2021-10-02: Magnum Opus
- Log: Magnum Opus
- Cast: Leon Albus, Lily Keil, Fei Fong Wong, Elhaym van Houten, Emeralda Kasim, Xantia, Timotheus Lovelace
- Where: Wec Stann
- Date: October 02, 2021
- Summary: The Black Wolves' expedition into Wec Stann was interrupted suddenly by the arrival of an unknown individual, riding Leon's old Gear, Weglaff. Who is it, and what do they want? As it turns out, nothing good.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Someone has taken control of Leon's Gear and has managed to launch it from the Karlsefni. It's en route to this destination. So far, no one knows who the pilot might be.
This is the situation which the Black Wolves now face.
Hammer has said that he's launching Gears to this destination now. They want to get outside before whoever is using the Gear breaks into the site. There may be no lives at stake (other than their own) but it would be best to avoid damaging that which yet holds much promise.
"Wait, but Heimdall is... was it not undergoing repairs?!" utters Citan, just as apparently shocked as the rest of them at this turn of events. "I do not think they are completed just yet!"
Which is a matter that Hammer will... be able to confirm.
"My apologies, captain, but this is most unfortunate timing. Perhaps I ought to stay down here," the doctor says to Leon, shaking his head. "I do not believe I will be of much use against a Gear, like this."
Once above, the distant form of Weglaff can already be seen on the horizon. One thing is certain: whoever is piloting it is not very good at it. The Gear is having trouble remaining stable, and the distant shapes of the other launched Gears are already coming into view. If it can't pick up speed, the other Gears will soon outpace it.
Which may be good news for the Wolves at the site out here.
It's looking likely they may be able to meet the thief with their own Gears, or be able to climb aboard before they're able to open any potential hostilities.
However the order of operations specifically goes, eventually the Weglaff comes in for a somewhat shaky landing. Is there the possibility this may be some misunderstanding? That the pilot is not their enemy?
That thought will not have long to live.
"Leon Albus...!" calls out the pilot of the Weglaff, and perhaps in that precise moment, many of them may realize precisely who it is that has taken control of the Gear.
"Had you thought that you could evade me by traveling to a place such as this!?"
Once, a long time ago, Josephine had piloted the Weglaff to take the battle to Lily's father. Now an entirely different Lovelace has taken the wheel.
Timotheus Lovelace, disgraced archmagus of Marze, has stolen Leon's Gear.
"Yes, Leon Albus, I have been seeking you for some time. Oh, it was not easy finding your ship, let alone slipping aboard your ship and taking this machine of yours! But I am no child, nor a fool," says Timotheus. "And I believe that you have something that belongs to me, Leon Albus. I know that 'he' left it with you for safe keeping. Oh, yes. The two of you have led me on quite a merry chase... but the game ends here." Weglaff levels one of its ARMs at those assembled before it.
"So, kindly hand it over."
"That thing. My magnum opus."
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� Host address found - 107.170.45.104:4767
� Connected
� Connecting Character TEMP - Tim Lovelace (Timotheus Lovelace)
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"Go!" Leon shouts, as they run down a hallway. The steel-lined hallway ends in a pair of doors -- which are already open -- and their Gears are landing outside. As they hit the ground, clouds of dust plume up. Heimdall is not there, though -- and, for that matter, neither is a Gear for Leon. He slows, as he looks up.
His eyes narrow as he looks at his Gear. The blue one, piloted now by Timotheus Lovelace. His blood runs cold as he hears that shout; his teeth grit together for a moment, and then he raises an empathite radio to his lips. "I don't have a bloody clue what you're talking about."
He lowers the radio. Then, he looks at the other Wolves.
"Get in your Gears. Doctor Uzuki and Noeline can keep Riesenlied safe," he says. "I'll see if this base has something we can use."
He flexes his fingers, once.
"Guess... I'll find out what the next step is, right now," he says. He turns from the open doors -- and then starts down a hallway. His command echoes off the halls: "Hurry!"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Running down the halls, Lily Keil is obligated to put aside her feelings for the moment--what she knows, what she doesn't yet know, what she feels for herself and for Leon. They will not have a chance to find a new step, or new answers, or to contemplate their own... if they don't protect this place now. That step...
"Him!?" Lily exclaims, staring out towards the outside, and then looking back to Leon. He tells them to get in their Gears. And he--
"Leon, I--"
She pauses, and stops. He starts down the hallway and she goes, "Be careful!"
Then, she sprints for her own Gear. Her mind is racing; him... and what he was working on.
And of course, Josie. She can't help but think of Josie. So when she climbs into her Gear, its Spartan cockpit empty of distractions, she sits down and then turns on her radio.
"I'm coming for the other eye, Lovelace."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Thank god for Hammer, hero of all!
Timotheus Lovelace...
Fei Fong has rushed along with everyone else and gotten into Weltall and is as surprised as anyone to see the Weglaff over there.
"You've gotta be joking--" Fei says. "Weglaff's a pretty good gear but it surely isn't enough to take all of us on...! How did you even learn to pilot it? You need...uh..."
"Training and um..."
"......Experience..."
".....................You shouldn't just... uh.... get into a robot... you don't know much of anything about because it's..."
Fei looks down at his hands. "....Dangerous...."
FEI HAS MANAGED TO DEPRESS HIMSELF!! FEI IS AFFLICTED WITH KINDA IN A DOWNER MOOD DEBUFF
"...P-point is, it's dangerous! You could hurt yourself and others with that thing! And what are you even talking about? If it's about those tiles, Josie had them! I still don't know what they were all about or for because she shot me a bunch! And I feel a little sore about it but like maybe she has her reasons...?"
He trails off awkwardly.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
This place. A tragic dream, a military dream, a dream unfulfilled. Now revealed to them, in at least some of its glory; and perhaps something where an old harshness can become something newer and better.
And who should come here to interfere with them? Not even Josie. Josie's *unsavory father*.
Elly feels a certain sick lurch of despair in her stomach. And normally such things would take time to fade, but --
As she can see the small points of their auto-vectored in Gears, launched from the Karlsefni, an idea seems to come to Elly, resonating through her. For a moment she can feel a sort of feeling like the ripple in a glass of water far away from an artillery piece firing.
No, the thought comes.
No; we can make it right.
"I'll try to disable him, but I know I already put the 'stored updates' on Regulus into Weglaff," Elly tells Leon, pursing her lips. "And..."
And maybe, Elly doesn't quite dare to suggest, they shouldn't... just disable it and lock him in there.
Either way, she runs lateral to the incoming Weglaff, confident perhaps that Regulus will get here before that Gear, especially since a few quick glances suggest to her that -- maybe he doesn't know how to pilot the Gear.
Well, Elly thinks even as Regulus sweeps downwards with surprising agility, actually falling down in a sort of prostration and extending one hand for Elly to step onto, to be raised upwards into the curiously featureless control pit...
As Regulus comes online, with the usual subtly-cream-beige tags on other Black Wolves' screens that they've probably gotten used to, Elly says to Fei quietly, "Please... get him to justify himself if you can, Fei. I know it sounds silly, but, well..."
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
THEN
"Do you want to ride with me?" Emeralda had asked Citan, as the group ran toward the doors. (Which, fortunately, hadn't closed and locked themselves, or she doesn't know what she'd do.)
That is, probably, a bad idea. Crescens doesn't just have a cramped cockpit - it has a weird one, very smooth on the inside, with no second seat and very few things to hold onto. There's nowhere to put a second person in there unless they're feeling very sure about not being thrown into the walls, or Emeralda.
But she had to offer.
NOW
Crescens makes an awkward field deployment because, without Emeralda in it, it is the next thing to paralyzed. The wings don't move at all; the legs do, but with extreme stiffness, as if the joints weren't really meant to flex. Fortunately, Emeralda left the wings curled up, which means that it actually fits out the hatch without a problem. It just impacts the ground without reaction, more like a statue than a Gear.
As soon as Emeralda gets into it, though, that changes. She vaults up the back, climbing with the agility of practice, and slides under one of the wings, up into the back of the machine, where it opens up politely for her.
Once Emeralda has her hands on the controls, the machine starts to move, the wings flexing with a series of popping noises as the joints' nanomachines become fluid and mobile again. She spreads them wide with a sparkle of light from the feather-tips as the Ether systems come online.
A moment later, and Emeralda's own radio crackles on. "You're a jerk," Emeralda informs him. "I don't know what you're looking for but you're not going to get it!" She is, apparently, more hot-blooded than Fei is. "...especially not if you're pointing guns at everybody. Anybody would know better than to ask that way!"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Something terrible has transpired. Xantia has forgotten to eat, and she was really hungry.
This may not be everyone's immediate crisis, but the person in question is bothered by it quite a bit, even as she rushes off in response to the report that Leon's Gear was stolen. As she does so, she has some parting words in response to Citan's claim that he wouldn't be able to take on a Gear on foot: "Not with that attitude!"
She now seriously regrets not having some of those overgrown vegetables from the greenhouse back there. She would have, had she known she'd have to go back into action again this soon. Now all she can do is hope this won't become an issue. She knows what can happen if she ignores her hunger for too long.
But this... whoever this is, that stole Leon's Gear, they have done something unforgivable. The Wolves, as a group, were having a Moment, and they interrupted it. This, more than anything else, makes up Xantia's motivation for beating up whoever is responsible. She doesn't hesitate a second in boarding Silvestris when it arrives.
Then... that voice. She certainly remembers that voice. In order of her priorities, she remembers it as 'someone who was working with K.K.' first, and 'Josie's father' second. 'Powerful magic-user' would be a distant third. Either way, her transmission will make plain her lack of amusement at this development.
"That's right," she chimes in after Emeralda. "I don't know what you want from Leon, but you're not getting it. You're also not getting his Gear. All you're going to get is a whole lot of trouble, if you don't get out of there right now."
At least she still manages to sound confident, as much as her stomach is bothering her. It would sure be nice if someone actually listened and just left for once...
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
Citan had declined -- between the fact that he has seen the inside of Crescens when it's been in the hangar and the fact that Riesenlied and Noeline are similarly remaining below -- it's probably best that he stay out of this fight. ...Again??
Leon protests, stating -- quite rightly -- that he has no idea what the wizard is referring to. "Do not play coy with me, Leon Albus! I have hunted you long following the tether that binds us both, and I am well aware of the connect you share with 'him'! As he has hidden it within others, it now dwells in you and I. Will. Have it!!"
'I'm coming for the other eye, Lovelace'.
The wizard is already in a foul mood (as many have likely cottoned to by now) and that remark from Lily provokes a wrathful snarl from the Weglaff's line. "Witch! You yet live?! ...Very well, let us end this here and now!"
How does he know how to use a Gear? If he's a novice (which he appears to be) it could be dangerous.
"It is but a machine! A foul thing, but powerful, nonetheless. There is nothing that I, master of magics, cannot manage. Indeed, 'twas my very skill that permitted me seize this vessel!!" Timotheus exults. He's very much not listening to reason...
