2017-07-03: Fear and Loathing
- Log: Fear and Loathing
- Cast: Fei Fong Wong, Leon Albus
- Where: Lacour - Arms Coliseum
- Date: July 3, 2017
- Summary: Leon finds Fei in Lacour. He asks him about Lily, who has been missing.
=========================<* Lacour - Arms Coliseum *>========================= Situated immediately adjacent to Lacour Castle, the Arms Coliseum is a temple to the pursuit of perfection in physical prowess. Built more than three centuries ago by King Etienne I, the Coliseum is laid over with ancient Symbols that blunt weapons and protect combatants on the brink of death, allowing competitors to fight to the best of their ability without fear of killing their opponents. The Coliseum is the site of the annual Lacour Tournament of Arms, a competition that fuels the spirit of martial artists and weapons merchants both. The Tournament is a spectacle that draws visitors and competitors from across Filgaia, and is the major event on the continent while it is running. A series of smaller tournaments are organized throughout the year; entering as a combatant is free of charge, but spectators pay a nominal fee that nonetheless provides a significant boost to Lacour's coffers. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8YkgEYlvY
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
So here's what happened. Fei and Lily joined a Drifter team to take back the Old Petra mines and give the Metal Demons some payback. Fei was hoping that the Quarter Knights wouldn't be around since they're badass mofos even if he figured they could take the rest. AS IT TURNS OUT, not only were there two quarter knights stationed there they were the two MOST BADASS quarter knights. This presented problems and Fei was recovered by the Yggdrassill Crew at the mines post-battle.
Fei then left the Yggdrassill shortly after Lunata with Shalune and rushed off to Lacour where he joined a tournament somehow? Why did he do this??
Nevertheless, Fei hasn't returned to the ship--content to stay in the city and be 'around' in case Lunata runs into trouble thanks to her Time Cube. When he's not been selling sketches for money or fighting in a tournament he didn't really want to be in, he's been at the bar!
Drinking!
BEER!
And not good beer either. Shitty watered down beer!!!!
He's obtained a bit of a reputation from his first fight which, though he lost, was hype enough that folks are hoping he'll push through the loser's bracket to fight his opponent again.
Fei looks like he could use another drink.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon hasn't been on the ship much, either. He is a Drifter, after all, and his search for Gryndille makes living full-time on the Yggdrasill hard. But, he was there when Lily and Fei left to help the attack on Old Petra. He was also there when Lily did not come back -- and when Fei came back unconscious. He didn't have a chance to talk to Fei before he left for Lacour.
But, Lacour seems as good a place as any to look for information regarding what might have happened to Lily. He had already found Lunata that way.
And, with a few questions, he found out where Fei has spent time: drinking bad, non-Kislevi (these words mean the same thing to Leon Albus, when it comes to...) beer.
The door to the bar opens, and then he looks around. he spots Fei in the bar -- and holds back a sigh of relief. At least one of them is doing fine. And, maybe, he will have an answer. He walks towards Fei, then pulls a chair up next to him.
"Fei," he says. He looks down at his emptied mug, and his expression mixes between concerned and disapproving. "What have you been drinking?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong looks over. He sees Leon. He turns back to the bar, takes one last drink, slams the glass on the counter and reaches down below for his pack. He ruffles through papers in there before drawing out a stack and setting them down on the counter. The first page seems to be a quick sketch of Ida.
"I just asked for something cheap," Fei says, having difficulty looking Leon directly in the eye. "I don't have a lot of cash." He holds his mug tightly.
"I tried to kill myself in Adelhyde, you know. Just--walked into the fires. It didn't work. A voice told me to live and when I woke up I was on the other side of the city."
He looks into his mug. His grip is tight enough he might shatter it if he doesn't watch himself and he probably won't. "Siegfried and Harken were there. Both of them. Riesenlied too. I thought Harken was DEAD... We didn't stand a chance..." He shook his head. "We had a crew of Drifters and mercs with us, a whole team."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Ah."
Cheap, Leon thinks. Something to get him drunk, not something that needs to be good. Some of the disapproval slips away, because he knows that feeling. He nods and looks ahead, down at the table instead of at Fei. He doesn't flinch, either when he slams the mug on the counter or reaches into his pack.
He does, though, when he hears that two Quarter Knights were there. "So it wasn't an inconsiderable force," he says. "They had a base there." He keeps his voice controlled, at first, and then he looks sideways at Fei. "What happened? What about Lily?"
And then, the nervousness -- and the worry, the fear, and even the hint of anger -- enters his voice. "Did you see if she made it out?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is quiet for a moment.
He says, more haltingly. "I charged after Siegfried with her but he got me. Stabbed me right here. Through the gear." He lifts up his shirt and points. There is no visible wound there. Somehow it healed away. Fei lets his shirt drop. He doesn't comment on its implausibility.
"It was nice. It was nice having friends again. I thought for a moment that I was free, that it was a fluke, an accident. But as I was blacking out from blood loss, I heard that voice again telling me to live. That ddddamn curse won't let me die." The mug shatters in his hand. "What a joke. I can't be around my friends or I'll hurt them. I can't escape Weltall because the problem isn't Weltall. It's me."
