a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance

[simulsimul]

universe list
canon
breached
confessed
dadly
future
grigori
mercenary
MEover
origin
reversal
titans


scenario list
canon: Kratos needs to stop running off
confessed: wing reflex
confessed: actual wingpull
confessed: turning Renegade
confessed: son meets father
dadliness: confrontation
dadliness: awakening
dadliness: illness
dadliness: a fundamental lack of understanding on the word 'abducted'
dadliness: updating parameters
dadliness: assassination assignation
mercenary: hiding in the library
mercenary: aftermath of librarian saviour
reversal: oracle destroyed
titans: storming the tower
titans: safety in the canyon
titans: night horrors


canon
- combo of Kratos and Zelos ending
- Zelos does the stupid thing, but not so far as his death, and is still the eighth member of the party to Derris-Kharlan.

scenarios
scenario one: Yuan tracks Kratos down at Dirk's.


breached
- canon right up until after Botta’s death
- no one uses Yuan’s name around Mithos so Mithos walks right into the Triet base with them
- cue an epic OH SHIT in which Yuan gets a lil bit beat up while covering the evacuation of the rest of the base
- until Kratos appears to intervene and have the Chosen group get Yuan out of there
- Mithos gets Kratos tho and he’s a bit mad cos, yanno, traitor and all
- time to be locked up and punished and need to be rescued
- kind of puts a crimp in the creation of the Eternal Ring plans
- mostly cos Mithos turns Kratos lifeless, with some armour to regulate his mana so he remains a seraph. can't have the seal becoming less powerful, yo
- it does mean he can only obey orders tho
- the first rescue fails miserably but at least no one dies and they know they need to reforge his key-crest
- the second rescue attempt (circumstances of canon-point under percolation) goes a little better, though Yuan almost gets killed by Kratos trying to attach the key-crest
- luckily that and the first telepathy in a while gets through and Kratos manages to break out a la Colette, and heal Yuan enough for Raine to get there
- after which, angreh father-son beatdown on Mithos.

scenarios
None yet.


confessed
- almost successful assassination lands Kratos as an injured stranger in Iselia (1-2 years pre-canon)
- recuperation leads to accidental-on-purpose 'holiday' in Iselia
- doubts result in a request for Dirk to make a key-crest like Kratos' own
- oracle room undergoes some stealth sabotage
- regeneration journey is slightly delayed, prompted by Genis and Lloyd being discovered at the ranch
- Triet is awkward. so very awkward. for the Renegades -- whose side is Kratos even on these days and why was he vanished for two years?
- initial overall journey similar to canon, save that Kratos is a bit less circumspect about advising Colette on how to cope with angel transformations
- there are more overt Dun Wanna Feelings
- then Luin, wherein things happen and the group is in town during the Desian attack. the others naturally want to fight but tis a mite difficult against an army and building-destroying magitech. luckily, angel on their side. unluckily, wingpulls in order to muster the power to cover the townspeoples' retreat
- questions and confessions ensue
- Colette rejects the key crest (for the moment) so there's still hopefully maybe ambiguity about Kratos's position re the last seal
- it wouldn't fit anyway, it's modelled for the hand like Kratos's is because he was a derp and did not specify otherwise, so Lloyd needs to make a thing to make it fit
- slow protective retreat toward Asgard.

scenarios
scenario one: Kratos confesses before Salvation; Raine wants to follow up.
scenario two: Raine's examination of an angel; and also Kratos realises how far he's put his foot in it.
scenario three: Kratos goes to taunt Yuan a little, and also ask for his help.
scenario four: in which Raine makes Kratos tell the children all the things, and Yuan takes too much amusement from it.


dadliness
- Kratos retires in Iselia under the name Irving to raise Lloyd after the death of his wife
- no exsphere. ageing occurs! so does a beard and a braid
- teaches Lloyd swordplay, but on the sly, to avoid the other villagers noticing. his daytime job is weaving
- Lloyd finds the box of their exspheres and wants details. after some prodding by Dirk, Kratos explains how exspheres are made and that one is Anna's life. Lloyd is too young yet, but when Lloyd comes of age (~15) Kratos lets him make his own decision re wearing it
- Lloyd chooses not to wear the exsphere
- Genis befriends Marble and Lloyd meets her, as in canon; this happens before the journey begins, with the fallout
- difference being that Colette is still in the village so they can't be too horrible, so they just demand Lloyd be turned over for a flogging
- Kratos stands in his stead because natch. luckily, they're only mooks and don't recognise the bearded weaver as anyone important
- gives Lloyd his guilt complex early tho
- the oracle happens much the same way except Botta doesn't quite recognise the weirdly familiar bearded swordsman
- he does when he's reporting to Yuan tho
      'there was an exceptionally skilled human'
      /brief physical description/
      /did x other faintly recognizable thing/
      and both he and Yuan are aware that Kratos has been awol for a while, so there's a moment of pure silence and dawning 'no, it couldn't be'
- but then obviously one of them has to go make sure
- cue an interruption just out of Triet.

