2023-09-08: Behind the Mask

• Log: Behind the Mask
• Cast: Xantia, Lily Keil
• Where: Kattelox City - Downtown
• Date: September 08, 2023
• Summary: Following Xantia's disappearance for several months, Lily finally manages to catch up to her in Kattelox City. Lily's presence is a stabilizing influence on the unwell Xantia, who tells her tale of chasing the mysterious organisation known to be working with her 'sister'.

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========================<* Kattelox City - Downtown *>========================

Kattelox City boasts one of the most advanced living standards in Aquvy, comparable to major cities such as those of Guild Galad and Meria Boule. A dense urban sprawl of roads built for automobiles sets it apart from other cities in Filgaia, as well as the two-storey townhouses that have become commonplace as the City continues to prosper with its association with the Digger's Guild. Attractions in the Downtown include a Park with nice seating areas, and a Library stocked with Aquvian literature over the years.

BGM: Mega Man Legends - The Apple Market

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

It has been some time since anybody's been in contact with Xantia. Following her collapse after Yu Yevon's final defeat, she quite forcefully sought to leave her sickbed on the Fahrenheit, exhibiting hostility and suspicion of people's motives for keeping her from returning to Filgaia. Citan, having stayed to keep watch on her condition, managed to talk her down and escorted her back to Filgaia on her insistence, which proved her hypothesis correct: as soon as she returned there and confirmed the planet's safety for herself, she started to feel better. As she told Citan at the time, she highly suspected there to be some kind of failsafe involved in whatever was done to make her the way she is, making her unable to willingly ignore dangers to Filgaia as a whole without suffering consequences.

Following that... nothing. After parting ways with Citan, she has been completely out of contact with the Black Wolves. Granted, there have been times where she similarly went off on her own before, and there have been times where she got so caught up in what she was doing that she forgot to check in every now and again.

It has never been multiple months without any signs of life from her. Well, there have been some signs, just no direct ones. Tracking her has been exceptionally difficult, given how much she's been moving around. People have claimed to have seen her in various towns - all over Aquvy in fact. But catching her there was a different matter entirely, she never seemed to stay in any one place for very long.

Of course, anyone who knows her as well as, say, Lily Keil does may be able to hypothesize about what that means. She's looking for something, perhaps chasing something, following a trail. And it almost certainly has something to do with her lost memories. Perhaps it was a mistake to let her out of sight following her condition and behavior back in Spira, when she was feeling generally unwell and was absolutely not in a good mental space.

Until finally, the stars align, if not in the best way possible. The hospital staff of Kattelox City contacted Lily about having treated Xantia, for multiple Gunsmoke ARM-related injuries. Nothing life-threatening, at the very least. Though she wasn't very cooperative, refusing to answer questions or stay to get the proper bedrest that she clearly hadn't been bothering with in general. ...So they sedated her, for her own good.

Unfortunately, by the time Lily arrives, Xantia has already fled, breaking a window in the process. But it hasn't been long. There is a trail to follow. Xantia's Ether signature is unique enough for there to be little doubt: she is still in the city, and not far off.

Most likely, most wouldn't have been able to find her. Xantia has been here often enough to know where the quiet streets are. Nothing there but people's houses, no reason to go there unless you live there. And there she sits, on the edge of a flower bed in a quiet corner of the residential area, in the shade of a nearby tree. Her head is lowered, looking down on something in her hands. It's hard to see what it is from a distance, other than that it's white with a black pattern on it.

She looks... pretty awful. The bandaged right shoulder and right leg from where she was shot aside, her hair is a bigger mess than usual, the biggest indicator of her just having not taken much time for personal care. Anger and frustration dominate her mental state, distracting her enough to not immediately notice a presence she should be well familiar with.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

For a while, Lily was fine with leaving Xantia to her business. Sure, she'd heard from Citan about the circumstances that led to her disappearance, but Xantia is known to go off on her own... until it turned to months, without information.

Lily has been centering herself, advancing her Ether as best she can, and perhaps now is the time to seek her out. Using all her skill as a special operative, Lily seeks Xantia, and finally she learns...

"That's Xantia all right," Lily murmurs to herself, considering how she is avoiding rest in pursuit of whatever goal she has.

Lily is not an expert on Kattelox in particular, but sneaking was her bread and butter for some time. She knows how to avoid people; she knows how to avoid making noise. And so nothing is here, except for the signature Lily can trace, until finally...

"Xantia," Lily says, as she emerges from the shadows. "Whatever you're looking for... you won't do well when you find it in that condition."

"It's Lily."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Perhaps predictably, Xantia is on her feet as soon as she hears her name, looking ready for a fight in spite of everything. Her emotions already suggested as much - she is just looking for an excuse to punch something, anything, to work off those frustrations. In a way, she'd have preferred this to be an ambush.

