2024-02-28: Checkered Future
- Log: 2024-02-25 Checkered Future
- Cast: Lan Lilac, Lily Keil, Citan Uzuki
- Where: Adlehyde - Town Center
- Date: February 28, 2024
- Summary: Lan has a favor to ask of Citan and Lily: help her find a way to remove the Stranger's influence from herself.
==========================<* Adlehyde - Town Center *>========================== The centre of Adlehyde marks the intersection between the east-west and north-south roads that carve the city into near-quarters. The city has recovered from the attack in 499 PC. Scorch marks are few and far between; many of the large shops are newly constructed, and homes have been thoroughly repaired. Occasionally, though, a building too damaged to be saved can be seen still. The famous red and tile roofs the city have been restored. It is a thriving marketplace once again, and well-patrolled by a rejuvenated military. In the center of the square is a new statue to the late King Justin, commemorating his life (and remembering his tragic loss in the war). This a city with renewed hope, now, at long last. BGM: Wild ARMs - Adlehyde Castle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVgQMTFnESE
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
When she'd awoken, she was still on Filgaia.
It was an overwhelming relief.
Her memory of the battle is hazy, but she knows that it was the Watcher - Leah Sadalbari - who had put her down there at the end. When Lan couldn't do it herself, because she was scared and nobody would calm down so she couldn't calm down either. Leah had put Lan down hard and then left her there. She hadn't taken Lan back to Solaris.
She doesn't have any reason to believe it wasn't a kindness.
But they were still defeated, and Azoth is still back in Solaris's hands, and Loren keeps getting further and further away from her, and Lan is still scared. So she had run to a familiar city, a place that feels safer. It wasn't even that far away.
And because someone needs to know, she told herself, she sent a message to Doctor Citan. And because Lly knows already, but maybe not exactly everything, she sent one to her too.
They can talk, and Lan can ask their advice just in case things go wrong. They're both pragmatic in ways that Gwen and Lan aren't.
She can't keep asking Gwen to do all the heavy lifting!
She thought it would be nice to buy some boxed lunches or snacks and eat them in the shade of Adelhyde's trees. It's a different kind of green here than on the moon, but it's still comfortable. Lan unwraps a sandwich (grilled spiced poultry of some sort, she wasn't picky) and hums a preoccupied note. "Thanks for meeting me all the way out here!" she tells Lily and Citan, trying to keep up her usual cheer. "I hope it wasn't too far a trip but I didn't know where would actually be close..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily was fine, after a while. She recovers quickly; she had to eat a lot to fuel it, but her body is as healthy as if she was never in the fight in the first place--though she has reason, now, to refine her magic again.
To come up with countermeasures for what she saw. Maybe stasis, to oppose his dynamic Ether...
But that's another matter. They were defeated, this time. and when Lan called to her, Lily was willing to meet her. So here she is, approaching with Dog at her heels when she sees Lan and the sandwich.
"It's fine," Lily says, and that's all she says about the trip.
Dog, on the other hand, barks once and trots over to Lan, her tail wagging.
"Don't try to steal her food," Lily says. Dog barks once as if to say she would never!
...But Lily moves to take a seat near Lan. "...You recovered all right?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It had been a surprise, to say the least. Out of all the things of late that he would have anticipated getting a message regarding -- prompted or unprompted -- this certainly hadn't been among them. He'd come back as soon as he'd been able (and Shevat's position had made the trip less... circuitous).
As Lily would be well aware, he had ultimately departed Energy Nede to first check in with the other Wolves and then return to Shevat, as he often does when circumstances haven't otherwise beckoned him hither. A lot has been brewing as a result of the Wise Men's actions -- and their newfound connection with Energy Nede -- but not all these shifts in the political weather are bad. In fact--
Even these turns in the tide, though, are less immediately of concern than what Lan had expressed to him and Lily both.
"No, that is quite alright," he tells her, glancing up at the boughs that overhang the bench upon which they sit. Adlehyde has recovered well in the wake of the disaster. Perhaps that speaks to the resilience of humans in the end -- he could scarcely tell that these streets were once aflame or that many of these buildings had been broken. "Indeed, it has been a number of years since I last set foot in Adlehyde. It is good to see how it has recovered," he continues, speaking to those very same thoughts.