scenarios
scenario one: Yuan feels the need to investigate; this results in Kratos injured and abducted.
scenario two: Yuan realises he can't kill Kratos with his own two hands; Kratos gets mothered.
scenario three: Kratos gets sick on the heels of his recovery. Yuan mothers him some more. Botta disapproves.
scenario four: Kratos recovers and makes an escape attempt. Sort-of.
scenario five: Kratos recovers more and talks to Botta, when not needling Yuan about his lack of preparedness.
scenario six: Sheena's contract takes a slight shift into undercover instead of assassination work.


future
- Aselia is Earth ~10,000 years in the past
- all is peachy-keen except the tree is now underground and the elvens/half-elves/some humans are in hiding in the centre of the planet, hidden thanks to the summon spirits
- Colette is working with humanitarian aid in various impoverished nations
- Zelos is a diplomat in West Asia / Middle East trying to keep the peace
- Yuan is a crotchety lecturer at Cambridge who's also HUGE into environmentalism
- Lloyd and Kratos are having family time in space
- occasionally the trio on Earth meet reincarnations of people they used to know
- but rarely at the same time and almost never in a position where they meet
- but then they start meeting them
- lots of them
- all in the same span of years
- they're starting to think something's hinky
- until the space-elves attack
- and then they know something is hinky.


scenarios
None yet.


grigori
- at some point significantly before canon, Kratos actually calls it quits
- the Church's institution calls him a fallen angel of vengeance
- really he's just going around trying to help people and avoiding being taken back to Cruxis
- assigns himself to the Chosen parties whenever he can, up to Colette
- ????? idk some kind of profit somewhere

scenarios
None yet.


mercenary
- when Yuan visits Kratos at the beach when Lloyd is 3 months old, he does not manage to escape before Anna and Lloyd return
- accidental attachment to this kidlet who likes pulling his hair
- three years later, Yuan can't stand to hold back while Kratos fights Kvar, so he throws caution to the wind to help
- Anna is still killed but they rescue Lloyd and Noishe and both are branded as traitors
- Lloyd is raised as a Renegade with Dad, Uncle Yuan and the extremely reticent Uncle Botta (how dare)
- meanwhile in Tethe'alla Yuan infiltrates the castle as the library archivist
- stays out of sight, mostly, but has a good ear around the politics thanks to recruiting Princess Hilda
- also happens to stumble on Zelos hiding in the library right after his mother's death
- look he's got a 'nephew' he can't just do nothing (even if all he meant was to recommend a book)
- unwittingly accidentally 'adopts' the Tethe'allan Chosen by virtue of being the only one who doesn't treat him like the Chosen
- sometimes Kratos brings Lloyd to visit and basically they're all separate pairs of exasperated bros
- by canon Lloyd and Kratos are wandering mercenaries, helping people on the sly while gathering intel to send back to the Renegades
- Yuan and Zelos are actively building resistance to the Church using inside knowledge
- the ninja are all Renegades
- Colette is escorted by Raine and by the priests
- yes the 'chain up the Chosen and drag her to every seal if necessary' priests
- she meets Lloyd randomly in Triet but Lloyd doesn't know her as the Chosen. they're a bit out of touch on the Journey of Regen timeline
- stuff happens and they keep missing each other up until Palmacosta, which is a warzone between the Desians (and Dorr as their figurehead) and the Renegades (with Neil as their leader)
- Colette wants to help; priests say no
- out come the chains
- Raine objects, but she has no exsphere so what can she do
- btw Genis got caught in the Iselian ranch and tossed in as a traitor to be made a host
- he gets sent to the Palmacosta ranch
- right after Neil manages to take the city, after Colette and Raine leave it, Botta takes the Palmacosta ranch and rescues Genis, among others
- Genis becomes his little shadow and is much preferable to Lloyd, in Botta's opinion
- Lloyd and Kratos are still trying to catch up to Colette to rescue her when they drop by
- Genis hears what they're trying to do and insists on coming along.


scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan accidentally adopts a Chosen instead of a book from a library.
scenario two: in which Yuan is accidentally-deliberately adopted by the Meltokio Castle Knights.


