2023-11-10: Shuffle or Boogie
- Log: Shuffle or Boogie
- Cast: Rixia, White Knight Leo, Seraph Yvain, Seraph Lanval, Margaret, Acacia Saitani, Seraph Cavall, Josephine Lovelace
- Where: Lastonbell - Merchant District
- Date: November 10, 2023
- Summary: Rixia's made a personal promise to depart from Filgaia for the foreseeable future -- there's a lot that she needs to resolve in Lunar. But the road ahead is dangerous for the newly-spawned Hellion, and there's a lot of past waiting to catch up with her...
Like when a group of Althena's Guard soldiers she used to know finds her in Lastonbell, and she doesn't take kindly to their insinuations.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
It's been a while since Lastonbell saw devastation in the form of the Saint of Sinners -- an enormous Fell Dragon that brought ruin to the town. Since then, it's been on the road to recovery, but... such wounds are not so easily healed, and there's at least a little bit of worry that something sweeping could so easily devastate the town a second time. A sense that they might lose everything in the blink of an eye, again.
Such as today, in the marketplace:
"Hey! Rixia, that's you, isn't it?! The rookie!" comes a gruff voice.
The whitish pink-haired Fox Beastwoman turns from where she's carrying a paper bag full of bread; true to how she's been since her transformation, her face scarce betrays any emotion. She's wearing the silver dress Hannah gave her, with black leggings underneath, as well as sandals and armwraps.
The gruff voice belongs to a taller member of Althena's Guard, clad in armour. "Don't think I haven't forgotten what you did in Pentagulia! You're the one who hurt Mostard, aren't you?"
"You don't know anything about what happened in Pentagulia," Rixia coldly intones, her eyes half-lidded.
A more reasoned voice steps in. "Whoa, whoa, let's cool it here," calls another member of the Guard, taller than his gruff friend. "Rixia, I'm glad you're okay. We just want to know what happened. It's a fact that Mostard was badly injured while guarding your cell, and eyewitnesses said it was you."
"Don't forget raising your sword against Master Leo, too!" the gruff guy adds fire.
"Peppor, chill," the reasoned guy remarks. "We just want to hear what happened. Will you come with us?"
Rixia glances to one side, then her hands ball into fists. "No. I can't."
"That's just as good as admitting your guilt!" Peppor is not paid to be a negotiator in the guard. He lunges, and the reasoned guy struggles to keep him back. "Solt, get off off me!"
Solt's skinny arms, unfortuantely, aren't enough to be the voice of reason--
Peppor lunges, sword drawn--
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGXocpU5do
A vicious noise, and an arc of blood. A silver gunblade becomes slicked with blood. Peppor gasps and turns, saying, "How could you--" and collapses, freshly cracked. He's still alive!
"I'm done with this," Rixia intones, voice barely above a whisper -- and with a crackle of power, the Domain of Stillness suddenly sweeps across the marketplace.
The last trickle of blood hangs in the air; beads of sweat hang in globules, as well as kicked dust and sand. Nearby, a merchant's apple basket is half-dropped; staring at this impossibility in physics, he scerams and runs away, the visage of Rixia's wings and horns erupting the last he sees before he yells:
"H-HELLION!! HELP!!"
Solt backs away, a cold sweat on his face. "Rixia, you... you turned into a hellion?" He collapses onto his butt, stricken with fear.
"You all care more about having someone to blame than facing the truth. ... if you're so desperate to have a villain, I'll oblige," Rixia intones, the crimson gleam on her eyes intensifying.
DC: Rixia switches forms to Time will not wait... it escapes you. And...!
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
Someone else is looking for Rixia--someone who hasn't seen her in months. The last time she and her erstwhile commander came face-to-face, it was on the slopes of Mt. Gagazet, among the Ronso dead. Some portions of the Guard haven't been nearly as aggressive as they could be in searching for her, but there's always bad blood when someone goes renegade. Rumors spread.
Leo followed those rumors to the Lastonbell marketplace, where he watches the encounter, half-concealed by a rack of colorful knit scarves. As usual, his 'disguise' is barely worthy of the name: a blue linen shirt, undyed trousers, boots, and a white cloak with the hood pulled up. His horn pokes out of the cowl. The stall's proprietor, a middle-aged man decked out in his own homespun wares, looks at Leo in between knitting a sock.
Leo is paying no attention to him. He grimaces, weighing his options as Peppor, predictably, gets aggressive. The White Knight steps forwards, pulling down his hood as Solt tries to restrain his comrade. "That's enough," he says, reaching out to grab the back of Peppor's collar--
The man's blood splatters Leo's face. The White Knight stares past him, at the gunblade, then at Rixia, as the too-familiar reek of Malevolence fills the air. He thought she'd been Purified. He hoped she'd been Purified. She should have--how--no!
"Rixia!" Leo howls. Peppor might be the one she cut open, but she ripped into his heart almost as deeply. He failed her. He failed her. Leo's eyes flick back and forth, and he feels his breath coming quicker. Peppor gives him something to focus on; he grabs the Guardsman and shoves an Apple Gel into his hand. "Get out of here!" he cries. "Go, go!" It's an order, and it's... likely not going to make the civilians any less panicked, but they shouldn't be here, either.
Leo remains empty-handed, even as he turns to Rixia. "Rixia," he repeats, and his voice breaks. "It's not too late. This affliction can--must--be cured. I'm sorry, I--" What else can he say?
GS: White Knight Leo has attacked Rixia with Leo's Plea! GS: White Knight Leo has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Rixia takes a solid hit from White Knight Leo's Leo's Plea for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Seraph Yvain returned to Lunar for one reason: the news that a new Hellion was roaming the land, one about whom many care. (Not 'cared'--they still do, Hellion or not.) But he has other reasons for being in Lastonbell in particular, among them a chance to show Cavall what the city is like these days. ...And to re-familiarize himself with the same.
"So," he says, "It's a beautiful city, despite the troubles. And... The closest bar is--"
He was about to mention the closest bar for Lanval and Josie's sake, but that's not what happens. What happens is that he hears the chaos begin. And once it does--
Yvain disappears in a column of flame--and reappears at Peppor's side in the same way. Invisible to most, he kneels beside him and uses some of his healing Artes, his hands aglow as he helps to ensure that the rest of this man's blood will stay inside him.
"This need not end in tragedy," Yvain intones seriously. "He's still alive. Nothing has been done today that cannot be mended."
He's more serious than some may have ever seen him, today.
"White Knight. I will care for your soldiers."
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Rixia with Pass! GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action. GS: Rixia accepts Seraph Yvain's Pass for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval isn't far off, by circumstance. The circumstance being Yvain was going to show him a nice bar, and Lanval did want to check on Lastonbell again after all it went through. He knows tehre's still a Lord of the Land there, and not all of them are on the up-and-up about his true nature (being the furthest thing from a Fallen Seraph imaginable), but he's known the difficulties of being one and he's going to keep an eye out where he can when his duties take him away from Filgaia.
(IS bar hopping part of them? Um.)
Lanval announces himself suddenly with a splash of water outright, a cleansing wave of water that washes out to where produced Malevolence is far out enough from Rixia's will and influence to cleanse away trace amounts rooting in objects strewn about as a scene builds.
"Rixia," that's Lanval's voice, with a gentle smile. "YA don't need ta force yershelf down to a shmaller 'n shmaller world," he says, standing to give Yvain some cover while they're rendering Peppor some aid. And there's a certain Wind Seraph living in the bells somewhere who already has their hands full with a dear mortal friend going through turbulent times as they grow up.
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Rixia with Pass! GS: Seraph Lanval has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action. GS: Rixia accepts Seraph Lanval's Pass for 0 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
A far more shadowy presence lurks on one of the roof tops. Shrouded by a dark violet cloak, stirred by the breeze, the sorceress TERA GRAM has --
-- So how has she followed these rumors, perhaps of Rixia and perhaps of the White Knight? It's difficult to
(Dollie says, 'We call it bagatelle. You're basically playing with yer balls here. Try it, you'll go mad.' 'Literally mad?' 'Mad with profits, like.')
say, but she has her sources.
Tera Gram folds her hands together. One is white and bare, the other is clad in a black gauntlet. She unfolds them --
She leaps --
-- and lands abruptly in the square in a flutter of cloth! She sweeps her right hand around, and the black mailed gauntlet is pointing a single accusing index finger towards Rixia!
"Stop this," says the mysterious sorceress. (She reaches up with her right hand to pull her hood up deeper.) The arm sweeps around then with a pivot of her hips to point at Leo. "You as well," she continues, ominously, and cryptically.
Back to Rixia, even as beneath the hood bright eyes flick to take in the arrival of Lanval -- good. Maybe... they can...