Glancing back over at the two of them, he continues, "And it was past time I returned from Shevat, in any case. The 'greybeards' are quite at odds with one another, and I do not think they will come to a consensus soon. I do not think there is much I could do presently to ameliorate the situation."
Though that doesn't mean he wouldn't have minded staying for other reasons... but that is the nature of his circumstances, and there is presently no shirking what must happen.
"Ah, Lily! I had wondered if I had arrived too early?" he says, straightening his back and leaning forward as she and Dog make her approach.
"Kyu," says a familiar sound from under the bench. ...He is not, apparently, without his own 'companion'. Though 'shadow' might be more appropriate.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"Oh, you brought Dog! Hi, Dog," Lan greets them, covering her sandwich with a hand because she's only accustomed to dogs who have way worse manners than Dog does. But of course Dog would never!
There's an assortment of food and snacks and drinks to choose from - Lan is used to the kind of appetites that Drifters tend to work up (and then there's Gwen and the Mockingbird...!) so while the pickings aren't super fancy or complicated, they're fresh from a nearby restaurant and pretty inoffensive as long as everybody's cool with eating things that, if they don't contain meat, have definitely been saturated with Meat Particles via osmosis and shared equipment.
Lan nudges the basket closer to Lily when the witch settles down nearby. "There's definitely something in there that's good for her. And you too, if you came all this way of course I'm gonna treat you!"
"I'm fine. I barely got hurt at all." Leah had done more damage to Lan than anybody but herself, even Azoth. "How about you? I don't remember a whole lot, but... it was pretty..." she grasps for the word she wants. "Intense," she decides at last, but frowns because that really doesn't begin to cover it.
Aw come on, Doc, she said you were right on time...! And after she'd apologized for asking him to leave Yui and Midori any sooner than he absolutely had to, too.
Lan slides off of the bench and onto the grass, turning around to get comfortable at ground level... so she can offer a little bit of her sandwich to Ise, before taking a bite herself. (Lunatone is safe with Azoth's Pokemon on Energy Nede for now.) "Fo," she begins, and then finishes chewing and swallowing. "So," Lan tries again, "I kind of... yes, I asked you out here and bribed you with food, but I... wanted to ask your opinions, and maybe a favor. If it comes to that." Play it cool!
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily is fine with meat! And so is Dog! Dog is happy to greet Lan. And Lily will wait, for now. "...All right," she says, and gets a sandwich for herself and a little something for Dog, too. Dog will eat politely rather than slobber all over everybody.
Well, politely as a Dog can.
"I'm glad to see it, too. ...THough it's hard not to remember the war here," she admits, because Lily has some issues with her war experiences, which is probably fine.
"The greybeards, is it? Well, that doesn't surprise me." She considers mentioning the other reasons he might stay... but decides not to press that wound.
"Not at all," Lily agrees. And--Kyu! Lily glances that way, but doesn't say anything. Her own Pokeballs are in her bag.
Barely hurt at all? "I recovered," Lily says of her own injuries. "It was pretty intense, that's true. Voss on Drive... It's familiar. But I guess that's how he's going to close the gap. I shouldn't have underestimated him."
Pause. So!
"...Questions and a favor. Ask away."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
He makes room on the bench, not that much is needed for their latest arrival.
The food that Lan had courteously brought with her is not the fanciest or complicated fare, but never let it be said that Citan Uzuki has a complicated palate -- rather the opposite, largely, which is partially the fault of his upbringing and partially the fault of the sort of life he's had to live. Though, that said, there are a select assortment of things that -- assuming his wife is not doing the cooking -- he would rather not eat.
...None of which are on offer here, thankfully.
"Again, this is much appreciated, though you did not need to go to the trouble," he says to Lan as she nudges the basket in Lily's direction (and thus, somewhat also in his direction) and this isn't the first time he's expressed the general sentiment to her.
"She does not appear to harbor any lingering injuries," he remarks to Lily, though he sort of glances at Lan sidelong. "At least, none that I can see. You are not hiding any wounds from us, are you, Lan?"
