Oh. Late to change my vote by 2 minutes.
... Eh. Would have ended in a tie if I did. Alea iacta est.
... Eh. Would have ended in a tie if I did. Alea iacta est.
Fractured Fantasy: A CK2 Style Final Fantasy quest
- Thread starter griffinlw
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy Action
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Where the Heart Is
Nora stuffed yet another piece of sushi past her lips. The spicy sort, courtesy of Bartholomew knowing her orders by heart. Savouring it, the kick, the calm, everything coming together perfectly.
Now, if only anyone had said a word since dinner began.
She glanced between Bartholomew and Hope, the former's shoulders stiff with skittish glances in Hope's direction and pleading ones in hers, and the latter having eaten at half the rate she knew of him. Barely even touched the fried ones, his favourite.
Hope may not have manifested a springloaded tension in his body like his father, but the vacant, aggravated stares at the food and the glances to her when he thought she wasn't looking spoke volumes.
She clinked her chopsticks against the platter as she reached for another piece. "So, something funny happened today at the base. You remember Sazh, the one with a chocobo chick nesting in his hair?"
Bartholomew nodded. Hope didn't budge.
"Well, I finally got him to the Synergist course on time, but since he's missed a session or two when things came up with his boy, he didn't pick up a few fundamentals." She downed the current piece of sushi, then held out her free hand, holding the chopsticks over it like a pointer. "So, as he's trying to get his enhancement spell to fire up, that little chocobo chick swoops down, hovers in front of him, little peeps and kwehs cheering him on..." She prodded the chopsticks' tip in the air. "Right in the way, so guess who got a power boost instead?"
"Oh, my." Somehow, some way, the tension left Bartholomew's shoulders.
A bright chuckle rang out from her, for the whole table's sake. "Yup! Little gal had energy to spare, zipped around, and ultimately? Sazh met his match. Floored by her flying tackle, the chick chirped over him, victory in that manic spike of power. Whole class enjoyed that one, even Dajh at the sidelines—"
"I'm not hungry."
Before she could say anything, Hope shoved out his chair and retreated to the hallway. The click of his room's door closing came shortly after.
And so did a sigh from the other end of the table. "I just don't know what to do, Nora." He held his head in one hand, though the other slid towards her. "Everything seems to get to him. He barely eats, it feels impossible to talk about anything without the fal'Cie being related somehow, and then? Point of no return." He shook his head.
Nora, for her part, laid a hand over his free one. "Let me talk to him, Lem. I might as well, while I'm here. No clue when we might get deployed, so..." She stood. As she passed him, she squeezed at his shoulder with a smile. "You'll have to figure this out, too, but it's not as impossible as it looks. ...and it starts by putting the fried pieces in their own container when putting the leftovers away. He'll be back for them, I guarantee it."
Sure enough, the thunks of a frantic search through the cabinets trailed behind her. She soon left them, though, coming to Hope's room. One knock, and she gave the magic words. "Hope? Mind if I come in? I won't be long."
Silence responded for a good several seconds. "It's open."
A smirk teased at her lips before she composed herself and walked inside. What greeted her was only to be expected. More of a mess than usual, Hope's various AMP boomerang models propped against the wall, and components making grand escapes from their boxes, all while the tinker himself sat over another boomerang at his desk. He held the tools of the omnikit tight.
"You doing alright, Hope?"
He huffed, not looking away from his work. "I'm fine! I just don't want to... Nevermind."
There it was. "Look, Hope. Much as I've been avoiding it, I don't care for the idea of eating from the same place my brand came from, either."
That stopped him in his tracks. The fine-point screwdriver he held clattered against the counter, and he turned to her, teeth gritted yet eyes wide with moisture.
"I know. It's a raw deal, but I did some thinking on it." She crossed her arms, then shrugged. "We've relied on Carbuncle all our lives, for more time than any of us will see. The only way to stop relying on it is to start fresh, and honestly? I don't know many who are even trying, save for that kid who rallied us at the Purge." She chuckled. "Rumours around Bodhum said his little gang were farming for themselves, apparently. Couldn't feed many, but it was their little way of not having to answer to the fal'Cie. Which means others can do it, too. It's just a matter of figuring it out."
His jaw finally untensed, and his gaze fell away. Those eyes flicked to and fro with an array of thoughts she couldn't begin to guess at the conclusions of, but she'd done her best. "A-Alright. I'll, uh... I'll see what's left later tonight. I'm sorry."
"So long as you take care of yourself, but anyways..." She pointed two fingers at the yellow-orange boomerang on the work table. "Seeing what you can do with that new Airwing? And here I thought you couldn't stop yourself from jamming every new improvement you could in the Hawkeye."
"That's kind of why I'm working on this one instead, actually." He gestured behind him, the purple, branchlike boomerang polished to a fine sheen. "I think I've done everything I can with it. Only one more piece and I could make it better than ever, but perovskite isn't the kind of thing you just find in a scrapyard."
"Makes sense. Hopefully that little rock will turn up after all, but until then?" She stepped behind him, laying both hands on his shoulders and leaning down. With a kiss to his head earning her a groan under his breath, she headed back to the door. "Keep up the good work, and I will, too." She made to close the door, but left it open just a crack. "Love you, Hope."
"L-Love you too, Mom."
With Hope firmly back to his tinkering, she let the door click shut, striding to the living room. As she rounded the corner, a sterile, fact-of-the-matter voice drifted through the room from the glow of a screen. Bartholomew just stared at the report from the couch, unblinking.
"...and with their most recent excursion, the reallocated Bodhum Security Regiment have made significant progress mapping the new world beneath Cocoon. In other news, multiple military directors and the Primarch himself have confirmed that Sanctum l'Cie are nearing readiness for assignment to any divisions that request their services."
"You keep making that face and it'll get stuck like that, Lem."