MEover
- Mass Effect crossover someplace in the realm of 15,000 years after TOS canon
- except started before then, cos elves are really from Feros, planet of the cranky telepathic plant
- got decimated by the protheans trying to assimilate them into their empire
- elves objected, got killed a lot, fled Feros and got stuck in Aselia's orbit
- kinda forgot a few things but planted a seed from the Ferosian mother plant on Aselia
- Origin hasn't forgotten tho, kinda has a grudge against grumblegrumbleprotheansgrumble
- the entirety of TOS happened, and then some
- Kratos, Yuan, Lloyd, Colette and Zelos are the only ones left, but tis okay, they have each other
- somethingsomething natural space disaster, Aselia is destroyed but they manage to move Yggdrasill onto Derris-Kharlan and do a quarian by becoming a roaming ship
- mana is a variant of eezo lbr
- Derris-Kharlan's too big to use the mass relays, but c'mon it generates its own mass effect field so they develop tech to do hops on their own
- they're in no hurry tho, i mean lbr primarily angelic, elf and half-elf population
- so they're just bumming around their local clusters doing thorough investigations on all the things
- so much eezo on their ship
- so much
- suddenly the Normandy running from a reapers comes along to hide behind them
- reapers start shooting
- everyone on Derris-Kharlan objects
- JUDGEMENT IN SPACE
- so much profit and judging of reapers.


scenarios
None yet.


origin
- Kratos tells Lloyd the dad thing in Triet
- dad and son feelings ensue
- they culminate at the Tower of Salvation in Kratos stabbing Yggdrasill in the back
- unfortunately he does not quite die but impales Kratos against a wall and goes berserk on the Chosen party to the point of Yuan stepping in to help
- that is, by threatening to stab Kratos in the back while he's vulnerable (with Kratos's permission)
- Yggdrasill calls his bluff and fails, and Yuan does the thing
- while Yggdrasill is distracted the Chosen's group nail him but good and he retreats
- luckily while heart-stabbing happened, Kratos's cruxis crystal is still intact, and between Raine's healing and Yuan's mana transfusion he survives long enough to be taken to the Triet base and a refresher
- stuff happens in some fashion or other up until opening Origin's seal
- as it turns out, the mana tranfusion has fused the lock, so to speak, and Kratos can't unlock the seal even voluntarily
- only way to get Origin out at this point is to let him fuse with Kratos, so Kratos becomes Origin
- stipulation of this: Kratos refuses to let go of his humanity
- luckily Yuan already has a literal bond with him thanks to the mana transfusion, so with him as his summoner Kratos can keep his humanity, and only use Origin's powers when Yuan summons them
- commitment like woah for a literal eternity
- but hey, they messed up but good and it's the only way they can reunite the worlds.

scenarios
none yet.


reversal
~ 2000 years in, Kratos and Yuan conspire to kill Mithos and succeed, sorta
- he's stuck inside his exsphere, possessing people
- but he manages to survive and while Kratos and Yuan claim Derris-Kharlan for their base, he takes most of the angels as 'fallen', as well as the Eternal Sword
- most of his bases are hidden behind dimensional slips created by the sword - Iselia included
- Origin refuses to trust either Kratos or Yuan with the job, anyhow, and they don't have a summoner
- instead they're forced to fight Cruxis, embroiling the worlds in an angelic war between Cruxis and the new organisation of Chayim
- the Chosen bloodlines are more important to Cruxis than Chayim, but Mithos seals the seals so only the Chosen bloodline can flip the mana switch. Kratos and Yuan need someone to do that until they can reunite them, so the Journey remains an institution, just without compulsory death at the end
- there is angelification tho, if only so Chayim gets more soldiers and so the Chosen can defend themselves against Cruxis
- Kratos sends Anna and Lloyd to Iselia, because even though enemy territory, it's the safest place there is for them
- Anna get word to Kratos that the Desians are using Iselia as a long-term cruxis crystal cultivation location, and that the sword is held there
- her spy succeeds but is intercepted, and Mithos locks down the dimensional slip to prevent exit and access by angels for ~15 years
- Lloyd grows up in a town with a heavy half-elf population and believing he's training to help the good guys
- he has his own cruxis crystal as a host, but doesn't tell his mother due to the faith-based propaganda encouraging hosts not to bring it up or risk the powers not taking
- he wants to help though, so he steals a key-crest to ensure he can fight
- Yuan and Kratos plan to assault the town and shrine but Mithos uses the sword to interrupt travel between worlds, keeping Yuan in Tethe'alla and forcing Kratos to attack Iselia alone.

