Scene #6069: Gold and Yellow

Owner	Pose
Gilgamesh	Yang gave him a ride. It's only fair that the King of Heroes repay his debt. And if he gets to show off in the process and spend some time with an attractive woman, well, that's just a bonus. The Preserver of Life is a vast thing, two hundred feet long and two hundred feet high and two hundred feet wide, seven point one square miles of vessel. It's wood, but it's wood of a type that Yang can't immediately identify, something so dark that the rays of the sun cannot even touch it. It exudes an aura of darkness, not of a foul darkness that seeps and corrodes the land but of the comforting darkness of the night, the darkness that shields and protects from the horrors outside. It's a peaceful darkness, a darkness suited to the name 'Preserver of Life.' Along the sides bristle cannons of wood, stone, and crystal, cannons with no obvious chamber or barrel, only recognizable as cannons by their placement. Throughout the sleek, beautiful ship, red lines pulse, the same sort of red lines that cross Gilgamesh's bare chest as they walk. The King of Heroes has shown Yang two sides of himself. Now she gets to see a third. He is excited, eager, to show off the Preserver, like a young man talking about his prized car. The fact that the prized car is an ancient Babylonian spaceship is probably more than a little off-putting, but he still refers to it in similar, eager terms as his fingers run along the side of one of the cannons. "...fires gathered mana in a concentrated beam," the King finishes his thought, then looks at Yang. "They were made in order to deal with the monsters of the Flood, which no normal blade or bow could harm." "It's merely one of my many treasures. In truth I forgot I even owned it until I saw some of those machines." He puts a hand on his hip and smiles, a wry smile. "Will it suit you, fair Huntress, to travel back to your home in it?" "It would certainly help begin the story that is your legend, to arrive with the King of Heroes aboard such a fantastic vessel."
Yang Xiao Long	Yang follows, limping and battered from the race. She takes in the ship as they approach it, looking at the sights, and listens to the energetic King's gushing about the ship. She nods along with the spiel, "Wonder how Dust weapons would work on 'em." she muses in the wake of the explanation of the cannons. "Well, as great as landing in the middle of Beacon's courtyard in this thing, I'm thinkin' that'd be overkill." she replies, grinning gently. "Not that this isn't an amazing ship."
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh's smile widens a bit. "There is no such thing as overkill. There is simply making a statement. Would not the statement that you know such a powerful person help your legend grow? Would not those around you whisper with jealous, eager tongues, wagging on in wonder at your arrival? Would not rumors of your potency grow?" "Besides, it does not land on the ground. It sails the sea. I could land it outside of your land and simply sail you over." "And you are injured." He crosses his arms, staring at her. "I won't allow you to injure yourself further doing something that I am more than capable of doing for you. It is a small favor to repay a lift, and you are pleasant company."
Yang Xiao Long	"Yeah, that's kinda what I'm afraid of." replies Yang. "You've never been to a modern college, have you?" The blonde brawler chuckles. "Of course you haven't, but, rumors and chin wagging is the last thing someone like me needs, or wants in that environment."
Gilgamesh	"A what?" Is all Gilgamesh responds with, staring at her like she just said something utterly foreign. Which, to be fair to him, she did. He puts a hand on his hip and stares at her for a moment, then waves his hand. The ship starts to move, a pulse of red light shooting under their feet and illuminating the comforting black wood. Gilgamesh's own tattoos pulse at that moment, too, lighting Yang's face with red. "Fine. Then I will land on the waves, bring you ashore, and carry you to your destination myself. And I will not hear no for an answer, so do not bother." The King of Heroes crosses his arms and stares at her, leaning against the deck. A moment later he produces that chair that she sat in when last they spoke, letting it fall to the deck behind her. "Sit. You're injured. It is the height of rudeness to let an injured woman stand on the vessel of the King." He, himself, does not sit. He's busy staring at her. There's something in those red eyes, some curiousity, some...thought. His eyes are locked on hers. "When we first met," Gilgamesh says, "You said that you lacked the motivation to be a Huntress. When we went out together, you said that you lacked the power. At the race, you found it; you burned brilliantly enough to draw my desire in truth and not simply because you are appealing to look at." The awkward teenager is not in those eyes. This is the King. As the stars move around them, he can say that with a perfectly straight face. "You found your power. Have you also found your motivation?"
Yang Xiao Long	"College is a place of learning, it's for older kids, around my age to progress into a more detailed education on a subject... Remnant's Academies are all about combat and battle tactics, but other worlds have colleges for arts, sciences, medicine, all kinds of stuff." explains Yang patiently. She keeps forgetting this guy is kinda displaced in time and doesn't know what these things are. "You're not carrying me anywhere. If I'm getting someplace on foot, it's gonna be on my own two feet." she adds, folding her unwounded arm over her chest, the one in the brace just kind of pinning closer to her side defiantly. When the chair is produced, she at least does sit down, letting out a half-relieved groan as she finally takes pressure off her wounded legs. The question, and those burning red eyes, make the girl ponder her existence to this point. "Truthfully? I applied to become a Huntress so I could go find my mom... she left when I was still a baby, but I keep running into clues about where she is, what I can do to find her... I just don't have the strength or skill yet to follow the path." she chuckles mirthlessly. "Well, now I have the strength, but; do I really want to go looking for the woman that abandoned me and my dad?"