He jolted from his hunched posture. Bartholomew looked to her, and he willed a fragile smile onto his face. "So, then. Is Hope alright?"
Nora gave a smile without need for a front, and she lowered onto the cushion next to him. "Fine as he can be. He'll be back for his favourite, at least." She leaned towards him, and as soon as his arm wrapped around her shoulders, she settled into his chest with a warm sigh. "You should see him diving into his work. It reminds me of someone else I know. I think you know him, too."
He sighed. "That aside, how do you do it, Nora? It's terrifying just trying to start talking to him. What's your secret?"
"My secret? That's a simple one." She reached up a hand, booping him right on the nose. "I'm never sure, either. All I can do is my best. Figuring out places to start doesn't hurt, though. Things like his tinkering."
"Ah, right." He glanced down to her, his hand rubbing her shoulder. "He's been using whatever scrap he can find on that Alicanto we got him, right? How's that going?"
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it. "Oh, Lem, that was his training model. It's his Hawkeye that's more tinkering than original parts, and now he's on to the hunting model we got during the trip in Bodhum."
"An Airwing?!" He flopped his head back. "Where does the time go, Nora? How much have I missed behind a desk? Do I even—"
"Hey." She straightened up, then put a hand to his cheek, turning him towards her. "You haven't missed enough that you're too late. I know it." Her forehead pressed to his, she whispered. "It's not too late for any of us, Lem."
His eyes flitted about, reaching for any thought they could. One thought won out. He leaned in and kissed her, and they stayed like that for longer than they cared to wonder.
When they parted at last, both now laid out on the couch side-by-side, Nora spoke up. "You know, I doubt Hope's the only one feeling that apprehension about Carbuncle. For anyone whose entry fee took someone they love, the last thing they wanna do is rely on the fal'Cie. It makes you wonder: what would it take to get that up and running?"
A glint sparked in his eyes. He got that same look Hope had hearing the reality of Carbuncle earlier, and he stared up at the ceiling. "Hmm... I do wonder. Something that could even begin to approach that farming system Carbuncle manages would be nothing short of amazing, even at a smaller scale. But the materials, funding, the people to help with it..."
She held him tighter. "See, you're getting it. One step at a time, and we take it as it comes. That's all we need, and we'll all be just fine. I'm sure of it."
A few chuckles out of him, and they said nothing more. Neither could be bothered to move from their place together. In that bliss, though, her earlier words itched at the back of her mind.
"My secret? That's a simple one. I'm never sure, either."
--
Definitely not me waiting for the gap between a vote ending and a turn resolving to post a thing, nope.
Anyways, when I said I wasn't redownloading 50+ gigs of game to check things? Lied. Like a liar. I'm in the postgame now. And I've dived deep into flavour text on Hope's various boomerangs.
See, the one he starts with is, very notably, not the training model, so he already knows how to use AMP boomerangs. The Airwing is actually a sport hunting model, while the Alicanto is the training one (Stagger Lock passive), and the Hawkeye is for amateur competitions. Hope's pretty young to be this good with AMP boomerangs, which led me to the conclusion above:
They're absolutely a pastime of his and he's totally nerding out with it in his private teenage bedroom sanctuary and incidentally getting way better with AMP tech in general than any civilian reasonably could.
On a side note, "Bart" is an absolutely poisoned nickname in FF13 due to a certain recurring megalomaniac jackass, so I wound up desperately mining phonetics for literally anything else usable as a nickname for Bartholomew.
Side side note, have you ever thought about what people eat in FF13 before the centuries pass and we get confirmed food in Lightning Returns? I have. And down that way lies madness that results in making compromises like "Okay Snow did a full dogeza that one time so there's some Japanese culture injected here, and Hope's dad is an economist so they're at least middle class, thus a nice order-out dinner is sushi I guess???"
Literally the only thing anyone eats on-screen or in text on Cocoon in the first game is a single orange-coloured cocktail. Thanks, Fang. .-.
Nora stuffed yet another piece of sushi past her lips. The spicy sort, courtesy of Bartholomew knowing her orders by heart. Savouring it, the kick, the calm, everything coming together perfectly.
Now, if only anyone had said a word since dinner began.
She glanced between Bartholomew and Hope, the former's shoulders stiff with skittish glances in Hope's direction and pleading ones in hers, and the latter having eaten at half the rate she knew of him. Barely even touched the fried ones, his favourite.
Hope may not have manifested a springloaded tension in his body like his father, but the vacant, aggravated stares at the food and the glances to her when he thought she wasn't looking spoke volumes.
She clinked her chopsticks against the platter as she reached for another piece. "So, something funny happened today at the base. You remember Sazh, the one with a chocobo chick nesting in his hair?"
Bartholomew nodded. Hope didn't budge.
"Well, I finally got him to the Synergist course on time, but since he's missed a session or two when things came up with his boy, he didn't pick up a few fundamentals." She downed the current piece of sushi, then held out her free hand, holding the chopsticks over it like a pointer. "So, as he's trying to get his enhancement spell to fire up, that little chocobo chick swoops down, hovers in front of him, little peeps and kwehs cheering him on..." She prodded the chopsticks' tip in the air. "Right in the way, so guess who got a power boost instead?"
"Oh, my." Somehow, some way, the tension left Bartholomew's shoulders.
A bright chuckle rang out from her, for the whole table's sake. "Yup! Little gal had energy to spare, zipped around, and ultimately? Sazh met his match. Floored by her flying tackle, the chick chirped over him, victory in that manic spike of power. Whole class enjoyed that one, even Dajh at the sidelines—"
"I'm not hungry."
Before she could say anything, Hope shoved out his chair and retreated to the hallway. The click of his room's door closing came shortly after.
And so did a sigh from the other end of the table. "I just don't know what to do, Nora." He held his head in one hand, though the other slid towards her. "Everything seems to get to him. He barely eats, it feels impossible to talk about anything without the fal'Cie being related somehow, and then? Point of no return." He shook his head.
