2023-07-07: It's So Wonderful
- Log: It's So Wonderful
- Cast: Hannah Curie, Yue Rohay, Ambrosius, Xiumei Klein, Kaguya, Ruth Pauling, Acacia Saitani, Avril Vent Fleur, Holly, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Meria City - Central Commercial District
- Date: July 7, 2023
- Summary: The world is shifting, in the aftermath of events that promise to change the landscape of entire nations: the fall of Odessa upon the Heimdall Gazzo. The Eternal Calm, on the Old Moon known as Lunar, so far away. Various parties have been watching with anticipation... And Shijie Rohay has decided to play her hand early. No longer will she tolerate play from her children -- and thus, she brings a deployment of Veruni soldiers to Meria Boule, demanding that her granddaughter, one enviro-suit-clad seven year old only known as 'the Minder, number Seven', be returned. A daughter will make her choice. And another will find that the choice was already made for her, a long long time ago.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
The skies are dark, today, in Meria Boule.
The air is thick with the palpable tension of immediate strife. An entire Veruni battalion is here, numbering roughly in the three hundred-odd, currently stationed in twenty-odd metallic ships that fit perhaps fifteen soldiers per. The side doors are open, as a show of force: there are machineguns anchored onto the sides, and a man each behind.
(For those In the Know, such as Kaguya and Ambrosius, the outfits and vehicles both check out, but... they distinctly don't have any markings for which Sentinel they serve under, nor do they have a number or anything else. Someone's done their homework to present the look, while not tying themselves down to a traceable chain of command. This is both advantageous on their part and... disadvantageous, in other ways.)
Still, this is an unprecedented show of force for the Veruni, who have largely stuck to their Control Zones in Filgaia outside of their strange alliance with the Guard in the Guard-Yevon era.
They haven't made any moves, however. They're diligently sticking to a perimeter of about one hundred meters from the city walls, and haven't said anything for a solid ten minutes.
Until now.
The loud voice of an elderly woman, with a sharp, biting edge to it, echoes over the still air:
"Salutations, citizens of Meria Boule. I am Shijie Rohay, and I have come here on a simple little errand. You see, your city is in custody of a Veruni citizen, who has been in your care for the last two years or thereabouts. I speak of the child you know of as 'Minder', or 'Minder Number Seven', as she might introduce herself."
A visual erupts, and a large hologram of a photograph of Minder -- a seven-year old child hidden underneath an enviro-suit with an opaque black glass helmet ontop of which she hides with Black Mage cosplay -- can be shown.
"I would hate to visit violence on innocents," her tone gets pretty patronising. "So may I suggest cooperation? We will wait thirty minutes. And Yue, I know you are here too, so make yourself shown to plain sight."
~*~
Yue Rohay, meanwhile, is darting out of Acacia's apartment where she's been staying for the last couple of weeks into plain sight -- just as her mother has ordered, though not directly because of her.
She's still quite the sight; still dressed in her battered black coat, the large cuffs on her wrists binding her arms, and the bags under her eyes still there.
"Mother! What foolishness is this?!" she finds energy and anger in her voice for once, despite the tiredness threatening to smother her like a blanket. "This is surely courting Lord Volsung's wrath, even for you?!"
~*~
"Minder, you can't!" shouts Tony, of the Young ARMS brigade, in their usual hangout spot not far from the central fountain in the town square.
"I agree," Scott chimes in, in his usual role as the cooler of the two youths. "Who knows what she has in plan with you? It can't be anyting good."
"... I knew this day would come, sooner or later," Minder quietly speaks, with a ~_~ digital expression marked on her helmet. "She wasn't going to let me roam around forever...
"W-we'll find-- another way! ARMS will be here! They'll..." Tony is grasping for answers.
"I won't let this precious town of ours become a battlefield," Minder affirms gently, looking towards her friend. She places both her hands onto her chest, and then breathes in deep. "And..."
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha6iWPqrJeE )
Her head lifts up, as her expression turns into >:) on her helmet. "This isn't goodbye. Tony... Scott... Tim... Abby... you've all been such good friends to me... the first friends I ever made outside of Laila Belle. It's been... so wonderful. Even if I have to go, I won't be alone!"
She flashes her upper arm, where her own Young ARMS patch has been sewn onto her blue Black Mage jacket.
"I won't allow this to be 'goodbye'! So I won't say goodbye!"
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius is usually good at evading this sort of deployment. He's just useful enough as a field agent and has produced just enough results that he tends to be overlooked when fielding a battalion, and when he is selected, he generally has the right to decline if his excuse is good enough.
Not today, though.
Today, he has been requested personally, with the suggestion that things might become Inconvenient for him if he doesn't appear. In the end, he doesn't have much choice - so for the first time in quite a long time, he finds himself seated in a Veruni military deployment vessel.
...The oddity of the situation hasn't escaped him, however. He knows how this is supposed to go. As such, he can recognize when protocol has been... smoothed over or, perhaps, bypassed altogether.
...It's none of his business, he supposes. Or, so he thinks, until they set down, and the voice of the one responsible for this deployment rings out.
...Ah. So, that's what this is about. A frown slowly works his way across his face behind his face-concealing helmet, and Ambrosius stands to his full height - raising a hand to calm the soldiers similarly packed into the ship. He steps to the front, staring out the open side door.
Shijie Rohay... what have you done? And what will become of Yue and Minder...? Ambrosius grips the side of the open door, a rare(though, perhaps not as rare these days) hint of nervous tension creeping into his stance.
<Pose Tracker> Xiumei Klein has posed.
Xiumei Klein doesn't live in Meria Boule, but she is there often. She didn't come here today because of the Veruni battalion; no, without having her Biometal's armor working, that would be foolish. She was here to do some business for her (new) family, making sure some things were purchased.
Then, the skies darkened, and a Veruni battalion showed up. Xiumei peers out from a battlement on the city wall, behind it carefully -- and her nose wrinkles. She knows enough about Veruni uniforms to realize something is off.
She can't pin down what.
She frowns, though, as she hears the name 'Shijie Rohay.' The mother of Yue Rohay, if the age is any indication; she all but confirms that a moment later, as she calls her out.
Xiumei frowns more sharply. "What is--"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
An entire Veruni battalion...
Kaguya made herself scarce as soon as she heard about the vehicles approaching. She made herself scarce all right--in time to make her way to the walls, stares out over them at the coming soldiers. She has a pair of binoculars--her own design, naturally--through which she examines the soldiers, recognizing one in particular... and obviously recognizing that voice.
She narrows her eyes--and looks to the guards, to see what they're doing
Of course, Shijie must know she's here. That wouldn't surprise Kaguya in the least. She was here on her own business, but that woman makes it her business to know things. So...
She drops down suddenly next to Yue in a crouch, standing up and eyeing Yue. "Yeah," Kaguya says. "Someone may have to make sure Lord Volsung knows about it, too."
She pauses. "What are you going to do? I don't put anything past that woman."
She saw, of course. She saw that...
"But it wouldn't surprise me if he already knew. Look--no Sentinel insignia. Either she's acting entirely on her own, or..."
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth has become increasingly scarce since around... just before the long-awaited wedding between Xiumei and Eleanor. She's made a call over empathite twice over dealing with the aftermath of isolated Hellion attacks about the Merian region, but otherwise kept to herself.
Times have been peaceful, even hopeful, on Filgaia since the decisive victory over Odessa. There have been occasional whispers and discussions about the people of Klein and Meria City alike as to whether her presence is still even needed or wanted.
The Ruth Pauling of history is a well-known quantity, and the Ruth Pauling of the present is mildly unsettling even before acknolwedging the truths of her current living situation. Those who have come to learn the truth of how, well. The consequences of that aren't the focus here.
The (in)famous sharpshooter is currently lurking atop a rooftop overlooking the town square in her first foray with civilization in some weeks. She's been motionless for some time, up until the Veruni battalion shows itself. Slowly, she cranes her neck up to size up a threat that unquestionably, unambiguously, uncompromisingly exceeds her capacity to do anything about it. She only has four rounds in that rifle's clip, and that is a lot of machineguns and ships who can match and exceed her effective range.
She can barely make out the words spoken by Minder and the children underneath, but the emotional tension rings clear to her like the scent of a favored flavor of pie. Taking in a breath that doesn't leave, she stares out to those ships head on.
She doesn't announce her presence over empathite, and she yet conceals her spiritual presence.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
It had been a fairly pleasant day of travel and a successful completion of a delivery. And then... the ships had arrived. And now there was some sort of... hostage negotiation? One-sided prisoner exchange? Imminent siegeing of the walls? Hannah wasn't sure what to call it, but she knew it wasn't good in any case.
Zephyr had spotted them first and, naturally, alerted Hannah, who rushed to some spot where she could survey the situation. She frowns as she stares, counting the ships. She isn' quite sure what they are but she knows she doesn't like the look of them.
A demand is finally made... "I don't know who that is," murmurs Hannah, "but I'm not inclined to cooperate with someone showing that sort of force." Zephyr chirps quietly in reply.
There is a tense moment as she considers her options... and then finally nods silently. Zephyr takes off from her shoulder high into the sky, trying to lose himself in the cloud cover as he soars over the ships. Back in town, Hannah closes her eyes and observes.
If there is fighting to be had, she'll do her part to slow them down as much as possible. It can't be the case that no reinforcements will arrive at some point, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia wasn't far behind Yue in exiting her apartment at the first warning of Veruni presence, struggling with her coat enough that she dropped back a few steps - and got a full view of the urgency, fear, and anger that ran through her girlfriend. She'd known that this day might come, and what it might mean for Yue and Minder. She hadn't really considered how it would feel right in that moment.
It had made something turn in her - and rather than follow Yue directly, she furrows her brow and turns off down a side alley at a run.
Now, Acacia stands right in the middle of the gateway set into the Commercial District's fortress-like walls, her arms crossed as she simply locks her gaze with the Veruni troops stationed on the perimeter. She's already taken all the photographs she cares to, and is left with a curl of distaste to her lips. She doesn't know anything about Veruni Sentinel markings or regiments, but there's only so many reasons why the Veruni might want to attack a place so far out of their way, and those suspicions are only borne out further when the commander begins to speak.
She lifts a battered megaphone that usually sits stashed away on a peg in the town hall to her lips. "This is Acacia Saitani of the Meria Bouletin. I'd like to note first and foremost that you have a funny definition of 'co-operation'," she calls through it, her voice held steady. "Also, I should correct you that Minder is not held in custody. She and her mother are free to come and go as they please. As such, we have no direct authority to relinquish either of them to you."
The reporter pauses, heart fast in her chest. She takes a moment to glance towards Xiumei, then taps at her ear where her empathite radio sits. It's a silent request to let ARMS know what's happening, and the reason she's asking the clerk is because she knows she's about to do something real dumb, something that she must only attribute to herself as a citizen of Meria Boule rather than as ARMS' chronicler.
Yue and Kaguya get the next glance, and a faintly apologetic grin. She knows they're both the sort of people to make plans slowly, that they'd rather build up a careful plan - whether that plan is borne out of experience or guile or uncertainty. But she can't be that sort of person. Maybe it's a human trait to rush around all the time, or maybe--
One by one, people's heads pop up above the line of the wall's parapet. The bakery employee that sneaks the leftovers to the Young ARMS. A couple of rookie Drifters who settled in Meria Boule only for Tony to inevitably latch onto them. One cocks a pistol in her hands, the other settling a rifle against the stonework. Several of the stallholders from Meria Boule's market fidget nervously, but make a show of pumping themselves up as they line up. Many of them are not equipped to fight - but the scattered show of support is still there and still building.