He nods at Lily's remark. "It seems that half of them harbor some interest in diplomatic outreach and the other half..." He smiles, gamely. "Well, it is the usualy 'song and dance', I am afraid. Even taking into account the successful alliance with the Al Bhed, there are those among them who are wary. I cannot fault them, given what else had happened the last time..." Meaning Krelian's attempt at an intercession, stalled, perhaps by their efforts. Or perhaps, by some whim of his...
Citan had shrugged off her apologies about dragging him away as best he could: perhaps it was sooner than he would have liked, but...
But there are many things to which he must attend that will ultimately take him far from Shevat.
Nor is Citan the only one getting treated: Lan slides off the bench to give a piece of her sandwich to Ise and it... Tendrils snake out from under its cloth 'pelt' and grab the fragment of food, which quickly vanishes back under its cloth. Faintly, chewing sounds can be heard. Its plush head remains unmovingly smiling as always, of course.
Unaware of the terrors going on under the bench, Citan nods as Lan begins to get towards the heart of the matter she'd mentioned in her message. "Well, as you have been kind enough to treat us to lunch, please, do go ahead," he says, gesturing her way with his right hand. If he surreptitiously goes for a sandwich now, well... who is anyone else here to judge?
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"It's much nicer now," Lan nods, gazing around at the green canopy above. Many of the trees somehow managed to survive the invasion, though there are extra-sunny patches now and again. She had seen it before the Golem was taken, and again soon after. It's different now, of course...
Dog gets some affectionate scritches before she's served her own lunch. What a good, clever girl!!
...Of course it had been that drug. Bad enough that he had used it again, and twice a 'normal' dose at that, but... she'd asked him not to. She'd been so angry, because it always turns him into a monster and Lan believes in him, she really does... most of them time... but she's also a little afraid that one day, he'll go so far that there won't be anything but the monster left.
"He gets really upset when people do," she sighs, as if that's any help at all!
But Citan gives her that doctorly (dadly??? is this a dad superpower?? Lan is unfamiliar) side-eye and if she were hiding anything, Lan feels like maybe he'd see right through her! "Wha- I'm not!" she insists, raising her hands in surrender (one still has the sandwich in it). "There was-- Azoth first," which had caused her to panic in the first place, which had caused her to lose control, "But that was just a shallow surface wound. It didn't even scar." Which, good! She's getting tired of collecting them! "And then Leah - Grigori - I remember her telling me to control myself, I think?" It's impressions. Distant noises from beyond the heart of the Ether welling out of her like a fountain. "And she used a distance attack, something that took me out." She'd gathered that much from her own memories and asking questions when she had woken up afterwards.
She was told that under no circumstances was she to try and peek under Ise's costume. But she's cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurious!! Lan will have to endure it...!
"But that's kind of the start of it. Or, the middle?" Lan lowers her hands, satisfied that she's proven herself healthy. "I want to ask you both to help me find a way to dig the Stranger out of me. I think we've all got different approaches to things and maybe that'll help us figure something out, plus Lily is good at 'weird' Ether." She looks down at her sandwich. "If we can't get rid of it, we should find a way to control me. Like... knock me out, like Leah did! Or, or maybe we can override it somehow!" Hope springs eternal, right??
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Dog is very happy. She sits down next to Lan.
Lily allows this.
"Yes, thank you." Lily has already finished one. Where did it go? It's best not to think too hard about that.
No lingering injuries.. "I don't see any either," Lily says, and watches her insist. "I believe you," she says after a moment, and then--
"Mm. Azoth..." She curls her free hand into a fist, and sighs. "Not much we could do for him, then." Then a thought. Grigori... "Yes," Leah says. "She was there, at the end."
Ise is super cute. Lily miht even think so too.
"That's..." That's a favor, all right. Lily frowns in thought. "Easier said than done," she admits. "...But maybe between us we can figure something out. It will be difficult, though--and likely uncomfortable, even to try, because my methods of magical observation are not gentle."
"...But I have been working on dimensional magic. Maybe if we can figure out a way to separate it from you in the first place, I can help you get some distance..."
Override. Hmm...
"The problem with overriding directly is that the more Ether you throw at that man, the more his Ether expands. But if we--"
Lily untilts her head. "If we drain it, though..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Many of the trees were destroyed. But some of the trees were merely wounded. With time -- and the tender care of the city residents -- the trees had recovered, with barely scars to show the damage they had suffered. Even now, if he knows where to look, Citan can see the scars.
