2022-04-24: A Need For Support

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  • Log: A Need For Support
  • Cast: Xantia, Ida Everstead-Rey
  • Where: Igraine
  • Date: April 24, 2022
  • Summary: Xantia stops Ida at the Fire Shrine's exit to discuss a mutual friend's plight.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Following the fierce battle and... other events at the Fire Shrine, Xantia obviously needed to have A Word with Fei. Making him promise at least thrice over to stop being so ready to literally jump into a fire if he thinks it'll help a situation. That's not something she can understand or agree with - helping is all well and good, but it can't come at that high a price.

If her reaction wasn't enough of an indication, all of her immediate attention had to be fully focused on Fei for some time. That, and making sure she got that gem she was after from Yvain. Once all that business was concluded however, and people started filing out of the Shrine through the exit teleporter, Xantia rushed to catch up with a certain other someone she saw back there. And so it is that as Ida is leaving, a familiar voice comes from behind.

"Idaaa! Wait, hang on, I've got to talk to you!"

Xantia kind of half-stumbles in her haste to catch up, perhaps still a little groggy after the massive energy expenditure back there. But she's quick to recover, and to smile when Ida regards her. "I'm glad you happened to be here too, there's something important I have to ask about. But, before that..."

Her smile disappears in an instant as she puts her hands on her hips. She can't just not say anything about what happened back there. "What were you thinking? I'm used to Fei making dumb decisions - even after he promised me not to do anything like that - but you, too? You shouldn't just... do something like that. You heard Yvain, you could've died going along with what he wanted! That's not okay!"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Xantia wasn't the only one who lingered behind to tend to the others. After making sure Fei was all right, relatively speaking, she checked in with Hiro and Ruby, and with Dean. Most of the others have already left by the time she makes for the exit; given the heat, she doesn't blame them one bit. It will be good to have a cool bath and a change of clothes.

        'Idaaa! Wait, hang on, I've got to talk to you!'

        Ida stops in the hallway in mid-stride, and turns to look over her shoulder. Bandages have replaced the exoskeleton, covering the spots where alien tissue has sealed her burn wounds. As she heals, that tissue will die off, replaced largely by human flesh--maintaining an equilibrium tilted sharply in favor of human cells.

        But that's rote by now. Yvain has given her a sharp reminder, and it lingers in her thoughts.

        Xantia. Ida turns around, and braces for impact. Sure enough, there's the enthusiastic greeting, followed by the equally-enthusiastic worry. Her jaw tightens, and her eyes glimmer in the light. "It was foolish and reckless of me," she says, after a long moment. "But I--I couldn't let Fei go alone. And I thought that if anyone could endure the flames, and emerge stronger, it would be me. But that was..." Ida looks away. "...not the correct decision."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

And yet, even though she put herself into the literal line of fire by defying Yvain, Xantia came away relatively well from the whole ordeal. She was hurt emotionally, and (less literally) burned herself out venting it all against Yvain... but then she just got up and walked away from it, more fatigued than injured. In large part thanks to a spell that Venetia cast on her in addition to Dean's protective magic, but she hasn't particularly thought about the reasons.

She didn't exactly know about any self-reflection that Ida may have done either, and she's a bit surprised that a bigger scolding isn't necessary, already given a conclusion that she agrees with. "...Oh", is all she can think of to say initially, soon followed by, "Well... that's good then, that you realize that."

This feels awkward now. Xantia rubs the back of her head in a very Fei-like manner, something that she may well have copied from him. "I do appreciate you trying to help Fei. But, when he gets like that, what you should really do is what Gwen did." She manages to smile again, as inappropriate as it may appear to smile at the thought of Fei getting punched in the face. "That's the only way people learn sometimes. I expect to be punched too if I'm doing something really dumb, so y'know, don't hold back if that happens!"

Even Xantia feels this got weird and off-track at this point. She clears her throat before changing the subject. "Anyway. That wasn't at all what I wanted to talk about. What I actually wanted to say is... I talked to Ragnell, about Azoth. I told her I wanted to help free him from Solaris, and she said that she'd been working on a thing with you, and I should get in touch with you if I wanted in on it. So, here I am, getting in touch with you!"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        The walk back has given Ida time to think about how the battle played out. If not for Dean and Mariel, she could've been hurt far worse than she was. If Ruby hadn't pulled a miracle out of thin air, she would be grieving a dear friend, and this entire meeting would have a different tone.

