2022-12-10: Influence of Truth Appearance
- Log: 2022-12-10: Influence of Truth Appearance
- Cast: Ethius Hesiod, Demetrioi, Kaguya, Lydia Seren, Riesenlied, Magilou, Azoth, Venetia Vuong, Avril Vent Fleur, Cyre H. Lorentz, Ida Everstead-Rey, Lan Lilac, Gwen Whitlock, Jacqueline Barber, Xantia, Juni Vandrer, Demetrioi
- Where: The Crater Sea
- Date: December 10, 2022
- Summary: (OOC: This scene ICly takes place on December 9th, directly following all Digs of Mount Liverfeast.) As numerous Drifters brave the meteorological disaster brewing at Mount Liverfeast, one man - Ethius Hesiod - seems determined to stand in the way of several things: answers, an injured Kaguya, and an out-of-control Demetrioi. Attempting to use the fortuitous circumstance of a crashing Gebler transport to keep everyone else at bay, they soon find that the Drifters are ready to influence the appearance of the truth right out of him. A truth he intends to keep buried, even in the face of overwhelming force.
==============================<* The Crater Sea *>============================== The Crater Sea rests at the center of Southern Aquvy. Rumors abound that ancient cities and other ruins are submerged underneath the sea, and in the shallower portions, Diggers have reported that great expanses of submerged glass have been found. The people of Southern Aquvy know that Crater Sea is not just a name. In the past, some great calamity shattered the ancient continent of Greater Aquvy, and in doing so, left the many smaller islands of the south. These waters are well-traveled, though not as much as they once were, after the fall of Celesti. BGM: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - The Great Sea
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<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
FOLLOWING THE ASCENT OF MOUNT LIVERFEAST...
There was an obstruction, a hastily-erected barricade made from salvaged sheet metal of Gebler make. It doesn't stop everyone. No, it's best to say it doesn't stop anyone.
Ahead, is the unmistakable and unforgettable entity that is Demetrioi. Everyone may have heard them babble in the weird way sound works for them, straining to keep a smile. They are far greater in size than at Alcidamas - gnarled, and bustling with non-euclidian geometry on its leaves and strange fruits. It continues to burn and exude strange colors in and out of the visual spectrum.
But the true point of interest is further ahead - a hurting, struggling Kaguya off to the side. Directly in front, Ethius Hesiod, clad in a white coat and a strange partially dented bird-like mask. He bids they turn back. He says he'll tolerate no further interference.
Homer makes a valiant but ultimately fruitless attempt to stop Ethius after revealing someone by Ethius' present appearance was the cause of the disruption of Demetrioi's sale, prior to crashing on Filgaia. He was after Demetrioi all along. Why?
Ethius turns away with both Kaguya and Homer defeated to either side. Any calls or questions made to him at this time are ignored and unanswered. He moves further to disappear into the mounting storms of hail and lightning brewing between himself and Demetrioi, looking up only briefly to acknowledge the flaming, smoking small Gebler transport coming for the mountain.
* * * QUICK TIME EVENT!! - Your Cooperation is Mandatory * * *
The transport's about to crash into the summit, and there's not much time to run away or seek cover. Ethius does not look too concerned as he keeps moving ahead, with both Homer and Kaguya well ahead of the others by now.
"Stay where you are." He says.
Whoever's piloting the doomed craft makes one last attempt to recover it, but this only stands to delay the inevitable. For the decisive, it gives a clear enough indication of where it's going to crash - the space between where Ethius is, and where everyone else stands.
"There is no need to pursue the matter further."
Moments later, the craft crashes just to the side, spewing flame and debris that will separate Ethius, Kaguya, Demetrioi, and Homer from those of Filgaia and beyond banding together. The truth could disappear beyond those flames - and perhaps something more, unless you chase it with all your conviction.
"Do not follow me." Those are Ethius' last words before the indecisive are cut off from pursuit by a bright, deafening wall of flame and wreckage... and there's only one thing to do if it is the truth you seek.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Defeat Ethius Hesiod and wring the truth out of him!
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Get to the wounded Kaguya and lend your aid!
. . .
Huh. Are we forgetting someone? Oh, right, we are.
sigh... TERTIARY OBJECTIVE: Homer's there too, don't forget about him. (Kaguya needs it more, though.)
_____________________________| QUICK TIME EVENT!!!|_____________________________ _ Your Cooperation is Mandatory _ _ _ _ _ _ Xantia, Azoth, Cyre H. Lorentz, Ida Everstead-Rey, Avril Vent Fleur, _ _ Magilou, Jacqueline Barber, Venetia Vuong, Juni Vandrer, Gwen Whitlock, Lan _ _ Lilac, Lydia Seren, and Riesenlied: _ _ +qte/react <guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge>/<guard/evade/charge> _
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Jacqueline Barber takes 71 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: FAILURE! Riesenlied takes 149 damage and gains 60 FP!
GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Riesenlied receives 100 temporary hit points. GS: Riesenlied enters CONDITION GREEN!!
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Avril Vent Fleur takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Lan Lilac takes 115 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Gwen Whitlock takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Xantia takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Venetia Vuong takes 113 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Lydia Seren takes 71 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Azoth takes 80 damage and gains 30 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Moderate Success! Ida Everstead-Rey takes 80 damage and gains 30 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya radiates magic--and not her own. The black dust gathered on her shirt, on the breathing mask she wasn't wearing, on her shoulders--it's Grave Dust. Those who have seen Ethius Hesiod in action may recognize the spell, and can imagine that Kaguya is rather susceptible to its effects. She is barely standing, and that mostly out of spite. The transprt starts to crash, and Kaguya is well ahead of the others--she is not subject to the running and jumping that the others must do. Dressed in white and brown, with a green mantle--her usual attire, but notably absent of the armor that she usually wears, the partial containment suit. Her blonde hair is drenched and ratty compared to usual. She is simply there, with Ethius, as he claims--
"To--" Hack, cough, COUGH. "To FUCK with that!" Kaguya manages, "You--Aaah--" She finally hits one knee, unable to stand anymore and in obvious pain. The spell is still ongoing.
And Kaguya isn't getting much better.
QTE!!! Challenge Result: Low Success! Magilou takes 113 damage and gains 45 FP! QTE!!! Challenge Result: Full Success! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 0 damage and gains 15 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Five Years Ago
Asteroid the Kid looks at Kaguya. She begs the Guardian.
Wait--It's really you. Please--you have to tell me--tell me why--
Asteroid the Kid had never seen Kaguya seem so desperate, so helpless--even with her illness aside--she seemed so strong, so cool. Asteroid the Kid doesn't like this dark feeling welling inside of her when she's like this. Surely the Guardian would lend some kind of hand, even if it's just a lesson--
Wait! I said wait! I'm right here! Why--I know you can hear me! I know you can!
Asteroid the Kid had just said that the best thing about her Gods was that they don't care. Gods that care beat you, they tell their followers you're scum. Gods that don't give a shit, well, you know you don't have to expect anything. But it still feels cruel to her. That dark pit pulsing within her grows. Please, she prays, please help her anyway.
GET BACK HERE YOU BITCH! GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME! If you're going to kill me... You can at least look at me... You could at least....
Asteroid the Kid was used to a world of closed doors. The door of the Guardians was the only door open to her. Her parents looked at her but they didn't see her. It was the same. But Granny Halle saw her and saved her and gave her an Escape. But Kaguya didn't even have that.
They didn't even tell her why.
If nothing else, everybody deserves to know why.
You're going to---For me? You don't understand. You CAN'T understand. They won't help me.
Asteroid the Kid did a blasphemy that day.
You know what? Fuck 'em. We'll find another way. We're going to use science and we're going to save you even if we have to go to the moon and leave Filgaia behind. Or beyond.
NOW
Lydia is told to not move. She isn't looking right at Ethius. She's staring at Kaguya in worry, concern, and terror. "......You did this...?" She whispers. Tears are in her eyes. They aren't sad tears they are horror tears.
And she darts forward, not towards Ethius, but to Kaguya. She runs over to Kaguya--
--through exlosions and fire and a shockwave that sends her crashing to the ground where she puddlefies before springing back up in her 'normal' form and completing the desperate run.
She swings her ADVENTURER'S PACK around in front of her. "Kaguya, kaguya hold on...!" She stares at the Grave Dust. It WAS him?? "Hold on a second....! Uh ... UH.... Don't worry about telling him off, I'll tell him off for you, just take it easy..."
She reaches into her bag and draws out a tiny flower. "Not the right one fuck fuck fuck hold onto this--"
She hands Kaguya the tiny flower for some reason.
And then she keeps digging, drawing out a carrot and a ... purple berry? "Here, here. Eat these. Eat this stuff..."
She crouches down. "Okay, just take a minute. I'll get pissed for you, okay? I'll get even madder okay? So you don't have to, you can just ... take a minute. We're here... Everyone came..." She forces a many fanged smile at her. "We see you." She promises. "We all see you."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
The transport's coming down.
Magilou pulls out her shikigami, and leaps atop it. Weaving through the explosion, she throws up a hand to shield herself from the embers, but she doesn't stop -- she keeps sailing through the smoke and the flames, lips twisted together to avoid inhaling something much, much too hot.
She lands beside Kaguya, a hand to her shoulder. She invokes, immediately: "Spell Absorber!" If it's a little pained -- who'd even feel it?
Her eyes narrow, as she glares at Ethius, places herself in front of the Veruni as she consumes the spell he's cast. She's cut straight to arcane artes, seeing Kaguya's peril -- she'll chastise him in a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
A tense and difficult situation brews upon the top of Mt. Liverfeast, shrouded by storms and unnatural weather that only grows more and more aberrant as one gets closer, thanks to the influence of Demetrioi gone out of control. This isn't a place that Riesenlied should be, with her inability to move around on her own; this isn't a place for a wheelchair and her lack of personal physical strength and agility, but...
No, Riesenlied wasn't present amongst the various Drifter teams that've found their way up Mt. Liverfeast. She thought to do so, but the challenges and risks presented would have been far too great, even if she were to ride with someone else on their Gear. She thought this to be an issue that she would trust to others, then...
The Dragon's Tear throbs powerfully, with a defiant rainbow light.
Her daughter is in trouble.
Thus, Mom will FIND a way.
Kaguya is struggling, hurting to one side; Ethius, clad in his coat and bird-like mask, urging everyone to turn back and to tolerate no further interference. Homer, revealing difficult truths about Ethius. And the Gebler transport, crashing between the Drifters and Ethius. Debris and flame spew, plumes of smoke rising to the sky where...
Where... the powerful beat of wings can be heard. The Solaris craft is not the only thing in the sky; cutting past the storm and Demetrioi's influence over the weather is a Ley-wreathed metallic being, the likes of which have been seen before.
She is blue and white, bearing a majestic, draconic appearance with an enormous tail, massive horns to either side of her head, and a full, large wingspan of wings.
It's the Ley Dragon.
With a POWERFUL, earth-shattering roar, the Dragon commands attention for a moment, and then descends-- descends--
But she doesn't descend to attack the bird-masked Ethius, as one might expect of a large and powerful dragon. No, it...
Descends to roost around a certain wounded Veruni and Lydia both as she digs through her inventory, the shine of her Ley spreading through the vents and lines of her body already seeking to mend her wounds and cleanse her of the toxins and dust that may be circulating throughout their systems.
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Kaguya with Grand Channeling - Spiriting Away! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Lydia Seren with Grand Channeling - Spiriting Away! GS: Riesenlied has gained 2 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
DC: Riesenlied switches forms to -Accession- Ring-Promised Dragon!
GS: Riesenlied heals Lydia Seren! She gains 270 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Magilou has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Spell Absorber! GS: Magilou enters a Counter stance! GS: Magilou has gained 2 Combo! GS: Magilou has completed her action. GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Kaguya with Does This Healing Item Work? HOW ABOUT THIS ONE?? TRY 'EM ALL!!! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren gains 63 THP from Regen! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Lydia Seren heals Kaguya! She gains 92 temporary hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Riesenlied heals Kaguya! She gains 358 temporary hit points! GS: Regen applied to Kaguya!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
An artificial intelligence typically does not like to hear the phrase 'you will soon be relieved'. At least, Azoth certainly doesn't. But there's more than Demetrioi to be concerned about now.
Azoth may be on borrowed time before his loyalties in this battle no longer belong to himself. He looks from the sky and ahead, and the complications continue to pile on as Homer, one of his companions for the venture, confronts Ethius. Ethius Hesiod... a man of many mysteries since Azoth arrived on the surface. Sometimes an ally. But Azoth's been on the wrong end of Ethius' sorcery... a power that can shred machinery like it was designed for the purpose. An agony and a high level threat.
Turns out today, he needs to run toward that.
"Homer! Kaguya!" Azoth calls out, instead of calling to Ethius, in what may be an equally useless endeavor, unless a shred of voiced support has any value without being able to reach them. There is naught to do but pursue.
The Gebler ship, doomed as it is, paralyzes Azoth where he stands. His eyes flash red, calculations running for entirely different questions than they should. It's an awful moment, his body launching forward, not past the ship, or away from it, but toward it, with whatever feeble calculations determine he can change fate.
In grim fortune, the crash is brutal. Unsalvagable. Fire and flames, and Azoth caught too close to it. His eyes settle from red to blue, though it would be impossible to tell with the reflection of the inferno against him. He's lost time. He has to catch up to the others. Blue mixes with a neon fuchsia, Azoth's circuits alighting and burning like visible veins in the common tell for his core going into overdrive. He bursts forward, dashing across the air more than the ground before landing in a full sprint, barely ahead of the flames that erupt and cut off all hope of keeping pace.
With Lydia (and others) helping Kaguya, Azoth makes his dash for Homer. "Hey, you okay?!" He looks toward Ethius. "...Please stay back, and let us handle him. You should focus on Demetrioi." Azoth smiles weakly. "Family's family, right? No matter how different."
GS: Azoth has attacked Azoth with Overclock! GS: Azoth has gained 2 Combo! GS: Azoth's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Azoth accepts Azoth's Overclock for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify and Lock state applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia Vuong, narrowly, resisted the impulse to blast through the barricade with Star Blazer. It was a near thing. She has felt something familiar on her way up here, through the terrors of distorted weather. Something that has guided her through this life, and which may yet be her undoing, but which has not yet gone there.
Something which, if nothing else, she has grasped firmly by its rein -- and which she has proven to herself, again, and perhaps shall again and again. A proof that continues into the future.
But in this moment she does have to ventilate some of it, whatever questionable practices "ventilation" may have in the long run. In the long run, the stars burn out. No, right here, now, Venetia bellows out:
"HESIOD!!!!!!"
Through the black and red storm, Venetia has one clear blue thought: If only I could fly. If I could fly, free as the air, free from all restraints, I could have stopped this. I could have ended this now. I could grab him by his arm and rip it out of his shoulder socket.
And yet, she cannot fly. Not yet.
What she can do is run. Forwards. She bellows, "Get back here and take your medicine!" as she does so. Venetia does not immediately register the transport, which is an object moving in a way not immediately facing towards her, but the sheer act of running, of forward momentum, is enough to get some of that fury into a more controlled venue. She considers for a moment if she ought to pull her gun, but no, she thinks, I didn't load it again.
And I made a promise, she thinks to herself, eyes narrowing as she keeps putting the gas on.
"You park your scrawny hams where you are, and you get ready to spit it out! Longer you wait, the worse it's gonna get - and I'm not going to let your ass die before I get answers out of you!" Her eyes flick towards Lydia as she tends towards the suffering, sorrowing Kaguya, but all she can think here is: A couple more. Last ones.
STAY WHERE YOU ARE. "You can eat my fat ass, your pursuit calling!" Venetia shouts in reply, and NOW she notices the craft -- she wheels up as it begins to plummet where she was, throwing herself to the side of the space and digging out another of her Crests. There is a flash of red before that massive BURST of fire and terror -- whatever happens here isn't clear, before the immediate horror fades.
She gets up... "SCABLANDS SIGN!" And there is a breath of Ley, and a scent of torrential rain, and some of the ground gives way, channelling abruptly as if by invisible high pressure flows, moving wreckage, dampening flames, making something resembling a path, at least one *Venetia* is willing to brave. FORWARD:
"I am THE RAGE OF THE WORLD, you petulant maniac! I am the LAW, and I am the LASH! You want to keep running, then you get to give your answers TIRED! I'm not letting you get away!!!"
This is accompanied by a storm of hurled amethysts, the familiar semi-homing cluster hurled in a spread-out pattern; thrown low. She wants to trip him, if she can; but at this point, Venetia's alright with some broken legs.
GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Spell Absorber for 0 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Hyper applied to Magilou! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Venetia Vuong's Amethyst Sign ~Second Month's Decision~ for 136 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"I refuse."
Avril's answer is, in the end, a simple one.
Overhead, a skyship continues its inevitable descent to the ground below. Demetrioi's power is stronger than ever in this place, but it isn't the sole focus of Avril's attention at this precise moment in time. She has zeroed in on Ethius and Ethius alone, having realized what he has done to Kaguya. And with Homer out of the action...
The safe response would have been to have descended upon Ethius with the Gear, or something like it -- the field before them (and the sky above) are far from safe. Instead, Skadi goes to one knee not far from where the damaged ruins of the makeshift 'door' lies almost as if to prevent what little remains from falling, and Avril leaps from the cockpit to the ground below. She takes off running.
She has already made up her mind about what she is going to do, and as she had once told Dean, once you have made a decision you must be prepared to live with the consequences, whatever they might be. So be it.
She runs for him regardless of the destruction and chaos that erupts about her. The flash of her blade might well be lost in the heat and flame.
She has no other words for Ethius. Her intent is to subdue him and that is that.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Innocent Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Avril Vent Fleur's Innocent Saber for 84 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Yeah so as it turns out, being able to fly doesn't really help much.
Cyre can fly, for example. Cyre can fly, and yet he is absolutely still about as late to the party as everyone else. Admittedly his wings were pretty well and thoroughly clipped by Demetrioi's absolute domination over the surrounding environment, but even so, technically speaking-- he can still fly.
It just didn't help him at all.
"I'm not going to tell you to stop," Cyre tells Ethius with unusual calm, considering the maelstrom of violence unfurling around him. "One way or another, Demetrioi can't stay here. For his good and for ours. So I'm with you there. But I also know something else."
A gunship falls from the sky. Cyre regards it with a frown. Fate itself seems to conspire to keep him from getting what he needs. Has Demetrioi's control over Filgaia extended even to the domains of luck and chance? Chapapanga would be livid.
