2020-05-12: Sowing Hate: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "*'''Log: Sowing Hate''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Loren Voss, Character :: Fei Fong Wong *'''Where:''' Meria City - Outer Regions *'''Date:''' May 12, 2020 *'''Summary...")
 
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Latest revision as of 01:34, 19 May 2020

  • Log: Sowing Hate
  • Cast: Loren Voss, Fei Fong Wong
  • Where: Meria City - Outer Regions
  • Date: May 12, 2020
  • Summary: Loren encounters Fei, and enacts a small part of his plan. It works a little too well.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    The goal is simple. Painfully so, in fact.

    Loren Voss lingers -- loiters really -- on a sidestreet in the outer reaches of Meria.

    The thing is... why is it that something that's supposed to be so easy on paper turns out to be so damned hard to implement? It's true that perhaps he should try looking in other cities, sure--

    But when you count all the cities in Northern Aquvy,

    when you consider all the little places they could have gotten off to,

    when you consider they could be moving to just about any city at any time,

    and when you consider that he doesn't get to have any of the traveling 'perks' due to mission parameters requiring he keep a low profile...

    Well, he figures he might as well retain his current operational location and keep an ear low to the ground for any signs of their movements.

    Though he has been beginning to wonder, lately, if perhaps that asshole Albus warned the rest of them off of Meria. He would swear he's heard a good deal of nothing for the last week and then some.

    Scowling, he pulls away from the wall and begins to head off towards the east side of Meria's newer buildings. What good is a plan when you can't even put it into action? Maybe he should revise the strategy after all.

    This is, of course, when someone dumps a bucket of water (soapy, if it matters) out of an upper story window--

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei made this whole great declaration out of searching for Shevat and--well--he has not had much luck in that department. It turns out that finding a mystery flying city that most people don't think exists is actually pretty tough. And the day to day work of life as a mercenary continues.

Fei walks through the city. He isn't minding too much of his surroundings as he studies a piece of empathite in his hand. It's a lot less painful holding onto this piece than it was traveling the depths of the spooky castle belonging to a bloodsucker everybody tells him is, like, super legit okay, but he thinks he better not go back there any time soon.

He looks up as someone dumps a bucket of soapy water towards--

"Watch--" Fei begins but is interrupted because he also stopped underneath a window--

--this one is on the second story, barely above Fei's head. And yes, they see Fei before dumping the water anyway.

Fei drips wetly, and slowly pockets that piece of empathite once more, letting out a world weary sigh.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Someone shouts, or starts to, but the die is already cast!!

    The day very quickly goes from 'frustrating but endurable' to 'outright awful'.

    Loren is completely soaked. And is that-- ugh, no, it's got soap in it, and probably dirt! This is all completely terrible. Whipping off his glasses, Loren's first reaction is to attempt to dry them off, only to then realize that, no, that is a very stupid idea, considering he's soaked to the skin. Irritation hits a breaking point, and he shouts up at the window above him, "What in the world do you think you were doing? Don't you look before you-- well, fine, then, run away!"

    The occupant of that second-story has retreated within, perhaps in some mixture of embarrassment or shame.

    ...He's getting stared at. He can tell. He glowers at the person nearest to him, as if to challenge them to...

    Irritation gives way to open bemusement. Isn't that...

    "You!" he calls out, advancing on Fei. "What are you doing here?"

    In a sense, it is his lucky day, after all.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM FATE.

Fei drips. Is now the time people just do this sort of thing?? Actually, he supposes that's not too unreasonable. Maybe they heard someone getting ready to do it and thought 'oh okay it's time for me to do it too'. Fei's had moments like that with chores, back when he lived a life comfortable enough to include chores.

Fei still looks pretty miserable. "Selling the occassional commission and looking for mercenary work, mostly." Fei says.

He straightens up a bit but it looks kind of ridiculous because he just got soapy water dumped on him and there is no way that he's going to be able to not look goofy. Indeed, raising himself up in this state just makes him look even more ridiculous.

"What're you doing here?" Fei says, pointing at him like in that double spiderman comic.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren huffs a breath. It might have looked somewhat more... menacing (no) had he not been sopping wet. "So you're selling your skills to sow more violence. Excellent. Great. I'm so very glad to hear that," he says, his tone completely and utterly flat. "Let me guess, she's with you, too."