Don't put your hopes too high, she tells herself, and then the mysterious sorceress's eyes turn forwards and --
Alarm!! She's too close!! Rixia's approaching Solt!! Nobody's going to be able to stop her from doling out her fell vision of 'Justice' and it's going to stack sin and blood upon - wait a minute, Margaret thinks, before the mysterious sorceress bursts into a nebular aura and suddenly zips forwards, scooping up Solt as a great violet streak seems to pass over him and stop about ten yards away. He is put on his feet.
The streak of violet returns back towards Rixia, even as, in the distance, Solt falls back on his ass.
The shadowed face of Tera Gram turns downwards.
"I have no idea what to say to your pain," she says, to Rixia.
"But I don't want it to define your tale."
GS: Margaret has attacked Rixia with Pass! GS: Margaret has gained 1 Combo! GS: Margaret has completed her action. GS: Rixia accepts Margaret's Pass for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Rixia! GS: Quick applied to Margaret! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia would like to think she's a very self-aware sort of person. While her daily life has become more and more fantastical, mired in the realms of Veruni and Hellions and World Spamming Threats, she'd like to believe that she's stayed more or less down to earth. Sure, sometimes she threatens to take on the world or tries to shoot a bolt of light at a god, but it's all a matter of balance.
So she can at least recognize how much she's spinning her wheels right now. Kamui is still recovering from her rebirth, Gami has flown the nest to follow her own desires, ARMS is busy following other leads, she has no earthly idea where to start when it comes to finding Yue and Xue aside from a half-formed through about finding Kaguya, and sitting at her desk to write feels kind of lacking right now.
It's that frustration that leads her towards Lunar. She'd always felt quite bad about the deal that Rixia got dealt, and knowing that she's moved on from Spira and Filgaia isn't really any comfort either; the reporter cannot help but liken it towards Rixia cutting away the bits of her that aren't Hellion, and she's not sure where the end point of that process lies.
And maybe a break will do her good? Maybe she'll get some ideas. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But at least this route is short on maybe nots.
She isn't expecting to abruptly find Rixia in a marketplace. She's spent the last few days listening to those rumours floating around and following the thread of gossip, but this is beyond anything she expected - particularly, uh, the arc of blood and the scream of pain. "Oh, shit," she mutters under her breath. She doesn't have her pistol on her, but it's not like she knows who to point it at just yet.
A Mysterious Figure drops from the rooftops to tell them both to stop for their own good, and hell, that's about the best idea Acacia can think of right now, let's go. "There are so many better ways to do this," she adds, and her voice is only sharp out of urgency, and softened a moment later. "And places. And probably times."
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Acacia Saitani with Uncertainty! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Acacia Saitani accepts Acacia Saitani's Uncertainty for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Acacia Saitani!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Cavall has posed.
Cavall has been more than restless lately, grappling with some questions that they're not sure theyre fully euipped to answer. But Yvain's invitation to see more of Lunar--even somewhere as dangerous as Glenwood--was too good to pass up, and the company of fellow Seraphs should do the wolf some good.
Cavall is not here for the bars, though. Or for Rixia (seeing as how they've never met.)
But their ears do perk up when the scream cuts around the city, their head turning instinctively to the sound, and as that cry goes out--
'Hellion'
Yvain vanishes in flames, but Cavall is taking their own path--bounding up to a rooftop and taking great leaps until they come crashing down in the street just in front of Yvain, by Lanval's side to provide additional cover. A low growl sounds from the seraphic wolf--who looks like a full on regular wolf, save for the supernaturally orange fur voering the top of their head, back, sides, and tail. Cavall inhales sharply, drawing power from the earth to harden their appearance. Fangs are bared, hackles are raised, muscles tensed for a pounce.
It would really only take a moment for Cavall to leap into action.
But they stay their paw, glancing subtly sideways to Lanval as if seeking guidance.
GS: Seraph Cavall has attacked Rixia with Pass! GS: Seraph Cavall has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Cavall's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Seraph Cavall gains 25 THP from their Cautious! GS: Seraph Cavall has completed their action. GS: Rixia accepts Seraph Cavall's Pass for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's been a while since Josie's been to Lastonbell, long enough that she's forgotten most of the important things like, 'where the nearest bar is'.
"Well now--" she has started to say as Yvain begins to talk about the city and its amnenities. Unfortunately, here is also where chaos begins to unfold. As if sensing trouble, Penelope takes flight to wing away into the city. "...Now, that don't sound good," Josie muses, following after to the heart of the hubbub. It seems as if a fight is breaking out, and, damn, ain't that the Guard's own--
"...Kiddo. So this's where you got off to," Josie says, reaching for the ARM at her hip and in a curious display of self-restraint, not immediately going for it. She had been there when Rixia had turned, after all. Her gaze glides over at Yvain, who has taken steps to shield one of the injured. "So this is the Hellion you were huntin', Yvie? Or just a 'happy' accident?" Her gaze grows hooded as she turns her attention to Rixia.
"Kiddo... it don't have to end here. Just give it up, all easy-like..." Her boots scuff on the city street; Josie's posture first tenses then relaxes. Her gaze shifts minutely, to the blood, to the blade, to Rixia herself. This is a standoff, and a cruel one at that. A kid like that ought to--
And yet, Josie didn't get where she was by taking people lightly, however they might seem or even be. Within, the balance tips. The fingers of her left hand curl, then cup as if to hold something within.
"Move!" Josie shouts suddenly, lobbing a small sphere of light for the space just before where Rixia stands. It detonates on impact in a bright flare of light. "Get the wounded and go!"
If there's going to be a fight, Josie would rather be the one starting it.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Rixia with Light Flare! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Light Flare for 0 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Poor Peppor gets a yanking and an Apple Gel and Yvain's healing arte in short order; his wounds begin to knit and close -- perhaps, ironically, aided at how blood refuses to properly spill within this Domain of Stillness, making Yvain's job easier. It looks like he's going to be okay. Solt hurries to drag his wounded comrade, per Leo's orders, before being YOINKED by Tera Gram's powerful aura and then being placed back on his feet. "W-whoa!"
The other civilians have gone into full book-it mode; there's going to be no vacancies by the time it's over. (Or, all the vacancies, judging by how they're all leaving. Isn't language strange?)
Rixia's expression hasn't changed once. What happened to her? Leo knew her to be such an emotional lass. If she's hurt, she complains; if she's happy, she sings it to the rafters; if she's sad, she'll cry and mope.
None of it is there. The stillness is intense, thick enough to cut with a knife. "... I can't, Mister Leo. I can't turn back from this path. Can't you see it? This is Father's pain -- all of it. This is Heldalf's pain. This is your pain too, Mister Leo. I can't just let that suffering be forgotten."
Tera Gram arrives on the scene, mysterious and black-gauntleted! She points an accusing finger, and Rixia... Rixia... Rixia is...r
... she's too dumb to realise it's her mom-slash-mentor figure Margaret underneath the hood. She has no idea who it is.
"I'm not here to kill or even hurt people," Rixia answers Yvain, pointing to the bag of bread suspended in the air. "I was here for bread. But hearing them say that... I'm irritated..."
Rixia hasn't seen Cavall before. She would've mistaken them for a supernatural wolf if her Resonance -- and Malevolence -- didn't tip her off to what they are. She's never seen a non-humanoid Seraph before, but... it looks like they know Lanval.
Josephine arrives too, and she remembers her; she was there, in the Klein Gardens. Hunting? So she's hunted...?
The Hellion focuses, and ambient magic is drawn into her gunblade as it runs artificial Symbology; the intensity of her power rises, the Stillness wellling within. Light begins to act up a little, casting everything in a strangely unpleasant sereneness.
A contradiction.
"I don't want to be chained down by the world," Rixia answers Lanval and Tera Gram both, a brief -- but definitely present -- conflict written in her face.
"I'm done... I'm done needing to be reliant on the world."
The flare erupts and blinds her for a moment, but Rixia's pride refuses to let her be Blinded by Light, even if her vision's going hazy. She has other senses to rely on as she charges Josephine first--
"Some other day, I would've just left. But I'm ticked off enough today...!"
--the gunblade goes perpendicular to the ground and GRINDS, sparks showering as she slashes upwards at Josephine. At the peak of her swing, she squeezes the trigger and swipes, causing a poorly-translated shockwave to wash around the marketplace, blasting back those gathered and close enough to it!
GS: Rixia has attacked Rixia with Junction Magic! GS: Rixia has gained 3 Combo! GS: Rixia's stances have changed to Hero! GS: Rixia accepts Rixia's Junction Magic for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Upper Blues! GS: Rixia has activated a Boss Action! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Cavall with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has attacked Acacia Saitani with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has attacked Margaret with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Lanval with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has attacked White Knight Leo with Mystic Barret! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia has completed her action. GS: Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Rixia's Mystic Barret for 163 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to Seraph Yvain! GS: Hyper applied to Rixia! GS: Josephine Lovelace partially evades Rixia's Upper Blues for 121 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Margaret takes a glancing hit from Rixia's Mystic Barret for 82 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to Margaret! GS: Acacia Saitani takes a solid hit from Rixia's Mystic Barret for 182 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Seraph Lanval suffers a terrible blow from Rixia's Mystic Barret for 144 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to Seraph Lanval! GS: Seraph Cavall solidly guards Rixia's Mystic Barret for 127 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to Seraph Cavall! GS: CRITICAL! White Knight Leo partially guards Rixia's Mystic Barret for 151 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam applied to White Knight Leo!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
"This is the Hellion," Yvain confirms for Josie when she asks. "I had hoped to catch her before something like this happened."