scenarios
scenario one: Iselia is attacked by Chayim to claim the sword, with the sword already gone


titans
- Yggdrasill captures Kratos before Kvar finds Anna and Lloyd, but after Kratos makes an Eternal Ring
- Yuan figures hell no and raises the Renegades to try and take Derris-Kharlan, rescue Kratos and solve the split-world problem
- the attack fails. a lot.
- Renegades are wiped out, Kratos is still in Cruxis's hands, but Yuan manages to escape with the Eternal Ring
- Cruxis follows him to Triet base, which gets destroyed and the few remaining Renegades scatter
- Botta is still around tho, helping out how he can
- mostly Yuan just goes searching for Lloyd and Anna
- doesn't manage to find them before Kvar does tho, and Kratos hears from Yggdrasill that they're dead
- this is slightly inaccurate, cos Lloyd still winds up rescued by Dirk in Iselia
- where Yuan eventually finds him, not knowing that he's 'supposed' to be dead
- so Yuan settles in Iselia for a bit to watch Lloyd and the Chosen
- cuts and dyes his hair, the whole shebang
- learns how to carpentry, invents a new use of magic lightning and light can totally become a laserbeam amirite
- winds up being Genis's role model just because scholar and magic-user and half-elf who can pass but also takes no shit from people
- is one of Colette's companions on the Journey when it starts
- he's been challenging their understanding of the Church's institution this whole time lbr
- Sheena is still a thing because the ninja have taken over the Tethe'allan base, which has survived, somewhat
- a grilling ensues
- sometime just after the Asgard Ranch Yuan does have to drop the bombshell
- about how the Journey is just a front, he and his bestie are angels, btw his bestie is Lloyd's dad
- how they're out to topple the institution of religion
- forget sacrificing Colette for the Regeneration, when they get to the seal they can do that without anyone dying
- and then move straight on to rescuing Kratos in Derris-Kharlan
- then they get to the Tower and realise Yggdrasill has Kratos under a Prometheusesque punishment a la 'impaled on the Eternal Sword to suffer the Seed's pain and watch the Chosen get murdered'
- luckily this does not happen, as they manage to rescue him and escape Yggdrasill instead, barely
- retreat to Botta's hiding-place in Asgard so Kratos can recover
- and also find out that Lloyd is actually alive
- the Chosen group goes around to make as many pacts as they can while in Sylvarant
- they get up to Aska when Yggdrasill sends his angels to attack Asgard
- cue Yuan and Kratos being unstoppable battle gods together


scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan leads the Chosen's party to the Tower of Salvation to dismantle all the traditions ever, and find Kratos waiting for them in serious need of a rescue.
scenario two: in which being in safety reveals that Kratos is not precisely unscathed, but he's doing his best.
scenario three: in which Kratos is emphatically not okay, but with Yuan's help, could be.

Comments

[simulsimul]

I grew up.

[It's a simple answer hiding just as much as Yuan's 'why', and doesn't in the least bit stop Lloyd's not-exactly-a-whisper.]

Dad? You know this guy?

[Kratos nods slowly, but without taking his gaze off Yuan.]

He's -- was -- an old friend of mine.

[Which, of course, makes Lloyd squint at Yuan in turn. He's young still, and Kratos doesn't imagine Yuan will see much; but Kratos knows Lloyd sees more than most people think, if in different ways.]

One of the resistance guys?

[At that, Kratos only withholds a wince due to long, long habit. He's never told Lloyd the details of what he did before he met Anna; Lloyd came to his own conclusions. It's true Kratos is probably a wanted man, but Lloyd, in the way of teenagers, assumes Kratos was wanted longer beforehand too.]

Not ... exactly.

[conductingresistance]

[Raine has stepped instinctively in front of Genis; her staff is raised, just in case, but she's studying the newcomer with a wary sort of interest. Someone who seems to know Kratos...]

