2022-06-25: Dedication and Terror

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<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    The strikes had come in rapid succession, across various points in Sylvaland: lightning and subsequent fires had devastated the normally-peaceful nation, and though the nation had deployed what resources it could to both aid its people and discover the cause, still the strikes had continued. It had turned to Drifters and ARMS out of desperation, its resources already taxed, seeking an end to this before Sylvaland became completely overwhelmed.

    Rumors have circulated about the causes. Some say a wizard might be behind this. Others wonder if it might be a powerful monster. But others still, recalling the forces at their beck and call and their vendetta against the entire world, wonder if it might somehow be a part of an Odessa plot.

    On this, as it would happen, they are entirely correct.

    "Keep clear of the target area. Its accuracy isn't the greatest."

    The sun hangs low in the sky by the time an anomaly is discovered in the hills in Sylvaland's north.

    There is a group of people, some hunched about a series of wired devices. An Empathite relay is hooked into the machinery, all packed close together as if the group using them were attempting to take up as little real estate as possible, as if they would need to leave in a hurry. Oddly, the relay's signal would take its message skyward, towards the heavens itself.

    The insignia on the arm of one jacket would tell the tale in short order: they're of Odessa, without question.

    Until now, they had managed to stay well clear of patrols and search parties, but the growing press of their mission and its requirements have forced the Odessan technical team to make their next move. It won't do to let up the pressure, particularly when the worst is yet to come.

    "Seems good enough, if'n you ask me, right," Josie drawls, glancing towards the rest of the team. "Like drowning a fly in a bathtub." The technical team aren't the only representatives of Odessa present. They've also brought firepower, it would seem, perhaps as a last-ditch resort if discovered. Smoking a cigarette, Josie's eye is presently on one of the screens as the technicians work.

<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

"Have you ever tried to drown a fly, though?" asks Erzebet Mara Lefanu of Josie as she gestures with an as yet unopened brown glass bottle, the top sealed with a cork that has an unnatural grayish color to it. "I mean, it's harder than you would think. First you have to catch the damn thing, THEN you have to push it in the water, AND THEN... I mean, there's a reason why the vinegar traps are all about making the fly do all the work."

Erzebet shakes up the bottle, which seems... to contain a thick fluid. She, in fact, inverts it, swirling it around, as if she's *maximizing* cork exposure. "It's why they usually use gas to kill insects, in a glass jar."

The fluid, less thick seeming now, is uncorked. "This analogy got away with me," Erzebet tells Josie, before taking a healthy swig from the liter bottle. Some of the contents, red and thickish, stain her chin afterwards; she dabs it up with a napkin.

<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr's along for the operation, because Odessa's deployment protocol is often scattershot and sometimes there's an Odessa organizer that goes 'oh, that guy's here, bring him.'

     "I call next!" Ratatoskr boasts, arms crossed. A technician looks at him, shaking their head as if to say 'no, you don't know how this thing works, I don't know how this thing works I just built this part of it without being told what it was for,' and in a rare moment of empathic understanding, Ratatoskr clarifies his vision.

     "To fight it! I want to fight the lightning."

     "No." The technician decrees, and that's that.

     "You're here if we get discovered! If it's Sylvaland, ARMS, or anyone else..."

     Ratatoskr grins. Good enough. He's not sure why they'd do so through the villages, though.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein is on the shortlist for people to contact in ARMS for Sylvaland--even given her strained relationship with one of Sylvaland's noble families. So of course she goes. Which means, down on the ground, in the hills--

"We detected the anomaly somewhere in here," Eleanor explains for anyone who needs catching up, "But from here's a matter of searching on-foot."

Eleanor is not the stealthiest, but the high grasses and foilage here make it easier to hide. She continues up through the hills, her sturdy ankle-boots gripping the surface of the ground, her skirt rustling in the high wind. But up ahead--

"There! It's--It is Odessa!"

Eleanor steps out, pulling a rod in one hand and her pistol in the other. "Step away from the device, Odessa. We won't let you continue this."

...But the truth is she doesn't know what that is, and if shooting it might make things worse...

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Sylvaland is a place that Zhang Xiumei has ties to. They are through Eleanor and ARMS, mostly; the memories she made there, though, are important ones. Memories that Xiumei came to treasure, even if they were of difficult times. Now, the weather problems there have caused her to be worried: lightning strikes and terrible fires that resulted, which seemed impossible to be a simple cause.

So when ARMS sent out a group to investigate, Xiumei felt obliged to go with. She comes through the woods now -- she is armored and armed, her eyes lightly aglow with green light, and her body clad in black armor-mesh with white and green armor plating over it. Her eyes scan across the trees -- then widen as she spots the Odessa team.

She hefts up her hand cannon. Then, she looks at Eleanor, and she nods at her. "We won't!" she says. "Stop this, immediately, or we'll--"

Or they'll shoot. She doesn't expect that to deter them, though.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

This is the story of a gun.

Once long ago, a gun had a beautiful owner. She wasn't, strangely enough, the best marksman but her gentle personality meant she rarely fired the gun at anyone. Nevertheless, the gun served its master loyally day in and day out. It didn't need to be fired so long as it was with her.

But perhaps its master was too gentle indeed because one day, seemingly out of the blue, it was taken to a river leading out to the sea...and its master threw the gun into the waters. It would be the last time it would see its old master... But it wouldn't be the last time it saw the world above the ocean's depths because one day, a strange woman fished it out of the water....

...and painstakingly flushed it out, repaired it... Once abandoned by the one it trusted most, it found new purpose with this strange woman who seemed to have been cast aside herself.

What is the meaning of this story? Well...

It means that when Marivel Armitage, following her fellow ARMS officer Eleanor and Xiumei, Marivel takes a long look at the situation, though not too long, and then draws a gun into her hand.

And then she points it right for Josie, aiming a warning shot right at her!

*BANG*

"Sorry to interrupt, but you've already destroyed at least one town, haven't you?" Marivel asks. "I wanted to ask you politely to stop but the gun had other plans."

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Elly's Gun!?!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Boudicca has been on the ground since the anomalous weather started. Ida has been aiding her where possible, and doing things the Seraph can't--interacting with frightened, fleeing civilians, and escorting them to places where they'll be safe. It's still awful out there, though. People have lost their homes and livelihoods, and the sky is a sheet of oppressive slate-grey. If ARMS can't find out what's causing this and bring a stop to it, worse will happen.

    Ida brings up the rear of the formation, clad in her armored trenchcoat and trail clothes. Like Eleanor, she isn't the stealthiest one here, but she keeps low to the ground and moves with the breeze as much as possible. The scent of ozone gets stronger. They're getting close.

    Ida steps out from behind Eleanor, Devil's Due clasped in both hands. In a heartbeat, the ARM points at Erzebet's center of mass, and stays there; discipline keeps Ida from opening fire, but the intent is there in her eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    Boudicca has been here in Sylvaland, helping with the evacuation of the villages -- because there's little she can do to stop the fires raging, given she is the wind which feeds flame. What she can do is double back to the dangeous areas to fetch things families forgot to pick up in their hurry to leave, like medications or beloved teddy bears or papers or pets.

    No wonder, then, that she's here with Eleanor, now ARMS is trying to narrow down where the anomaly is coming from. She, too, is not stealthy at all, being six feet of plate armour in green silk trim with a dragon-horned helm. On the other hand: she's invisible to a lot of people, so she just wins her stealth rolls by default.

    Which may, in fact, explain why Boudicca doesn't make any grand declarations, like ARMS' Foremost Power Couple (Boudicca was introduced to this phrase by Nimue and has never stopped using it since); instead, she moves around the grass, to sneak closer... and closer...

    Her mane of black hair, all tipped in green, is currently free-flowing in the air, because her magnificent long ribbon is instead tied around her forehead. Boudicca was assured this would increase her stealth capabilities by 1000%.

    And lo, a gun fires --

    And to the side, a Seraph approaches the Odessan contingent, very sneakily, to try and get close enough to lay hands on that mysterious empathite machine.

    (Note: sneaky Seraph is still wearing full plate armour.)

GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Marivel Armitage's Elly's Gun!? for 142 hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

While some may be part of a team effort to investigate the bizarre destructive events in Silvaland, Xantia came here entirely of her own accord. To help relocate displaced victims as best she could, at first. But it's never been her style to be entirely reactionary. From the very start, she's been pretty sure there was nothing natural about this, but there wasn't much she could immediately determine. With time, however...

It probably won't be entirely clear to anybody what exactly may have tipped Xantia off to this location. But the fact remains that she arrives, completely separate from and from a different direction than ARMs. With, as usual, zero interest in making a stealthy approach, already yelling before she's spotted anybody.

"I know you're out here somewhere! Come out, or I'll make you come out!"

She is most definitely Not Amused about what's been happening here. Coming here alone was probably unwise, but that's never stopped her before. Luckily, this is exactly when it turns out that she won't be alone, Marivel's gunshot both providing both proof of backup, as well as the location of the enemies.

Xantia grins as she quickly sorts out the situation. Now it's a pincer attack, even though one side of the pincer is comprised entirely of her alone. That's fine. That suits her juuuust fine.