--maybe it's just this hotheaded, dumb, wonderful little city she's come to call home. She can't stop the grin from creeping onto her face. "It's their choice whether to stay or not. If you wish to remove a citizen of Meria Boule by force, I hope you're prepared for what will come next. And if you're looking to harm Yue, I'll punch you in the face."
That just means she can be hotheaded and dumb too if she wants, right?
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Shijie... Rohay.
Releasing the drape she'd had tugged aside, Avril turns within the small confines of their shared hotel room. She had resolved to stay where she was when they arrived and wait -- for some hint of what it was that the Veruni forces had planned -- before she did anything. It's what Rebecca would have wanted her to do, and needlessly getting captured by her own people was, unless the cause warranted it, not the most strategic move available to her.
Now, though, she has some idea of what might be going on. She had feared that they were here for her and would level the city if she didn't surrender herself, or worse -- that it was mere happenstance that it happened while she was here and that the Veruni were returning to a position of conquest after so many decades of unstable peace.
Now, though, it's clear that the situation comprises neither of those scenarios and yet, Meria Boule is still in grave danger.
Yue is in grave danger.
Minder is in grave danger.
Shijie Rohay. It's not memory, precisely. But Avril 'knows' who that is. Who it must be, even before Yue's voice echoes across the buildings of Meria Boule. Avril, for her part, has just stepped into the street. She bears with her a sword.
"Shijie Rohay."
She doesn't shout. Yet, her voice rings out within the streets. "I am Avril Vent Fleur." Wind picks up around her, setting her long silver hair dramatically aflutter for but the moment. "By my name and my title as Johnny Appleseed... I command you and your forces stand down."
Rebecca would call it foolish. Dean might urge her own. Yet, if she can do something to stop this... then how can she stand by and do nothing?
<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.
Dark and gloomy days aren't the worst thing, it's still out in the sun, out in the light even. She's still far from home in the broadest sense, but she's simultaneously been trying to help that and avoid going back herself as much as possible. It's complicated.
Waking up late, hidden away in the eaves of some house, she rubs her eyes and pauses at the announcement. The small fairy checks herself to make sure she's.. well technically dressed. Grabs her paintbrush and slips into the air to find out what's going on. Bobbing above eye level for most.
"Never did like this kinda attitude-" she hefts the brush up over her shoulder and floats higher still. Drifting towards the sound proper. Wondering why they would name someone a number. Kind of. "-Maybe it's a badge ID?" She shrugs. Not a thing she'd considered before. That said, she's got water starting to coelesce around her. Tinged with ink. Streaks of black swirling around her. They're threatening violence after all!
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Indeed, the massaging of words which Shijie used was... there was no overt threat of violence, but she namedropped both Yue and Minder, perhaps knowing that there's a relationship there with Ambrosius. Still, she knows better than to exert too much authority over him -- she knows he knows where the lines stand.
It's a severely inconvenient time for Xiumei -- her Armor isn't ready. And something definitely doesn't feel right here. The Veruni normally wouldn't operate like this; if they're working off the grid, they wouldn't do a show of force like this.
No, the purpose of this operation is to make its witnesses think 'the Veruni are here', while politicking around the lines of internal Veruni command lines all the same, while achieving one's personal goals...
The guards, Kaguya observes, are ready for battle -- they're no less than yellow alert -- and definitely armed for it; they're not throwing up a paper tiger here. But at the same time, they're completely stationary; they're not looking out for some kind of trigger to engage.
At the very least, she doesn't have to worry about some sort of diversionary tactics, it seems.
"Mother's lost it," Yue answers Xiumei with a deep-set frown. "If she just wanted Minder back, she could've asked me to..." Then Kaguya lands down next to her, though Yue's trained enough that she doesn't betray her line of sight.
"I can only guess she's making some kind of play, and Minder's just the first piece," Yue responds to her quietly. "She might be using the vacuum Odessa left behind to accomplish something... I don't know... but..."
Ruth is a concealed presence, and it doesn't seem like the battalion is yet aware of her presence. She only has four rounds, but... four is a very lethal number. More than enough for anything that moves. There's a very obvious presence here, but... the situation is precarious.
Zephyr's got a pretty good bird's-eye (of course!) view of the situation; the city isn't exactly surrounded on all sides, but there's a pretty good fan of them on the city-side. Moving people to the back, towards the Castle, would help minimise casualties if it came down to it...
Minder Number Seven does sound like a badge ID, does it not? Holly gets ready for the worst-case scenario, when... Acacia, suddenly, has a megaphone, and a whole heap of photos besides! Shijie has a quirked eyebrow in turn with a smile. "Ah, the firebrand. Yes, I see the resemblance, and why Yue was so interested in you. And what, pray tell, comes next?"
"A-Acacia, don't incite her!" Yue sounds mortified. Even if she likes that her girlfriend's being a hot-blooded fool, right now. (She won't admit it.)
Avril's presence, however, is an extremely interesting wrinkle. She could demand for her surrender here, and that would be all the more to her advantage. "I see. Avril Vent Fleur... so you have been here. I could not further count my good fortunes. Of course, I understand that I am not to harm a fleck of hair upon your head. However..."
She leans forward.
"Bullets are extremely persuasive, do you not agree? I would request your presence as well, that we may escort you back to Laila Belle where you belong. Perhaps we can arrange for a demonstration with some of these Meria Boule citizens, if you are so inclined--"
Then--
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"I'm here."
The statement is so plain, and yet carries with it a lot of weight, especially from Minder's small frame, as she marches into the town square.
Minder is 127 centimeters tall -- just above four feet, though the high-steepled Black Mage hat does lend a little bit more height. (She insists that hat height is legit.) She defiantly stares up at a blackened sky, full of armored carriers and soldiers waiting for her.
"Minder, no-- you don't have to," Yue urges, as she hurries to her side. This isn't the kind of responsibility any child should have to shoulder, and yet...
"... Yue. Acacia. Avril. Let me do this," Minder insists, with a rare firmness, the usual petulance and huffiness absent. It gives Yue great pause, the feeling sinking into her stomach.
"I'll come with you. But I also know you're crafty, so to ensure Meria Boule's safety..."
There's a hiss as the seal on the seam between her helmet and suit comes loose, and a gasp from Yue. "No! Minder NO--"
Minder takes her helmet (and hat) off, and long brown hair the same shade as Yue's billows into sight. She, too, has the same mark on her cheek.
The instant she inhales unfiltered Filgaian air, she starts choking and sputtering for a moment -- but holds strong, as she hurls the helmet and SMASHES it against the tiles of Meria Boule's town square. It turns into so many little pieces of black glass, and a slightly bent metal frame.
It's a very clear message: that she's on a time limit now, and the ball is in Shijie's court.
"... Mother! You will withdraw all your forces and take me now, or you will lose your beloved heiress, Xue Rohay, as well! And you will also leave Avril alone!"
Shijie quietly leans against the side of her seat, on the armored carrier that she's seated in. There's a pursed smirk on her lips. "My. Such boldness and cunning. You are becoming fit to inherit my title, my dear."
"Very well, do as she says," remarks Shijie as she waves her hand -- and the ships begin to rise. Two Veruni Soldiers, apparently marked to be her escort, step close to Minder -- to Xue, even as she struggles to remain upright.
"... this is as much as I can do for you, Yue," Xue speaks to her half-sister. "I'm sorry." Her violet eyes -- visible for once -- flash over to Xiumei, to Kaguya. "... thank you for looking out for us two these last few years."
She proceeds, and steps aboard the carrier waiting for them just outside the city gates. Xue enters with the two soldiers, and it, too, begins to rise, and for a moment, it seems that that would be that, unsatisfying an outcome as it is...
"I shall withdraw my forces, as you ask... however," Shijie speaks as Xue joins her, then chuckles as she presses a button--
"kkHAAAGGGH--"
--Yue suddenly erupts in a crackle of electricity and pained howling, the device mounted on her spine suddenly delivering a severe electric shock that has her doubling over. The force is enough to shred a part of the back of her black coat, revealing the almost spider-like metallic device grafted onto the back.
"Yue. Don't even think for a moment to share in this act of defiance," Shijie announces as the ship lifts off. "Play with our guests. And don't harm our dear Johnny Appleseed all too much, if you can help it, but... regicide was already in your veins, was it not?"
"Mother, you--" Xue gasps, before gritting her teeth and turning back to the city. "Yue! Everyone! Live through this! LIVE!"
Her eyes flick back towards the ship, and she notices someone in particular that she knows -- Ambrosius. "... Ambrosius, I have no right to ask this of you, but... this isn't an order. It's a request, from me to you." A pause, as she bows her head, feeling tears in her eyes. "Please... help her."
It is cruel and unusual, to see this kind of torment; the awful stench of burning wafts through the Merian town square, as the guards and soldiers who've responded to this crisis start to back away, spears held firm and horizontal. A trailing ladder of red electricity flickers over her as the electrocution stops...
... and to those who've seen her undergo this process, they know what comes next -- from the horrible punishment comes dangerous, unstable power, as Yue's body just seems to rise of its own accord, up to her own two feet.
"... make the pain stop..." Yue whispers, crouching into a battle stance. "Make it STOOOOP!!!"
An severe wash of red energy blasts through the square, rupturing tiles and shredding at trees as it goes, threatening to clip the nearby Drifters and bystanders! Hurry, and protect yourself -- and those dearest to you!
DC: Yue Rohay switches forms to DT-Prototype Activated! GS: Yue Rohay has activated a Boss Action! GS: Yue Rohay spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Acacia Saitani with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Hannah Curie with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Ruth Pauling with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Kaguya with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has gained 1 Combo! GS: Yue Rohay spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Holly with Quietus! GS: Yue Rohay has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Acacia Saitani suffers a terrible blow from Yue Rohay's Quietus for 210 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Acacia Saitani has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: CRITICAL! Kaguya takes a solid hit from Yue Rohay's Quietus for 183 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Kaguya! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Evade bonus activated! GS: Holly takes a solid hit from Yue Rohay's Quietus for 137 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Holly! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: Holly has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Ruth Pauling partially guards Yue Rohay's Quietus for 96 hit points! GS: Interrupt blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Xiumei Klein has posed.
Xiumei can't help but smile as so many people -- ARMS members, Drifters, and citizens of Meria City -- stand against the elder Rohay. She often feels proud of her homeland, but it's especially true today.
So she stands, too, when other citizens do -- and has her ledger clutched against her chest. It's the only weapon she has, right now. But Varius and Avile hover up after her, lights flickering across them.
"You can't use Minder like this!" she says, after Yue makes her explanation. She looks down at Shijie. "You--"
But Minder steps out. She looks down at her, and then she frowns -- and then her eyes go wide as she takes off her helmet. This was the same kind child who'd been so nice to her, even when she was at her lowest. A friend, even when Xiumei wasn't in a state of mind to admit she had a friend.
"Minder, no!"
She starts to scramble down from the wall -- but she can't leap. She has to run down the stairs. She's out of breath, as she gets down there; and Xue is already being escorted away. She turns, to look at Yue.
Alight; aglow; in pain.
And a blast of red light explodes out from her, and slams her back into the wall. She smashes against it, before she stumbles up. "Yue!" she callsout. Then, she looks at Acacia. "What--what do we do!?"