Yvain notices Cavall's growling--and he doesn't try to stop them. He can appreciate Lanval's intervention--and his words. But as it happens...
"I believe you," Yvain tells Rixia. "That you were here only for bread."
But light acts up--a contradiction. Yvain tenses, as Malevolence runs up against him. But Rixia's choice...
Yvain is knocked backward by the shockwave, already unsteady from a kneeling position and hitting a building's wall behind him.
"White Knight!" Yvain calls. "You must fight! I know it is difficult, but you must!"
He rises, and reaches to his back, for his musket--but he has trouble aiming clearly at the moment. He uses it as focus, instead--
He begins an Arte, a glyphic circle spreading at his feet. "Through the stillness, find peace."
Around some of his allies floods healing power.
"Rixia!" he calls. "Giving in to these emotions will solve nothing!"
But her Domain is powerful... They'll have to be careful.
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Tranquil Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Yvain with Tranquil Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Acacia Saitani with Tranquil Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked White Knight Leo with Tranquil Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 3 Combo! GS: Seraph Yvain's stances have changed to Sage! GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action. GS: Seraph Yvain heals Seraph Yvain! He gains 166 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval was there when Cavall was struggling with their feelings involving the revelation of a mortal revealing themselves as a Hellion. (Well, some time after.) He doesn't miss it as Cavall glances in his direction.
"However ya feel," Lanval tells the younger Seraph, "keep with it. That'll be what keepsh ya shafe." These are words firmly spoken by someone who by all manner is otherwise a silly, flippant, free-spirited, easy-going fellow among his own kind, charged with a great responsibility.
The previous Shepherd, Sorey, charged him and so many others with carrying on the torch and work of fighting against the influence of Malevolence and seeing to the aid of those who need help being freed of its clutches.
As Josie takes point and Rixia sends that shockwave throughout, Lanval conjures up a wall of water like a rising wall in an attempt to stymie its spread.
The wave of water freezes where it does, taking on a strange, eerie iridescence as Rixia's Malevolence overpowers the defense. The shockwave itself 'physically' saves Lanval from being caught within the stillness, in the sense that it tosses him head-over-teakettle along the roads where a nearby wall catches him. Slowly, the Water Seraph rises, long flowing beard... flowing, as the aura of water intensifies around the portly middle aged-presenting Seraph. He remembers full well what Rixia was feeling, and was like, when she freed him and others from the clutches of the False Goddess.
He gives a firm nod over to Yvain, waving a hand somewhere in Tera Gram's direction.
"And yet ya shtill came fer bread," he says to Rixia's desire compared to her actions. Eyes open up half-way, casting a Seraphic Arte whose chanting is unfortunately lost to some of the fracas as the Althenian glyph forms underneath. Throwing a hand forward, there's a stream of water now rushing towards Rixia at breakneck speed, trying to pierce through the stillness by sheer momentum.
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Rixia with Rapid River! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action. GS: Rixia partially guards Seraph Lanval's Rapid River for 92 hit points! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
Leo has never seen a Hellion this outwardly... lifeless. His ears flatten as Rixia turns to him; his jaw trembles, and his hand strays down towards his sword. He can't bring himself to touch it. "It's," he says, "it's not--" Not worth your life, he wants to say. If anyone here deserved this fate, it should have been him.
"You deserve to live," Leo says, instead. He glances at Yvain, the dark storm in his eyes abating just enough for a look of sincere gratitude. His hand edges towards his blade.
He can't bring himself to draw it. Rixia's shockwave catches him flat-footed, and throws him to the ground. The White Knight hits the cobbles back-first, the breath hissing from his lungs. Pain shoots through his back and ribs. He lies there for a moment, stunned until Yvain calls out to him. He's right. Warm, cleansing air pours into his lungs with the next breath in, and he kips up, drawing his blade. It takes effort to move in the bubble of stillness, but Leo knows the motions by heart. Light gleams on the edge of his sword.
Leo cuts the air itself, sending a shockwave of force directly at Rixia's legs. The Demon Fang is blunted, so to speak, but it's still enough to perhaps knock her down.
GS: Seraph Yvain heals White Knight Leo! He gains 166 temporary hit points! GS: White Knight Leo has attacked Rixia with Demon Fang! GS: White Knight Leo has gained 3 Combo! GS: White Knight Leo has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Rixia partially guards White Knight Leo's Demon Fang for 157 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
To be fair to Rixia, the gauntlet is new. (Discreetly, Margaret adjusts it back into a loose off-hand sword grip posture underneath her cloak. Margaret still can barely feel anything, and can at best make it tighten a little bit.)
"Then they are fools," Tera Gram intones. "Despicable. Wretched! Cruel. Tell me of them. Tell me everything that happened. Let us join our miseries together and find joy in this wretched series of unfortunate events, Rixia! That is what brings light to the world. Not 'truth' or 'good', but --"
A FLASHBOMB!?
"Gaahhhhhh" says Tera Gram, without mechanical impact.
"GAHHH!!" The blast knocks her backwards, sending her flat on her back. She lays there for several seconds before sort of - stuttering back upwards, doubtless thanks to her speed magic.
An Arte is called upon. "Where's mine!?" Tera Gram shouts at Yvain, immediately. "Do you have any idea how hard I've landed upon my coccyx?!"
Then Tera Gram's attention turns back to Rixia.
"You - FOOL! This isn't the world trying to cling to you like chains - it's arms reaching out to embrace you!" Rixia is going to engage with Josephine, but Tera Gram sinks back onto one heel and crouches...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8XQO5h-dhY
A streak of purple lunges towards her, and a swinging upstroke of a refurbished saber with painted-on runes as the mysterious sorceress aims to parry her blows! The strikes come swift but lack the raw effort to pierce - blurring, blinding technique. Is she going to try to wear Rixia out?
As Tera Gram executes a completely unnecessary backflip complete with a passing step of one copper-clad heel on *Rixia's Gunblade* - which throws out an *extremely* stylish spark - the answer is revealed silently and unambiguously:
If she must.
"Good to see you!" Tera Gram shouts towards Leo. Her face is still shrouded, but she is doing no acting effort beyond the default natural amount of theatrics which Margaret invests into her day-to-day life.
GS: Margaret has attacked Rixia with Crimson Orbit! GS: Margaret has gained 1 Combo! GS: Margaret has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Yvain heals Acacia Saitani! She gains 226 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"... there's irritation, and then there's Irritation with a capital I where you underline it with blood three times and leave the pen stabbing into the desk underneath," Acacia shoots back to Rixia, her brow furrowing. "And while I get where you're coming from, that's the sort of thing that'll leave you feeling really hollow the morning after."
Something tells the reporter that 'hollow' is where Rixia already is, and she grimaces to herself. Maybe it wasn't the best tack for her to take.
The thought of a recent lecture drifts through her brain, and she has the time to evaluate what the Guard are saying. Both combined stop her short of saying whatever she was about to - there's no point in just repeating platitudes here - and she furrows her brow instead as she shakes her head, the level head behind the Seraph's words being something she latches onto.
"If you don't want to be reliant on the world, that's fine. But-- are you sure that's the best way to deal with your father's suffering? Just ball it up and carry it off with you? You don't want to do something about it - try to get something to change?" This feels like an unfair line of questioning, and not particularly kind to Rixia, but she barrels forwards anyway. "Did he want you to meet blood with blood?"
She's buffeted back by a shockwave, tumbling backwards and over a stall as she yelps with pain. The fall feels wrong; the old wood doesn't collapse with her and break apart as it should but exists as an immutable wall, frozen in time. A couple of pieces of fruit she bumped on the way succumb to physics for long enough to stop in midair as the Domain seizes them again.
Swallowing the thought back, she firms up her expression. She has to do what she can to minimize things here, or else she runs the risk of not being able to look Eleanor in the face later. "Anyway, just calm down first!" she rather ridiculously adds. Her bolts of light feel too sluggish here, like a lightbulb drifting through treacle, but she can work with that - lines of solid, twisting energy existing like a net to try to block Rixia.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Rixia with Boxout! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 1 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: Rixia solidly guards Margaret's Crimson Orbit for 48 hit points! GS: Drowsy blocked! GS: Quick applied to Margaret! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Acacia Saitani's Boxout for 121 hit points! GS: Dispel! Hyper and Shield removed! GS: Rixia's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Cripple applied to Rixia! GS: Jam blocked! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Cavall has posed.
Seraphim do, indeed, come in non-humanoid forms! Maybe not as many of them as their humanoid brethren, but they totally do.