Nora, for her part, laid a hand over his free one. "Let me talk to him, Lem. I might as well, while I'm here. No clue when we might get deployed, so..." She stood. As she passed him, she squeezed at his shoulder with a smile. "You'll have to figure this out, too, but it's not as impossible as it looks. ...and it starts by putting the fried pieces in their own container when putting the leftovers away. He'll be back for them, I guarantee it."
Sure enough, the thunks of a frantic search through the cabinets trailed behind her. She soon left them, though, coming to Hope's room. One knock, and she gave the magic words. "Hope? Mind if I come in? I won't be long."
Silence responded for a good several seconds. "It's open."
A smirk teased at her lips before she composed herself and walked inside. What greeted her was only to be expected. More of a mess than usual, Hope's various AMP boomerang models propped against the wall, and components making grand escapes from their boxes, all while the tinker himself sat over another boomerang at his desk. He held the tools of the omnikit tight.
"You doing alright, Hope?"
He huffed, not looking away from his work. "I'm fine! I just don't want to... Nevermind."
There it was. "Look, Hope. Much as I've been avoiding it, I don't care for the idea of eating from the same place my brand came from, either."
That stopped him in his tracks. The fine-point screwdriver he held clattered against the counter, and he turned to her, teeth gritted yet eyes wide with moisture.
"I know. It's a raw deal, but I did some thinking on it." She crossed her arms, then shrugged. "We've relied on Carbuncle all our lives, for more time than any of us will see. The only way to stop relying on it is to start fresh, and honestly? I don't know many who are even trying, save for that kid who rallied us at the Purge." She chuckled. "Rumours around Bodhum said his little gang were farming for themselves, apparently. Couldn't feed many, but it was their little way of not having to answer to the fal'Cie. Which means others can do it, too. It's just a matter of figuring it out."
His jaw finally untensed, and his gaze fell away. Those eyes flicked to and fro with an array of thoughts she couldn't begin to guess at the conclusions of, but she'd done her best. "A-Alright. I'll, uh... I'll see what's left later tonight. I'm sorry."
"So long as you take care of yourself, but anyways..." She pointed two fingers at the yellow-orange boomerang on the work table. "Seeing what you can do with that new Airwing? And here I thought you couldn't stop yourself from jamming every new improvement you could in the Hawkeye."
"That's kind of why I'm working on this one instead, actually." He gestured behind him, the purple, branchlike boomerang polished to a fine sheen. "I think I've done everything I can with it. Only one more piece and I could make it better than ever, but perovskite isn't the kind of thing you just find in a scrapyard."
"Makes sense. Hopefully that little rock will turn up after all, but until then?" She stepped behind him, laying both hands on his shoulders and leaning down. With a kiss to his head earning her a groan under his breath, she headed back to the door. "Keep up the good work, and I will, too." She made to close the door, but left it open just a crack. "Love you, Hope."
"L-Love you too, Mom."
With Hope firmly back to his tinkering, she let the door click shut, striding to the living room. As she rounded the corner, a sterile, fact-of-the-matter voice drifted through the room from the glow of a screen. Bartholomew just stared at the report from the couch, unblinking.
"...and with their most recent excursion, the reallocated Bodhum Security Regiment have made significant progress mapping the new world beneath Cocoon. In other news, multiple military directors and the Primarch himself have confirmed that Sanctum l'Cie are nearing readiness for assignment to any divisions that request their services."
"You keep making that face and it'll get stuck like that, Lem."
He jolted from his hunched posture. Bartholomew looked to her, and he willed a fragile smile onto his face. "So, then. Is Hope alright?"
Nora gave a smile without need for a front, and she lowered onto the cushion next to him. "Fine as he can be. He'll be back for his favourite, at least." She leaned towards him, and as soon as his arm wrapped around her shoulders, she settled into his chest with a warm sigh. "You should see him diving into his work. It reminds me of someone else I know. I think you know him, too."
He sighed. "That aside, how do you do it, Nora? It's terrifying just trying to start talking to him. What's your secret?"
"My secret? That's a simple one." She reached up a hand, booping him right on the nose. "I'm never sure, either. All I can do is my best. Figuring out places to start doesn't hurt, though. Things like his tinkering."
"Ah, right." He glanced down to her, his hand rubbing her shoulder. "He's been using whatever scrap he can find on that Alicanto we got him, right? How's that going?"
A laugh escaped her before she could stop it. "Oh, Lem, that was his training model. It's his Hawkeye that's more tinkering than original parts, and now he's on to the hunting model we got during the trip in Bodhum."
"An Airwing?!" He flopped his head back. "Where does the time go, Nora? How much have I missed behind a desk? Do I even—"
"Hey." She straightened up, then put a hand to his cheek, turning him towards her. "You haven't missed enough that you're too late. I know it." Her forehead pressed to his, she whispered. "It's not too late for any of us, Lem."
His eyes flitted about, reaching for any thought they could. One thought won out. He leaned in and kissed her, and they stayed like that for longer than they cared to wonder.
When they parted at last, both now laid out on the couch side-by-side, Nora spoke up. "You know, I doubt Hope's the only one feeling that apprehension about Carbuncle. For anyone whose entry fee took someone they love, the last thing they wanna do is rely on the fal'Cie. It makes you wonder: what would it take to get that up and running?"
A glint sparked in his eyes. He got that same look Hope had hearing the reality of Carbuncle earlier, and he stared up at the ceiling. "Hmm... I do wonder. Something that could even begin to approach that farming system Carbuncle manages would be nothing short of amazing, even at a smaller scale. But the materials, funding, the people to help with it..."
She held him tighter. "See, you're getting it. One step at a time, and we take it as it comes. That's all we need, and we'll all be just fine. I'm sure of it."
A few chuckles out of him, and they said nothing more. Neither could be bothered to move from their place together. In that bliss, though, her earlier words itched at the back of her mind.
