2021-03-09: Monsters Past and Present: Difference between revisions

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*'''Log: 030921_ReaperHunting_MeetingYueAndYulie(Ruth)'''
*'''Log: Monsters Past and Present'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Ruth Pauling]], [[Character :: Yue Rohay]], [[Character :: Yulie Ahtreide]]
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Ruth Pauling]], [[Character :: Yue Rohay]], [[Character :: Yulie Ahtreide]]
*'''Where:''' Celesti Wastelands
*'''Where:''' Celesti Wastelands

Latest revision as of 20:09, 8 June 2021

  • Log: Monsters Past and Present
  • Cast: Ruth Pauling, Yue Rohay, Yulie Ahtreide
  • Where: Celesti Wastelands
  • Date: March 09, 2021
  • Summary: Three individuals find themselves, for varying reasons, trying to deal with a Reaper infestation in one of the rare between-destination stations that occasionally sees use. Discussions about monsters and villains of the past come up as they face down monsters of the present.

============================<* Celesti Wastelands *>============================

Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons.

Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest.

Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92HwM11d2FQ
<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Today, what's left of Celesti is considered the territory of Guild Galad. Were one to, like a child, color in parts of a map to denote territories of Filgaia... to color all of Guild Galad's land overlooks a harsh truth that has no prospect of ever improving in most anyone's natural lifetimes:
     Most of the land truly belongs to no one, for there is nothing left to claim. Some days, even the warm rays of the sun aren't of the mind nor inclination to illuminate the wastes, dusty clouds leaving the air almost nigh-unbreathable when the wind kicks up. Residual environmental damages of when some truly harrowing weapons came into play during the Celesti Civil War. Most of the time, the rails run by Guild Galad allow travel past all of it.
     Some days, those who run the rails are no longer in position to turn away from the scars of Celesti. Not when Reapears are of the mind to overrun one of the select few stations that are used for the greatest of emergencies on the line between Guara Bobelo and Guild Galad. (That they can overrun it is why it is almost never, ever used - ninety-nine-point-six percent of all train routes go between settlements without stopping... but sometimes The Master just will not acknowledge that specific parts of the infrastructure should be treated as a lost cause.)
     The actual Galadian forces dispatched to handle this simply do not want to deal with it. They also do not want the demerits to their record, and have decided - to their chagrin - they'd pay entirely out of their pockets beyond what they're being paid so some Drifters will deal with it. Between loss of paycheck and loss of career, the threat to other people losing life and limb cushions the blow.
     If they're lucky, most of those involved will be dead and they'll just recoup some of the losses if any of them are of the mind to go out and retrieve it. (Or... sigh... pony up for some other Drifter to probably die in the process.)
     There is a frankly overdressed elven woman who appears stranded atop a derelict building that used to belong to a saloon. She is surrounded by eight Reapers, only two of which have the idea to stack upon one another to get up to where she is. It's not enough, but none of the others have the 'mind' to take their lead and climb atop them so they can reach her.
     She does not look to be in fear, or anger. She is kneeling near the edge where the two Reapers with a semblance of a clue are gnashing their teeth with those dead eyes of theirs.
     In her hands, a gunsmoke revolver ARM she has loaded and unloaded a few times - as if the act of preparing to put an end to their suffering were more important than the actual act of doing so, if such a thing would ever bring them peace.
     She's not sure if 'them' means herself, or the Reapers.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue Rohay is here for a different reason altogether:

    There's an Odessan safehouse nearby, hidden underneath a large, Gear-scale trapdoor that otherwise only appears as a big patch of sand and cacti, coincidentally not far from the Saloon.

    She's been ordered (by Mother truly) to make nice with the Drifters and perhaps coax their eyes away from the safehouse.

    Yue has half a mind to just spill the beans, but...

    The Veruni operative descends down from the skies, impaling one of the Reapers on her heel, Dragoon-style -- in one swift kick, she rebounds and lands with a three (four? her hands are cuffed) landing.

    "It looks like... you could use a hand." Which is rich, given she has none free.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Celesti is a deeply scarred land. Here, the ravages of war are bared for all to see. With only a few exceptions, the only ones who truly remain are the earthbound spirits of the dead. The Paladienne Order does their best to lay to rest the spirits of the dead, but there are far, far too many.

Yulie hasn't really connected with her Order in a while, out of fear of dragging them into the conflict that follows her everywhere. But she still holds true to their mission, their duty, of bringing peace to the dead, and that's what brings her here today, to the ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

But... she doesn't have the talent yet to make a cool, dramatic entrance. She can do her job a little better where there are others to draw attention. And so her influence can be felt a bit more subtly - spells of healing and protection falling over both Ruth and Yue, to help them in their fight with the Reapers.

They may, if observant, occasionally spot Yulie peeking out of the window of a similarly-abandoned building next to the former saloon to track the progress of the battle, before retreating back into hiding before checking again.