Cavall's attention may be on the definitely scary and not a scared little girl Hellion, but Cavall is still paying attention to how others are approaching her--trying to talk her down, prevent more bloodshed. But there already is bloodshed--the wolf can detect that quite keenly, and that is making them tense.
Not to mention, when that domain intensifies, malevolence spreading against them. More tension in those limbs. They should be attacking, but...
Yvain and Lanval are trying to talk her down, and... there are still some doubts, from their last encounter with a Hellion. And Lanval has some advice--to keep with what they're feeling.
Their voice comes out quiet, rippled with a low growl underneath it, but otherwise androgynous. "I... I shall try." They're not entirely sure how they're feeling about this, but... having Lanval present is... grounding. (No punintended.)
But then Rixia makes her move in attacking Josephine, and the backlash from that spreads out in a shockwave. The wolf leans forward into it with a growl, bracing themselves as it washes over them. The street beneath their claws is gouged slightly as they're pushed backwards ever so slightly.
But Yvain and Lanval seem to not be so fortunate, and Cavall hops backwards, moving to position themselves as something of a barrier between the two of them and Rixia. (And to get a bit further away from that malevolence.)
"I'll try to hold her down!" Runes appear beneath their paws as they reach deep into the earth, feeling, searching--there! With a swift jerk of their head up, roots burst from the street around Rixia, clasping, grabbing for her, trying to keep her from making any more advances.
GS: Seraph Cavall has attacked Rixia with Ivy Rush! GS: Seraph Cavall gains 24 THP from their Cautious! GS: Seraph Cavall has completed their action. GS: Rixia critically guards Seraph Cavall's Ivy Rush for 0 hit points! GS: Entangle blocked! GS: FP up! Arcane Font, Reaction bonus, and Sufferer activated! GS: Seraph Yvain heals Josephine Lovelace! She gains 171 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The air around them drags the closer they get to where Rixia stands, as if she were the eye of this silent, still hurricane. It must be a Domain.
Josie, after all, has had the opportunity to be within them before. It half makes her wonder if it would be to any effect, if she were to attempt to go in guns blazing.
"Ain't we got the devil's own timing," Josie quips, rolling her shoulders in a muted shrug.
Rixia does not waste any time. In the abstract, Josie can appreciate that fact if, in the moment, she would rather the girl have not come at her first, blade bared and all. ...It's fine and good to start a fight especially if it was going to happen regardless, but that's still a sword Rixia's got on her! Josie starts, juking left in an attempt to mislead Rixia before swerving hard to the right. It might have seen her clear of any immediate danger, too, if Rixia's blade wasn't--
--wasn't--
huh, that's a weapon, alright, Josie can't help but think, even as the shockwave detonates with her as just about 'ground zero'. It's more than enough to see her hurled backwards, flung bodily into a nearby applecart, which immediately collapses into a heap of apples.
But even chaos of this sort is... muted, compared to the devastation that might have otherwise ensued.
Rising to her feet slowly with a grunt, Josie regards the ensuing melee with apparent mild interest, tossing and catching one borrowed apple lightly in her left hand. Flame's light is upon her as she makes her approach.
"It ain't wrong, you know. Bein' mad about it," she says, continuing to toss and catch that apple. "Other people... they'll do and say shit that'll make your blood boil. Maybe sometimes you can even show 'em what's what, eh? ...But this kind of thing?"
Josie catches the apple. The easy smile that had been on her face fades.
"This ain't 'turning the tables' at all!" She would know, after all, all too well.
Josie tosses the apple up onto the air, and with one smooth draw, fires right on through it before it ever touches the ground. But where is that shot actually aimed?
GS: Sneak!! Your feint does not reveal that you spent 1 Combo on Poison Better get that pose addition ready. GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Rixia with Walk Me Down! GS: Sneak! You have gained 1 Combo! Only you see this message. GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Sneak! The true nature of Josephine Lovelace's attack becomes clear! GS: Rixia solidly guards Josephine Lovelace's Snakebite for 37 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It shouldn't have hit anywhere near Rixia. It should have been a simple demonstration of intent, and for anyone else, that's exactly what would have been--
But Josie's aim had her drawing on a nearby storefront sign in truth, and that bullet's richochet off a nail sends it careening back at Rixia.
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
"A life where you don't answer to your emotions... sounds truly useless," is Rixia's quiet answer to Yvain. Again, another contradiction -- a being of stillness, seemingly devoid of emotion, and yet... ruled by her emotions.
Lanval's observation is a factual one -- she did come here for bread. But that cuts to the quick of it, and she's slammed back by the stream of water; she has to twist out of the way and rebalance with her wings. It seems to tick her off.
"... that's because I haven't learnt how to bake my own. One day, I'll... cut off that reliance too."
This isn't the first time she's faced Leo, but somehow, it still feels like the first -- maybe it's because Circumstance forced her into fighting the White Knight at the time, but here, this time... she issued the challenge herself. The Demon Fang comes rippling through the Stillness, a force of power that she can't cleanly avoid -- she tries to hunker down with a barrier of magic, but punctures clean through and slams into her knee, sending her skidding.
"That's what I'm doing, Mister Leo! I'm going to live -- free of the world that hurt me."
As much as she's posturing, she's definitely finding out firsthand how powerful the Drifters she's fought alongside are -- she may have gained power, but she's still learning; still maturing; still evolving.
Like Tera Gram shows, when she lashes with a rune saber, testing her defences, and-- immaculately lands on the flat of her Gunblade on her way out! That's not fair! That's way too cool a manoeuvre?! Rixia thinks internally, already wanting to imitate it.
... why does this feel familiar?
"I get it. I get it... There's a lot of people who care. Some of them are here, but even so..." Rixia's unnerving sotto voce is contradictory to how fervent her lines are, as if they're just bubbling under the surface. She is a teenager and has dumb teenager solutions to things, after all.
Acacia points out that her irritation will leave her feeling hollow the morning after, which... well, it's not news to her, but having someone pointing that out to her...
"My father knew nothing but to meet blood with blood," Rixia's tone comes more chilled than before. "But... I'm not going to visit vengeance on the world that brought ills upon me."
Rixia understands just how dangerous a sword can be, and in a way, that's her commitment to Josie. Don't brandish a sword if you don't want people hurt. But Josephine falls into an apple cart and-- bang!! The bullet passes through the apple, ricochets off a sign, and hits her in the back of her hamstring!!
Damn, that's a cool manoeuvre too...!! She... wants to be cool too...
"I'll just have to work at it one step at a time, messing up and all..."
Cavall comes lunging in next, and has a method to combat that she's not expecting -- roots?! Rixia's legs are grabbed, and there's a grimace as she murmurs, "Not good... should I do it? I haven't practiced the spell before, but..."
Fine. A trial by fire.
"This will be painful..."
Rixia draws her hand back and focuses -- thrusting an intricate mandala aimed at the centre-mass of where Leo, Acacia, Yvain and Josephine are standing. Swiftly, the mandala gleams with ominous power, and threatens to erupt with shocking magical force if they don't get out of the way!
"Regret awaits."
With that distraction underway, suddenly, the Domain of Stillness intensifies as Rixia holds her gunblade perpendicular to her -- artificial Symbology starts to flow at an unprecedented rate, as streams and cubes of data manifest to shape her desire, channeled through by her Blessing of Light. A strange, crude meeting of magical schools.
"Reflect upon the past... and gaze upon the future.
Become aware of one's true self... exhale, oh noble air.
Now, as I brush away earthly vanity..."
I command you, Time...!"
The intricate glyph spreads rapidly around her, as the beginnings of a magic happen around Cavall, Lanval and Margaret -- forming what looks like a gleaming golden bubble around them.
It feels... strangely nice, inside, a little warm and comforting. Fond memories of the past faintly surface to memory... the Copper Rapier and being Lord of the Land... a fond time with Dahlia and the gang... and that of Kubo and Lunete.
...
But it feels a bit wrong too. It's akin to the comforting feeling of a climber about to fall asleep in the middle of a blizzard. That kind of ominous comfort.
Tick-tick-tick-tick. Nothing seems to (immediately) happen to the three targetted by the spell. But something feels... threatening. Something's waiting in the wings. What is it?
*=====================================================*
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Special Mechanic Detected!
Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting creates a Time Bubble around its targets, represented by its Heal component.
If these targets (Lanval, Cavall, Margaret) still possess temporary HP by the start of her next round, she will follow up with a nasty special attack.
Work together to remove the temporary HP caused by the Heal to free your allies from being trapped in the Time Bubbles! (The affected can also whack themselves to represent hitting the bubble.)
This ends the tutorial on Time Bubbles. Whatever you do, don't fall into a Time Warp!