[Yuan is markedly ignoring the half-elf siblings, also. In favor of something else.]

You have a son.

[Exactly how distant they have all become is a force like a blow. It's not unexpected -- Kratos vanished with a female research subject, what else did they expect -- but it is...]

[Potential leverage, maybe. Among other things.]

This is why you're--

[Yuan gestures, indicating. Everything. Beard and braid and is Kratos going grey that's not acceptable. Not like this.]

[He unclasps his cloak, letting it fall, and unfolds his blade. That, too, is an old friend, nearly as tall as he is.]

What do you think you're going to accomplish like this?

[simulsimul]

[Before the cloak even hits the sand, Kratos has drawn his own blade and has his shield on his arm. Lloyd is slower, Colette a bit slower still; but between them they are not unready, and that's what counts.

[But Kratos doesn't move to attack, and the others follow his lead. They're ready -- but not aggressive.]

Why are you here, Yuan?

[His voice is gentle and he sees Lloyd glance at him for it, confused but willing to remain silent. Kratos can almost guess his thoughts: if this guy wants to hurt us, why does Dad care?]

[conductingresistance]

[How dare Kratos. Does Yuan look like an apprentice that needs to be gentled--]

[Martel would be thrilled to see Kratos like this, a whisper at the back of his mind says. Yuan ignores this.]

I was looking for Kratos Aurion.

[There's something almost nasty in the rasp of his voice. Twenty years isn't all that long for him. For either of them, relatively speaking, but suddenly for Kratos it is.]

[Regardless of anything else, this change is something Yuan doesn't want. And -- he tells himself -- he needs Kratos at full form, if any plans are to reach fruition.]

Maybe you can find him for me?

[Where the others aren't aggressive, Yuan very definitely is; but he leads easily, blade a sweep before him that by their standards is slow and lazy, leaving the opening for Kratos if only to pull him in.]

[simulsimul]

[Aurion? Kratos sees Lloyd mouth out of the corner of his eye; but Yuan's movement captures the rest of his attention. Lloyd exclaims at the speed of the strike, but Kratos is already reading Yuan's intent.

[This foe is too much for the group at this level of training -- Lloyd's only had to deal with woodland monsters, not angels. Not this.

[But Yuan's here for him, for Kratos, not for Lloyd or Colette, so--

[Kratos steps into that opening, slow by Yuan's standards, fast by Kratos's new state of being, faster than the others; it's enough to angle a blow, feet testing the sand as he goes.]

[conductingresistance]

[Sword turns swallow-blade away, which is as Yuan hoped. Expected.]

[The sand is not the best footing, but only one of them is currently limited by that. Yuan can manage the balance until he needs to.]

[He probably should not, in fact, be pulling wing in front of the Chosen's group, if he's pushed that far, if Kratos like this can push him that far, but that's a distant concern and not something Mithos has to know about.]

[Right now:]

[Yuan takes the momentum and keeps his blade moving, whipping the other end around in a faster horizontal slice. He sets one foot carefully back, aiming to draw Kratos with him. A little warmup, and then he's going to push.]

Is that the best you've got?

[simulsimul]

[Is THAT the best line you have? Kratos wants to shoot back, but doesn't, because Lloyd lunges in before the slice and Kratos is too busy saving him from it. Kratos' shield comes up beneath the swallow-blade and sends its course upward, but Lloyd still yelps surprise as he ducks.]

Stay back!

[It's shouted over his shoulder at the others, without breaking his step inward.]

Dad--

[Kratos doesn't turn, shifting his weight to avoid the back end of Yuan's blade but attempting to get in under his guard, and Lloyd not breaking off on Yuan's other side.]

Stay back.

[conductingresistance]

[Kratos has skill-- but he's slow, by Yuan's standards, human-slow and soft and it was never like this.]

Barrier!

[That's one of the half-elf siblings, the woman raising her staff and incanting like an order. The barrier ripples over the boy, though -- Lloyd -- not Kratos.]

[Well enough. Yuan switches targets. He's more than able to handle them both, and this is Kratos' son-- it will motivate Kratos. He jabs abruptly at Lloyd's grip on his swords before sweeping up and to the side, grip twisting as he anticipates Kratos striking back at him. Lightning sparks across his fingers, preparatory.]

