attention.
        She'll deny any ulterior motive in this after the fact.

        For this moment, she doesn't stop. Not when Xantia, elemental forces well in hand, to a degree that Josie has never before witnessed her wield, strikes against Yvain. Her attention never wavers even as the tableau -- others doing their best to rescue and shield Fei -- unfolds elsewhere in this arena.

        Not even when Yvain begins to cast that spell--

        --and it is only when the flames rise up to claim her that her attempts meet their end.

        She may be forgiven her scream, this time.

        But it is still not enough to consume her. Once, a fire had taken her and she had clawed her way back out of the ashes. This time is much the same. The aftermath has left her half sprawled on the arena floor, her black shotgun more than an arm's reach away. She can smell only smoke, taste only cinders. But like the last time, she's alive.

        "You--"

        'That is the very essence of fire', he tells them. To strive, even so, in the hope that...

        This makes them worthy of the flame.

        In spite of everything, her lips split in a grin.

        "Yvvie," she tells him, "I'm gonna kick your ass."

        The fact that she can't seem to quite get up off the ground just yet might put the lie to that one.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

The room becomes as flame. Clarine's mirrors spiral around her, a protective barrier of light shining into existence even as the heat consumes everything. It's intense, even for the Seraphim...

...And yet, it abates, as the fire is turned against Yvain himself. And with that, Clarine breathes a sigh of exertion, returning her mirrors to her sleeve.

And then, Yvain comes to a conclusion... and deems them worthy. At that, Clarine smiles brightly. She can feel her strength building, her previous exhaustion burning away as her energy returns to her.

"...I am glad. Thank you, Yvain. Are they not wonderful?" Clarine says brightly. She would've have let them make their choices... but, she is glad that she was ultimately convinced to stand with them against it.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Out of the corner of her eye, Ida sees a grappling hook hit the side of the platform--her eyes dart towards Hiro, and then towards Ruby as the dragon takes off like a shot. "Ruby!" Ida shouts, and pain shoots through her shoulder, reminding her she just took a direct hit from a lance of fire, and her skin is still burned. She grits her teeth, and forces herself to walk towards where Fei fell. She feels a surge of earthen strength that can only be Dean's, combining with Mariel's own sorcery--the scent of bright sunshine, herbs, and grass, the feeling of warm earth and enduring stone. Her own adrenaline washes through her veins. She sees a bright flash ahead--

        And skids to a halt as a young woman grabs Fei's hand. Ida's breatch catches in her throat.

        Once again, she's witnessing a miracle.

        "Ruby," Ida breathes. Tears flow down her cheeks.

        A surge of hot air reminds her that Yvain is still there, and still very much a threat. Ida throws herself in front of Ruby and Fei, adding her body to Dean's and the others'--a wall of solidarity in the face of annihilating flame. Magilou steps forward.

        Something happens...

        Ida can't put her finger on what. But the flame washes over her, and it burns--it burns, horribly, and all she can do is grit her teeth and bear it and steel her skin. She feels Dean's strength pulsing in the air like a heartbeat, alongside a signature that feels... like Magilou's?

        Ida sinks to a knee, but does not fall. She coughs up smoke, and looks up just in time to see Yvain touch down. To hear his words.

        For a moment, self-doubt flickers in Ida's eyes. Would she have failed herself--or them all--if no one tried to stop her? She was so sure she could bear the worst of what Yvain had to offer...

        'I find you worthy of the flame.'

        Fei is safe, and crying, and Ruby is bawling, and Ida can't help but start to cry, too. She spends a moment on hands and knees, her tears dripping onto the hot stone of the platform.

        When she can finally stand, Ida does so. She first turns to Fei. "I told you," she says, and her voice trembles. "You're here. You're not alone." Then she turns to Yvain, her head bowed. He'd called her 'noble'. Now she seems to await his judgment.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

That is the first time that Mariel (mostly a non-athlete; she's in decent shape from all the walking - and, since she became a Drifter, occasional running - but that doesn't help you throw things and she doesn't exactly work out) has managed to sink a bottle into a brazier at any appreciable distance, though admittedly she doesn't try it often. She's as surprised as anyone else that it actually worked.

Maybe they should turn this into a sport... nah. It'd never catch on.

Fire bursts into - through - the room, but though Mariel feels frizzled, and shoves her enormously long braids under the collar of her robe so they don't catch fire, she is mostly unhurt from the sudden wave. When it leaves, she is breathing hard, but she isn't actively infernoed, so she'll call that a victory.

And she can't believe she's going to have to thank Magilou for this. Again. ...but later.