*=====================================================*
GS: Rixia has activated a Boss Action! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Yvain with Hell's Judgement! GS: Rixia has attacked Acacia Saitani with Hell's Judgement! GS: Rixia has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Hell's Judgement! GS: Rixia has attacked White Knight Leo with Hell's Judgement! GS: Rixia has attacked Margaret with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Lanval with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has attacked Seraph Cavall with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia takes 22 damage from Poison! GS: Rixia has completed her action. GS: Rixia heals Margaret! She gains 84 temporary hit points! GS: Delay, Jam, and Reaper applied to Margaret! GS: Margaret enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Rixia heals Seraph Lanval! He gains 88 temporary hit points! GS: Delay, Jam, and Reaper applied to Seraph Lanval! GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Seraph Lanval receives 100 temporary hit points. GS: Seraph Lanval enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Yvain suffers a terrible blow from Rixia's Hell's Judgement for 264 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Yvain gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute applied to Seraph Yvain! GS: CRITICAL! Acacia Saitani solidly guards Rixia's Hell's Judgement for 142 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Acacia Saitani enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Rixia's Hell's Judgement for 157 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Josephine Lovelace enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Yvain has posed.
Stillness. Light. Yvain is a being of motion, of flame. This Domain is anathema to him for all that it is neither water nor ice. But what Rixia says...
"Emotion is only one of the things to which we must answer. It must be balanced with ideals. With life."
"If you wish to be free of the world, there are ways. It is possible to live in seclusion, to hide away from all that is."
"...And it is your choice, if you wish to live it. But speaking as someone who has done so..."
"I don't think it will make you any happier."
He's hit hard, though he's not taken down. The intricate mandala erupts at him.
"...And so long as you work blood, I will work healing. I will not allow you to cross that boundary--to destroy these people."
He works another Arte, of cleansing magic. He rises to his feat, and extends his hand to cast it.
"Whose will shall win out, Rixia? Today? Tomorrow?"
He maneuvers closer to Josie in the moment.
GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Cavall with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Acacia Saitani with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Margaret with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked White Knight Leo with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Lanval with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has attacked Seraph Yvain with Cleanse Litany! GS: Seraph Yvain has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action. GS: Seraph Yvain accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Jam and Mute removed! GS: Lock state applied to Seraph Yvain! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Seraph Lanval accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Delay and Reaper removed! GS: Lock state applied to Seraph Lanval! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Acacia Saitani accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Cripple and Mute removed! GS: Lock state applied to Acacia Saitani! GS: Rixia heals Seraph Cavall! They gains 90 temporary hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Seraph Cavall gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay, Jam, and Reaper applied to Seraph Cavall! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus activated! GS: Healthy! For entering Condition Green, Seraph Cavall receives 100 temporary hit points. GS: Seraph Cavall enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: White Knight Leo takes a glancing hit from Rixia's Hell's Judgement for 149 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! White Knight Leo gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mute applied to White Knight Leo! GS: White Knight Leo enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: White Knight Leo accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Jam and Mute removed! GS: Lock state applied to White Knight Leo! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Margaret accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Delay, Jam, and Reaper removed! GS: Lock state applied to Margaret! GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Cavall accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Delay, Jam, and Reaper removed! GS: Lock state applied to Seraph Cavall! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Josephine Lovelace accepts Seraph Yvain's Cleanse Litany for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Mute removed! GS: Lock state applied to Josephine Lovelace!
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
The sudden flashbomb nearly catches Leo off-guard. His ears twitch; he throws up a hand to shield his eyes, and weathers it without becoming an incidental target. He traces the trajectory to Acacia, then glances back at Lanval, Yvain, and the... wolf. Another Seraph? And wait, isn't that Josephine Lovelace? Leo doesn't have the luxury of choosing his allies at the moment. "Well met, Tera Gram," he says instead, flashing the mysterious sorceress a lopsided, weak smile.
"Rixia, you're--you're not well," Leo says, because he can't bring himself to say she's been corrupted. He can already see the trajectory in his mind's eye, a nightmare scenario where she somehow becomes a second Heldalf. "The sickness in you will grow, and--"
But what right does he have to tell her what to do?
"Your father loved you!" Leo cries, "he wouldn't want this!" As Cavall's vines grab hold of the Hellion, Leo steps in closer, raises his sword, and prepares a swift pommel-strike to Rixia's temple. He stops in his tracks as he feels sorcery flowing through the earth beneath him, and he throws himself forward. The eruption catches both his legs. Leo grits his teeth as he hits the ground again, and hauls himself to his feet.
"Tera!" Leo cries. What's she doing?! "Hold still! Light Spear Cannon!" Brilliant light plays down Leo's sword, and he drives it forward in a two-handed stab. The gathered sorcerous power rips outward in a bright beam, aimed first at the bubble containing Tera, then the one containing Cavall.
GS: White Knight Leo has activated Force Action: Extend! GS: White Knight Leo enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: White Knight Leo has attacked Margaret with Light Spear Cannon! GS: White Knight Leo has attacked Seraph Lanval with Light Spear Cannon! GS: White Knight Leo has gained 1 Combo! GS: White Knight Leo enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: White Knight Leo has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Lanval accepts White Knight Leo's Light Spear Cannon for 322 hit points! GS: Cover applied to White Knight Leo! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Margaret takes a solid hit from White Knight Leo's Light Spear Cannon for 161 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Margaret gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cover applied to White Knight Leo!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"... and when you do, that'll be the saddest bread you ever ate. The bakery'll always be better," Acacia mutters under her breath, and not just because she's sour that her own attempts to actually cook for herself always fell depressingly flat given the lack of available kitchen space. She shakes that thought away. "Look, I tried cutting off all contact from everyone for a while. It doesn't work! It just made me scared and bored and I wouldn't wish that combo on anyone!"
"I know the world's given you a hell of a rough time. I know you're feeling disillusioned. But there's a lot you can still gain from little pockets of it. I'm not muxh to talk given how much I value my place and how much I think of it as 'mine', but-- I know I'd be a lot less without the ability to go out and at least do my reporting, or have a couple of people I'll say 'hello' to each morning, or keep tabs on the family I've found, or-- little rituals like that. It's what gives the rest of 'me' meaning."
There's a building light coming for her, and those nearby - and maybe she's still a bit neutral in this whole battle because rather than warn the Guard to get out of the way she's simply throwing herself to one side in a lunge, trusting the muscles in her legs to catch her and propel her forwards in something a little more controlled than a tumble. Somehow she manages to find her footing enough to drop into a slide, figuring that if the kiosks near her are unnaturally still when it comes to rebounding off them, maybe they'll be decent cover too.
"What I'm saying is, it sounds like you're the one who's gonna be encountering the regret--" is all she can get off before the ominous bubbles form, and she clamps her mouth shut. Given the targets that Rixia has picked, the reporter finds herself hesitating; Acacia could almost believe that the Hellion is singling out and protecting the people she doesn't want to fight directly. But 'bubble' drifts through her mind along with 'suffocation' and 'smother' and 'drown' and a whole bunch of really unpleasant connected words that give her a lot of pause.
"... alright. If I've gotta drag you back to Eleanor so someone can give you this talk except better and with some terror attached, so be it. Sometimes 'care' means 'knocking skulls a bit'," she grumbles - and then adds under her breath as she lines a fingergun up: "This better not count as blasphemy." The twisting energy, still much slower than normal within this Domain, still existing as tendrils of light, diverges to tear at the bubble.
GS: Acacia Saitani has attacked Seraph Cavall with Deadline! GS: Acacia Saitani has gained 2 Combo! GS: Acacia Saitani has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Cavall accepts Acacia Saitani's Deadline for 221 hit points! GS: Disease applied to Seraph Cavall! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
"Mmmm." Lanval trails off as Rixia talks about the prerequisite for her cutting off that reliance, and all the extra steps besides - but he doesn't want to talk over the mortals among them who are doing their damndest to reach out to their wayward friend and comrade-in-arms, once upon a time. He knows better than to interrupt Leo and make things more awkward for his presence, when the 'Goddess' specifically marked him an enemy years before the truth began to out.
He's taking the moment to watch Yvain and Cavall alike, the Water Seraph closing one eye as Rixia tries to vent her feelings across contradictions and other difficult either/or snarls, until she promises something that will be painful. Something, that makes regret await.
"Ya don't gotta go down a road painful or regretful for--" Lanval stops mid-chin scratch, because the Domain has just expanded at a rate of Yes. No matter how strong your spiritual power, Rixia's Light threatens to bring stillness to all within it. Sound, somehow, travels through all that.
Time is commanded, and Lanval is caught within that gleaming golden bubble...
...
...
...
We all gave him a handful... o/`
The singing is off-key, discordant, and awful - but sincere and heartfelt, in its own way. A simple mythology built around a... place. A place that's an insult to the very term 'dive bar,' because the common language of Althena's land did not have precent for it. Dingy, filled with some of the roughest sorts from all around Meribus and Glenwood. At least two weaker Hellions just caught up in the celebration of it, across tables full of... nominal food, and actually pretty good beer once they found access to the cellars with the better stuff.