Fei and Emeralda both ask him what in the world he's referring to. "What am I talking about?" the magus raves. "I see he has failed to share a single thing with any of you! I am referring to my magnum opus! That spell that would be enough to 'capture a god'! I wish it returned to me, immediately!!"
He doesn't so much as comment on Josie. Perhaps she's not even worth anything to him, anymore.
"'Leave'? I do not think so! I am running out of time, girl," Timotheus replies to Xantia. "I can tolerate no more your insolent prattling! Hand over my magnum opus--"
And then, a black Gear swoops down from the skies above.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn2AY8QxVaU
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
"Who...?" Timotheus utters. There, standing upon the machine's shoulder is a familiar figure, one whose dark armor conceals all from sight.
"I am Grahf, the seeker of power," resounds the voice from the armored man. 'Doth thou desire the power?"
"'Tis not power I seek," says the archmage from within the Gear, "but eternity! I have power enough already!"
"Is that power, in those failing bones? You have not the strength to claim that which you seek," replies the Seeker, folding his arms across his chest. "You shall fall long before you reach your goal!"
"You-- how dare you--" sputters the archmage.
But Grahf continues all the same, "But it will be nothing against the 'power'. Yes! Come, and I shall grant unto you the power to seize your 'eternity'!"
Light blossoms in Grahf's hand.
_______________ _______________
\ " \
\ My fist is \ the divine
\ breath! \ Blossom,
\ o fallen \ seed, and
\draw upon thy hidden/
/ powers!! Grant \
unto thee \ the power \
of the \ glorious \
'Mother of \Destruction!'\
______________ \____________"_\
The eye burns to even comprehend it. Behold, the power and the glory. And now something, too, is happening within Weglaff. Light pours between the cracks of the Gear's armor plating.
"My, my body-- what have you...?! G... guaaaah--!!!!"
The archmage's words rise into a howl of agony as light, first a brilliant crimson then fading into blinding white, fully envelops the Gear.
The scream fades only as the light dies down, revealing at last the form of Weglaff. It is unchanged, bearing no sign of what transformation has been so wrought.
But for the faint red-white afterglow that trails the Gear as it moves.
Grahf, and his mysterious black Gear, are gone.
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
"My... my body...! This power!! I have scarce felt such since my youth...!!!" cries out Timotheus. "What manner of blessing was this? And why... But it is no matter. Leon Albus, you shall hold the key to eternity no longer! I shall peel my magnum opus from your cooling corpse!"
BGM OVERRIDE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7JzX4CHJYg
Shells spray then from the Gear's ARMs, perhaps targeting several would cause Timotheus immediate trouble otherwise; in contrast from the shakiness the machine had displayed before, the wizard appears to have gained an impressive amount of control in the last few seconds. Not only 'power', but the capacity to use that power effectively...
A great mandala begins to trace through the air, Symbols of power etching into the air and along the surface of the Gear alike. Each and every one of them flares a burning red.
"There remains no limit now to my power! Witness -- I may etch my will onto the very essence of reality with scarce any effort! Even 'she' could not stop me! Once I have reclaimed that power within you, I shall have my revenge upon her and all the others who have gainsaid me!!!"
The wizard appears to be ranting now.
The pressure in the very air about everyone intensifies; thunder rumbles as the clouds overhead gather, darken, and loom heavily. "I draw thee up, storm of the netherworld! Scour and smite all who oppose me! Dreadful Tempest!" calls Timotheus to the heavens, and the storm answers: the wind picks up and lightning crawls the clouds. Then, from above--!
They are but glancing lightning strikes, however they may land, should they land, but with that is the promise: perhaps he could well have struck them if that was his aim. He's toying with them. He's showing off.
"Now, do you understand? Surrender yourselves and perhaps most of you might live."
DC: Timotheus Lovelace switches forms to Timotheus, Recipient of the Power! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Dreadful Tempest! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Dreadful Tempest! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Dreadful Tempest! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 2 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Leon Albus with Empyrean Cleave! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has completed his action. GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 293 hit points! GS: Xantia suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Dreadful Tempest for 152 hit points! GS: Disease and Corrode applied to Xantia! GS: Hyper applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Xantia loses 0 THP from Disease! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Dreadful Tempest for 121 hit points! GS: Disease and Corrode applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Hyper applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Evade bonus and Sufferer! GS: Elhaym van Houten loses 0 THP from Disease! GS: CRITICAL! Emeralda Kasim takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 388 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong partially guards Timotheus Lovelace's Dreadful Tempest for 85 hit points! GS: Disease and Corrode applied to Fei Fong Wong! GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Arcane Font and Sufferer! GS: Fei Fong Wong loses 0 THP from Disease!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I have every intention to!"
Leon has his empathite radio. He cannot see, but he can listen. "I don't have the foggiest what that tether is. You've got the wrong idea, Lovelace!" he shouts into the radio. His teeth grit; the old wizard has guts, he must give him that much. He listens as he counters the Wolves repeatedly.
"He's mad," Leon says. "I don't know the first thing about a spell. I--"
He can't see Grahf descend. But he hears him talk; Leon stares for a second, and then he mutters a curse under his breath. "Gh--" He hears Timotheus screaming, shouting out in pain and then exultation. He feels the facility rumbling around him, as the newly empowered Timotheus and Weglaff lay into the surroundings.
He keeps running down the hallway.
It stretches on-and-on. He is told to witness, but he stares into the darkness -- and then comes to a pair of doors. As Leon steps up to it, it lights up -- his eyes flash silver, and then lights in the door flash blue and green -- and it opens to unveil a hangar. A single Gear sits in a mechanic bay, in the distance.
A FEW MOMENTS LATER
Ground on the side of the hill that Wec Stann is built into shakes -- and then begins to fall into a shaft. A Gear rises up from it; armored with deep crimson, a single visor across its helmed head. The black visor crackles and flickers with golden lines, as its sensor suite scans. There are two arched, red wings from its back -- and sets of thrusters fire, lifting it up.
The Gear has a large dark grey cylinder rising over its left shoulder, straight above its head. Behind its back, there is also the hilt of a large sword. The Gear lifts a hand, grabbing it.
Inside the cockpit, Leon looks around -- it is a panoramic display, his chair suspended in the center. Dozens of circles and squares cover different points -- squares about the Wolves' Gears, circles in points distant. Leon looks forward, at the red circle that surrounds the altered Weglaff.
Then, text reads across the screen:
Sate yourself on the life-blood of fated men.
And paint red the powers' homes with crimson blood.
Black will become the suns' beams in summers to come,
And weather all that is treacherous. Do you still seek to know?
Leon hesitates for a moment more, silent. Then, he says, simply: "Yes."
Regnal Gear Beowulf: ENGAGED
Beowulf hovers there, head turned towards Weglaff. Leon has the Gear draw a large, ornate broadsword, and hold it up. "Take him down," Leon orders. "We'll end this."
DC: Leon Albus switches forms to Regnal Gear Beowulf!
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Leon Albus with Before the World Goes Headlong! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus accepts Leon Albus's Before the World Goes Headlong for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Leon has a spell that can capture a God?!?!" Fei startles. "When did you find that, Leon?? What even is a God here? It's kind of scary because there's so many options it could be talking about..." He pauses a moment before adding, "Wait if we had a spell that could capture Gods, why wouldn't we just throw a God at you?!" He waves his arms up and down though luckily nobody can see this because he's in a giant robot!
He hears Xantia's stomach grumbling over the Black Wolves' band and says, "Xantia are you eating okay?? Elly found some fish recently we sold them but we could use the money to buy you dinner!?"
Fei is only hotblooded when he's real mad. "What do you mean running out of oh fuck."
The 'oh fuck' is because of that black Gear who he definitely remembers.
"Grahf!" Fei shouts. "Wait--stop!! There's something I need to ask you!! And--shit! Watch out!" The 'watch out' is for Timotheus because when Grahf summons that divine breath, it's good for NOBODY--not even the guy being breathed on divinely.
"...Oh no," Fei says, stunned. "...Timotheus... that power you're wielding... It's not a blessing, it's a curse!"
But saying that never seemed to help either. Lightning crashes down upon Weltall and the gear drops down into a crouch as pain transfers through the cockpit. He screams as pain riddles his body, the gear smoking faintly already from that quick strike of sorcerous power.
"Leon...! Watch out!"
Geeze, Leon doesn't even know what he's talking about, Fei thinks. He himself has only recently gotten to know what GRAHF wants. But even then he isn't entirely sure. At least he can maybe shoot the shit with Leon someday about having nemeses who are really mad about things you don't know anything about. He sure knows what that's like.
"...! Another gear??" Fei asks. "It looks like a doozy too..."
Fei straightens his gear up and intending to get Leon time to get used to his new Gear by running forward and punching the other gear with two palm thrusts!
"Back off!! You don't even care about your children, why should someone like you get to live eternally?! It's not even as great as you make it out to be!"
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Reppu! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 2 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong takes 54 damage from Corrode! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
A spell that can capture a god... "Him. You mean that man." Lily narrows her eyes.
"If you can disable him, all the better," Lily replies to Elly. But when Timotheus responds to her, she smiles coldly. "I'm hard to kill," she answers him. "But we can end it here." He's a powerful wizard, but he's out of his element--Lily is sure they can bring him down here, and she has no intention of doing anything else. He is too dangerous to live.
But 'Him'...? Could it be?
But as Lily is preparing, as she's looking over her display at the friendlies on her radar, thinking of each of them in turn--there is an arrival. She sees something else appear.
"What?" Lily starts. "Grahf--"
Power. ...The strength to claim what he sees. Lily finds her blood running cold. And light blossoms in his hand...
"Shit," Lily says, much as she did a couple of hours ago, back in the facility. Shells pepper her Gear, and she is unprepared for the sheer speed at which Timotheus can now act. "Damn it--"
And his Symbology is on this scale, too. It's a worst case scenario.
Lightning all over--and in the wake of the lightning, a new Gear. "Leon...?" Lily wonders from inside her cockpit, and looks to her display. She can't simply undo Grahf's magic; they will have to live with it as it is. But--
'Take him down.'
"Heard."
Hellerune's great hands fold together, and before the Gear appears suddenly a gleaming sphere of light, radiating brilliance. It shimmers, and shines, and implodes in on itself, becoming the beginning of a great beam that exists only for an instant, a pulse of nuclear flame aimed for where she knows the Weglaff's cockpit rests.
"Fei! I'm with you!"
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Alpha Pulse! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace solidly guards Fei Fong Wong's Reppu for 136 hit points! GS: Timotheus Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Lily Keil's Alpha Pulse for 251 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Lily Keil!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Nobody ever wants to ride with Emeralda.