"My secret? That's a simple one. I'm never sure, either."
--
Definitely not me waiting for the gap between a vote ending and a turn resolving to post a thing, nope.
Anyways, when I said I wasn't redownloading 50+ gigs of game to check things? Lied. Like a liar. I'm in the postgame now. And I've dived deep into flavour text on Hope's various boomerangs.
See, the one he starts with is, very notably, not the training model, so he already knows how to use AMP boomerangs. The Airwing is actually a sport hunting model, while the Alicanto is the training one (Stagger Lock passive), and the Hawkeye is for amateur competitions. Hope's pretty young to be this good with AMP boomerangs, which led me to the conclusion above:
They're absolutely a pastime of his and he's totally nerding out with it in his private teenage bedroom sanctuary and incidentally getting way better with AMP tech in general than any civilian reasonably could.
On a side note, "Bart" is an absolutely poisoned nickname in FF13 due to a certain recurring megalomaniac jackass, so I wound up desperately mining phonetics for literally anything else usable as a nickname for Bartholomew.
Side side note, have you ever thought about what people eat in FF13 before the centuries pass and we get confirmed food in Lightning Returns? I have. And down that way lies madness that results in making compromises like "Okay Snow did a full dogeza that one time so there's some Japanese culture injected here, and Hope's dad is an economist so they're at least middle class, thus a nice order-out dinner is sushi I guess???"
Literally the only thing anyone eats on-screen or in text on Cocoon in the first game is a single orange-coloured cocktail. Thanks, Fang. .-.
Awh. Did all this start from when Nora volunteered herself as l'cie, or do you think Hope's always had a strained relationship with his father?
Well done on the research, by the way! No, I haven't thought about that before, and I salute you for looking into it.
Well done on the research, by the way! No, I haven't thought about that before, and I salute you for looking into it.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hope had a somewhat teenage angst reaction to Nora's wish that Bartholomew could be with them on the Bodhum trip during The Thirteen Days, but it was mostly limited to the fact that Bartholomew is behind a desk so often he's rarely around for things that feel important to a young teen.
So I'd say yeah, already strained, though processing the existential dread of your mom having acquired magic crystal cancer via terrible circumstances and still having to eat food from the thing that cancer'd her is likely not helping.
It's amazing what you can wring out of these characters when they aren't shot dead in the opening and are given time to breathe. -glares at FF13's writers-
Jokes aside, it's a lovely bit of slice of life with a bit of Drama. You even solved the problem of "what do people on Cocoon eat?" Maybe they should have had a data-log on cuisine? You can also tell that you've put some thought into it, because you bring up Hope's boomerangs, including specific models and their uses. I'll give you a nice 5 QP for this one
Escape From Midgar- Boss Battle Turn 4
Turn 3 Results
Shadow Throws a Vanish Scroll at Aerith!
Aerith Vanishes!
Zidane spends 4 MP to cast Tidal Flame!
D100= 80+ 40= 120
Roche takes 12 damage! B I K E takes 8 damage!
Aerith spends 5 MP to summon Shiva!
Shiva casts Diamond Dust!: d100= 65 +34= 99
Roche takes 9 damage! B I K E takes 10 damage!
Ice covers the battlefield! Roche's Speed Demon Trait is disabled!
Vaan spends 2 HP to use Bone Crusher on Roche!
Bone Crusher: 23+ 25+10= 58
BIKE Covers for Roche! Bike takes -9- 4 damage! Silence Infliction roll 1d4=3. Silence is not inflicted.
Roche unleashes his special move, Combustion Sword! Aerith is unavailable, so his focus switches to Zidane!
Roche: Combustion Sword: 90+ 38= 128
Zidane's Defense: 32+ 27+10= 69
Zidane takes 7 damage! The flame spreads!
Shadow's Defense: 94+ 26= 120
Shadow evades the attack with Interceptor's aid!
Vaan's Defense: 60+27= 87
Vaan takes 3 damage from the spreading flame!
Tantalus attempts to shove the B I K E!
D100= 23+ 27+ 10= 60
Bare Failure.
Roche Retreats from the battle!
B I K E Retreats from the battle!
Aerith Vanishes!
Zidane spends 4 MP to cast Tidal Flame!
D100= 80+ 40= 120
Roche takes 12 damage! B I K E takes 8 damage!
Aerith spends 5 MP to summon Shiva!
Shiva casts Diamond Dust!: d100= 65 +34= 99
Roche takes 9 damage! B I K E takes 10 damage!
Ice covers the battlefield! Roche's Speed Demon Trait is disabled!
Vaan spends 2 HP to use Bone Crusher on Roche!
Bone Crusher: 23+ 25+10= 58
BIKE Covers for Roche! Bike takes -9- 4 damage! Silence Infliction roll 1d4=3. Silence is not inflicted.
Roche unleashes his special move, Combustion Sword! Aerith is unavailable, so his focus switches to Zidane!
Roche: Combustion Sword: 90+ 38= 128
Zidane's Defense: 32+ 27+10= 69
Zidane takes 7 damage! The flame spreads!
Shadow's Defense: 94+ 26= 120
Shadow evades the attack with Interceptor's aid!
Vaan's Defense: 60+27= 87
Vaan takes 3 damage from the spreading flame!
Tantalus attempts to shove the B I K E!
D100= 23+ 27+ 10= 60
Bare Failure.
Roche Retreats from the battle!
B I K E Retreats from the battle!
Shadow silently tosses a scroll at your feet, and in a puff of smoke, you vanish.
Sort of.
You were still there, obviously, but your entire body became fuzzy, and your silhouette was blurred, blending into the background in a way that made you hard to see. Not quite invisible, but hidden at the very least.