That hapless sentry, Lanval... o/`
Singing, to a statue of a sentry holding a pail of water in one hand and a rapier in the other. The place where Seraph Lanval, Lord of the Land held up his part of Althena's Boundary. Facts and accounts got mixed about along the last five hundred or so years.
While all our coffers ran full... o/`
There was no 'mortal' Lanval ever, but somehow, someone thought this statue was of someone, and there was the name Lanval. So this must be a statue of Lanval, was the logic, though it looked nothing like the Seraph's self-image. But they fervently believed in a Lanval, and that was enough to hold power in an increasingly befouled local by mortal standards.
That hapless sentry, Lanval... o/`
The tributes and gifts, Lanval decided the things left on the floor and spilled over were for him, and so he partook. There he is, manifested, sitting on the ground near his own statue, with his own drinking gourd at his lap, filled with a piece of the very water of Filgaia.
Which he did not carry, at this time. This time, which feels plucked out of a simple, happier moment in the rougher days of his reign.
"Meant everything ta me," Lanval muses aloud, "no matter what the mortals 'round me were doin'," and they were doing things all right. The stillness that clamps down upon this moment in time, to repeat it over and over. Rixia might have his number.
That sense of impending doom. He remembers what happened, maybe no more than a year after this moment in time, looking into that piece of Filgaia's water on him.
"'sh gone now. Place ain't comin' back," it's hard to say it, harder to defy it. "After all... the Guard burned it to the ground. Under the ordersh of the Goddess."
Even if the Goddess wasn't false, it's hard to argue against it from a mortal perspective. That was a den of sin and chaos that no nice law-abiding land could turn a blind eye from.
In its own way, Leo recreates this with the power of the Light Spear Cannon - tearing through that bubble of displaced time, with flecks of horror in their wake metaphorical calls and tugs to retreat, recede, to those times when he was fully contented with his lot in life.
Lanval doesn't lift a finger to stop it, sitting there and taking in his drink while the residual beam of light rips through and demolishes the bubble's illusion around him. Althena's Guard burned the place down, removed him from his place as a Lord of the Land, and helped bring further danger through a newly-made weak point in the Boundary in a time where the true Althena is nowhere to be found.
"It hurtsh," Lanval says with his back turned to Rixia as he remains seated, even as the afterglow of Leo's Light Spear Cannon seems to carve a bit into his manifestation, "'n I got plenty ta regret 'bout it... but I've long shince accepted it."
After taking his drink, he holds that gourd up on high, shaky, with one arm because it's that heavy despite its modest-seeming size.
"The world shtill got a lotta little joy left in it... 'n it'sh worth keepin' on."
GS: Seraph Lanval has attacked Seraph Lanval with Liquid Courage! GS: Seraph Lanval has gained 1 Combo! GS: Seraph Lanval has completed his action. GS: Seraph Lanval accepts Seraph Lanval's Liquid Courage for 0 hit points! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Seraph Lanval! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The mandala shines, winking into existence about where the lot of them are standing. Josie glances down at its shimmering lines the once but here, doesn't back down; she shakes her head as if to suggest her approximate line of thinking in that regard. "Believe me, kiddo," Josie says, smoke still trailing from her ARM's barrel in the wake of her trickshot, "It ain't living if you ain't regretting something." And what's Josie got to her name but a whole host of regrets of various colors and flavors? "How 'bout you come off it and--"
The texture of the mandala shifts. Josie throws her right hand forward, a sparking array of her own leaping into being before her, and it's almost enough to hold the bulk of the rending force at bay. Almost, but not quite nearly enough and herein lies the critical point as the remainder shreds her ward and tears through her.
Better than nothing at all, perhaps. But she was never her father's favorite student.
"Tch..." Josie hisses, right hand to her upper left arm in the wake of that strike. "Not... not bad." Her grip on her ARM tightens. Rixia's just a kid, with all the misapprehensions that go with such a thing amplified by her affliction. But it doesn't mean she's not a threat. In fact, she may well be...
Her focus shifts, then, as if taken by the spell and those caught up within its grasp. She furrows her brow: it's not a form of magic she knows well (how could she?) but certain forces are certain forces, whatever boxes they come in. And sure, she might have skipped out on her lessons as much as she could, but her old man hadn't been entirely escapable and against her will, Josephine Lovelace had learned a few things about magic.
"...That ain't good. That's a delayed spell, or the like," she remarks, lifting her ARM to fire on the bubble that keeps them so caught, but before she can so much as squeeze the trigger, a shot rings out.
And there is a flare of light.
Josie doesn't miss a beat. Twirling her ARM (once the prized possession of an Aveh soldier, perhaps before Lily Keil happened to him) expertly in her left hand, she turns hard on Rixia and fires.
"Wake up, kiddo! There ain't no running from this world -- it'll find you wherever you go!"
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Rixia with Red Lotus! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 1 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Gamble: High! Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Red Lotus for 185 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
They're getting through to her. Maybe? She's talking about self reliance and learning to bake her own bread, which Margaret FINDS hopeful but she's putting it in the worst possible way about isolating herself from others! Goddess save me, thinks Margaret, is she going to speak about how she's a burden on others? Please, actual goddess who isn't evil, Margaret prays, don't -
yesssss!
Of course, Margaret does not have much time to cheer herself. Rixia calls upon her strange time magicks - the same that Margaret herself cooperated with to reach that strange and exalted realm of acceleration - but the polarity here is in reverse. Margaret can see or perhaps feel things a bit differently than Rixia's exact intention, thanks to Starlight Express engulfing her...
But it doesn't help.
Something like homesickness surges in her stomach. She lowers her head; "tch," she breathes out, feeling her eyes glisten. A cleansing litany washes forwards, surging past her. Sanctification. Forgiveness. Absolution, perhaps, for --
-- for --
For what?
What have I done ill? Margaret thinks, with a sort of smouldering heat in her stomach, perhaps her soul. I have erred, but what have I done that is WRONG?
Did I guide them poorly?
Did I fail in my studies?
Did I -
This psychological work, doubtless meant to build Margaret up to doing *something*, is somewhat interrupted by the distant call of the White Knight Leo. He's doing something, dimly seen through that sphere of --
BURST!
Tera Gram goes flying from the burst sphere, smacking against the side of a building on the far side of the square. "..."
She pulls her hood down over her eyes. "Alright, then," she says quietly to herself.
"Well met indeed," she answers the White Knight as she stalks forwards, not dashing as she has habitually. Her eyes turn towards Rixia.
"Do you hear us?" the ancient sorceress insists.
"Must we repeat ourselves? We will repeat ourselves as many times as it takes, I'm quite sure," she continues (leaving aside the possibility that some of them will get blasted or that the town will fall into desolation before that happens, shush; she probably has a plan for that): "But can you not LOWER YOUR BLADE and let us have a CONVERSATION? Goddess wept, no one would question your strength! We only want to see your smiles, Rixia--!"
Tera Gram reaches for the clasp of her cloak. "If the world at large is too much to bear, take it a piece at a time. If you'll only take it easy for a moment --"
Unfasten and whip round and standing there revealed in all of her over-made-up glory is MARGARET, THE BLACK PEARL, who is twisting around the robe:
"I can take you somewhere far away from this --!"
-- and then she throws the cloak -- at, to? -- towards Rixia, at any rate.
This may shock and astound someone else entirely. Margaret herself is beaming, fit for the stage. ("Not helping," she tells Josie through her teeth as she opens fire.)
GS: Margaret has attacked Rixia with Shout! Choreography In The Field! GS: Margaret has attacked Margaret with Shout! Choreography In The Field! GS: Margaret has attacked White Knight Leo with Shout! Choreography In The Field! GS: Margaret has gained 1 Combo! GS: Margaret has completed her action. GS: White Knight Leo accepts Margaret's Shout! Choreography In The Field for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to White Knight Leo! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Cavall has posed.
The others have comforting things to say to Rixia--or at least, things that indicate they understand her. Cavall... lacks such words. They lack such an understanding altogether. If they had their way, it would be purification or a more permanent solution. The risks a Hellion can pose...
But the others care--particularly Yvain and Lanval care, and as Lanval reminded them not so long ago, that's still a person.
Cavall can't quite bring themselves to see Rixia that way, but... they do feel somewhat guilty for it, being out of sync with their fellow Seraphs. Attack, avoid the domain, offer reassurances, defend the others-- Lanval bid them to stay true to themselves, but there is some conflict, some doubt, that they don't know how to resolve yet.
But the end result is that they bide their tongue, let others do the talking and just try to keep watch on Rixia for any further movements. But it is not movement that is the danger--not of Rixia, anyway, but certainly of her domain.
Cavall backpedals as that domain intensifies yet again, growling louder as if that will ward it off, or perhaps hoping their earthly armor will protect them--but then the working of a spell engulfs them, and suddenly--
~~~
It is nighttime, in Kubo, as the small little mountain village settles in for the night. The Blue Star is high overhead, all of the tasks and chores for the day have been put away, and the only lights that aren't the glow of a hearth peeking out from a window are lanterns of those who have taken up watch around the city.