In her cockpit, Emeralda mouths 'capture a god?' to herself because she's not entirely sure she heard it right, and she's a teenager now so she's allowed to be a little more sassy. "Why would you want to - "
Emeralda cuts herself off when a man appears on the Weglaff's shoulder. She zooms in her camera on him. "Grahf..." she repeats, after the others. Power...
Is that what he wants? Is that what everyone wants? It isn't what she is looking for, she knows that. It's certainly what Timotheus *got*.
Timotheus' spray of shells might have been somewhat - not random, that's not the word, but impulsive. Impulsive or not, several of the rounds impact Crescens, sparks spraying from the armour. The repeated blows rattle her in the cockpit (it's a very good thing Citan didn't take her up on that) and threaten to knock over Crescens, strangely built as it is.
"...I'm not going to let you hurt Leon. Or anyone else! Get away from them!" Emeralda saw that new Gear, but she has no idea what it can do, and she can at least divert Timotheus' attention away from it.
But privately, on the Black Wolves' radio, she adds, "Cool Gear... What's it called?"
Emeralda does not use her Ether very much. She never had any real training; she learned what she knows from mimicry and experimentation. She has no real finesse, and in general her control of her body is more useful.
On foot. In a Gear, with an Ether system, where a lot of the control is assisted by the equipment and a lot of what she has to do is provide force - it plays to her strengths. And she did, apparently, inherit at least most of Elly's Ether strength, if not her skill. (Somehow, given it must have been a different Elly entirely.)
Emeralda tries to wrench control of the storm away from Timotheus, completely fails, and settles for sending a lightning bolt of her own from the skies downward at him - green-tinted instead of blue, and forking about twenty meters above the Weglaff into a cacophony of smaller strikes like grasping fingers.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Anemo Dharm! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Yes, please, Elly thinks as her will brings up the curious panes of light and their assorted technologies. She immediately begins a network connection with Weglaff and the context-sensitive intrusion software senses her will, as relayed through the Omnigear - there are loops, twists, a connection is made.
> motorcontrol.tsk findpw/root
> cmnc
It's going to take ninety seconds, but Elly is confident that Timotheus will talk to them at least that long, and as she prepares herself to be the reasonable one and to speak in a soft voice
THE SEEKER OF POWER ARRIVES
The course of Grahf's discourse and Timotheus's ascension takes a few heartpounding moments, and at the end of it, Elly glances, with a certain anxious hope, towards the codebreaker window. She sees a brief flash of a phrase in a script she doesn't? recognize and then
> connection terminated. port block
So much for that hope. Timotheus begins to trace icons of power. Elly breathes more heavily. This is that same desperate feeling she had touched in the air over Zanarkand. The storm breaks, lightning smashing down near - almost INTO - Regulus, making Elly produce a noise somewhere between 'nggh' and a squeal of dismay, before answering Timotheus.
"... I refuse," she says.
"You didn't make a single pretense of rendering your request for 'this spell' intelligibly, unless I am very badly misinformed," Elly states then, a little slowly, because she doesn't want to sound anxious. "Now, thanks to your fortune... you're making a promise you don't intend to keep. And--"
An idea comes to Elly.
She mutes her comms as Regulus's engines kick in, giving her the advantage of not being immobile. "... if he's receiving this signal, then he's not completely blocked, is he?" A small breath outwards, and she says to -- the Gear? -- "Sorry... I know you're not... that kind of a ... Alright,"
Unmute
Back to Timotheus, "This is my final word."
At this point Elly's radio signal towards Timotheus's cockpit suddenly turns into a horrid noise that has perhaps not been heard on Filgaia in five hundred years or more. The places that might have recognized it have moved long beyond the effect, but the cacophony of digital tones are not just meaningless noise: they are an attempt to dump gibberish instructions into voice-control systems!
And as this desperate ploy unspools, Elly turns her head - and gasps. "That Gear -- Leon, is that you? Is that him? ... Look at that sword--!!"
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with AHT-Attr Down -Stack Overflow-! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes 59 damage from Corrode! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia was, of course, perfectly ready to fight. She always is, whatever the circumstances. Though she sure would've preferred if for once, just once, the response would've been 'oh sure, my mistake, I'll go now'. No such luck, however. Xantia can only sigh. "Of course you're not leaving."
Fei is asking so many questions about the situation that even Xantia, the champion of rapid-fire questions, feels a little exhausted. But that's at least partially related to the question that he asks of her. "I didn't have a chance to eat back there! It's... it's fine, I'll make up for it!" This is the typical Xantia 'it's fine', purposely leaving out the details because they would make it sound less fine.
They have bigger problems, anyway. Not only is Timotheus not leaving, someone else is arriving. Xantia doesn't even need to hear that person's name to have the proper reaction.
"Grahf! No!"
She knows where this is going. She's also seen this enough times to know that she'll never be able to get in range in time to stop what's about to happen. She tries, regardless. Silvestris runs as fast as its four legs can carry it, which may be very fast, but it's held back by still being ground-bound, and having to deal with a lot of uneven terrain. Once again, she regrets taking her Gear out from Shevat before they could look into a flight upgrade of some sort.
As she predicted, the transformation happens before she can close enough, and as she shields her eyes against the brilliant light, she also correctly guesses that by the time that clears up, Grahf will already be gone. For as much as she knows about that guy's M.O., there's still a frustrating lack of being able to do anything about it. If only she could predict when he was going to show up, too.
Which leaves her and the other Wolves with that much of a bigger problem. Lightning strikes all around Silvestris, now positioned very poorly, pinned down and unable to escape. Xantia grits her teeth as she's forced to weather the storm, already seeing a distressing amount of warning popups on her various readouts.
"That's what everybody thinks at first!" she finds herself yelling. "But this power isn't a blessing! Everyone who's ever used it has died shortly after! You have to stop!"
She'd be lying if she claimed to care whether Timotheus lives or dies. She'd just really like to believe that there's some way to save people that this happens to. It just... hurts to see this happen to people, no matter who they are.
There's nothing for it now, though. Leon seems to have found another Gear - she'll wonder about that later. Right now, they are told to take the mad mage down. Though she doesn't know how effective it'll be to fight Lightning with Lightning, she has a lot of that to work with herself, firing off a bolt from Silvestris's tail cannon as she moves to get herself into a better position.
GS: Xantia has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Lightning Blast! GS: Xantia takes 47 damage from Corrode! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Timotheus Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Emeralda Kasim's Anemo Dharm for 292 hit points! GS: Timotheus Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Attr Down -Stack Overflow- for 77 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Cripple applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Evade bonus! GS: Timotheus Lovelace partially guards Xantia's Lightning Blast for 131 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
"Cease these incessant denials!" insists the wizard over the radio connection. "I can feel it. The connection between us -- there is no sense lying!" What is he talking about? Is there some sort of connection between them, or is it another delusion on the part of the wizard? "I know not why he has chosen you in which to hide my magnum opus... but it may be the same as it had been the one-armed girl. You are a convenience to him, Leon Albus, and nothing else."
Fei seems struck about the spell's purpose. "Indeed! It was a spell that I crafted for the purposes of capturing even the power of a being such as a god! With that, even 'eternity' would become achievable. But that boy stole it, and now, it lies within him!" Fei then protests quite rightly that if they had that sort of power, they'd use it. ...Right? "Spare me your words, fool! You have not the slightest notion of how to utilize that working! Only I do! I, and the one who commissioned it!"
It's not a blessing. It's a curse. Fei and Xantia try to reason with him. But it would not be the first time in recent weeks someone had spoken as such to the wizard.
Timotheus, in the cockpit, begins to laugh, madly. "A curse? A curse?! If this be a curse, then let me be so cursed!!!"
It... might already be too late.
"Is that so...?" muses Timotheus, seemingly lucid for a moment more. "You are mistaken. I owe you nothing. There is no 'promise'. I may permit some of you to live, should it strike my fancy. Does this not seem a fitting testing ground for what I have gained? Once I have destroyed the lot of you, then it should be a simple matter to destroy 'her'!"
But into this moment, as Elly tries to plot out her next move with El-Regulus' power, Leon makes his entrance in the Gear he has found.
"Ahh... There you are, Leon Albus. Did you think that you could hide from me? ...That machine...?" The wizard is silent for a moment. "...It is no matter! This shall end here!" The Gear draws its blade, rushing for Leon.
"You shall die here, Leon Albus!"
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
He does not get there straightaway. Weltall's fists impact the empowered Weglaff's armor; strange fire burns from the sigils and symbols where it is so struck. Some of the Symbols almost seem to crack for a moment, only to reform.
Lily, close at hand and ready on Leon's call, directs from her Gear's hand a burst of nuclear flame. For a moment, the stolen Weglaff is a silhouette: black against so much golden light. A few of the Symbols adorning the Gear burn away under its intensity. Still, the machine seems hardly the worse for wear...
There is still so much electricity in the air. The storm, once summoned, does not seem inclined to evacuate too easily. But in spite of the magus' magical might, it's not solely at Timotheus' beck and call. Even so, though, Emeralda thus far lacks the power to peel off a fragment of the storm for herself. But it's no matter.
She has power enough within herself.
The bolt slams into Weglaff, sending even the empowered Gear reeling for a critical moment. Xantia is quick to try to take advantage of it, firing a beam from her machine's tailcannon. But in this state, the wizard's Gear is still no easy pickings: a shimmering barrier manifests a half-second later about Weglaff which absorbs some of the second electrical attack upon him.
"I have no need for 'scions'! Now that I have attained what I seek, my legacy is assured! But you -- you shall die and be forgotten, so much dust on the pages of history! I cannot stop now!" ARM weaponry slides from the Gear's forearms; Timotheus intends to break through by shooting them all down!!
Weglaff rushes for Beowulf. Only one thing slows him, stays for just a moment more the attack which is to come, and that is the overwhelming tide of sound and noise that floods into the Weglaff's systems! The empowered Gear seems to stumble for a critical moment! "What is that-- that ungodly--" howls the wizard, unable to get the cacophany to cease with what little knowledge he has about the systems he's in control of. But even with that overwhelming his senses, he is still a master wizard. And so--
The wizard again calls upon the storm. "O, thou lightning, heed my will and strike forth!" he intones, cracking plasma swirling about that blade Weglaff wields. It is then thrust forward, out towards Elly. "Shattering Bolts!" They roll out towards her, more like an electrical cannon than a proper spell.
Timotheus urges Weglaff onwards as he rushes for his target on the field.
He had never had the capacity for bladework before all this. Now, though, with the Gear and the full force of the 'power' pulsing through his veins -- prior experience no longer matters. The blade is raised high overhead as the wizard calls out, "O powers of the celestial firmament, I call now upon thee! Come now to my blade -- let us smite the fools before us! Empyrean Cleave!"
The blade in the Gear's hand glows bright, almost as bright as the sun. Its glow trails after it as it brings the sword down.
GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Wave Strafe! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Shattering Bolts! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Leon Albus with Empyrean Cleave! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has completed his action. GS: Lily Keil suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 277 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Leon Albus partially guards Timotheus Lovelace's Empyrean Cleave for 470 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Emeralda Kasim suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 360 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Shattering Bolts for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break and Disrupt applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Sufferer! GS: Xantia suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 295 hit points! GS: Xantia activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"It's me, Elly. I'll be careful," Leon affirms. Then, he answers Emeralda: "Beowulf. Considering that facility... it was likely meant for my use."
A mixed blessing, he thinks. Or perhaps a curse, as Fei said about another power.
"Who the hell are you talking about?" Leon asks. "What boy stole it?"
Weglaff rushes Beowulf. The huge ornate sword swings up -- and both weapons collide together, in a spray of sparks as the weapons meet -- and the glowing weapon in Weglaff's hand is only barely held by the Sigma Blade. Leon grits his teeth -- grunts -- and then the Beowulf throws a foot out.
He kicks, trying to hurl Weglaff backward. Then, Leon swings up the other hand of Beowulf. The gear raises a long, sleek rifle. The barrel gleams -- and a bolt of energy explodes from it, hurtling for his old Gear.
"I've no intention of dying here!" he shouts at Lovelace. "If there is one thing I am certain of... it is that my life is not yours, you wretch!"
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Anti-Proton Rifle! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Leon Albus assumes the Sage stance! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Fei Fong Wong takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Wave Strafe for 267 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fei Fong Wong gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Sufferer! GS: Timotheus Lovelace partially evades Leon Albus's Anti-Proton Rifle for 225 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to Leon Albus! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda agrees with Elly, "It's a cool sword! Why doesn't Crescens have a sword? Like - like Beowulf?"
There is a momentary pause where the obvious sinks in, given that Crescens has neither arms nor hands (unless the wings count) to hold a sword, and then she says more sullenly: "Never mind."
Talking with Timotheus seems to be unhelpful. Emeralda doesn't think he's listening, really, and he *is* threatening to kill all of them. Unless he doesn't feel like it. Which isn't exactly promising! And he's firing again -
Emeralda crosses Crescens' wing in front of its face, like a shield. Which is all well and good, except the wing isn't really supposed to be used like that, and Timotheus starts to punch cracks in the metal, threatening to break the thing entirely. Emeralda feels it distantly through the connection in her nanomachines. It's distant, but painful in a way she doesn't quite have the words to describe.
Rather than risk losing one of Crescens' wings, Emeralda drops the guard and instead pushes the machine into forward flight. It hovers not high above the ground, rocketing forward at increasingly reckless speeds, wings spread behind it as it 'runs' with its thrusters -
Emeralda puts Crescens into a painfully sharp spin as it gets to Weglaff, spreading its wing 'hands' like it was performing a lariat. And that's not all, because one of the wings curls around Weglaff as she spins, attempting to grab it - and with a snap of Crescens' upper body, send Weglaff flying into the air overhead, only for it to land back down on Crescens' wings, spread open with the feathers like spikes.
A black box system somewhere in Crescens hums. There's no way she should just be able to *pick up* another Gear like that, but it's not the first time Crescens has done something like that for Emeralda when she really needed it to.
"Wait, who commissioned it? I thought you wanted it for yourself!" Emeralda may have missed a step. She's not quite sure who Timotheus meant by 'her', either, but something tells her that she doesn't want him to do it. (If nothing else, she doesn't want any of her friends dead!)
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action! GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Devil Hold! GS: Emeralda Kasim has gained 1 Combo! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Emeralda Kasim's Devil Hold for 278 hit points! GS: Delay applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Emeralda Kasim!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Do you have some idea what he's talking about Lily?" Fei asks. "...Uh because ... I'm still pretty confused." Particularly about the spell. He understands not wanting to die obviously. He might understand that better than just about anyone. Because dying..hurts. And is cold. And terrifying even if you have some idea of what's going to happen after. Even worse when you don't.
"...Wait, are you talking about the Primarchs?" Fei asks. His eyes widen faintly, "And the boy is uh... that jerk I've never actually met but everybody keeps going on about?" He doesn't really know Isiris's name or even really the bulk of his nicknames.
"...Okay who is 'her'?" Fei asks with the tone of someone who has given up. Not on fighting but on having a clue.
"Aw geeze..." Fei says, trying to get evasive actions going with Weltall but it isn't really made for it. More electricity slams into the gear and he lets out another cry of pain!
"Bluhhhh!!" Is Fei's newest offering as dark power of his own infuses his gear and he sends two quick crackling punches that pulse with extra gravitic OOMPH. The good news, Fei thinks, is that Doc is too busy to worry. He really doesn't like worrying the poor guy. Fei can worry enough for the two of them.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Sympathetic Host Of The Slayer! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong assumes the Avenger stance! GS: Fei Fong Wong takes 64 damage from Corrode! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I've got... guesses," Lily admits to Fei. "But that's all. If I could get a read on it--"
The connection--if Lily could stop, and examine it, she could see if there was any truth to Timotheus's mad rantings. She could check on this, and indeed, maybe she will if she gets the chance--the idea of such a 'connection' is an alarming one. But she simply can't in all this chaos manage something of that subtle nature. Her power is much more a blunt instrument. ...And that may be what she needs here, after all.
"He won't listen," Lily cautions Xantia. "There's no reason to consider him as anything except an enemy--an enemy who must be neutralized."
No need for scions...
"Don't talk about her that way," Lily snaps at Timotheus. Still, after all that. His legacy... His assurance--
Lily tries to maneuver Hellerune, but the shells of Weglaff are too much; they always worked with these Gears in concert, shoring up one another's weaknesses, and unfortunately Weglaff has a lot of hers. Lily finds th Gear's systems failing again, alarms blaring in her cockpit as a cut fuel line risks much worse.
"You... will not touch him," Lily announces then, and she thinks on it. She wonders, not for the first time, at the nature of what she is. But if she is this...
"-Emergency override activated,-" Lily intones in an ancient language. Fei has a lot of questions--Lily might have answers for him. But first, the cockpit of the Hellerune opens, and Lily sails up out of it, a shadow in three dimensions, visible as a void against the sky clouded in darkness. Circuitry ghosts along her form as she gathers up fiery Ether, and extends her hands.
"You're talking to the wrong people to worry about 'legacies'," Lily says. "...I've already been forgotten. By myself, if nothing else."
"'Power' is not enough."
Lily exerts her magic, and a burning pyre erupts about Weglaff, large enough to engulf the Gear briefly if it is not stopped or evaded, visible for great distance.
"I'll find this 'spell' of yours. And destroy it."
DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Omega - Synthesis!
GS: Lily Keil spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Conflagration! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
'I might allow some of you to live, if I feel like it,' Elly thinks to herself even as her lips stay thinly pressed. Without Gear skills, using what is now Leon's secondary machine, he's holding all of them more or less at bay. The air is all but crackling.
Stop, Elly prays. Why won't you stop?
Maybe that's the 'power', Elly thinks as she wills a different set of controls. You stop being able to decide what to do or to change your --
Thought blanks out as the electrical force crackles over the Omnigear, the glossy and near-perfect outer hull darkening sporadically. The force does not reach the cockpit, but feedback-- her head hurts--
Emeralda, Elly thinks. Her eyes flick upwards towards Crescens as Regulus leaves the ground, continuing its gradual orbit around the battlespace's epicenter, which is UNFORTUNATELY entirely defined by Timotheus "It's Me! I'm the Aggressor!" Lovelace now.
Crescens gets a sudden interlock from the Omnigear. Digital signals. The electrical interference of the storm means that the faint green lines of force as vast amounts of radiofrequency energy is stepped down into absorbable levels of microwave and targetted resonant-magnetic action - reinforcing as well as empowering - stand out all the more visibly.
GS: Elhaym van Houten spends 1 Combo on Inspire! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Emeralda Kasim with AHT-Motor Sign -Remote Support-! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes 49 damage from Corrode! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Timotheus Lovelace takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Sympathetic Host Of The Slayer for 376 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Corrode and Disease expired! GS: Timotheus Lovelace partially guards Lily Keil's Conflagration for 333 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 40 FP!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
And of course, he's not listening to this either. Xantia groans in frustration, unsure of what else she can do to stop this. Whatever the nature of The Power may be exactly, she's pretty sure it's not something that can be forced out. Is there really no way she can be more convincing?
Lily informs her that talking is futile. "...I know. You're probably right. But still, I just want..." She trails off there. She's honestly not sure what she hopes to accomplish. But it's probably already clear that she's not quite ready to stop trying.
Either way, battle is unavoidable. If for no other reason, Leon is under a very overt threat. No matter how great this new Gear's power will turn out to be, when up against Grahf's Power, anyone could use all the help they can get. At least she can be glad that Fei is too busy confusing himself to get upset about this in a more debilitating way, that's one less thing to worry about.
She's not quite so glad about being on the wrong side of the storm of electricity. And being unable to pierce it very well with her own. Was that a barrier, to boot? She frowns. Even in a robot, wizards still like to cheat. Hey, that's right--
"I thought you were a wizard! Don't you know curses are bad? Why are you just accepting one like this?!"
Sure enough, still trying to talk, in spite of everything. It doesn't avail her against the following blast of energy, striking Silvestris's side hard enough to knock it off its feet. It gives her a pretty good view of the clash between Weglaff and Beowulf, if viewed on its side.
The threat of that sword is clear enough. She can't just lie there. Hurrying to right herself, Xantia ceases to think about her next move and just does what comes natural. As soon as Silvestris is able to, she charges directly at the enemy, has her Gear leap through the storm, and try to latch onto Leon's former Gear using the many bladed edges sticking out of its body, its massive claws in particular. If she can manage to get that far, she'll even try and take a literal bite out of the other machine. She's pretty sure magic barriers can't protect against that.
And even right in the middle of that, she's still talking, still trying.
"Think about this for a minute! Nobody just suddenly gets that much power without there being a price of some kind! You know that, right? You need to reject this, while you still can!"
She is fully grasping at straws, having no idea if such a thing would be possible, even if it was attempted. But who knows, maybe she's somehow more convincing while in the middle of trying to tear a chunk out of one's machine.
GS: Xantia has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Rip And Tear! GS: Xantia takes 47 damage from Corrode! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Gamble: High! Timotheus Lovelace takes a solid hit from Xantia's Rip And Tear for 229 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Evade bonus! GS: Elhaym van Houten heals Emeralda Kasim! She gains 430 temporary hit points! GS: Emeralda Kasim gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
'Don't talk about her that way', says Lily.
"I have no idea to whom you refer," says the archmage, which may say everything.
"I have found," he says to Xantia, "that what is 'curse' and what is 'blessing' is quite relative. I care not, as long as I may possess this power!" He's drunk on it, by now -- perhaps it is ever that way with those that receive Grahf's 'blessing'.
"Why, that boy, with the blue eyes. The one who bears no name. You know him as well as I, Leon Albus!" Timotheus exhorts, not the least deterred even after Leon's repeated denials. There is an amused sound as Fei hits bullseye on it. "Perhaps so."
