The Choice

The Choice
Date of Scene:	13 May 2013
Location:	Wutai
Synopsis:	Angantyr and Maira talk about the attack on Valk HQ, and the true nature behind it is revealed. Then Garland makes things worse, for everyone.
Cast of Characters:	Maira, Angantyr Vespar, Garland

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Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Hours after the...incident, the one that Percival is likely to get his face removed.

Angantyr has gotten a massage, and then finally managed to find a hotspring that was unoccupied and settles in. He closes his eyes, letting the tention seep out of him, he remembers he really hasn't had time to REALLY relax lately. He also promised to stick around for Maira...though he knows this isn't going to turn out to be unstressful at all...no sir.

He tries to clear his head, though. Just let things come as they will..

Maira has posed:
Well, eventually Maira does go looking for Angantyr. Luckily, he is an easy person to find.

Earlier: "Oh hello miss, have you seen a really scary tall guy with dark hair, possibly in armor and carrying a really giant weapon?" Maira asks.

Young Lady's eyes widen and she stammers, yes, she saw giant gaijin heading toward the hot spring. Then, she runs way.

See? Easy.

Now: Maira creeps up toward the hotspring, having spotted Angantyr relaxing alone. Maira gulps, then takes a seat at the edge of the springs, kicking off her sandals. "Room for me...?" she asks quietly.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr opens his eyes up, looking over Maira.

He waves a hand, "Sure." he says, neutral, and slides a bit over, as if making room for her...nevermind there was plenty of room, but it was more of a gesture than anything.

He watches her for a moment, not easily embarrased by things like...well, being mostly undressed, or that she'd be expected to as well.

"I'm sorry about the uh...miss comunication, I was under the the impression you were in immediate danger." Angantyr grunts, "Not being lead away from a psychopathic guardian."

Maira has posed:
Maira is very much considering going in in her clothes. Why does she not own a bathing suit!? She seems to be debating with herself, but eventually just slips into the spring with her clothes on. She'll just speed dry them after--or burn them off if that goes awry so lets hope not.

She stays by the side however, as she doesn't know how deep this spring is and she still doesn't really know how to swim. She can however, now tread water thanks to Perci.

At mention of the gargoyle, she sighs heavily. "I'm sorry...he's not psycho! He was confused from the spell cast on him. He wouldn't have called if he didn't think I was in real danger. He's very protective and...well, just, don't hurt him again, please," she says.

She dunks her head under the water briefly just to get her hair wet, resurfacing and taking a breath. Maira turns her eyes back to Angantyr and tries not to think about how he is probably /naked/ right now or something. "Have things...been okay? I was really worried about you."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"I was laying on a 'bed' for weeks letting my body heal." Bed is relitive term..it was more like a metal slab.

"Beyond that, a trip to Arcadia for various reasons." he mentions, "I've been doing my own thing...but also, wondering how you knew about the deception with the attack? Did Avira tell you, or was it someone else?" Angantyr asks, "You understand why I didn't say anything, or revealed the true nature of the attack? Nor did Avira? Garland is dangerous, and if I do not do it...well, he'll find someone else without my control, or someone with my control, and will do things throughly." He says, with a shrug.

"The best thing we can hope for is that he's grown tired of the lesson, and has instead refocused on other things again, with...how well that man was injured." he mentions Isaac.

Maira has posed:
Maira listens, nodding gently, her brow drawn together in concern. "I wish I could have come and healed you again...I know I couldn't, just...yeah," she says, expressing her frustration at least, even if she knows it couldn't have really gone differently.

"The way Avira was acting...I guessed that she knew. After it all she told me you'd warned her. Then...well, I guess I assumed the rest," she sighs.

Angan doesn't need to mention Isaac for Maira to know who he means, and just thinking about it brings those feelings back, images flooding of Isaac's arm just..torn off, a puddle of blood widening like the aperture on a camera on the pavement.

For a moment the color drains from her face and she shivers involuntarily. Garland terrifies her, as well he should.

"I don't know Angan, I don't know if he'll ever tire. I...I don't know what to do. I just...want you to get away from him--I know you can't but I wish--I just keep thinking there must be /something/ I can do..."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr shakes his head...

She wants to help him, it was...a honest gesture, one that he's not used to seeing from those in the light. Avira, but their relationship was always a give and take thing, most are this way. But...