The same is true of people, with enough time.
He leans forward on the bench and pushes his glasses up his nose, as if in contemplation regarding something in that brief moment. "...Drive is a relatively recent 'invention'," he says at last. "I believe it was first used in the generation prior to my own time in Jugend," he continues, straightening. "It was and likely still is a 'rite of passage' among graduates to self-administer a dose to themselves, both to familiarize themselves with its effects and test, I suppose you might say, their reaction to the drug. ...Elly might be able to tell you more, though I suspect little has changed since my own time. Still, to take that much..."
Lan had filled him in a few other elements about the priors, previous to today's meeting.
But the matter of Drive isn't what's spurred this meeting. If it were merely that, she would have been able to get her answers elsewhere. Lan's concerns revolved around some of the other aspects of that encounter, including, well.
The Ether of another that has, in a sense, become Lan's own while remaining a corrupting influence upon her. It rather reminds him of Malevolence in a sense.
In a very generalized sense.
But she details the wounds she'd received and none of them sound as if they were the sort of thing she could easily hide if they were still nagging her, and so he nods, as if satisified. "Her attention may have been focused on the retrieval of Azoth," he remarks, folding his arms over his chest for the moment. "Yet, I wonder... perhaps your being there was unexpected in some way, particularly in such a, ah... state. Or..." There may have been other reasons for her actions. Normally, he would have even expected an on-site execution for those caught in such a situation with a Solarian asset, if they couldn't escape. But the Grigori is a mysterious individual among Solaris' hierarchy.
There is almost certainly something else going on, and it may not be something even he can easily untangle from his current position.
But that's not what Lan wants to ask them about, either, precisely. What she wants to ask about is--
"...That is... a steep request, indeed," Citan says, setting down that sandwich to again fidget with his glasses. "I do not think this will be easily done, yet, please do not think I am implying you ought to 'give up' before we even begin," he adds, glancing sidelong at Lily. "Rather..." He gestures broadly with both hands. "I expect this will meet with many setbacks before we find an answer. Yet, I am willing to try--"
He turns his head towards Lily, who has already begun to theorize.
"Well, I see you are already theorizing! Perhaps you are onto something. By my recollection, my own experience with that man's Ether was... well, to say the least, I recall something similar during that situation with Gwen. In any case, I must admit I am at something of a disadvantage. I do not think I have even seen you under his direct influence, Lan, and Gwen's experience may be different from your own. --Which is not to say, we should provoke that power from you!" Citan adds a touch hastily. "It is possible that drawing it out, if Lily is correct, may only strengthen its expression during a subsequent event. This makes learning about its expression and limitation difficult. We do not want to exacerbate the situation."
He pauses as Lily makes a suggestion and adds only, "While Shevat is ill-experienced with Ether, it is possible that their more refined instruments might be able to help us discern something." Solarian devices would be better still, but they are also -- very much -- out of the question for the sheer fact that none of them can easily get their hands on them. Even a surface installation wouldn't necessarily have any of the instruments he's thinking about.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lily is not a gentle person. Lan knows this. And she'd known, when she decided to ask her for help, that whatever Lily does is probably going to hurt. That's okay. Lan is tough. And if she's not tough enough, she'll just endure it. Because... because there are so many reasons to get rid of the Stranger's 'gift', once and for all. And if she can't manage that even with the help of cunning and/or seasoned Ether users... Well, maybe she can be kept under control. If it's as easy as just knocking Lan out when it starts, she'll endure that too!
Perhaps wisely, Lan doesn't say any of that out loud.
"It's okay. I don't know if it's even possible, but if it is I really want to try." The black ink just keeps hurting people. She thought she could just live with it, had even told Citan as much, but...
That was before. And Lan is allowed to change her mind!