Roche lunges at Zidane, dragging his flaming sword through the hull of the Prima Vista as he does so. The young thief responds by manifesting a semi-circle of runes between him and Roche. A moment later, a massive wave of flame erupts from the runes and washes over the SOLDIER and his Bike.
Roche howls in pain as the flames strike him, his expression twisted in agony. But he maintains his forward momentum and manages to cut Zidane deeply with a flaming slash. The slash extends far beyond the reach of his sword, a narrow brand of flame that manages to nick Vaan, while Shadow deftly avoids it.
"Shiva!" You call, pouring all of your energy into her magicite. She answers your call near instantly, the queen of ice towering over the battlefield. Her lip curls in disgust as her eyes flick over the battlefield, and she raises her hands.
In an instant, the SOLDIER is shoved back by a colossal blizzard. Jagged shards of ice rip and tear against his clothes, blood drips from his wounds and hits the ground as red ice. The Bike can't weather the storm either, sounding like a thin metal roof being pounded by rain as chunks of its armor peel off from the wind and ice.
"Oh hello~" Zidane's injury was immediately forgotten as he stared appreciatively at the summon. Shadow elbows him.
You break the connection and allow Shiva to vanish at the first hint of a chill against your hands. It would be difficult for you to fight if your hands were frost-bitten.
By the time the storm ends, Roche looks like he's in rough shape. He's cut up and bleeding, his skin is turning an interesting shade of blue, and he's breathing heavily. When he goes to step back, he nearly slips on the slick ice.
Vaan spies an opportunity and barrels forward, turning his body into a battering ram as he charges forward. The Bike suddenly revvs up and veers in front of him. The armored boot that would have tried to shatter Roche's knee instead collided with the body of the Bike, snapping off a few brittle segments of metal but failing to damage everything vital.
"PUSH!" Baku, Blank, Marcus, and Cinna all leap from under the stage and slam into the Bike, sending it skidding against the ice. For a moment the group of performers and the Bike both struggle to gain purchase as they slip against the ice and attempt to dig in.
Suddenly, the resistance gives out, the men of Tantalus all stumbling forward as the machine shot backwards over the railing and off the ship. A second later, Roche joined his bike, leaping off the edge.
There was a short, stunned moment of silence before a cheer erupted from Tantalus. Vaan quickly joined in, and a moment later, so did you. You managed to send a SOLDIER and JENOVA running, that was no easy feat.
Then you heard the crunch.
It sounded like metal and wood buckling under pressure. It sounded like when Scarlet's machines malfunctioned, components grinding and shattering against each other before the whole thing crumbled into inert scrap.
The whole ship shuddered. Shadow ran to the edge, intent on seeing what he could see, but you didn't have to see to know.
It wasn't over.
"SHADOW! AWAY FROM THE EDGE!" Your warning comes just in time as a red metal blur hauls itself over the edge, coming within inches of crushing the Ninja as he darts away.
The mechanical monstrosity had morphed dramatically. Excess metal to the sides had been converted into arms ending in bladed appendages. Plates were shifting and bending unnaturally, something slithering beneath the metal like a worm beneath a rock.
Where the rider should have been was a hunched figure covered in metal plates, unnaturally stiff and with glowing green eyes. The figure, which you assume was once Roche, was connected to the main body by a mess of wires and pipes.
An unholy mix of blood, oil, and mako drips from gaps in the plates, with the largest split at the front, looking like an open jaw salivating at the thought of a juicy meal. The headlights flickered green, and you couldn't help but think of them as eyes.
But despite its fearsome appearance, you aren't afraid anymore. For one reason, you can see the cracks. The leaking mako and broken armor plates show that the beast is wounded. The other reason...
You're Angry. Angry that this demon from the past keeps coming back over and over again. Hate isn't an emotion that comes easily to you, but you hate JENOVA with every fiber of your being.
It's time you showed her that.
Boss Battle: Escape From Midgar Turn 4
Party Condition
Aerith: 9/11 HP, 6/13 MP Condition: VanishShadow: 12/12 HP, 0/0 MP
Zidane: 5/12 HP, 4/8 MP Condition: Trance
Vaan: 7/12 HP, 4/6 MP
Shared Condition: Lion Dance: +10 to all Martial rolls.
Boss Condition
SPEED DEMON: HP: ??/?? 2 Attacks per turnEvade DC: 40
Liba: Weak to Thunder. Resists physical attacks
[Full Throttle!: SPEED DEMON revvs up and steals the initiative!]
Potion [x3]: Restores 5 HP
Antidote [x3]: Cures the Poison condition
Smelling Salt [x2]: Cures the Confused condition
Ether [x2]: Restores 5 MP
Echo Herb [x1]: Cures the Silence condition.
Phoenix Down [x2]: Revives a Downed ally.
Attack Items
Shuriken [x5]: Can be used with the Throw command to attack with +10 accuracy and +1 Damage.
Fire Scroll [x1]: Can be used with the Throw command to deal Fire elemental damage using Intrigue instead of Magic. [Total Damage: 8]
Antidote [x3]: Cures the Poison condition
Smelling Salt [x2]: Cures the Confused condition
Ether [x2]: Restores 5 MP
Echo Herb [x1]: Cures the Silence condition.
Phoenix Down [x2]: Revives a Downed ally.
Attack Items
Shuriken [x5]: Can be used with the Throw command to attack with +10 accuracy and +1 Damage.
Fire Scroll [x1]: Can be used with the Throw command to deal Fire elemental damage using Intrigue instead of Magic. [Total Damage: 8]
What Will Aerith Do?
Aerith's emotions reach their peak. Limit Break!- Healing Wind [Limit Break]: If you can't stop her from hurting them, you'll stop the injuries from sticking. Burns, broken bones, slash wounds, you'll heal it all and watch her work be undone. [Restore 50% of every ally's max HP, and restore most status effects.]
- Seal Evil [Limit Break]: Stop her dead in her tracks and hold her there. Sap her terrible strength and render her helpless. [Automatically inflict Stop on all enemies for 1 turn, and Silence on all enemies for 3 turns.]