Well, in a way it still is, in the sense that she didn't see it coming. But once she learns the identity of her ambusher... that anger quickly disappears. "...Lily..."

That throws her for a moment. To say that she was not expecting this is an understatement. And then, all at once, it hits her. How long it must have been that she's been away for. How she failed to let anybody know what she was doing. That she's been doing all this on her own, so doggedly that she never even considered asking for help.

This is more than a little embarrassing. She vowed never to forget anything ever again. But not thinking about things for so long is just about the same thing, isn't it? Embarrassment turns to outright shame, when she slowly sinks down back into her previous seated position. "...I'm sorry," is all she can manage to say for now, staring down at that object she's holding again.

Getting closer, it's more obvious what the object is - its shape and the positioning of the holes carved into it indicating it to be a face-covering mask. The black paint that covers the top section surrounding the eye holes is in the shape of a large eyeball, its iris in between where the eyes of the person wearing it would be. At the bottom, the mask is damaged, sporting a sizable crack.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily decides it was wise on her part not to get too close to start; in this condition Xantia would still be a danger if she chose violence. But she doesn't; quite the opposite, Lily can recognize some of the twists and turns in Xantia's feelings at that, the matter of what hits her all at once, and then--

"It's fine," Lily says of the apology, shaking her head and approaching. "Not ideal," she admits. "We could've helped. But I'm not angry at you."

Lily approaches further, and looks down at the object thoughtfully. A cracked mask, in the way of an eyeball...

"How are you feeling?" A pause. "...And what's so important that you had to pursue it without us?"

Lily shakes her head. "Well, that aside, it's good to see you mostly intact. I'm going to ask that you at least let me tend your wounds properly before you head off, if you do. Those sawbones at the hospital don't seem to have much idea of how to treat you..."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

There is a measure of relief at the absence of blame for her actions. But it's true. This was far from ideal. She should never have let things get to this point. ...How did things get to this point? Why did all this end up just... consuming her life to this degree? Questions that Xantia only started asking herself right this second, questions that apparently failed to matter until the moment she saw Lily.

She remains quiet, until the remark on the doctors at the hospital not knowing how to treat her prompts a chuckle. "You'd think they'd remember. Though things were a little different, that time."

This isn't the first time she's been at that hospital for treatment, after all. It's been a long time, but once she was treated here for the broken ribs she suffered after another bout of recklessness in attacking the Trial Knight. They had it coming, of course, but ultimately she got hurt for much the same reason as she did now. She tried to do it all herself. That time too, Lily only learned of what she'd been up to after she came to visit Xantia at the Kattelox hospital. It's a bit hard for her to claim 'it happens' when in hindsight it all seems like it was so preventable. Yet even if she asks herself what she was thinking, she comes up short for an answer.

"...It almost feels like... I blacked out, all this time. Just... acted, without thinking about what I was doing, even a moment. Like this was all that mattered, right now."

So what was so important? She holds up the mask, clarifying its significance. "I've been chasing the Watchful Eye. Or, well, chasing a lead on them, and that ended up taking me..." She pauses, then shakes her head. "...all over the place."

It does explain a few things. As they'd learned a while ago, the Watchful Eye are the unseen backers of the organization Xenia is a part of, seemingly affecting life on Filgaia in subtle ways behind the scenes. This makes them a strong lead in Xantia's search for her identity. But, strong enough to make her this obsessed with it, for this long? It's difficult to rationalize, now that she's finally returned to thinking rationally.

She continues, "It took me this long to actually find one of them. I intercepted one of their members here, on their own, manning some sort of listening post." She gestures towards the wound on her leg. "It didn't go smoothly. But, I did get to him. He had this mask on, tore it right off his face."

She falls silent, looking back towards the mask, grimacing. "...And then he fell over, dead." She turns back to Lily, insisting, "It wasn't me! He just... died, for no reason!"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"...Heh," Lily answers. "You are pretty memorable, so you'd think."

But Lily remembers that. She also remembers other times Xantia has seemed to 'black out', and she frowns at that. "...Another impulse," she says.

But she's been chasing the Watchful Eye, she says, and Lily steps around to have a look. "So I see."

"It's concerning that it was able to draw you in like this--impulsive action is one thing, but this level of obsession..." Lily trails off; she thinks Xantia is seeing it as much as she is. But now that she's found one...

"Hm." Lily considers. "Unfortunately," she says, "I suspect it was. ...Not that you meant to--but that there was some sort of failsafe for him. It wouldn't... I wouldn't put it past these people to kill anyone who posed a risk of spilling information about the organization."