"So... It reacts like that? Does it try to overwhelm the other Ether, or..." The black ribbons don't have a mind of their own, as far as she's ever been able to tell, but it seems to contain something like a 'will'. Otherwise, why would she have to fight it almost as much as she calls on it? Citan, too, has a good point. "Yeah. He-- what he left behind was different for both of us. Um... I don't think Gwen..." Lan struggles to remember: had Gwen ever... 'infected' anybody else? "It can make us both think funny, but... I feel like if it..." She raises her hands, fingers spreading as far apart from each other as possible. "You know?" Lan tries to explain. Spreading, flowing. Invading. "I accidentally shared a bad memory with Loren once, when it was too much. I was right on the edge of going under, I think, and..." She had attempted to strangle him, and the black ink had twined down her arms and up his chin. "I'm afraid of it getting into anybody else, when I'm like that. So I don't want to try and force it.
"And I don't want to raid anything!" she hurries to follow up, hands waving anxiously. "It could all go so badly! Too many people could get hurt! If we need something like that... maybe we can get it another way. ...Maybe we could ask Azoth, if we see him again. He probably can't steal anything from Solaris, but just in case he can..."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
Lily has enough scars of her own to see, though her body has never scarred. They are obvious enough in her demeanor, for those who know where to look.
"I see," Lily says of Drive. "...I'm reluctant to ask her, but we may have to. And of course, I took some, escaping from Bledavik. But I didn't really know what it was."
"Yeah. I'm surprised she didn't try harder to kill you," Lily admits of the Watcher. "But then, she could've taken more of us out at that point, and she didn't."
But Lan's request taes priority. Many setbacks... Probably so, and--
"I agree," Lily says. "We shouldn't provoke it. Not least because of the risk to Lan, obviously." She nods to Lan, then. "It grows around it. When I use Fire Ether against him, his.. well, the alterations to reality around him grew worse, more potent. It didn't twist my fire as such, but it grew anyway."
"That's why I can't kill him," she says, and that is obviously a problem as well. "Though if I tried without my Ether..."
Well. That's a thought.
"I see. So you were able to share memories with it..."
Raiding, "If Azoth can do that, he can probably only do it the once until they find out about it and correct the gap. ...But with Shevat's instruments," she says, "I could calculate the necessary countermeasure with much more precision. I think it's worth a try."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"I recall," says Citan of Ether. "It can be dangerous to take it. It is not always certain what the outcome might be for the user. Though, for someone of the First Class..."
He remembers that secret that Elly had shared with him on Spira, fresh after the injury she'd sustained from Ether overuse.
Citan might be from Solaris, and might be adept in Ether in the way that only a former Element might attain, but here is the important clause: it is not in this field that he applied himself to the study of its theory, at least no more than was necessary to attain what he had accomplished. It might be possible for him to discern, without the application of additional devices or tools, the effects the wayward Ether was having on Lan's system and the potential physiologic outcomes.
But the hows and whys are a different matter altogether. And this is a sort of Ether he has little practical experience with, at that.
The fact of the matter is, with the circumstances at play, Lily may well have him beat in terms of skill. At long last...
But that also doesn't mean that Citan has little to offer. "Hmm. Yes, I had thought it had seemed, from the descriptions given, different," he muses, rubbing at his chin. "But that itself is interesting, I think. --Or, ah, perhaps 'interesting' is the wrong word," he corrects. "Regardless, it appears that we are dealing with a force that possess a high level of variance in how it manifests. Typically, when we see corrupting influence as in Malevolence, there is a level of consistency: in who is at risk of being affected, in what manifests if not the precise form the afflicted attains... Though, that all being said," he finishes, at last, "neither is it entirely without its repeating threads."
"I myself recall an alteration of the senses when attempting to subdue Gwen. It appears that this man's Ether can have profound impacts on what someone might experience. Or remember," he adds, glancing Lan's way. Gwen hadn't had that specific effect though, had she...?
"Yes," he agrees. "I think forcing it for the sake of observation would be unwise."
As would raiding anything of Solaris's on the surface. Citan grimaces faintly. "Yes, and that is assuming we would be able to claim what we need from any of the surface installations. It would be available in Etrenank, but..."
Going there -- or back there, in at least two of their cases -- would presently be a poor plan.
He looks thoughtful about the idea of them using Azoth to do it -- to take a device capable of taking a measurement that is. "I agree with Lily. It might work, but it would likely only work once... and you would need to be certain he was not already compromised." There is particular trouble to be had with machines for that reason, to be sure-- but the same is also true of people.