    She, presumedly meaning Elly.

    He folds his arms over his chest and attempts to ignore the fact that the water is going right down his legs aaaa, and fixes Fei with a look that might not melt steel but would certainly put butter into fear for its life.

    "That," he says, "is none of your business."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Shit! Why did Fei answer him?! He could've just said it's none of HIS business why he's here! Now Loren is winning!!

Fei thinks this as they are both standing in the middle of the street, doused in soapy water and--at least in Fei's case--shivering.

"So you admit I have skills!" Fei says before pausing and adding, "Gebler supported--supports?--a roving band of arsonists and attacked a ship of mostly-pacifists while they were trying to flee the destruction of their home so I'm not sure they've got room to judge there."

Fei cocks his head to the side. "But if you really hate war so much, why are you in the military?"

Let me guess, she's with you, too.

Fei opens his mouth to answer this question beceause he's kind of an idiot who is trained to answer questions when he is asked but he manages to stop himself this time...!!

And he crosses his arms smugly and drippingly and says, "That is none of your business."

YEAH NICE ONE FEI.

These two dorks.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren narrows his eyes, his irritation nearly palpable. "Is that what you-- forget it," he mutters, shaking his head. "And-- it isn't as if you can see the bigger picture, anyway," is his answer to Fei's examples of their actions back in Ignas. "I'm not going to waste my breath explaining it to you."

    If he doesn't like war, though, why is he...

    Loren actually pauses. Why had he joined the military again? He had been in Jugend, sure, but why...

    He shakes his head, as if to similarly shake off the gap in his memory. "To make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs," he says.

    Quite simply.

    And then at his question about Elly, Fei comes back with an answer, sure enough--

    Loren slowly frowns, then sighs.

    "Great to hear it," is his ultimate answer.

    Which is then joined with:

    "Just remember, I'm going to kill her someday."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

"Yeah. That's the excuse everybody uses." Fei says. "And look at all the good it's done Filgaia. Least most of my mercenary work involves going into ruins where I only bother the dead."

He uncrosses his arms. He's more frustrated than angry. Shouldn't he be enraged right now anyway? These people killed Siegfried--

--He raises his head. "Why are you so mad at Elly anyway? She deserted, sure, I get it--but it's not like she wants to hurt you. She's not the sort of person who wants to hurt people."

Just remember, I'm going to kill her someday.

Fei's eyes widen. His hands shake and this time it's not from the cold. He steadies his hands through sheer determination.

"You know if you do that, I wouldn't be able to stop him right?" Fei asks. "I know in your invincible fortress or whatever it might not seem like that big of a deal, but a lot of people would get hurt."

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    "Most of it," Loren seizes on and repeats, his doubt plain in his sodden expression.

    His goal, really, had just been to rile them -- Fei -- up. But when he's asked why he's so mad at Elly, for a long moment all Loren is aware of -- really aware of -- is the ringing in his ears, of the way the world seems to be shaking.
    The fact of the matter is that he's shaking.

    "Because," he snaps at Fei, "she'll be forgiven. She'll be taken back with open arms. I won't let her have even the chance." He takes a breath, deep enough that he can regain some control over himself. "...Doesn't that bother you? Knowing she'd be able to turn on you just as easily as she turned on us?"

    This, then, is why he wants to kill her?

    Loren crinkles his brow. "Him? You mean..."

    He's silent for a long moment.

    It feels as if an explosion is going off within his brain, and he can't-- just--

    "I don't care," he says, throwing all rationality to the wind.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Loren's mission--to rile them up! It's succeeding with Fei, though he is not QUITE as easy to send spiraling down an emotional catastrophe as he used to be. He may not be strong, but he's stronger than he once was. Fei isn't going to just let the demon of elru out with a threat.

Doesn't that bother you? Knowing she'd be able to turn on you just as easily as she turned on us?

Fei's mouth hangs open. He's about to protest that she wouldn't do that. But then he closs his mouth shut. It's strange, but the idea of it--doesn't really bother him as much as he'd expect.