[simulsimul]

[Damn it -- just what Kratos didn't want. Lloyd's startled by the sudden shift but blocks the jab with his second sword nevertheless, ill-advised weapons or not. Right now, Kratos is just thankful he put so much effort into learning the unconventional style.

[The swallow-blade is coming back to parry, but Kratos meets it with his shield, blocking it upward and striding in. The slipperiness of the sand is a boon; he can't use magic but his mana-sense still registers the earth as ally, second to the lightning he can't trust against Yuan.

[He slides beneath Yuan's back-slash, shield scraping on the swallow-blade's underside, no longer where Yuan is aiming and now inside his guard, striking at Yuan's mid-section with a backhanded slash. A human wouldn't be able to block in time.

[Yuan would -- but it might be enough to give Lloyd space, in the meantime.]

[conductingresistance]

[Of course he's better than the ridiculous choice of weapons would imply, if he has Kratos teaching him. Two swords are hideously impractical, and this is coming from a man who uses a monster of a dualbladed weapon mostly because once someone told him he couldn't.]

[All the same, Kratos knows Yuan still; they're predicting each other well for how long it's been. Yuan brings his weapon down vertical to catch the slash, reversing its direction with a flick of his wrist no unaugmented person could manage.]

Better!

[It's sharp, meant to be taunting. Yuan jerks the blade up, leaping with it, and there's lightning on it when he brings it down, snapping out ahead of him toward Kratos.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos doesn't resist the momentum of that parry, but turns it into a spin, sword carving upward from hip to shoulder -- or would have, if Yuan had still been there. Lloyd curses, something about speed, and Kratos only wishes he had the time and the breath to tell him that this wasn't even Yuan at his fastest.

[They're all so unprepared.

[Lloyd goes for Yuan's back and Colette's chakram spins toward Yuan's head. Kratos barges forward to keep Yuan's attention, taking the bolt on his shield. The wood damps it to nothing more than a grunt-worthy charge which doesn't make Kratos pause at all, and dies at the uncompromising sand under his feet. Kratos's swing is faster than Lloyd's, but with the added bonus of Colette's, they're timed just about right.]

[conductingresistance]

[He's being ganged up on by teenagers. Teenagers with no sense of their own preservation. Tch. Yuan catches Kratos' blow on his weapon, one hand flat to brace it, and ducks his head at the faint whistle of air sliced by the Chosen's projectile. Lloyd's hit -- lighter than Kratos', automatically judged the lesser threat -- he blunts with the easy green shell of a force field, and his armor under that.]

[An annoyance. Enough to annoy him. Perhaps touching, even, that they're all so very fond of Kratos.]

[Yuan spins his blade, whirling it low around him, planning to force distance. It is, he will admit, nice to see Kratos hasn't changed all that much.]

Still too slow. Am I fighting your children now?

[Says the tone of his voice: That could be arranged.]

[simulsimul]

You fight one of us, you've gotta fight all of us!

[Lloyd's words are fierce, and now his strikes speed up -- now that he has some measure of Yuan, undeterred by the armour. The armour says a lot. It says Yuan is prepared to let things hit.]

Have you fallen so low as to be reduced to fighting children, Yuan?

[Kratos steps low into Yuan's spin, tilting his shield so the swallow-blade hits and skates upward; the blow is jarring, but Kratos's low stance and the sand absorb the force, and his sword cuts out. Lloyd speeds in from the other side, faster than before, one blade slashing upward and the other ready to block or follow suit.]

[conductingresistance]

[Well that's-- charmingly naive, but at odds with how the boy speeds up.]

[This fight has rapidly turned into a mess: Kratos remembers well enough how to disrupt Yuan's momentum, and it's irritating, nothing Yuan hasn't recovered from before, but then there's the boy again. Lloyd. The shadows of Kratos' style are evident in how he moves, but he's faster than his father now, enough so that Yuan is hard pressed to counter for both of them at once and his weapon becomes a spinning blur of block and block and block again, no chance to press the offensive.]

[Uncharitably, Yuan blames Kratos for everything that continues to go wrong in his life and his plans.]

Maybe I have, when those children are faster than you. You've gotten old, Kratos.

[This is laughable, coming from Yuan.]

Old and slow.

[Lightning again, not as strong as he'd like but the chances of finding a few spare seconds to cast properly are almost nonexistent. Yuan draws the mana raw instead, loose and sloppy and bursting stinging sparks in all directions.]