"Hmm. So it might be possible to starve him of Ether? It might be possible to try to fight him without the use of Ether." He pauses, as if considering this. "Yet... that means that even your ability to heal your wounds might end up aiding him if he were to wound you."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"I only know a little bit about the kind of stuff Loren keeps in his medic kit, and I couldn't tell you which one did what - I barely even remember the names. Most of them end in -sol. But I know he usually has a syringe of Drive in there. It has a big warning label on it." Had he always had two? Lan hadn't ever dug around in it unless told to fetch something on an assignment. And when she was under, it hadn't seemed important.
Lots of things had seemed that way.
"She's spared me more than once. All the way back on Kattelox, and a few times between then and now. When I was still..." Lan makes a-- discontented? chagrined? expression, "Dreaming, she was Loren's commander and that made her mine, kind of? But even then she wasn't... uh, part of the regular chain of command, I think? Even though they called her Major Sadalbari."
She still dearly misses the feeling of being there, even if she would rather chew her own foot off than linger in that particular trap again.
"I guess I always just hoped that it was friendship, or fondness or something," Lan finishes, shoulders hunching briefly in a shrug. But now maybe not, lingers unspoken. She knows that Lily is a soldier. Was one, is still one. "You'd need to be able to make up for not using Ether. You'd need to be incredibly good. And you'd have to do it before he could put you under his spell." Lan thinks of the sensation of throat cartilage crunching underneath her heel, and the utter lack of good it had done.
"He's not just good at illusions. I can't... even start to explain it. I can never tell. Maybe someone with better awareness than me. Like, if you want help in the Dreaming or with the Guardians or nature spirits I'm your girl! But they're just different things."
"I crushed his throat the first time I tried to fight him. I was sure of it. But that was what he wanted me to see. I still don't have any idea when I went under."
Lan tears off another bite of sandwich and offers it to Ise again. "You'd need an someone with really amazing senses, and unmatched skills, and 'killing intent'." The words feel foreign in her mouth, and she knows from whom she first heard them. Lan looks up from her half-a-sandwich to meet Citan's eyes.
"Doc... does your wife still have a sword?"
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"...Right. He was insistent on that. The 'power of the First Class'." A pause. "When I took it, it enhanced my abilities significantly, but totally deadened my emotions and perceptions. I just... floated there killing." A frown, and a shake of her head, uncomfortable. "Even for me, it was unpleasant."
Pause. "He used to keep one in there; that's where I got it, where I stole it from."
Lily's expertise is... different. This indeed might be something she can help with. Might.
Interesting. Lily understands the academic interest, but doesn't chime in on it there. "Yes," Lily says. "I believe there is a consistency in his powers. I believe there are rules. ...I just have no idea what they are."
An alteration of the senses... "That's my experiene as well--but it goes beyond mere illusion. It can become 'real'."
But the Major, "I see. Well, even Gebler officers have feelings," she says, a little wry. "Maybe she really does just like you." She sounds skeptical, though. She doesn't believe it more than Lan seems to.
"I... am adept, in hand to hand combat. But as Citan says, even healing my own wounds might empower him. If I managed to make a general Ether-draining effect, I'd still have to contend with his swordsmanship."
Which is significant.
Lily...
Well, she doesn't want to get involved in that question, but Dog barks once, and shakes her head at Lan's suggestion. She doesn't seem to approve.
"...Mm." Lily doesn't chime in.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Yes... that seems typical of the experience of drive. It draws out one's natural sense of antipathy, while subduing other emotions and feelings that conflict with the essence of combat. To have such a frame of mind set upon oneself... I suppose there is a sort of 'calm' when one no longer experiences doubt or conflict," he muses.
Citan's sandwich meanwhile sits on the bench, apparently forgotten with the discussion at hands. One might well get the feeling this isn't the first time.
"Leah Sadalbari..." Citan muses, folding his arms over his chest. "Unfortunately, she was after my time, so I am afraid I know very little," he remarks, shaking her head. It's another area where Elly -- maybe, maybe -- might know more...
At least, insofar as matters that either of them are able to discuss go.
"Still, it is interesting. Either she had wished to spare you," in a not so dissimilar way that Ramses might, "or she had other plans in mind." One would think that if she had wished to leave Solaris altogether, she would have done so already--
Unless, as it is with some, there were circumstances tethering her to his old 'home country'.