GS: CRITICAL! Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Yue Rohay's Quietus for 94 hit points! GS: Interrupt blocked! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Yue doesn't reveal Kaguya's location--and neither does Acacia, as it happens. Kaguya does like to do planning, but..
She'd be lying if she said she didn't appreciate this kind of stupidity. It's noble, even if she'll complain about it being reckless.
"I'll do what I can--"
Avril speaks up. "Fu--" Minder is there. Instead, she says, "Ffffriend problems!"
She moves back into the shadows immediately, and listens to what happens. Yue, or Minder, or Acacia--any might see that she starts to pull out a small, glowing cylinder. But she doesn't end up using it, because--
BEcause of Minder. Because of Xue
"Minder..."
She sees her cough, and winces. But she goes. She thanks them. "...Of course," she says.
However--
"Bastard," Kaguya says of Shijie. That torment is terrble to see. And it makes a decision for Kaguya. She is sure of something, now.
"..." Red shines in her eyes for a brief moment. But she pushes it down again. "...I..."
She shoves down the impulse and the feeling boh, and then there is a severe wash of red energy. Kaguya is hit HARD, focusing as she is, and she can't dodge; she is thrown bodily from her feet and smashes through a wall that collapses down on top of her, seemingly out for now.
...And then one of the guards, in Musketeer uniform, rushes out from the castle square, and stands in front of a woman who couldn't escape. "Go!" Tristan Klein says, setting himself up in place to shield those trying to leave. "The Merian Army will protect you! Let these people fight her, and get to safety!" The blonde young man has a bayoneted rifle in hand, a shield on his gauntlet, and he advances towards Yue. "I know you don't want to do this," he says. "These people--they're your neighbors! THey're your friends!"
He advances, unafraid. He seees Xiumei, there. It means...
"I won't allow this!"
GS: Hannah Curie solidly guards Yue Rohay's Quietus for 65 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Hannah Curie! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
The reporter doesn't look back as Avril claims authority over the invading force. It's not that she doesn't appreciate the support - a smirk of satisfaction even flits over her expression at the proclamation. It's more that she's already decided this is as much a show of will as it is a show of force. If she breaks her gaze and looks away now, she'll have lost in some small and imperceptible way. More than anything else, she finds herself unprepared to give Yue's mother so much as the smallest victory.
That expression dims as Shijie addresses her in specific. "Oh. Were you investigating me yourself, or did you force Yue to tell you what she's been up to, dear mother-in-law?" she responds in a light tone of voice, before it suddenly sharpens. "What happens next is that I pass evidence of your being here to every Veruni I know - which is a lot more than you'd expect - and ask them to pass it up the chain as far as they can. See, I'm not a hero or anything like that, but playing dirty and using bureaucracy, I can do that--"
She's smart enough to not glance to where Kaguya is hiding - but there's no time to follow up either. Her voice cuts out as ice runs through her veins. Minder's quiet tone shouldn't stop her short, but it does, especially when the girl promises to go with her grandmother. She finds herself swallowing a lump in her throat; absolute pride and absolute worry run through her as the quiet hiss of Minder's helmet overtakes any other sound. She's considered this moment as well, and what it would mean. While she never had a full understanding of Yue's family dynamic, the fact that Minder was chained to her support suit always felt like the bandaid that would need ripping off one day, as cruel as it might be.
The first cough from the girl underneath the helmet sends Acacia almost stumbling towards her several steps, her hands held out in concern and only relaxing when Xue pulls herself back to full height. She opens her mouth to say anything at all-- and can only soften into a faint, lost smile as recognition hits. No-one could have stopped her or the other citizens of Meria Boule from lining up on that parapet - and no-one can stop Xue now, not brimming with certainty as she is.
Acacia lets in a slow breath, then lets it out. "Hi, you," is what she settles for instead with a soft smile. "It's good to meet you." Her camera is already in her hands to take a snapshot of Minder's true face - but then the helmet raises, and her hands can't find it in themselves to leave the shutter button as glass fractures across cobblestone. Her gaze lingers on the shards as Xue moves forwards. "... we'll be back for you," she promises quietly.
* * *
Her expression is drawn as she watches the ships start to rise. There's no question, from the fire in her eyes, that she's going to do her best to make Shijie's life as hellish as she can in the coming weeks and months - but she makes no move to gainsay Xue's resolve, her lips held in a thin line. She clearly doesn't trust the elderly Veruni any further than she can throw her, and remains on the ready for an attack without ever expecting it might come from behind.
"What," is all she can get out before one of the first arcs of energy hurtles her sideways into the gate wall and takes her breath away. She twists afterwards - and it takes no time at all for her to understand the rest of the situation. "Yue!" she grimaces through the pain, feeling something move in her shoulder before she wrenches herself back up to her feet. She doesn't tell Yue to stop, knowing for certain that this isn't her choice anyway.
Instead, her expression immediately hardens. "We knock her out and then we figure out how it's doing that!" she calls back to Xiumei and then up to the wall. "Or maybe the other way around! Either's good! The rest of you, go with the Musketeers! This is--" she hesitates to really look at Yue's pain, her brow furrowing as her voice abruptly softens to a whisper. "... this is going to be rough."
The next moment she's racing forwards instead of back, recklessly pushing through the arcs of energy that tear at her. By the time she's at Yue's side she's making a long drawn-out hiss of pain, but if she can withstand this, if she can just reach for the Veruni woman, make a connection--
--then she can twist and hurl Yue over her shoulder, her hand not even flicking to her jacket pocket to retrieve her pistol. Instead she immediately fingerguns a bolt of light towards the device on Yue's back, quietly and fervently hoping it's not her own life support system.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Yue Rohay with Bury the Lede! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: Yue Rohay critically guards Acacia Saitani's Bury the Lede for 23 hit points! GS: Yue Rohay's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple and Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
The reaction is... not what she had hoped for.
"You would not dare." Her grip tightens on Absolute Zero's hilt, though outwardly otherwise Avril's expression is an iron mask. Once again, her lack of knowledge might have cost her -- and cost her dearly: if she had known more about the precise sort of person Shijie Rohay was, or how she felt about the once-and-future Queen of Ice, she might have...
Perhaps plotted differently. Or perhaps not. The situation had not afforded her excess time in which to make any plans. Neither could she have done nothing.
And now things are as they are. "Do not think that I shall permit your--"
A child's voice silences even the woman who would again be queen. Avril turns her gaze to watch as Minder makes her ultimatum. As she takes off her helmet.
"You mustn't--!"
And dashes it upon the street.
This is a gambit sufficient to see Shijie order her forces withdrawal, lest Minder -- Xue -- develop VR factor: a likely risk, with her suit so compromised. "You... should not have..." Avril can only utter, lowering her blade.
Shijie, however, had agreed only to withdraw her forces. Does Yue count among the number she controls? Or is what happens next a flagrant fracture of a promise? "Yue--! How... dare you!" Avril shouts towards the carrier where Shijie awaits her second daughter. "I shall not forgive this! Yue...! Please," she calls out, turning back towards Yue, her sword again gripped tightly in her hand, "You must fight this! You cannot--"
Red energy erupts from Yue in a shattering wave. It's all Avril can do to twist out of its way, and even here, she can feel the raw destructive force as it grazes her. A distance behind her it impacts a tree; the tree is reduced to so much splintered wood which falls like a twisted rain. Her gaze darts across the tableau before her and she notes, with some muted horror, that Kaguya had been here.
The wall that had fallen over Kaguya does not so much as shift. Bottling the desire to run and move the rocks, Avril instead forces herself to focus on Yue, still awash in that frightful light.
"I... am sorry!"
She darts for Yue with her blade. Her intent is to wound. Anything less, and the people here will be in danger. ...If this is what must be done, then so shall she do it.
But let it not be said that she intends to see Yue's end here, either.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Yue Rohay with Innocent Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Such a show of force will attract attention, of course. Inhabitants of Meria Boule, friends and allies... they emerge. His gaze tracks to Yue, settling on her for a moment. Acacia and Avril challenge Shijie directly. And Ambrosius...
...He can only watch.
...And then, Minder herself emerges. And she -
Ambrosius gasps, as Minder removes her own environmental safety helmet, shattering against the ground despite her choking and sputtering.
"You..." Ambrosius murmurs. ...Despite the risk to herself, she did this for the safety of Meria Boule... He looks away. He can't look her in the eye right now.
...But Shijie Rohay is not one so easily turned away. She has a plan, of course. She always has a plan - and Ambrosius's attention snaps to Yue and she lets out a pained howl.
"...What have you done...?" He hisses. His grip on the vessel's side door tightens - tightening enough to dent the metal. And then - Xue's eyes met his. And she has a request, bowing her head.
Her eyes, tears beading at the edges... It's like a stab to the heart. Given the circumstances, how can he say no? If she has the strength for defiance... then so, too, must he.
"...I shall do what I can." He assures with a nod, reaching up to his helmet and tapping to activate the communication device within.
"...Shijie Rohay. This operation - it does not adhere to the usual chain of command." Ambrosius states. "...I am just a common soldier. However... I cannot imagine that it would be ideal were it to become common knowledge that you mobilized forces and risked a human uprising to solve a personal, family matter. Therefore... I must ask that you overlook this moment of insubordination."
...It's a bluff, ultimately. He doesn't have all the information - just what he can gather from knowledge about how this is supposed to go. He just needs it to be strong enough to allow him a moment to move.
And with that, Ambrosius leaps from the vessel, landing with a cratering thud as he hits the ground. It barely phases him - he reaches up to deactivate his helmet, which furls back into his armor as he breaks into a run toward Yue.
"Yue, old friend. I am here - I am here." Ambrosius assures. He rushes to grapple her. He doesn't expect to be able to hold on for long, not with that power flowing through her body - but if he can limit her ability to act for even just a moment, that's enough.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Yue Rohay with Grapple! GS: Ambrosius has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage could join the fight against Yue but Marivel isn't inclined to hurt her friend anymore. It's just too hard for her to do that. Instead, she can do something else.
Marivel lingers near the Young ARMS who have scampered to the top of their hideout so they can try and convince Minder to stay or at least see her leave. Tony is a big mess, full of tears and pain and no shortage of shounen fury. Scott Summers is just crying. Saying goodbye to a friend is even harder for children, especially when they never know if they'll see them again.
Marivel places a hand on Tony's shoulder, and holds Scott's hand.
"It isn't fair... This isn't right... And they're still trying to hurt us..." Tony cries. "Who hurts their own family like this??"
Lots of people, Marivel knows, but she doesn't say anything to Tony. She lets him shout out all his pain.
Scott pulls off his glasses and rubs his eyes with his wrist.
Only once Tony's voice starts to get hoarse does Marivel speak up.
"There there," Marivel says softly. "You'll see her again, I know it seems like it's for forever right now... But you'll see her again."
She holds onto her children for the rest of the battle, focusing first on what she always has.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth, from her place, quietly weighs with herself against the rising tension of her conflicted self. When your self-worth is both measured with (and at the same time rejecting) one's capacity for violence, it's only a matter of time. That she's not already pulling the trigger around the time 'Minder' - Xue Rohay, she reveals herself - is miraculous.
Yue's pained yelling sees Ruth's eyes dart down, and--
The release of Malevolence is muted, even invisible, before the power erupting from Yue's device. It's as if it's not at all noteworthy against weaponized, perfected cruelty from parent to child, with only the distending silhouette of Ruth able to be made out in split-second brief like a blot of blackish-violet washed away and painted over by crimson.