"Maybe...it'd be better if she did." Fei says. "...I don't think she would, but maybe then she wouldn't have to have a target on her back. She could live her life freely. But it's not in her nature. The military--it never suited her."

He raises his head. "I don't think it suits you either. You're right, it isn't fair that they'd take her back. But that's the society you are fighting for. Why? Are you just...scared? Or do you think it's just impossible? Because either way, I'm right there with you!"

He doesn't care. He doesn't care about the reprecussions. Fei steps back a bit, as if truly frightened of Loren for the first time. Fei doesn't fear Ramses--but Loren, somehow, frightens him in this moment.

"That's..." Fei begins. "Please...please don't."

RILING UP SUPER SUCCESSFUL.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren seems... almost disappointed. "Really? You think that's better for her?" He shakes his head, as if in disbelief. "Even if you had to fight her again? Or do you really think..."

    He knows better. He knows that top brass -- to say nothing about her... tendencies -- wouldn't be content to let someone like her simply return to civilian life.

    And then Fei says something to him that leaves him, for a moment at least, speechless.

    "...Shut up," is his response at last, his voice just above a hissed whisper. "You don't know a thing about me. You don't know a thing about us! So don't think your sorry attempt at 'sympathy' is going to work...!"

    He'd meant to rile Fei up, but in this, it seems he's the one getting riled up...

    Until he hits his own internal breaking point, veering screaming over the edge with every rational part of his mind calling a warning to no avail.
Of course he can't win, of course he can't let something like the demon of Elru out. Of course, of course, of course...!

    But Loren just stares at Fei, stares through him nearly.

    His mind is buzzing. He-- doesn't--

    "Then make me," he says to Fei.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

'Make me'.

Fei goes quiet for a while at that. He presses his lips together. Normally at this point he'd be letting the mask slip, showing a glimpsee of that demn--but so far, SO FAR, he is able to stay himself. He takes in a deep breath, lets it out slowly. He turns and starts walking away. It's that simple! See, you didn't have to start a big fight, Fei, you can just let it go and be the bigger--

Wait, Fei.

Fei! What are you doing Fei??

What Fei is doing is turning back around and running at a brisk pace right towards Loren.

NO FEI BEING THE BIGGER MAN DOESN'T MEAN USING THE FACT YOU ARE BIGGER TO--FEI!!

Yeah, unfortunately Fei isn't listening to the better judgement of his metapose and just ends up trying to bodyslam Loren into the wall.

Yeah you can't blame this one on me

He literally asked for it!

Don't you think maybe that was a clue that maybe you shouldn't have done it??

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    Loren just narrows his eyes and watches Fei as he so apparently turns and walks off. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, his mouth turning in a near-pensive frown.

    Was that enough? Perhaps he should have gone farther--

    Such thoughts melt away from his mind as Fei turns and charges for him, running at the Solaris officer at speed.

    In fact, a lot of things effectively melt away from his immediate thoughts and concerns, replaced instead by a rather animal panic. He breaks into a run.

    Hours from now, he'll look back on this moment with deep and abject shame. In the moment, though, he's merely reacting.

    He doesn't get more than a few feet before Fei catches up to him and bodily slams him into the wall. Someone, nearby, shouts in alarm, but as far as Loren is concerned they may as well be miles away.

    "Let... go... you-- lunatic!" he gasps, attempting to find purchase on Fei wherever he can reach.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei can only see Loren right now and is used to being hated by the authorities!! But an angry Fei, while perhaps not as frightening as an angry Id--well, he's still a big muscular guy who is really good at martial arts even if, okay, when he's up against someone like Wiseman he looks quite the opposite.

As such, he is positioning his body back to make it hard to just grab onto him, but it's a little off--Loren can probably at least grab his shirt, or his arm.

"I'm just doing what you want!" He says. "Isn't that right?? This is what you're asking me to do! And then you always act like it's a big shock when I actually do it! What's up with that?? Do you want to play nice or not??"

He's already panting for breath from all the shouting at this point.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    There is shouting. Perhaps people are coming to help. Perhaps they're calling for the guards. For Loren, both possibilities are rather outside his immediate consideration, as his attempt to bait the tiger have turned out for him a little too well.