For a moment, it may appear as if Odessa's weapon has fired, as there's a sudden burst of lightning some distance removed from either group. But that didn't come from the sky. It came from a person - a person now clad in an aura of electricity as she rushes forward towards the Odessan troops. She's coming from too far away to get the drop on them, but she's closing that distance fast.

GS: Xantia has attacked Xantia with Greased Lightning!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Xantia accepts Xantia's Greased Lightning for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Weather patterns in Sylvaland have been curious of late, lightning striking across the nation and resulting in devastating fires. It's troubling - once or twice could be seen as a coincidence, but for so many to occur... It's unnatural. Investigating this is a job for ARMS, and so Clarine joins the ARMS contingent on their hunt for the source.

...And they find something nestled within Sylvaland's northern hills. A strange device, accompanied by people bearing Odessa's insignia. Quickly, Clarine's gaze tracks across the area. She, at least for now, doesn't see the person she was afraid of seeing when thinking of 'lightning' and 'Odessa connections', and relaxes a little.

...But she does see a familiar face.

"Josie." Clarine greets, with a nod of her head. "What strange manner of ARM is this?"

She doesn't really expect an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    A dry chuckle escapes Josie as Ratatoskr expresses a desire to fight the lightning. "Go on, let him try. You're gonna bring it down right soon, yeah?" Her reward is a withering stare from the technician, who is Not Amused. Josie's own gaze lingers still on the screen and the quickening flow of text there.

    "Mmm?"

    Her gaze lingers on the panel alone. She doesn't so much as glance in Erzebet's direction. "Can't say I have, really," she remarks, rolling both shoulders in a lazy shrug. "...So not at all like drowning a fly, then? Ain't like we're goin' to the trouble of trapping 'em here or none. ...So," she says, breaking her attention on the screen just long enough to look at Erzebet (and once she notes that reddish smear rather regrets having done so). "...Got a better analogy? Maybe shooting fish in a barrel, more like," she says, glancing back over the shoulder of the technician.

    "Or baiting a bear with its cubs, or suchlike. After all, ain't the villages that matter," she says, shaking her head. "Just gotta bleed Sylvaland 'till it bends the knee... huh?"

    There is forewarning in the form of a most familiar voice, or at least, Josie herself will admit to it in the aftermath, once the dust has settled on tonight's situation. But the fact is that she still tears her gaze away too late, turns to face those who have risen against them too late. She has enough time to register the familiar shape of an ARM.

    It's followed by that familiar flash of pain, that spray of red that even decorates the strange components behind her. But still she stands.

    Josie's response is to deal likewise in Marivel's direction, reaching for the shotgun holstered across her back and letting fly nearly moments after drawing.

    "Now that's," she says, exhaling a breath as she apparently works against the pain of her wound, "quite a how-you-do, kiddo." Her gaze flits towards Xiumei and Eleanor, her lips quirking in a crooked smile. "...Yeah? And how're you gonna stop us? I'll have you know I'm still raring to go, right--"

    There's a burst of lightning not far off. Josie's taken a glance over at a technician, who shakes his head and turns back towards his work at a console, as hasty as it is now. She has not yet noticed Boudicca, not with her back towards the Seraph's approach.

    'What strange manner of ARM is this', Clarine says, and almost languidly, Josie turns her attention back towards an old comrade. "A weather control device," she says, quite plainly. "Oh, come off it," she tells a technician, who has just made a strangled sound. "Ain't like they can stop it any, right? This's just a targeting component, or something like. Right, the heart of the thing's elsewhere. Way elsewhere. Get the idea?" she tells Clarine. "A little work here, there, and then BOOM! Down on comes the lightning! Nasty business, if you ask me," she finishes, baring a toothy grin. "And unless'n I've missed my mark, that strike just now was--"

    A blur is approaching at speed. Almost lazily, Josie lifts that black shotgun and cracks off a shot towards Xantia. "But don't you worry or none. I've prepared accordingly, right?" Her right hand lifts stiffly, haloed with a dull-purple light. "Painra." Bruisy light erupts in a beam for Clarine, its sole purpose to potentially produce promised pain.

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Marivel Armitage with Argent and Sable!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Interrupt!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Liquorice Piercer!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Painra!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Seraph Clarine suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Painra for 0 hit points!
GS: Interrupt and Poison applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Seraph Clarine activates Arcane Font!
DC: Erzebet Lefanu switches forms to Vampir razboinica Erzebet Mara Lefanu!
GS: Xantia suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Liquorice Piercer for 117 hit points!
GS: Interrupt applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    'There! It's--it is Odessa!' That's Eleanor's voice, and at least one of the technicians on hand is adequately spooked (and also relieved, because talking with Ratatoskr while Erzebet is finishing off her blood snack are two different flavors of mildly disturbing, but back to being spooked because he's just a technician).

     "I'm not even sure why they started...!" Ratatoskr proclaims as he steps out in front of Eleanor who is brandishing a rod and pistol at him, standing in the way, because of course he is. (Josie does help clarify, though Ratatoskr has any number of asinine and downright silly questions that he would follow-up with if he could. It is for the best he does not.)

     When Xiumei comes up to Eleanor's side, hand cannon raised with the threat that's not fully spoken, he laughs over where it trails off.

     "Come on...! You don't have to ask permission to shoot me!"

     (A technician over yonder considers taking Ratatoskr up on this.)

     Throwing his limbs up into his ready stance, arms raised with palms pointing downward and one knee bent upwards with a gleam running across the horn through his forehead, this is the customary time of truce in which a life bar fills up. (Because that's one of the rules of war that has always been heeded.)

     (ahem)

     Regardless of whether or not Eleanor or Xiumei make good on shooting, Ratatoskr throws himself in there with the expected array of violence. Knees, kicks, elbows, punches, in some vague yet well-defined capacity of a three-strike combination for the both of them.

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Ratatoskr with Bearing Witness!!
GS: Ratatoskr has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Ratatoskr accepts Ratatoskr's Bearing Witness! for 0 hit points!
GS: Amplify and Burst applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

They are attacked! Or at least interrupted. Erzebet takes another swig from her bottle of Something as she rises up to her feet, grasping Haborym in her hand and stepping forwards in time to see--

That Ida Everstead-Ray has her dead to rights.

Erzebet stares at Ida. "What," she says. "They're wonderful, I know. Don't shoot them off, it hurts just -- ENORMOUSLY, I don't even know if you can COMPREHEND it."

Erzebet gestures with her gun. "I'm trying to be kinder in my life, so I'll give you one chance to fuck along now and not bother me while we're doing our business here." She swigs out of the bottle again. That is definitely not wine.

Erzebet's glasses flicker orange.

Her brow furrows. She tilts her head as Boudicca steps forwards. Her eyes narrow. Her attention remains focused on Ida as her head tilts, as if giving her a venomous, accusatory look - as if some fell Galadian sorcery is being used to make that clanking and clattering sound. Erzebet stepsforwards several paces, raising up her bottle with one hand and her gun with the other.

She takes another gulp from the bottle and then orients it towards Ida. "What, you're not going to scream something at me? I've seen you out there, woman, and half the time you're on the edge of tears. Am I really that pathetic or is it just that you've gotten tired? Maybe you're growing as a person too. I shouldn't judge. God! I hate this, isn't it awful? Why do we have to grow as people, I ask you? It's just... I mean... Really, I just wanted to have a good time..."

Erzebet considers the bottle.

The shadows of the trees behind her move far enough to cover her.

Erzebet raises her head. "I can see you," she says towards Ida, raising the bottle and waggling it at her. "I CAN SEE YOU~~"

And THAT is when Erzebet whips the thick glass bottle, with its current burden of approximately 400 milliliters of pork blood with an anti-clotting compound in it, directly at Boudicca before whipping around to waggle back and forth while dumping bullets at Ida's general direction!

GS: Ratatoskr gains 10 FP from his Daredevil!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Bloody Tears!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Bloody Tears!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Bleeding Sylvaland.. Eleanor won't allow that. Not today. Not while she's here.

"I was thinking we'd shoot at you until you started playing nice," Eleanor answers Josie tightly. Then lightning crashes. Being a wizard herself, lightning doesn't spook Eleanor like it might some. Nevertheless it does stop their conversation for a moment, in favor of Clarine asking a question...

"A weather control machine!?" Eleanor repeats. "That could have drastic consequences for the whole region, used improperly--and you definitely aren't going to use it properly!"

But then there's--Ratatoskr, stepping out in front of her. Eleanor narrows her eyes. She doesn't dislike him--she remembers working alongisde him. But here...

"Point taken," Eleanor says of asking permission, and points her rod at Xiumei, who bore the brunt of the expected violence. "As the mud that undergirds the firmament--devour injury! Auspicious Mend!"

She heals Xiumei, and it's going to be that kind of fight.

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Auspicious Mend!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Gamble! Eleanor Klein heals Zhang Xiumei! She gains 130 temporary hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"I--I was not asking permission," Xiumei says to Ratatoskr, with a blink of her eyes, and an awkward glance at Eleanor. Then, she looks back at the Hyadean -- and sees the way he adopts a stance -- ready for battle. She hesitates for only a moment.