There is a break in the spread of that power.
A pained hissing noise quietly asserts itself to the landscape of the sounds of ruin and panic as clawed feet dig into where she makes her descent. They carve deep gouges as that energy fans out from her Hellionized shape, parting and spreading in ways where the safest place in the area - for the moment - is some ways behind her.
It may contribute to the immediate survival of those along the periphery, as the familiar (to those Resonant) shape of a single-winged grotesque fades into visual coherence as a dark silhouette against the clearing crimson. Her wing folds inward to try and hide as much of her as possible as she catches some of the sympathetic cries for Yue's well being.
"Make it stop," Ruth murmurs Yue's pained plea in whisper as she eyes the Granasian rosary. Her tail's already negotiating the depositing of her rifle into her hands like an inevitability. Her serpentine tongue flicks at the collective distress.
The rifle is raised, the wing parting aside, and a deafening report of a single shot joins the chorus of chaos.
GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Yue Rohay with Door Knock! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay solidly guards Avril Vent Fleur's Innocent Saber for 49 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst activated!
<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.
There's absolutely no chance that the fae knows what's going on right now. Which you know, puts her squarely in the same territory as more than a few other citizens of the town as it stands.
She's gotten close enough to see the crux of it and based on the look on her face, that's not helping clear anything up at this point. Her nose twitches, hair standing on end as the energy starts to swell up in the area though and well, she drops straight out of the air, landing on the brush in a way to divert some of the momentum, the rest caught by a splash of water that appears briefyl. Said splash then surroundsh er in a proper bubble, swirling faster and faster, still streaked in ink as that energy washes over all of them.
The bubble pops as she gets a running start and takes to the air again. Not that she's really on anyone's radar, but now she's annoyed and she's about to go let someone have a piece of her mind.
What she finds herself stumbling into isn't at all what she expected and it takes her a moment to figure out the... well the battle lines, as odd as that sounds in her head. She actually considered trying to heal the woman thinking it was maybe.. some kind of overload? That's not right and the others are most certainly trying to do the opposite of mending.
"Can I help?" She calls out, her voice.. not the loudest even when she's yelling. Floating towards them.
There's a moment of indecision on her face. This isn't as cut and dry as 'stay out' like where she's spent most of her life and well, she doesn't actually want to accidentally hurt someone.
Eventually though, the context is at least clear enough she's pretty sure the injury part needs to happen first. She might scowl at it.
She slings the brush around, dragging it through the swirling water and ink around her, then quickly swings the brush through the air. Some kind of pattern floating there before slowly dripping away. Sinking into the earth and reappearing around her target. The ink carryin the curse she just cast. "Sorry if I'm wrong!" She tries at least. There's uh.. a lot more to it along those lines too. She's still a chatterbox. Even if it's quiet and she's far away and she's kind of not projecting her voice and-
GS: Holly has attacked Yue Rohay with Curse! GS: Holly has gained 4 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Holly has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay critically guards Ambrosius's Grapple for 18 hit points! GS: Yue Rohay's Weaken Ward may block the effect! GS: Weaken blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Guard bonus activated! New Content
GS: CRITICAL! Yue Rohay takes a solid hit from Ruth Pauling's Door Knock for 166 hit points! GS: Yue Rohay critically guards Holly's Curse for 0 hit points! GS: Break, Drowsy, and Mute blocked! GS: Shield applied to Holly!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah can see, through Zephyr, the placement of the ships. How they don't encircle Meria Boule, which means they can fall back. Gather the people out of harm's way in case the worst comes to pass. Of course, they need to get the word out--
--and someone is addressing the invaders with a megaphone.
Well, that's convenient.
"Zephyr, come back," she mutters as she starts climbing down from her observation spot. "Watch the evacuees." She jumps the last little bit down to the ground and starts running through the streets, towards the source of the megaphone. It's not even so much as a request or a suggestion as a flat, terse, statement of fact. "We need to--"
But Minder, it seems, has found her own solution to the problem. Some kind of advanced suit (she shelves her questions and curiosity about the tech involved for later). She doesn't let herself relax as Minder--or Xue--surrenders herself, and the ships take off...
And then there's a nasty trick played.
Hannah has barely enough time to draw a crest graph from her pouch and slash against the incoming wave of red energy. A shimmering trail of her own magic emerges, disrupts the worst of the magic around her, though it still leaves her stumbling back a few steps.
Yue has something hurting her, that she seemingly can't control... Part of Hannah's heart goes out to her, but all the same--
Tristan appears, and Hannah makes her way to him. "Tristan! Tell the other Musketeers to look out for a red-tailed hawk helping them with evacuations." Well, that's... certainly a statement. But Tristan's seen Hannah and Zephyr in action before, so maybe not so odd.
(Zephyr, already well clear of the departing ships, is now skimming down through the city streets, looking for those caught or about to be caught in the impending battle so he can alert others to their presence.)
With that delivered, she reaches into her pouch again and pulls out another crest. It's glowing a bright blue-white, with wisps of fractal-ice energy wafting off of it. "I'm sorry, but..." She slams it into the ground, and a line of ice surges along the ground right for Yue. If it makes contact, it will start to creep up along any body part it can to ensnare and slow her down as much as it can.
GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Yue Rohay with Winter's Grasp! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action. GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Hannah Curie's Winter's Grasp for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Yue Rohay gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Entangle, Mute, and Slow applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
There was a time, too, when Minder felt so closed off, much like Xiumei. Perhaps it was watching her growth that inspired her to do the same; seeing her break out of her shell, speaking out during Eleanor and Montgomery's wedding, growing into her own person...
The blast strikes Kaguya unexpectedly hard and through a wall. Yue can barely direct it -- it's an uncontrolled impulse of energy, bleeding out of her; she doesn't notice that the Veruni is down, through the wall, which might be a boon for her as well. Tristan, instead, proceeds forward -- as the Merian army evacuates people, moving to defend Xiumei as well.
Yue's posture is almost animal-like -- she's hunched over, the shackles undone and crumbling into pieces; with a singular ROAR, she sweeps forward, as if to claw at him--
It's a feint. She wrenches her waist, and instead a heel of hers whirls over and around and tears down with crushing force, a line of red energy threatening to rip through his shield along with the physical force of her leg.
Acacia shouts at her, but there's no pause, no moment of cognisance in Yue; instead, she reacts to her just as she wholesale throws her over her shoulder, and launches a bolt of light towards the device--
A motion that, in theory, should be sound, if Yue wasn't exerting more than her usual through the power afforded to her from the DT-Prototype, which allows her to land cat-like in a three-point landing and hurl a whole fistful of black Ether in turn to clash against Acacia's own white;
KSHHHHH
The two energies clash forcefully for a moment, and then, as if just grasping it as if it were a palpable object, she hurls it back towards her.
Avril's voice, too, it would seem, falls on deaf ears for a moment; has the prototype just consumed her whole? It's harrowing to think about. Absolute Zero comes in at a sharp angle, and cuts, with Yue again raising that Ether-sconced fist; there's still a ripple of blood that seemingly holds in the air, and--
Much like Acacia, Yue opts for the direct blast of black Ether to the once-and-future Ice Queen, trying to bowl her back with sheer force.
~*~
"Tests," Shijie responds plainly to Ambrosius. "Tests to ensure the continued longevity of our people."
Then, as Ambrosius points out that the operation doesn't adhere to the usual chain -- that it would be inconvenient to her as well if they knew that she risked a human uprising to resolve a personal matter -- there's a smirk upon her face as she says:
"You are wasted as a common soldier, Ambrosius, and you know it. You were one of Metis' finest."
She doesn't say anything more; she lets him go, as Xue watches from the ship she's on. As she looks towards the hideout, where Marivel is consoling Tony and Scott. ... she won't say goodbye. This isn't goodbye. This is what she has to tell herself.
~*~
Ambrosius descends heroically, and darts forward in a flash -- Yue's still recovering from the blast when she finds herself grappled by a larger being; there's a snarl, and an experimental twist, then two --
This is a long enough moment for her to be pinned in place for the first of four knocks, from the ever-feared Gae Buidhe/Dearg. The anti-materiel grade round shreds through, even with the power of Ether, and prompts an even more severe howl; pain translates into power, and the impact of the round separates Yue and Ambrosius long enough for her to whirl and try to slam her heel onto the side of his gut and bash him to one aside.
Newly freed, she manifests red Ether, which forms a long and erratic lance in her hand -- and her response to Ruth is as sudden as it is silent, flung directly where she is on the rooftop.
Holly's swirl of water and ink gathers around her for a moment, something that seems to confuse Yue's almost animal-like instincts -- but the device's energy disrupts the pattern of the spell as it tries to get a hold; it's difficult to sink a spell in when there's so much power floating around, it seems...!
However, it's not for nothing -- Holly's very own spell has carved an opening in the errant flow in the air enough for Winter's Grasp to cut through, suddenly seizing Yue by one leg and encroaching up her leg and arm. The strange and unsettling nature of the ice gives her a little pause, but... she is inexorable in her berserk state, at the moment.
There's a muted little hiss, and with her eyes flashing, she strikes at thin air with her still-free fist--
And ghastly red thorns that vaguely resemble the shape of a curved sword threaten to impale Hannah and Holly both, on the ground they're standing, if they aren't adroit and careful about their positioning.
GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Yue Rohay with Consuming Dark! GS: Yue Rohay accepts Yue Rohay's Consuming Dark for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Entangle and Mute removed! GS: Hyper applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Acacia Saitani with Black Eraser! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Black Eraser! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Ambrosius with Heel Crush! GS: Yue Rohay spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Ruth Pauling with Bloody Lance! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Hannah Curie with Night Sword! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Holly with Night Sword! GS: Yue Rohay has completed her action. GS: Acacia Saitani solidly guards Yue Rohay's Black Eraser for 126 hit points! GS: Blind blocked! GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: CRITICAL! Avril Vent Fleur takes a glancing hit from Yue Rohay's Black Eraser for 91 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Arcane Font activated! GS: Ruth Pauling solidly guards Yue Rohay's Bloody Lance for 134 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ruth Pauling gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Disease applied to Ruth Pauling! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: CRITICAL! Ambrosius solidly guards Yue Rohay's Heel Crush for 62 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Ambrosius!
<Pose Tracker> Xiumei Klein has posed.
"Eleanor's brother... damn it!" Varius snaps. "Another person to watch!"
"If only we could activate the Armor...!" Avile says.
"It... it doesn't matter," Xiumei says, her voice trembling with pain; she might have broken a rib, earlier. "Tristan! Please be careful! She's--something's been done to her!"
She looks at Acacia, then she nods. Find a way to knock her out. Which, in her current state, is a difficult prospect. She is athletic, but she isn't up to this. Still, she can't quite bring herself to run away.
Funny, how things changed.
"Yue!" she calls out. "Please! Listen to them! This is... you can fight this! Don't let it control you!"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Tristan is a fine warrior, and indeed, he gives Hannah a sharp nod at her directive. He can keep up on his best days with even the powerful. ...But he's not entirely prepared for Yue unleashed, one of the Veruni 'tested' to her limits. He moves for the feint, blocking with his shield, but that heel and red energy slam into him hard enough that his shield breaks outright. He is pushed back by the sheer impact, his arm wrenching painfully as he manages to partially block with his rifle--but he hits a knee a moment later. Be careful, they tell him...