He kicks off running, tossing aside his battered cloak. A silvery talisman glints around his neck, but it does not glow. He can't draw on Fengalon now. Not here.
Not while Demetrioi still holds sway over the ley.
But that doesn't mean he can't do other things. He can still run. He can still leap through the explosions and weave through the shrapnel. "I know that I've had it up to here with you being a cryptic bastard. So now that the chips are down, I'm going to get you to explain yourself, and then I'm going to have you help get Demetrioi somewhere else!"
A wall of fire. Cyre leaps, vaulting over the rising flames. With a tremendous roar, he comes down with a vicious falling knee the flows seamlessly into a sliding tackle. "But before all of that, I'm going to punch you until I feel like I've had enough!!"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Cat Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: Ethius Hesiod solidly guards Cyre H. Lorentz's Cat Combo for 33 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Quick applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"HESIOD!"
The Dust Dragoon thunders out of a Gear-sized gouge in the mountain, a hole left behind by Demetrioi's roots. It moves on jet power alone, for fear its footsteps might destabilize the crumbling ground even further--and as it takes to the sky, its pilot gets a very, very/ good look at the situation around her. Her face twists in a snarl behind her helmet's visor as she sees the masked man, with Homer and Kaguya prone nearby. The pieces click together. An illegal business transaction, and an undercover agent sent to stop it. Everything went wrong, and Demetrioi ended up on Filgaia, along with one of the 'businessmen', and the agent. And now Demetrioi, an illegal piece of extraplanetary technology, stands poised to destroy her world.
Ida's eyes dart to the side, and a pang of horror ignites in her heart at the sight of the crashing transport. "Move, MOVE!" she roars, her voice still booming from the Dragoon's loudspeaker. With a few flicks and taps, she activates the autopilot. She presses both feet against a panel beneath the seat, and pulls on two levers built into the sides.
The ejection system activates. The Dragoon's back armor unfolds, and the pilot's seat spins. Ida has already unbuckled, and LEAPS out of her Gear as it jukes to avoid the transport.
She hits the ground hard, and rolls; the impact would break bones, if hers weren't reinforced with Hyadean biomaterial. Flame from the exploding transport washes over her. For a moment, she lies still.
Something tugs at the back of her mind. Ida's head snaps up, to see Riesenlied soaring above in a form Ida hasn't seen in months, if not years. Her roar is a sign of hope and defiance within the unfolding horror. Determination sheathes Ida's heart in steel.
"You STAY AWAY FROM THEM, YOU BASTARD!" Ida answers Riesenlied's roar with her own, and she charges. She moves like a blur, racing through the flames. A fist-sized chunk of debris slams into the side of her helmet, and she staggers--cracks spiderweb across the visor. Ida rips it off and tosses it aside. It gives Ethius a very good look at the rage in her eyes as she drives a fist right for his jaw.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Fire Dragon Form! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Of course Lan is upset with Ethius. Everybody is, pretty much! And nobody's going to listen to him about turning back, either. "What makes that guy think he's everybody's boss or something!" Lan complains. But for a moment, there's something more pressing at hand -the roar of engines descending towards them, and the mountain.
Lan looks up - she knows that plane. Not that exact one, surely not - but something like it had carried her back to base once, when her scars were fresher. It's coming in too fast--
She charges ahead anyway. The ground shudders from the crash and Lan jumps over a flying piece of metal that used to be a door, bits of glass and smoldering things scoring the backs of her legs. She jumps again, feet not touching the ground, and soars - until she can land next to Lydia, a hand resting briefly on the shoulder of her star sister. "It's gonna be okay," she says, although to be honest she's kind of staring at Riesenlied a little bit.
(BIG dragon...!)
Ethius won't wait, but what if Kaguya can't wait? Magilou uses Spell Absorber, Lan shakes it off and spreads her fingers, stardust already dripping silver from each one. Silver blooms briefly in a circle around Kaguya, before she takes off leaping over Riesenlied again and throws herself back into pursuit. "Hi, bye!!"
She'll catch up with Gwen and the others, and then--
GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Kaguya with Cosmic Love! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod partially evades Ida Everstead-Rey's Fire Dragon Form for 81 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Lan Lilac heals Kaguya! She gains 221 temporary hit points! GS: FP up! Lan Lilac's Reload! activated!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
===MOMENTS EARLIER==
"... Ethius?" Gwen rubs her face. "... He was really involved in a lot of this, come t'think of it. Just, I never know how t'react to him, you know? But, he's helped us out, too. Is this really somethin' t'do with him specifically?"
===NOW===
"KAGUYA!" Gwen isn't sure why Kaguya's name fell out like that, but it may be in how she feels a small bit of just how it feels, to be in Kaguya's shoes right then. She still remembers, years later, gasping for breath, feeling like a fish out of water. Or a young girl, collapsed aside a stove, her lips turning blue as Frea kneeled beside her, calling her name.
Or a Kaguya, right over there. "Hold on, Kaguya, we'll get you to Lunar! Or somethin'!" Parking the Halcyone next to Skadi, Gwen jumps down from her craft.
However, Ethius is right there.
".... Ida, Lan, I'm gonna try t'power up!" Gwen yells over her shoulder, grey blue eyes wide, before turning her head forward. "If things get get bad-- oh shit, nevermind, that's a plane, run, run, run!!"
A crashing Solaris ship deters Gwen's powering up; it was a bad idea to launch herself like that from the get go, because that energy is better used to launch herself into going before she gets got. By the plane. So, Gwen runs, like it was the most natural response to anything, ever.
Something sympathetic pulses in Gwen's chest as Rieselied transforms. Kaguya will be in good hands; Gwen's not a healer.
Her hands are better used for something else.
"Ain't sure what your deal is, Ethius, but y'gotta snap out of it!" Homer's exclaimations about Ethius and the man who killed all those people being one and the same can't quite sit well with her, just yet, but, it's not enough to deter her from straight up trying to knock the man out. Ida seems to have the same idea; so Gwen ducks low instead, attempting to press a fist underneath that enigmatic chin of Ethius's. "Ain't got time, so we'll sort this all later!!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Shoryu-Gwen! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline Barber had joined with others to race after Kaguya to Mount Liverfeast. They're all worried about her - and it seems they have very good reason to be, as they break through the barrier to find Ethius facing off with Kaguya. The latter isn't in very good shape.
"Ethius... Kaguya?" Jacqueline says. She shakes her head in disbelief, her eyes settling on Ethius's mask as she listens to Homer recount his memories.
"...Another secret? ...I thought I finally knew everything. I thought we'd finally moved past this. ...I thought I could trust you." Jacqueline says. Her tone is quiet. Sad and disappointed, at first... but then, frustration builds. "...But, no. The Inscrutable Man just can't be honest, be straight with anyone, can he?"
Ethius says he won't tolerate further interference. Her eyes narrow.
"...No. My tolerance is at end. I'm tired of letting you walk all over everyone - over me. Before anything else happens here - I demand an explanation for once, Ethius Hesiod!" Jacqueline shouts. Ethius flips Homer, and that seems to have hit a breaking point. Jacqueline charges after him as he moves to make his escape. Briefly she recognizes Kaguya's condition and feels conflicted - but now, Riesenlied is here, and Lydia is there with her, and Magilou is helping.
Kaguya is in good hands. So, she continues to run - but, chaos is beginning to unfurl as a Gebler transport craft descends from the sky. Jacqueline doesn't let it stop her. She braces herself and pushes her way forward. She won't let anything, not the fire or outward burst of sprayed debris stop her.
"Not one step further!" Jacqueline demands. Electricity builds in her right hand and she casts it out toward him, unleashing a bolt of lightning directly at him!
At the same time...
Someone else had made their way to the top of Mount Liverfeast. Ambrosius watches and, torn between two choices, comes to a decision.
...He will let the others deal with Hesiod. He has only had one concern, on his way here. And so, as Riesenlied and Lydia rush toward Kaguya's aid Ambrosius stands before them as they gather around her. He casts his arms out, a wall of water forming to provide them protection as tend to her.
"We are here for you, Kaguya." He says, and then nods toward Riesenlied and Lydia. "I shall provide cover. Do what you must."
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia has really been put through the wringer recently. There have been desperate and decidedly unpleasant aspects to all her recent fights. She could really use a bit of a break after all that, even she doesn't have limitless energy.
She wasn't about to actually take one, of course. Not when strange weather phenomena have been plaguing Filgaia as late, growing in intensity until reaching the point where she was compelled to intervene. It's not an impulse she wants to even try to resist. She has to do all she can. She just has to.
Getting up to this, the eye of the storm, hasn't been the easiest thing she's ever done. But she got there, playing her part in ripping open the barricade of metal. Metal which she realized the source of, making her worried that it would turn out to be Solaris behind all this, once again messing with something they shouldn't have.
The truth of the matter... is just plain confusing. Xantia can only stand there with a baffled expression as of all people it's Ethius Hesiod who seems to be at the center of all this. She doesn't have nearly enough pieces to put this puzzle together. But once she gets her bearings enough, she does demand answers.
"What is all this? What did you do?!"
So she shouts, but Ethius ignores her. Nothing personal, since he's ignoring everyone. But Xantia does not appreciate being ignored in the slightest, frowning deeply.
'Stay where you are,' Ethius says. "You stay where you are," she responds, already charging ahead. All her attention is fully focused on him in this moment. She doesn't even take notice of the falling transport until she's already rushing into its path. Typical Solaris, always trying to ruin things even if they weren't actively involved with it to begin with. Well, she's already committed now. All she can do is obey her original impulses and keep rushing ahead full speed... managing to narrowly avoid the vessel that crashes just behind her. Making the best of a bad situation, she uses the resulting heat's updraft to propel herself high up into the air... and comes crashing down on Ethius's position, both fists joined together, slamming them down upon landing.
Afterwards, she straightens up with deceptive calm, pointing a finger in Ethius's direction. She has only one question for him now. The only question that she considers logical to ask considering the circumstances - the full answer to which she's certain would somehow explain all his actions.
"Ethius! What have you remembered?!"
GS: Xantia has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Cardinal Impulse! GS: Xantia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Shoryu-Gwen for 46 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 131 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Quick applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod partially evades Xantia's Cardinal Impulse for 94 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper applied to Xantia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Tyv is left behind as her group breaks into the crudely sealed off area. And right away there's a crashing ship, things are on fire, people are in varying states of dying. A thing Juni's more familiar with than she usually admits to. Like a pair of boots. That are on fire. To be fair, everything is on fire right now really. Doesn't take too long to assess the situation, even if she weren't using a futuristic HUD that highlights points of interest for her. Ethius is doing weird things to people, particularly Homer who at least tried to do something about it. And she was convinced he was a non-com even now.
"Guess that means I'm not getting a ride home." She says flatly before breaking into a run, glancing up at the crashing ship to check her timing. Much like last time, she's really not in the mood to try and sort the situation out. It's pretty clear. Angling herself, she gets a clear shot and just fires off the first shell in the chamber. No fancy reloads, no on the fly tricks, just a loud bang as she advances, low to the ground in a combat run. "You've been rolling with the locals long enough, did you really think that would work? Nevermind us." The us in question left vague. Because why not.
She's no medic, so while the others try to get to work on saving Kaguya and probably by proxy, Homer, she does the best thing she can think of. Which is pump a few more shells down range at Ethius. If you're too busy getting peppered, you won't try to stomp medics right? There's a wry mutter of this being easier with bigger magazines and technology that isn't positively ancient, but after dumping the magazine, she's in the midst of a combat reload.
"Don't hold back" she calls out to the others, adding after, "And if we break him. I'll get the answers one way or the other." She's pretty sure she has a hunch on what he is and as long as he's not TOO broken... well. She can probably extract that with some help right? She'd probably have cross checked that with Kaguya even if she weren't in the process of being rescued.
GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Scattershot! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 2 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Juni Vandrer's Scattershot for 88 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
What Ethius did to Kaguya is undeniably a cruelty. The way he tries to walk away from all this, like one ball of explosive fiery shrapnel-filled death would be enough to keep the Drifters at bay! He doesn't look back to the explosion, and yet...
The Ley Dragon roars, making their presence known, and coming to Kaguya's aid, and that has Ethius turning his head as Lydia, Magilou, Lan, and Ambrosius come to their aid. Riesenlied's Dragon Tear may find a color or hue reflecting something of immense fear or concern, as Demetrioi's strained gaze turns sideways. (As for the absorbed magic, it's grainy and itchy and it sucks!)
o ThaaAat iiIiiS aAaa BiiiiiiGgg frIIeeenD :D hEeeEllOooo theEEErrrE LleEt uSS bE FrrIIeeENds :D
"They will," Ethius says aloud, to himself, as some call to him. More on that in a moment.
Homer murmurs and stirs as Azoth comes to his aid. He's old and bruised but he's still with them. "Azoth? Y-Yeah, my head's... spinnin'," he clutches the side of his head. He blinks wildly as he sees how close they came to getting consumed in a ball of fire, and cringes. "Holy... that's almost like the raids 'd sometimes come along on-- y-yeah. 'm gettin' up," Homer will need a bit more help there.
Hurled amatheysts make up the first of the volley against Ethius, flung low and crashing at the lower legs. The planting of his quarterstaff is the only reason he's not bowled over, but one cannot say he withstood it in full as he's sent skidding back.
Avril refuses to heed Ethius' requests in simplicity, and the lash of the blade sees him sway as it clips an arm with rising scorch marks.
Cyre gets punching while Ethius is off-balance, Ethius leaning back as he swings his staff up to catch, parry, and redirect most of those blows.
He ducks his head as Ida comes swinging. Technically, it misses - but the wake of her punch displaces the air and gives him a case of serious whiplash, whirling him as he catches himself upright. He sways to move the mask away from Gwen's rising fist where it still feels like she gets a decent shot at his chest, a backflip that should evade Xantia's downward slamming fist were it not for the debris it forms from the force of her blow to shower him in it. Juni's markswomanship sees shells sink into the coat clean, but Jay...
Jay finally puts her foot down, and lightning zaps him.
He does not stand a chance against thirteen (soon to be fourteen) skilled Drifters on his own. Some of them are currently huge dragons, or have other incredible powers on tap. He is, at face value, just a suspect dude who is a highly specialized sorcerer, and yet... despite fatigue and injury, he stands up.
"You followed. All of you did." Barring a small handful, this is the truth, as he faces his left side towards them, his right pointing out of sight. "I don't have the time to host a town hall - and neither do you. I have my mission."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
It's impossible to obscure it from everyone, but he is gesticulating with his right hand. With the mask on, one can't tell when he's casting until he does. "Fine Dust!" He calls, as Juni and Gwen find themselves facing a torrent of fine particulate matter to clog up things.
With Cyre and Ida, he swings low with a noticeable stagger from the amethysts against his legs earlier, trying to sweep both off their feet with his quarterstaff. His tricks are well-known, but his technique is nothing to sneeze at - fast, decisive, with a good understanding of how much reach he has.
While doing this, the keen-eyed will notice even while swinging a weapon he's gesticulating while maintaining a grip and frankly that's some wild hand-eye coordination and multitasking, completing the spellcast as he gestures to Avril and Xantia alike. "Overheat!" The air gets uncomfortably warm. They're the same tricks, and he has to push the limits of what is humanly, physically possible to do the sequence against six highly-trained opponents...
But he is not the only problem, as Demetrioi stirs.
o WhhhYYYy beeeeEEE sooOO anGrrrY frrIIEeeNDs :C WhyyY canNoT frRIEenDs aLwaAYs bEe FriEEndS tooO OttheErr FrriiiEEEnnnDS :o
A blizzard sweeps out through the area of... this isn't of ley make. Strangely conjured storms of snow and ice wash out towards Magilou, Lydia, Riesenlied, Azoth, Venetia, Lan, and Jay. A normal blizzad is bad enough, but to look at the way the snowflakes are composed are... utterly headache-inducing, because the snowflakes themselves are non-euclidian if looked at too closely. (some of them are large.)
Those near Ethius will notice him hold up a forearm to a quickly-slurred spell, causing that energy to wash outside and away from him - so it seems staying close to Ethius to punching his face might ward off most of Demetrioi's... attempts to be a friend.
"There is a flame I will be taking back. Of this... I have never forgotten."
Codename 'Eagle of Zeus' ---- Ethius Hesiod
"That flame has burnt far more than I can allow!!" He is shouting. That is emotion.
OST: Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness - Influence of Truth Appearance
DC: Ethius Hesiod switches forms to Flametaker Ethius Hesiod - Callsign The Eagle of Zeus!
GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Recommencing Mission...! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod's stances have changed to Hero! GS: Ethius Hesiod accepts Ethius Hesiod's Recommencing Mission... for 0 hit points! GS: Cover, Mighty, and Riposte applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Boss Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Magilou with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Lydia Seren with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Riesenlied with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Azoth with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Venetia Vuong with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Lan Lilac with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Jacqueline Barber with !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with Ground Gain! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Ground Gain! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Juni Vandrer with Fine Dust! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Fine Dust! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 145 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Lydia Seren enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz takes a glancing hit from Ethius Hesiod's Ground Gain for 60 hit points! GS: Entangle blocked! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Riesenlied solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 51 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Riesenlied! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Riesenlied enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Overheat! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Xantia with Overheat! GS: CRITICAL! Venetia Vuong suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 164 hit points! GS: Venetia Vuong's Mute Ward may block the effect! GS: Mute blocked! GS: Lan Lilac has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: CRITICAL! Lan Lilac partially evades Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 135 hit points! GS: Mute blocked! GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 126 hit points! GS: Mute blocked! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Juni Vandrer takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Fine Dust for 142 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Ethius Hesiod's Ground Gain for 64 hit points! GS: Entangle blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Gwen Whitlock solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Fine Dust for 65 hit points! GS: Gwen Whitlock's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: CRITICAL! Xantia solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Overheat for 73 hit points! GS: Weaken applied to Xantia! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: Avril Vent Fleur takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Overheat for 149 hit points! GS: Weaken applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: Azoth suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 144 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: COUNTER! Magilou counterattacks Ethius Hesiod with Counter Attack! GS: Magilou solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Non Euclidean Hailing Blizzard for 85 hit points! GS: Magilou's Mute Ward may block the effect! GS: Mute blocked! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Magilou enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ethius Hesiod solidly guards Magilou's Counter Attack for 51 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Magilou! GS: FP up! Guard bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Magilou arrives first. Magilou, sailing across explosions, lands beside Kaguya on her way through, and dispels the ongoing magical effect that might well have killed Kaguya before she could recover herself. But the dust fades; the particles simply disappear, the grit all around her upper body gone in an instant. She feels it fade and breathes sharply of a sudden to gasp back in untainted breaths. "Magilou!" Kaguya calls. "You--you came!?"