One such lantern is dark, but jangles lightly as a wolf--a seraph, by their orange fur--bounds down the mountainside into the village. They walk past the guards, who pay them no notice, though the wolf does tip their head to the man in greeting nontheless. (They never notice--nobody in Kubo has ever had the Resonance for it, save one.)
The wolf approaches one house in particular, hearth burning in the fireplace, and a lantern on a desk providing an extra, flickering light. "Lunete?" they call softly, despite the fact that only she will hear their words.
"Cavall!" comes the equally quiet response, and from the other room Lunete appears, smiling to her friend. She is the only one with Resonance in the village--and she is an Elf, to boot--a blessing born to the village after Cavall helped them through a grueling winter. "Come in, come in."
She'd grown up so fast, since when they first discovered she was resonant, but yet not nearly as fast as some others, due to her elven biology.
The seraph smiles and enters in, tail wagging. "I see you're studying quite late, again." A gentle admonishment not to overwork herself.
Lunete laughs softly, reaching down to pet Cavall's ears. "O-oh, well... there's just so much to do before I set out... But come in, I saved some stew for you."
"And I look forward to partaking, but first, I brought a gift for you. Here, take this talisman."
"A gift? You shouldn't have." But Lunete reaches down to take it anyway. The talisman is in the shape of a small green stone, with a black leather cord. "It's lovely, thank you."
Cavall sits, tail curling around their feet. "I call it the Wayfinder's Talisman. Since you are leaving to study, I thought you should have something to remember us by... and to help you find your way home, when you are ready."
The elf blinks. "Really? How does it work?"
The wolf stands up to nose at the pendant. "Just grasp it, and think of where you want to go." The amulet starts to glow a soft green, filling the dim room with flickering, magical light. Images come to Cavall's mind, but they're strange, and foreign--places they've never been, because they've never left Kubo.
Places a whole world away, even, which should not be possible.
And Cavall pauses, drawing back. They frown, looking troubled.
Lunete frowns too, seeing the expression on her friend's face. "Cavall? Is something wrong?"
"Y-yes... It's so lovely to see you again, but... I shouldn't... I shouldn't be here... I was doing..." Cavall takes to their feet and springs out the door, out of the village, and through their domain, looking for something--
~~~
Reality breaks apart, and Cavall staggers, catching themselves before they can stumble. (Having four feet is handy for that!) They pant, heavily as the reality of the sitaution reasserts itself, as their senses start to realign with reality, and the effects of that domain of stillness reassert themselves... The talisman that is normally tied to their left foreleg, made of green stone with a black leather cord, is temporarily shining with a blinding green light that quickly fades as Cavall comes to."
And after a moment they growl again, focusing on Rixia. "You would dare tempt me with those memories? I was-- I was--"
They were happy there.
Cavall snarls and springs forward, fighting against the domain's stillness. Their armor fades away as they relinquish it, lessining their load and letting them eke out just a little bit more mobility. The wolf lunches, all claws forward as they seek to rake them across the hellion whereever they can manage it.
GS: Seraph Cavall has attacked Rixia with Crush Claw! GS: Seraph Cavall has gained 3 Combo! GS: Seraph Cavall gains 6 THP from their Cautious! GS: Seraph Cavall has completed their action. GS: Rixia accepts Margaret's Shout! Choreography In The Field for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia solidly guards Seraph Cavall's Crush Claw for 33 hit points! GS: Break applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Something really unexpected happens:
Rixia's will to fight is rapidly dwindling as she keeps arguing.
"What happened to those who lived with ideals, Yvain?? All I have seen is a history of blood from centuries back -- what happened to Georg Heldalf's ideals? What happened to Sorey's? What happened to our ideals, when we discovered the truth behind Althena?" Rixia finds it in herself to argue to Yvain, her hand tightening around the hilt of her gunblade.
"Those who control this land have exploited people's ideals and then contorted them into their own gain... it is the same in Spira and Filgaia! It's so twisted...!"
GS: Rixia suffers 145 Morale damage from Seraph Yvain! Also some Ideals damage.
Yvain's healing is outpacing her 'blood', as he puts it, by quite a large margin; it's hard to find purchase,
even with all the power she's sending his way. This isn't good...
Rixia's not /well/. She knows there's truth in Leo's words. She knows Eleanor spoke truth too. So many people
have. She even knows the deeper truth of Malevolence: that it's an agent of a dangerous, evil being known as Zophar.
...
But letting go feels like a betrayal of everything she's experienced so far. Because that's how Malevolence gets
you, doesn't it? It dresses up like something dear to you -- pain, in this case -- and convinces you that it is truth.
"My father's love paled in comparison to his indecision. In the end, he abandoned me for your crusade. For
Spira," Rixia speaks venomous words, even knowing what he /tried/ to do in the end, as a Hellion, as a Fiend.
Despairingly, she says the words Margaret fears: "I was just a load on him..."
GS: CRITICAL! Rixia suffers 317 Morale damage from White Knight Leo!
GS: COUNTER! Rixia is saying Mean Things in return!
Acacia DISSES her future breadmaking skills and explains the effects of loneliness on her, and Rixia responds
with a petulant, character-breaking: "GOSH! You talk so much..." because she is an eighteen year old, and then is
careful to add: "I'm going to bake so amazingly that I'm going to knock off the storebought junk off the shelves..."
GS: Rixia suffers 171 Morale damage from Acacia Saitani's Takeout is Better!
Josephine's coming for her next, already escaping Hell's Judgement faster than she hoped; she has a higher-
caliber ARM in hand, which pierces through the leathery texture of her left wing. Rixia cries out in pain, but grimaces
as she intones, "Shut up, old lady..." OH NO?? "I'm... going to change the world...!"
GS: Rixia suffers 216 Morale damage from Josephine Lovelace! (And Real Bullet damage.)
Rixia is, perhaps, allowed the Error of her Youth.
But...
The unintended consequence of the Spell-in-Waiting is that Rixia, too, can inadvertently see those memories come
up to the surface. She sees that 'hapless sentry', Lanval -- did the name come to the Seraph first or to the statue?
It's unclear, but...
The off-key singing, the nominal food, the simple rough and tumble joy those patrons had. Even lesser
Hellions... and there he was, overseeing... the little joys in life. As he always reminded her.
It's all gone. The Guard burned it down. But why does Rixia feel such a pang of jealousy inside of her? She
wants that. No, she doesn't want it. She wants to be independent of it! The Spell-in-Waiting was meant to show comfort
to its target, from the recesses of their mind, but...
Now it's influencing her too!! She's not that skilled at Spellcrafting yet!
GS: CRITICAL! Rixia suffers 183 Morale damage from Seraph Lanval!
Faced with the mistake of her own spell, Rixia's gaze turns inwards, to the night, in a small mountain village
that reminds her so much of Sagahli, with how the Blue Star hangs overhead.
This one is... nicer, than Sagahli. A place where someone might want to live. And-- there, there's Cavall, but
no one seems to really notice them... and a girl. Lunete. She's an Elf, but...
More importantly, it doesn't take her long to see herself in her, given how she was raised by a Ronso. A much
larger, protective figure. A talisman, with a green stone...
... a talisman that'll help her find her way home. She notices how it's the same talisman tied to their left
foreleg-- were there two? Are they connected, no matter how far apart?
... what did /her/ father ever leave her? A bitter note and a cold, broken home... Why? Why do other people find
joy and happiness in life? Why not her...
(Because when you stare longingly at the horizon, you miss what's underneath your eyes, Rixia...)
This thought is resoundingly interrupted when Cavall snarls and springs towards her, sending her bouncing
against the ground in a surprisingly hapless way.
GS: CRITICAL! Rixia suffers 256 Morale damage from Seraph Cavall!
Margaret's own pool of self-reflection is more hazy and emotion-based, but suddenly, perhaps, Rixia's dawning on
just who Tera Gram is. Someone she's /much/ closer to and knows, from all her time with her and Magilou. A cool mom
figure who's shown her a few tricks with the sword -- the sword, darnit, why didn't she figure that out before --
She asks if she hears her. Rixia finds herself unguarded enough to nod, and asks if she can LOWER HER BLADE for
just one darn moment and--
Whoosh! Her hunch is confirmed, as she advises her that if she just took it easy for one darn moment--
"M-M..." Rixia stumbles her words, as the cloak plops over her face and she has to dig it out. "Margaret? Mom??"
Did she have permission to say that? She wants to. She craves moms in all forms (even though she wouldn't admit it).
GS: CRITICAL! Rixia suffers 221 Morale damage from Margaret!
GS: Rixia's Morale has Fallen! It can no longer fight! Uuugh!
Her cheeks puff up and she's red in the face. Oh no, the Stillness is about to Break. "You... you dummy... You
dumb-dumb dummy... You're the worst! Why didn't you tell me..."