        Ida's lips twist in a rueful little smile. "You heard Yvain," she says. "I would've failed, if I hadn't realized the rest of you had the right approach. I wanted so badly to prove myself that I forgot that all of us were being tested." Ida lets out a breath, and listens as Xantia describes her preferred methods. "I'll do my best, then. For all of us."

        Ida was not expecting what comes next. Her mouth falls open into a little 'o', and she glances back, looking for eavesdroppers. "That's true," Ida says. "But Azoth does not know that I know, and this ignorance allows me... a degree of protection and flexibility."

        To do what? You've done nothing to stop him, or Solaris.

        "But if Ragnell trusts you to keep that secret, then so do I. I spoke with Azoth not long ago, in fact, and learned more about his creation."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

The fact that Xantia tends to only think about the here and now keeps her from getting lost in the what-ifs. Wondering what she would have done if Fei had really been gone. She spurred him into action when he was content to do nothing, and he gave her a path to follow when she had none of her own. It forged a bond that she's not sure she could do without anymore. If that had indeed suddenly fallen away just now... well, it's hard to imagine she'd be standing here smiling like that.

But that didn't happen, and so Xantia is smiling, and offering words of support, placing a hand on Ida's shoulder. "Don't feel bad. You made a mistake, that's all. No harm done, right? We made it, because we were all there. That includes you." Taking a step back, Xantia averts her eyes. "...It's not like I was really thinking about how it would affect the Trial. I didn't even care if not following the rules would mean we all failed, I just couldn't go along with rules like that." She looks back to Ida, placing a closed fist over her chest. "Still, I'd do the same thing every time. I won't let anybody toy with people's lives."

Which brings her to another case of that exact thing, taken to the extreme. Azoth's plight concerns her greatly - it did when it was only a similar case of amnesia, and it does all the more now that she knows about Solaris's involvement. Of course, in a very direct and straightforward way, because this is Xantia. It should be no surprise that she looks confused at Ida's words. "You're keeping it secret from him? Why?" She's historically been kind of the worst at keeping secrets, so her understanding the advantages is important. "I know a bit about what Ragnell's up to, but I don't know how I can help. I can't do, you know, Seraph Things. It'd be easier if I could just punch something to make it better."

Naturally, the mention of more details regarding Azoth gets her attention immediately. "Oh? He told you himself?" She clasps her hands together, looking elated. "That must mean he remembered something! So the whole thing in the Ice Shrine did help, after all!" Not that Ida would know anything about that. Because she wasn't there. Right?

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        Xantia rests a hand on Ida's shoulder. The martial artist can likely feel some of the tension flowing out of her. Ida focuses on Xantia's words, and breathes. "I was... worried about exactly that," she says. "I was so worried about failing before we'd begun that I didn't consider that might've been the point."

        Ida's hand comes to rest atop Xantia's, and she squeezes. She thinks back to what Citan told her about Xenia, and the invisible master pulling her strings.

        She can't say anything, but Ida's including Xantia in that vow to do better.

        "Azoth doesn't think--or remember--in the same way we do. He makes decisions using all of his accumulated knowledge, not counting the parts that are encrypted or otherwise damaged to the point of unusability." Ida raises a hand, gestures. "If he knows you know he's been compromised by Solaris, he will make his decisions accordingly. Right now, Solaris has the ultimate authority over his mission thanks to their overrides. Thanks to them, his calculations may--will--interpret you as a potential threat, given everything he's seen of you."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia's view on the matter is, as with many things, simple. "What's so bad about failing? It just means you've learned that something doesn't work. You can always make up for whatever happened later. As long as you stay alive. That's what's really important."

She's just all innocent smiles at the gesture that shows her words were appreciated. No idea what Ida may be thinking about in that moment, and it doesn't matter. She just wants to help, as always. Could she really change so drastically as it was claimed...?