She doesn't have to sound so surprised!!!
Lydia skids along the ground towards Kaguya. Kaguya looks up toward Lydia, feeling--very rough. The flower? Kaguya takes the flower and, as Lydia is grabbing up other stuff, holds it close to herself. It fades into sparkling light, suffusing her with the power of one of Filgaia's flowers, for once. Then--"Mmph--Mp!!" Kaguya nomphs down the items as quickly as she can, just as--
Riesenlied, the Ley Dragon, roars and descends. She roosts around Kaguya, shielding her as she recovers--and helping her recover that much further, through the Ley power she has. "Lydia," Kaguya says, "You... You remember all that, huh...?" 'See'. Kaguya remembers the exact moment. "...I can't let you guys do this without me. But thanks."
"Mom!" Kaguya calls. "Be careful! But--" Pause. "This is Magilou, she's my..." She hesitates, "My friend. She's a jerk like me! But she's here to help!" Pause. "You've probably already met but fuck it she's helping me so I'LL INTRODUCE HER!"
She's doing well enough all of a sudden to complain, so it's a god sign. She still looks woozy, but the spell effect is completely gone thanks to Magilou, and the damage it caused is mostly recovered by Lydia and Riesenlied, and then by Lan, who traces stardust all around her. "Lan...?" Kaguya starts, and then--there she goes! "Hey--Uh--"
'Thanks?'
But she watches Avril, too. Avril, with no words for Ethius beyond the first, and she can't say she'll be sad if Avril kills him. ...All the same... "Guys--" Gwen, too. Gwen, who seems to care for some reason. And then a colleague. "Ambrosius!" Kaguya says, as she starts to stand up. "...Right. Thank you. I promise, I'll explain what happened later."
Ambrosius came for her... Maybe she can trust him with--but what if?? ...He's here now. That's what matters at the moment.
Kaguya rolls her shoulders, and lifts her facemask, settling it about her mouth and nose and securing it in place. She's not going to fall for the same trick again. Her voice is muffled, changed as she speaks up, "Your 'mission'," Kaguya says, stepping out from behind Riesenlied's shadow. "Yeah, they followed. Some of them I asked to. Some of them came on their own. But they all care about the fate of this world, Hesiod. And it's NOT YOUR PLACE to tell them not to!"
"Maybe I couldn't stop Demetrioi alone... or you, without suckerpunching you like I did before. But these people are too stupid to give up, and that's what I love about them!"
Kaguya bends at the knee and LEAPS into the air despite the blizzards, somersaulting towards Ethius this time. Except that she grabs Lydia along the way, yanking her out of Riesenlied's defensive perimeter.
"DEMETRIOI!" Kaguya calls. "You have to stop! This isn't going to make anybody happy! Hesiod's just using you to clean up the evidence!"
Kaguya sails through the air like a meteor, foot-first, and will release Lydia before springing off the ground into a spinning backfist for Ethius's face!
GS: Kaguya has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Meteor Stance! GS: Kaguya has gained 3 Combo! GS: Kaguya's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Kaguya gains 56 THP from Regen! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: You have activated the Force Action Accelerate! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Kaguya's Meteor Stance for 48 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty applied to Kaguya! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Through the storm and the sleet.
'You followed. All of you did.'
"No sly-lah, Professor Raydon, what was your FIRST clue," Venetia snaps back. His answer does not in any way push the De-Escalate Venetia's Titanic Rage meter; quite the opposite, in fact. But he then hurls dust forwards, even as Venetia tsks and stops her advance, sweeping up one arm to try and generate something like a cross breeze. The air erupts in sudden cold - snow, ice, more. Smashing down on her.
The cold chills. The strikes bruise. Venetia feels the weariness of the ascent, but...
BUT...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G0hX9Ludc
I'M NOT DONE YET, Venetia thinks, raising up her head.
"TAKING BACK? How many breaths have you taken on our planet, Hesiod? How many dinners have you eaten? You speak of 'taking back the flame.' The flame we're using to warm ourselves. Is this how you think? You and your star-man friends, coming to pick like vultures at the corpse? Of people ignorant of your strange ways, letting you take your ease?"
Venetia's lips slash into a smile. "Well, guess who studied your thrice damned star-man ways. And you had no idea, until now, when it is too late!"
"Here's how this is going to go," she says, slapping leather - of the Crest pouch, not the gun holster, which would probably be preferrable in this moment. Her eyes track the others, but they're keeping him busy for the moment. Out comes another Crest Graph. "You're going to cry uncle, now or later, unless you've got a lot more sand than I think you do. And then you're going to spill your guts. But that's not all that you're going to do."
"FILGAIA, HEAR MY CALL," Venetia says, raising the Crest Graph. "Your daughter beseeches you! The helpless fury of the Earth... bring it to bear. I am the way! I will guide it; reward faith, and punish thy enemy!"
And as she says this Venetia is... running kind of... counterclockwise? This is sort of weird. It would make more sense if she was going to run in and give Ethius a kicking, but she is staying like thirteen yards away. It all makes sense when the Ley exhales and she slams the Crest Graph face down on the ground and there is a sudden surge of luminous topaz energy...
Which glows for a fleeting moment...
Before the ground itself heaves with LANDSLIDE force and another of those scents of torrential rain and clean, wet earth. The target is certain; the blow enough to knock down a relatively small house! Or at least, knock it out from underneath it. And for all his many virtues, Ethius Hesiod is smaller than a house.
GS: Venetia Vuong has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Venetia Vuong spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Pyroclasmic Sign ~The Bursting Fury of the Land~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 2 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"We're trying!" Lan calls ahead to Demetrioi, hoping that it can hear her. "Sometimes friends fight! When your friends are doing things to hurt someone else, you argue! You try to stop them! You're not supposed to let your friends do bad things!!" The answering blizzard is hurting-cold, like stepping into snow in her bare feet. A snowflake the size of her hand lands on her bare arm, and Lan glances at it -- before shaking it off hurriedly and breaking into a run. Definitely Demetrioi's doing. The edges hurt to look at for too long.
There're only two places to go that might be warm enough to mitigate the temperature, and Lan isn't keen to get too close to the wreckage. Ethius it is, then...!
She closes in after Kaguya, glancing at Gwen and Ida in passing. They're holding their own, as are the rest of them. They can do this.
They have to do this!
Lan darts in, her first blow a palm strike meant to slap his staff aside, the second a snapkick to his hand to encourage him to just drop it. She's not angry, not really. But this can't go on. "You've never explained-- anything--" she grits out between blows.
The ribbon slips from her hair, Lan wielding it like a whip to snare him - before she jumps into the air and yanks him towards her, twisting to plow both heels into his chest.
"Why do you want to be our enemy so bad?!"
GS: Lan Lilac spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Ribbon Dance! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has launched an attack Link! GS: Lan Lilac spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Poison! GS: Lan Lilac has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Paper Moon! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Venetia Vuong's Pyroclasmic Sign ~The Bursting Fury of the Land~ for 173 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Entangle blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Lan Lilac's Ribbon Dance for 0 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Lan Lilac drains Ethius Hesiod! Lan Lilac gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Lan Lilac's Paper Moon for 102 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Lan Lilac! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou nods, to Kaguya, taking all those sick particles and reducing them to nothing. The power -- and its feedback -- flows into her veins, instead; and when the blizzard washes over them, it doesn't get as far as Kaguya, because the stone called Magilou breaks it to bits. All those impossible energies go into her, and she lifts a hand, to point at Ethius, finger extended.
She's still dressed as a pirate, by the way. Her vengeance is being visited in a pirate costume.
"Tetra Detonator."
The orbs which come to circle him are red and blue, yellow and green -- each a pocket of sheer elemental power, married in such a strange way for Althena's Blessing. They circle Ethius, and where they meet, the light which bursts out is the light of the universe's creation...
... but...
... they're in the shadow of Demetrioi, today. And those orbs, as they travelled through the air, perhaps became... a little... stranger. A little more... reflective, of a little too much.
Whether this is a boon isn't for Magilou to say. She has annulled, absorbed, and made the magic her own.
And what magic it is, she reflects. Ethius is operating at a very, very high level. Lunar's most wicked witch will recognise that much.
"This really isn't my business," she remarks, too lightly, when it's done. "But you're reminding me way too much of a certain someone, right now... and I happen to be rather fond of that young woman you just tried to kill."
Beat.
Magilou looks to Kaguya, and now, at least, she has an easy grin: "Even if your introduction game is mediocre at best. Where's the panache! The pizzazz! You need more pizzazz, Kaguya!" It's not nice to criticise someone who almost died, Kaguya.
GS: Magilou has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Magilou has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Tetra Detonator! GS: Magilou has gained 2 Combo! GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
There's no contact, regrettably, but the sight of Ethius' head snapping back gives Ida a certain visceral satisfaction. Ethius saved Ida's life at the Photosphere--he saved all their lives--but that never stopped him from being an enigma at best, and a mysterious threat at the worst.
The martial artist stays in close quarters, stepping between Ethius and the former mayor.
"Homer, get back!" Ida shouts, gesturing to the side. "Azoth, please get him clear!" 'Please', even now, because she knows what it's like for him to take commands. "Of course we followed. Did you think we'd sit back and let you try and stop this alone? You did a damn good job the first time!"
Ethius has always had very precise, well-drilled close-combat skills. To your average brawler, he would be absolute misery to fight, but Ida is not an average brawler. She leaps up over his staff as he sweeps it out at her, jumping like it's a hopscotch rope. A blow that could've cracked across her shins whooshes beneath her feet.
"The evidence?" Ida shouts, glancing back at Kaguya. A moment's relief flashes through her eyes, but it's quickly drowned out by anger at everything. "I know. Now I know what you are!" As the Veruni comes sailing in, Ida steps to the side and pirouettes, bringing her arms up into a loose, fluid stance. "I KNEW you were someone's spook the moment you started snooping around at Adlehyde. But whose?!" Ida rushes forwards, driving a palm at Ethius' sternum. "Gebler's? No, didn't fit. The mysterious 'Veruni'? Not a fit, either, it turned out." She flows from the palm-strike into a flurry of lightning-fast blows: finger-strikes, knife-hand attacks, punches. "Then maybe Shevat, but they didn't know who you were either." Ida keeps up the pressure, drives a snap-kick for Ethius' knee. "The only solution was an out-of-context actor, a man from the same place as the Minorans, if not the same world."
The land erupts. Ida leaps back, the wind buoying her up as she jumps out of Ethius' range. "From outside. From the stars."
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Muscle Memory! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 3 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Gamble: Low! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Tetra Detonator for 169 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth assists in helping Homer to his feet with a sympathetic wince. Ethius did not go easy on him. There's so many questions about who they are to one another. Allies doesn't seem to be the right description. He surveys the battlefield as the others make their attacks, but it isn't long in the chaos before
He isn't someone who can heal Homer directly, but Azoth can try to protect him. "Get down!" But shield Azoth does, leaping forward between Homer and the sheer size of the blizzard. A veil of light blossoms into space, beaten, cracked, and dissolved in snow as Azoth's body sparks in violent reaction to the flakes against his chassis. But if that's what it takes to keep Homer clear of harm...
Demetrioi is getting agitated, their stirring causing another strange jolt of energy to crawl up Azoth. The battlefield is already nearly at their command with their effect on the ley. It's a problem if this goes on long enough to make Demetrioi directly intervene.
"Demetrioi... To have friendship and happiness as objectives..." He smiles weakly. "I'm more than a little envious. But the data you're using isn't compatible with this world or its people. Your actions are erroneous. You need to stop and re-evaluate before you do something you can't take back!"
As for Ethius... "You have your own 'objective', I see." Azoth's smile is exhausted. "Does it really have to go down this way? You have people who would call you a friend! And people like Xantia and I... we get it, when you're desperate to chase the few pieces you can remember...!"
Azoth charges forward. "So stand down and trust someone to listen!" His entire body is crackling with damaged energy, threatening, as always, to rip him apart. It promises to be worse now, in the incompatible presence of Demetrioi, and with the threat of the technology hunter looming over him. So Azoth weaponizes it, letting the overheated ARM energy erupt out of him as he makes to dash past, leaving him desperate to control his pivot and find the friction he needs to stop after his drive-by explosion.
GS: Azoth spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Azoth has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Thermal Runaway! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Azoth enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Azoth has completed his action. [OOC] Magilou says, "blu-ray *It's not nice to criticise someone who almost died, Magilou."
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
Jay's wrath is utterly understandable. Cyre feels that frustration, too. But this was always a point of difference between the two of them. Cyre had spent much of his life wandering, dealing with the seediest sorts of people in the world. He is, to put it lightly, very used to people lying to his face and just needing to deal with it. Living in the shadows means you deal with a lot of shady guys. His understanding of Ethius has always been...
...Rooted in some level of distrust. So, his anger is less... visceral.
Demetrioi is threatening the world. Ethius is here to extinguish that flame. But is that the right thing to do...?
Only one way to find out.
"Tough! 'Cause we're not letting you do what you want without telling us what it is you're doing!" Cyre has fought alongside Ethius for long enough to know a thing or two about his techniques. The masked man sweeps his legs, and Cyre dances over the blow, only to graze his legs on shards of upwelling stone. "This may not be your home, but it's ours, and you're being a real shitty guest by not telling us why your pet tree dog is chewing through all of our upholstery!"
The shaman grits his teeth and reaches for his hip. He grabs hold of a familiar bottle and...
Chucks it right at Ethius' face.
It hangs there for a dreadful instant before Cyre yanks the cork and unleashes what remains of his store of Fengalon's wind.
Only this time, he doesn't let the wind just unwind into the swirling, screaming vortex of Demetrioi's storm. He draws it inward, wrapping it greedily around himself like bolts of emerald cloth. "So whatever your 'mission' is, I hope you're ready to fail it over an' over again, until you tell us whatever the heck is going on!"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Gathering Storm! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz's stances have changed to Hero! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod solidly guards Azoth's Thermal Runaway for 75 hit points! GS: Hyper, Mighty, and Quick applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated! GS: Strain! Azoth takes 63 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren isn't sure she could say anything to Ethius that Jay hasn't spelled out real clear already. Well there's one thing, but for the moment she has a bigger concern. She can hit Ethius at any point. She might even hit Ethius this pose! But her first priority has gotta be Kaguya.
Mom is near. Most people might see a giant dragon and think OH NO but Lydia thinks OH YEAH because it's MOM DRAGON. Actually at this point probably most people are pretty excited for Mom Dragon.
"Mom..." Lydia says as--well Riesenlied isn't really all that hurt but she does feel rejuvenated all the same. She smiles at the dragon, wiping at her eyes.
"You made it... Ahah... Thanks mom." She takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she stands up. She's out of healing items. She was in a rush and didn't have much a chance to pack many.
"Mom I--"
"Uh."
Kaguya lifts her. Lydia flails in the winds of Demetrioi, getting clobbered by a non-euclidian blizzard (Lydia is, at the very least, not looking closely at the snowflakes right now because she's busy being carried and clobbered by snow. "Mphglhkhkh...!"
By the time Lydia sets her down she has, in Secret of Mana style, turned into a snowman (noneuclidian). She even has buttons and a carrot nose (actually that might just be the remains of the carrot that Lydia fed Kaguya). You can see her horns poofing out of the snowman's head though.
Then Lydia shakes her body, shedding it all around her.
"...Yeah, I mean..." Lydia's cheeks silver faintly at KAguya. "You know I um. UH." She was pretty sure she was going to say something really cool before she got physically transported by Kaguya Express. "...I promised that day I'd do anything to help you. It's a shaman's job to pick up their slack and... You're my sister."
She looks to Ethius.
Ethius displays the most amount of emotion he's ever expressed. Meanwhile, Lydia seems to be doing her best Ethius impression.
"Don't worry Demetrioi." Lydia says. "Ethius is just bad about friendship you know, he needs lots of friendship lessons because he didn't read any young lady novels."
She cracks her knuckles. It probably takes her more effort to do that than the average person due to the confines of her physical construction.
"So I'm gonna beat some friendship bruises into him that he won't easily forget."
She starts at a slow walk and then moves into a run as that brief Ethius simulation fades into Lydia's true form.
She steps forward and suddenly lifts off the ground at a quick speed to armbar Ethius's throat, intending to drag him to the floor by pressing her arm against his throat and then swing it down hard.
"JAY ASKED YOU A MOTHER FUCKIN' QUESTION, ETHIUS! AND YOU BETTER SPILL ALL OR YOU'LL BE SPILLIN' YOUR GUTS!" Lydia shouts, eyes narrowed. "You think we like this HAAAAH? WE wanted to work together! We know you're more than just your fuckin' MISSION. You think I like wondering to myself if you helped save me because it was just a nice avenue to FUCK OVER SOLARIS instead of because you actually cared two shits about me?? You think that's fun for me, BUDDY?"
"So please," Lydia says, tears flowing again. "You think I like hittin' people I like or someting??? Maybe I shouldn't be liking you, maybe it wasn't REAL because when the chips came down to it, you just choose again and AGAIN AND AGAIN to hurt the people I like. Neriah didn't have to turn out bad, but you encouraged it didn'tcha? I'm not letting you hurt any more of my friends just cause you got a good side to ya."
"Cause everyone does." She says. "So you best get an education Ethius."
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Rabbit Heart! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Lydia Seren gains 57 THP from Regen! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Muscle Memory for 128 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Cyre H. Lorentz's Gathering Storm for 70 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty and Quick applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Lydia Seren's Rabbit Heart for 130 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer coughs and swats at the dust coating everything of hers, causing some... interesting problems even in the simple mechanisms. She spits to the side and secures her mask in place. Not even bothering to hide it behind her poncho as she's done for so long. "You're delusional if you think your mission means a thing to anyone or anything out here at this point." She slings the shotgun around as she darts forward, tail hooked to try and pull waht she's pretty sure is yet another machine running around while swinging high with the shotgun like it's a glorified baseball bat. It's cheap, what do you worry about.
As for the chaos going on around her? Well. Combat's one thing. Dragons, she's going to try and keep well clear of being stepped on. She'll worry about the dragon thing later. Partially because she remembers hearing it was a thing from the person in question longer than she'd care to admit ago and partially because you adapt and improvise or you get squished. Probably literally here.