He grits his teeth, woozy on his feet. "This woman..."
He's a liability with the injury he just took. So he grits his teeth against the pain and, "Right. I'll lead the people to safety. I'm relying on all of you!"
The wall Kaguya fell under shudders, eventually. Avril's wish to move the rocks is something Kaguya might appreciate... but something that turns out to have been best ignored, as they BURST apart, the small Veruni rising with a shout of force from the rubble. There's blood trailing down her face from a wound at her hairline, bruises forming and tears in her clothes from debris that may as well have been shrapnel. But she's here.
"I'm going to kill that woman," Kaguya says simply. Then she lunges for Yu. "Ambrosius!" she calls. "Pincer!"
It's a suggestion, but for her part she dives down beneath Yue's guard and slams upward with her forearms, a hammerblow meant to knock her backward and off-balance.
"Yue! Are you lucid at all!?"
She looks to Ruth--that gigantic rifle...
They might need it.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Yue Rohay with Satellite Break! GS: Kaguya has gained 4 Combo! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Hannah Curie takes a glancing hit from Yue Rohay's Night Sword for 59 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Hannah Curie gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Evade bonus activated! GS: Yue Rohay drains Hannah Curie! Yue Rohay gains 34 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
There is a tiny moment in the wake of her maneuver where Acacia gets to survey the battlefield, and it slowly dawns on her that a lot of the Veruni she knows personally are probably already here. There's some quiet pride on Yue's behalf in that realization, that despite her rather gloomy outlook there's a lot of people that would come support her and Minder. Of course, perhaps it makes her threat to Shijie a little toothless, but-- well, she's not about to admit that herself.
Avril and Ambrosius both follow up on her attack, which she's quietly thankful for - because as the adrenaline of her rush wears off, it suddenly dawns on her just how much pain she's feeling. She nearly slumps as a wave of dizziness overtakes her, but catches herself afterwards through sheer force of effort. Yue's facing much worse right now - and something tells her that her own situation is going to get worse before it gets better.
At least Ambroius, very much her opposite, is also tacitly approving of the 'go latch onto Yue' plan. Good instincts, me, her fuzzy brain supplies.
Acacia is still not completely sure what to make of what she can dimly sense from Ruth, but the grim look on her face suggests she appreciates the backup no matter what. "So long as you keep yourself safe!" Acacia calls back to Holly without even looking around, pulling herself back up into stance as she readies for the next attack. Maybe she thinks the fairie is another townsperson - but the twisting ink makes her pause and reevaluate. "It's that thing on her back, but-- I bet we're not gonna be able to just remove it!"
She can't place where exactly the ice comes from either, as things in the town square get rapidly hectic - but it's heartening that all of the Drifters seem to be out to disable Yue rather than harm her outright. (Except herself and Ruth, part of her notes, but there's really no time to feel any guilt over it. This isn't even the most dangerous thing she and Yue have hit each other with, not when Gears can get involved. ... ... that same voice suggests she probably owes Yue some very quiet time and an apology or two after this.)
The reporter is used to Yue's bursts of speed when she really needs them, but she's not sure she's ever seen the Veruni this enraged or bestial, and the power behind her haphazard shot really isn't enough to war with the blackened bolt that Yue fires back at her. When her hands go up it isn't to raise any kind of eldritch shield or defence, it's simply to block her face in a good old boxing stance, nearly taken off her feet and stumbling backwards from the force of the strike.
It's a relief when Kaguya bursts from the wreckage; Acacia looks in her direction sharply. "Me first," she mutters dangerously. "Then Minder. Then Yue. ... actually, there's gonna be one hell of a line." Her hand is back to her jacket, but she's not sure that she's going to be able to keep up with Yue and actually land any meaningful attack. But between the lack of control that Yue's displaying and the way in which the smaller of the Veruni calls for a pincer, an idea flits across her mind.
The flash module detaches from her camera with a satisfying sort of clunk. "This costs like a month's salary," she can't help but whine under her breath, the filament starting to spark with energy as light coalesces in her hand. "You're really high-maintenance sometimes, you know?" There's a soft whine of metal and glass under distress as the bulb starts to glow on its own, brighter and clearer and more consistently than it was ever intended for.
Right as the noise reaches a fever pitch, she hurls it forwards towards where Yue stands. "Eyes!" she yells along with the sounds of rupturing glass, and then the makeshift flashbang works better than it has any right to, suddenly bathing the entire town centre is a burst of disorienting light.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Yue Rohay with Paparazzi! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: Yue Rohay takes a solid hit from Kaguya's Satellite Break for 94 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Yue Rohay gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Yue Rohay's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Mute applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Kaguya! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Acacia Saitani's Paparazzi for 0 hit points! GS: Disrupt, Entangle, and Shieldbreak applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
'Tests', Shijie says. Ambrosius doesn't respond to that, except to frown. And then... she compliments him. He suppresses a shudder.
"...Mm. Not fine enough, ultimately." He replies, regret in his voice - and leaves it at that.
He does manage to grapple Yue. He can feel the rounds through her, and it's enough to loosen his grip - and then, her heel slams into him. He can feel it even through his armor, winding him and causing him to stagger backward as he takes a moment to catch his breath.
It's enough time for Kaguya to make her move - and when she calls out to him, he nods.
"Understood." He replies. Kaguya comes in for a strike from one side, and he comes in from the other - a powerful elbow charge to provide him with some extra momentum.
The way she hisses... it causes him to feel a pang of sorrow. It hurts to see a friend like this. Meanwhile, Acacia points out that it's the device on Yue's back. Ambrosius nods consideringly, and frowns.
"...Yes, I see. But... you are likely correct. To remove such a device while it is active... the results can be dire." Ambrosius replies - and does, when her warning goes out, shut his eyes.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Yue Rohay with Advancing Charge! GS: Ambrosius has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ambrosius's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Make it stop.
It's that phrase that Ruth settles as the reason to let herself act, as the first shot finds purchase. Yue, even when bound by shackles and a disposition bereft of desire to do harm, was - is - one of the strongest hand-to-hand (...foot-to-the-whole-freakin'-world) fighters Ruth's ever witnessed.
Without the restraints... there might not be a comparison available to reference.
A red Ether lance is Yue's return fire. Some falling debris from the first release of that red Ether disintegrates in its presence, doing naught to slow its path or dull its potency like it might be the nail that seals one's coffin.
That Ruth hurls herself into it is another blink-and-you'll-miss-it exchange of violence. Purple-hued blood spatters along the roof, trailing in far smaller amounts as she hurls herself through it with such fierce will that the Bloody Lance's energies are more like knives grazing around her rather than a lance impaling.
The emotional snowballing rides too high for her to acknowledge the serious bleeding for the effort as the gargoyle-like Hellion touches down on the ground. Ruth stays lucid enough that she can still yet be referred to as a 'who' instead of a 'what,' baring fangs and posturing with an outstretched wing in coincidental (but welcome) choreography that allows those attempting to subdue Yue in melee their operational space.
It's a moment of pause where one's will is yanking the leash on the rest of themselves, in fleeting contemplation of how much people don't want to hurt Yue. There's no other words for how cruel a situation this is, from all she could hear above her own pounding heart and urging whispers in the moments leading up to this.
"Yue..." Ruth murmurs, the name nearly lost to the hissing escaping her throat as she tightens her grip on the rifle to hold it where she does. "I'll make it sssstop."
It's here, where she takes her turn to join the melee, rushing in and swinging the weapon as sparks fly where the bayonet blade contacts against the ground, trying to sweep it across Yue's form as she bears the responsibility for the life of a beloved friend among those here.
It's unrestrained, hurtful, and debilitating, but she won't let the onus of responsibility for the possibility of Yue's death be in the hands of those who truly love her.
Some might have a greater idea why that is, now.
GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Yue Rohay with Scarring Blow! GS: Ruth Pauling has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Holly solidly guards Yue Rohay's Night Sword for 75 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Yue Rohay drains Holly! Yue Rohay gains 40 temporary hit points! GS: Yue Rohay takes a glancing hit from Ambrosius's Advancing Charge for 59 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Yue Rohay gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.
Holly didn't get much purchase with her usual go-to. The blast of energy dissipating the spell does get a new steam of words from the fairy. Not a single one of them polite and it turns out she's got quite the vocabulary. Go figure.
The darting thorn, that sword darts up towards her. Not quite her usual opponent, but the same tricks work right? The brush is flourished, back and forth. The ink creating an X near where the point of impact is aiming for her. She slams the brush against it at the last moment and... well she stops a lot of it at least. Bounding away in the air for a moment until she gets her orientation back.
That foul language has now shifted into another language. It's still going though.
She suddenly quiets up though. The brush creating a pattern in the air, drawn in the water surrounding her. Swirling. More and more even. The water bubble expands around her, dripping with more and more criss-crossing symbols all contained in the water. Then she suddenly slashes through the bubble, releasing it in a torrent of stagnant water. Washing over the unfortunate woman currently under control. It's not lethal, but it's probably not going to be pleasant as the embedded curses try once again to cling and stick.
They clearly don't want to have to hurt her.. this is the right way right? Maybe they can drag her down and- and what? She doesn't recognize the technology. She's not even much of a healer. "I'll apologize later!" she decides, calling out a concern that had only been voiced in her head.
GS: Holly has attacked Yue Rohay with Deluge! GS: Holly has gained 2 Combo! GS: Holly has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay solidly guards Ruth Pauling's Scarring Blow for 73 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Yue Rohay gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Drowsy blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Holly's Deluge for 0 hit points! GS: Yue Rohay's Weaken Ward may block the effect! GS: Break, Disease, and Shieldbreak applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Weaken blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She doesn't see it when Kaguya rises from the wall that had buried her, not when she advances on Yue with her blade, not when Yue retaliates in kind if not in type with a blast of Ether.
Reflex takes over where the mind is too slow to follow: Avril steps sharply to the side as the black magic bursts about her. She still stumbles, caught up in the trailing edges of the blast and falls against a lamppost; the change in angle reveals to her at least one very important thing that has changed regarding their battlefield.
Kaguya -- relatively hale but certainly whole, and furious to boot -- has freed herself from the stones. Perhaps it's to be expected of the Veruni: Kaguya may be ill but she is still as strong as any of their people might be. Still, it's a relief to see her alive and... angry.
"Kaguya! We must ensure the people evacuate!" There is a pause as she then steps away from the lamppost, the blade in her hand reducing itself to so many atoms: all there is of Absolute Zero now is its hilt. "So it is that device attached to her causing this? ... Then I believe we may be able to contain her." The part of that sentence that started with 'instead', she leaves unspoken. Avril pauses, regarding Acacia, then Kaguya. "Please, grant me but an opening. There is something I wish to attempt."
She gets precisely that, and from another corner besides.
"Ambrosius--" Avril starts, shock in her eyes. "...Thank you."
Acacia is... doing something with her camera. Oh, considers a part of Avril's mind that has not forgotten facts, merely the context of them, so that's the game.
Rushing at Yue, Avril leaps into the air even as Acacia calls out her warning. Yue should be...
...right below.
"OVERHEAD--"
Light gathers in her hands, caught in the filamentous web of ice crystals that are there spun together. It's fragile, this thing that she lobs for Yue-- for Yue's back.