But Lan, though still troubled by her experiences with Leah of late, transitions from her to the matter of the Stranger once again: that far more unknown and uncertain value in her life.
One would need to make up for not using Ether. For Lily, that would mean tamping down on her ability to heal. It would mean relying on her martial skills alone. If he were to try, it would mean eschewing even the slightest bit of channeling Ether into his attacks, and whatever healing might be managed would need to be accomplished by curatives alone.
"If we were to find someone adept in a manner of Sorcery outside of Ether, or a poweful warrior," he begins to muse as Lan speculates similarly. She is no slouch, that much is certain, but against a foe who can alter what you can perceive even a powerful warrior or mage would struggle. It would be easy to let down your guard and assume a victory when in fact--
Beneath the bench, Ise is very enthusiastic about snagging the sandwich piece. It's probably better not to look too long at the tendrils.
But Lan is reminded of a particular person from the dream she had once and fixes her attention on him. His own expression turns subtly more puzzled by degrees, until Lan opens her mouth to ask--
Consternation is the rule of the day for Citan now. "Er, how--" he starts then stops, caught briefly off-balance. "...No, I do not think that would be a good idea."
Not that he's concerned that she would come to harm, precisely. Yui has always demonstrated that she is adept at taking care of herself, even more than he is. But rather, it's the potential consequences that give him significant pause.
He fidgets with his glasses for a moment, his whole demeanor smoothing out into something more even-keel once more. "...My wife is quite capable with a blade," he says, as if to get that out of the way. "But as we have seen, capability in a fight and the ability to persist against his illusions and trickery are two separate things. --Ah, not that I do not think that she would be not be capable of sustaining her perception against such things," he adds. "Rather, with so little we understand about the extent and breadth of his power, it is entirely possible that placing her in such a situation has the potential to end poorly."
He does not say, 'for the rest of us'. But it may be implied.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Maybe she really does just like you. "Maybe," Lan sighs, because nobody knows for sure besides Leah. And she's not talking.
"He was, wasn't he," Lan sighs, for a very different reason this time. 'Loren, you dumbass' kind of sums it up in her mind! She'd thought that his attitude towards surface-born had changed... And towards the Third Class, too. Doesn't Mirza mean anything to him...? --No. It was the drugs. It had to be. Even Lily had been affected!
So that's where Lily had gotten it from. "I can't... imagine taking it, even if I used Ether. I--" Oh, gods. Lan's eyes go wide, wide and her face goes a little sickly at the realization. "What would Drive do to the-- you know what, nope, I'm not going to think about it! I'm really really not!" she laughs, and there's something a little horrified in it.
Well, if they ever do need a way to immediately trigger that transformation in Lan, she thinks they just accidentally discovered it.
There's no perfect candidate. It would have to be someone completely uncorrupted by the Stranger, someone who doesn't use Ether, someone who can defend against his level of swordsmanship, someone who can pierce through powerful illusions. Does such a person even exist?
It's easier to sit here and feed Ise bites of sandwich and resolutely not try to pick it up and cuddle it, even though it's so adorable with its little shadow tendrils making little hands to pick up the food and Lan can't stand how cute it is!! She's experiencing a crisis on two fronts, okay?!
...Ahem.
"I saw a dream, or maybe a memory? That I think was yours," Lan tries to explain. "In the Dreaming. She was amazing! Though it took me a while before I figured it all out," she laughs, pulling her hair into her lap - mindless of the rest of her sandwich, which is promptly lost beneath it. Oops. "'Why is Doctor Citan's wife a super badass?' I asked myself, before I knew... well, that you weren't just a doctor." But Citan has doubts, and Lan... well, she understands.
Maybe that's the problem with trying to oppose the Stranger at all. At least until they have any idea of how his abilities work. "Which means, until we find out a way to undo what he can do to people, we can't risk sending him any more checkers."
<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.
"I see... That's a terrible drug," Lily reflects. "It's like it's designed to make them killing machines." Pause. "..."
It's not really 'like' that, is it?
"Regardless, calm is about right." She considers Lan's realization, and nods. "If she doesn't want to think about it, Lily won't speculate aloud.