"Was this your idea of a way back home?" she asks, trying to pull away, not wanting to interrupt anything else whirling around them, "You thought this would be how any number of us were going to break that blockade?" There's a bitter laugh. She'd actually had it in her head she COULD leave. Maybe even get this place some actual help. There's another baseball swing for the fences at that. Kind of sucks thinking you had a way out and got it snatched away. No one can see her real face right now so it's fine.
She stops herself from shouting out at the AI trying to 'help'. She's still convinced that chucking an EMP would solve a lot of problems, but that's neither here nor there. With it speaking like a child, that feels slightly wrong anyway.
Past Ethius, with people around, she calls out to Azoth, "He alright?" checking on Homer, whom she's still convinced is a glorified non-com at best. Evidence aside. Same question goes to the cluster around Kaguya, "You guys fine?" She's flipped the shotgun back around, trying to jab with it like it still had a bayonet attached to it. She's got nothing flashy, she's regretting not having anything flashy. She's going to be having a word with her colleagues here soon about things since... well. This.
There is a pause in her thoughts though. "Young lady novels?" Head canted. Weird thing to stand out. Just such an odd idea in general to her though. She snorts and murmurs to herself in a clearly self depricating tone.
"You really should talk though. Save me the effort of ripping it out." She's back to a serious tone now. She might be a touch angry.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied regards Venetia's powerful and inexorable anger as she brings forth her unique Stygian crest sorcery. Azoth comes to Homer's rescue, which is a relief, as she can't be in two places at once.
Avril is here as well, with singleminded certainty of what it is she has to do; sadly, she didn't find Cyre on the way, or she might've been able to help him with his own flight-based entry, but... sorry, moms can be a bit singleminded too in turn.
Riesenlied senses Ida through the same channel she does -- as Hyadeans; in this same way, Ida's own fury steels her own resolve, even if anger is not how she bares her fangs. (Oh, but there are fangs. Why does love wield a sword, after all?)
Lan arrives next to Lydia, then above her head and is fast in pursuit! The Ley Dragon gives her a little snarl of approval. And not unlike Ida, Gwen's own arm resonates with Riesenlied, as she encourages her onwards. And Jacqueline... Jacqueline's own frustration is at a boiling point, having handled Ethius for so long now. She feels for her. Xantia, too, is frustrated, and Juni feels she has an snwer.
And Ambrosius has arrived, protecting them with a wall of water. That's right. In a situation like this, they'll come together, having fought for so long.
Demetrioi greets her as a big friend. She would really like to be friends. That has never been in question. No matter its strange origin, and its contradictory nature to the Ley, to have helped Kaguya in such a manner...
Ethius speaks -- perhaps with more clarity than he has for a long while, given his amnesia and his secretive nature. A flame that he will take back... a flame that has burnt far more than he can allow.
In the midst of her dive, Magilou is there to protect Kaguya with her Spell absorber as well; there's a quiet mewl of gratefulness to the Sorceress Supreme, who Kaguya introduces to her. A jerk, like her! But she's here to help. The Ley Dragon isn't... blessed with the ability to speak (just raw physics and biology get in the way), but there's a powerfully echoed burst of empathy of:
<<Thank you, Magilou.>>
Lydia bashfully thanks her, and she has a soft mewl for her in turn. Kaguya, back on her feet, calls for Demetrioi to stop. That this isn't going to make anyone happy -- that Ethius is only using him to clean up the evidence. Her position is more precarious, now that Kaguya's out of her defensive perimeter, and thus she joins the battle proper.
Demetrioi's winds buffet her, and unfocused Ley energy literally oozes out of her body. But to Demetrioi, she focuses her own thoughts proper:
<<I would like... to be your friend too. But right now... so many people are hurting. Please listen to my daughter. This has to stop. Starting with him.>>
The Dragon turns, then, towards Ethius, and reflects on how long a journey this has been. Riesenlied has always had more sympathy for Ethius than others have; maybe too much. But it's worth noting that when they first met, she was operating under a cloak of lies too, in Adlehyde; and for a long time, she really couldn't fault how he behaved because of what he couldn't remember.
It didn't feel right to fault him for what he can't help. And maybe right now, it still isn't. And that's why her empathic thoughts are formed the way they are, right now:
<<Come back to us, Mister Hesiod.>>
Because it's painfully clear how reflective of the situation in a certain Adlehyde fairground this is, when his own true nature has been revealed, and how his objectives clash with theirs...
But it doesn't really change that what they have experienced together is no less real either.
The Ley Dragon's relatively tiny arms draw upwards to a cross; she begins to shudder as she focuses four powerful spheres of what very visibly look like glyphs of Fray -- something sorcerers like Jay or Venetia might be able to tell is very much like forcing Crest Sorcery on a raw, instinctual level.
And then her head whips forward, a breath of fire from the dragon still giving him quarter even after all's said and done, for they criss-cross and seek to trap him in a ring of flame rather than directly scorch him.
GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Percussive Maintenance! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Breath of Fray - Sigrun! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Juni Vandrer's Percussive Maintenance for 91 hit points! GS: Dispel! Cover, Mighty, and Riposte removed! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Breath of Fray - Sigrun for 242 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"You had a whole lotta time t'explain things, Ethius. Azoth's right; you had enough ties that I bet, if you wanted to, you could've explained it." Fine matter spreads in a cloud in Gwen's face, but she's already on the offensive.
The Mockingbird fires up with a sharp whirr, and with a snap of her fingers, it throws out a spark that ignites most of the dust in a quick ball of flame. It still manages to damage Gwen, if the sudden onset of 'burnt hair' smell is of any indication.
She'd be more impressed it worked if she wasn't feeling a little miffed at the whole situation. "You should've had more faith in us to find a solution that works out for everyone, after everythin' we've all been through. Sure, like I ain't some high degree scientist, but you just pissed off the few here who are."
Her ARM continues to sing its mechanical whirr, casting veins of pale yellow gold up the nerves of her right shoulder blade, then her neck, then the right side of her face.
"Demetrioi!" Gwen looks up towards the strange eldritch mechanism. "... You gotta power down, or you're gonna kill my friends! Somethin's off; you're not actin' the same as when we all first met. You have to be able t'understand when things are gettin' too heated, or you're gonna hurt the people you're tryin' t'help! Help us help you for a change, will ya?!"
GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Bounding Flight! GS: Gwen Whitlock has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock accepts Gwen Whitlock's Bounding Flight for 0 hit points! GS: Amplify, Hyper, and Quick applied to Gwen Whitlock!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia is probably among the most likely here to still be in some way sympathetic to her fellow amnesiac, as Azoth has pointed out. She knows what it's like - having memory issues, recalling things little bit by little bit, both the search and discoveries leading to feeling compelled to act in ways you would never have before. This has to be something like that, there's no other explanation that she can think of. If Ethius would only answer her question, she's certain she'd be able to understand - if probably still not actually agree with what he's doing.
Once again, Ethius neglects to do so. This is not helping to quell Xantia's frustration in the slightest. "What mission?" she demands, before she's engulfed in flame. She definitely didn't manage to dodge that one, and she doesn't emerge from it in short order. Yet, when the flames clear... Xantia is still standing there, now with a much paler complexion as she's become entirely wreathed in ice to counter the heat. She lets out the breath she'd been holding, its condensation visible in the low-temperature field that surrounds her.
"...You've changed," she concludes. "But you're not the only one."
Ducking low, she slides across the surface that freezes beneath her feet, leaving a rapidly evaporating trail behind her. One hand is drawn back, Xantia focusing her internal energy for one, singular strike in passing: a bitter cold palm strike, not just on the surface, but felt within as well, should it find solid purchase.
Though she kept her eyes on Ethius at all time, she did keep her ears open, picking up some scraps of conversation along the way. 'From the stars', she clearly hears Ida say. If that's true, then she may have little chance of fully understanding what motivates him. But that doesn't mean she'll stop trying.
With a graceful spin, Xantia whirls about after passing her target, to face Ethius down once more. "Will you please stop this already?" she shouts, more in frustation than anger. "Why don't you ever just talk to people? I just want to understand what you're doing! Tell me what you're trying to accomplish!" A moment later, she realizes this needs an addendum. "And say it in a way that makes sense! This is no time to be all mysterious about it!"
GS: Xantia has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Essence-Rending Palm Strike! GS: Xantia has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Of course I did. How long have we been traveling together, Ethius? How could you possibly think I wouldn't?" Jacqueline asks. She frowns, then. He says that he doesn't have the time, but that was the wrong thing to say. "...There was time. There's been time. The only reason there isn't time now is because you've refused to explain yourself at every turn!"
Unfortunately, Ethius isn't the only one here. There is someone else here watching them, listening to them. And they conjure a blizzard - perhaps to cool the emotions running hot right now. Jacqueline grimaces, bracing herself against the otherworldly snowstorm. It's... distracting, and confusing, but she pushes through it even against the chill.
Ethius makes a declaration. He shouts. A part of her is proud of him for being able to express that much emotion. ...But, the rest of her is still angry with him.
"No." She replies simply. "You aren't in any position to allow anything right now. You'll tell us about your mission and we will decide, as a group, how to proceed. What you are in the position to decide now is when you are going to stand down. Do you understand me, Ethius?"
She reaches into her bag and hurls a bottle at his feet, where it erupts in a plume of strength-draining but pleasant lavender cloud.
And she feels, too, a surge of Fray nearby. Her eyes are drawn, briefly, to where Riesenlied draws upon the power of the Ley. It may be forcing Crest Sorcery, in a way, but Jacqueline is proud of her all the same.
---"Of course. Take your time." Ambrosius replies with a nod, as Kaguya promises to explain what happened. He trusts her. And now, she is back on her feet, and she and the others chase after Ethius for answers. Ambrosius watches them go.
...Ambrosius has something of a chip on his shoulder regarding Ethius. He has been, as ever, a constant thorn in the side of him and his people. Right now, however, he is not here as a representative of the Veruni. There are others, he can tell, who have a greater claim to this. So, for now, he will set his own frustrations aside. He will not interfere - and, Ambrosius turns. He will not interfere, yes, and he will do what he can to ensure they are not interfered with so that they can find what they seek, whatever it may be.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Diminishing Draught! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Xantia's Essence-Rending Palm Strike for 87 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes a glancing hit from Jacqueline Barber's Diminishing Draught for 58 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod's Weaken Ward may block the effect! GS: Delay and Weaken blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Like Avril, Ethius is another of those who -- until recently at least -- had been without memory. There had been a time, before the business at Alcidamas and elsewhere, where she had felt a particular kinship for him (if also particular bemusement at his actions at times). That had of course changed after Alcidamas and had remained rooted there since.
So it is that she now bares her blade against him without so much as calling his name. If this is how he means to act against them, then she will not hesitate, whatever past kinship she might have felt.
There is another sort of stirring in her chest in any case -- trepidation. Fear. Deja vu. There are many colors for this feeling, and all of them are equally complicated and rootless. Or, rather...
Their source extends further into the darkness, further into the locked off memories and experiences of Avril the Lolithia, the Ice Queen, the Queen of the Veruni in days long gone. Something about this is almost...
And there is no time for it. For any of it. Kaguya lies afflicted and unless she acts--
Well, no. Of course she does not know what Ethius intends. None of them do. Pivoting away from Ethius as she closes, she sweeps her gaze wide just in time to see Riesenlied, in her form as a Ley Dragon, touch down. "Riesenlied, Kaguya is--"
Ice has an enemy, and that enemy is heat. Ice cannot help but accept warmth into itself, to be overcome and lose its stability. This is basic physics. Avril summons a barrier before out of reflex as Ethius casts that spell -- too close to him and the area of effect to properly escape or move around it, without a shield or rock to otherwise hide behind -- but alas, ice comes to only one end. It is consumed, and soon the burst of heat takes her as well. Her sword arm shakes for a moment and she takes one step backward.
"Why are you doing this, Ethius?" There, at last, she has more words for him. Her gaze casts sidelong to Xantia, her fellow amnesiac who likewise has taken up arms against their old comrade (of a sort).
"Xantia. He will not listen to us now. Wait for me, and follow," she says, and it might sound more an order than a suggestion. Avril bares her sword before her, tip turned towards the sky as if she were instead a sculpture and not standing on the battlefield. Small crystals of ice scatter in the air around her, catching the light...
...and she takes then in hand a stone Medium. "Material." It might be a little more difficult for a Guardian to act in this moment, through this haze. But Rigdobrite will try. "Ultradark Impact."
There is but a streak of pale yellow through the sky marking the meteor's passage as it falls, its matte surface failing to catch any ambient light as it comes plummeting down for Ethius. A good eye might spot many gleaming points from within the falling rock, but for the roar of its descent, there is little other immediate warning of its imminent strike.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Gloire! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has launched an attack Link! GS: Avril Vent Fleur accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Gloire for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Material - Ultradark Impact! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Avril Vent Fleur's Material - Ultradark Impact for 186 hit points! GS: Disrupt blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Kaguya finds her anti-semi-hazy-maybe-heroic wind of indeterminate count as she comes diving in. Ethius' reflexes are above and beyond what was witnessed prior as he takes a leap back from her spinning back-fist, clipping him upside the head and making him spin once in mid-air before touching down.
"You are standing to achieve the opposite," Ethius' voice trails off from dizziness and whiplash as he finds his back near a natural wall, where Venetia speaks of her own experience with 'star-men' friends. "The flame that's--" Nope, you don't talk over Venetia when she's calling for Filgaia, and a LANDSLIDE comes and envelops him, hurling him a great distance within its earthen embrace although the white coat seems oddly spotless for it. (On the outside.)
Lan intercepts him before he can get up, slapping the staff out of his hand for the moment as he's pulled into the air. He whirls once mid-flight to avoid getting boots to his chest, even as she grazes him. "I was never meant to be an acknowledged fixture!"
He touches down and claims his staff back as Magilou reflects the exceedingly strange power that defies classification - was it super-science, is it some advanced sorcery? Somewhere in between? Neither? Through her mastery she parses it through her own specialties, elemental orbs detonating across the Althenan spectrum of sorcery. His silhouette is scarcely visible. For his mastery of Symbology - it's possible with his present memories intact he might have made sport of some of Timotheus Lovelace's own works - Magilou is something beyond.
He staggers out of the wake of that. "I cannot gamble everything on your understanding," he defies certain death by her hands, with a strain in his voice as he steps forward. Ida meets him with accusations, and he deftly defends it with his staff... until he doesn't. Ida is too fast in hand-to-hand combat, and she can make her observations - critical ones that should be listened to! - unquestioned and unsilenced as she batters him enough that she doesn't need to leap back too far to avoid his reach as he's forced to a crouch by the snap-kick. (Homer signals to Ida briefly a 'yeah, I am,' as he staggers into some other debris. He'll be OK. Azoth's helping there!)
"I knew I recognized some of Miss Vuong's techniques," which is high praise for how she has adapted a completely foreign sorcerous discipline to her Crest Sorcery as he eyes Ida, "'who' they are does not matter to you - and they never will as long as I have a say," and there may be something in that voice the Dragon Tear picks up - heightened concern, again.
Azoth charges forward, a wayward fragmented weapon who attempts to engage in something much more personable in the moment, as Ethius engages a quick defensive Symbological spell to disperse and redirect the incredible heat that could've left disfiguring burns. Ethius is just human, and yet... "I cannot stand down for that reason."
He moves just as Cyre throws the bottle, ducking and moving ahead but that bottle's displaced air is enough to shove him across the length of the present field of battle, catching himself on some debris. "You are sorely mistaken if you are going to liken the Demetrioi to a pet dog."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Lydia, finding her center out of love and making it clear she, too, is going to oppose a man who has jerked her around time and time again. It's a strange likeness in the moment. Long, long ago, it was Lydia who hid her head from the world under a rock - where Ethius is now hiding his under a full head mask to do his level best to be an unpersonable thing. Lydia's able to armbar his throat to a nearby wall - and to watch her raging tears. Of all the things that he 'helped' happen--
She can't see his eyes. Maybe he's still staring, but there's a small electrical discharge to free him. The silence he gives may be cruel, in that moment, as he runs from that 'education.'
Juni goes on about a way back home, a way to break 'that barricade.' (Homer replies 'I'm alright!') Juni catches Ethius with the jabbed shotgun while he frees himself from Lydia's grasp. "You really thought you were being subtle with your Al Bhed 'disguise,'" Ethius allows himself that moment of sarcasm, but...
Riese surrounds him in rings of flame, and beseeches him, to those empathic thoughts. Empathic thoughts being one of the few things he genuinely fears and disdains - he's not aware of the limitations of her empathic reach but it has never stopped him from assuming the worst, as he defies her call to 'come back to us' by hurling himself through the flames, diving and rolling to put out the fires - but he is wordless.
He runs right into Gwen. "You misunderstand how much 'time' or what I 'can,'" and fortunately Gwen is keeping her distance to make sure her cybernetics are in tip-top shape after what he just did to her.
Xantia asks... 'what mission?' "The one you are presently endangering and interrupting me from," he's changed - but he's not the only one, as Xantia asks he stop as she slams that palm strike that saps body heat and fight alike. "It can never make sense--"
Jay will be heard. That everything will be decided by everyone here. (Meanwhile, as Ambrosius stares down interference, Lanval shakes a broken bottle indistinctly, and - inside the broken bottle - rolls along elsewhere.)
"I am afraid, Miss Jay, you do not understand the urgency that you stop interrupting--" He catches the bottle. He catches it a bit too hard, breaking open in his gloved hand as he waves away the vapours.
Ethius watches Avril's movements closely in wake of this, as she asks why he's doing this. "Because I must--" He misinterprets the motion for another swipe of the saber for, instead, a Material summon. Rigdobrite will hate their descent... but it was also Rigdobrite who bequeathed their Stone Medium to Ethius, long long ago. Ethius doesn't need to be ground zero when it craters the battlefield (eventually, forces of gravity are slightly wonky on its descent), hurling him backwards with Demetrioi a ways to his back.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
C i aM NNoooT maAAaddEE toO stooPp thaAt wooUllD LeeT aLL mmyYy FriEEnDs doWWn :o sSooo Iii mmmUUsTt trrRy hArdEeerRR unTtilL frIEEndS aRrE frrRIeenDS :o - That's to Kaguya.
C frRIEEendS aaRrEe FrieeEndsssS aARre FrrieeEEnddssS LaaAAan :o IfFFF theEEy doOO baAAd ThIIinnGs thaAAt CannOtt beeE rIiiGht TheeERRreE iIisS nnnoo ReeASSooN TooO :o - To Lan.
o IiiI caAANN ReevaLuuAattE modDEels as I keEEp gooOIiing :C IFf theErrE aaRee ErrORrss I WWiLL keeP fixxXInGg :C - To Azoth.