But then, who is 'her'?
Fei's response comes as, frankly, unhinged laughter. "The one to whom I had answered, before she betrayed me. But that is all that you need know, boy! I am not fond of explaining my business dealings with corpses!"
The blades clash. Leon has experience and expertise on his side; Timotheus, raw power. The spell ensorcelling Weglaff's blade pulses, as if power were being added to it--
Before Leon, using a trick that the wizard, with his inexperience on the battlefield, kicks the Gear away from his own. "Trickery!" howls Timotheus, and judging from the crackle on the line, he may be about to say more. This is interrupted when Leon, drawing out that rifle, drops back and cracks off a shot. It slams into Weglaff's upper left shoulder, briefly introducing a 'crack' into the glowing Symbol there. But the Symbol reconstitutes itself after a moment more, seemingly no worse the wear for it. ...Beyond whatever it may be costing the Gear and its pilot to continue to 'reup' the enchantments in such a manner.
There are some things that power cannot fill the gap for, as Leon had demonstrated just now. It's an aspect that Emeralda, too, takes advantage of: Timotheus has never seen her Gear before and could not possibly be prepared for what she attempts. Weglaff moves to try to sidestep her, but the lighter Crescens is faster: her wings seize the stolen Gear and send it, briefly, up into the air...
And when it lands, it lands onto wings that have become as spikes. They puncture through various Symbols on the armor plating which then flare only to die, as if snuffed by an unseen hand.
"How... how is your machine able to do that?!" the Symbologist raves over the radio system. All the 'power' in the world, and still...
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
He is still in the process of righting himself when Fei, utilizing the strange and mysterious power locked within Weltall's own black boxes, delivers a resounding one-two strike against Weglaff's chest plating. Two large Symbols crack and fade out, seeming to an outside observer if somehow they had been reduced to base atoms and drawn into Weltall. Within the cockpit, the Symbologist snarls.
'You will not touch him', Lily promises.
She is a phantom when she crawls out from her Gear, a point of darkness in the sky. Before, Timotheus has seen her workings, but this time--
"Yet you still live! Yet you can again create your legacy, should you choose! Do not mistake yourself, girl. Our circumstances are not the same!"
Her reply to that may well be the fact that she then sets him on fire. Smoking, most of the Symbols scorched away, the stolen Weglaff limps from the inferno as if afflicted by such loss.
"If you seek to destroy it, girl..." Timotheus says, "then look no further than your 'beloved'!"
In that moment, Xantia is upon him, Silvestris seizing his Gear with its many blades, its fangs and claws grappling Weglaff tightly. Teeth sink deep into the side of that Gear, and though Xantia is unsuccesssful in pulling away any actual chunks of Gear, she does manage to deeply rend and further destroy the Symbols on its chest and back. All that, though, and Weglaff still yet stands. "Price?" the wizard asks of Xantia. He chuckles, darkly. "Then let there be a reckoning! Let me reap what I have sown! I shall seize what is mine!!"
His spirit is hardly flagging for his machine's condition. "Indeed!" Timotheus says to Emeralda. "But I have decided I will cede it to him no more! It was my greatest work and it will return to me! Only through it shall I gain eternity..."
There is silence on the wizard's line for a long, long moment.
"...Eternity... I had once feared death. Feared I would have no legacy, none who would speak of me in the years to come. But I learned that I was mistaken. I do not need others to speak of me -- not when I am present to do the speaking! ...Do you see it? So close and yet so far! But I will have it, I and no other! Fools, behold... eternity!"
White-red flame bursts from about the Gear, illuminating all of those Symbols on its plating and the ones adorning the space behind it with a new brilliance, indeed, a new vigor. Is this the 'power'?
Newly empowered, Weglaff stands tall once again, as if seeking to shake the very heavens to its foundation. It almost seems to watch as El-Regulus lends aid to Emeralda, and follows up on that by racing towards Elly's Gear to let fly a terrible kick in her direction; even this movement causes flames to flare anew from the mandala, to trail the Gear's leg. "Enough of your meddling!" the wizard shouts.
Then, turning towards Fei, Weglaff again draws that sword. "I invoke thee, the eternal cauldron; let your fires flow through my blade!" White-red flames now kiss the blade, now burn madly! "Magma Saber!" shouts Timotheus, scything the blazing sword for Weltall with all the force the empowered Weglaff can muster.
The mandala at the Gear's back pulses, once. The heavens above echo it in time.
"Hark! The storm of ages crawls the land!" intones the wizard, as the heavens crawl with lightning. "Let all who oppose me face its wrath! ...Storm Nightmare!"
There's a terrible flash.
There are terrible flashes.
And an awful, deafening boom as the storm unfolds in full fury about them all.
GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Behold Eternity!! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Timotheus Lovelace accepts Timotheus Lovelace's Behold Eternity! for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Regen and Surge applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Mighty applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Scouring Kick! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Magma Saber! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Storm Nightmare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Storm Nightmare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Storm Nightmare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Leon Albus with Storm Nightmare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Leon Albus suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Storm Nightmare for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Leon Albus gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Blind, Delay, and Slow applied to Leon Albus! GS: Timotheus Lovelace drains Leon Albus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Gamble: Moderate! Elhaym van Houten takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Scouring Kick for 299 hit points! GS: Disrupt applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Hyper applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Elhaym van Houten activates Guard bonus, Countermeasures, and Sufferer! GS: Emeralda Kasim takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Storm Nightmare for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Blind, Delay, and Entangle applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: Emeralda Kasim activates Evade bonus and Arcane Font! GS: Timotheus Lovelace drains Emeralda Kasim! Timotheus Lovelace gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Xantia critically guards Timotheus Lovelace's Storm Nightmare for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Xantia gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Xantia activates Guard bonus! GS: Timotheus Lovelace drains Xantia! Timotheus Lovelace gains 0 temporary hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Magma Saber for 269 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Fei Fong Wong gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong activates Arcane Font! GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Storm Nightmare for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Blind, Cripple, and Delay applied to Lily Keil! GS: Lily Keil activates Arcane Font! GS: Timotheus Lovelace drains Lily Keil! Timotheus Lovelace gains 0 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
"I--" Leon is grateful that Emeralda sees the issue with Crescens and having a sword. "Perhaps... some day, Emeralda."
His eyes narrow.
"Your poor regard for your daughter speaks volumes about you, do you know that?" Leon snaps back to Timotheus.He doesn't remark on the 'trickery.' Beowulf flies, instead, circling about -- and Leon keeps his rifle trained on the Gear.
"You're mistaking power for eternity! Strength doesn't mean that it will last!" Leon snaps back. "Everyone here could tell you something about that!"
The mandala sends out a flash -- and a rolling wave of the storm rolls through the Beowulf. The Gear shakes -- several floating warning screens appear, flashing across the panoramic cockpit display -- and Leon's eyes narrow for a second.
He taps at his console. Readouts start appearing -- adjustments and changes -- and he takes a deep breath. Then, the cannon on the Beowulf's shoulder swivels down.
It falls over the shoulder, pointing off towards Weglaff.
GS: Leon Albus has attacked Leon Albus with Combat Computer Adjustment! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus heals Leon Albus! He gains 400 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Blind and Slow removed! GS: Leon Albus enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Uggh everybody keeps telling me about this blue eyed asshole but I never actually see him, even when they're saying he's like RIGHT THERE? And like when I DO see him everbyody's like 'ohhh the world is so crazy woaah'--" Fei says at peak frustration.
You want to know why?
Fei doesn't say anything.
Cause he's using a combination of etheric and psionic power and I'm keeping him out of your head and disrupting local etheric disruptions centered around you so he doesn't form an empathic connection resulting in a connection to Zoharic--
Fei's eyes glaze over.
Yeah just don't worry about it you've got enough problems
Speaking of problems Fei has: MORE ELECTRICITY. Fei did practice his lightning dodging in Spira but he never expected the minigame to come back, let alone to also require him to do the inputs through his GEAR. Weltall gets continuously shocked and eventually is blasted full off towards his back, which is a pretty rare occurance for Weltall.
He looks up at the sky.
"You ever feel like," Fei tells Elly over the empathite radio. "That all these people are playing a game with rules they refuse to explain and then get mad because you're not playing along properly?"
"I guess I understand, though." Fei says. "About not wanting to be forgotten. But th' sad truth of it is... You probably won't be, for a while. We'll remember you whenever we see Josie and think about all the cruel things you must've done to her and her loved ones."
Fei clenches his fist. "But in a century or two, nobody's gonna want to remember you. So they won't."
He brings back both hands, closig his eyes for a moment--
--and then charges forward as he pummels both hands forward, unleashing a powerful gravitic pull--an eruption of a miniature black hole around the Weglaff that pulls hard to try and drag the Gear inside or, at the very least, do some wicked damage to it before the brief disruption of space closes in on itself.
"I... honestly kinda pity you." He says.
GS: Fei Fong Wong has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Lily seems to have a suspicion on who 'she' is. Elly's lips press together at Timotheus's words; he is already declaring them to be corpses. Is he going to be able to manage it? Elly has her doubts -- but they aren't very strong doubts right now.
And a moment later Weglaff smashes forwards and kicks her.
The Omnigear, for all its vaunted power, is an individual unit - a Gear that exists in the physical realm. The powers within are not ones of mere crude matter, but of luminous and subtle energies. Perhaps the Omnigear could triumph where a conventional Gear might be brought low by some stratagems, but it can be struck. And so it is.
The armor holds. That's the good news for Elly, because that kick would have crushed the cockpit block of Vierge.
The bad news is what happens otherwise. Elly is *thrown clear* of the cockpit's one major feature, the seat in the center between two oblong protruberances. She flies backwards hard enough to almost but not quite smash against the screen; instead she flies back contrecoup when Regulus strikes the ground hard enough to crack rock and compress distant soil, leaving a small but distinct Omnigear-shaped impression. The storm conceals the small crackles of damaged armor and overstrained joints, but this does not help Elly, who is temporarily sprawled out on a panoramic screen that flickers stone, screaming to herself.
She feels something pressing into her abdomen from the side and for a moment she wonders if it's injury, if it's part of -- but then she fumbles, feels a box, feels it isn't wet with blood. Feels her stomach. It's sore but not - not -
Elly looks upwards, around the panorama for a moment. She can see, through the chaos, a glimpse of red - the shining light of the Magma Saber.
There is a horribly shining moment in Elly's awareness at the sight of that weapon. Visual estimates, perhaps buttressed by data feeds from El-Regulus's sensors, tell her it could breach almost any armor. It could carve a mountain. It could -
Regulus's sensors, Elly thinks.
Her eyes go wide. But I'm not, Elly thinks, and that's when Regulus sits up - gradually - and Elly scuttles, all but falls into the seat well, straightening up as she shoves something outwards.