She has, if necessary, spells to pull them out of danger... but, at least for now, they seem to have the situation under control.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    The strange penitent woman on the roof bolts upright as an equally strange woman makes a dramatic entrance. Her quiet, indecisive reverie of being audience to the Reapers that have her trapped hits a momentary shock. A feeling of something cut away, ripped free from her and left hanging. Something other than 'her breath,' but she can't describe it - or decide whether it's good or bad that it is.
     "I," she's not sure what she can say, other than bringing her right hand over where her heart is - displaying in clear view a Granasian rosary wrapped up her exposed right forearm. A gloved hand squeezes, as if tense as she looks down to the kneeling convict. Her revolver gets stowed away somewhere on her overcoat, which... seems premature? They're still surrounded.
     ...She spies something in another nearby building. Her head tilts up. Her gray eyes do not lie to her. She sees part of the gaze of a shy young woman, in the wake of pleasant, refreshing, reinvigorating energies.
     "No." That word is spoken with a sharp edge as those eyes follow the distance between the two of them - and the number of Reapers there. On the ground between them (not counting the ones already around where she's perched), four. Exactly four.
     She winces as she draws back her left hand over her shoulder towards the grip of a rifle on her back... and stops, as if having her right hand snatch the other.
     "I don't... it's. There's someone. There's someone!" She can't communicate what's racing through her mind, her heart pounding. There's someone. Yue is also a someone, but there's something she catches in that glimpse that captures her.
     She crawls down the side of that saloon with only the barest heed paid to the possibility she'd sprain an ankle or worse. A Reaper's clawed hand swipes for her left side, as if she fails to heed their presence as she takes off running with more speed and comfort than someone in that kind of dress or that quality of boots should.
     She's trying to run over to that adjacent building like a woman possessed with an energy almost matching that of Yue's alarming entrance.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    Yue blinks a few times as the penitent woman blurts several words, before suddenly making a risky dash through the Reapers towards another building. Yulie's healing spell washes over her, and she catches a glimpse of the figure and tries to follow...

    But then the Reapers have blocked her off. There's a quiet sigh as she murmurs, "You go check up on that someone, then."

    She turns towards the reset of the flock, and with a single twist, an enormous wall of flame erupts, struck from her heel; this is still, technically, a Demon Fang (tm), even if not named such.

    "Your quibble is with me, not her," she taunts. If she's going to insist on doing that, maybe she can attract their attention.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie peeks out... and for a moment, it seems as if the elven woman has caught her gaze. She doesn't think too much of that at first, until she starts scaling down the building. Yulie panics a little.

"W-wait, don't-" She starts... but, she sees one of the Reapers reaching out for her and, for now, disregards the dissuasion, instead quickly drawing out a different Crest Graph. Said Reaper finds itself assailed by sanctified light - hopefully serving as enough distraction to allow Ruth to get by cleanly, if not clearing it away entirely.

She then casts an uneasy glance toward the entrance of the building she's in. ...Is Ruth trying to head here...?

...Interactions with strangers are only marginally better than interactions with Reapers. She can't help but be a little nervous.

She looks back to the rest of the Reapers, though, and to Yue, who has elected to taunt them. ...Well, right now, Yue probably deserves her direct attention. She keeps the support spells going, for the time being.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Can it ever be known what a Reaper prioritizes when there's so many choice victims? All their eyes seem to know is sadness, anger, and hunger - but the amount of noise and flash Yue makes helps her fulfill that obligation to try and draw attention to herself. Not a single one of them in the warpath of the flame-flavored Demon Fang(tm) is still there by the time it burns an already burnt land. Putrid smells fill the air as what is expected to burn... does.
     There are some things that don't. Small personal effects of a metallic nature. Remnants of buttons, some coins...
     Well-preserved bullets of a large caliber. Suited to those less developed gunsmoke weapons the accepted natives of Filgaia like to use when they feel the desire to consider themselves powerful within their limited means.
     There are other calibers of bullet here and here, some of them fresh (indicative of attempts by other gunslingers), but the large caliber bullets are numerous enough to be stand-out.
     One Reaper manages to stop Ruth in her tracks. Her right forearm is all that stands between the flesh of her throat and gnashing teeth, but she stands there transfixed looking them in the eyes - and to a deformation in the side of their head. She has her left hand free, she could draw the revolver and defend herself... but she doesn't.
     She wants to say something, to a creature that cares not for what she has to say - but she does so anyway.
     "Not with her," tired words growing more frantic. Her heart's about as heavy as it is... and then there's a sanctified light. The power of a Paladienne against the restless dead is among the most effective weapons imaginable, and the Reaper releases as they are quietly urged to begin their journey to the Garden of Toldoka.
     The elf finds that moment to shed a tear. Is it the one with the bindings doing this? She feels herself being torn so many different ways but all of them snake around a mind lucid enough - far too lucid - in one specific direction.
     One where she hurls herself right into that building, where she can see Yulie.
     "...Why, who," she reaches out with her right hand, but draws it back immediately as if the very idea of reaching out to her with said hand - or any hand at all - were something she just couldn't do.
     She's not looking Yulie in the eyes any more. "...I'm sorry. Everything you're seeing, it's... this place, it's... I've been here. I've been here, while..." She can't finish the statement.
     "...I won't let them hurt you," says someone who just had to be saved a few times over by both Yulie and Yue alike, calming herself enough she can get that spoken resolve out.
     Words are more poweful the less you say, sometimes.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    It's a lot of effort, to pull out an arcane arte at a moment's notice; with Yue's Ether suppressed, actually generating flame from her internal reserves of chi isn't an easy task.