- Fury Brand [Limit Break]: Even now, your nature prevents you from turning your fury into an attack. But your allies have no such limitation. [Rather than perform a limit break yourself, pick 1 ally to perform their limit break, as well as gain the Fury status. If the chosen ally does not have a limit break, they will perform their most powerful attack at no cost to them instead.]
- Do Something Clever: [Write In]
What Will Shadow Do?
- Attack: What kind of machine is this? This is nothing like Magitek Armor...
- Reposition Interceptor [Free Action]: Your beloved guard dog can only defend a single person at a time, but his defense is well appreciated.
- Defend: This thing is covered head to toe in armor plating and angry. Just fall back. [When defending, roll 2 dice and take the highest. However, when winning a contested check while defending, you will not deal damage even if you win a contested check]
- Throw Attack Item: You've got about 5 Shuriken and a homemade Fire Scroll. Both can deal some serious damage if you can land the shot. [Uses Shuriken or Fire Scroll. You have 5 Shuriken, and 1 Fire Scroll.]
- Item: Use an item from your supplies
- Do Something Clever: [Write In]
What Will Zidane Do?
- Attack: What the hell-?
- Protect Girls [Free Action]: It doesn't matter if you're nursing a burning slash wound; you want Aerith to stay safe. [Zidane will defend Aerith from physical attacks even if her HP is above 50%]
- Free Energy: Armored or not, you should be able to punch through. [Costs 2 MP. Ignores damage resistance]
- Tidal Flame: The man before didn't seem to like the fire, but would the machine care? [Costs 4 MP. Attacks all enemies with Fire]
- Item: Use an item from your supplies
- Do Something Clever: [Write In]
What Will Vaan Do?
- Attack: Really wish you had more than a knife right now...
- Steal Breath: It's made of solid metal; it doesn't even breathe! [Costs 1 MP]
- Defend: Attacking seems more likely to get you hurt than deal any real damage. Just hold the line! [When defending, roll 2 dice and take the highest. However, when winning a contested check while defending, you will not deal damage even if you win a contested check]
- Bone Crusher: Kicking the bike before really, really hurt... But you broke something off. If you hit it again... [Costs 2 HP]
- Item: Use an item from your supplies
- Do Something Clever: [Write In]
What Will The Others Do?
Tantalus is in disarray!- Swap Dances [Free Action]: Angea is currently enhancing martial with Lion Dance. If necessary, she can swap to Peacock strut to enhance magic instead. [Agnea will perform Lion Dance, boosting the party's Martial rolls by 10 points, or Peacock Strut, boosting Magic rolls by 10 points. Only one dance can be active at a time.]
You know the drill by now, moratorium, time to discuss, so on and so on.
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- Location
- Three feet to the left
- Pronouns
- He/They
Oh, boy. Second phase!
So I may have lied a little about the bike being a bike~
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvHLGPpkO0
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvHLGPpkO0
You and me both!
- Location
- Somewhere in the area
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Would Aerith's Seal Evil proc before or after SPEED DEMON'S Full Throttle? That would greatly affect any plan.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Say, it's an odd question and possibly a completely irrelevant one but did the Bike get Silenced from this? It looks like there wasn't a roll for it and I'm not sure if it even could (or if it would carry over), but it seems at least some degree of damage carried over.
Also, did Interceptor default back to Shadow without repeating the order to cover Zidane? And if so, does that mean Interceptor got another attack off (which also may not really matter given the transformation into SPEED DEMON)?
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After. Full Throttle gives SPEED DEMON priority. There's more nuance to it than that, but I can't explain without spoiling it.
It would not have mattered, as the conversion to SPEED DEMON did purge the status effects of it's components (notice it doesn't have Sap, even though Roche did.) But for the sake of completeness, I did roll a d4. It was a 3. So no Silence today.
I did default Interceptor back to Shadow; he is his master, after all. I didn't think that Interceptor would counterattack since Shadow wasn't the main target. He basically almost took splash damage in the form of a flaming sword beam. Can't exactly retaliate against that.
I suppose for completeness' sake, I should probably write a line about Interceptor's counter attack failing and Silence failing to proc.
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Sirrocco
Pedantic
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly, this looks like a really *good* time for Healing Wind. It'll heal 13 total HP, and bring everyone back up to full, except for Zidane who will only be down by one.
Oh, and does Speed Demon have anything new to steal, or is it running on Roche's original inventory (and thus tapped out)
Oh, and does Speed Demon have anything new to steal, or is it running on Roche's original inventory (and thus tapped out)
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Vocalist
Verdant Maiden in Violet
- Location
- By a Cedar Tree
Hee hee. You know, I'm glad to see that even in a chaotic scene with lots of characters, they keep their distinctive personalities.
Oh? They retreated? ...Why did the bike leave first, without the rider?
Yeah! Sure, Roche will probably report back about Aerith and Tantalus being behind the prison break, so Shinra will start hunting for them - but we're home free for today, and being hunted by Shinra is nothing new for Aerith, so I'm sure we can deal--
AAAAAAAH
Okay, so that's not good! That's really not good!
Yeah, I think Vaan is a little out of his league here; it's time to swap him out for Steiner--
Oh damn it!
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It seems that if we're going for Seal Evil we'll need to play it defensively but the free turn will be much appreciated... We don't know this thing's stats or attacks and Zidane can't defend. Even if we go for Mass Heal we're still moving after Speed Demon so we won't be topped. That's kinda a pinch.
Probably won't be popular but alas.
[] Plan: Buying Time
- [] Aerith: Seal Evil
- [] Zidane: Free Energy
- [] Shadow: Throw Shuriken and Reposition Interceptor to cover for Zidane (Free Action)
- [] Vaan: Defend
Yes very lazy plan but I believe it's also the one that will pay us back next turn.