Angantyr frowns, listening to her and shakes his head again. "Be safe." he says, honestly, "What you did that night, that is what you need to do...standing up to the darkness, relying on those there...it was more to what I did than just wanting to keep you both safe." he says, "Eventually, we'll have to fight people like these...the Shadow Lords are going to come out into the open more, or be forced to...worse, their agents will be. If I can't be the blade that strikes for you, then I will simply accept my fate as the fire that tempers it." He continues.

"Perhaps my own desire for revenge makes me unworthy, but...there is still one thing Garland can give me, one thing that nobody else in this world can."

"The complete and utter annihilation of Arcadia."

Maira has posed:
Even now, when almost everyone else she knows is counting him out, she wants to help him. She's too stubborn to just let go. What if she is the only one left? What if she lets go to? What if its her fault then. One last chance, missed.

Maira takes a deep breath. "I'm trying to be safe, but I'm also...I don't want everyone to keep bleeding for me. Everyone is very sure Mateus is going to come after me for what I did to the Dark Knight. Everyone wants to know how I did it and could I do it again. I don't know. I just don't know," she answers.

Maira looks up at him as he talks about not being able to be a blade that strikes for her. "I don't want a blade Angan, I want my friend. I don't want to see you lose yourself."

At the last bit, Maira's eyes widen slightly. She takes a steadying breath then moves closer to him, reaching out to put what she hopes is a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Can it really be worth it Angan? I know you hate them, and it was wrong what they did...but are you going to make people who had nothing to do with the sin pay for it? I just....I don't think that's you. I don't think you could do such a thing without losing yourself. Call it your light or whatever, but you're not Garland, and the things you do take a toll on your heart...."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr doesn't immedately pull away, but he looks at her. There is a moment where he doesn't answer, as if trying to steel his resolve, "So it was you who freed that man from his darkness...no wonder it was familar, and why he was...well, not attacking you." he says, thinking...and then the name Mataeus came up. He was...unsure of the name, but the mark on the Dark Knight's back...yeah, that means this man was a Shadow Lord, without a doubt.

"I can not simply forget what they did to my home...my people! They destryoed our culture, our city...killed my entire unit to the man. All to get us to surrender..." he growls, "Whatever scum my family was, it was my home...I loved my country, and everything it stood for...to have it destroyed in this way.."

"No, I won't stop until they too are stopped, forever." he turns his head away, "I'll do anything to accomplish this."

Maira has posed:
Maira nods. "Yes, it was me. I...used my light to burn through the darkness. I found a spark of who Leon really was and I drew him out. He's still under Mateus' hold though...Perci was right about that," she sighs. "Still, I need to see him. Talk to him. There must be a way I can stop Mateus from turning him back into the Dark Knight. I was in Fluorgis and he came--no more games, no more tests. He was going to rip out my heart. I know it. So...I fought back in the way that felt right," she says with a shrug.

Maira's eyes grow sad as Angan speaks more about what was done and how he must get his revenge. "It's not worth it Angan...it can't be worth it. There has to be a way to see that there is /justice/ but revenge..." she sighs heavily. She doesn't know what to do. So she just hugs him from the side.

"You're wrong. They didn't destroy everything your country stood for. You're still alive. You can stand for those who can't."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr winces again, as if struck.

"No, I am not what they stood for. I never was, I was scorned for what I was." He says, shaking his head.

"Justice, is often the victor's dictation of events. I am being honest with myself, it is not justice, it is revenge. I could call it justice, but it would be a lie." Even though she hugs him, he sighs heavily.

"I have dedicated almost ten years of my life, to give up my revenge against Arcadia? You are asking me to give up everything I am, the man that was forged from Garland's training and the darkness that had taken him from birth, " he half asks, "This is, at this point, all that I have."

Maira has posed:
Maira sighs deeply, nodding. "I know you know more about the world than I do and you've been through a lot...but it doesn't do any good to hate the people who scorned you. I could hate the people who called me stupid, crazy, simple...maybe for a time I did. But I had one person who showed my kindness...and then there were more and more."

"Ten years isn't so long really, is it? And it is /not/ everything you are. You are more than a walking instrument. You're not a weapon. You have depth. Why would I keep insisting if I didn't think this was true? You're more than you think you are, and you can be even more than that. Unless you're going to call me foolish, or crazy, or....whatever. It wouldn't be the first time I've heard it and I'm sure it won't be the last," she replies with a slight, self-depricating smile.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks away, thinking for a moment...

Was there anything beyond this quest for revenge?

He struggles with himself for the answer, but...he doesn't have one, little to know reason to leave the path he was on. He had all but abandoned his allies to protect them...only a handfull know his true reasons for doing it.