D NEeEwww FrrIEeendDd PleeAasSee bEEe haaPpY :o shOOWw TheeM iTT iSs okAay tO be HaaPppy wIttH ThiiS :D - This is to Riese, and while the words may be warm, there is something deeply alien and incompatible with her empathy. This thing is wrong to the Ley, and to high technology, and yet it only wants to help... can it be made to stop?1
o III haaVe nOOot chaAANggEd MmY paArameTtErrs :C I ammM funcTIoniNg CorrEctLy aNDD CorREctIng FurtheERRr :o - To Gwen.
The ground starts to violently rumble beneath them, displacing snow, ice, and everything else. Ethius struggles to hold as he once again engages whatever Symbological shield protects from the sort of energy emanations that Demetroi is putting out, so his ground is (in comparison) stable-ish. For Venetia, Magilou, Cyre, Gwen, Jay, Ida, and Avril... Venetia especially will notice that the ground's movements are extremely unnatural, like a child has decided plate tectonics is something you can make up as you go along, magnetic fields are completely out of whack... and those sensitive to the Ley may go 'oh curse words, no, stop' because this is starting to feel like a hard playful poke at the neck too close to the jugular.
C is Itt TheEE grOuuuNd theEE aIIrr oRrr FrIEEnds NnOT BeeINgg FrrIEENddS :o maAAybE i cAAn AssK neEW frriEEndS if thiSS doeS nOt SttooP *unintelligible* :S
"Do not address the Demetrioi further!" Ethius commands, and this is a harshness he seems to direct towards Riese specifically - a sole man against the enormous, powerful Ley Dragon - even if he's not privileged to her empathy towards Demetrioi. It's reactive, it seems even fearful. "Surge Bolt," he calls the completed spell as a powerful jolt of electricity threatens to... do mean things.
Off-handedly, he finishes gesticulating and quietly chanting another surge of electrical power off towards Juni. "Short!" A deft switch of the staff to his off-hand, and he repeats this with his main hand. "Short!" Both jolts reach out towards Azoth and Juni alike to try and - what else - short out sensitive equipment and preparations.
Another spin of his staff into both hands, he lunges to try and stick that into Kaguya - a moment of tactical desperation given her superior melee strength but he needs that element of surprise to get her off of him - to lift her up and try to hurl her away.
"There is nothing more for you to see or understand," he says as he masks the end of that sentence to cut a few syllables off the next spell. "Coronal Shell!" A blinding dome of light escapes him, but there's enough detritus from his shifting movement and positions that only Lan and Xantia are close enough to be struck blind by it. "There are some things you cannot afford to forget... and some you cannot afford to learn."
Lydia's the last one in the rotation that's close enough to him. A disquiet, a ceasing in his movements as he faces down the young woman he has helped to freedom several times over. "Rachiel--" He stops. A moment of tact, or a moment of pragmatism? He doesn't say it loud enough to suggest he wanted that to be heard, as he finishes the chanting and spellcasting to thrust more electrical power towards Lydia, to try and get it to dance between her various nanomachine clusters over and over. "Recurrent Current!"
He draws his hand back.
GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated a Boss Action! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Venetia Vuong with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Magilou with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Cyre H. Lorentz with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Gwen Whitlock with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Jacqueline Barber with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Riesenlied with Surge Bolt! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Azoth with Short! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Juni Vandrer with Short! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Kaguya with Stinger! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Lan Lilac with Coronal Shell! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Xantia with Coronal Shell! GS: Ethius Hesiod spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Lydia Seren with Recurrent Current! GS: Ethius Hesiod takes 24 damage from Poison! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Riesenlied suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's Surge Bolt for 163 hit points! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: CRITICAL! Venetia Vuong partially guards Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 111 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Venetia Vuong! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Kaguya solidly guards Ethius Hesiod's Stinger for 89 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 96 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 141 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Cyre H. Lorentz! GS: Lydia Seren takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Recurrent Current for 172 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Lydia Seren! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 134 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Azoth suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's Short for 137 hit points! GS: Dispel! Lock state removed! GS: Jam applied to Azoth! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Magilou takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 138 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Magilou gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Lan Lilac takes a glancing hit from Ethius Hesiod's Coronal Shell for 72 hit points! GS: Disrupt applied to Lan Lilac! GS: FP up! Evade bonus and Gleam activated! GS: Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 122 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Xantia partially evades Ethius Hesiod's Coronal Shell for 120 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disrupt applied to Xantia! GS: CRITICAL! Juni Vandrer takes a solid hit from Ethius Hesiod's Short for 206 hit points! GS: Dispel! Hyper removed! GS: Jam applied to Juni Vandrer! GS: Gwen Whitlock partially evades Ethius Hesiod's !! WARNING !! Impossible Tectonic Phenomena for 90 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Gwen Whitlock gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya watches Magilou's fuckoff-powerful spell let loose, and takes an instant to whistle, watching as the admittedy very satisfying magic takes effect. It's nice. it's really nice. "Hey," Kaguya says to Magilou, "Gimme a break, I was like, half-dead!" But she laughs anyway. But she's up there with Lan, shortly after. Lan, and Lydia too. Not for the first time, Kaguya considers making Riesenlied a vocalizer for this form. She should do that. But to Lydia, Kaguya says, "...I remember. Thanks. I'm..." She starts, "We can talk about this later. Assuming there is a later. And if there's not, I'm glad you're here."
To Juni, Kaguya calls, "Doin' fine except for the world ending! Got any ideas about that?" And Avril... Avril is as cool as ever. In more ways than one. "Avril!" Kaguya calls. "The Veruni aren't involved in this! I'm here on my own! ...And so is Ambrosius!"
But Demetrioi... is not made to stop. Pain flashes across Kaguya's face, and it is not physical this time. She calls to Azoth, "You see what I mean! His objectives can't be achieved! ...The programming is flawed! You made me realize that--" Tears sting from the sides of her eyes as she cuts off, shaking her head suddenly.
The ground rumbles. Kaguya narrows her eyes at Ethius. As it turns out, Ethius is able to shove Kaguya away--but not take her out. She is knocked backward, even as she says, "Bullshit! This is MY world, asshole! Mine, and Lan's, and Risenlied's, and that sorceress Vuong, and these peoples'! ...And yeah, the Guardians', too!"
Finally--finally, after this entire fight, as she sees Ethius forced back, does she gamble on pulling her ARM. The TK-38K is a beautiful ARM, mostly white, with black accents, resembling vaguely a shotgun but only as a legendary sword resembles a dagger. Its pearlescent form shines as Kaguya loads up a cartridge into its waiting chamber, cla-CLACK, and puts both hands on it to point at Ethius.
"...I don't even think we want different things," she says softly. "I know what has to be done. I do. ...And you can't do it alone. And if I have to put a hole in you to get you out of the way, then that's what I'll do."
"...But damn," she says, "It'd be so much easier if I could just hate you."
Kaguya's ARM whines suddenly, charging with light as motes of energy flow into the barrel, through its vents. A ball of light collects at the barrel, and Kaguya, barely able to hang on even with her superior Veruni strength, points the Locus Solus ARM directly at Ethius.
"Take this, my invention! The power of the TK-38K! REVOLUTION TRIGGER!"
A column of explosive power barrels forward.
GS: Kaguya spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Kaguya has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Revolution Trigger! GS: Kaguya has gained 2 Combo! GS: Kaguya's stances have changed from Stoic to Hero! GS: Kaguya gains 64 THP from Regen! GS: Kaguya has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Mission, mission, mission, and things he can't remember - things he can't forget - and things that shouldn't ever be learned. Lan is struck by the memory of a sterile place, advanced even beyond Solaris's technology, and the wanting ache of being denied something she'd wanted. Unbidden, her right hand comes up to dig gently at the skin of her left upper arm. "It was a tree," she remembers, breaths steady and fast.
That was Ethius's dream. She knows it.
Demetrioi is speaking again. And he's never sounded worse.
'Do not address the Demetrioi further!' Lan scowls at him. Just full on unhappy face. Because Demetrioi doesn't understand. And maybe it never can understand. But it's in pain, or a really good impression of pain, and since meeting Azoth Lan hasn't been sure if there's really a difference between those two things anymore.
Her mouth firms into a line, and Lan decides that Ethius just... isn't as important, right now. But he'll try to stop her first, so she lifts both hands to weave a sign like wings. From her breastbone emerges a thing that divides, and flutters dizzily, swarming Ethius and splattering themselves against him, over and over and over. "Gwen, Ida - keep him busy, okay?" she requests, as soon as she's close enough again for either girl to hear her.
And then Lan turns, haring off past them all. With every ounce of strength and speed in her long legs, she runs.
Past Azoth and Homer. Past barriers and flames. Through the howling snow.
"Demetrioi," Lan begs, sliding to a kneel at the base of... it's hardly a tree anymore, not really. "Demetrioi, you have to stop." She throws her arms around the trunk, partially because that's what you do when a friend is sick, and partially because he really hurts to look at. "Demetrioi, just for a little while. You're trying too hard. What about us... aren't your friends supposed to take care of you, too?!"
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Lan Lilac has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth! GS: Lan Lilac has gained 3 Combo! GS: Lan Lilac has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Kaguya's Revolution Trigger for 259 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated! GS: Kaguya drains Ethius Hesiod! Kaguya gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Lan Lilac's Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth for 151 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Interrupt applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Delay and Drowsy blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.
Venetia's eyes cut towards Ida as Ethius, despite, you know, all of that, gives her a shout-out. She can't quite help it. She tilts her head back for a moment. Her jaw tightens.
"Forgive me if my reasoning is impaired by my SPITTING FURY, but if I'm understanding you right, this is some sort of LITERALLY forbidden knowledge - not a metaphorical one, but some actual fact or truth we come near to discovering, SOMEHOW," Venetia thunders outwards. "And if I infer correctly, this is NOT needed to travel the stars or to not have a ****ing world dying underneath your feet!"
To be fair, of course, Venetia knows full well what caused the problem, but that was something unrelated. Venetia certainly isn't going to interrupt herself when she's rolling. Who else would dare?
But the ground -
- No, Venetia realizes with sudden terrible clarity. "Demeitroi!" she shouts. "You're not helping! Stay your hands! Your actions, I mean! If this festering idiot won't wipe the pus and dust out of his eyes to speak plain, then all you're going to do is leave yourself with fewer friends--"
And that's when a crevice catches Venetia's leg. She sinks downwards, toppling, nearly smashing her head against the pavement. Instead she wriggles without dignity, pulling, rolling, moving somewhere more stable in a flurry of skirts. "Tch!" she says, especially when she tries to hop back up and ends up -- stumbling. Where she was hurt, before... Dinoginos, she thinks. That leg. How bad was it really?
"Might as well have the courage to kill us all yourself if you're just going to strip this hope from us, you arrogant bare-face," Venetia says with venom in her voice because she can be cruel and mean easily while thinking about something else. This power has caused her a number of problems in life, well before she met anyone present; but here, at least, it gives her a mote of space...
By every hell, Venetia thinks, I can't just blast him. This is why Armitage was so casual about the prospect! She probably made some attempt at the same idea herself! Now I know all its *limitations*... 'Star Blazer' would need him to be completely distracted or otherwise held in place.
Venetia narrows her eyes but: No, a further thought tells her: And besides, he'd never be able to reveal all he knows if I reduced him to vapor.
I have to play this right, Venetia thinks. This is the kind of moment *I* found these things with. As Venetia reaches into her crest pouch, the phrase from the moral inculcation lessons for freshmen rings through her mind, the phrase with an ominous portent now that she knows who Vakero Bulman really was: With great power, there must also come great duty--
"Try this one!" Venetia shouts, as she flourishes up the Crest Graph while getting - slowly - back up to her feet. The spell is hopefully cover enough. The gathering breath of the Ley rises above her and coalesces into something quite pedestrian looking - a full retort from a metalworking plant...
Which tilts forwards... and swoops low, twisting as it does, dropping long streaks of molten bronze that spark on impact, deep shallow sweeps with a final last minute oblique-oval of a dump as the spell's will reaches its end, however much spite and meta-thallium went into it. All things must end, don't they?
But she doesn't, QUITE, try to hit Ethius with it.
Instead, to close him in. To complicate his life. And if he does get a faceful of sparks-- well, she's not in the sweetest mood right now (as established previously).
GS: Venetia Vuong has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Venetia Vuong has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Foundry Sign ~The Statuary Garden~! GS: Venetia Vuong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Venetia Vuong has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"I don't think it's a good idea to gamble everything on present company's capacity for violence, either!" Azoth tries to argue, gesturing to the, well, everyone present. But lifting a palm to hide the fact he is pointing to Venetia in particular.
Yet Ethius remains resolute. He understands everyone's frustration at his stubbornness. They can't understand. Azoth doesn't either... which tells him critical data is still missing. Whatever it is, Ethius acts without regret.
...Can the rest of them, himself included, without that same knowledge?
There is little time for musing. Short crackles out, and when all you are is a potentially sensitive piece of equipment...
Azoth convulses, shrieking an inhuman, digital sound, like a mechanical beast being dragged into a grinder. The veins of light seem to leap from his body in violent sparks, and his neon glow turns a deep, brutal crimson. Invisible strings temporarily cut, Azoth drops to his knees, eyes red and sputtering as he covers one side of his face with a hand, all that serves to hold it up.
A sharp reminder he's a machine, in case anyone's forgotten.
Kaguya calls to him as his body sparks and smokes. He jerks his head up toward Kaguya. Azoth made her realize. Flawed programming. An objective that can't be reached. "No," he says, quiet with a glitched reverb. "No..." Is that a protest... or an artificial intelligence recognizing the truth of those words, every calculation slipping further toward a despairing conclusion?
Azoth's eyes and joints flood with light. "Why is being deleted the only option when we don't turn out how anyone planned...?"
Glitched energy crackles in erratic arcs and bursts from his body. He hugs onto himself, as if that might contain the swell of it. It won't.
"Everyone... just... STOP!"
Digital anguish erupts from Azoth, a wave of glitched blades, spears, and other siloutte's tearing up through the ground, lashing out in blind violence. Luckily for most of the battlefield, it's still Ethius who remains the primary target.
GS: Azoth has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Azoth has attacked Ethius Hesiod with exec.ERROR Fatal Exception! GS: Azoth has gained 1 Combo! GS: Azoth gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Mute expired! GS: Azoth has completed his action. GS: Gamble: Low! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Venetia Vuong's Foundry Sign ~The Statuary Garden~ for 166 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Azoth's exec.ERROR Fatal Exception for 337 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated! GS: Strain! Azoth takes 39 damage! GS: Juni Vandrer has activated Force Action: Full Clip!
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer gives Ethius a look that says she's questioning his intelligence. "It's not exactly hard to see through." She's well aware of how questionable her disguise actually is. Still, he's dangerous, he's doing nasty things to the world they're all kind of stuck on and there's another AI that's trying its best to go critical. That is an AI right?
When the sparks fly, she grits her teeth. Her gear is hardened, but it is definitely forcing a reboot and you know, left smoking fur on end behind as she's flung back, landing in a tumble. Doesn't matter. "We're stuck here you idiot." She gestures around, "You aren't leaving. I can't leave. None of us can and mots of them-" she points, "Won't. I've decided to make the best of a bad situation and I find you doing the opposite." She shoots Homer a glare briefly, "You and I are having a talk after this. I might need to break a few things." before lining up the shotgun and firing as she walks towards him.
First shot, a roar, "I thought as long a shot as it was-"
A second shot, "I was going to do my best to try to help this place-"
A third shot and a fourth, the pump grinding, "Despite the absolute mess of a catastrophe that my mission has been." She puts the final shot down range and throws the empty and damaged shotgun at Ethius for emphasis. Her survial axe now pulled free from its hiding spot beneath that poncho.
With the ground rumbling and the reaction from the more magically attuned sorts present, she shouts, "We're running out of time on this. Make your call." at Kaguya in particular. Grip adjusted on the axe, grimacing as Azoth cries out that frustration. "Doesn't always work that way does it." a quiet response. Too late. And in her head, she's messed up again. Playing bad odds, playing bad information. She'll have to stop that .
GS: Juni Vandrer spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Juni Vandrer has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Slam Fire! GS: Juni Vandrer has gained 1 Combo! GS: Juni Vandrer has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.
It certainly does feel like the world is ending. The awful, gut-churning shock hits Cyre harder than the upending of the very laws of geology (the opposite is likely true for one Venetia Vuong). "Ghhh--" he staggers, earth seizing around him like a vise. Bones grind against stone, something pops uncomfortably. Cyre fights to take in anything approaching a decent breath. "Eth...ius...!"
This whole mess. THIS WHOLE MESS is because somehow he brought Demetrioi to Filgaia. It's infuriating. Doubly so because he's not even sure he can be angry-- if the man really was missing his memories, how could he be? If he was lying because of a gun held to his head, how could he be?
But none of that matters. Because the world is ending.
The world is ending because a child desperately wants his friends to stop fighting. What happens when it knows nothing it can do will stop this? It'll keep reaching, further and further and further. How much can Filgaia withstand?
How much can this shaman withstand...?
"You... Don't you get it...?" Cyre wheezes, the stone seizing ever tighter around him, stealing more room, more breath, with every moment that passes. "You're not the one who gets to make that choice. Nobody here... Nobody here subscribes to whatever rules you're following. I know you, Ethius Hesiod. You... you were always a dick, you know that...?"
"But--"
The wind... howls.
The ley strains. Demetrioi turned its attention to the earth-- and for a brief moment, relinquished the air. It surges towards the shaman as he calls, blasting the crushing, seizing rock to grains of sand. "You always-- it seemed like you always had the best in mind for us. So whatever it is you can't tell is, I know it's 'cause you think it's for our own good. Too bad--"
The stone... cracks.
Fractures.
Shatters.
"--If you'd paid any attention to Filgaia's history, you'd know we're a bunch of self-destructive morons!" Cyre yells, bloody, wet fluid sputtering out the corners of his mouth. "We wouldn't do what's 'good for us' if the twin moons came down and shouted it at us! You should know that by now! And you should know that there's no way in hell we're letting anyone try and save the world alone anymore. You should know we drifters're way too selfish for that! What would happen if you failed and got yourself killed, huh? If you're the only one who can stop this!? We'd all be fucked!"