He looks back to Leon, tears in his eyes. "Somehow I knew I did it again. It was me. The vvvvoice keeps saying it was me!!" He presses his hands against his forehead. "I don't want to hurt anyone!!!"
But he goes quiet to actually answer the question. "...Believe me, only one thing's keepin' me going right now and it's that there were survivors. The Metal Demons and Drifters were able to evacuate. I...don't know all their names"
He nods to the stack of papers. "I drew 'em instead since I knew you'd want'em." He takes in a deep breath and lets it out.
"I figure you don't want anything to do with me anymore. You'd be right to. I'm just too dangerous. But you're maybe the greatest man I've ever known." He sags, holding his head in his hands. "Oh god I threw that away. Again..again..."
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon knows of Siegfried only through reputation. He doesn't need to see him, though, to know the incredible danger that he presents. The Quarter Knights were capable of immense, unimaginable destruction. They were closer to Gears than men, in terms of their power. But, really, they were neither. So when Fei lifts his shirt to show that there is no scar, no wound, it boggles the mind.
He wonders, for a moment, if Fei is fully sane -- and then he feels guilty for wondering. After all, he knows someone else who can heal her wounds yet leave no scar.
The soldier looks away, then, as he takes the stack of papers. He stays quiet and lets Fei finish, even as his lips harden into a line. The tears are hard to address -- but he remembers the incredible damage done to Lahan by Weltall. No, he decides, by Fei.
"You were right to draw them," he says, quietly. "It gives me something to go on."
But he falls quiet. He doesn't correct Fei, yet, but he doesn't affirm his words either. He looks down at the counter and wonders -- and knowing what to do feels so much harder, when Lily isn't here. He doesn't have her to turn to for an input.
Finally, he sighs. "...Fei. You can call me a great man, if you want to. I'm not," he says. "I've failed more people than I care to count. My entire command is dead, except for Lily, and that falls on my shoulders. You... you were against an enemy that outclassed you. Outclassed you both."
He swallows. "Maybe that voice is what kept you alive. If you regret what happened, then regret it, because there's more to life than survival -- but you stayed alive. Don't throw being alive away. If you want to be someone better, then think of it this way."
He shakes his head. "Surviving, even if it's left you with blood on your hands, gave you the chance to become someone better."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei at the very least seems to have PTSD. In some militaries he wouldn't even be allowed to serve. He gets antsy around loud noises since Adelhyde and nearly panicked during the firework show in Lacour. He says, "Ida I know, there, in that stack but there's a woman and man I don't recognize. I mean by name." There's other miscelaneous npc drifters too but they don't have names so Leon doesn't have to worry about them. Indeed, his attention may be drawn ;) to one picture in particular. Jude Moshe is amongst the stack of papers and he did, you know, try to capture you once.
"The metal demons didn't take prisoners either, they actually helped evacuate Old Petra from what I'm hearing."
He looks back to Leon after and nods slowly to his words. He's heard them before...it's just hard for him to adapt it into his life just like that.
But the idea of becoming someone better....
"Can I go with you?" He asks. "T'look for her?"
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
Leon is flipping through the sketches, as he works. He would remark on their quality, but this isn't really the time for such a remark. He recognizes several of them, though not all. Ida, for one. He stops, though, when he sees one. He keeps himself from swearing out loud.
He has no idea what Jude Moshe was doing there -- and if that means Lily may be in danger.
"They helped evacuate," he says, sounding surprised. "Then... that must have been Riesenlied's work. It sounds like her. This--" He frowns, for a moment. "...You saw this man here?" He points down at the picture of Jude. "I know him. That could be a problem."
He frowns -- then he looks sideways at Fei. Finally, he nods.
"Of course. She... must be alive," he says. "Maybe she's with him." Because the alternative, that she is dead, is too dire to consider. The alternative means that everything that he just said was for nothing -- that everything, so far, was for nothing.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Maybe imagining what it would mean if Lily was dead could give Leon some understanding of Fei. Of course, Leon already seems to have some understanding of Fei. His three years, the three years he knows. It was for nothing. Fei understands Leon quite well himself.
But for it to be by his hands...Fei isn't sure anyone can really understand that, not so directly.
"It was her." Fei agrees. "Riesenlied. I was hearing her in the battle. Seems like she was managing the defenses."
He looks back towards the picture of Jude. "Huh? Him?" He looks down at it. "Really?"
He didn't seem like a 'problem' to him but he admits, "Well I guess I don't really know him."
Something tells him that Lily is alive too. It would be too much if there were so many survivors amongst the Drifters but she happend to not be one of them. He's desperate that this is the case.
"You think he took advantage of the situation to go for a bounty?" Fei asks.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Mm. It sounds like her," Leon says. After all, he didn't disagree with Riesenlied's goals -- he disagreed with her methods and her allies. He looks down at the sketches, and his eyes end up back on Jude's.