Probably won't be popular but alas.
[] Plan: Buying Time
- [] Aerith: Seal Evil
- [] Zidane: Free Energy
- [] Shadow: Throw Shuriken and Reposition Interceptor to cover for Zidane (Free Action)
- [] Vaan: Defend
Yes very lazy plan but I believe it's also the one that will pay us back next turn.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Lol, thanks Shadow.
Well, the fact that he's still out there in kinda worrying, as he will likely come back for Aerith eventually, but at least for now we are safe and soun-
OH SHIT IT HAS A SECOND PHASE!
Ok, so at least it isn't fully healed. Maybe we can end this in the next turn if we do enough damage.
Hmmm. I'm torn between healing wind and sealing evil. Zidane and Vaan both could really use the hp, but inflicting Stop on the thing would be of great help to us.
Nice! We should probably be able to--
Uh. Oh. Okay. Well! Combat over, good job, every--
... Oh. Oh geez. That doesn't sound pleasant. Well.
Anyways, I think I'd like to play safe with [Healing Wind] the most myself, but [Seal Evil] is funny and has synergy with our current Vanish status, so just on a shenaniganry level, that looks more fun to do.
what do you think of this plan? see below for specifics
[]plan: Gear Shift
-[]Seal Evil [Limit Break]
-[]item (potion on Vann), Reposition Interceptor to Vaan [Free Action]
-[]Free Energy
-[]bone crusher
-[] panic, (presumably)
oh
...oooh
at first i thought they'd die from falling at a great hight which while not perfect(Shinra would get some info from seeing corpse, like the fact that we had reason to fight (like being criminals, perhaps?), and that JENOVA matter is still around for people to run into and have problems with) would have been good enough (they'd be dead so less independent action)
however, looks like we're going for all the marbles right now!
strategy notes: we're getting to the end, which changes things a bunch both Vann and Zidane need heals but shadow still has HP/there's other stuff to do, Roche+Bike's probably going to go first in the turn order with them Full Throttle/Revving up, and based on text Vaan's bone crusher seems like a relevant move to use while shadow's not too relevant here (no vitals to target)
maybe Aerith would be best off using her Seal Evil [Limit Break] here? if it works it should give us a breather and to continue chipping away/letting us recover from the blitz that Bike's probably going to do first thing next time (they have high initiative according to the full throttle condition)
note that i'm fairly sure Roche+Bike's going first this round so we wouldn't be able to top up on health before it, but if Seal Evil succeeds then stop status should let us freely heal before they deal damage again, so it wouldn't be any worse than healing ASAP? (it not with our limit break, with Cura) so no reason not to restrain them, right?
(if we can drag this fight out with little consequence to us(using Seal evil to waste their action more or less?) then next turn Tantalus will have their action back putting us in a better spot. maybe them using SFX then would be good? Roche is currently not very sane at all, probably (relatively) on guard due to low HP, and having seen us throw out a whole bunch of nonsense already? from his perspective we probably have no reason not to throw out something massive as a finishing move, either.
shadow spending their action to give Vaan a potion could be useful, i'd imagine he gets pretty seriously hurt but if he's not emptied out then more HP would keep him in the game for the final few turns (we should be fine if he faints dealing damage with a bone crusher the next turn, since that should be enough to finish the fight unless Roche+Bike has significantly more HP now).
Shadow should also send out Interceptor, since he's full HP and others aren't (though not sure who's best, and admittedly a dog might not be too helpful here?)
Zidane doesn't have a clear strong pick, so probably best to use free energy for it's damage piercing. Tidal Flame *may* be good but if he uses that now he'd be out of MP (so probs more efficient to be able to use Free energy twice, saves from having to spend an action chugging an Ether? i don't anticipate this fight taking much longer, so if it's just 2-3 more rounds then there's probs not much need/point to restore MP when the action would be better spent healing others/physically attacking? in which case being able to stretch what mana Zidane has for longer would be better?)
(plus if we really want to use fire, there's still Shadow's scroll)
as mentioned before Vaan should probs keep up their Bone Crusher even if it's risky. note that he goes last in the turn order so this will be after someone gives him a potion so no worries about it dropping his HP (more will be restored than is taken away), and if Aerith's casting Seal Evil then next turn Roche should be under Stop so there's no worry about being taken out either? plus if afterwards Tantalus succeeds with SFX we still should be free to use his HP aggressively, which is great to try and finish the fight off (and who doesn't love a non-lethal heroic sacrifice?)
overall, I'm pretty set on prioritising Seal evil/Vann casting bone crusher, so someone healing Vann is probs required. that said, it can be either Shadow or Zidane, really? just think Shadow doing so is probs better since they're *not* on limit break right now. we can always save the fire scroll for next round? plus stuff might blow up which could have collateral damage lol
though this is assuming nobody's KOed by Roche+Bike, if they do this plan doesn't really apply?
i'm not sure how to add a situational contingency into plans but if that's the case it may be best for shadow to use a Phoenix down on someone instead? whoether's knocked out, if it's both of them Zidane assuming they keep the Trance state. if not then Vaan?