A weather control machine, she realizes. She does the math in her head -- her eyes widen, then she glances at Marivel. She (her gun?) has the right idea. "We have to stop that!" she says. "The damage could be--"

She grits her teeth. Then, she lifts her hand cannon, aiming at Ratatoskr. She fires -- three fast blasts of green-white energy that hurtle towards the Hyadean, even as she starts forward to meet him -- and put herself between him and Eleanor, as the elf's spell swirls up around her and bolsters her.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ratatoskr with Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Cannon - Triple Burst for 192 hit points!
GS: Mighty applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey suffers a terrible blow from Erzebet Lefanu's Bloody Tears for 130 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Boudicca suffers a terrible blow from Erzebet Lefanu's Bloody Tears for 138 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida keeps the gun trained on Erzebet, but she's listening to Josie. Listening to her as she confirms what Ida suspected: Odessa has an ARM that's manipulating the weather here, raining down hellish lightning storms and forcing the civilians to flee. And of course, if people lose their farms and homes to lightning, they can't grow food, the breadbasket of Aquvy starts to empty, and the shipments to Guild Galad slow to a trickle. People starve--the most vulnerable first.

    Ida's lips twist away from her teeth. "Don't spit in my eye and tell me it's raining," she says, to Erzebet. They're in a standoff, now, and then--

    Erzebet seems to see something. Or not see something? Ida isn't sure.

    'I've seen you out there, woman, and half the time you're on the edge of tears.'

    Ida's eyes narrow. Her breath quickens. "Am I supposed to be sorry?" she says, her voice tight. And then, the bottle arcs overhead. Ida ducks, twists on her feet, and presents Erzebet with a narrow profile protected with bulletproof armor. The slugs slam into her side, one after another, hammering at her ribs and pounding into her flesh. None of them break the metal, but Ida will definitely have vicious bruising, and probably also a cracked rib. She switches up her grip on the gun as she steps right into Erzebet's personal space, preparing to circle. In the next moment, the heavy butt of the ARM races right at the Odessa operative's face.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Water Dragon Form!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has entered Stoic Stance!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Erzebet Lefanu suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Water Dragon Form for 121 hit points!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clairine asks a question... and gets an answer! A weather control device - or rather, the targeting component for a weather control device, but either way, it spells trouble. Clarine recoils a little at the thought. Weather-related phenomenon might not be under her purview as it is for other Seraphim, but she is still a nature spirit, and she flinches at the thought.

"That is... unnatural! And to use such a power to harm others and destroy the land... I am sorry, but I cannot allow this to continue!" Clarine says, shaking her head in disbelief. She prepares to cast a spell... but thankfully, as she does, a friendly face bursts onto the scene!

"Ah, Xantia...! Your timing is fortuitous. Please accept my assistance as well!" She says, and then incants...

"Acuteness!" With this red light spreads out from her position to empower Marivel and Xantia!

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Marivel Armitage with Acuteness!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Xantia with Acuteness!
GS: Interrupt expired!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes 31 damage from Poison!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Marivel Armitage suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Argent and Sable for 174 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clairine asks a question... and gets an answer! A weather control device - or rather, the targeting component for a weather control device, but either way, it spells trouble. Clarine recoils a little at the thought. Weather-related phenomenon might not be under her purview as it is for other Seraphim, but she is still a nature spirit, and she flinches at the thought.

"That is... unnatural! And to use such a power to harm others and destroy the land... I am sorry, but I cannot allow this to continue!" Clarine says, shaking her head in disbelief. This was always going to come down to a fight, and Josie is the one to start things off - before Clarine can react, a beam is launched in her direction, settling into her being. Seraphim are spared many things mortals are not, but pain is not one of them - sorcerously-induced, in particular. She can feel it sear through her body and she winces but fights through it as she prepares to cast a spell, even as it takes hold... but thankfully, as she does a friendly face bursts onto the scene!

"Ah, Xantia...! Your timing is fortuitous. Please accept my assistance as well!" She says, and then incants...

"Acuteness!" With this, red light spreads out from her position, to empower Marivel and Xantia!

GS: Xantia accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Xantia!
GS: Marivel Armitage accepts Seraph Clarine's Acuteness for 0 hit points!
GS: Hyper applied to Marivel Armitage!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    Boudicca sneaks closer, closer --

    CLONK.

    That's the sound of a Seraph getting absolutely bullseyed by a bottle. It shatters, and leaves a dozen broken shards which, thankfully, Boudicca can levitate over rather than having to walk through.

    Let's pretend the red is because it just shattered on her breastplate. Let's pretend that's the wound.

    "I cannot allow you to use even such a targeting device!" Boudicca cries, gesturing, sharply, to Erzebet. "And what mean you, to disparage Ida so?! This is your idea of kindness? You have much to learn!"

    She summons a green Seraphic sigil about her feet, and gestures, to Ida -- sending out a swirl of breeze to curl around her, shield and tailwind both. "All that aside, to 'fuck along now' is not the correct expression! You mean to tell us to move along! Is -- is this your attempt at outreach? I fathom it not!"

GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Fortifying Tailwind!
GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Mm?" Marivel looks towards Erzebet. "You're trying to be kinder in your life?" That might explain the pig blood. But it also is just easier to get blood from pigs than human beings. People tend to get upset when you drink human blood, sometimes even if you source it respectfully and honorably. Humans be like that.

"I'm the mean one I'm afraid." Marivel says offhandedly to Josie. "And I'm old enough to be your great great great great--"

This is going to go on for a while if Josie doesn't stop it. Fortunately ofr everybody present, she does by popping off a shot directly into her gut. Like Josie, she doesn't fall though large plumes of black smoke erupt out from the injury, causing Marivel to sink to one knee and grimace.

"Ah well. I hope you're happy for now, gun."

She reholsters the weapon for now, swallowing down the pain as she pushes herself back up to her feet.

"Interesting. That's only a targeting component?" She asks. "So if we capture that technology we can aim it wherever we'd like? Fascinating."

She finds herself assisted by A cuteness supplied by Clarine. "Thank you for the aid, Clarine. And for the nice color scheme."

Xantia is shouting and Marivel sighs because same side or not, Xantia kind of drives her crazy. She sees the opportunity to summon a powerful blitzball powered by the soul of a machine designed to try and rescue one's sister through kidnapping--

--and she flings it real hard at Josie!

"Why do you work with this crew anywho? You seem a little too reasonable for the organization."

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Shut up And Jam Ball!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia's 'plan', such as it is, was to just barrel directly into the gathered force and wreck some havoc in passing. There isn't a whole lot more you have to do when you can electrify everything you touch. Maybe even sabotage the equipment without having to do much of anything, easy!

Not so easy when there's someone present who's wise to your 'tricks', such as they are. A straightforward approach requires a straightforward answer, and that's exactly what Xantia gets, Josephine's shotgun blast making a sound not unlike some very large flies impacting an electric flyswatter. Perhaps that's a more effective way to deal with insects rather than drowning.

Of course, it's going to take more than than to handle this particular nuisance. Even intercepting her with enough force to not only stop her advance but also knock her flat, Xantia is back to her feet in short order, groaning in protest. That would've been a lot worse if her aura didn't provide effective protection from bullets, but it hurt like heck all the same. Her eyes only go wide for a split second when she sees Josie. Not too big of a surprise, it seems.

"...Weather control," are her first words spoken. Did she hear the reply to Clarine, or...?

What's certain is that she hears Clarine address her, prompting a slight smile for the Seraph of Light. Seeing the sadness in her eyes is likely enough to tell that this isn't a fight Xantia is relishing. But it's not something she shows in any other way.

Upon receiving Clarine's magical assistance, the martial artist quickly elects to shift back towards offense. After all, this is Josie - knowing each other's tricks goes both ways. Not that you really need Xantia's first-hand experience to realize that you don't want to give a sniper room to keep shooting at you. That last bit of distance is closed with a dash fast enough to leave a trail of afterimages, as she aims to deliver a quick combo of jabs followed by a powerful gut punch with her lightning-wreathed fists.

Only then does she speak again. It's only few words, but it should be all that's needed to convey her suspicions regarding the situation. And her disapproval of it, sounding more disappointed than anything else.

"Josie... is this your Salvation?"

GS: Xantia has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Elemental Fury!
GS: Xantia has entered Avenger Stance!
GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    "What's more proper? What's more proper!" Ratatoskr laughs at the idea - though things do flutter back towards the Darkness Trial. Where someone who looked much like him said outright, he really doesn't have much of a capacity for interacting with the world other than fighting it. And yet, he loves the world as it is because it always seems to be fighting even as it is reportedly dying.

     The time for introspection is far too brief for it to be useful towards the end of 'rethink what he's doing here.'

     Ratatoskr's eyes light up as Eleanor levels the rod over to Xiumei... and then the grin lightens closer to a smile. "I'm over here..."

     Xiumei takes him up on permission-less shootouts, and Ratatoskr hurls himself in that direction. Xiumei's aim is true as green-white energy strikes and smolders the human blood-colored armor around the shoulder, chest, and upper thigh without slowing him down... much.