Mariel pulls her braids back out of her robe, because they don't really belong (or fit comfortably) in there, and shakes her head to get them back where they belong. She lets out a long breath, wiping her eyes with the back of her furred hands. It's not just the smoke that makes her eyes water; Ruby bawling is going to set her off if she lets it.

That was the test. The trial. Mariel isn't sure what she thinks about it. She understands what it was testing, perhaps even a little bit about *why* it was testing, but the how... Something about it makes it uncomfortable. Maybe something else to ask Althena about. Or maybe not. She'll think about it later.

She wants to give Ruby a hug, but instead she just ruffles her fur, before she realizes - "Oh! I'm sorry, it's still - "

Mariel runs over to the brazier. She vanishes inside the cloud of steam. A few moments later, and there's clattering, glass-on-metal-on-wood sounds.

Some time after that, she walks out, recorking the bottle. Her other hand holds a little wooden stick that she fished it out with, because she wasn't willing to just stick her hand in the brazier. It's probably for the best, given how blackened and scorched that stick is.

"I have, um, medicine. If anyone needs it. Burn salves." Everyone needs it. Except maybe Yvain.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

        When one only has the one good ear for hearing words, Ruth is able to get most of what the former assassin nearby tells her and frames. The explanation given to Venetia about how this was meant to be a place for the Shepherd to prepare to face a Lord of Calamity. The emotional turmoil between Fei and his many friends together...
 
        The final trial is upon them, Yvain impresses... and even with greatly diminished temperature sensitivity, even Ruth could not dismiss what it is that's about to consume them. Oxygen burns away to the sovereign flame, the radiance that would purge all that is unworthy.
 
        Events pass - between shields and sorcerous redirections, between Dean's wishes and Magilou's skill. There is a roiling cloud of Malevolence from Ruth's position... where the bayonet blade of her rifle stabs into the ground. It seems almost unceremonious a presence compared to the majesty of Yvain at his greatest, but there is an unmasked Hellion kneeling there. A large, brutish-seeming gargoyle-like one, their single and only wing set outward in front of them as she bows her head and clenches her right fist in seeming penitence. The wing's flesh seems molten at first as it cools from the exposure to the flame.
 
        The oppressive reign of fire has since subsided, and Ruth rises. Her tail, mostly coiled around the shaft of her rifle, assists in picking it out of the ground.
 
        It is Yvain's judgment that she - all of them - are worthy of the flame. It's a feeling of warmth she hasn't experienced in some years, now, and... she doesn't hate it. Maybe it's more apt to say she hasn't forgotten what the sensation was, or used to mean.
 
        Her eyes open, aglow in purple in a ghastly sight. She doesn't approach anyone directly like this, folding her wing back. With all the allegories in thought about a world seems filled only with people with one wing that wish to fly...
 
        "So you have." She replies to Yvain, sullen in tone as her being reconciles with a taste of something she could have again if she were willing to let go of what grips her.
 
        She will not.

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

        The flame scorches Pearl, and she lets out a yelp as though she had touched a hot stove. For those who know her, this is a sign this really hurts. She tumbles, but her clothing doesn't burn. The Shrine's blessing. She's still lying on the ground for a few moments, laboring to stand.

        But when the flame rejuvenates, Pearl instantly kippups to her feet. Just in case it's not over. The very essense of fire... That they are worthy of it.
4
        It takes Pearl a few more moments before she lets her guard down.

        Now she can begin to process what happened here, barely. She doesn't move near Ruby- for to do that would mean moving near Fei. And she's still scared of him, and unsettled by Xantia, despite how 'normal' they act now.

        Leo Jr, however, hops over from behind the non-combatant barricade and bounces to Ruby- Emotional Support Onion to the rescue. (He is still also maybe keeping an eye on Fei.)

        Pearl, instead, looks to Yvain. "...Fire needs fuel. You kept saying that." She pauses. "So without fuel, the flame dies. The sacrifice is the fuel, so if we had sacrificed, we would have fueled the flame and been unable to survive this battle. We would have been found wanting, and be ash upon the ground?" It's a question, as she tries to make sense of the logic of the trial. What the rules are. How it works. She stares at Yvain, as if waiting for an answer/

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Even Fei knows that Dean Stark is everybody's friend. He can still feel his protective wards too. Probably kept his feet from melting off. Also the rest of him when Yvain follows up.

Fei, though clearly startled by Ruby turning into a human form seems to accept this as relatively reasonable. Then again, it's not like he knows this isn't something she could always do. If Fei could turn into a flying furry tiny dragon and live like that he probably would just stay that way forever especially if it meant free fish for life.

He holds Ruby close because he knows it's not just the pawsies that are precious.