Rixia's cheeks are puffed-out red, even as drained and lifeless as she often looks, and she grumbles and turns,
spreading her wings to fly off into the distance.
...
Well, that's still running away from her problems and refusing a helping hand. But for the time being, it does
also mean Lastonbell is protected.
Victory!!
GS: Blitz! Rixia has attacked Rixia with Spell-in-Waiting -- Mystic Relativity! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia accepts Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting -- Mystic Relativity for 0 hit points! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Rixia's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Hex, Jam, and Silence applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Seraph Cavall has attacked Seraph Cavall with Crush Claw! GS: Seraph Cavall has gained 3 Combo! GS: Seraph Cavall gains 6 THP from their Cautious! GS: Seraph Cavall has completed their action. GS: CRITICAL! Seraph Cavall accepts Seraph Cavall's Crush Claw for 173 hit points! GS: Seraph Cavall's Break Ward may block the effect! GS: Break blocked! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Yvain falls in beside Josie. Is it to lend her aid in her brutal work? Or is it to stay her hand should such prove necessary?
The others largely work to bolster their allies, or work to aid one another in escaping Rixia's enchantment. But for Cavall, Josie is alone in taking the fight (directly) to Rixia: the others wage a battle of words.
Josie... Josie remembers being that age. And, isn't it someone's right to mess themselves up royally?
But that ends when you're involving other people in your business, maybe. And maybe, it ought to end when it stops being fair, as much as that's a concept that holds water for Josephine--
But even a sinner like her has some sense of it.
(Margaret may hiss at her for her approach; Josie's response to that is a rather sardonic half-smile. Hell, even she doesn't know if this is the best way!)
And then Rixia calls Josie old.
It's not like Josie has ever really cared about such things, living her life as fast and as loose as is possible. But, still, it's...
It might be the cheek of it.
"Old!" Josie gawps, lowering her ARM. "Now see here!"
Which is, frankly, a really 'old' way to approach such a remark.
...Is it possible that talking the matter out has had more of an effect, here and now, though? Just like that, as everyone tries to get through to Rixia, Josie can feel the Domain strain.
'Mom??' says Rixia at Margaret, and Josie is left to glance between the two of them, apparently attempting some secret and complicated math in her head. But this is about where Rixia has Had It, and with that, she's out of here.
Does this count as a win? Lastonbell is safe, sure, but Rixia's once again fled. "Tch," Josie hisses, holstering her ARM. "Yvie, Wolfie," Josie no, "I'm thinkin' it'd be a good idea to make ourselves scarce-like."
There is the matter of the situation that had just transpired and the potential for some grave misunderstandings, after all. Speaking of the situation, Josie glances between Yvain and Cavall and... frowns.
"Make that, I'd better get scarce-like," she grouses. Seraphim and their invisibility!
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.
Lanval's having himself a re-centering drink to keep himself focused and together through the oppressive weight of Rixia's presence, as she finds her morale and feelings challenged and rebuked. It's as much his intent to be on standby should Rixia's resolve falter enough she'll reach out and take the metaphorical hands that so many around here want to offer her. One of his Seers wouldn't be too far away.
She could find the small joy that the emotional bleeding could stop, that horrible downward slide to worse and worse depths of permissiveness from what happened before at one's lowest (and lowering). After all she's been through, and her part in enabling the miracle that put a stop to Heldalf mere inches away from realizing his dangerous ambitions...
Rixia leaves, taking her Domain with her, and much of the Malevolence ambient that she creates lingers to join the spiritual air of Glenwood, with only the hard work of Sindra helping keep it from clumping up further.
"'ll shave ya a drink," Lanval says off-handedly to Josie. He... might have taken that hit from Leo's attempts to save him from a terrible fate a little worse than he might look.
"I don't think she'sh ready ta give up on the world 'n itsh shmall joysh yet," as Rixia's inner demons seem intent to try and prove otherwise.
<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.
The bubbles burst. The process is rougher than Leo would've liked, but better that than leaving them to whatever Rixia was weaving--especially the two Seraphim. "Are you all right?!" Memories? What's that wolf-Seraph talking about? Leo glances between the three of them as Rixia pauses to argue--though he can still hear her, and grits his teeth as she rips into some old wounds. Tera, in particular--
Wait. Tera Gram is Margaret? Leo stares, astonishment in his eyes. (It is likely his and his alone. Leo, please.)
"He--" And then it's right back to trying to comfort the angry Hellion with words he doesn't quite feel. "Rixia, you were never..."
Leo sags. His legs--injured by Rixia's sorcerous mandala--start to wobble beneath him. He leans against a blackened tent pole, and goes silent until Rixia flies off. "Do you think any of it got through?" he asks Margaret. He's not sure.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
What happened to Heldalf? Margaret doesn't know.
Has Sorey lost his ideals? She glances round at the others. Love paled. The crusade devoured love. Yes, it did, didn't it?
Acacia speaks sauce and Rixia -- cracks --
Josephine's shot perhaps helps, or at least brings her back to the world. Maybe Margaret spoke too soon. She addresses the old lady --
What does Rixia want? Margaret can't tell.
Until, abruptly:
GS: CRITICAL! Margaret suffers 187 Morale damage from Rixia! GS: She does understand what Rixia wants. Margaret, faintly, smiles. "Because I was being selfish," Margaret tells her. "But there's more important things than my convenience." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-MAqVsOLFI After this, Rixia turns - she takes flight. She departs, out racing the clutches of the Guard and more. Margaret exhales. "I think so," she tells Leo, her hands resting on her hips. "A bit at a time. I'm glad it wasn't worse than it was. Give that fellow an apology for me, would you?" she says, turning her head - not quite looking at Leo but certainly looking towards him. "... The same goes for you, you know," Margaret continues, raising a hand to sweep through her hair, even as she turns around. She is clearly looking for an exit to sonic-dash through, possibly before Leo feels sufficiently dutiful to call the guards. <Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
It happens in the blink of an eye - the Domain relaxes, the tension seems to go out of the air, and Rixia is suddenly and abruptly much more like her old self, even if she is ranting and raving a little. Not that Acacia is particularly friends with Rixia enough to tell what her old self is like, but there's something to the extended release of feelings and emotions that feels more real and 'her'.
It's not an indication that they've dissuaded her, but it feels like a little bit of a victory nonetheless, the best kind of victory - they didn't have to beat her down to prove their point, and she didn't have to beat them down either. They just got their feelings across - and Rixia was able to air some out rather than bottle them up. It's a shift, maybe, hopefully, possibly, and that's enough for the reporter to let out a breath and feel like she's maybe done at least a little good today.
"... so what if I talk too much, what else am I s'posed to do in this situation?" she grumbles as she shoves her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Alright, so I can be a bit of a know-it-all, I guess..."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Cavall has posed.
Cavall manages to, at very least, send Rixia bounding against the ground with their attack, although the wolf is quick to retreat with a leap back, trying to limit the amount of exposure to that domain--
... which proves unnecessary as Rixia has apparently had enough of talking and decided to run away. Not that it makes Cavall feel all that much better. They're still tense, in their battle stance (legs spread poised for a pounce, hackles raised), as they watch the Hellion leave. "Grr... we should give chase..."
How did that Hellion get so far into the city, to buy bread without being noticed? Cavall has only seen one other with that ability.
And yet, for having said that, they don't seem in a hurry to do it themselves.
They simply watch the horizon for a long moment... then attempt to relax. More runes appear as they reach out to the roots and withdraw them into the ground, then try to smooth over the street once more. They pace, listlessly for a moment, before plogging down and scratching furiously at their side for a moment. "I hate being that close to so much Malevolence," they mutter before standing up again.
Cavall looks to Josie, eyebrow (or eyebrow ridge? It's all fur, so not much of a brow, there) raised as they are addressed as 'Wolfie'. "I am the Seraph Cavall, if you would have my name."
The wolf is calmer, at least, as they approahc Yvain and Lanval, but they also look distracted. As if their thoughts are somewhere far away, but also as if they're still conflicted about how this second encounter with a Hellion turned out. They're still not sure this has offered any clarity, even seeing the others reach out in person.
"Yvain, Lanval, are you alright? Do either of you require healing? Or anyone else, for that matter?"
They will offer it to any who ask, drawing upon the vitality of the earth to reknit wounds and reinforce flagging spirits.
GS: Seraph Cavall's stances have changed from Stoic to None! GS: Seraph Cavall has attacked Seraph Cavall with Crush Claw! GS: Seraph Cavall has gained 3 Combo! GS: Seraph Cavall's stances have changed to None! GS: Disease and Lock state expired! GS: Seraph Cavall has completed their action. GS: Seraph Yvain has completed his action. GS: Seraph Cavall accepts Seraph Cavall's Crush Claw for 167 hit points! GS: Seraph Cavall's Break Ward may block the effect! GS: Break blocked! GS: Quick applied to Seraph Cavall! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!