Lily's sandwich is GONE. So is Dog's snack.
"With Solaris, we never know what's personal and what means someone hsa other plans," Lily says, shaking her head again. But if they found such a person...
Lily hears Citan's reasoning, and she is inclined to agree, from the sounds of it. "That's my reason for not involving Xantia," Lily says. "She's extremely adept at countering Ether, but..."
It could be really bad if it didn't work.
"...Heh." A pause, as they move on from Citan's wife as a subject.
"..Right. We need to know more. And we need those who--"
Pause. "...Did you say 'checkers'?" Lily confirms.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Maybe. Of course no one from Solaris is born evil. Of course even the upper reaches of their command -- mostly -- have their own degrees of compassion and care for their own people and the people of the surface. But Citan knows that the countervailing force of their culture will always push even the best of them away from considering the people of the surface fairly. And for those in Gebler, or those connected to the artifice of the nation's government...
'Orders' will always fill the gap for the rest.
Lan seems fairly horrified by the nature of what Drive can do to a person, and Lily appears to agree in her own way. "Indeed. For the sake of victory, nothing is forbidden," he remarks, before glancing over at Lan as if considering something. Is not part of what has 'infected' Lan Etheric in nature? It's a thought: if it becomes that desperate. If they need to propel her into that state for one reason for another. And more importantly, if they can get their hands on a dose of Drive. It's a thought that Citan will carefully file away for later.
"...Yes," Citan says after a brief tense moment's pause. "I think that would be a very bad idea," he says, of involving Xantia. Her circumstance is already precarious enough as it is -- to involve an additional factor like the Stranger could send her spiraling out of control. It could be very bad. It could be catastrophic.
It would have to be someone powerful. It would have to be someone who didn't rely on Ether. It would be someone who could hold fast to their senses amidst a storm that told them otherwise. And it would have to be someone that, in the event all else fails, their corruption wouldn't cause a horrific backfire for the rest of them. It might well be that no such person exists.
"We'll have to think on this, I suspect," he muses. "Though, I wonder... if a Seraph were to get involved, would they be as subject to such effects as a spiritual entity?"
"Kyu, kyu," chirps Ise, who has never read the room once in its life, wriggling its tendrils out from under its costume. One gets the feeling that it would happily ingest all of her sandwich if permitted... but that might not be in the best interest of such a tiny little guy. Or maybe it would be fine?
Given the... tendrils. And ambiguous anatomy. And things.
"I... see," Citan says, recalling that Fei had once told him similarly. And, for that matter, he recalls a strange dream wherein he'd experienced other people's memories (or so it had seemed?). It's a curious thing, and it makes him curiouser still about what could have provoked it, especially since -- from what he could understand -- it appeared that these dreams strongly resembled events that had actually happened.
But it's a concern for another time and place.
"Well... yes," he hazards, as if somewhat uncertain about how to approach Lan's remark about Yui and him. "She was trained by the finest warrior in Shevat, and for a time, was their best swordswoman until her retirement." Technically speaking, she had retired to a small village called Lahan.
Right now, it's the sort of retirement that remains highly tenuous.
Lily isn't the only one who pauses. "...Do you mean, 'pawns', Lan?" Citan wonders, in the manner of a patient schoolteacher. To be fair -- he has been minding Fei for a long time, now. And Xantia. And Gwen.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
There may be no such person, in the heavens or on Filgaia. Or any other place either!! "Maybe we'd need an entire team of people, but there's no guarantee that would work either. Leah, Loren, and I ran into him on a mission once and..." She shakes her head. "He ruined us." Lan had seen the Drowned in her nightmares for months afterward. "Yeah, we just can't throw someone at him without understanding a better way to fight."
She'd rather think about comforting things now. Like the Dreaming, and getting to experience the worlds through the eyes of another person. Like sharing sandwiches with Pokemon and Dog, and the thought of training with Lunatone again once she's back on Energy Nede.
But Lily and Citan both have a slight concern. "Yeah, checkers," Lan confirms, like Lily maybe just didn't quite hear her or something. Because if you send a checker across the board, you get a queen! It makes total sense! Does she mean pawns, though?
"Well," Lan frowns thoughtfully, before fishing out her sandwich to finish eating, "I guess you could use those too."
*homph*