    It's what she needs right now, though. Bullets. Lots of bullets... were they shot, before?

    She turns back to Ruth and grimaces, shouting, "Don't just stand in front of them!"

    A pause, as Yulie -- as the Paladienne -- sanctifies the Reaper. There's a faint sigh of relief as she keeps listening to Ruth, murmuring, "It won't be safe to stay here much longer. Who knows how many more there are?"

    The Veruni keeps pace, striking down Reapers where they come, as she tries to head to where Ruth has headed; her cautious approach means she'll be a while longer, though.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Footsteps approach. Yulie glances toward the door as Ruth enters, as she approaches, and... apologises?

"It's... it's not your fault." Yulie replies, shaking her head. It feels a little strange being on the other side of this reaction. Usually, she's the one apologizing. "How long... have you been here? Are you okay...?"

She falls quiet as Ruth states her resolve not to let them hurt her. The words on their own are simple enough, but said with a resolve that causes Yulie to fall quiet for a moment before, eventually, nodding.

"...Thank you." She replies, before looking out the window toward Yue, checking on her situation. She's heading here, as well... Yulie waves her inside. If they're in this, they might as well get in this together. Things are easier with numbers.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Even suppressed, Yue cannot be stopped by the number of Reapers. The position in which the other two are located is not safe. No part of this place will ever be safe. It is lost, and someone needs to work up the courage to tell The Master that there is no point attempting to maintain former emergency station areas that cannot ever be rendered secure enough to be used as such - but the ones who have decided to have Drifters take care of it were not those someones. Their superior(s) were not those someones.
     'It's not your fault,' Yulie tells the elven woman as she lowers her hands down in front of her. There's a hint of a smile on her face, as Yulie shows that strength of character to be more concerned for her well-being.
     "...I don't know how to answer that question," she admits in a low, quiet, haggard voice. "I was here in 486. And I return here in 503." Did she not just say that she doesn't know how to answer that question? She just did anyway.
     She looks up long enough to see the bound woman coming at them at a reserved pace. She can see how strong Yue is - just as Yue will be able to see how much Ruth, in turn, slouches in her posture. She digs into the pocket of her coat to get out a Crest Graph and start casting a spell.
     A heavy deluge of rain suddenly appears, trying to push aside some of the Reapers coming from Yue's right - but it's sort of a token gesture at best, for little could stop Yue from making it to the 'safe' house.
     She has yet to answer whether or not she is okay. That alone may be the only answer she can give.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    There's a faint wince, and Yue takes the sudden appearance of rain to dart past the Reapers while they're distracted; the rest of Yulie's healing spells bring her the rest of the way, and she slips past the threshold of the house and lets a little heave of a breath.

    "Is this place special to you in some way? I'm sorry to say, but... this is a Reaper's nest," Yue murmurs. "There's little we can do to truly suppress their numbers on our own."

    She looks to Yulie, pausing for a moment. She looks a bit familiar, and perhaps not from personal experience -- from an Odessa notice, perhaps. "I'm Yue Rohay," she expresses. "... I'm a Veruni and... probably a villain, so you should be a bit careful around me."

    There's a rueful self-chuckle at that last part.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

486. Yulie thinks for a moment, doing the math in her head. That was before she was even born. If she was here in 486, then that means... Yulie pauses, as a realisation hits her.

"...O-oh! I'm sorry..." Yulie murmurs apologetically. She looks toward the door as Yue enters. And then, Yue introduces herself. A villain...

"I don't think... many villains introduce themselves that way." Yulie observes. "I'm... Yulie. Yulie Ahtreide."

Now that name might possibly sound familiar, at least to Yue.

"I'm a Paladienne. I was... hoping to help the spirits of this town find peace, but..." She starts, trailing off.