The wind, tinged red with the shaman's own blood, blazing with the ley of the shaman's very own life, spirals 'round his arm, the flesh distending and growing, surging with emerald light. Every moment of channeling this power is agony, but every moment of trying to move with a crushed ribcage is agony anyway so what's even the difference at this point? The right hand of Fengalon conjures Fengalon's right hand and lunges straight for his erstwhile friend...
"So stop being a damn fool and tell us how to help you save our world already!" ...And goes to punch him right in the jaw with perhaps a little too much (hurricane-grade) force, "Gods above, it's like you haven't learned a damn thing since you came down here, you thick-headed, numbskulled, paranoiac, wyvern puppet ass-end masterclasser!"
GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Cyre H. Lorentz has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Tornado Fang! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cyre H. Lorentz has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Ethius says that she doesn't understand the urgency that she stop interrupting... something. She interrupted his words, and maybe what he said was going to be important, but she's heard enough already.
"Damn it, Ethius, OF COURSE I DON'T!" Jacqueline roars, tears streaming down her face. "How am I supposed to understand a damn thing when you won't explain any of it!?"
The ground rumbles and Jacqueline can feel it - both physically, as the ground beneath her feet becomes unstable and strange, and in her Ley senses as she feels an uncomfortable pressure. It nearly threatens to bowl her over, but... She presses forward pushing herself forward, fueled by a mix of rage and determination.
"You always do this! You always think you can handle everything by yourself! Look at where that got you, Ethius! If you just told us everything from the start, we wouldn't be here FIGHTING EACH OTHER instead of addressing what's so important! It isn't your place to decide what we can't know! That's something we need to decide for ourselves! We're not children who need to be sheltered!" She shouts. She forces her way through, through ground that refuses to act as ground, through the silhouettes of glitching weapons, until she's right up in Ethius's face, right arm reared back. "If your mission is that important, that urgent... then TRUST US, DAMN IT!"
And then her fist flies, aiming right toward Ethius. But she's a Crest Sorceress, not a martial artist. There's only so much damage she can do with a single punch. But it isn't about hurting him, because even now she doesn't really want to hurt him - it's about expressing her feelings in the most direct way possible.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Unleashed Emotions! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Please, Lydia thinks. Stop. Stop it. I don't like this.
Slowly the mask of Ethius is cracking. She can see that much. That almost fear he has of Riesenlied connecting to Demetrioi. Well, it's not entirely news to Lydia that despite how Ethius might try otherwise, he is still a PERSON who can care about things and people and others and whatnot. That's actually part of the problem, isn't it? He can be these things but he treats it as something he endures.
At least her family is here, she thinks, at the end of the world. Ethius despite the attempts of half the people here has decided to go into the end of the world alone. Kaguya asusres her she remembers.
The kind of strength of a true friend, one who stuck with you through thick and thin--that's something Ethius would not allow.
"Yeah, we can talk later." Lydia smiles at Kaguya. "I'm just glad...you're okay. I was so worried."
She takes in a breath and lets it out slowly but in te end there is a truth that she has to face here. About herself and about Ethius.
Electricity pumps into her. Electricity is not good for her body. It's durable enough and malleable enough that a simple shock isn't gonna wreck it, but at the end of the day she is made of machines. Her left arm erupts into silver good as the discharge of power courses through her--but is largely shunted off to that portion of the body to minimize catastrophic harm.
Lydia stumbles back.
Rachiel.
Lydia hears the name but she doesn't know what Ethius thinks about her. Or about HER, really, in the end. And she thinks she knows why.
"Y'know Ethius, I don't like hurting people and telling 'em its for their own good." She shakes her head. "Every time you make me do these things, I think 'Boy am I fucked up. Even though I'm so goddamn fortunate that I have Kaguya and Riesenlied in my life, I still can't escape what my parents taught me.', you know that?"
"Every time they'd hit me or scold me or they'd ask me to do something that broke me because it was for my own good, I felt like shit and I swore I'd never be like that. But I tried what Riesenlied taught me, I tried what Kaguya tuaght me, I even tried what you taught me. I'd rather live in the world where friends get to be friends and sure there's a fight here and there but at the end of the day you push through it together. That's the kind of life I wanted and you said I got to choose my life."
"And you're my friend too, dummy!!" Lydia says in a sudden burst of anger that fades quickly. "But I think I get it now. It's presentation, isn't it? For me it was growing my hair out and puttin' on a bra but for you it's being this stonecold mission focused jerk."
"But that's not you," Lydia says. "That isn't who you are, Ethius. This--" She gestures with both her hands. "What you're wearing, Ethius, it ain't you."
"Because what you're presenting is what your dumb space crime family gave you, right? It's easier for us to see that then for us to see what you really are."
She closes her eyes a moment, pulling off her bandana for a moment from her eyes. Once she opens them again she stares right at Ethius.
"I'm looking at you." Lydia tells him sternly but not unkindly. "I see you. Not what your people made you into, but who you really are. You care about people who are suffering, you don't want people to suffer and die. You look after people when they're suffering heartbreak."
"And no matter how many times you tell me not to look at you..." Lydia says softly. "I won't stop looking at you."
She walks to him, recalling Ginny's words to her that fateful day with Castle. "We'll accept you no matter what you look like." Maybe this is metaphor more than literal.
She slides a foot back.
"So stop."
She clenches a fist.
"TRYING TO BLIND US!"
She swings that fist hard for Ethius's face, a simple strike. It's just a punch. But Lydia has hit Ethius in the head enough times and she hopes that this will be the last time.
She's so tired of feeling her parents in her movements. She is so tired of being forced to fight her loved ones.
"I know... it's tough to trust others. And I'm still workin' on it. Maybe we can work on it together, okay? It can be messy. We can be our messy selves..."
Her arm drops to her side. The rage has faded as quickly as it comes. It never sticks around long to her.
What did Lan tell her once?
That she can't seem to get mad. She just gets sad instead?
Lydia isn't there yet but...if it's between those two...
It isn't such a bad way to be. And even if she can't be as kind as her mother--as infinitely forgiving.
She still wants to try.
"Take that...false face off."
"Come into the light and let us see you."
GS: Lydia Seren has attacked Ethius Hesiod with A Lionhearted Girl! GS: Lydia Seren has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lydia Seren takes 28 damage from Poison! GS: Lydia Seren gains 58 THP from Regen! GS: Mute expired! GS: Lydia Seren has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Cyre H. Lorentz's Tornado Fang for 282 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Strain! Cyre H. Lorentz takes 66 damage! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Juni Vandrer's Slam Fire for 198 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Jacqueline Barber's Unleashed Emotions for 115 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
The Ley Dragon has empathy, and that's exactly why Magilou isn't terribly worried about Riesenlied, even given Lunar's Experience Of Dragons. "Don't worry about it," she asides, back to her, and that sharp schism between what she feels and what she acknowledges within herself --
Well, that's a whole can of worms. Anyway.
She grins, too easily, to Kaguya. "Excuses!" Being half-dead would normally be considered a pretty good excuse, but Magilou's a jerk, as introduced.
She is listening, though, as Kaguya insists Demetrioi's programming is flawed. "Trying pretty hard, huh... too bad it's trying reality's patience, just the same." She reflects on what Demetrioi -- first name 'The'? -- told her, when she first arrived here. She shrugs, and calls out, to the impossible tree: "Not your fault, kid."
Even as the Ley screams, and the earth opens up beneath them. Magilou hops back, onto the side of a rising stone, but the geometry is different still from her usual impossibilities; in an eyeblink her strange movements skip, and she's falling into a gouge of the earth. "YIPE!" Magilou yelps, as she disappears forever.
Just kidding: she flies out, a moment later, on a shikigami.
If it was that easy to get rid of her, she'd be gone already!!
She comes to rest on something like solid ground, turning to Ethius -- Ethius, who is still standing after Tetra Detonator. "Impressive," Magilou grants him, grasping her shikigami in her hand. "Since you're still standing, I'll forgive you... but you're still really getting on my nerves."
She pauses, and stops, to hop-step out of the way of Fatal Exception's errors, those dozen-dozen glitched blades. "Azoth," she calls to him, a sharp edge to her own voice. "Get a grip, Azoth!"
Magilou finds a place to stand, and turns back to Ethius -- and everyone wants to punch him, she reflects, vaguely. Magilou isn't much for punches, herself, because she's a sorceress, and when it came time to choose her sub-job she just picked sorceress again. This does not, mind you, mean she has no way to smack him.
"Now!" Magilou invokes, lifting her shikigami to the sky. "Rise!" And it does, stretching to the length of her body... "Arise!" ... up into the tortured sky, far, far up enough for the air to still... "Ascending Angel!" ... until she brings the whole thing DOWN on Ethius's head, with an earth-shuddering impact.
GS: Magilou has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Magilou has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Magilou has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Ascending Angel! GS: Magilou has gained 2 Combo! GS: Magilou has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Low! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Ascending Angel for 221 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
That had been something she had, in fact feared -- that this was all by Veruni will, or more specifically, by Volsung's will. But that fear had begun to abate somewhat as she had met with Yue and Ambrosius on this very mountain judging from their behavior and comments. Now Kaguya confirms it: Veruni were certainly involved, but the Veruni were not.
"I understand. Thank you," she says, pausing for that moment on her advance. "I know what you had been attempting, Kaguya."
But.
It never
"...The objectives would have never...?" she starts and stops.
would have
"...Oh," Avril voices quietly. She closes her eyes. "Oh, I see. Such a goal cannot..."
succeeded. So says the thing in the shadows.
Just like the last time. The first time. The--
The ??ground?? trembles and it is all that Avril can do to keep from falling to her knees as the jolt to the Ley seems to run right through her as if she were a grounding rod rather than a person. Standing here is not safe. So she ceases to do that at all and leaps upwards, twisting about in the air as the ground undegoes a sickening lurch centered near enough to that place she had been occupying just moments before.
Demetrioi is... dangerous. That had been true before, but now it has never been clearer. Is this what...?
She levels the now empty hilt of her blade at Ethius as she completes her twist, still floating in the air. One gloved finger slides around the trigger and here, as she begins to fall, Avril fires. It's just one single shot of sizzling plasma, every bit of power that would normally charge the weapon's beam whip. But perhaps it might be enough to make her point to Ethius clear.
"They are correct. What is it that you are capable of alone, Ethius, that we cannot assist you in it?" she asks more plainly as she at last lands, her skirts fluttering about her. "I believe everyone else here is asking you the same. You have a choice: we shall assist you, or we shall push you aside. Which will it be?"
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Formation! Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Javelin Bullet! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Avril Vent Fleur's Javelin Bullet for 172 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Shieldbreak applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
A lock of hair pulls free of Ida's bun, dropping across her sweaty brow. "'If I have a say,'" she says, half-enraged, half-exasperated. It's difficult to keep track of Ethius as he fights the others while Demetrioi is wreaking havoc, but Ida... manages. Mostly. "As if you had any RIGHT!" She has to leap over roots and dodge anomalous snowfall, but she sticks close to the 'outside-context spook'. Is she doing this to keep pressing him, or so she can yell at him?
Why not both?
"FOR GOD'S SAKE, HESIOD, GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE AND TALK! Or ar we all just BENIGHTED SAVAGES who aren't WORTHY of the WISDOM OF THE STARS?! DEAN BULMAN would DECK YOU, AND YOU'D DESERVE IT!"
Demetrioi speaks. The anger clears--or, more accurately, passes from 'the storm' to 'the eye'--as Ida hears, once again, that familiar logic. A flawed objective. A mission that cannot be completed. And Azoth sees it too.
Ida watches as Ethius turns his anti-ARM sorcery on an ARM that she would argue is both alive and capable of experiencing suffering. She flashes back to that quiet night on the Fahrenheit's deck, and the long hours spent in jail in Bevelle. He's been there for her, time and time again, and the worst part is he might not have the choice. The alternative might be so much worse.
"AZOTH!" Ida rushes towards the android, only bringing herself to stop short when she sees he's venting that awful energy. His eyes are red, glitching. He's in agony. Ida goes for her flightsuit's belt-pouch and pulls out a length of wiring. She twists the copper of one end into a peg, jams it into the churning earth, and races forwards to sink the other end into the back of Azoth's neck. If she does this wrong, she could be electrocuted as well.
Instead, Demetrioi happens. The earth kicks up beneath Ida's feet, bucking violently. It sweeps her into the air, and batters her. Chunks of rock slam into her sides. But she stays conscious, and reorients on Ethius, at his place in the melee. She has no more words for him, just a cry of raw rage and sorrow. Ida plummets out of the sky like a meteor, fist blazing. A shockwave splits the air behind her. Demetrioi is suffering and in agony and might need to be killed before they kill the world. Azoth has computed that possibility many times over.
One life for one world. The calculus isn't nearly so glamorous when it's put into practice. Part of Ida hates Ethius for being able to do it.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Unbroken Lotus Fist! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 2 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unbroken Lotus Fist for 340 hit points! GS: FP up! SOS Overdrive and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Jacqueline much vocalises the frustrations that she would have too, because the times things have gone so wrong in Riesenlied's life... it was when she couldn't communicate. She really is the one who gets him best, in all of these years. Xantia herself much understands how Ethius might think or feel, so if only he'd communicate; oh, this really does come down to such.
Avril calls out to her, and she nods in turn, her intent clear: to no end will she see harm come to her daughters. Or her friends. But so too does she feel her resolve, of what she's settled for herself; unless she acts...
Venetia rightly calls on just how much Ethius has taken from Filgaia, in regards to how he's taking something back. It's a very good point, and coached on the truth that he very much is part of Filgaia now, no matter whether he likes it or not.
Magilou's spell is truly powerful, indeed; it's in part through her power that Kaguya's still with them today, no doubt, but what is her stake here? She's pleased to see that her daughter has such a wonderful friend, so suited for her, though.
And as Ethius speaks, the Dragon Tear shimmers -- where it's now embedded in her chest in this form. That sense of heightened concern. Of immense fear. Part of it is his fear of the empathic, too, and he literally hurls through her flames, prompting a disappointed look on her face. If... you can tell how dragons look if they're disappointed.
For a moment, Riesenlied is distracted as Demetrioi contacts her. The words are warm, and yet there is something truly alien and incompatible with her... it is wrong to the Ley, but...
...
...
Once, the Guardians thought her 'wrong' to the Ley, to them, too. It was only by some miracle sliver of a chance that they let her prove herself, and now she has become part of the world greater than she ever would have thought.
This story has repeated itself over and over again.
The Veruni and Filgaia's rejection. The Tainted. Mother. The Prophets, even, not too far back.
However, Demetrioi starts to shake the very earth that they stand on, and her sensitivity to the Ley definitely has her hissing and screeching for a moment. It is childlike. This being has so much control over the world, and yet it doesn't understand how to stop or understand what it's doing wrong...
...
...
But it doesn't mean Riesenlied will just give up on them. Ethius' bolt slams against her side and she has a somewhat high-pitched mewl of pain, nearly collapsing to one side but still standing on strong feet. More and more Ley leaks out of her body, threatening to undo her transformation, but she must hold.
And to this end, she projects her thoughts out for everyone loud and clear, since she cannot vocalise:
<<I cannot do that, Mister Hesiod. Do you reject Demetrioi because it is alien to the world? Every fibre of my being speaks to how it is 'wrong' to the Ley, however... however I, too, was once 'wrong' to the Ley! Rejecting something 'alien' to the world has only brought misery to Filgaia, with my people, with the Veruni! And look at where our cooperation has brought us Hyadeans! It is as Miss Vuong said: you too have become part of Filgaia! There is no such arbitrary line as to what 'should' belong to a world and not!>>
Kaguya finds her words -- that Demetrioi's objectives can't be achieved. The programming is flawed. And much like what she says -- this is their world... and the Guardians too!
If only they could just hate him. It would be easier, and yet...
Doing the right thing is not easy, oftentimes.
Lydia speaks of how she doesn't like to hurt people and tell them it's for their own good -- because it reminds her of her childhood, her parentage. She'd rather live in the world where friends get to be friends. What Ethius is wearing... it's not Ethius.
Kaguya's shown her resolve through her invention, and thus, Riesenlied will join her... join her, as her wings spread out to the fullest they will go. The Ley Dragon rises, even shocked as she is from Ethius' Symbology, and cranes her neck down. It... is time.
Breaking the cardinal law of Dragon -flare attacks, the very fabric of the Ley in the very peak of Mt. Liverfeast changes but for a moment as she expels a blinding, indefatigable light from her mouth--
But this isn't the erasing light that once vaporised Alhazred, the shadow that still strikes fear in her. This isn't the erasing light that once struck Bishop Stone, in the wake of such mad science.
That was 'her' Anima Flare.
No, what happens here is...
-beat-
-beat-
She can sense it.
The very heartbeat of the world. For a moment... she is one with the Ley, standing in silhouette against the very nature of the earth; where her feet are planted, she can feel every air current, every sweltering rise from underneath Mt. Liverfeast's caldera; the flow of every babbling stream that flows from this mountain.
In response to Demetrioi...
Riesenlied takes hold of the Ley by becoming one with it, just for a few precious seconds. For just a few moments, the breath of the world is her breath. As she gazes upon Jacqueline unleashing her emotions through her Crest Gauntlet... as Venetia continues her barrage to box Ethius in with her retort. As Lan continues to beg Demetrioi, striking Ethius with a weave of butterfly wings. As Magilou summons a big shikigami to go splat on Ethius' head.
...
She breathes and blinks as one, as Azoth begs for everyone to just stop -- digital anguish erupting from him, a wave of glitched blades and spears... and understands his fear: why is being deleted the only option, when we don't turn out how anyone planned?
...
Juni speaks of making the best of a bad situation, and how Ethius is doing the opposite. As Ida speaks of if they aren't worthy o the wisdom of the stars, bringing up Dean Bulman once more. Cyre rings out his frustration with his own fist, speaking to their own self-destructive history and how no one can do it on their own. And Avril... boils it down to two such simple choices.
...
<<I know full well what you are feeling right now, Mister Hesiod.
You aren't rejecting us out of anger or malice... but out of concern and fear.
But... fear has always had a way of separating us.
I know well how much fear can control you...
It's time to let that go.>>
For just a few moments more... she reaches out to take the Ley itself in her hands. The Ley, in her hands, so that Demetrioi can't affect it; it's hers now for a few moments, sorry, she seems to be saying. Hopefully in those few little moments, everyone trying to calm Demetrioi down will get through. Because she isn't an operating force here...
<<Demetrioi, dear... please listen to these people. I do not know if you can.
It is as Kaguya says. You wouldn't be letting us down. You've worked so, so
very hard... would you rest, just for a bit, and listen to what we have to
say?>>
She's just here to try to let that little shimmer of hope happen.