[simulsimul]

[Yuan has always enjoyed the flare, the acrobatics, trusting in the length and balance of his weapon to keep his foes away. Kratos's style has always been blunter, pragmatic -- short and quick thrusts, trusting his shield and build to take blows Yuan expects others to pull away from. Push Yuan's guard, that's the way to go. With Lloyd's speed on top of that, and Colette's occasional chakram throw, they press Yuan more easily than Kratos had thought they could.

[But Yuan still hasn't pulled his wings.

[And he's right. Kratos is older, and worse -- fully human, not even with the exsphere Lloyd is using. His muscles are burning with exertion, and the sand in the air grates his lungs; his clothes cling to him from sweat. His hands are starting to tremble. Even if he'd been willing, he doesn't have time to pull the cruxis crystal from his belt-pouch between strikes, counterstrikes, blocks.

[The cool rush of one of Raine's buffs runs through him, in nearly the same second as Yuan blasts him with lightning -- too little, too late, as Kratos' shield is raised a split second too slow. The blast sends him tumbling and gasping, his vision blinded with tears of pain, and he hears Lloyd's scream; but Raine's magic is still working, and faster than he rightly ought to have managed Kratos rolls and is on his knees, shield already upraised to block the strike he knows must be coming.]

[conductingresistance]

[Of course the strike is coming; there's no use in this fight if Kratos thinks Yuan will pull his blows. It's a hair shy of instinctive as Yuan drives his weapon down toward Kratos.]

[The shield is enough to redirect the blow down; or Yuan lets it, one or the other, and he himself might not be clear on which. Regardless it's for the best. Here and now isn't the place to spend Kratos' life.]

[...and Yuan would regret it, later, he knows. Instead he turns on the children, specifically Lloyd. If Kratos' own safety won't make him take this seriously, then Lloyd's will. Yuan's moving faster and faster now, harrying, a light in his eyes even with the relative challenge that Lloyd's presenting.]

[The little mage has the sense not to try lightning, but Yuan isn't all that perturbed by water instead, needing only to correct his footing for the blow-- though it's enough to make handling Lloyd just that much harder, naturally. This group makes nothing easy.]

[simulsimul]

[The blow is jarring, even more so after the lightning-bolt; Kratos's vision turns on an axis and his responding sword-thrust is too slow, off-balance -- but Yuan isn't there to block it anyway. Kratos spares barely a blazing second of hope for that action, the choice not to take Kratos' life now he's vulnerable; but he also hears Lloyd's yell as he attacks Yuan's other side.

[Yuan turns to face that attack, as if Kratos isn't a threat any longer -- and Lloyd probably is the greater threat, now. But Kratos can't abide leaving him to this fight alone -- relatively alone, even with Colette's chakram singing and Genis's spells.

[It takes a moment for Kratos to regain his equilibrium enough to rise, and Raine is already at his shoulder, pushing a gel into his mouth. Not the first time, won't be the last; and it almost immediately makes it easier to push aside his aches and exhaustion to get to his feet.

[Lloyd's on the defensive now, still quick but less fluid; jabbing more than slicing as he does when faintly panicky.

[The sudden, unleashing rage that Yuan thinks this is an appropriate way to greet him -- trying to kill his son -- helps even more than the apple gel. Rage is not always good in battle, but right now, Kratos will take it. The battle cry he snarls as he rushes at Yuan's back is old, unheard for millennium except from him.]

[conductingresistance]

[Oh. Kratos is angry.]

[It took this long?]

[Yuan pushes back, disengaging in a rush at the sound of that old cry, instinctively simply moving to be not where Kratos is about to be. The sand gives more than he'd like under his feet, but not enough to trip him up, he can still get himself clear. Teeth bared, he braces his weapon vertically where he lands and beckons to Kratos with his other hand, descending to gestural clichés now.]

[Words aren't necessary. Not now. Yuan almost hopes Kratos can push him to pull his wings, though what he'll do then is a plan he's still creating. Right now: anger and the speed of an angel, ready to respond to Kratos. And the children, if need be.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos tracks Yuan's step away, already turning to meet him. He moves with towering intent, nearly as fast as Lloyd now; enraged but not reckless. He feints with his shield and his blade stabs out; he moves to press Yuan's vulnerable points, ones he knows well.

[The sand is an ally, for him -- it'll dull lightning, and he knows how it moves better than Yuan.