"His name is Jude Moshe," he says. "You might think he is only a reporter from Guild Galad, but... that isn't the case. Moshe is a dangerous man. He went for both of our bounties, once. He tried to trick us into helping him, then pulled a gun on us. He almost had us. But..."
He frowns. "...He's also helped us, before, too. In the Demon attack and before that. We were going to meet with him, for some information that he had."
Finally, Leon sighs. "...So I don't know." He looks sideways at Fei. "This could play out in any number of ways, Fei."
Which, really, bothers him more than if he knew Jude would try to capture her. If he knew that, Leon could set out towards Kislev now and try to intercept him.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Hopefully wit the literal metal demon invasion," Fei says hopefully. "He's got better priorities." Can he actually track down Riesenlied? She might know too. She's a tall horned lady with a huge bounty on her head. It could be impossible to find her!
He looks at Jude Moshe's mug again. If HE was incinerated, Fei probably wouldn't even remember. He's surprised he remembered Lily was hurt to begin with.
"If he's doing journalistic work. He must have a place he submits his work, right?" Fei scratches his head. "...assuming that isn't completely a lie."
He places some money down on the counter. "Guess there's only one way to find out for sure. And if he's causing her trouble, I'll punch him!"
He pauses. "In the face." He clarifies.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I should hope." Leon frowns. He really doesn't know -- but he really doesn't know what to make of Jude, most of the time. He hesitates, and then he looks down, with a nod of his head.
"He must," he says. "It's a lead. It's more than I had yesterday. We can use that to find him. Maybe he knows more. And maybe..." He looks sideways at Fei, and nods. He isn't the only one who might punch him.
"...Maybe he'll be helpful, this time," he says. "He has been before."
He shakes his head, and sighs. "Thanks, Fei. This gives us something to go on. Lunata, Bart, and Catenna are keeping an eye out for her, too. We'll find her."
He has to convince himself of that.
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"She might have also holed up in the Old Petra ruins." Fei says. "Like, the mines. The town was destroyed but if she took shelter in the ruins, she might be hiding out there." There's a few paths that can be taken including the actual path but Fei has reason enough to go back looking in those ruins besides.
At the very least they agreed to possibly punch Jude in the face. This is probably for the best because, as Fei reasons, as a journalist he'll then get to write about being punched in the face. It's basically win win win.
"He sounds like a strange guy if he's helpful half the time and an enemy the other half." Fei admits but he supposes he isn't one to talk there.
"I'll keep asking around in the meanwhile. If we run into Ida first, she might know more too." Fei says, stretching. He seems to be doing better. He's recovering more quickly from these periods of self loathing. Maybe it's because he had a lot of things to punch during the tournament and got it out of his system. Fargo took a lot of punches. So many.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Ah... there was a mine network," Leon says. "I shouldn't be surprised. It would make it more secure for the Demons."
He looks up at Fei, then nods. 'Strange' doesn't begin to cover it, but it works as a description. He looks down at the drawings, his nose wrinkling. "Yeah," he says. "We can both look around and ask. And with Lunata asking those she knows, and Bart's help... it should add up." Then, he looks sideways at Fei. He does seem to have bounced back.
He knows better than to rush that sort of thing. He considers, before he asks: "When the tournament's done, will you return to the Yggdrasill?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei nods a bit. "Yeah. I still believe in Bart's dream." He jabs the air a few times before swaying slightly to the left which he doesn't quite recover from.
"And if I can make sure Lunata doesn't get used by her gear, I'd be happy with that too." He lets his arms drop. "And....besides... Those metal demons. They have to be stopped one way or another. Before they ressurect her."
Of course that may be easier said than done because he doesn't really know who 'her' is besides the name except that she's probably even more dangerous than Siegfried.
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Resurrect... her?" Leon asks, before he shakes his head. There is a lot about Fei that is a mystery, still. He starts to appreciate that more. Some connection that he has to events, which goes beyond Leon's understanding. He looks at him, before he nods.
"...All right, then. Bart will be glad to hear it, even if he probably will say he knew you'd stay with us." The Captain of the Yggdrasill doesn't, as a rule, seem to worry about things. That leaves it to Leon to worry about things for him.
He looks ahead.
"I'm glad, too," he says. "And Lily will be, too. She's fond of you." He pauses a moment, then adds: "That's not particularly common."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Damn protaganist amnesia..!! Making things more complicated! Fei would disagree with Leon's assessment. Bart's hands off, sure, but that's more a remark on his management style than what goes on in Bart's head. He thinks Bart would be happier if he was the only one who had to worry about anything and since he's like that, everyone else has to worry about him. It's very princely of him, quite frankly.
But he doesn't dwell too much on his personal assessment of Bart. "Well he knows me too well." Fei admits. "But I bet he groused plenty."
He winces faintly as Leon mentions THAT part about Lily though. As if he wasn't guilty enough about going berserk(?) at Old Petra. "Oh uh--I didn't know." He manages.
He isn't sure how to answer that comment for a while so he goes quiet but eventually he adds, "Thank you."