With Rebecca, she would have her shoot it. Here, the force of impact ought to be enough. There is magic packed densely into that glowing, glittering sphere, and it will detonate on impact.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She doesn't see it when Kaguya rises from the wall that had buried her, not when she advances on Yue with her blade, not when Yue retaliates in kind if not in type with a blast of Ether.
Reflex takes over where the mind is too slow to follow: Avril steps sharply to the side as the black magic bursts about her. She still stumbles, caught up in the trailing edges of the blast and falls against a lamppost; the change in angle reveals to her at least one very important thing that has changed regarding their battlefield.
Kaguya -- relatively hale but certainly whole, and furious to boot -- has freed herself from the stones. Perhaps it's to be expected of the Veruni: Kaguya may be ill but she is still as strong as any of their people might be. Still, it's a relief to see her alive and... angry.
"Kaguya! We must ensure the people evacuate!" There is a pause as she then steps away from the lamppost, the blade in her hand reducing itself to so many atoms: all there is of Absolute Zero now is its hilt. "So it is that device attached to her causing this? ... Then I believe we may be able to contain her." The part of that sentence that started with 'instead', she leaves unspoken. Avril pauses, regarding Acacia, then Kaguya. "Please, grant me but an opening. There is something I wish to attempt."
She gets precisely that, and from another corner besides.
"Ambrosius--" Avril starts, shock in her eyes. "...Thank you."
Acacia is... doing something with her camera. Oh, considers a part of Avril's mind that has not forgotten facts, merely the context of them, so that's the game.
Rushing at Yue, Avril leaps into the air even as Acacia calls out her warning. Yue should be...
...right below.
"OVERHEAD--"
Light gathers in her hands, caught in the filamentous web of ice crystals that are there spun together. It's fragile, this thing that she lobs for Yue-- for Yue's back. "SORCERY!"
With Rebecca, she would have her shoot it. Here, the force of impact ought to be enough. There is magic packed densely into that glowing, glittering sphere, and it will detonate on impact.
GS: You do not have that Force Action. [fury]
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
These aren't great fighting conditions--in the middle of a city, with someone who... well, doesn't seem fully in control of themselves, even if she doesn't know the exact circumstances. Zephyr is doing his best, racing through the streets--his help and viewpoint would doubtlessly be helpful to her, as well, but the people are more important. She can handle herself.
Tristan takes a serious blow-- "Tristan! Don't worry, we'll handle this. Help the people." It's what he's already doing, to be sure, but it's her way of providing encouragement.
She's crouched, hand to the ground as her ice surges forth--and ensnares Yue's arm and leg. Her relief is short-lived, however, when she still has a free hand to attack. That ghastly thorn erupts from under her, and Hannah has to throw herself to the side into an awkward side roll to evade it--it still scores a glancing blow, slicing through her shirt but thankfully avoiding her new jacket.
"Damn. Too close." She shivers as she feels some of her energy draining from her, even beyond what the cut itself caused.
Acacia and Ambrosius discuss the device on Yue's back, and Hannah squints. Removing it while in operation is out, but... "--What if we can just disable it?" she calls out. Away goes one crest graph and out comes another. This one sparkling with yellow energy. She holds it outright, a surging, crackling ball of lightning growing in front of her, held in statis as she waits for a moment when there's an opening...
"Stand clear!"
And with a snap of her fingers on her free hand it launches forward. She's trying to aim for that device, but if not, the wild, lashing arms lightning spreading off of that ball are bound to hit something.
Hopefully not innocent bystanders or other friendlies.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: You have activated the Force Action Fury Shot! GS: Hannah Curie spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Yue Rohay with Ball Lightning! GS: Hannah Curie has gained 2 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action. GS: Formation! Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Yue Rohay with Overhead Sorcery! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 2 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Avril Vent Fleur's Overhead Sorcery for 216 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: Yue Rohay partially guards Hannah Curie's Ball Lightning for 131 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Yue Rohay receives 100 temporary hit points. GS: Yue Rohay enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Slow expired! GS: Yue Rohay has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Xiumei entreats to Yue, and, unlike before, there's more of a struggle, more of a pause; the device's energy is errantly flickering, becoming more and more unstable -- both a danger, but perhaps, also an opportunity.
Tristan's shield shatters, and he's forced back. Fortunately, Yue doesn't pursue, as Kaguya calls for a pincer attack, rallying from the fallen wall with renewed energy and resolve -- that she's going to kill Shijie if nothing else. Is she lucid? ... there's no response. Looks like no. But slowly, surely, the voices must be going somewhere, the way she's pausing more and more--
The pause affords Kaguya's hammerblow a purchase, which does indeed send her backward and stumbling on her heels, as Acacia comments on how high-maintenance she is -- which curiously prompts something like a whined snarl, the moment before the camera flash module flashbangs the entire area.
The 'thing' on her back is... Avril, Ambrosius, Acacia and Kaguya both can see that it's very much entrenched into her flesh, into her spine -- up to the base of her neck. It's sunk itself into her very nerves and vitals. It might not be a device that can be removed without life-threatening consequences, but... it must have a weakness, somewhere.
In the battles with Yue before, where this device was activated, lightning played a key role. Perhaps...
Perhaps Ambrosius will come in with a powerful elbow charge, slamming into her from the other side as the flash subsides! Yue's knocked senseless, the wind seemingly knocked out of her for a moment, but there's a redoubling of energy as she skids to a halt.
In an instant, she acts -- and slamming her fist into the ground with a guttural, pained roar, black Ether -- Darkness -- erupts from underneath the ground in web-like fissures, threatening to engulf Ambrosius, Acacia and Kaguya if they don't depart from where they've positioned themselves.
The position of kneeling and striking leaves her open for Ruth to FLY through the darkness as it subsides, bayonet at the ready, scything through and inviting death. It draws blood, Veruni blood; there's a moment where Yue's erratic, glowing red eyes meets Ruth's very own, as they sweep through. A moment of understanding, perhaps, from her.
A moment of understanding that's followed up with violence, in the only way she knows how, turning to slam another torrid and ill wave of black Ether to chase after the Hellion, threatening to gnaw at her if she isn't careful.
Holly rebounds from the attack, and with some foul language, another pattern is created; water and ink, criss-crossing until that horridly stagnant water washes over Yue and clings and embeds curses that weaken and make her more vulnerable. Snarling and howling, the instincts within her clearly greatly dislike what's been applied.
Avril ascends above and seeks another attack angle -- and finds it in the wake of Acacia's own light, gathering her own and creating a filigree of ice, beautiful and web-like, that ensnares Yue in the back and seemingly slows the device down a fraction, causing her to stumble further.
It is Hannah, however, that finds significant purchase -- as Avril and Holly both continue to further slow her down, the crackling ball of lightning collides with the device and for the first time in this battle causes a chain reaction that seemingly stops her solid and cold for a moment.
Five seconds of incredibly palpable silence pass.
...
...
...
...
...
A slow hiss of red electricity, and she rises again. The air turns chokingly thick and severe as a swirl of power manifests around her arm, connected directly from the device and manifesting... into metal. From out of thin air, an almost Hyadean-like trick of technology indistinguishable from magic, a vicious and enormous blade is created, one that Acacia and ARMS have seen before.
(BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAp8U5z9cjQ )
The Iron-Cutting Sword comes, blade ensconced in red and black Ether dancing about its surface like malicious pixies.
"... zap it ..."
Is she lucid now? Barely. "... strike the blade... with lightning...!! Hurry!!"
GS: Yue Rohay has activated a Boss Action! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Acacia Saitani with Flood of Darkness! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Ambrosius with Flood of Darkness! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Kaguya with Flood of Darkness! GS: Yue Rohay spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Ruth Pauling with Soul Eater! GS: Yue Rohay has gained 1 Combo! GS: Yue Rohay's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Yue Rohay has attacked Yue Rohay with Zantetsuken is raised...! GS: Yue Rohay has gained 2 Combo! GS: Yue Rohay accepts Yue Rohay's Zantetsuken is raised... for 0 hit points! GS: Break, Burst, and Hyper applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Mighty applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Yue Rohay has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius solidly guards Yue Rohay's Flood of Darkness for 101 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Yue Rohay's Flood of Darkness for 252 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Acacia Saitani gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Guard bonus activated! GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ruth Pauling has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: CRITICAL! Ruth Pauling solidly guards Yue Rohay's Soul Eater for 99 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ruth Pauling gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Xiumei Klein has posed.
"We'll handle it," Xiumei promises Tristan. "Be careful, Tristan!"
She calls after her brother-in-law, before she looks back at Yue. Then she promptly shields her eyes when Acacia cries out, and that brilliant flash of light erupts.
She doesn't dare get closer -- which rather goes against her instincts, after fighting all these years -- but with Avril leaping in and Hannah's lightning spells, and the rest, it would be dangerous even if she could do something about it.
Her eyes lock onto the device, mounted on -- into -- Yue's back. She grits her teeth. Hit it, Yue said, with lightning.
She always kept a steady supply of equipment on her. Curatives from Filgaia and Lunar both; a selection of items to fill a variety of needs. She also kept a few items for attacking, just in case. She reaches into her bag, pulling out a small statue -- an icon, carved in the likeness of the Aeon, Ixion.
She breaks it between her hands.
And a bolt of lightning shoots down, hurtling for the sword. "Yue! You--you better survive this!"
GS: Kaguya takes a solid hit from Yue Rohay's Flood of Darkness for 196 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Kaguya gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Tristan will take Hannah's encouragement, but he's out of this fight except to get people out of there. There's only so much he can do otherwise, now.
Kaguya is resolved. And furious. The rage she feels is enough to make her blows hit hard. She may be ill, but...
...But she doesn't look very ill, these days. Not nearly as bad as she was before. She must just be good at playing it down.
But people need to evacuate. "We do, but I've got my hands full with her!" Kaguya shouts back to Avril. And she won't say this to Avril, but--protecting Avril is one of her responsibilties here. If dealing with the Veruni...
Darkness erupts, and Kaguya stumbles from it, easily blotted out by the power to look at her--she stumbles, for a moment, as she gets her bearings. "You..."
Kaguya doesn't know a lot of the combatants here--Hannah's spooky magic, Holly's fairy stature--but she does know her own capabilities. SHe knows what she was trying to avoid, but...
But the Iron-Cutting Sword is there, and they need all they can get. "Fine," Kaguya says. "If that's how it is..."
She breathes in, and reaches to her side, pulling the Zeikfried, the holy weapon given her by the Seraph Zenrus himself. "By the power of twin worlds..." Kaguya intones, and points the gun at Yue. "Be bound!"
She fires, and a magical circle erupts from around the barrel, runes twining around. And lightning crackles forth on the heels of Xiumei's attack.
GS: Kaguya has attacked Yue Rohay with Void-Binding Shot! GS: Kaguya has gained 1 Combo! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Kaguya has completed her action. GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Kaguya's Void-Binding Shot for 96 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Yue Rohay gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Drowsy applied to Yue Rohay! GS: Hyper applied to Kaguya! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.
The fairy isn't attacked, which actually gets a surprised look from Holly. She had stopped rambling at least after casting that curse. With cursing.
Floating there, the unfortunate target (She internally scolds herself for that terminology) but it's there and it fits for now. That big a sword, that kind of energy, that kind of collateral? She darts in closer. Chanting this time. Something low, practiced, precise. A show of what she was trying to share with others maybe. The brush strokes are harsher. Equally practiced. Leaving the black ink floating. It's a word, a forgotten one. And she circles it with ink and slaps her palm (Audibly, but on that scale that's a technicality) and the spell pulses and fades. All of the cursed water, the ink. The stagnation begins to draw back towards the circle. Recalling all of that power. "I don't have any lightning-" she keeps it short for once. "I'm going to try and buy time though." She sounds serious!