There is a sudden crackle -- a signal echo loud enough that it will, in seventeen years, be detectable from an adjacent star. Of course, with everyone nearby in a Gear, there will be no harm, unless Hammer happens to have a chocolate bar in his pocket.
Elly patches in targets. The first, naturally enough, is Fei. The second is Leon. The third, Xantia, for what Elly is putting through is-- it's like a second view of the battlefield. Where Gear cameras betray them through overwhelmed light signatures, or sound transfers boom or throw static, there is instead of 'nothing' or 'agonizing chaos' a blue-framed, particle-trailing pattern track of the immediate area, sufficiently resolved to make out everyone's Gear. Like unpainted models.
Because radio waves, of course, can't catch color.
"Stop him!" Elly gasps into the radio. "I don't think there's a top to this power curve! At least - at least he's nowhere near it, if there is one..."
GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Fei Fong Wong with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Leon Albus with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-! GS: Elhaym van Houten has attacked Xantia with AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World-! GS: Elhaym van Houten has gained 1 Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten takes 50 damage from Corrode! GS: Corrode and Disease expired! GS: Elhaym van Houten has completed her action. GS: Fei Fong Wong accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Shield applied to Fei Fong Wong! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: Fei Fong Wong spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Hand of the Event Horizon! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action. GS: Leon Albus accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Lock State applied to Leon Albus! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten! GS: CRITICAL! Timotheus Lovelace takes a solid hit from Fei Fong Wong's Hand of the Event Horizon for 608 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Xantia accepts Elhaym van Houten's AHT-Override -I'll Take On The Weight Of the World- for 0 hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Quick applied to Xantia! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Riposte applied to Elhaym van Houten!
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
"Really? Thanks!" Emeralda calls back to Leon. Ha, a sword of her own! Someday...
Energy begins to fill Crescens' reserves. At first Emeralda isn't entirely sure what's doing it. It's a new sensation, a new reading, and the message that comes along with it isn't garbage but it is completely novel - and Emeralda has never precisely read the operator's manual for Crescens.
Mostly because there isn't one.
But as lights turn green, Emeralda gives a thumbs-up that Elly cannot see but nonetheless can probably tell is being aimed at her. (Since she still has two hands on the controls, it would probably be less pleasant to see than she thinks it is.)
She banks Crescens around in a tighter arc as she gets finer control through the wings, pulling up sharply to a hovering stop behind the Weglaff. "Crescens is my Gear," Emeralda says to him. "It can do way more than you think it can!"
Eternity...
Part of it strikes a chord. Kim didn't want to live forever, but he wanted a legacy - and that legacy is her. Timotheus has at least one child - she knows her, she's met her - but he doesn't seem to care. That makes Emeralda sad, for some reason. She feels it in her heart. Like Leon, Emeralda thinks his poor regard for his daughter says everything that needs to be said.
But still... "Xantia's right, you know!" Emeralda says. "And... I don't know what else to say! Everyone else already said it!!"
The energies of the storm cascade around her. Some of them hit Crescens, and those bars that were so pleasantly green moments ago - some of them flicker red, or black. Others that were yellow jump up to green as the power is rerouted through Crescens, centering in unusual places in Crescens. Including...
Hey, Emeralda thinks. That one's never lit up before.
Emeralda extends her awareness into it, like a finger reaching into a tube. There's something in there, inside Crescens, and she 'pokes' it, feeding nanomachines into it to activate and control it.
Outside, Crescens' wings spread wide, and wider, gaps visible between the feathers. And in those gaps, more feathers form - faint spikes of shimmering Etheric energy, rippling and translucent but nonetheless intensely *there* to any sensor. Emeralda focuses her attention into them, reaching -
"Hey!" She calls, suddenly. "Want to see something else Crescens can do?"
Emeralda fires the 'feathers' in a cascade of energy. They're pure Ether, almost unformed; where they hit they don't just interfere with other sorcery but blow it apart, as each one leaves a crackling discharge of randomized Ether that distorts and disperses focused forms. Elly may find it the most familiar given what Regulus is doing, as it most closely resembles EMP, if EMP came on Ether frequencies and could be formed into discrete spikes. It tears apart the lingering energy around Emeralda from the storm, too, leaving her in a surprisingly clear eye, at least for a few moments.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action! GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with XS Obelisk! GS: Recover! Blind, Delay, and Entangle removed from Emeralda Kasim! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace partially evades Emeralda Kasim's XS Obelisk for 177 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Recover! Hyper, Mighty, Regen, and Surge removed from Emeralda Kasim! GS: Hyper applied to Emeralda Kasim!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily's suspicions on one level are confirmed--the boy with the blue eyes. Lily knows him, all right. And Lily knows--
Leon says it first. Lily narrows her eyes. Yes, Josie betrayed them, but even so... He betrayed her first. And Xantia--
"...I understand," Lily tells her, her voice crackling over radios though she is no longer in a gear. Curse and blessing... He may be right about that. But all th same--
"You're right," Lily says to Timotheus. "Our circumstances aren't the same." What he says is actually true; she could 'remake' that legacy, and it is a realization that is a deep one. Nevertheless...
"Because this ends today."
There's another reason it's different. But whether they make it out or not...
Lily is no longer in her Gear, but her inherent shielding simply means she is struck for a moment, still, focused upon Elly and what she is doing--which is no imposition, because she is already worried over Elly in the moment. And she gasps--
"I will," Lily promises, as she watches Emeralda blast apart sorcery--pure Ether. She holds back her assault until that ends, instinctively knowing the way it would work against her own power.
In fact, it provides her an opportunity--as Emeralda strikes, Lily gleams red with power, circuits lighting up again as she lifts a hand. A red aura begins to blossom out from her and from El-Regulus, Gear-scaled on one and much smaller on her, but nonetheless the same effect.
But the Ether around her doesn't stop gathering when the red fades; there is a vortex of magic in the wind, the air visibly beginning to distort around Lily from where she hovers high above the ground. The earth begins to shake. Something is happening.
GS: Lily Keil has attacked Lily Keil with Red Spark! GS: Lily Keil has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Red Spark! GS: Lily Keil has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Lily Keil heals Lily Keil! She gains 100 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Blind and Cripple removed! GS: Lily Keil heals Elhaym van Houten! She gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Break and Disrupt removed!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
"You're just making excuses to not think about it!" Xantia's dismay at not being listened to is obvious, even if she wasn't expecting any different. It has indeed never been any different. Just what is Grahf trying to accomplish by driving people mad like this? How could this serve any sort of purpose? Questions she wishes she had an answer to, but the only one who could answer them is both not here anymore and has barely ever said anything that made sense to her.
Maybe it really is all futile, and not worth trying to deal with in any other way than putting the people involved out of their misery. She could certainly see the argument that in all the cases she knows of it was no big loss. But it just doesn't sit right with her. It feels like a needlessly cruel fate to give people all the power they ever wanted and let it destroy them. If there was some way to make things go differently than Grahf planned... she can only assume that would be better for everyone.
Her subsequent attempt doesn't fare any better. She certainly succeeds in doing damage, but the added threat of proximity to what is basically a ball of blades isn't doing anything to be make her more persuasive. If anything, the mage sounds madder than before. "All that talk about living forever, and you're still willing to risk this killing you!?" ...She's glad for Emmy's support, but she doesn't even know why she's still trying at this point, she's pretty sure by now he's not going to be able to see reason.
A pulse in the storm alerts her that something bad is going to happen. Xantia wisely decides to release Weglaff before it happens. Silvestris lands perfectly on all fours like a cat should, then digs in its claws. This time Xantia is actively deciding to weather the storm, but with a twist. Breathing deeply, she presses down firmly on her console.
On the outside, electricity sparks to life around Silvestris. She can cheat with a barrier too - this one made out of Ether. This happens to be more effective than she predicted, managing to entirely repel and cancel out the effects of the opposing magic through her own mix of magic and technology.
Xantia nearly collapses out of her seat after that effort, struggling for even breath. She suddenly feels very, very cold, and she knows what that means. It means that this needs to end, and soon. But can she even manage targeting in this condition? Her vision has started to blur...
Enter Elly, sending help in the nick of time. Xantia doesn't realize what's happening, but somehow the picture of the enemy Gear becomes completely clear to her again due to a changed view that she didn't know her machine had. Even with problems seeing straight, this should be sufficient to still get a clear shot. With Elly's following words, she understands who must have been responsible, and what she needs to do.
"...Sorry, Josie. I know you wanted to kill him yourself."
She may have meant to say that privately, but the sentiment ends up being publically broadcast. Directly after, all the Ether surrounding Silvestris is drawn towards its tail spike, which starts to glow dangerously bright. A beam of massive size, intensity and duration follows, in what can only be described as a Big Freaking Laser.
GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action! GS: Xantia spends 3 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Xantia has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Hi-Voltage Cannon! GS: Xantia takes 45 damage from Corrode! GS: Corrode and Disease expired! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace solidly guards Xantia's Hi-Voltage Cannon for 170 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jam applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Quick applied to Xantia! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Guard bonus and Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
Crescens is her Gear, says Emeralda, explaining herself (after a fashion). "Then I will have no choice but to destroy it!" retorts Timotheus to her.
"That is where you are mistaken, girl!" he shouts at Xantia. "With what I will reclaim today, I need never die!" He really is convinced of it, isn't he -- that this is but a glorious dawn for him and not...
They are not the same, Lily says. Because this -- and by proxy, he -- will end today. "Will it, now? Foolish girl! I have not even begun! Perhaps I might trap you instead of killing you -- I have much to settle with you!" He minds not the loss of his eye, anymore. But it does not mean that he would not appeciate some sort of revenge. Perhaps even done slowly.
"I have no need for feckless offspring," Timotheus says to Leon, addressing the matter of his daughter directly. "She may join her sister in oblivion. I have no children!" ...This may in fact be the first time he has ever deigned to acknowledge the fact that he had been father to two daughters, once upon a time.
It is not topic that overly concerns the magus.
"Fool!" he retorts, as even now Leon begins to make certain calculations within Beowulf. "Power is eternity! Are not the strong remembered? Do we not recall the deeds of the mighty!? Only through strength may one attain the memory of the ages! All else is crushed underheel!"
Fei says, then, that without question some will probably remember Timotheus, at least for a little while. But that the memory of him won't last.
"Be silent and die!" snarls the archmage, which may be an unfortunately timed comment for him, since it's then that Weltall rushes his Gear, pummeling at him with a flurry of fists. A few of those gravitic pulses peel Symbols right off the Gear's plating. But the heatless flame that follows the empowered Gear kindles them anew: as Elly says, there may not be a 'top' to that which Timotheus can not achieve--
But Emeralda can certainly make it more difficult for him. Does she want to see something else Crescens can do?