     (By measures of an ancient warrior, some of the most ferocious fighters in history went down only after twenty-eight direct shots of a handheld energy cannon. Why twenty-eight specifically? We'll never know...)

     He overcommits approaching Xiumei due to putting stress on the leg that just got shot, leaning in with an elbow strike into an outstretched palm that explodes, point blank, a burst of compressed air with all the force of a shotgun.

     Xiumei's positioning means he can't just barge past her and physically strike Eleanor - by design! - the best that he can do being the discharge of his horn to an energy blast that sails overhead and cuts a tree limb. It would be injurious if it crashed down upon Eleanor, but...

     "Come on...! You fight too!" Ratatoskr calls.

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Zhang Xiumei with One Armed Dual Wield!
GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Ratatoskr receives 100 temporary hit points.
GS: Ratatoskr enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Eleanor Klein with Falling Branch!
GS: Ratatoskr gains 10 FP from his Daredevil!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Seraph Boudicca's Fortifying Tailwind for 0 hit points!
GS: Burst, Quick, and Shield applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Zhang Xiumei suffers a terrible blow from Ratatoskr's One Armed Dual Wield for 232 hit points!
GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Eleanor Klein suffers a terrible blow from Ratatoskr's Falling Branch for 177 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Marivel Armitage's Shut up And Jam Ball for 155 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Hyper applied to Marivel Armitage!
GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Xantia's Elemental Fury for 170 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Mighty applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor does not think Marivel actually intends to use the machine for their own purposes. ...Probably. It's fine. She is with Clarine on this one, though, and Boudicca. But she can't focus on allies or enemies at the moment, because--

"Xiu, we can--" He's over here. He's sort of smiling, and he hurls himself over. Eleanor eyes him warily, but she's watching him, not... the tree above her. So when he tells her to fight too--"I am figh-ACK--"

A branch falls straight on her, and Eleanor collapses under it. It bashes the wind out of her and scratches her up to boot. It takes her a moment to recover--"Gh..."

But she does shove the branchh off of herself with a glint of red at her wrist. And then she rises. "All right, if thats how you want it--"

Eleanor points her rod at Ratatoskr, and breathes in, focusing her magic on the Crest. Fray and Muse dance together around her in sparkles, and she calls, "Baleful energy, be unbound! Dazzling Negation!"

A blast of light rockets towards Ratatoskr, and seeks to undo his preparations--also to blast him. That part's important.

"Xiu! We have to get to the consoles!"

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ratatoskr with Dazzling Negation!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

"I don't know - maybe? Have you done anything evil? I suppose interrupting us is stupid - foolish - it's hard for me to say it's" Erzebet says before then saying "GACK!" accompanied by a loud crunch as she turns her head and takes the butt of the ARM mostly in her jaw, which has obviously broken. Blood gurgles out of her mouth.

She grips it firmly and gently maneuvers it back into place. "Ithith yur idea of dithcorth?" she slurbles towards Ida before biting something, shaking her head, and swallowing. "Ugh!"

She wiggles her jaw around, narrowly avoiding a lifetime of horrible tempo-mandibuular joint pain in the process, and she says to Boudicca, "Well perhaps we ALL have a LOT TO LEARN! Maybe YOU should do some work on yourself as well! I'm SWEARING at you because I am UPSET! At your BEHAVIOR! Please CHANGE it, and I won't be NEARLY as annoyed!"

At which point Erzebet brings herself backwards and

It happens so fast. It's an OK punch - if she did it at a normal pace it would be straightforward to direct it. The kind of thing you'd be approving if a second year student did it without demonstrating. But Erzebet does it in a tiny fraction of the time as she hurls herself forwards, aiming to strike into Ida's bulletproof armor with the same brutal, crushing force that she inflicted upon Boudicca a moment ago!

Except it's not a bottle, it's her fist, and it's not armor, it's - also armor, but perhaps armor Ida is closer to.

"I'M NOT EATING HER!" Erzebet shouts at Boudicca. "GO AWAY!" who said anything at any point about eating anyone

GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu has completed her action.
GS: Gamble: Moderate! Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Eleanor Klein's Dazzling Negation for 124 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Amplify, Burst, Hyper, and Quick removed!
GS: Ratatoskr activates Arcane Font!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey suffers a terrible blow from Erzebet Lefanu's KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL for 159 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei remembers Ratatoskr from the trial of shadows -- and this is quite different, in a way. Even if it's the same, in others. The Pulse Cannon fires, blasts triking him, and he throws a palm at her. The blast of compressed force slams into her stomach and hurls her backward bodily. It knocks the wind from her, sending Xiumei flying; she goes airborne as she does, hits the ground, and rolls a few times before pushing herself up again. She drops the gun in the midst of that; it vanis

Her Biometal affords her the strength to shove herself to her feet with a one-handed push, and she looks up to see the blast of energy at a tree limb above Eleanor. Her eyes widen.

But with her power bracelet, Eleanor is fine. She looks back at Eleanor, then nods her head, and grits her teeth. "I'll hold him back!" she says, throwing her hand out. The Pulse Saber appears, and Xiumei goes running forward, before she leaps into the air. She comes crashing down, swinging the blade down at Ratatoskr, and leaves an arc in her wake.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ratatoskr with Pulse Saber - Jump Slash!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Jump Slash for 144 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida heard that impact. Boudicca is extremely resilient, to put it mildly, but she is also one of Ida's dearest friends; it adds a little extra power to that strike. "No," Ida says. "I think the time for that, honestly, has passed." She starts to circle again as Erzebet focuses on Boudicca--can she see her? can she hear her?--then--

    The wind barrier whips up around her, a headwind that catches Erzebet's punch in mid-flight. It is still powered by the strength of someone who is at least Crimson Noble-adjacent; it catches Ida low in the chest. Ribs curl inwards, more like bending metal than cracking bone, but Ida lets out a sharp "Ghhhk--!" anyway. But despite the pain, and the awful shortness of breath, Ida's body keeps moving. She sweeps out her foot, trying to hook it around the back of Erzebet's ankle and pull. If she can destabilize her, Ida flows out and away from the angle of the punch, redirecting all that momentum and sending Erzebet tumbling to the ground.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Coils of the Water Dragon!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    Ratatoskr sees the rod pointed at him after a moment to consider the glint of red at Eleanor's wrist, and he feels like half a promise has been made in that beginning threat posture and one out of two is fine. He will be thinking plenty about this as he tries to weave around the blast of light that follows, and as the light courses through him the segmented metal plates of his squirrel-like tail go on end. The rest of him feels... droopier.

     Even he has some trouble keeping that grin up. It's a moment that affords Xiumei the ability to recover and reposition, as she takes to the air and activates the Pulse Saber against a clear, open target...

     Until he CLAPS his hands up above him to catch it--

     --going between his hands smoothly, scorch marks cauterizing the wounds inflicted instantaneously. The un-stopped blade continues to dig into his chest in his path in a shallow but un-halted cut at the end of Xiumei's swing. Any deeper, there would be a good cause to stop.

     (A good cause he would ignore if it came to it, but the point remians.)

     "Hold me back? Hold me back!" Ratatoskr's light comes back to his eyes as he staggers back, fighting through the enervation of Eleanor's sorcery. "Then I'll hold both you back too...! Hyahaha--!"

     He takes to the air next, leaping up to try and swing a heel down to Xiumei from above... with a discharge of compressed air from the tip of Ratatoskr's foot with the same shotgun-like force. It's not enough for him to fully clear Xiumei or move past her, but as the light starts to gather at his horn again... he doesn't really need to, so much.

     A laser discharges from it, sweeping along the ground towards Eleanor's position.

     "You know... you two make a good team," he muses mid-blasting, "I don't see many paired units fight as well as this...!"

GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Overhead Shoot!
GS: Ratatoskr spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling!
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Eleanor Klein with Yggdrasil Burst!
GS: Ratatoskr gains 10 FP from his Daredevil!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
GS: Zhang Xiumei suffers a terrible blow from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 150 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Zhang Xiumei gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Riposte applied to Ratatoskr!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    "I -- I --" Boudicca stops, aghast. Her mouth hangs open, for a stunned moment. "I-I -- I --"

    Her hands curl to fists; she stomps a foot, gesturing out. (Given she stomps thin air, it isn't much of a resounding impact; more a brief gust of wind pouring out from that epicentre.) "You cannot tell me you are upset at my behaviour when you have destroyed the homes of so many! Can you not hear the children screaming?! The craftsmen who weep?! Their homes, their workshops, their livelihoods, all these have you crushed 'neath your devilish contraption! And you bid me work on myself?! Do you JEST?!"

    Boudicca yells, a wordless, frustrated: "Rrrraaaaghhhh--!!"

    And takes a deep, deep breath, entirely deliberately.

    "THANK you," she says, between grit teeth, "for not EATING my DEAR FRIEND," oh no she's picked up the rolling cadence too just what is erzebet teaching this impressionable seraph, "but I will NOT leave, in fact!"

    Boudicca, who is very angry, is at least not angry enough to ignore one thing: Ida is in the thick of things, and Ida has blood and bones to break. Another Seraphic glyph appears beneath her feet, and she incants: "Whim of wend! Thousand Sky!"