He takes in one deep sniff and exhales slowly, holding Ruby in one arm and kinda petting her back with the other. She's smiling, Fei thinks. She really is an incredible person. Today, at least, she gets to win. And nobody can speak of tommorow.

The pain is fading but every time it gets a little easire to endure a little longer, Fei thinks. Maybe one day.

Fei made them all cry, he thinks. He's done worse already and they haven't abandoned him. He's still not really sure why for the most part.

But it's right. There's been many long and painful lives but it was the partings that always weighed most on him. Yvain says they are worthy of the flame. Fei gets this kind of blank look on his face like 'the f YOU on about' but he doesn't punch Yvain because he recognized this as some kind of tradition that the guy was beholden to--he doesn't really blame the man. Even if he frankly wishes the trial didn't fuck with their emotions as much as this. You can't lie about the RULES okay??

He wonders why Josie tried to interfere. Every time he thinks he understands that woman she seems to make herself into a more complicated individual, maybe out of spite. He wouldn't put it past her. She seems the type, honestly.

"Yvain," He asks. "What would have happened if they let me fall? You made it sound like it was some kind of genuine ritual. That was actually...done that way--You made it sound like many things, but it was just--magma?"

Why is he thinking of GRAHF now and his constant tests. Ugh. "Honestly I feel like they've had enough trials." Trials all the way down Fei!!

Xantia is approaching. He braces himself, body tightening up. SURPRISINGLY ENOUGH he probably is one of the least injured people here right now. Maybe throwing yourself into the magma fire was the way to have an easy day!

Xantia pokes him in the chest. Hard. It's a bit tender.

"Ow." Fei says.

Don't.

"Ow."

Ever.

"Ow."

Do.

"Ow."

That.

"Ow."

Again.

"Ow."

Xantia hugs him tightly. Fei kind of shifts Ruby around a bit so she gets in on the hug rather than CRUSHED between their bodies. He wraps one arm around Xantia gingerly.

"I'm sorry, sis." He says, embarrassed as all heck.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

        "Nhgh!" Gwen pulls on the rope, her assisted strength tested by the added weight of Fei and Ruby, as well as her own injuries. She hears the chanting from Yvaiun, the cries of Dean's name, the yells from the others.

        She's ready to feel the burn of this trial, but first, she has to help get Ruby and Fei up, no matter what it takes!

        Grimly she realizes she's as much of a sacrificial fool as Fei and Ida are, in the end, despite all her words.

        The rope falls slack, and Gwen falls backward on her back with a painful cough, staying there for the moment as the plasma energy thrumthrumthrums against the inside of her closed right eyelid.

        'That is the very essence of fire, the burning truth at its heart.'

        Gwen exhales, surprising herself by getting right back up.

        '...I find you worthy of the flame.'

        ".... But..." The courier looks over all her friends, tired, crying, joyful, weeping. ".... I don't know if I really...."

        There is one thing she can do, unique to her. Something Fei even called out, in a way.

        But Yvain is no monster. If he had, it would have been so much easier.

        Venetia speaks, and Gwen freezes, cautiously cranes her neck in her direction with a clear signal of 'you go first' if Venetia seems to have the mind to... splatter molten metal at Yvain?

        Or into the magma, that works too-- WAIT WHAT why is she shooting

        "Wh-huh?" Dumbstruck, she hops a step backwards, but fortunately does not miss the sight of beautiful and dangerous glitter.

        It sets the tone for her to approach Yvain. And, if Yvain doesn't back away, she places a hand on his outfit, testing the heat on it, and whether it's safe. To punch him?

        No. But first, Pearl has a question, and Gwen steps backwards, just for the moment, to give them the chance to find their answer.

         Once that's done, Gwen will give him her own answer, to the question Yvain never asked.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.

To Talia, Yvain nods. "We will speak soon. You do need this power. I understand."

"Hmm," Yvain comments to Magilou--and baaaaaaaaaanng. He gets hit with the pan, andhis ears ring. "Rude," he says. "...But that's true. I'm not giving back the lamp." Does Rebecca know?? Probably not.

"You passed," Yvain confirms for Xantia. "And... yes, there is a gem. But I'll have to give you a different one; this one passes to Hiro. Don't worry, though. There's plenty." He pauses, and then says, "...I don't have any plans to fight you again anytime soon, that's for sure. Not as more than a sparring match. But I might want that much. Your combat style is... interesting."

Then to Josie, he grins back, and slowly moves to take off his helmet. He still isn't wearing a shirt or his usual fancy robes, but it's fine. "I'm sure you will," he says to Josie, and grins back before he sets the mask down on the brazier. The task is finished.

Then he nods to Clarine. "Yes, I think you've found good mortals. I'm sure that you'll guide them well, too. They're going to need your help."