"You ask me to return with you? To what, die at the hands of your friends who will all have reason to hate and scorn me? They want justice, do they not?"

Maira has posed:
Maira closes her eyes for a moment. "There are people who are angry with you, but do you really think Avira would try to kill you? Not even Perci, he knows I care about you and he wouldn't do that. Katyna? I don't think she would, she's made her mistakes and she wants to do better. No, I think people would forgive you and support you," she replies with conviction, squaring her shoulders with determination.

"I guess...I guess I am asking you to come back with me. You have a choice, and if you do we'll....well we'll have to face Garland. But I am /not/ going to run forever from the people who want to see me and my friends killed or...lost...I'm not. Whether I'm a princess of heart or not I'm not going to give up on people I /know/ in my heart deserve another chance."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Faruja, the dragon-looking thing." Angantyr points out the obvious...dangerous aspects.

"Of course Avira wouldn't, it was our mutual plan for this to happen." Angantyr says, low.

It's a nice fairy tail, Maira lives in, but...well, Angantyr's been the way he was for a long time...and not just the attitude. The darkness puts people off, it always have...and it always will.

Angantyr lowers his head, thinking for a moment...it is a tempting fairy tail, though.

Maira has posed:
"Well, maybe if you didn't provoke Faruja," she says, playfully even, poking him gently in the ribs.

As she is standing (floating?) real close, she does hear what he says about Avira.

Understandable, she is confused. "What do you mean, your mutual plan...?"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr takes the litteral and figuretive poke to the ribs.

"I told her about what Garland asked me to do, I devised this plan of course to keep you all safe. Specifically, if you knew it was me attacking, then you'd know how I work, how I attack...and I can also carefully measure what I need to do, and try not to hurt you all to the point of death. It is...better to fight the monster you know, than the one you don't." Angantyr says.

"Because we didn't know what he'd throw at us, if I decided to tell him to screw off."

Maira has posed:
Maira sighs heavily, nodding. "Right. I understand that. If I had known...well, I know myself well enough to know I can't keep what I'm feeling hidden," she replies.

Maira looks away for a time. "...but you never attacked me. Why? You attacked Avira...I guess she's better able to handle it, huh?"

Garland has posed:
"A most /cunning/ deception indeed, boy."

The air rips open as Garland steps out of the portal. Shadows dance in his path, shuddering as he moves from the ripped-open space. The great titan of iron is silent as he steps down, his cape flowing around him; he moves like a menacing beast, a great predator effortlessly flowing through his domain. The world seems to quail with Garland's appearance, his dark countenance draining away the light and the life, replacing it with fear and misery in his wake. The world is worse just knowing that Garland lives; Garland does everything in his power to help it along.

"You agreed to fight them to /defend/ your *allies*." Garland's voice is filled with black amusement, with dark and uncompromising sadistic entertainment as he begins to pace back and forth before the two. "Knowing full well what horrors I would visit upon them if you refused, you chose the noble path."

"How sickeningly saccharine."

Garland flicks his hand to the side. "I taught you better. Is this what you choose to throw away my work - my /gifts/, my /teachings/, my /infinite patience/ - for? Is this how you choose to repay your debt to me, boy? Lying to your master, manipulating your teacher, for the sake of some half-naked peasant child who happened to catch your eye?"

Garland shakes his head, turning away from Angantyr and staring off into the sky.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks at Maira...

He looks away aft-

And then everything turns up Garland.

Angantyr takes a moment to place his head into his hands. There is just that moment of complete and utter '<GOOSEHONK> my life' that is visible in his face. Of course, the ONE TIME he decides to take a break, he has to deal with personal drama...that explodes into city destroying drama. His love life is about to have a body count.

He stands, revealing that he was waring just enough to keep this scene PG-13, darkness covering his form, before shadow armor appears to cover him. Oh no, Angantyr isn't about to take any chances, and will NOT leave this world like he entered it, naked and covered in blood.

His mace comes to his hand, but the end of it hits the bottom of the spring.

"I'd say I am sorry, but we both that'd be a lie." he says, "You'd offered me a chance to strike at my enemies, and a way to protect my allies. You gave me a deal that I couldn't say no to, so I made the best of it. It's almost like I used the lessons you gave me, in the way you expected them to be used. You didn't raise a fool, nor a weakling." He says, "Also, please spare the old phrase with the rod and child, I'm not Kuja, after all."

Maira has posed:
Garland.

GARLAND.

Maira freezes except for the widening of her eyes. Her heart seems to just stop with the fear, kicking back into a quick and frantic tempo, determined to march on.