    The breeze which curls around her offers the whimsical boons of the wind. Anything could happen, but one thing's for certain: it will happen the most.

GS: Seraph Boudicca has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Thousand Sky!
GS: Seraph Boudicca has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Marivel gets to go on and keep going for a time, but--

    Fortunately, Josie has her own means to put an end to such chatter.

    "Heh, it sure would," she tells Eleanor. "Already has, and not only here, right," she says, tilting her head to one side as if to invite speculation into where else they've been using it. "A little rain here 'n there... a little drought elsewhere... seems there's a whole range of business you can get up to, yeah?" she says, coupling that latest remark with an insouciant wink.

    "A targetting component, mind," Josie says to Marivel, off-handedly. She shrugs. One of the technicians again shoots her a look but as her back is to them, she doesn't see it; hurried typing follows on their end. "And I dunno 'bout that, kiddo. But hey, knock yourself out -- if you win, mind," she adds, coupling that remark with a sudden blast from her shotgun at Marivel for good measure. "Anyhow. I ain't the expert on precisely how this all works, right, but," and here she grins entirely too broadly, "that'd be one hell of a backdoor entry, eh? So, what'd'ya say?"

    The technician who keeps giving Josie murderous looks... doesn't, this time, perhaps because they are extremely preoccupied with what might be a critical stage in some part of the targetting system's workload.

    "Unnatural? That's your argument, now? This world's dyin', kiddo -- there ain't much natural worth a hill of beans 'round here," she tells Clarine. "The rest, though? Yeah, you got it in one. That's the whole point, right? Ain't much of a weapon," she concludes, wheeling her ARM around to face the Seraph, "if you let it sit and rust!" She does not hesitate: old ally or not, she unloads a flurry of shots at Clarine's general position.

    "'Reasonable' am I? Huh. Ain't never had that before." She glances over at Erzebet. "Erze, d'ya think I'm slipping, now?"

    Her answer might as well come in the form of the Blitzball that bounces off her skull, sending her reeling. "What-- hitting me with sportsballs, now?" she asks of Marivel, as if incredulous that this is happening. "Come off it, you started out so strong, even!"

    Xantia comes in quickly, as expected she might. Josie darts left, which would have taken her out of harm's way with the Xantia she had known before. But Xantia has... changed.

    Each and every one of Xantia's strikes connects, the last taking her in the gut. Stumbling back, Josie falls upon the knoll, gazing up at her former comrade in arms. "My... 'Salvation'," Josie echoes Xantia, her gaze unfocused as if she were trying to place the word -- or rather, the context in which it was spoken. But come around to it, she does.

    "...Sure is," she tells her, rising to her feet. "I still got something to atone for, right?" Her lips part, baring her teeth. "More'n one thing, I reckon. C'mon, kiddo. Come get your share!"

    She lifts her ARM, as if she were about to fire at Xantia.

    The Empathite has begun to glow, softly.

GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Marivel Armitage with Figure of Eight!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Seraph Clarine with Scorched Wing!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Black Witch!
GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein suffers a terrible blow from Ratatoskr's Yggdrasil Burst for 249 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Eleanor Klein gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Quick applied to Ratatoskr!
GS: Eleanor Klein activates Countermeasures!
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear!
GS: Xantia suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Silver Hook for 68 hit points!
GS: Dispel! Hyper, Mighty, and Quick removed!
GS: Disease applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie does not shoot Xantia. Rather, she tosses her shotgun in the air to catch it by the barrel and simply whirls about with it, battering her with it as if she were instead wielding a club.

GS: Seraph Clarine suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Scorched Wing for 156 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Clarine gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Jam applied to Seraph Clarine!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor really believes that if Xiumei's blade had been solid, that Ratatoskr could've caught it. He did catch it. Even weakened by her magic. Xiu said she'd hold him back, but--

"Xiu, be careful!" Eleanor calls when Ratatoskr's eyes light up and it seems to her for now that he really will hold them both back. She missed the reprise of the Metal Demon War; she has little experience in fighting Hyadeans, powerful combatants that they are. But she knows ARMs, so she spots that laser,and grits her teeth, throwing a bit of magic dust over herself that she pulls from her bag--

The laser sweeps aong the ground, and Eleanor is hit by the explosion that comes as a result. He compliments them, as it happens, and that's nice, but Eleanor is still thrown backward, hitting the ground hard and rolling in place. For a moment, she's still.

...But she's only winded. Her weapons have fallen out of her hands, but she pushes herself up anyway. "...Xiumei," she says. "New plan."

"Remember Blitzball?" she tells her. "We're doing that play."

Then she charges toward Ratatoskr--or beside him, actually, making it look like she's going to try to just run to the consoles outright, the red ring on her right hand glowing suddenly--

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ratatoskr with Run!!!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Sneak! The true nature of Eleanor Klein's attack becomes clear!
GS: Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Eleanor Klein's Surprise! Power Bracelet for 124 hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor's arm snaps out for Ratatoskr as she moves. Using her momentum and the suddenly blazingly-glowing Power Bracelet at her wrist, she turns, twirls, and tries to HURL him straight into the consoles with all her sorcerously-empowered might.

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"We're not--"

Xiumei doesn't quite have a chance to answer, as Ratatoskr leaps. His heel slamsodwn into her, and the blast of force slams her backward, and then gives him an opening. The blast of energy from his horn shoots past her, in a blitz, towards Eleanor.

Xiumei hisses, with a glance back at Nora. She blinks at her -- and then her eyes widen. Blitzball--

Xiu nods, with understanding.

So she charges at Ratatoskr. She runs after Eleanor moves, but shoots ahead of her. She comes at Ratatoskr. The Pulse Saber flashes, white-and-green burning through the air.

She slashes at his midsection, then turns, and does a diagonal slash with her hand. She gets up close, but the blade's blows also are meant to knock Ratatoskr towards Eleanor's charge.

GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ratatoskr with Pulse Saber - Double Slash!
GS: Hyper and Mighty expired!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: Marivel Armitage suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Figure of Eight for 179 hit points!
GS: Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Pulse Saber - Double Slash for 159 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper applied to Zhang Xiumei!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"I've done plenty of evil things, but I never destroyed a town. These aren't military targets that are being burned down." Marivel says to Eleanor. "If you were simply targeting a military garrison--well I wouldn't like it, but these folks are helpless and are just trying to survive. Even in this land, maintaining a town isn't easy." It's not easy anywhere even if Sylvaland might have it the easiest. Marivel has a different scale here than most.

"Well that's fair, I haven't had the chance to check it out after all." She takes a step towards it as if she intends to do just that only for Josie to blow a hole in her gut.

Literally, The smoke burst fades quickly this time and you can see right through Marivel's gut and out the back. It looks just like a real stomach being blown out by a shotgun. Marivel makes a faint choking sound before admitting, "The power...of gun kata...is mighty indeed. Well, I doubt you'll let me just take a looksee. Alright then. Violence."

As if shooting Josie with a gun and then whacking her with a magical blitzball wasn't violence. She darts towards Josie, despite her injuries, glancing over to Erzebet.

"Sorry if this causes cravings," She says before she lashes out with her hand, intending to punch her fingers into Josie's arm and DRAIN HER BLOOD a bit more directly than the dime novels typically suggest.

"Wait is someone else doing blitzball? Are you doing blitzballs too Eleanor?? These balls are surprisingly mighty in battle..."

GS: Marivel Armitage has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Life Drain!
GS: Marivel Armitage has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"You are quite welcome!" Clarine replies to Marivel, cheerily. Does Marivel wish to capture the device...? Well, if she does, Clarine will try to avoid destroying it.

Xantia gives Clarine a smile with sadness in her eyes, and Clarine nods solemnly back. She doesn't really like this either... but neither of them can let this go. To Josie, Clarine offers a frown.

"And is that supposed to help this world? Burning Sylvaland's lands? Villages, people? Perhaps some weapons should be left to rust." Clarine replies. Josie unloads her ARM on Clarine, and Clarine moves to try and evade. She isn't quite fast enough, however - the shots fly right through her form, eliciting a hiss. It is thankfully, bloodless owing to her nature, but not painless. As motes of light knit her form back together Clarine casts her hands forward, unleashing a bright, blinding flash concentrated completely toward Josie's direction!

GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Blinding Flash!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes 32 damage from Poison!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Marivel Armitage's Life Drain for 221 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Marivel Armitage drains Josephine Lovelace! Marivel Armitage gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Clarine's Blinding Flash for 0 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Blind and Delay applied to Josephine Lovelace!
GS: Quick applied to Seraph Clarine!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Coils of the Water Dragon for 167 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Erzebet Lefanu gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Delay applied to Erzebet Lefanu!
GS: Erzebet Lefanu activates Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Erzebet Lefanu has posed.

"Has it? Do you think forgiveness is impossible? A rectification of courses? When did it become impossible," Erzebet asks Ida as she recoils from her strike, steam rising from the general area of her right arm. "When does it end? Are we fated from the moment we're born? Earlier? Are we even 'doing' anything in a meaningful sense or are we just kind of a tentacle that's wiggling blindly through a phase space?!"