[Colette's chakram play support and Lloyd takes the breath; but then he also moves to Yuan's opposite side, bolstered by Kratos' renewed energy -- however long it will last.]

[conductingresistance]

[This: this is Kratos' best state, when he has anger behind him but not enough to make him careless. For the most part Yuan compensates, knows where Kratos will go for his weaknesses and blocks; but there's more than once where a blade scores across his armor or must needs be absorbed by a force field.]

[He's still containing himself. The sand is more and more irritating.]

[More and more Yuan tries to separate Lloyd from Kratos, moving between them even when it leaves him open here or there, counting on quick acrobatics to save him from a nastier blow when it's necessary. Still he prioritizes Lloyd, jabbing at him rather than Kratos when given the chance.]

[His footing gets less solid on his landings, the more things go, and one sleeve is bloodied, but he's not too notably inconvenienced.]

And how long can you keep this up?

[simulsimul]

[So far Kratos has limited himself to the blade, with quick thrusts, trusting the stamp of their shoes to loosen the sand. The continuous jabs at Lloyd keeps his anger burning, ensures that his rhythm is fast and efficient.

[But the truth is, he can't keep this up for much longer, even with Raine's magical buffs keeping him upright. His body is only human, and it's already reaching a gasping, aching limit. Even his breath rasps in his chest.]

Long enough.

[It's a grunted response, as Kratos breaks out the dirty moves, blocking with his shield but then kicking at the loose sand under Yuan's feet instead of thrusting with his blade. That's followed quickly as he shifts forward with a roundhouse kick aimed at Yuan's solar plexus -- or chest -- or head, depending on what's there if Yuan destabilises; Kratos' shield pulls back to protect his back, his sword comes cutting in straight after.]

[conductingresistance]

[Both satisfying and utterly infuriating to see Kratos flagging like this, to hear the way his breath comes. Yuan grinds his teeth and--]

[It's not that the fighting dirty was unexpected, but all the same Yuan stumbles when Kratos shifts the ground, and the momentary openness is enough that he takes the kick directly to the chest. Unaugmented -- he's not about to have any broken bones -- but all the same Kratos is still Kratos and the blow has no small amount of force behind it.]

[Yuan slips in the sand, backward, fortunately retaining the presence of mind to catch Kratos' blade and redirect it with his own. He's grinning as he does, not entirely consciously.]

Are you so sure about that?

[It's pushing him, to keep his wings tucked away at this point, but he can still do it, which is what matters. He spins his blade, hand over hand as he advances, disguising his true intentions in the whirl of metal till he can duck Lloyd and sweep for Kratos' knees.]

[Kratos has seen this trick before. Yuan isn't convinced he can work around it without the enhanced perceptions.]

[simulsimul]

[Best to avoid that kind of spin, than block or deflect -- but it needs to be finished quickly or it'll gather too much speed. Lloyd goes for Yuan from the side, Kratos from the other, but Kratos is watching and--

[There it is.

[Kratos leaps and his feet slam down on the swallow-blade's broad top, sending its near end cutting into the sand; his shield lashes out at Yuan's face and his blade drives in toward his chest.]

[conductingresistance]

[Damn.]

[Kratos' weight drags his weapon down, and Yuan honestly hadn't expected this, and that sword is exceptionally fast for a human's strength alone.]

[Instinct reacts before anything else, and lavender flowers into existence behind Yuan, flaring with the light of mana as he draws on that speed, that much more, to push himself out of the reach of Kratos' sword.]

[He's clear: but he's made several admissions with the wings that spread behind him, and most of them not advantageous. Rather than stay midair Yuan descends, very deliberately, to touch down, settling into a fighting stance that barely dimples the sand. He rolls his shoulders: mostly, it must be said, for the unnecessary dramatics of it.]

Well then.

[And this time, he blurs when he moves.]

[simulsimul]

[The others cry out in surprise at the sight of those wings, though Lloyd is the only one Kratos can see -- and Lloyd hesitates with shock an uncertainty.]

He's an angel?

[Kratos doesn't look over. He'd roll his eyes, call Yuan out on his dramatic tendencies, if he had the time and the breath; but he has neither, just a few seconds to gulp down air and rally his tired body. The blur precedes Yuan vanishing, and Kratos can't tell from which direction he'll come without any sense of mana.

[But he's gone after Lloyd, all this time, pushed Lloyd to push Kratos -- so Kratos lunges to cover his son from the attack he's certain is pending.]