    His head hurts, probably because Fei has slammed him into the wall. His ribcage aches with an all-too-familiar burn.
    And yet, even these things are secondary, lost under the buzz of adrenaline, lost, too, to that buzzing that has welled up beneath the panic and fear as if it were only temporarily displaced by these things and seeks a return.

    He grapples with Fei, struggling to release himself; the other man is shoving him into the wall at arm's length, which makes a good half-dozen counters for a situation like this impossible.
    They teach support Ether specialists hand-to-hand defense in Jugend just for situations like this.
    He has a handful of Fei's shirt instead. His left hand seizes Fei's own left forearm; he applies pressure in the direction physiology would prefer the forearm to rotate, in the hopes he has leverage enough to force it to a point of pain.

    "You..." he hisses, zeroing in as from a far distance on the face of the man currently shoving him up against the wall, "...you think this... is stopping me...?"

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

They're calling for the guards! He thinks? He can barely hear them--but he can hear them enough that the haze fades ever so faintly--should he fall back? In that moment of hesitation, Loren strikes!

Fei lets out a pained hiss as Loren's hfinger digs into Fei's arm. He isn't going to force it. He lets Loren go and stumbles back, gripping at his arm with his spare hand before looking back up.

"You saying I'd have to kill you?" Fei manages, panting for breath. "Is that what you're getting at? Because I..."

He quiets down suddenly. Now, suddenly, he takes his time before saying anything.

And when he does speak, it's slowly. "Because I won't. I won't do that. She wouldn't want me to."

He backs off a bit as his focus shifts off Loren somewhat to go onto his surroundings. The shouts. The noises.

God dammit, he thinks.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He's only aware of the buzzing now. No, the buzzing in his head...

    And the man who now grips him. His world only has room for two things in it.

    He finds purchase with his grip. He sinks his fingers in, he twists--
    Fei releases him before he can cause significant pain. Loren slumps against the wall, breathing hard. Briefly, he closes his eyes.

    There's shouting. It's getting closer. He doesn't care about it.

    "That's right," he says, opening his eyes to look straight at Fei. "You'll have to kill me. If you want to stop me."

    He straightens, pushing back against the wall. Fei says that he doesn't want to. That she doesn't want him to.

    He stares at Fei. The look in his eyes is strange, as if he had drawn back to whatever psychological sticking point exists in his mind, the string left tensed, in anticipation of the bolt yet to be loosed.
    He's calm, now. The sort of calm that only comes with a certain sort of acceptance.
    That this is how things will be.

    "Then I'll kill her first," he promises Fei.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong stares back at Loren and doesn't say anthing for a long while.

There's really only two ways about it, isn't there? Either he kills Loren and protects Elly--or Loren will keep trying to kill Elly until he succeeds. And sometimes, that kind of determination is all it takes. You only have to succeed to kill someone once, you can attempt it as many times as your body will let you.

"Why," Fei asks. "Do you want me to kill you so bad?"

He senses something is...wrong here. It's not just the obvious. Something's strange about all this. It feels off.

But that kind of reflection may have to wait, people are rushing about and soon there may be more trouble. If he isn't going to kill this man, it's time to go.

"Fuck, man." He says, sounding defeated as he turns and high tails it out of there.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

    He's in the middle of it. He relinquishes himself to it, lets it carry himself along.

    This is the only way. There is no other but through. Glory or death, the sentiment among Gebler runs--
    Well, he has only shame and no hope of glory. So there is only one thing he can do.

    "You've got it backwards," Loren says to Fei, his gaze on him steady, "I want her to die. So if that means I have to die, too, then that's fine."

    There can be a sort of absolution in death.
    That's what he's counting on.

    It's getting crowded -- complicated -- here. Fei wisely decides to get out while the getting's good.

    Loren watches Fei dash off in silence. A guard -- still a distance off from either of them -- barks a warning. But none of this matters much to Loren. Whether they catch up to Fei or not, he...

    Already got what he came here for.

    "Hey, man, are you okay? I wasn't expecting him to just attack you," says a passerby jogging up in the aftermath.

    Loren shakes his head. "I'm fine," he lies, because even setting aside his headache, his possibly cracked rib, and all the rest...

    Is he now, from an objective external point of view, really okay?