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
Timotheus finds himself face to face with a cascade of Etheric feathers -- Ether, always such a conundrum to him! -- that directly target several apparently key Symbols located across the Gear's frame. The flames die down, the mandala dims. Several Symbols are snuffed, not to reawaken. "You--!" roars the Symbologist. "What have you done?! That power-- that machine--! Now, you will--"
Xantia says something over public channels that quite bluntly turns Timotheus' attention her way. Is he really so over the matter of his child? His children?
Weglaff turns sharply then, facing towards Silvestris as the cannon in its tail charges, bundling up into a powerful--
Weglaff slams its sword into the earth.
"All thou powers, be called to my side! Guardian Shield--!" A blue glimmering haze builds before the Gear. And even then, even then... the cannon still punches through, still scorches a gouge in the Gear's side. But the Weglaff yet stands. And from both arms unfold weapons that the Gear never bore when Leon was its pilot. Is the 'power' able to do even this?!
For what screams towards Fei and Emeralda's Gears is gatling lasers.
Xantia's machine is his next target: a cable launches outwards with a snap of one wrist for Silvestris; jerking the other Gear forward suddenly, Weglaff releases its hold on Xantia's machine just long enough to pepper it with shells.
Reaching for the blade, rather in spite of the loss of its full corona, it pulls the weapon from the earth. Brandishing it for the heavens, Timotheus calls out as he urges his machine forward, "Stars, be my witness! Heaven, be my guide!" Once more, a luminous power appears to fill the sword. The archmage swings it once, twice. "Let your brilliance fill my blade! Impulse Slasher!" Twin shining crescents slice their way through the air, right for Lily's shadowy form, for El-Regulus' sustaining presence.
And then, at last, he turns, facing the one for which he had come to this place.
"And now, Leon Albus... you will die," promises the archmage, as the heavens above spark with their potential. "Behold! Your end is at hand!" intones Timotheus, even now working a mighty spell. "Now, into my hand, let come the wrath of the storm!" Weglaff thrusts its blade upwards, towards the sky. "Thunderbolt Blade!"
And the storm reaches down as if to embrace this offering, striking the blade with a single massive bolt!
Weglaff... swings its sword!
GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Fei Fong Wong with Lawnmower Flare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Emeralda Kasim with Lawnmower Flare! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Xantia with Chain Topple! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 2 Combo! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has completed his action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Lily Keil with Impulse Slasher! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Elhaym van Houten with Impulse Slasher! GS: Timotheus Lovelace spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Timotheus Lovelace has attacked Leon Albus with Thunderbolt Blade! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Cripple expired! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has completed his action. GS: Emeralda Kasim critically guards Timotheus Lovelace's Lawnmower Flare for 300 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Emeralda Kasim gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Lily Keil takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Impulse Slasher for 158 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Lily Keil gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Lily Keil activates Guard bonus and Arcane Font! GS: Lily Keil enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Lily Keil has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Leon Albus's Jam Ward prevents an effect! GS: Leon Albus takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Thunderbolt Blade for 435 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Leon Albus! GS: Hyper applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Elhaym van Houten suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Impulse Slasher for 472 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Elhaym van Houten gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Elhaym van Houten enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Elhaym van Houten has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Fei Fong Wong suffers a terrible blow from Timotheus Lovelace's Lawnmower Flare for 304 hit points! GS: Fei Fong Wong enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Xantia takes a solid hit from Timotheus Lovelace's Chain Topple for 310 hit points! GS: Delay and Entangle applied to Xantia! GS: Xantia activates Countermeasures!
<Pose Tracker> Leon Albus has posed.
The air around Beowulf distorts in the wake of Elly's Ether. Leon lets out a held-in breath, before he nods his head. "Thank you, Elly," he says. "Good work."
He tracks the movements of all of the Wolves. Beowulf makes it easier; the panoramic cockpit display, the numerous highlights and icons, and the work of the combat computer make it easier. A screen cuts in, showing a highlight as the Silvestris looses a massive beam for Weglaff.
"You're no father, that's for certain," Leon answers Timotheus, with a coldness in his voice. "And no. Power leaves us all -- and even the strong are forgotten. History has a way of moving on, Lovelace!"
Weglaff strikes at the Wolves with weapons it never had, when Leon piloted it. Such is the power of Grahf, he supposes. Lightning comes crashing down -- and a lightning bolt slams into Beowulf. Sparks explode off it; they fly every which way, some sensors popping and shattering with glass.
Leon grits his teeth, as warnings flash across the screen around him. He shakes his head, then; his thumb grips a control, flipping up a box on it. Then, he puts his thumb over a button, pressing down on it.
"And I'll send you to history's pages!" Leon shouts. "Vanish from this world!"
The cannon over Beowulf's shoulder glows. A brilliant point of light inside of the barrel -- which glows, brilliant and bright, like a mirage. It grows larger and larger, as motes of light are pulled into it.
Then, it fires. The recoil slams Beowulf back through the air. A column of fierce golden light, burning red at the edges, comes screaming down for Weglaff.
GS: Leon Albus has activated a Force Action! GS: Leon Albus has activated a Force Action! GS: Leon Albus spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Leon Albus has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Ragnarok Cannon ! GS: Leon Albus has gained 1 Combo! GS: Leon Albus has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Emeralda Kasim has posed.
Emeralda...
...is not so big-hearted that she feels bad for Timotheus. Not after everything he's said. Not after everything he's done. But for all he's said, how many times he's attacked, how often he's tried to kill them, it's one thing that stands out.
"You... you don't want your children?" Not just ignoring them, not being disappointed in them, but ... he doesn't want them at all. He says they're not even his. "That's... that's the worst thing you've ever said! That's the worst thing you've ever done!"
"Family... is the most important thing... it's our connection to the past! And the future!" For a fourteen-year-old (?) Emeralda has thought about this a lot. It's the one thing she can't forgive, not ever.
Where would she be if Kim had hated her? How could she live like that if Fei or Elly told her to go away forever? It might be strange, to an outsider, that that's what sets Emeralda off the worst... but to someone who knows her, it makes all too much sense.
All she has ever had to remember is family.
Laser gatling rounds strike, but Emeralda is too upset to actually slow down, even as Crescens' damage mounts. The buffer from Elly gives her enough energy to patch the worst of the holes with Crescens' repair system, but it can't stick armour back on during a battle, only cover for minor structural damage. And it's starting to get to the point where it can't cover, either.
But Emeralda is not dissuaded. She channels Ether again, drawing even more of it than before. A blue aura around Crescens, glimmering flecks of light dancing around the spread wings, drifting away from 'feather'-fingers in a thick cloud. She aims it not quite at Timotheus.
She aims underneath Weglaff. And, a moment later, it responds.
A pillar of water as thick as a Gear's arm blasts out from the ground, a sudden geyser that reaches toward the sky. It doesn't get there, but not only is the force sufficient to batter a hole in Gear armour, it draws lightning like a rod.
And then a second pillar erupts, and a third, as Emeralda recklessly pushes her talent with water as far as it goes. Three is about her limit, but being impaled by three towering geysers is enough to take the fight out of quite a few things, and she's hoping that Weglaff - empowered as it is - is one of them.
GS: Emeralda Kasim has activated a Force Action! GS: Emeralda Kasim spends 4 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Emeralda Kasim has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Aqua Dhaum! GS: Emeralda Kasim has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Leon Albus's Ragnarok Cannon for 653 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timotheus Lovelace gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Countermeasures! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: CRITICAL! Timotheus Lovelace takes a solid hit from Emeralda Kasim's Aqua Dhaum for 511 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Emeralda Kasim! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
After firing its Hi-Voltage Cannon at full blast, Silvestris remains completely still and silent. To the point where one could reasonably wonder if it just gave everything it had, and it now it no longer has the energy to even move. Perhaps not even its communication systems are working properly anymore, for any attempts to contact Xantia past this point receive no response.
It's an easy matter for Timotheus to snag the quadruped Gear with Weglaff's cable. So rooted, it is subsequently blasted with a multitude of shells before being released, immediately sinking through its legs and collapsing in a heap. Anyone looking at the machine would think it well and truly defeated, its lack of solid armor plating having led to massive outward damage. Several pieces of it are just gone, and its inner workings are showing in several places.
But what of Xantia? It's hard to say, since if she's still capable of answering, she isn't doing so. If communications were outright destroyed there would be signs of it, so hails seem to be getting through...
Suddenly, Silvestris lurches back upright. It stands, seemingly without issue, even though the movements it makes as it steps forward are jerky and staggering. Combined with the state it's in, there's something distinctly zombie-like about it. All it's missing is creepy groaning.
As if on cue, Silvestris rears back and lets out a distorted howl. And then it breaks into a run. It doesn't look like it should be running in its current state, but it's managing to do so without any problems. The target is obvious: Weglaff. This is another straightforward charge. Is Xantia attempting to do the same thing again?
Not quite. Upon getting close, there's a small twist. The twist is a much higher leap than before. She isn't trying to latch on from the side this time. This is a pounce from above, trying to knock the other Gear flat.
And should this succeed, then once again, it uses its fangs, clamping down and not letting go. This too is different from last time. Rather than trying to physically rip the machine apart, it's trying to siphon away its energy, draining it into its own energy reserved, which very much need a recharge at this point. Perhaps Xantia decided that the most direct way to do so was the best way.
At least, anyone who is only going by the outside of Silvestris may think so. Because if one were to look inside the cockpit, then one would realize that something about Silvestris's actions is far more unusual still.
Xantia is slumped over in her seat, unconscious.
GS: Xantia has activated a Force Action! GS: Xantia has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Feeding Frenzy! GS: Delay expired! GS: Xantia has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace takes a solid hit from Xantia's Feeding Frenzy for 394 hit points! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Timotheus Lovelace activates Countermeasures! GS: Timotheus Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jam expired! GS: Xantia drains Timotheus Lovelace! Xantia gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Her sister...?" Fei asks. "..."
Weltall is further peppered with LASERS and it's not looking too hot. Thick sheets of metal are kinda smoking and looking unwell. If it wasn't for Elly's assistance earlier, it might've fallen apart right then and there.
"Hanh..." Fei manages.
Why is he trying to reason with him?
Wouldn't it be easier just to kill him? How much easier would this all be if he could just.... end the lives of the guilty instead of...trying to appeal to their reason. They never listen. Not even Siegfried listened in the end did he. He died first. HE died when he begged him to fall back, sensing that SOlaris was up to something. And they were. And they killed him because he didn't listen.
And this guy listens even less. His goals are atrocious. Why should he feel bad about him being used and discarded by Grahf? Hasn't he just done that to his own children? Isn't it FUCKING FITTING that he be used and discarded like this? He has to die. He has to DIE.
His body aches. Weltall is taking the brunt of the damage but he can sense Xantia's consciousness fading. The mech is still fighting. No, that's no good. That's not great. Is she controlling it directly?
FEI PSYCHO 65
Weltall struggles to its feet. But Fei. It is Fei right? He says, "Was there ever a time, before you were consumed by your own need to preserve your legacy, that you loved them? Your wife? Your children? Your country?"