Because really, of course, it's not 'hers'. Why, it's...
GS: Riesenlied has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Riesenlied has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Formation! Riesenlied has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Shimmer! Our Anima Flare! GS: Riesenlied has gained 1 Combo! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Riesenlied's Shimmer! Our Anima Flare for 395 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
"Lan, are you...?" Gwen makes a face, realizing instantly what Lan is aiming to do. "... Be careful, okay? You do *not* get out of our promise by doin' this, y'hear?"
Lan could do what Gwen couldn't; not that Gwen felt the need to hug Demetrioi the same way Lan is, but her doing the same act could go very, very badly, with how the Mockingbird is constantly hungry for energy to grab onto.
Ethius's commands of 'Short' make the clockwork underpinnings of Gwen's heart move just a little faster. She has to keep away from him, or else--
Well, what happened to Azoth, only, not as bad. "Azoth!!" Gwen turns back towards him, missing the tail end of his exchange with Kaguya.
She's not the only one in danger. If Lan needs to hug Demetroi, Gwen will be the one to go towards Azoth, as the one who knows fully what he's capable of. And someone with the possible tools to take it.
With her ARM-assisted body, the ground itself is like balancing on a trampoline, only managing to make her stumble once... twice, a solid three times, the last one hitting her ankle in a way she's sure she'll appreciate more thoroughly later.
And so, Ida hears the words that could either lead to victory, or ruin, as Gwen runs up. "Ida, cover us, I'm gonna try somethin'!" She jerks off the glove on her right hand, revealing her metallic ARM. "Aozth, hold on! I'm comin'!"
Gwen could reach out and try to siphon his energy forcefully. She instead holds it out in front of him, stating, "Grab onto my right hand, and I'll skim off the top of your energy. It'll be painful, but my ARM can take it, right now."
Whether he takes it or not, Gwen gets beside him, some part of her ARM exposed at any moment. "... I'm gonna throw my strongest bolt at Ethius. It'll take some power, so... that'll make sure your energy doesn't miss me up, either. Either way, I'm here."
Drawing a white outline of a circle, Gwen's finger writes out the symbols around it in violet red, then plunges her right hand in the center.
"It's.... really shitty that it's even on the table. Lan.... she's the one who is going to try another way. If it goes badly, help me get her away." She hopes Azoth will see the correllations here: Lan was the one he nearly killed after all. However, she is hugging someone just as dangerous, or even moreso.
"So... stay with us, Azoth. If we're gonna find another answer, we'll need you. Okay?" She shoots a smile back towards Azoth, then looks back towards Ethius. "Clear shot... Aiming... Sorry 'bout this, Ethius..."
The Mockingbird casts a bright needle across the air, which expands into a bright column. The amount of energy that could fit inside one courier is finite, but what the Mockingbird can fit is so much larger.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Lan Lilac used Force Action: Mystic on Gwen Whitlock! FP up! GS: Azoth used Force Action: Mystic on Gwen Whitlock! FP up! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Gwen Whitlock spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Gwen Whitlock has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Ringshine! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Ringshine for 244 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Countermeasures and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Why can he not just answer directly, clear everything up? Xantia can't understand this behavior. She trusts people so readily that she can't even imagine a situation where she wouldn't tell people what's going on.
...well. Except one. But as far as she can tell, Ethius isn't being controlled. It's more as if he's acting like a much more extreme version of his usual self. That's what makes her want to keep trying to reason with him. Even though it feels like they're speaking a different language at this point. She doesn't know the right words to say to him... and he's choosing the exact wrong words to say to her, trying to dictate what she can and can't learn about. "That is not for your to decide!" is all she manages, before a pillar of light knocks her back.
Dazed and seeing stars, she's forced into a listening role for the moment. The words she hears are Avril's - words for Ethius, but for her as well, spoken in a commanding tone. Squinting to try and actually see the one who spoke, Xantia may be displeased in general, but she does see the sense in those words. As much as she'd prefer to not have to acknowledge that there's no point in talking right now, she can't exactly argue the point. She's been there. "Why is it always like this?", she quietly laments.
With that, she takes a deep breath, and as she does, her icy aura fades, and the frost generated by it thaws. When her eyes open, they are faintly glowing white - Ether employed to aid her sight. Finally, she responds to Avril properly, if briefly. "...Alright." If this is the way it has to be, then she'll give it all she's got.
Following Avril's lead as suggested, Xantia is soon on the move again, ready to captalize on a moment where the amnesiac mage seems off-balance. She suppresses the urge to ask more questions. Her right hand glows bright white, ready to throw a full-force, Ether-enhanced punch. And that punch...
...Is never actually thrown. The reason why can be deduced from the direction she looks in, after having suddenly stopped her advance partway. Azoth asked to stop. And she's decided to listen. Fighting won't solve this. Talking won't solve this - at least not when she does it. So Xantia throws up her hands, and starts to just... walk off.
"Okay, that's it. I quit! I can't tell what the right thing to do is anymore, but I don't like this, any of this! So I'm just going to let everyone else figure it out. As for me..."
This is probably not hard to guess, given the direction she's walking in, calm in spite of the all the glitched sharp objects rushing past her. Hopefully this will stop soon, through Ida and Gwen's assistance or otherwise, because she's not stopping either way. She only states her intentions, plainly and loudly.
"I'm with you, Azoth!"
Xantia, walking away from a fight? Improbable, but not impossible. It's like she always says: when you don't like either of the options given to you...
GS: Xantia spends 1 Combo on Inspire! GS: Xantia has attacked Azoth with Choose A Third Option! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Azoth accepts Xantia's Choose A Third Option for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Azoth gains 2 Combo from Inspire! GS: Ethius Hesiod suffers a terrible blow from Lydia Seren's A Lionhearted Girl for 159 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ethius Hesiod gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Ethius Hesiod has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
'...I don't even think we want different things,' Kaguya intones. They both came up Mount Liverfeast by their lonesomes - and she states, reiterates, this can't be done alone. When she draws the ARM to fire it, she will find Ethius won't have a hole put through him. At first, he extends one hand to meet the mass of explosive power... then both, holding his staff defensively against tremendous power. He has to focus that Symbological shield of his into that specific point to not be disintegrated on the spot, and that...
Provides openings.
'It was a tree.' Lan says, and Ethius visibly reacts with a jerk of his head (somehow hearing this above tremendous explosions), hefting up his left arm higher as if in acknowledgement of something precious he lost, only for a shared dream to dredge it up. Butterflies reach forth and pile onto him without cease, keeping him on the defensive as Lan dances past Homer ('hey,' he calls, helplessly, he feels like leftover comic relief here, he wishes he had a dog to tell that) and gives the enormous gnarled tree a hug. There's an energy panning through that feels deeply uncomfortable, but with Lan's desire for love and friendship, she can endure it.
C i CanNot StooOP :o iT IsS mYyy TaASk tOo MakE yOouu HaaPpy and YooouUrs to Bee HappY :C
"Kff," Ethius grunts through being battered by butterflies as Venetia cuts to what might be some solid reasoning - that whatever's going on here is something that is LITERALLY forbidden enough that this mortal man is determined enough to a) not die and also b) continue to argue against at least fourteen individuals who together he can't hope to overcome on his own. He gives ground to the molten bronze, moving with the burning sparks to try (and fail) to account for the way it pours and moves across the terrain.
Azoth struggles, emotionally, with something on a level only he can understand - an AI, doing its level absolute best, to fulfill the conditions of its programming when they cannot be achieved. Alcidamas had to have been an absolute fluke. Glitched weapons tear through and slam into Ethius, throwing him off his feet as the call to stop - alone - doesn't seem to quite compel it. Azoth's stopping power is only but a fraction of what his true self could manage, and that's something Ethius always acknowledged as deeply dangerous and problematic as he has to spread apart his Symbological defenses to stop one from being a fatal blow.
"You know nothing of the situa--" Ethius gets shut up by Juni chattering over him, and he has to stay on the defensive and re-new the spell (this requires not talking, he has to chant the correct syllables) to keep the shotgun from going through.
"And you would risk me like this--" Ethius can't say much over the wind that Cyre channels, desperately, forcefully, because wind is talkin'. A great Fengalon-sized hand strikes down and throws Ethius further across the vaguely-defined but perilous particulars of the summit. Did he learn anything? Was there anything to learn? "It is because--"
Jay roars. No one has ever heard Jay roar, in recent times. Displeased, scolding, against some of the most powerful and most misbheaving denizens of the two worlds. Roaring? Ethius actually gives pause as he pulls himself up. He always does this. Always handling things by himself, and if he would have just told them - this is a recurring thing, isn't it - and she punches him in the gut, pushing him up on his feet... and back to his knees. He slams a staff down, standing up to try and get back up over Jay (quasi-successfully). "If it were that easy--"
He has to turn his head to see Magilou finding her place to stand, watch her lift her shikigami to the sky (it may bend and twist funny in Demetrioi's influence but it will - with focus, determination, and sheer annoyance - ascend, rise, stretch out to its utmost and not become a non-euclidian pretzel) and... "What is at stake is not something... I can allow myself to--"
*whump,* he takes it in the head and spins around a few times. The mask holds, though it was already dented to start. Avril finds her opening, one hot beam of plasma he is interrupted to throw up his left arm to intercept with the remainder of the current charge of his defensive spell, revealing something those who saw his dream will notice - the 'tree' tattoo there is completely gone. It is replaced with Symbological tattoos, extensive and intricate, exposed to the bare air. "If you knew, neither option is--"
Ida shouts something over it. Something about this ignites enough that he tries to call over it. "Do not refer to yourself or others as--" He probably should've asked her to not respect the laws of gravity, as she descends at rapid, unyielding pace - taking the anger and sorrow of everything going on, forces that once tore her apart and turned her hollow, and whether she misses Ethius by inches is immaterial - he's at ground zero of the immense crater formed underneath the unbroken Lotus fist, shockwaves reverberating through the mountain as he's thrown up.
This lets Gwen take her clear shot as Ethius tries to recover in mid-air, the mask's gaze glaring down at Gwen as the Mockingbird shoots that bright needle, that bright column enveloping him. It should be enough to hurl him clear, to get him out of the way, but somehow... he holds, coming down to the ground as Lydia starts to share her part - pointing to that mask he wears. A long time ago... Lydia hid her head from the world for something more favorable and beloved for her presentation then. In the distance, Demetrioi's head churns, and as Lydia draws her hand back...
The mask cracks in half, revealing underneath... it's a face seen before. Ordinary enough. White hair, hazel eyes. Stubble has grown into a short beard, failing to hide signs of aging that make him look like he's hit forty... but, with all he goes through, he might be younger than that.
The collected can see his face. Tired, frowning, blood coming down his head and mouth as he slouches. He's still alive - as in 'could probably take two or three more whacks before unconscious' alive. A man like this does not die if his cause is as simple as 'destroy everything and everyone.' He always went to great lengths to hide his entire face.
Riesenlied pleads her case, as she wrests the Ley from Demetrioi. It's a tug of war, but as the Ley Dragon, there are almost no living forces (...on a personal scale) that can contest her grasp of the flow of the ley. Fray energies are strongest here - this is a dormant volcano - and in the moment he coughs, grits his teeth, and tries to stand as she spits the cold hard facts about the sense of belonging, to let go of his fear (he is battered but not ready to)... and how Riese, one of the few forces there is to get Demetrioi to stop playing with the fading lifeblood of the planet...
o WhaAAtTt ARreeEE YooouUU doooIIINnng :S SToOPP StooPPP SttOOPP SToPpp dDOoo NooT Doo thaAAtt XI
It's like a child wresting back control of a favorite toy, which will be a hell of a fight for Riesenlied to manage... but so far, she has the upper hand, as Xantia... stops. Stops, chooses to be with Azoth, talking how she gives up fighting.
C yooUU ARReee StoPPpiNnng *unintellgible* :S bUtt Youuu ArrEe nnOt hapPy :o
Demetrioi seems to subject a query to Xantia as it ponders what it is she's doing and why. Stopping fighting means friends should be friends together and thus be happy, but... even as Ethius falls quiet from exertion, no one's happy, everyone's frustrated.
o . . . :o . . . :D
The Ley tug of war stops, for now.
Somewhere in this sequence of events, the wall of flame and debris that separated those not present for the fight from those here subsides, allowing everyone to bear witness to the following...
"Demetrioi!" Homer calls, muscling on in towards where Lan is hugging Demetrioi. He's visibly struggling - he's an old guy, and just made the biggest mountain climbing expedition of just about anyone's life. "We're here! C'mon," he signals to the rest, "let's get 'em back ta normal. Whatever the Veruni did... we're gonna fix it."
D eVerRRryThiIIIng wiiIll beEe BeTteRRR :D gOOoiiiiNg foRwaaRrd foRr AaALl mYyy nEeEwWw frIeeENds :)
"Ya didn't lose 'em," Homer says. Harmonde would not accept them in any way whatsoever, but the truth as to the good they did in Alcidamas is indisputable. "Yer right, everything'll be better... fer all our friends, 'n the new ones that'll come after--"
o aLl mmmYyy FriiEEenDs heEErre aRe NoTt hApPY aaANd nOthInnnG iiiI dO maAAkeEs thEEEm HaaaPpY :o BuuuuTtt IiiI hAvvE a NeeEWww modeEL :)
A dusty particle cloud goes off where Ethius is - or was, thanks to an unseen Powder Grenade, escaping being surrounded by anyone with an eye on him. He took that kind of beating, and he still has that much left in him?! He hurls himself in front of Homer, holding his staff in front of him horizontally to try and push him back. Electrical noises and flashes discharge from behind Ethius as a strange, eerie chill pushes out towards them, flaring out in a wide cone around the gathered.
"Outta my way," Homer snarls as he picks up Ethius by the throat as that subsides, "our friend's stayin' with us."
"That's... not your friend." Ethius chokes out. Even after Rieses pleading. "That's not anyone's--"
"Like hell!!" Homer snaps, shaking him. It feels cathartic to be the one shaking and shoving around Ethius, for once. "I ain't a religious folk, but damned if Demetrioi ain't a miracle, like some kinda god of harvest--"
D i WiLL beeE heErRe forEvvEerr aNd sO maNy FriEenDss wIll CommE aaaNd gOoo :o thAat iSs hoW lIiiFe gooOeeeS aaNd mYyy frRRieeEndds caNnOtt bEe haPppY . . . :o
"Demetrioi! Y'saw the joy in the eyes in the people of Alcidamas--" Homer's eyes start to water. He remembers how happy everyone was there. How hopeful they were. That paradise they all had, where they were able to put aside years of pain and discrimination. "Listen to 'em, hey--"
o . . . bUut iTt CanNoT oNnnLyyY Bee AlCiDamaAassS . . . :o . . . IIt MuuSst bEee EveRrYooOnE . . . :C
"Seven worlds," Ethius chokes out, his left hand pressing against Homer's arm. "Seven worlds... belonging to societies in less... tumultuous circumstances," he really could afford to think of simpler words while he's straining and choking, "less politicial... ideological conflicts," Ethius coughs, "had a Demetrioi set to fix their... enviroments." He levels his gaze, furrowed brow, practically spitting. "They were all... destroyed." Beat. "Uninhabitable. Irreversible."
"Seven?!" Homer yells, incredulous, loosening his grip on Ethius as the latter falls to their knees. "Seven... ya gotta be makin' it up, I've been smugglin' fer years and I ain't never heard of somethin' that'd kill planets like--"
"The Demetrioi were... terraforming devices". Ethius coughs. "Intended to be maintained long term by... younger individuals, by metrics free of... harder numbers, or the studies of disciplines that... that their collaborative creators felt failed them." There's an awkwardness here, where he knows what would need to be said but also simply /cannot/ in any other circumstance. "Measures, that I understand... they felt failed their homeworlds."
"What?" Just that, from Homer.
"The Demetrioi... went to any length to please those around them. The happiness of those around them was their metric. In the short term.... immediate benefit." Alcidamas is a prime example, as Ethius continues, strained. "They were not designed for that... that short term. Their method of construction ensured they were a... permanent fixture." Permanent does not sound good. "Every time they sensed a problem, they exerted more power and influence... but... an environment can only withstand so much. Be contained so much." Is this contained? It is not. "Things... things would have to find an outlet somewhere. The Demetrioi continues to... overcompensate. The world itself starts to buckle... and the Demetrioi continues to engage a feedback loop."
Exhibit A: look around you!
C . . . yOooUu ARrEee beeeIiNg MeeAaaNn . . . :C . . . a WorRRld caNnOt beE unHapPy oR iiiT iSs NoTt wOrrTh BeeInG a WoRlDdd . . . :C
"Twelve were made. Only one was unaccounted for, for decades... until certain communications were intercepted."
Homer, with the sinking realization about what it is the Mecones had stumbled onto... and another. "That don't sound like info a mere Hesiod repo man'd have. Who the hell are ya really? Some kinda Fed--"
"What do you think would happen? If... pangalactic space knew there was a..." Ethius spits the traits out with some force and strain, "...portable. Easily-installed. Planet-scale... apocalyptic fire-and-forget device... out there?" Ethius stabs the tip of his quarterstaff into the ground. It shakes, a bit, as he rises back up.
C . . . IiiI mmmUsstT maAake a HapPyyY woRrlD forR evErrYoooNe . . . :S . . . tHaAt iiS mYyy pUrRrPoSsE AaNd tHiiS wooRrlD iS noooT haaAPpY at AaALllL . . . :Z
"Why the hell didn't ya tell me-- us any of this!" Homer points that pitchfork. "How many people have ya hurt 'n lied up to here? How do we know ya ain't pullin' a fast one? Are ya listenin' to Demetrioi? They're hurt, too... we can make it better for 'em, just, just--"
"How many lives have you?" A sudden burst of anger, that'd make the Dragon's Tear black. "Do you recall your part in--" Ethius works up a scowl - his face does emote, after all! - but it doesn't last long. He's weary, he's aching. "No... that's not important now. This would've ended up the same in Mother's... Solaris'... Arctica's... Slayland's," he means Slayheim, "Glenwood's... or Spira's hands." But what of-- "Even in the Wayside Outreach's... or the Caravan Kinship's. It would have been the same in any world. Underdeveloped or otherwise." Well, that answers that, doesn't it...
Some of the leaves on Demetrioi start to wither and collapse around the summit.
V . . . yOooUuu Arre cOrrEeecT aBouuT thaAAttT . . . :E . . . iIi rAaaaN aaLll TheE modeELLs FroOOmmM whaAat TheE VeRrUniIi shAared . . . :P
"Demetrioi?" Homer asks, meekly.