Then he turns to Ida, who is awaiting his judgement. "...On your own," he says, "You would have failed. You would likely have lived, but your nobility was not the question I sought to answer. ...But because you have good and courageous companions, and because you listened to them in the end... You, too, are worthy, of this flame as well as the Blue Star's."

"Don't worry. I meant all of you."

It is indeed still foggy, until Mariel removes the bottle. "Clever," he says to her. "Very clever. ...In the end," he says, "It was combat because the path before you is dangerous; I needed to ascertain that you were strong of mettle and spirit both."

"...Ruth," he says. "I mean you, too. You are worthy, and they may need your strength." A Hellion, found worthy... but it seems it's true all the same. It is within Yvain's authority.

Then he grins at Venetia. "Your magic reminds me of an old friend. But no, I can't say if the other trials will be as difficult; that mostly depends on your own inclinations and talents. ...But it wouldn't surprise me if they're harder." He approves of the fireworks show.

Pearl starts to process... and asks. "That's very astute," he says. "...For a hungry fire, one log is never enough. You could well have died if you'd all been willing to. The remnant would've gained power of a sort, if they'd survived. But not the path to the Goddess."

"I could test no less than to the death; if I'd held back at all, the magic of the trial would have failed to manifest, and the gem I've given Hiro would not have formed."

To Fei, "If you'd let yourself fall... You likely would have died. Perhaps that would've finally been your end. ...It is a genuine ritual; there is power in sacrifice. But not the power Hiro and his friends needed. You would have failed my test."

It is safe to touch Yvain, though he's still shirtless. His gauntlets won't burn. When he is done explaining to the others... he accepts a hug from Gwen. It does answer a question. One he wasn't going to ask.

"...Well. I'm glad you feel that way."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Wow! Do I feel real stupid." Fei says. "I hate trials!"

He kicks a rock into the magma.

<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.

 
"Dummy."
 
Ruby says one last time, quietly, tiredly... but ultimately... affectionately.
 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Yeah yeah I owe you another all you can eat fish buffet." Fei says. "You're never wrong, Ruby."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

         Gwen grabs Yvain in a hard hug, the sort that could almost be considered painful if not for the positive warmth behind it all. ".. I was scared that I was going to have t'see your face when I hit you. But... it was worse to hear you say those things, because it made me realize just how sad you might've been all this time, being 'round us, n' knowing this was comin'." The hug tightens, just a smidge more. "So now, you're not gonna have time t'be sad, y'hear?! Because we're gonna annoy you until our last breath, and then, those who live on in our memory'll do the same! N' that's if we don't just become ghosts n' haunt you!" She releases him, and wipes her eyes. "So... Yvain... now that we're worthy of the flame, you can rest easy for now."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Tears stream down Ida's cheeks. Her jaw trembles. There was a time when she would've taken Yvain's judgment as a backhanded compliment, an assertion that she was worthless without people to look out for her in her stead.

        She won't lie to herself. It still stings, a little, knowing she'd made the wrong call. She had reasons, but...

        She thinks of Azoth and Lydia, and the chains binding them to Solaris. She thinks of all the moments where she wasn't sure she'd ever make it home. Ida looks down at her armored right hand, and clasps it tight. "Thank you, Keeper," Ida says, and she bows, despite her protesting burns. "I won't forget this."

        "Fei?" Ida says, glancing over her shoulder. "Gwen? We should--we should get something to eat soon, together. It's been too long." And this reminded her of how precious those moments are.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

        Her strength.
 
        It wasn't long ago that Ruth was about to lose it to the idea of being afraid of the Goddess being angry, as the Fear Litany failed to take any sort of conceivable root against her psyche. Worthy to be strong enough to bear a part of a power of a world and culture she only barely understands beyond what K.K. had imparted upon her.
 
        She remembers the person who once decided she'd become a curse, if she wasn't a blessing. The price of deciding one would be strong enough to change the world around them with force, to some nebulous 'better' that consumed everything she knew and then some.
 
        "...Then they will have it," she asserts, where it is tricky to speak words through one's throat while MAlevolence races through the mind trying to cherry pick other things she wants to say. Her body language lessens, as is 'natural,' taking in the ambience of released emotions of near-misses with tragedy or worse.
 
        For better or for worse, despite everything they've been through (and because of her), they are of like mind on what cannot continue.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Surely after a day like this, Fei has lost his appetite!

"Yeah I could eat. Can Ruby and Hiro come along?" He doesn't really want to wake Ruby up right now.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "Certainly," Ida says. Quietly, because the sight of Ruby sleeping sweetly is the perfect antidote to everything she just endured.