She says that pretty fast so it might be hard to follow. Her eyes cut towards Boudicca. "Thank you," she says. "It's difficult, but I felt like I saw my better angels and--"

KRAK!

That's the sound Erzebet makes when Ida hooks her ankle.

Ida probably didn't expect that to happen, and it likely becomes immediately clear why. When Erzebet felt she was losing her balance she went into it - leaned in harder than a Galadian executive - and rebounded off the ground, dislocating her shoulder and then coming up as she wriggles it back towards the general area with, eventually, a large pop.

"Anyway," Erzebet answers Boudicca, "the fact that our actions have hurt people doesn't mean you can't improve yourself. There's always room for people to improve themselves, because you can have someone give you a house but someone can't make your road for you. For instance, check this out:"

This is when Erzebet does a rolling kick aimed to hit Ida in the side, apprximately, and tumble-slam HER against the ground with sufficient force to rebound and go flying!

Erzebet explains to Boudicca after the technique, "I can't MAKE her go down that path, all I can do is show her where it IS, and give her a little PUSH. She has to go that way HERSELF."

Boudicca may be regretting not engaging Ratatoskr at this point.

"I'm NOT LOOKING" Erzebet shouts at nothing in particular (actually Marivel).

GS: Erzebet Lefanu has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with The All-Deluxe Starfall Saloon Feast of Blood!
GS: Delay expired!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Seraph Boudicca's Thousand Sky for 0 hit points!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Lock State and Surge applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Pray grants a random effect! Quick applied to Seraph Boudicca!
GS: Delay! Attack greatly weakened!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey suffers a terrible blow from Erzebet Lefanu's The All-Deluxe Starfall Saloon Feast of Blood for
110 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey activates Power Burst!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

There's little doubt that Xantia is different in certain ways. And yet she's the same in others. Despite applying the amount of violence that a situation requires, there's nothing even remotely satisfying about this fight. This isn't a fight she wants. The question she asks, she's asking in hopes that there's some kind of understandable reason behind all of this.

Whatever answer she may habe been expecting, it wasn't the one she got. She looks utterly dismayed by Josie's reaction. "You can't mean that! Something like that, what it could do instead of this... you can't be okay with Odessa using it like this, there's no way...!"

She doesn't get any further than that, not with Josie's gun being readied. She dodges quickly - too quickly, as the real attack hasn't happened yet. As Xantia turns back, wondering why she didn't hear gunfire, she's struck directly in the face with the weapon, sending her staggering back in a shower of sparks as her aura falls away.

Xantia shakes her head afterwards, before reaffixing her gaze on Josephine. There's that fire in her eyes... more or less. This isn't the 'I'll make you pay' kind of anger. It's more like frustration, which she voices in short order.

"...Why are you like this, Josie? Why do you always have to lie about your feelings?"

A new element is employed to replace the lost lightning. An aura of pure light, dulling the pain from her injuries and increasing her focus. Her counterattack is simple and methodical, a single, altogether ordinary palm strike to the shoulder. Xantia's palm strikes can cause internal havoc on impact, but this one... does nothing of the sort. It may look like a serious blow to the untrained eye (and it's certainly not painless), but to Josie... Xantis is overtly holding back, in a way that's impossible not to notice.

"I could tell... when you used the word 'Salvation' before, that was you being honest. Do you really expect me to believe that everything you've done was just to deliver some sort of doomsday weapon to Odessa, and you'd call that 'Salvation'?" She cuts off any attempt at a reply with a wave of her hand. "No! I don't know why you're going along with all this, but if you're seriously saying that... then you've become so used to tricking people that you're tricking even yourself. There has to be more to this, because I know you're better than this." She makes a fist as she concludes, "...So I won't believe it when you claim otherwise. I won't ever believe it, you hear me?!"

GS: Xantia has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Lustrous Aura!
GS: Recover! Disease and Interrupt removed from Xantia!
GS: Xantia gains 10 FP from her Daredevil!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Xantia's Lustrous Aura for 135 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Josephine Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Cover applied to Xantia!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    "I don't--what are you--" Ida's brow draws tight with consternation; she is honestly unsure if Erzebet is being sincere, or engaging in sophistry, or trying to distract her. Or all of the above! Her ribs ache from the beating Erzebet's given her with her dread strength--speaking takes focus.

    Fortunately, Boudicca expresses her thoughts for her, and channels the wind on her behalf, allowing her to breathe easier in more ways than one. Ensorcelled air rushes into her lungs, soothing the pain and filling muscles and nerves with the effortless speed of the wind. It's about to come in handy.

    Ida sees that kick coming, raises both arms, and centers her weight. Erzebet's foot slams into her right forearm with bone-jarring force, and something in that shoulder pulls taut. Ida grimaces, and rolls with it, letting Erzebet push her into a roll. She comes up to a knee, breathing heavily.

    "If you're--sincere about this, I--will listen, but first, you need to stop hurting people!" Less eloquent than average, but Ida is not in an eloquent mood. Golden-white light burns around her fingers as she drives a hand forward, straight for Erzebet's sternum. If it hits, the light will snap off, infusing the Odessa operative with brilliant, painful energy.

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Erzebet Lefanu with Searing Ember Strike!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    They both come at Ratatoskr as he comes down from his most recent assault in a graceful three-point landing, the quicksilver from the earlier cleave slowing as his body's natural regeneration knits the wound up with nary a scar or memory other than the pain that once was.

     A play is made. He doesn't catch what Eleanor's sayin got Xiumei, but he understands the language of 'two able combatants throwing themselves at him' and he speaks that with an accent of 'I WILL FIGHT ALL OF IT' and some of its associated trimmings.

     Xiumei 'leads' the assault with skillful slashes of the Pulse Saber. Ratatoskr's reflexes are among the highest of any Xiumei may fight, but as she gets further inside she can be more confident of her ability to manipulate his movement, and even then he doesn't seem to quite disengage the way she might hope.

     Solid blows, however, are solid blows and the actual maneuver is cleanly executed - quicksilver flying across the midsection, the diagonal slash criss-crossing after.

     Eleanor charges in from Xiumei's protection, and she may have to reach out a little further because Xiumei owned Ratatoskr a bit more than anticipated, but...

     She has a hand on him.

     He doesn't get to ask her if she knows some obscure sort of martial hold that was once observed as a common technique for Merian navy soldiers taking in sea brigands, because with the Power Bracelet, there is no nuance.

     There is only a flying squirrel-like Hyadean.

     There is also, a moment later, a flying squirrel-like Hyadean and a loud, cacophonous collision into the consoles that he bounces off of. They're built to withstand an impact without caving in.

     The frame of it, anyway.

     The hurled Hyadean, unsteady on his feet, staggers ahead as he rubs at the side of his head and up the horn. "That... that reminds me of a Blitzball play--"

GS: Ratatoskr gains 10 FP from his Daredevil!
GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    "'Cause that's what it takes," Josie tells Xantia, unkindly. "Whatever it takes. However's necessary. Can't save the world without crackin' a few eggs and all. ...The means don't matter. The end does."

    And what, precisely, is Odessa's end?

    "Got it in one, kiddo," Josie says, in spite of Marivel being older than even the earliest direct ancestor of the Lovelace line. But violence, promises Marivel, and violence...

    ...is directly what is applied to Josie's person. Though she wheels about, the beginnings of a spell on her lips, Marivel quickly takes her through her right forearm, eliciting a sharp cry from Josephine. "You-- how," she gasps, ripping her arm away as soon as she's able. If looks could kill, Marivel would be undead twice over. Josie backs away from her, one step at a time.

    "If'n they stood down at the start," Josie says, wincing as she cradles her arm against her torso, "none of this'd be needed, right? Didn't ol' Vinny tell you that already? Surrender to Odessa, and all this shit can end. But," she tells Clarine, her grin a fleetingly wild one, "I ain't got no problem with it if'n you all decide to stand and fight, yeah?"

    An attempt is made to shield herself against the brilliant flare Clarine emits in her direction -- after all, she's long been favoring techniques of the like herself. But there's a difference between a spell and a Seraph's arte, as Clarine handily demonstrates. "Motherf-- shit!" Josie swears, overcome by the brilliance.

    But even through that haze she can see the look in Xantia's eyes.

    'Why do you always have to lie about your feelings?'

    'Who are you really doing this for?'

    Josie grimaces. "Shut it, kiddo. You don't half know what you're on about--" But Xantia isn't one to be deterred, and even as Josie makes to evade her strike, Clarine's spell upon her still and her old comrade's determination unite in purpose. She gasps as she's struck, and staggers back.

    "Me... bein' honest. What a joke!" she retorts in the moment following. "Ain't been honest a day in my life! Kiddo... I'm tellin' you honest-like now." She leans in, even as Xantia pleads with her, begs with her.

    "Give up. It'll be easier, come the end."