"Or was it just a taste of power...? Something as simple as that."
Weltall lurches forward, twisting into a brutal series of kicks!
"You had a family, you had a life, you threw it all away even though you were always tied to the karmic wheel... I never knew the first thing about family but..."
"How could you turn away from something so wonderful???"
GS: Fei Fong Wong has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Kishin! GS: Fei Fong Wong has gained 1 Combo! GS: Fei Fong Wong has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
A red light pours into Regulus and for a moment Elly thinks - not for the first time - that they gave this to the wrong person.
But who else? At least, Elly tinks, I can make it do - something -
The ground is shaking and the storm is coming. Another great blade of light whips towards Regulus as Elly raises up the Gear's weapon - a mace, though it has rarely seen use in the situations Elly has been thrown into - and the blade reaches a counterspelling interlace which it shatters, having lost momentum but not integrity.
Elly makes herself not scream because the position she had made her see that Leon was aiming quite carefully... and against this, she didn't -
It isn't that she wanted -
But Fei was safe or at least as safe as he could be right now and -
And -
Whatever this internal narrative means, the Omnigear reels --
-- and for a moment Elly can see that strange cryptic strip of text readout in the shrouding tree-leaves of interface controls that she can perceive (and which are, of course, entirely artificial - augmented reality controlled by gentle nerve induction, perhaps?) - That same short phrase in a script she can't read.
Mentally, Elly presses the carriage return.
The script disappears for a moment before reappearing.
Elly expands the window. The message reappears. But... return return return return --
-- it's still connected?
And so the Omnigear remains curiously still, perhaps critically wounded or with the pilot severely injured or worse, as others throw their all towards the Weglaff. It will likely be enough, but someone this strong - a mage of such power - will surely be able to make his escape. What must Timotheus seem like, now? A devil or a god?
EXCEPT:
The Ether Amp module in Weglaff jitters for a moment, the device doing -- something.
Regulus raises its head. Elly turns on the comms, gazing directly ahead towards the SOUND ALONE space and saying, "Mr. Lovelace."
"... I'm sorry," Elly continues, her eyes half closing. "Because we won't know what your dreams were. Because we found out about these goals at the last moment, when you were driven to this desperation. Maybe you were cruel to begin with; perhaps you just aren't a good person. But I think every person has good in them... no matter how hard they bury it. Maybe sometimes that good's so deep buried that it's not possible to bring it out... but we have to acknowledge that it was there."
?
"Your power's very frightening... and I know that we've been obstacles to you. Maybe there's nobody who says that we should prevail instead of you; there's no ultimate justice to any of this. What we found here... you suspect some of it, don't you? Or did you simply take the opportunity to try to claim 'that'?"
??
"... I'm sorry," Elly says again. "I'm rambling. But... something about what you said..."
Elly looks up. "'I might trap you,'" Elly quotes, "'instead of killing you.' Do you remember that, Mr. Lovelace?"
Elly gestures a little and her cockpit-camera feed is replaced with a feed from one of Regulus's camera. Showing Weglaff, assailed but mighty. The view zooms in on the torso.
Then on the cockpit block doors.
Then onto the still-dully-glowing and very messy welding of the latching mechanisms.
"Do you understand?" Elly says. "I used your Ether Amp to do it. This is your last chance. You're in 'a trap'. If you want to surrender, this is the time. I won't beg for your life, just so that you can keep hurling it away."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"Bastard," Lily calls Timotheus has he speaks of his children that way--but that is all. It is not a moral event horizon for her; she has already decided what must be done with Timotheus Lovelace, and what remains is not whether she will try but whether she has the power to make it happen. "I'll find it--and I'll destroy it. Without harming him."
...he speaks of power, and she does not argue him--except for her own doubts. For all her own power...
"'Power' is not enough. 'Strength' cannot always create."
'Sorry, Josie...' Lily feels a pang in her heart. But still she channels her magic. There is much to say, but--but first there is the blade coming for her, light against her darkness. Lily throws out her hands and blocks, a sudden barrier erupting in front of her of violet destructive force. Her red aura immediately fades, its power sacrificed for defense--and something like blood sprays as it slashes across her, her form too dark to tell what sort of wounds it may have left. But she sails through the air, falling for a moment before she catches herself, and rises up again, higher. Her hands lift once more.
"That..."
She huffs, but does she need breath, now? It's ahrd to say. The ground resumes shaking and the vortex begins to whirl once more, Ether channeling into the air itself. There is something wrong with it, though--something unlike what magic should be, as if something important were being rent in the air. Lily lets loose her power--and the sky darkens further. The sense of Etheric pressure may be overwhelming... or might be, for those not in a Gear.
A flash in the sky--a shooting star. And another. And the sound of something falling, as if from a great distance. A ball of smoke sails down from above the clouds, revealing itself as a glowing, red-hot stone roughly Lily's size.
It is only the first. A second meteorite crashes down, and then a third, a fourth, each flaming through the air as they crash down towards Weglaff, a magical assault not of this world. The brilliance of Leon's Ragnarok cannon suddenly illuminates what turns out to be a shower of heavenly flame and stone, the sky raining down upon Timotheus Lovelace and the Gear he has commandeered.
It is only after she has released her spell that Lily's eyes open, amidst the destruction. And she knows. He might 'trap her', he'd said. And she did not respond to that, at the time. But now that Elly turns it...
She feels a pang of something else, and wonders at what a world would look like where Timotheus would surrender now.
The meteors continue to fall for some time. Lily hovers in the air, far above her Gear, and waits.
GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil has activated a Force Action! GS: Lily Keil spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Lily Keil has attacked Timotheus Lovelace with Meteor Call! GS: Lily Keil has gained 2 Combo! GS: Lily Keil has completed her action. GS: Timotheus Lovelace's Break Ward prevents an effect! GS: Timotheus Lovelace partially guards Fei Fong Wong's Kishin for 288 hit points! GS: Delay applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Charge!! You gain 55 FP! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight! GS: CRITICAL! Timotheus Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Lily Keil's Meteor Call for 666 hit points! GS: Jam and Mute applied to Timotheus Lovelace! GS: Charge!! You gain 65 FP! GS: Timotheus Lovelace has Fallen! He is no longer able to fight!
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
"The words of a child!" insists Timotheus. "We still speak of the Zeboim! And all know of the Warrior of Light! Do not tell me that history devours all things, Leon Albus! Some may yet escape its teeth, unscathed!"
Emeralda just can't seem to believe what she's hearing.
Timotheus reply to her is curt, "I have no need for useless things. One of them is dead, I understand. The other may as well be." He's no father, that much is for certain.
Perhaps this may yet embolden Emeralda, for whatever she opts to do next.
"I should like to see you try," the magus says to Lily; she may be able to feel the unkind smile in his tone. ...Will her strength be enough to destroy it?
The magus, meanwhile, appears to have had enough of this. The Symbols flare, as if he is drawing upon the power gifted to him once again. "O, thou water--" Timotheus begins to intone.
When he's interrupted, right within his own cockpit. Someone is talking to him, right here.
"How are you... this is some trickery of your Gear, is it not? ...Cease your jabbering, girl." There is for a moment, a pause. "...You know as well as I there is no turning back," Timotheus says, without despair or regret, speaking for the first time of the thought he had when speaking to Gwen. He phrases it quite plainly: he had thought it over already. He already has some understanding of it. But. "I am old. I have no choice but to pursue this path to the end. There is no other path for me. You, once again, fail to understand anything..."
She has something important to tell him, though.
He really should give up now. Because...
"...Then I have no choice but to destroy you, girl," he tells her, calm in this moment of moments as he takes stock of his situation -- of the reality -- and proceeds nonetheless. "There is no other option."
Is this how it must be?
The Gear's blade arcs through the air in that moment, and it may well have connected, if Emeralda had not, finally, made her displeasure of this man's approach to his family present in this world. The earth beneath Weglaff trembles, shudders, then erupts in a geyser. Then another. And another. Even with the power imbued in pilot and Gear alike, there's only so much it can physically stand, particularly with that earlier blessing stripped from it. An entire strip of plating is peeled off by the subsequent blasts, which leaves it bare for
Weltall
which does not, does not, does not stop kicking him in that exposed point. Weglaff is forced back in spite of itself, making attempted swings at Weltall the whole while. They may not connect.
"Shut up! Be silent!" Timotheus snarls at Fei as Fei again and again batters that point. Was there ever a time? Could there have ever been a time? Surely no one is like that from the very start...
Somewhere, it had all gotten twisted. Right? But the answer, it seems, will not be drawn forth from the wizard.
<Pose Tracker> Timotheus Lovelace has posed.
Silvestris howls. It's a warning sign that no one may properly heed, least of all the beleagured Gear Fei is facing. It takes only one mightly leap for the four-legged Gear to reach Timotheus' machine from the side, to latch on, to
The arm comes away in a shower of sparks. The outrage from the pilot is predictable, but is there another note there? Could that be fear?
Overhead, there is a flash, distant in the sky. The ground is trembling again; Weglaff, badly damaged, has visible trouble maintaining its balance. But the threat is not from below, or even from this world. The warning comes in a few stray stones. The threat comes soon after.
Look to the skies. The stormclouds part around the incoming meteor. They disperse, evaporate next, annihilated by its passage.
There is a terrible light bundling at the end of that cannon all the while. Were Weglaff not so damaged, perhaps it would take some measure of corrective action. Perhaps if the archmage were not so assailed, there would be something he could do on an appropriate scale. It would seem there are ways even to temper 'the power' -- that it is not absolute.
Of course, if it had been, would they have even gotten to this point? Would they have even managed against the likes of Bishop Stein, for that matter?
But there is light, and then from that seed, a tree of light is birthed. It's just in time to meet the falling meteor.
The beam goes right through Weglaff. The meteor explodes, an eruption of heat and light and fire and stone. Nothing can be seen. Then everything can, as the glare fades. The Gear stands for a moment more.
Then the blade falls from its hands. Then every remaining Symbol winks out, the mandala behind it evaporating slowly into little more than glimmering motes, then nothing at all. What remains of the Gear pitches forward slowly like a felled tree; the ground quakes, and then all is at last peaceful and still.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
In this dramatic moment, Silvestris is irreverently chewing on a severed arm. It turns its head as if daring anyone to try and take this prize from it.
Then it just drops the arm with a lang *clang*, stretches itself out, and sinks through its knees, looking for all the world as if it's just calmly lying down to rest. As it lays down its head, its single eye slowly dims, until the orange light fades from it completely.
Meanwhile, nothing has changed on the inside of the machine. Xantia will be needing some assistence - she is completely unresponsive and jarringly cold to the touch, but breathing normally. Signs indicative of having overexerted herself. Lily will know the proper prescription for that: a few days of rest and a whole lot of food. If the pattern holds, she should be up and eating everything in sight in no time.