The ink seems to pull, stretching. Draging the curse with it. Then it tears away, dragging anything it can with it until the word flares back into existence briefly and then just vanishes.
"If it's got to be electricity I can't do more. It would be a hazard to everyone here-" Considering the water still floating and swirling around her, it's probably not a bad guess to figure out why.
She does drift low though. Floating ahead of Xiumei when she sees the bolt of lightning. "If you have more, I'll keep you safe-" She actually takes a breath to talk more. Then catches herself and takes a stance. Even deflecting the attack earlier this might be a comical sight, but she's dead serious! Known, albeit slim odds are better than none right? She'll be fine and they can maybe get more electricity on the way.
GS: Holly spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Holly has attacked Yue Rohay with Chapter's End! GS: Holly has gained 2 Combo! GS: Holly has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Holly's Chapter's End for 223 hit points! GS: Disease, Disrupt, Entangle, and Mute removed! GS: Interrupt applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Avril... thanks him. Ambrosius can't say he expected that - and he finds it gives him pause, if only for a brief moment. He nods back.
"...You are welcome. Yue is a friend. It is also my desire to see her freed from this." He says. "Minder," He pauses to correct himself. "Xue... she deserves your gratitude, as well. I am here at her request."
Ambrosius's elbow charge seems to find purchase - but it's not enough to stop her. With a roar Yue slams her first into the ground, and Ambrosius grimaces and braces himself as darkness erupts from the ground in fissures. It slams into him - but for now, he holds strong.
...And then, Yue forms a blade. Vicious and enormous, Ambrosius feels danger in the back of his mind. But Yue - she speaks, entreating them to strike the blade with lightning.
Ambrosius nods. He doesn't have lightning himself, but he does have something that can help. He backpedals and gestures - and at his command, the water in the air begins to coalesce and spin. Whirling discs of water are formed, going fast enough to cut. These are sent flying toward the sword Yue raises - and then, with another gesture, the spinning blades of water disperse, scattering moisture all over Zantetsuken to soak it and increase the draw of lighting even further.
His eyes, briefly, track toward Kaguya. It's a weapon unlike any he's seen her wield... but for the time being, he'll focus on the task at hand.
GS: Ambrosius has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Ambrosius spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Ambrosius has attacked Yue Rohay with Aqua Cutter! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah is already pulling a crest graph from her pocket to prepare a defense after her last spell is released, but--
It seems her attack actually achieved--something.
There is a brief reprieve, and she rushes over to check on Xiumei. "Xiumei! Are you okay?" She remembers Xiumei saying something about being unable to fight... "Do you need us to cover an escape for you?" She asks softly.
But the reprieve ends, and... It's a mixed bag--on the one hand, the device seems to summon a rather large blade, which generally does not bode well. But on the other, they get advice, instruction from Yue herself, on how to handle it.
"Holly, Xiumei, stand clear." She steps forward, away from the other two, to give them some buffer. She can question the mechanics of the device and what it does and how it works later. For now, she holds up her lightning crest graph again, pouring energy into it. Another ball appears, crackling furious, with even more lashes of lightning striking wildly. But she holds firm, and when it is ready, another snap of the fingers sends it flying, right for the sword.
One lightning strike, as requested.
"Holly, help me keep Xiumei safe."
GS: Hannah Curie spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Yue Rohay with Ball Lightning! GS: Hannah Curie has gained 2 Combo! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action. GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Ambrosius's Aqua Cutter for 211 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Yue Rohay! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Hannah Curie's Ball Lightning for 150 hit points! GS: Interrupt blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Yue Rohay has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Kaguya speaks the plain truth about the situation. "...We cannot let up for a moment, can we? It will take all of us to simply hold her back." Avril sets her jaw, glancing once at the Merian soldiers. "We must leave it to them, it seems!" They'll have to trust that they can evacuate everyone nearby and then also trust that they can stop Yue... without hurting her more than they must.
He's not the one she should be thanking? "Then... should you see Xue again..." Avril tells Ambrosius, smiling softly, "Please tell her thank you, as well."
Avril gets a good look at it as she rushes Yue -- before she leaps into the air, before Acacia's gambit necessitates she close her eyes. It's not merely attached to Yue: it's rooted into her. The most they might be able to hope for is disabling it... and hope, too, that disabling it will do only that and not cause lasting harm to Yue. But the stakes are far too high as they are: left like this, who can say when Yue will be able to stop? They need to end this before someone gets hurt, and before Yue does something she will never forgive herself over.
They can only hope that Shijie has not hung her elder daughter out to dry, so to speak -- that her own gambit didn't predicate on Yue dying at their hands. Still, one must believe in something, and as cruel as the world can be...
Avril can still hope.
She lands moments after her spell detonates against Yue's back, turning sharply to face her friend and former would-be assassin--
Ah, but that was another time. Another Avril, at that.
Lightning, of a sort, strikes; for a moment, it seems as if this is it.
And the blade is drawn from the very aether. "What is...?" Avril voices, her gaze fixing on the Ether that rises and swirls about the sword's wicked edge.
Yue speaks. It's a request -- that they strike the blade, with lightning.
Of ice and even of light, Avril has plenty, but--
"I wonder," she says, hooking her index finger around Absolute Zero's trigger. "If this should suffice!"
She pulls the trigger as she lashes out with the energy whip, lancing at the sword with that beam of light-- of plasma.
And what is lightning, again?
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Yue Rohay with Spiral Edge! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 2 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Eyes meet. Glowing red eyes, erratic, meeting glowing violet, wide and excitable. Those witnessing from outside might just see two unsightly colors where eyes should be. For Ruth, much of her predatory instincts are emboldened when seeing fear, pain, and anguish in the eyes of another.
It is disquieting for her to feel like she's looking dead on into a mirror. Two women, by circumstance, largely stuck with having to live with their lot (or, in some cases, failing to do so), drawing each others' blood for lack of a better alternative.
An opening that Yue's alarming alacrity takes to unleash her black Ether, forcing space as Ruth shrieks in shock of the sensation of it, tensing as her wing covers her. The fell force chews on her, past the flesh that is a strange combination of leathery and stone-like.
The black Ether dims and thins around her in time for the five seconds of disquieting silence to begin, and pass, as Ruth's wing opens up again... and the air becomes oppressive, difficult to breathe as Ruth's teeth clench. An enormous blade is raised, that fell dance of energies crimson and midnight speaking of imminent, inevitable finality if it's not stopped.
Yue pleads. Ruth doesn't hear the words. She hears the pain, the urgency. The significance of Xiumei's desperate (yet well-considered) tactics and Kaguya's ARM reinforcement is, in the moment, lost. The resolution in which Hannah channels what she's afraid of, the way Ambrosius acts without hesitation as to what can be done on his end... or a fairy trying to make sense of the world around her the only way how.
"You're ssscared," Ruth whisper-hisses out. Scared she's going to be the one who inevitably hurts everyone and anyone around her without cease or control.
"You're loved." She hasn't ever missed the number of times she's caught Acacia and Yue together from a distance, Ruth's own body tensing as Malevolence fights back against the black Ether that still wreathes, coloration turning from a stone gray towards a patinated bronze - as is the rest of her, like her own hair and clothing fusing into a singular, barely-moving single (quasi-)solid structure.
Towards the ending of these throes, Ruth throws her wing into Yue's raised arm.
Not as a battering ram of injury.
But as a bulwark, an attempt to prevent her from ever lowering that blade as long as her will holds against the reason behind a blade whose destructive descent is treated as imminent and unstoppable otherwise.
"...I'll make that ssstop," Ruth's voice trails off to silence as she taps into the despair that empowers her discordance, gaze refusing to meet Yue's as she body-blocks the seeming inevitability of destruction by trying to force that stalemate.
GS: Ruth Pauling enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ruth Pauling has attacked Ruth Pauling with Heart of Patinated Bronze! GS: Ruth Pauling has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ruth Pauling enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Disease expired! GS: Ruth Pauling has completed her action. GS: Ruth Pauling heals Ruth Pauling! She gains 174 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"I know," Acacia grimaces to Ambrosius' warning as she pulls her arm up in front of her eyes. Every time she does something like this, she knows exactly what's going to happen - shielding herself properly from the burst of light has more or less become second nature to herself by now. "That woman wouldn't want it any other way. There's no merit to controlling people if they can just be uncontrolled at a moment's notice." Her voice is sour and blunt, with a pained ripple underneath it for Yue's sake.
She's still recovering from her own assault on the senses when she doesn't so much see but sense Ruth dart inwards; she jukes backwards, though not out of fear or uncertainty so much as to give Ruth space to do what she needs to do. If there's one thing she can do it's trust the people gathered here, even if they're not Meria regulars; Holly gets a wince and then a firm nod as well, for similar reasons. There'll be plenty of time to apologize later, so long as they're still living and breathing.
Avril too uses the chance to go on the attack, focusing in on the device on Yue's back. Again, part of the reporter's mind fervently hopes that assaulting it won't debilitate Yue significantly - it seems like the sort of thing that her mother would do, even if Acacia has only known her for all of five minutes - but it's not as if they have a lot of choice in the matter if they want to protect Meria Boule. And increasingly she does: because it's not just her home, but a place for Xue to come back to.
She ducks and rolls to one side as lightning crackles past her from Hannah's attack. "I don't know! I'm not a scientist! For all I know it's hooked up to her brain or something! Or I'm just giving Shijie ideas every time I open my big trap!" she yells back as she scrabbles up to her feet, aware she needs to keep moving before another wave--
--washes over her from below like scalding tar; she can smell smoke and burning, even if she's not entirely sure if it's something that's physically happening or just a swell of etheric residue mixed with the vivid memory of Yue's own charring earlier. The burnt ozone smell that rolls in its wake is a lot more familiar, but her senses are clouded from pain and exertion that she's moving more on instinct than anything else; an instinct that carries her right to Yue's side.
She didn't miss the quiet snarl that was almost directed at her earlier. That, and the way the air stills all of a sudden for a precious few seconds, are enough for her to regain her bearings. Her jacket probably needs a few more patches to fix it up, her hair is a mess, she's marked with dust and dirt, but she can still find it in herself to offer a quiet grin. "... I know. It's not your fault." Something tells her the battle isn't over, but she holds out a hand anyway.
And keeps it there, even as Yue raises the Iron-Cutting Sword above her head, making no effort to dodge what must await. "She's not the boss of you," she adds with quiet confidence as Yue hisses for a last-ditch effort to prevent what may come next. "You're gonna break out of this, and then we're gonna go kick her ass and get your family back. I know it." Ruth is alongside her, but she makes no move to step away, as stubborn as ever when it comes to the important things.
Lightning strikes above them from not one or two but three different sources. (Perhaps even four? Acacia does have a scientific education, but it's not like her own physics textbooks are available.) The reporter should really not stand quite so close to Yue, and ends up having to duck for cover as energy crackles down the sword's length. But her feet can't bring themselves to take her far from the Veruni, and she braces instead for whatever might be about to come. "And if that thing feels too heavy in your hands, I'll help you carry it. If it doesn't knock me on my ass just trying to lift it," she can't help the reflexive nervous joke.
GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Acacia Saitani with Retraction! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 3 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Acacia Saitani heals Acacia Saitani! She gains 85 temporary hit points! GS: Cover applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Yue Rohay suffers a terrible blow from Avril Vent Fleur's Spiral Edge for 123 hit points! GS: Delay blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Lightning never strikes the same place twice, they often say.
... but there are always exceptions to such common phrases.
Such is the case when Xiumei shatters the icon of Ixion, summoning its wrath as consolidated magic erupts from it and blasts Zantetsuken with a sudden bolt that slams down from above, prompting a yell of pain. And... a grin.
"... been a while... since our first little fight in Spira. You've really grown, Xiumei."
A moment later, Kaguya draws Zeikfried, and from the barrel runes twin and envelop the shot with lightning, which shoots straight through and threatens to shatter the blade, and adding more of a jolt to the mix.
"You're not the only one who wants to... but she is a snake, slippery as one."
Holly's spell, while not lightning, does buy them more time -- harsh and severe brushstrokes, a forgotten word... the curse tears away, seemingly ripping away from Yue and distracting her and the device from completing its charge.
"... thanks for helping my friends. Don't know you, but... thanks nonetheless."
Ambrosius' whirling discs zig and zag, and disperse and coat the sword with water, increasing the draw of lightning. Their eyes meet for a moment, and there's a faint grin on her face. A look of quiet assurance, even knowing how much Ambrosius has probably put on the line to be here.
"Thank you, old friend. Can't imagine... it was easy..."
Hannah redoubles her ball lightning, with a snap of her fingers -- and it strikes the sword directly; there's another grimace as the sword further crumples, threatening to collapse in on itself.
"Nice... nice jolt. Keep her safe for me... will you?" she refers to Xiumei.
For someone who's lived as long as Yue, witnessing Ruth as she is... she can sense where they're aligned. But also where they aren't. She is scared, and loved... and to that end, as her wing turns to patinated bronze, she throws her wing onto her arm -- to hold it aloft, to not let it lower on those who she loves.
"... I understand. I understand full well... and yet... you made it stop."
Avril can still place hope, that Shijie hasn't merely disposed of Yue. As lightning strikes, Avril has a ponderance of her own; and she lashes out with the energy whip form of Absolute Zero's form. Of a beam of light -- of plasma. And it seems that the energy within Absolute Zero is enough to jolt and disrupt the blade.
"It's strange, but... in this moment, I'm not scared of you, for once..."
Acacia doesn't strike with lightning. Instead, she presses closer and holds a hand out, standing so close to her as she delivers those barbs she's gotten so familiar with -- but never used to, nor taken for granted. There's an almost embarrassed smile on her face.
"... and who's high-maintenance, huh?"
With the last of the strikes combined, the blade finally shatters, its form discombobulating and distending and pulsating -- and it erupts into a violent fractal of spikes, and then inwards into itself, seemingly chased by red and black Ether back into the device where it originates from -- into dead silence, as Yue finally collapses -- or rather, quite possibly ends up dangling on Ruth and Acacia in some manner or form.
This time, the silence is... pretty final.
There's a moment where it's unclear whether or not she still draws breath, but...
...
...
Then she sputters out, with a cough.
"Xue..." she murmurs, finally, before blacking out.
Yue is stopped. The DT-Prototype is inactive. The Veruni battalion has departed. And yet, with them, a dear friend has gone, Xue gone to possibly face her destiny. But for the time being... the day is saved.
<Pose Tracker> Xiumei Klein has posed.
"I have six more," Xiumei says to Holly. "But I'd never get them all off."
No, she didn't check. She just knows.
Then, she looks at Hannah -- and she nods once. "I'm okay--ah, if you can keep me safe, that's for the best," she says. "I'm afraid I don't have any armor. This is terribly reckless of me. Nora might be cross," she says, before looking back at Yue.
She winces. So much lightning is hurtled towards her; even from Veruni allies. She looks at Yue, and she can't return her grin. Her expression is pained. "It's... not fair, to say that, in these circumstances..."
Then, her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. "I-I'll keep her safe, but--you should--should do that yourself!" she says, her voice breaking. She sees her slump forward, and Xiumei hurries over, past Holly and Hannah.
She hesitates, eyes wide -- and then she sighs with relief. "We--we need a medic," she says. "And quickly!"
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya watches Holly move up to guard Xiumei, and that might as well be a thing that happens. She's the last person to judge on size, after all. Especially not with magic like that. "Remind me to ask who you are," Kaguya says to the fairy.
Kaguya notices, too, the way that Zmbrosius doesn't comment on her weapon--but she glances back at him in that same moment. He knows there's soemthing...
Can she tell him? Or would it only put him in danger?
Hannah, meanwhile, with her dangerous magic, wild and furious,continues to strike. And Avril...
"And hopefully not kill her in the process!" She recognizes the device; she wonders, about its technology. SHe has ideas, but...
There's no time to analyze it now.
Not until it's over, and the battle is done for today. ...And Yue... Is still alive.
"...You are really creepy," Kaguya says to Ruth as she holsters the Zeikfried, eyeing her again for a moment. "But you did it right, too."
rAnd Acacia... Well. She's going to...
"...I am a scientist," Kaguya says. "And I bet it is hooked into her systems. Just removing it isn't the play." She walks towards them, and looks. "...Glad she didn't kill you," Kaguya says to Acacia, and looks seriously at Yue. "...If you were a potted plant, I could fix you," she says seriously. "As it stands..." She looks out towards where the Veruni have left. "I'll have a look, until an expert can get here."
"Xue..."
Kaguya moves to start checking Yue's vitals. She knows this much, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Yeah. We're both kind of terrors, huh?" Acacia whispers back, the words somehow making it over the din of the last of combat - and for all that she can't help but needle Yue there's a clear sense of relief behind her words and in her expression, as she finally drifts into a soft sort of smile.
She can only trust that the others have this in hand - and that trust is rewarded when the Blade shows no signs of descending on her today, and instead scatters into so many pieces. Even if it's a short-lived victory, even if the threat of its activation is still present, it still gives them time to work around that, and a chance that they might be able to claw back Xue as well.
Still braced, she's prepared for Yue to simply pitch forwards - but she's injured as well, and her legs aren't really feeling as strong and steady as she'd like. The squawk she makes is kind of ungainly, and the combined weight of the two of them just starts to pitch backwards in turn, only slightly slower. "Uh-- help--" she blurts, just before she hits the deck.
She can squirm out from under Yue in good time. For now, she just sort of lies flat underneath her even as Kaguya checks Yue's condition. "She could never," she replies back with no grin, just sheer conviction in her eyes. "So, uh, hey, about unauthorised political operations..."
This would be more imposing were she not flat on her backside.
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.
Ruth dedicates herself to holding back the sword arm so much she's planted the bayonet blade of her rifle firmly into the ground. Unmoving, as if having petrified herself in digging deeper into the despair of all she's done and all she is. She is solid as a rock for being draped against, though Ruth is wordless through it.
In the moment in a vacuum, it's awkward and silly, like someone removed a part of a greater display of statues. Ruth looks like she's straining to hold up nothing at all with Yue's strained and tired collapse taking leave of what Ruth was bracing against. Though Malevolence does rise from her in no small amount, no one is conflicted about their desire to see to Yue's well being.
Something Ruth just lets happen all around her without further commentary or action as Kaguya calls her a completely accurate descriptor. She will draw a lot of strange, worried looks for a while.
She pointedly doesn't look towards Acacia and Yue sharing a moment together.
<Pose Tracker> Holly has posed.
Holly's head bobs towards Acacia, they're both there. One more person to watch out for. Another that can probably do more than she can. She was wholly at the ready and... "Yeah." She says. Surprisingly keeping it short. Maybe enough stress upshes the habit of running at the mouth.
She doesn't know here, she doesn't know most of the people she just put herself between. It's been so long though. There's a faint pang of guilt that she appears to be drawing calamities. That gets chased away internally, but it lurks there. Kind of hard not to feel cursed yourself even when you logically know that's not the case.
She's buffeted out of the way by Xiumei darting past. Then she calls for a medic and there's a wry look from the fairy. She starts to say something and quite literally clamps her own mouth shut. A strangled sound escaping.
Kaguya's comment gets a thumbs up, "Just a librarian!" she offers. That's a later thing. She gives Ruth a wide berth as she drifts closer. Past Hannah as well, who gets a quick check up from the fairy. Making sure all the parts are still attached probably just in case. She knows here, she gets some preferential treatment.
Floating over the cluster of people, just out of reach of any of them. She lifts her paint brush up and shakes it a few times. Unlike just about every bit of magic she's slung around, the water is perfectly clear. Smelling faintly of a spring rain, tinged with a faint glow. Once, twice, three times then a spin and one big one.
She's not being silly at least. There's actual healing magic involved! And a voice in the back of her head thanks the strangely quiet boy for reminding her that she actually can heal others. It's been a while.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Here is where it ends.
For now.
One after another, in a variety of ways, lightning strikes the same place.
'I'm not scared of you, for once...'
The expression on Avril's face is indeed a complicated one as Yue collapses, falling onto Acacia.
"Yue-- are you...?"
Yue utters but a name before this ordeal takes its toll. "--Yue! Do you require assistance?" she asks of Acacia, taking one step forward only to there hesitate. "Perhaps... if you do not have somewhere to take her, I would be happy to offer our room. I believe she should rest," she adds, as if to underscore the point she was radiating towards.
She looks in Xiumei's direction. "...Yes, and a medic!"
A fairy, happy with the heals, will do in the meantime, though that device and what the damage they inflicted upon it might have done to Yue will still need to be addressed.
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah fires off a second ball of lightning, but even as it's sailing through the air, she's already charging a third one, watching carefully as all of the attacks roll in... but then the threat collapses and she lets out a terse sigh.
She's keeping Xiumei safe, but... it's for Eleanor's sake. But she says "I will" anyway.
Lifting the crest graph aloft, to the sky, Hannah lets the gathered magic bleed off safely--or as safely as her magic ever gets, anyway. And then she puts the crest graph away.
She nods to Holly. "I'm fine. I just got scratched a little. And then she looks off to the distance for a moment, somewhere within the city... and nods, then walks over to join Xiumei.
"Xiumei," she says quietly. "Zephyr's bringing a medic. And don't worry. I won't tell if you don't."
Wait what? He hasn't even been here since the battle started.
Hannah looks to Ruth. She looks... relieved that she's safe, but also a bit guilty and awkward about... something. "Hi, Ruth. Are you okay?"
But sure enough, a few moments later Zephyr comes tearing into the scene with a rather confused medic in tow. Zephyr lands very neatly on Hannah's shoulder, and Hannah gestures to Yue. "She needs assistance."
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
"I will be sure to do so." Ambrosius replies, offering Avril a nod. Acacia receives a nod, as well. And together - they seem to have made it happen.
"You are quite welcome." Ambrosius offers, giving Yue a small smile in response to that faint grin. "It was not. But someone pushed me forward."
The battle draws to an end... and for a moment, Yue's fate seems up in the air. But she sputters and draws breath - and Ambrosius finally exhales. Relief crosses his face.
...He was afraid, of course. But for now, he looks toward Kaguya as she considers the situation. He rests a hand over his heart.
"I shall assist in whatever way I can. If my knowledge can be of any use..." He offers.
He'll do what he can.