J . . . ALl moDeelS pOiiiNt To thE haPpiNess oF oNe kInd oF FriiEEnd oNlyYYY . . . :I . . . sInGlee ceeLl oRgaaaNiSSmS thAaaT wIlLl ThrRRiiiVe iN myyYY newwwW moDeLL . . . ^_^
"The Demetrioi... is no divine harbinger of harvest," Ethius states, "it is... ultimately a bringer of death."
The last of the leaves fall, giving an eerie skeletal form to Demetrioi's tree-body, as their face contorts less into smiles and more into maniacal, high-stress forced grins. The leaves themselves do not seem to do anything other than be difficult to look at until they disintegrate within the strange flames that surround the tree, feeding it as it flares to life.
The Ley's grasp is ripped right back into Demetrioi's clutches.
Everything flash-freezes outward, as if the season of winter were not gradually eased to but instead grasped, halted, and squeezed onto everyone. If Lan does not let go she might get frozen to the tree itself.
F . . . A nEeewwW sPrrIIInG wiLl ArrIvVVe WhHeEEN aAAll ThaaAT iSs LeeEFt aRRee TheeE hAppY . . . :D . . . YoOURr fRiIEndShiiP iSss ApPrEEciIaaTeeED aS ThIIIss WiiNTeRR shALl DeaAAL wiiITh tHe TeRMinAALlYy uNhAAAppYyy . . . ~_^
Roots underground flail outwards, slapping Homer and Ethius aside to parts (and likely altitudes) unknown. The entire mountain creaks in stress as to allow the Demetrioi's enormous gnarled trunk to lean forward. The entire top of the cavern behind them collapses outward to open the way to the skies above, freeing Gears to be run back to in order to be boarded if one desires.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
There's no getting a grip for the Azoth. Energy roils and detonates, lashing and overflowing, blinding Azoth's own senses in their overwhelming power within a chassis too small to contain him.
AZOTH!
It's either convenient or disturbing that when Ida goes to plunge a wire into the back of Azoth's neck, there's a port there already with an universal, adaptable design suited to the task. It sinks in with terrible, manipulatable ease. Azoth emits a pathetic, digital beep that might qualify as a computer's whimper -- the first sign that he's able to sense anything beyond the erroneous overflow of energy.
So... stay with us, Azoth. If we're gonna find another answer, we'll need you. Okay?
The light in his eyes dims enough to see Gwen in front of him. The world is shaking, rumbling, and falling apart. Azoth reaches, missing once, before his twitching fingers try again and grasp onto Gwen's. The energy flows through, feeding into Gwen's ARM, before his hand drops, slack, freeing her to make her attack. And there he sits slumped, until...
I'm with you, Azoth!
Azoth lifts his head. Joints still faintly sparking, Azoth sets his foot to the shaken earth. Demetrioi speaks. So does Ethius. Azoth takes in every word, every argument, every reality.
Every truth that had been hidden until now, brought forward into terrifying clarity.
The cold sweeps in. Winter surrounds them. He looks up at Demetrioi, frost in his synthetic hair.
"... In the end, we always do exactly what we were programmed for."
He pushes up, faltering, but finding his footing. One step forward. A stumble. Another. He stands, Xantia with him now.
"And my programming doesn't accept this!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
No one person should have this much control of the Ley -- not Demetrioi, not Riesenlied herself.
And even if she is channeling the wishes and hopes of those that surround her... the Ley has never belonged to just one person, and neither should it. It dwells in the fingertips of those who bind its symbols to Crests, those who channel it, those who call upon the power of the Guardians... and of course, every single person and animal and plant and living being in this world.
Homer speaks of what Demetrioi was. Ethius says it was never their friend.
Seven worlds. Seven worlds destroyed. Was it too difficult to say? Ethius explains of how they went to any length to please those around them, and that was not within the sphere of their design. Twelve made, one unaccounted for.
... will it end just as Azoth feared? It didn't work out, and now they have to be disposed of?
Homer questions why no one told any of them this. Indeed, why? But Ethius has his own outburst -- one that shimmers a pitch-black in her Tear; nothing would ever change. And yet...
Demetrioi speaks again.
And her control is suddenly very violently ripped--
<<Aah!>>
The Ley Dragon violently convulses back in turn, as the flash-freeze outward erupts as Demetrioi's leaves fall and its smile turns into forced grins. There's a bright flash, and her time's up--
--and Riesenlied manifests back into her humanoid form, sailing in midair and landing uncomfortably against now-gnarled, frozen bark.
She doesn't have her chair with her. Not that... not that that'd help with this kind of terrain.
"The... desire to make everyone happy... is not wrong," she whispers even as she struggles to lift her upper body up with her elbows. "But that isn't the only thing in the world, dear Demetrioi... I so dearly wish you could've learnt more of the wonderful colours of the world."
She clutches at her Tear, which is stained black at the moment.
"A world of only pure, still happiness... is not a rich and fulsome world..."
Riesenlied's head stirs. She's at risk of passing out from all the horridly dangerous power expenditure... she'll need help.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Only now, once everybody has literally beaten it out of him, does Ethius decide to talk. Lan, her forehead pressed against Demetrioi's 'bark', tries not to shudder. Everything had always been 'wrong' about Demetrioi, but she had wanted to believe. Even though the Ley cried out, even though the spirits of the land howled. No matter how wrong everything had been, it was so tempting to turn a blind eye. And this close, it's even worse - this energy isn't a real sickness, but her body recognizes it as such.
She wants to let go. But Demetrioi is upset, and when Lan is upset she wants to be comforted.
Is it wrong, to ascribe human motivation to something inhuman? If she hadn't met Azoth, would she have been so ready to extend her hand to Demetrioi?
She'll never know.
"Why can't you stop," she asks, leaning back far enough to look up at Demetrioi's 'face', its smile grating against every single nerve she has. "You're hurting us! How could we be happy when..."
Ethius continues. Lan goes silent.
"...You're kidding," she says weakly. But he isn't. Lan backs up, stumbling in the snow, eyes pale and wide in her dusky face. "...DemeEEE--" Lan shrieks in fright as snow envelopes her, stumbling away from all of those horrible, forced smiles. Winter has come. Truly, truly, spring may never arrive again. A rime of frost crunches on her jeans and in her hair, but Lan is whole - just shaken.
She runs for the safety of the others, for Gwen and Ida and Azoth.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia watches Ethius's tired face for a moment. She lowers her hand. She listens for a bit but despite having a big fight with Ethius over wanting him to share information, shee is quickly distracted ANYWAY. "UH ONE SECOND ETHIUS WE MADE GOOD PROGRESS TODAY BUT--"
She rushes over to Riesenlied who is kind of in danger of passing out due to TOO MUCH LEY. "Mom...! Don't fall asleep... We gotta get outta here...!"
But what to do???
Lydia doesn't have much in her inventory right now. She didn't have time to prepare! So like the gremlin she is, she gets an idea.
She pulls off her shoe (Ethius explains things further in the background and she nods along as she pulls off her sock.
She dangles it under Riesenlied's nose.
"Wake up mom...!"
Having done that, she tries to heft Riesenlied up and support her body with her killer robots one.
<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.
Juni Vandrer shoots a few people a glare. First is Kaguya, this could have been solved a lot easier if everyone weren't playing Three Card Monty with the Doomsday Device. The next goes to Ethius, whom she points at and says, "You idiot. You know I could have helped here and you could have even told the others. You want to get your digs in? You want to feel superior?" She taps her chest before continuing, "I came here to destroy our dangerous tech if it landed here. I never found a damn thing, but I kept it up. You can be damn sure I'd have told the people here what they were in store for if someone had stumbled across our reactors or tech before it got to this point." She hefts the axe like she's about to throw that at him too, clearly still frustrated, "And you tried to convince me you had a ride off of this rock rather than ask for help you-" she looks at the axe and mutters. "Too late. Won't change anything either. You get to ride along to the end." She drawls that last part out loud. Ended with a bitter laugh.
Then things get weird. Flash frozen, bitter cold. And a dragon goes flying. She's not as close to them as the others, but she does get rolling to help. Ignoring the cold. Thankful for once for seasonal coat changes, even if there were only hints of grey-white in her coat for now. Catching up in time for Lydia to lift the dragon...woman. "Mom?" she asks, not.. not what she was expecting. No wry jokes though. Things are falling apart, almost literally and she starts to check on the others before scrambling. Her systems are coming back on line and she can at least somewhat predict with the help of her system what's going to move where. Kind of. Sort of. It helps a trained eye. Eyes.
Considering she's currently weaponless and her replacement is- her replacement is in the gear too. She'll have to play by ear there. Figure out what's more help. As she's running though, she briefly slows down, "Kaguya, you've got a grip on the situation and you're talkier than the idiot, give the callouts and I'll follow your lead." Which.. isn't her offloading her own screwups. It's trying to avoid making more.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline's fist connects with Ethius's mid-section. Even through her gauntlet, it stings - frankly, she might have gotten it just as badly as he did.
"You won't know until you try." Jacqueline replies simply. She exhales. The others say their peace, get their punches in - physically and metaphorically. ...Eventually, the mask breaks, and they can see his face. She's seen his face before, of course. He looks exhausted.
...And then, something happens. Demetrioi's nature is revealed, and Ethius... actually explains himself. It gives Jacqueline pause - but of course, when the usually frustratingly-quiet Ethius speaks, Jacqueline will listen.
"...I see. So that's why." Jacqueline murmurs. "Thank you, Ethius. I can understand why, now... But, I still wish you would have told us sooner."
Would they have believed him, if they told him sooner, though? After all, Demetrioi had only ever seemed kind, friendly, and willing to help. She likes to think he would have, but...
...Before she can finish that thought, things get worse. Demetrioi makes their terrible declaration, and things get cold - flash-freezing in a terrible wintery embrace. Roots knock Ethius and Homer aside.
"Ethius! Homer!" Jacquline calls out, concerned. But the cavern is falling apart... She's in danger, so she reaches out. To control it properly, she must be in the cockpit - but from here, she can at least call it to her side. Issachar descends in a flurry of bladed pinion feathers, dicing apart the debris that threatens to harm Jacqueline as the machine itself stands protectively over her. The pinion feather return to the Wing Unit and it lowers itself, allowing her to climb atop it so that it may carry her up to the cockpit. With that, Issachar flies out of the crater - spear drawn and ready for the arduous battle ahead.
Nearby, Ambrosius hurries over to others. He has heard all of this... and his concern is for Kaguya, who has tried hard and done so much. He will gratefully accept her assistance in escaping this place, as well.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Xantia doesn't take her up on that, in the end -- a turn of events that Avril doesn't quite realize until she's not only called down a meteor (Rigdobrite did not like that at all, but needs must) but shot at Ethius. She doesn't comprehend, that much is clear--
At least, not initially. Unlike other Ice Queens, Avril is not possessed of a particularly frozen heart. They need to break through to Ethius, yes, but more than that, they need to stop...
Demetrioi. If it had been possible to strike at it at all during that brief moment Avril was airborne, she would have done so.
She had already realized, some part of her had already realized, had known, had recognized what was happening here. It just hadn't come early enough for her to do anything meaningful about it.
And now here they are, listening to Ethius explain why.
"...What makes one person happy does not necessarily make another happy. There can be no one solution that can please everyone, unless..." Unless 'everyone' is something with such simple needs that it is easy to make a world that pleases it alone. "We must stop Demetrioi. To toy with nature like this..." Avril shakes her head. "It was foolish from the start."
If she pauses in that split-second before all hell breaks loose with an expression that one might wear if someone trod across their grave, well, perhaps she might be forgiven.
In the moment after there's no more time at all for such things. The air around them turns frigid and even with her prodigous magical might she struggles to keep the ice and cold from outright claiming anyone here.
Even then, Avril has to turn in time herself, fleeing for her Gear. They can't fight it here. They have to retreat, and then...
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida will have time to feel deep unease about that port when the world is no longer in imminent peril.
She hits the crater's edge and and skids, her flightsuit boots kicking up dirt and gravel. Her head snaps up, her gaze fixing squarely on the tiny group around Azoth. "Gwen! Xantia! Is he--!?" Azoth is never 'okay', and Ida knows this. Ragnell told him that the overrides have him in a state of constant agony. But seeing Demetrioi's agony makes her that much more determined to save Azoth from the same fate, if he can be saved.
Ida's helmet has rolled over this way, and she scoops it up in a hand; her fingers poke through the hole that would've gone through her head if she hadn't been wearing it. ...Azoth?
Demetrioi speaks again. Ida turns to look at them, and Homer, and Ethius, and dread opens like a void in her stomach. "Seven worlds," she whispers, her voice dull with horror. Seven whole worlds, dead. "You could've--why didn't you--who would--"
Portable, easily-installed, planet-scale, apocalyptic fire-and-forget device. Created, unintentionally, by engineers who either couldn't see or didn't see or denied the flaws in their design. "My God."
Ida's been talking to make sense of this, but she falls silent as soon as Homer calls out to Demetrioi. She listens to their whole awful thesis, even as the air grows chill, and the construct's body takes on its awful, skeletal appearance. "I'm sorry," Ida breathes, and the tears sting her eyes. "You deserved better, Demetrioi. You never should've been a tool." A hideous, iceball-Filgaia winter starts to unfold around her, and Lan shrieks, turns, and runs. Ida's hand clasps tightly around Lan's, and she picks up the pace, hauling the younger woman after her. Lan would feel something growing warm beneath her fingers, under the material of Ida's glove: an integral lattice-mesh ARM used for short-range signaling. In this case, the message is simply: CALL GEAR
One life for one world. If that's how it has to be--if there is no other choice--then that's what she'll do. Like Azoth, there are some outcomes she cannot accept.
The Dragoon comes racing through the storm, its jets burning. Ida is now presented with a new problem: how to get into it with the ground treacherously unstable, and the air full of horrible winter winds. But someone might just have a way...
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Reducing everything down to happiness, huh..." Magilou remarks, dull, as she looks to Demetrioi. "... guess it's not so different." And she has no witty rejoinder.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Avril gets Kaguya's assurance first--and she knows? She knows what Kaguya was trying to do. Kaguya looks to her and hesitates, before, "...No. It couldn't work. Not this way. Maybe not any way."
Kaguya grins back to Magilou--but that grin fades immediately as Magilou reflects, and Kaguya nods. "It's not his fault at all," Kaguya says. "Still..."
And Azoth--Azoth... Kaguya looks to be n pain, still, though it can't be as much as Azoth is in. her protests--or maybe he recognizes. She can't be sure which. "I'm sorry," Kaguya says to him. She's tried so hard, and yet...
Riesenlied draws control of the Ley, and for a moment, Kaguya hopes she'll do it. In those few moments--
As the others talk to Ethius--
Kaguya tries to drive her ARM through synchronization, tries to expand the power outlet, as Ethius blocks her beam. She tries to press it against him harder. "ETHIUS!" Kaguya shouts. "LISTEN TO THEM! They care about you! They don't want you to die here!"
But Demetrioi--Demetrioi cannot stop, and Kaguya has never herad Jay so angry. But still, Demetrioi--
Ethius's mask breaks. Kaguya looks at hi, and he seems so--ordinary, in the moment. She sees his face, his tattoos, and she wonders. But then--
"Homer, no! Get back--!"
...Ethius explains. Ethius explains what happened, and Kaguya listens, even as she sees Demetrioi change. 'Not worth being a world'. Tears fill her eyes again. She can't help it. She worked so hard, and... Now he's--
The flash-freeze comes. Kaguya stands her ground, at first, gritting her teeth.
Homer and Ethius are battered aside. "No!" Kaguya looks up, sharply.
As Azoth falters, but he doesn't accept it. "I promise," Kaguya says then, to Azoth--but also to Demetrioi. "...I'll never let anyone use you as a weapon again, Demetrioi. The world you wanted, where everyone has a chance to be happy... I'll try to make it happen for you, too. You..."
"You don't deserve to have been born just to destroy," she murmurs. "I'm sorry I couldn't fix you. I'm sorry, Demetrioi."
Kaguya closes her eyes, and then opens them again. "...I'm going to buy you guys a little time." She looks to Magilou. "...How much of this can you absorb?" she asks.
BGM: The Oath - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsnJBvokVzk
Kaguya whirls into motion. She starts pulling objects out of her pockets, out of her bag--one of her familiar teleporters, she quickly adjusts, pulls out, and then gets another, and a third and fourth. "EVERYONE!" Kaguya calls. "GET OUT OF HERE! GO! Get your weapons! Get whatever you need to take him down! Now is the time!"
Kaguya jabs the teleporters into the ground, in front of Demetrioi's roots, and jams one in front of Riesenlied, too, as the Ley Dragon struggles. They start to whine, making noises. "Lydia!" Kaguya calls. "I'll get Mom out, but you have to protect her!" Then, The whine becomes at a fever pitch, and Kaguya pulls a small device out of her pocket. "Heheh..." Kaguya throws the switch down and puts her foot over it.
"Right," she says to Juni. "Get the biggest goddess-damned gun you have. I wanted to avoid this, but I don't see any other way. If we all try together, then we have a chance." Ambrosius, too, approaches. "Thanks, Ambrosius. You're familiar with my work--I'm using the resonant harmonic to provide an escape plan, then I'm going to be a distraction. If you've got any waveform amplifiers, I need them. And... Can you make sure Solaris doesn't send another squad up my ass while I'm trying this?"
Kaguya pulls--a remote? As the others fall back--hopefully everyone, according to Kaguya's plans--Kaguya steps forward. "DEMETRIOI!" Kaguya calls. "ONE LAST GAME! See the ingenity of greatest of Veruni engineers! OF KAGUYA!"
Bzz--Bzz--BWORP!
In a flash of green light, there is movement. Ida is teleported immediately to her Gear; some others may also be moved in this way. For everyone else, a gigatic green portal, large enough for a Ley Dragon to get through, opens up behind Kaguya. It works from either side, full of green energy. "It won't last long! Get ready to fight! And come back quick! I don't plan to die here!"
She smashes a button on the remote and there's a roar from the base of the mountain as a squat gray Gear surges up behind Demetrioi from below, guns blazing. The Queklain fires blaster weaponry as well as regular bullets, and it fires every missile it has at Demtrioi. Kaguya starts throwing canisters and bombs like there's no tomorrow.
Because if the others don't come through... there won't be a tomorrow for her or any of them.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
TO BE CONCLUDED... in The Mutant's Oppressive Aura!