    "Almost there!" shouts one of the technicians in that very moment to the crew guarding them. No doubt, once it finishes, the lightning will again strike as a finger of god, and then it will be a matter of whether the Drifters would rather keep fighting them or whether they would prefer to let a village burn in the fires that follow. It's just a matter of a few keystrokes to pinpoint the eye of Akasha--

    Or it was, before a squirrel-like Hyadean was thrown into the entire array. The technicians scatter, which might give Ratatoskr the time he needs to remove himself from the situation, but they are quick to return to their work as soon as the way is clear.

    Though it takes only a spare for seconds for problem this has caused to be recognized for what it is.

    "Shit!"

    That particular of alarm comes this time from one of the technicians moments later after an apparently aborted attempt to regain control over the system targetting. "It's not taking the override! It's already locked on! Abort, we need to--"

    He glances up, heavensward. Josie, who has turned to regard the sparking targetting equipment, follows his gaze, her shotgun directed down and towards the earth at her side.

    Some 'star' in the heavens... glitters brightly for an instant. Above them, the clouds begin to roil and churn.

    "...You're kidding me. It's comin' down here?" Josie utters, staring now at the technicians. "This's a joke, yeah...?!"

    The technicians' response is to turn and run. Josie, rousing herself, shakes her head and turns towards those who had come here to stop them. "Okay, kids! Grab your asses and run!!" She apparently intends to demonstrate by example.

    Running, as it happens, might be the first order of things. A bolt of lightning streaks down from the heavens without so much as a 'pleased to meet you', tearing up earth and soil in the wake of its rampage.

    But there is not just one stroke of lightning. Another follows, far too close at hand. But it would seem that the great clods torn from the earth might give temporary shelter from this and the one that follows, though one would need to rush towards them without delay..

    But it is only temporary. More lightning -- and the flames they bring with them -- follow. What was sundered will become sundered again, unless that former shelter is quickly abandoned.

_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________
_               From the Heavens - the Bolts as Bright as the Sun              _
_                                                                              _
_                                                                              _
_  Seraph Clarine, Ida Everstead-Rey, Eleanor Klein, Zhang Xiumei, Seraph      _
_ Boudicca, Xantia, and Marivel Armitage:                                      _
_  +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>   _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Seraph Clarine takes 75 damage and gains 30 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Eleanor Klein takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Seraph Boudicca takes 110 damage and gains 45 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Ida Everstead-Rey takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Xantia takes 76 damage and gains 30 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Zhang Xiumei takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Marivel Armitage takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
QTE: That's the last target of your QTE done!
<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

They aren't military targets--they're civilian targets. And that matters a great deal. But... They're doing what they can about it. And that happens to be--

It actually is a hold she learned from sailors, as it happens. But Eleanor doesn't know to share that with Ratatoskr, and so he will have to just wonder. She throws him with her Power Bracelet, and he bounces off the consoles. It reminds him of--

"I was paying attention when they were playing, Marivel!"

Eleanor for a moment, despite her many injuries, is proud of herself. And of Xiumei, for intuiting her intentions so effectively. However... She doesn't get to enjoy it for very long. "Oh, no," Eleanor says, as the others start to handle. The technicians start running. Josie directs them to start running. So Eleanor, too, starts running. Her blue anklet sparkles, prevents her from getting locked up and makesher far more graceful--which is what she needs, as she darts out of the path of the coming lightning and then darts back into the broken ground to shield herself, rushing abrubtly. But heavy lightning returns, and she has to run from that, too, eventually throwing herself to the ground and panting for breath once she's done.

"I cannot believe that that--"

Pause. The consoles are still up. Eleanor's eyes snap towards them, and towards her allies. Her weapon and magical foci are ont the ground, scattered; she's battered, and bleeding, and scorched. So she reaches into her bag... and pulls a blue Berry.

"Let's finish this, everyone."

She raises it aloft, and in a sudden burst of golden light, sparkles rain down onto all those opposing Odessa, reinforcing bodies and restoring vigor.

"I," Eleanor huffs, "Can do this all day."

GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Xantia with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Seraph Clarine with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Marivel Armitage with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Zhang Xiumei with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Eleanor Klein with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has attacked Seraph Boudicca with Mystic Berry!
GS: Eleanor Klein has completed her action.
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Eleanor Klein! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Seraph Clarine! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Marivel Armitage! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Zhang Xiumei! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Seraph Boudicca! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Xiumei watches Ratatoskr go flying backward, and she stares for a second as he hits the console -- and then all hell breaks loose. The Odessa technicians and Josie seem alarmed. Xiumei looks up, and sees the lightning starting to come down. She yelps -- and then she jumps, darting to the side from the first bolt of lightning.

She dives for the earth torn up -- and then she drops down, and slide-kicks across the ground to get away from the last of the lightning.

She looks at Eleanor, then -- and Xiumei nods. She holds her hand out -- and a cross-shaped piece of metal appears. Xiumei wheels back, then throws it.

The weapon spins through the air. Energy ignites around it; green-white, and leaving a streak of light in the air, before it slams in at Ratatoskr.

GS: Zhang Xiumei spends 2 Combo on Headshot!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has attacked Ratatoskr with Barrier Cross - Boomerang Strike!
GS: Zhang Xiumei enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Zhang Xiumei has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Ratatoskr suffers a terrible blow from Zhang Xiumei's Barrier Cross - Boomerang Strike for 179 hit points!
GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ratatoskr gains 1 additional Combo!
GS: Hyper applied to Zhang Xiumei!
GS: Ratatoskr has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
GS: Eleanor Klein heals Xantia! She gains 215 temporary hit points!
GS: Quick applied to Eleanor Klein!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Fuck--!" Marivel says since she doesn't yet realize that throwing a squirrel in the works may very well have saved a town. By the time she realizes it.... "Shit!" Is something she also feels the need to say.

She looks up to the sky. The star in the heavens. Clouds begin to roil and churn...

"I can't...escape the thunder plains even on Filgaia, huh...?" Marivel murmurs before--

*POUUF!* she turns into a bat! She BUZZES OFF, flitting around between lightning strikes as if they were incredibly deadly...! As deadly as lightning strikes!

But like extra because she's a creature of the night and lightning carries the light within it. It's unfair to be weak to this stuff too but thems the breaks. Luckily he is about to bat-crouch behind some rubble.

"Whew..." Bat Marivel squeaks as she leans against the walk as--

--MORE LIGHTNING AND FIRE. "Krrrrhh!!" Marivel shrieks before flying away from the latest batch of strikes. All this lightning stuff prevents her from shooting at anyone and well presumably Josie seems to have more pertinent issues to concern herself with--

--But when there's a moment, Marivel *poufs* back into her humanoid form and lunges for the targeting away, quickly using her ENGINEERING TALENT to try and figure out a way to stop this crazy thing! She has discarded the possibility of turning the power of lightning for good. It's her own fault for thinking the hateful UV rays could be negotiated with.

Just goes to show you, you can only trust creatures from hell.

GS: Erzebet Lefanu accepts Ida Everstead-Rey's Searing Ember Strike for 0 hit points!
GS: Cripple and Disease applied to Erzebet Lefanu!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"Do you truly consider that an excuse?" Clarine asks, and then frowns. "...Very well. Then let us conduct the conversation through steel and sorcery."

She goes quiet for a moment, though, as Xantia speaks her piece. She sounds hurt... frustrated. Hearing that from Xantia is enough to cause her to pause for a moment.

...Which is convenient, because what happens next is very demanding of one's attention. The console begins to malfunction, and the lightning it summons descends upon their immediate location.

Clarine knows full well what lightning can do. She doesn't need to be told twice to run. And run she does, though not quite fast enough. In the end, she ends up sprawled onto the ground, though not hurt as terribly as she could have been. Soon enough, however, sparkles rain down on her form courtesy of Eleanor and, with a wince of effort, Clarine floats back up off the floor and dusts herself off.

"My thanks, Eleanor." Clarine offers gratitude, before turning her attention toward Josie.

"Do not think I will allow you to approach that machine again." Clarine says with a sweeping gesture, conjuring her mirrors from her sleeves. She holds her hands out, and a Seraphic glyph bursts into life beneath her feet.

"One thousand divine lights, arise and light the path to tomorrow... Radiant Cannonade!" Clarine incants. At her command, a multitude of shining rays of light shoot off, striking the mirrors, reflecting and rebounding many times over to make their path unpredictable. Many of them are directed toward Josie herself, while the rest strike the area between the Odessa technicians and the machine to discourage approach while Marivel attempts to disable it.

GS: Seraph Clarine spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling!
GS: Seraph Clarine has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Radiant Cannonade!
GS: Seraph Clarine takes 18 damage from Poison!
GS: Poison expired!
GS: Seraph Clarine has completed her action.
GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Seraph Clarine's Radiant Cannonade for 168 hit points!
GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.

    All Olympus breaks loose.

     Ratatoskr staggers ahead and just misses being struck by deadly lightning, but not by showers of rent earth and debris. Vents open around his limbs to take in the dust and detritus in that strange, bio-mechanical way that Living Metal incorporates ARMs into Hyadean anatomy, to be all expelled clear from behind his elbows and feet with small smatterings of quicksilver blood.

     "What? What!" Ratatoskr looks incredulous as the lightning strikes just about everywhere except where he is which is a stroke of great luck but he doesn't see it that way. "Come on...! Get back here!!"