It registers that Angan gets out of the spring and starts summoning his armor. She thinks maybe she should climb out as well, as being drowned by Garland would be a terrible death. She'll go down fighting, if that's how it has to be.

Also on fire. That probably goes without saying.

Maira climbs out of the pool with much less grace, soaking wet, her clothes clinging to her uncomfortably. She doesn't even need to try to summon her magic, the air around her simply hearts up in instinct. For the time being however, she doesn't ignite. The light in her that wants to explode from her is kept in check as she watches Angantyr and Garland, wide-eyed and silent.

Garland has posed:
"No, boy. In fact, I would say that I am proud of you, but for two foolish mistakes." Garland's voice is still dark, rich with that perverse entertainment as he stands there, fully armored, staring up at the sky. Angantyr has drawn a weapon; Angantyr probably knows that even when he isn't facing you, Garland is perfectly capable of ripping your life apart. Garland remains silent, staring, his hands locked together under his cape as he looks up at the stars.

Then he turns, slow and purposeful, his head tilting around to gaze at his apprentice. "Do you know what those mistakes were, boy? If you can name them - both of them - then I will permit you mercy, and walk away."

"Fail...and we have a problem."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr knows this...

Angantyr won't face death running away. He's going to make Garland work for it. Call it spite, Angantyr calls it something else.

So Garland gives him a task, the two mistakes. He considers this for a moment...

"Letting someone get too close to me, and revealing what I am saying. And thinking you didn't already consider what I was doing and simply didn't acknowledge it until I revealed it."

Garland has posed:
Garland turns to face his apprentice. There's a moment of long, exhaustive silence as the King of Shadows considers the boy and his girl - for even if they are adults, they are specks, dust in the wind to the ancient demigod, and they will never be true adults in the eyes of Garland. Maira's flame is briefly noted, but only briefly; his focus is WHOLLY on Angantyr this night. He begins pacing, again, his cape flowing behind him; he taps his fingers together, one of his favorite intimidation methods, the sound of clanging filling the air as he walks. From the shadows, hungry eyes begin to open, great yellow things that simply emerge from the darkness to stare at Maira and Angantyr with unmasked desire.

"You betrayed me for the sake of others," Garland intones, his hand sliding out from his cape to gesticulate at the air before him. It's like watching a Shakespearean actor...or a mad dictator. "You slid a knife into your master's back not because of his teachings, not because it was what he taught you, not because you wanted to climb higher in the world, but because your emotions betrayed you. Because your ties - your *human* ties - were twisted and manipulated by your so-called friends."

"The same friends," Garland continues, tilting his head over at Angantyr and Maira, "Who decided that they would /cover/ for the sins the dark elf witch accrued, who /accepted/ her punishment as their own and chose to spit and defy me for the sake of helping her...*become better*."

The acid in his voice is incredible. The sheer inimicable disgust for the *idea* of aiding someone else for selfless reasons, of offering an olive branch to other mortals, is staggering. Garland waves his hand to the side, an almost steamlike hiss escaping from his armor, as if he hated the concept so much he had to hiss at its very existence.

"Had you betrayed me for yourself - had you betrayed me for your own gain, of your own free will - I would respect you. Instead, you chose to use me to *help* your *friends*. You chose your loyalties."

Garland flicks his fingers outwards. "I offer you this final chance. Walk away from them, and stand with your master; I will forgive you your errant foolishness, your misguided attempts to live two lives, even your pitiful attempt to manipulate me."

"Refuse me, and know that you accept their sins as your own."

He leaves it at that as he folds his hands behind his back, silent once more.

Maira has posed:
Letting someone get too close to him? That was what he'd done /wrong/? How twisted, how absolutely contrary to everything she believes! She knows she shouldn't interrupt though, not now. If Angantyr can get himself out of this without getting hurt...

Garland speaks and Maira listens, though she can hardly reconcile what she hears. Every value she's come to uphold twisted on its head. Is this what evil really is? It this /all/ it is?

Maira watches Angantyr now, getting to her feet, ready to stand with him if she needs to. She's small, soggy and entirely mortal but she'll stand with him even if Garland laughed in her face. Which, he likely would.

This is Angantyr's choice though. She has nothing to offer but this dedication and belief in him.

She tries to smiles, nodding to him. Wether it is in encouragement or preemptive forgiveness is left to interpretation.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
CHOOSE YOUR FATE...

Angantyr listens, Garland wants him to become a monster, to throw away his humanity once and for all. Once, the thought might have been more tempting, to live in power, to gain as much as he could to beyond touchable by the mortals around him.