"A magic or technology that can kill someone who takes off a mask? I've heard stranger things."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia experiences a visceral reaction to Lily's correct assessment that this is hardly the first time she 'blacked out' like this. She somehow failed to relate things back to each other until now. It makes her feel ill to consider that she's getting worse in this regard. Maybe it was triggered because of what happened in Spira? She has to hope that there's a good explanation for all this. That this can't just... happen. And for so long, too.

"...I should've known better. Somehow, it's just... really easy for you to get through to me, when I get like this. I can't be out of contact for this long, it's... I can't trust myself."

She's already actively killed during these experiences in the past. She may not have meant to, this time, but... someone is still dead because of this. So the Watchful Eye, too, may be under the influence of some sort of failsafe...

She gets even more agitated when she she suddenly realizes, "...I can't remember his face. Why can't I remember his face, it was--" She doesn't even remember how many days ago it was, just that it was recent. "...Why can't I remember? And why did I just leave him there? Didn't I find anything to follow up on?"

She drops the mask from her hands, grasping the sides of her head. "Lily, what is happening to me? What is wrong with me?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily is... not the gentlest, when it comes to beside manner. She regrets this in the moment, as she sees that reaction from Xantia. But she wonders--why is it that she can get through to her so well? Is there a reason, beyond that she knows Xantia better than most? Is there a reason, besides her scientific approach?

"Then you won't be anymore," Lily says of contact. And still...

"Xantia!" Lily approaches closer, takes a knee to look into Xantia's face. "Think about where you are right now--not where you were a day ago. Look at me. You are Xantia; I'm Lily. We're in Kattelox City, in the residential district. It's daytime." She speaks slowly, calmly, attempts to break through the agitation with cool reason.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Regardless of whether or not there's any special reason for it, when Lily reaches out, Xantia always seems eager to grab any lifeline offered to her. Focusing her attentions away from dead-end thoughts by reminding her of the here and now is as effective as it ever was, Xantia's distressed expression quickly melting away when made to look in Lily's direction. Her breathing calms in short order, until she finally nods, several times, acknowledging the facts. She's calmed down, but... those thoughts haven't left her, not entirely.

"...I do remember something. The listening post, it... it was on fire. They knew. They knew that I knew. I was too late, again. Every time, they destroyed all evidence of what they were doing. This one probably just... couldn't get away in time."

She lets out a deep sigh. It's still upsetting, but... now recentered, she can handle it. Bending down, she retrieves the mask off the ground. "Not even anything to show for it except this stupid mask." She smiles, in spite of it all. "Sorry to make you do a house call again. I wasn't even in a house this time." In spite of it all... it's still Xantia.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily waits, until Xantia's able to nod, and calm down. She doesn't expect the thoughts to be gone--just to be manageable. That's all.

"On fire..." Lily frowns, thoughtfully. "That would make sense. They seem to know a lot of things they shouldn't be able." Every time... "That means you've made progress, at least. Even if it's not much--you know what they look like, now. You know they have listening posts, which suggests that it's not so easy as it could be to watch you."

Lily smiles back, lopsided. "The house is over there. It's fine." A pause. "...We'll keep the mask. Maybe, if we can look into this together, we can get farther."

"Either way... Does that mean you're ready to come back to the others? We're admittedly a little scattered right now, but..."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Huh. I've made progress? One can see the question on Xantia's face, even if she doesn't say it out loud. Leave it to Lily to find a silver lining when she's incapable of finding it herself. That's certainly something that has helped her numerous times, regardless of whatever bedside manner it came with. At moments like this, it's easy to lose sight of all the facts one should be aware of.

Xantia chuckles. "It's funny how you can make sense of things so quickly, even things that make very little sense." If she can make fun of her own worrisome issues again, she must be in a considerably better place than she was a moment ago. All this has made for another solid argument to not be on her own for too long. Maybe she can find some way to remind herself, to hopefully keep things from getting this bad next time.

...Ugh, she's already considering it inevitable that there will be a next time. No, not gonna think about it anymore, not right now.

Does this mean she is ready to come back? She doesn't need to think about that one. "I sure am not ready to be on my own, right now. So I at least... want to be close by. And we should decide something about sending regular messages, so you know that, if they stop, something's gone wrong." She shakes her head, then looks Lily in the eyes. "No matter what I discover, everything would be meaningless if I couldn't see my important friends anymore."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily sees the question, and she seems pleased to be able to help with that idea. Funny, is it? "Heh. It's what I'm good at," Lily says simply. "Most things in our lives don't make that much sense unless you squint a little anyway." Maybe there's a way, but...

Not yet. Not now.

"Then I'll stick here for a while," Lily says. "And we can set up some messages." She looks back into Xantia's eyes. "...Yes,"she says. "I believe that, too. So we'll remind you of that, as often as it takes."

Lily says, "...I could probably use a break from my experiments, anyway. This is a good city to have a motorcycle in..."

But she'll make sure they don't lose that mask.