...But, it's as Yue says. This place is a Reaper's nest, and the three of them can't possibly handle it on their own.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    "Special," the elf considers whether one would consider a place like this 'special.' "No. Familiar. I..."
     She's at a loss for words, looking over her shoulder to Yulie. She knows she's young. Young, and presumably on her own at this age.
     Introductions are made. Yue calls herself a member of a people believed to be faerie tales in which to scare misbehaving children. 'Probably' a villain. There's a low, building laugh that never quite gets to a laugh. A chortle, then. "Is that so. In the company of a monster of legend." Her tone simply cannot be read as believing or not - it just is.
     It's when Yulie introduces herself - and who she is - that everything she has seen comes together. A Paladienne. "...Of Saint Calucion, is it." The elf doesn't look her - or any of them in the eye, because it is transfixed on what is out there. (What is out there is ugly.)
     "...My name is Ruth." No surname given. "Years ago, I... watched a heartless monster do as she pleased. A heartless monster that inflicted... nothing, on the world around her, but suffering. That suffering... it lingers, like an echo."
     There's a growing intensity in her voice as she draws the revolver from her coat. "Today... I find those who claim this land as theirs, underneath a sky all share... would do naught but leave it in the hands of a pious young woman forced to clean up after another's mess, or to so much as leave it to a so-called 'villain' while they grow fatter off those who live in the wake of that monster."
     Her right hand, back on her heart. The Reapers are coming. Looking to Ruth's backside, she has a long rifle tied right to her back. A sniper rifle, of some stripe - but it's wrapped up in a blanket. It's unlikely one could identify the model unless one were a buff with Celesti Civil War era gunsmoke ARMs, but the bigger question may yet be more as to why she hasn't drawn it while they're all gathering here. They have a 'good' bottleneck. (Inside quotes, because they're trapped if they get overrun.)
     Yulie's resolve is faltering. Yue let herself trail off into self-deprecation.
     "...I want them to find peace. To find their way to the Garden of Toldoka." Her left shoulder sends a sharp twinge of pain through her from how quickly she lifts her arm to aim and fire at the oncoming Reapers. "I won't... have the likes of you doubting yourselves because of monsters past and present." She can't bring the dead peace. She can only hurt them further, to stoke their suffering some more, and that heart of hers beats a little stronger, a little heavier, every time a Reaper's gaze comes closer.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

    "Yup... a boogiewoman of legend," Yue chuckles, still in that self-depreciating mood. Yulie doesn't buy it, though. Well, she can't really blame her... a villain wouldn't really introduce herself that way.

    Ruth. A story about a monster that did as she pleased... and people who would only look to profit off off this.

    And, oh, a sniper rifle.

    "Well... it is good to try to ease another's pain. But you can't do it without first looking inward," Yue remarks casually, the huge hypocrite that she is. "And... in the end, you cannot be responsible for everyone's pain. Senseless martyrdom is just..."

    A pause.

    She glances at Yulie.

    "I'll summon a Gear to get us out," Yue sighs quietly, stepping to another portion of the house to defend. "Let's stay strong until then."

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

A monster of legend...! Yulie looks at Yue curiously as Ruth says this. Does Yulie believe this about Yue herself...? Well, right now, she doesn't seem to be telling.

But Ruth recognizes her calling, it seems, and Yulie nods.

"Yes, that's right." She confirms. ...Technically, a Paladienne-in-training, but... it's fine.

Ruth recounts her story... a story of a heartless monster.

"That sounds horrible... I'm sorry." Yulie says. And what she has to say about those currently in charge of this land... it's clear Ruth has a lot of opinions. She looks toward Yue, then.

...Senseless martyrdom... Yulie goes a little quiet, at that.

Of course she wouldn't know anything about that.

...D-definitely not.

Just as Yulie is starting to think her only option to get them all out of this may be to rely on her powers... Yue has a plan to get them out of here. A Gear... Yulie nods, working a little bit of her courage back up.

"Okay. Um... I'll sanctify the land around us. It should offer us some protection..." She says. If there's one thing she's good at, at least, it's support.

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    It's not exactly a winning battle - something the elf's acquaintances know and recognize. Yue already has an exit strategy. Yulie has a means to buy them all time.
     Ruth wants to protect them, but this approach is endangering all of them.
     Ruth wants to end the suffering of the Reapers, but prolongs it with how close she sometimes allows them to get.
     Ruth curses the Galadians, but is doing her part to cover for their sloth.
     Ruth wants to encourage them in selfless sentiment, but it's all to an end to her selfish satisfaction.
     All this, with one commonality: no matter how little sense her desires and choices line up, she has the heart to try.
     To keep trying until a mind sobered by a heart's yearning convinces her to listen to the words of one already familiar with the senselessness of martyrdom, but even then... it's as she said to Yulie. She was here in 486, she's here now in 503, and she can't answer how long she's really been here - or how much longer she'll stay even when she is physically well away from this tiny slice of a greater No One's Land.