Then again, she did do something pretty much impossible back at the Shrine, employing enough magical force to clobber a Trial Keeper severely enough to make him dematerialize for a moment, even in his center of power. There's a lot of things that shouldn't happen, yet still do, where Xantia's involved.

Regarding Azoth, though, Xantia looks pensive. While she knows the facts of Azoth's nature, she finds it hard to see him as significantly different from a human. She just has to chuckle a bit sheepishly at the last part though, having to admit, "Well, I can't exactly say his calculations are wrong. Like I told him, I have trouble controlling myself against Solaris. Even if I wanted to hold back against him, I probably couldn't. But it's okay. I think we can handle each other." Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Despite that strangely cheerful note, she crosses her arms, frowning. "So, okay, you want to avoid that, but I can't, so... what would be the best way for me to help? I guess if you want a distraction, I could do that easily, but I'd rather do something more direct to help free him, if possible."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        And there's Xantia, with the counterpoint to Ida's analysis. She's right, and she's right on a level that Ida feels in her soul. The Method--and her own experience--tell her that any fight you survive is a chance to learn and grow. A chance to prepare for the next one. "You're right," Ida says. "I won't let that lesson go to waste."

        "He's acquired an alarming amount of combat data on the lot of us," Ida says. "Both as an ally and as an opponent." She pauses a beat, her thoughts flashing back to that meeting in the wastes of Celesti. "I think you could," she says, when Xantia says she can handle it, "but I'd be cautious even then. Azoth cannot disobey his overrides, even when the logical outcome is to kill."

        Ida trails off. Truth be told, she's still trying to figure out what she can do, and a lot of it hinges on what Ragnell can do. "At the moment, I'm trying to figure that out," she admits. "Solaris holds the cards here--they remain largely out of reach, while they can strike at us with impunity. Whomever is in charge of Azoth's project undoubtedly spends most of their time in... whatever city Solaris maintains. Putting them in the field would be an unnecessary risk. But."

        Ida thinks back to what Azoth told her. Thousands of people, deleted, because no one realized what they were. She meets Xantia's eyes. "Azoth has suffered greatly at human hands," she says. "Even if we can't delete the overrides yet, he needs support. He needs to know that we're here for him, no matter what, and no matter what Solaris forces him to do."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia doesn't really have anything but her own experiences to teach her these things. Sometimes you just have to punch Sin in the snout before you realize that approach is not going to work every time. Sometimes all you can do is run when people tell you to. As long as you live to try again... that's always at the forefront of her mind now.

And yet, she's not above somewhat childish responses, letting out a hmph as she points out, "I've got plenty of combat data on him too. He won't catch me by surprise again like he used to." She does look a little concerned at the word 'kill' though. It's plain to see that, despite everything, she never expected Azoth would ever go that far. This may be the first time she's seriously considering the possibility.

But she still smiles at that thought in the end, cheerfully relating, "Well, he wouldn't be the first friend to claim he'd kill me one day." She seems content to leave it at that.

Naturally, she isn't as happy hearing that there isn't some secret weakness of Solaris that she didn't know about. She's felt stuck about dealing with them too, so she knows how it is. "Etrenank," she mentions off-hand when the Solarian city is mentioned. "If only there was a way to get at it. There's no way to get close under normal circumstances. But you're right, they won't do anything where they won't have the advantage. If only there was a way to make them believe they had it when they actually don't."

She looked uncommonly serious for a second there, before she smiles. "Well, support I can give him, at least. I've been doing that all along, I wouldn't stop no matter what anyone says. So you can count on me for that! I'm just... not good at plans and stuff. So if you do figure something out, I'm fine doing whatever I can that will help your ideas. I trust you to want the best for Azoth, too."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

        "We're still working on that," Ida says, on the matter of Etrenank. "Solaris hasn't lasted this long by leaving the keys where anyone could find them, after all." But they have Doctor Uzuki. They have Yui. That's something.

        Xantia gives her word. Ida smiles--a little tired, but it's honest. "Good. He... deserves better than what he's gotten. Even if the Azoth we know isn't what he'll be once he's regained more of himself. Even if the Azoth we know isn't what he wants to be." Ida clasps a hand to her chest. "But Yvain reminded me that sometimes, it's worth going for that little one percent chance."