Spending the time as the beast, however, made him come to realize there are things that you can never get back if you go down the road to power, surly the monster he'd become wouldn't be the same debase thing...but still... a monster is a monster. The mace comes to his hand, and he turns it, suddenlying holding it at the ready.

"Well, Garland. nobody is perfect. They made a mistake, in trusting the witch. That's what being human is about, and I have no intentions of becoming a monster. Not anymore. Sense this deception has noting left to provide.."

"Then I'll stand on my own two feet, on the road I make for myself, not one carved out for me in blood by your hand, not the path of carnage you want me on."

Garland has posed:
Garland is silent for a long moment. Then he chuckles.

"As I always expected. You have no head for consequences. You have never been a planner; you always need someone behind you, someone to tell you what to do." Garland turns away from Angantyr again. Angantyr could strike him right now; the odds of Garland caring are less than none. "Foolish boy. I gave you your life, your existence, and all that you are. When you were ready, you might have snatched all of Heaven and Earth from my grip, rent me low, and taken my mantle as ruler of all that is. When you were ready, when you were prepared, you might have truly carved out your own path."

"Instead, you give me excuses. You want to walk a path paved by others, supported by the strength of others; you sacrifice a chance at true power for a chance at some ephemereal, physical need, a trick of mortal chemistry, a lust for a child you must realize you cannot provide for. You flock to her flame to fill the gaping void of shadows inside you, as if somehow her touch, her kiss, might offer to you some fulfillment, some sense of /completeness/ against the hungry void that you are."

Garland does not laugh. He just sounds...disappointed. "You must realize that you can never give them happiness; that your newfound dependency is a great cosmic joke. I offered you the world."

His voice hardens. "Now I will offer you misery."

"The girl will be broken. Should, by some chance, she survive with her mind intact long enough to bear you a child, I will come for it. Should I fail to acquire that child, I will come for the next one. For your grandchildren. For your grandchildren's grandchildren. As of this moment, you have written an execution order for all the line of Vespar. As of this moment, you have forfeitted your past, present, and future in the name of a woman."

Garland turns to leave, the shadows tearing open before him. "I certainly hope she was worth it. I certainly hope she loves you as much as you apparently believe you *love* her." The word is like a foul slur in his mouth as he steps into the portal and vanishes, the threat hanging ominously in the air, as if kept there by some black magic, some trick of Garland's presence.

You have written an execution order for all the line of Vespar.

Maira has posed:
Maira lets out a breath she'd been holding, awaiting Angantyr's answer. He gives it. He's going against Garland. Oh by Holy, it was actually happening! She knew he could do it! Tears rise, she's so proud. She wants to runs forward and hug him.

Then, Garland speaks. Maira's expression grows gradually more WTF!?!?!?! as he goes. L-love her!? CHILDREN!? All that other incredibly embarrassing stuff!? Yes, even now she can be embarrassed.

The girl would be broken.

No. No she would not. You can't break fire. You can snuff it out, you can drown it, but you can't break it.

Its too late, Garland is gone, but she replies anyway. "He didn't do this for me...you don't really know anything," she says. Maybe it is only to herself. It doesn't matter.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr keeps his eyes narrowed...

He can try, Angantyr says, but holds back his bravado today. Lets not make this any harder than it is going to be, no he'd have to probably focus on this... he threw in his chips with the light, so...

Wait...the line..

"Oh <GOOSEHONK>. He doesnt' mean..." he says, and groans.

"We need to go, first we are going back to Traverse town and going to Valk HQ...we're gona need to talk."

And then...he'd have to go to Arcadia...or did he? Rallius was a big boy, and he owed him nothing...he was his enemy...

Argh...

He looks at Maira.. "Your question, before this. I'd thought it'd be obvious by now, Maira. What he says isn't incorrect, a bit lacking of all tact sure.."

Maira has posed:
Maira blinks. Then again. OH! Angantyr's brother! That's right!

WAIT WHAT!?

Maira looks like she's just been hit with a bucket of ice water. Wide-eyed, her jaw actually drops. It takes her a good long time to figure what just happened.

THEN she blushes furiously. "W-what....n-no it was totally not obvious at all!" this is when Maira starts hyperventilating. Nope. There are not two guys in love with her. Nope. This is not happening. Nope nope nope. This a fever-dream! Whole thing! What a ride!

For a moment she looks like she's going to be okay.

Then, "Nope" and she faints, flopping over like a wet noodle.