     He leaps up top the highest tree closest to him, scaling it in a manner... oddly appropriate for his physiological inspiration even if he's much too long, lanky, and heavy to do it with the same grace. "FIGHT ME, NOUA SHAX!!"

     'Noua Shax' does not, for there's a slightly taller tree nearby that gets blasted. The lights in his eyes fade, his grin goes to a smile, and he sees that Eleanor's looking their way... as she raises a blue Berry aloft, and spreads its restorative energies into everyone with a righteous boast through her fatigue.

     Ratatoskr holds out an open palm towards some of that golden light, though none of it is intended for him - nor does it do anything for him. It sort of strikes him, in the moment, he's never really done exhaustive research and experience in terms of the way people mended themselves during and after battle.

     Something he's only sometimes had to think about with Odessa's less-than-perfect medical and nutritional supplies for its handful of Hyadean operatives.

     Xiumei won't let him ponder that for long, as she summons forth that cross-shaped piece of metal that ignites into a whirling energy discus of injurious distress. His first instinct is to try and catch it mid-spin--

     It beans him square between the eyes and sends him hurtling across the scorched, freshly-ignited turf. To their horror...

     He thrusts himself up again as the Barrier Cross flies past, crossing his arms as wounds knit right in his grinning face.

     "...I could do this all day t--"

     The weapon returns from the other way and clonks him a second-time, throwing him face-down with his tail sticking up as the Barrier Cross returns to its wielder.

     While there is stirring and movement from where Ratatoskr rests, with only the faint hint of possible but unlikely retribution.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    "I do not understand you at all!", Boudicca cries.

    And then the storm comes down.

    Crashing, crashing -- Boudicca rushes through the bolts, and tries to take cover, but the lightning simply won't let her. She rushes through them, but the lightning field is simply too dense, too confusing, and once she's out of the storm...

    She's very much somewhere else...!!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia is struck silent by Josephine's initial retort. Not because she accepts it - of course she doesn't, she'll never accept that there isn't any way to save the world without purposely causing innocent lives to be lost. It's just the realization that hits her, that this is really at the core of their disagreement. She should have worked it out before.

Still, as much as Xantia's motivation to really give this fight her all continues to waver, it's one that needs to happen. All she can do is give signals, through fists and words both, having to somehow pierce through this veil that Josie seems intent on keeping wrapped around her. She, by contrast, makes her every thought and intention crystal clear.

Josie has further thoughts to share on her character assessment. It's difficult to tell what Xantia thinks about that. Well... until those words are spoken.

Give up.

She needs to hold back to not outright laugh, managing to reduce it to only a big grin.

"That's not even an attempt at being honest. If there's one thing I'll never do, it's give up. You know that, and you know I know you know that." She shakes her head, adding the conclusion that she came to earlier. "That's the big difference between us. You've stopped looking for a better way. I haven't. And I'll find it. I won't stop looking until I do." She smiles brightly, genuinely. "If you ever feel like trying again, look me up. I'll prove to you that another way does exist."

Unfortunately, the moment is ruined by Sudden Deadly Lightning Everywhere. And here Xantia is with the wrong element to effectively protect against it! Not that she would have just stood there to test her aura against the strength of those lightning bolts. The only correct course of action would have been to run, either way. What can she do but nod at Josie's sage advice and start doing so?

...In a different direction, pointedly. She has no interest in stopping Josie from getting away. She wouldn't know what to do with those consoles, either. She can only focus on staying in one piece, and leave the rest to ARMS.

Xantia doesn't even think of seeking shelter, yet in her mad dash out of the danger zone, she was either lucky or skilled enough to avoid being struck directly. Nearby impacts burn hot enough to bypass her protective aura to a degree, but she yet manages to avoid too serious an injury... and what she does suffer is handled by Eleanor in short order.

Only once she's clear of the danger does she stop, looking back towards where she last saw Josie.

"...I mean it. Let me know when you've decided to stop running."

...Not from the lightning, obviously. You know what she means!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    'It's comin' down here?'

    Those four words are all the signal Ida needs for what's about to happen. The heiress glances about the field, spotting a little, narrow gully, and dashes for it. As the lightning rips through the air, Ida dives into it, covers her head, and braces. Thunder roars. Ida's heart hammers in her ears. The earth shakes beneath her.

    Lightning splits the embankment to her right. A chunk of root-laced topsoil falls into the ravine, like a lean-to, and Ida scrambles underneath it before the second bolt strikes. She abandons it the moment the sky starts rumbling again, because 'lightning never strikes the same spot twice' is an old urban legend.

    The technicians are gone. Josie's the only Odessan remaining. Invigorated by Eleanor's berry magic (thanks, Eleanor!), Ida charges for the controls, and starts poring them over, looking for something--anything--to cut or damage.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

     ELSEWHERE...

     "Can't be Demetrioi, I keep tellin' ya." That's the voice of Homer Mecone, sitting and nursing a wound around his forearm from a recent wildlife encounter as he plunges the tines of a pitchfork into recently extinguished clearing. "Demetrioi wouldn't hurt anyone."

     His traveling 'partner,' one Ethius Hesiod - whose escape from closer watch in neighboring Merian territories is too exciting to talk about at the moment, watches as lightning strikes violently several times in short succession. It would be easier if he walked closer to the edge of the hill, but he's not letting Homer out of his sight.

     "C'mon. Demetrioi ain't suddenly gonna torch an entire forest fulla people that ain't done anything to 'em," Homer attempts to reason as he takes a few steps towards Ethius, his taller, looming figure casting that shadow over him.

     For all of two seconds before Ethius has his quarterstaff drawn, thrust into Homer's sternum, and thrust down into the ground to be pinned with a shrieking wheeze. A maneuver nearly identical to what Ethius tried to pull on him in Alcidamas. For the fifteen seconds that pass, Ethius does not blink once as a fearful paralysis spreads through a man who by rights should be able to tear him limb from limb - as if there were some feature of Homer's anatomy that Ethius is exploiting that would prevent the obvious counters and maneuvers to what's happening.

     "...What'd I sssay," Homer wheezes.

     Ethius stares ahead to the gathered stormclouds in the distance where that battle (and mishap) rages, and only after another twenty seconds pass does he withdraw the staff.

     "It's not the Demetrioi," Ethius remarks as he looks away from some of the building wildfires from recent lightning strikes.

     "...what'd I say," Homer whines.

     "Get up. We're meeting with the Al Bhed contact in Sylvaland City and then headed towards the Reflector."

     Homer has many questions. He sticks with the first one that hasn't been answered as he sits up. "But what'd I--"

     Ethius doesn't tell him what he says, as the matter is left to the locals.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    '...Still too late,' she'd said.

    'Is it?' she had also said.

    But that moment in the dark -- however recent, however resonant -- is a far cry from the events of this eveningtide. Josie growls, deep in her throat, as the words of one once called a friend cut deep, far deeper perhaps than Xantia realizes. "Time you started learning when to quit, kiddo! That attitude's gonna see you dead someday!"

    There is no going back. There can't be, whatever she had said--

    That lightning strikes then might be in itself a sort of veiled mercy.

    It's a Zeboim machine process at the core of Akasha. Perhaps Marivel might even be familiar with some parts of the code that scrolls down cracked screens.

    Marivel can't stop all of it -- that, she'll determine rather quickly. Whatever lightning is in the process of being generated by the clouds agitated by the device can't be put back in its metaphorical bottle, but there's still time to stop it from spreading further afield. The system is badly damaged between the fighting and the lightning, but there's still that chance -- that pretty good chance -- that she'll be able to stop it.

    The technicians do not appear to be coming back. This may be partially due to the unbridled assault that Clarine unleashes upon Josephine and in the general direction in which the technicians had bolted just moments before. The attack forces her down onto a knee; she leans on her left arm, her weapon lost in the burnt grass close at hand.

    She can do this all day, Eleanor says at this very moment, the remark perhaps more threat than she realizes. Josie, with her particular collection of injuries, takes a good look at the remaining Drifters and her own motley, before offering up a lopsided grin.

    "Sure seems like," she tells Eleanor. "But I'll reckon you'll find we--"

    She's still mid-sentence when the Barrier Cross comes back around and knocks Ratatoskr over. "...Don't that beat all," Josie remarks, nakedly impressed in that moment. Erzebet, she realizes, has just flat-out gone. Which means it's down to her versus... all of them.

    She stands slowly, rising to her feet just as Xantia calls out to her. Let her know when she's decided to stop running.

    'Isn't it time you stopped running from how you feel?'

    Josie grimaces and looks back at the destruction that has been wrought today, even as Marivel and soon Ida, working in tandem with her, finally manages to shut the rest of the runaway cascade down. What has been done can't be undone, but the village that had likely been the target has been spared. With the plot thus thwarted, it likely cannot easily be restarted: could even Odessa source the parts needed for a replacement targetting system quickly, or dare risk again whatever other cobbled-together devices they might have remaining?

    "Well," Josie says, at long last. "I'm bailing."

    She only lingers long enough to retrieve her fallen ARM. Other than that, she is hard at work on being gone.