(Vann should also not cast bone crusher if it'd KO them, though being left on 1 HP is fine, we might be healing next turn anyhow?)
if we're stunning Roche and next turn we can pull SFX they should be fine at low HP for a bit? so i feel like Phoenix downs are best here, assuming backups
[]plan: Gear Shift
-[]Seal Evil [Limit Break]
-[]item (potion on Vann), Reposition Interceptor to Vaan [Free Action]
-[]Free Energy
-[]bone crusher
-[] panic, (presumably)
great DPS this turn, but sadly looks like it wasn't enough? rip, Roche and their horse are going to be a reoccurring threat or leverage their position to reveal info on us/incite a war, i really wanted to get them off the boar-CRUNCH!
oh
...oooh
at first i thought they'd die from falling at a great hight which while not perfect(Shinra would get some info from seeing corpse, like the fact that we had reason to fight (like being criminals, perhaps?), and that JENOVA matter is still around for people to run into and have problems with) would have been good enough (they'd be dead so less independent action)
however, looks like we're going for all the marbles right now!
strategy notes: we're getting to the end, which changes things a bunch both Vann and Zidane need heals but shadow still has HP/there's other stuff to do, Roche+Bike's probably going to go first in the turn order with them Full Throttle/Revving up, and based on text Vaan's bone crusher seems like a relevant move to use while shadow's not too relevant here (no vitals to target)
maybe Aerith would be best off using her Seal Evil [Limit Break] here? if it works it should give us a breather and to continue chipping away/letting us recover from the blitz that Bike's probably going to do first thing next time (they have high initiative according to the full throttle condition)
note that i'm fairly sure Roche+Bike's going first this round so we wouldn't be able to top up on health before it, but if Seal Evil succeeds then stop status should let us freely heal before they deal damage again, so it wouldn't be any worse than healing ASAP? (it not with our limit break, with Cura) so no reason not to restrain them, right?
(if we can drag this fight out with little consequence to us(using Seal evil to waste their action more or less?) then next turn Tantalus will have their action back putting us in a better spot. maybe them using SFX then would be good? Roche is currently not very sane at all, probably (relatively) on guard due to low HP, and having seen us throw out a whole bunch of nonsense already? from his perspective we probably have no reason not to throw out something massive as a finishing move, either.
shadow spending their action to give Vaan a potion could be useful, i'd imagine he gets pretty seriously hurt but if he's not emptied out then more HP would keep him in the game for the final few turns (we should be fine if he faints dealing damage with a bone crusher the next turn, since that should be enough to finish the fight unless Roche+Bike has significantly more HP now).
Shadow should also send out Interceptor, since he's full HP and others aren't (though not sure who's best, and admittedly a dog might not be too helpful here?)
Zidane doesn't have a clear strong pick, so probably best to use free energy for it's damage piercing. Tidal Flame *may* be good but if he uses that now he'd be out of MP (so probs more efficient to be able to use Free energy twice, saves from having to spend an action chugging an Ether? i don't anticipate this fight taking much longer, so if it's just 2-3 more rounds then there's probs not much need/point to restore MP when the action would be better spent healing others/physically attacking? in which case being able to stretch what mana Zidane has for longer would be better?)
(plus if we really want to use fire, there's still Shadow's scroll)
as mentioned before Vaan should probs keep up their Bone Crusher even if it's risky. note that he goes last in the turn order so this will be after someone gives him a potion so no worries about it dropping his HP (more will be restored than is taken away), and if Aerith's casting Seal Evil then next turn Roche should be under Stop so there's no worry about being taken out either? plus if afterwards Tantalus succeeds with SFX we still should be free to use his HP aggressively, which is great to try and finish the fight off (and who doesn't love a non-lethal heroic sacrifice?)
overall, I'm pretty set on prioritising Seal evil/Vann casting bone crusher, so someone healing Vann is probs required. that said, it can be either Shadow or Zidane, really? just think Shadow doing so is probs better since they're *not* on limit break right now. we can always save the fire scroll for next round? plus stuff might blow up which could have collateral damage lol
though this is assuming nobody's KOed by Roche+Bike, if they do this plan doesn't really apply?
i'm not sure how to add a situational contingency into plans but if that's the case it may be best for shadow to use a Phoenix down on someone instead? whoether's knocked out, if it's both of them Zidane assuming they keep the Trance state. if not then Vaan?
(Vann should also not cast bone crusher if it'd KO them, though being left on 1 HP is fine, we might be healing next turn anyhow?)
if we're stunning Roche and next turn we can pull SFX they should be fine at low HP for a bit? so i feel like Phoenix downs are best here, assuming backups
that's just the sort of cool stunt you do when you have a sentient bike
AweStriker
Mobocracy
- Location
- Wherever He Wants
I think I've got a different set of questions: Why are we immediately writing off Fury Brand? It's not useful on Zidane, certainly, on account of him already being in Trance, but… I don't think we actually know whether Shadow has access to Shadow Fang (which apparently deals magic damage in FFVI? wouldn't have thought that) or Vaan has access to Quickening.
It's true that from a utility perspective we've got to deal with SPEED DEMON's two priority actions, though. Out of the other two, Seal Evil trusts the rest of the party to stay up, and Healing Wind… doesn't, so it's a tough call.
It's true that from a utility perspective we've got to deal with SPEED DEMON's two priority actions, though. Out of the other two, Seal Evil trusts the rest of the party to stay up, and Healing Wind… doesn't, so it's a tough call.
Fury brand could be an option but everyone else has decent offense already, so what we really need is something defensive probs?
Does healing wind apply to anyone that got knocked out? description doesn't say it revives them so unsure...
If someone gets knocked out and not healed that could cause the action to be pretty wasted, right?
*Whistles* That's a lot of damage we did there. We pretty much undid the Exilir in a single turn.
Also. Ow. Ultimates hurt.
Annoying that they could just run away like that but a win is a wi-
...Oh. You really want us dead huh?
Fine by me! It saves us the trouble of hunting you down later!
Do everyone a favor and stay dead this time.
Both really expect our party to stay up. Because of Speed Demon's Priority Heal from Aerith will come after the new damage is already dealt. And if there's one thing true in jRPGs is that healing does not work on people knocked down. Honestly the Choice between Healing Wind and Seal Evil comes down to whether or not we want to Prepare for a longer fight (Healing Wind will mostly put us back in the similar spot possibly negating the Speed Demon's turn) or do we gamble on having enough firepower to take it down next turn when it can't move. Honestly I will edit my plan with Shadow throwing Shuriken to at least add in some extra chip damage since he's the least likely to kick the bucket so defending is less needed for him