Gilgamesh	"Ah." Gilgamesh doesn't know what a college is, but he's familiar with the other concepts, clearly, since he doesn't ask for elucidation on sciences and arts and medicine. He may be from a different time but the time was apparently not that distant. Gilgamesh waves his hand in front of him at that. "If you wish to injure yourself further then I shall not stop you." He glances at her leg, and then at her as she lets out a groan, as if to say 'but I don't think you're being honest with yourself.' "A mother." Gilgamesh leans against the frame of the ship and looks up at the sky. "Are you looking for someone who abandoned you? Or are you seeking answers from that someone? Are you walking the path for the sake of the person, or for the sake of surpassing that person?" "Humans build upon the previous generation. The strength of the parent is passed by the strength of the child." The King of Heroes gestures offhandedly at the sky. "Or so it is supposed to go. In this modern age perhaps even that is no longer true, but..." He shakes his head. The Preserver of Life starts descending. There's a ripple of magical energy around them as it passes into the atmosphere. "I do not know what it is like." Gilgamesh shrugs. "I adventured for the pleasure of it. To collect all that was upon the world. To show the strength of Babylon and Uruk and its great King. I did not walk the world to chase another. I walked the world to chase myself, because it was what I was made to do." There's another hint of bitterness in that last little bit, but it's just a hint. Gilgamesh turns around, arms crossed against the prow of the wooden starship. "So I do not know what it is like to seek another, but you do not strike me as the sort of person to fight for any cause you do not feel is yours."
Yang Xiao Long	"Again, bein' honest?" replies Yang, watching the stars go by, then the ripple of energy passing through the atmosphere of Remnant.. the looming mass of the Shattered Moon, Fragment, just peeking over the horizon. "I wanted answers. Why she left, why she never bothered contacting me, even after all this time... Stuff like that." she says, leaning back against the backrest of the chair. "Now though? Now I just want to find her so I can punch her out and be done with it."
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh chuckles. "I knew there was a reason I liked you. Besides a weakness for blondes, at any rate." The King sweeps his hand outwards towards the stars beyond the edge of the ship. The fragmented moon is reflected in his blood-colored eyes. "And what happens once you have done that? Will you lose your motivation? Will you cease to be a Huntress? Will you look at your good work and say that you are satisfied with the end of the road you have walked?"
Yang Xiao Long	"Hell no." replies Yang, grinning defiantly. "Once I've done that, I'll find where the Grimm are actually coming from and put a stop to /that/. If another threat looms up, I'll end that too, and so on until I'm dead, or there's no more threats to the people I love." she affirms, clenching her unwounded fist, her Aura flaring like golden flames from the clenched fingers, as if she were squeezing a ball of flame.
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh nods, like he was pretty sure that was going to be the answer to begin with. The huge wooden ship settles into the water so cleanly that Yang may not even notice that it happened without looking up at the sky. The ship begins moving horizontally as Gilgamesh turns to look at her again. "Good." The King closes his eyes and crosses his arms over his bare chest. "Chasing monsters is a path that leads to treasure. You will likely end your life a rich woman. Certainly you will end it a famous one. You stand out from the crowd already." One red eye opens to watch her. "And what happens if you fail again?" "Are you prepared for such a thing, now that you have walked the Line and seen your strength for yourself? Are you prepared for such an outcome? Will you be able to live with it?"
Yang Xiao Long	"I am Unstoppable now... I can't explain it, but something in The Line combined with me... no matter what happens from now on. I'll get back up, and I'll Keep Moving Forward." replies Yang, looking out across the water past the prow of the ship. "Even now, I feel like I have to keep moving, even when I know that would just cause me to get hurt worse."
Gilgamesh	At 'I am Unstoppable', Gilgamesh laughs. It's not the sarcastic, smarmy laugh he usually puts on. It's a genuinely pleasant laugh, a musical laugh. It's the sound of a chorus ringing, the sound of bells, the sound of something heavenly. The man's got a laugh as pretty as he is when it's not full of assholishness. "You found what you were looking for. It does not require a mystical explanation. You found what it is that makes humans worthwhile." Gilgamesh follows her gaze. The Preserver doesn't move like a boat; it just cuts through the waves, ignorant of them, not rocked nor rocking. It's an unnaturally smooth ride. "The will to make a change is what separates real humans from the clay dolls that populate this age. The will to stand and say that they are not happy with themselves. The will to stand and grasp their talents and become something more than they are." "You have my sincere congratulations, fair Huntress. If the rest of this miserable, rotten age could do the same, it would be a far better place." The ship pulls into dock. People gawk at it as it settles into the harbor, the vast, dark, wooden thing, pulsing with red light and red runes. Gilgamesh pushes himself off the boat's side and snaps his fingers, and the front unfolds into a ramp. "Come, then. If you will not allow me to carry you you will not argue if I escort you. It would be rude of me to allow a woman to walk home alone and injured. None will say the King of Heroes did not show all courtesy to a guest upon his ship."
Yang Xiao Long	"Sure sure..." Yang thinks on those words as she limps carefully down the ramp onto the pier. A lot of the dock workers just stare, though a few, supposedly those who had seen the race footage, begin cheering, causing a cascade across the crowd, though they keep a wide berth so as not to crowd the girl, or anger the obviously very powerful man she's with. "Huh... news travels fast I guess..." she remarks idly, looking around at the faces. Faunus and Human alike punching the air, and chanting two words: "I BURN!" over and over.
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh laughs again as they walk down the ramp. He claps, watching her as he walks at her side. His pace is slow, even. It's odd, seeing a man who thinks only of himself act even remotely considerate, although the ancient laws of hospitality he feels so strongly about may be a good portion of why that's the case, beyond his self-admitted weakness for blondes. The King walks through the crowd. He's been to Remnant before, but not like this. As they leave the ship, the prow folds up once again. "People are eager to talk of new legends," the King says idly. "They are excited to speak of those who stand out from the crowd. Moreso in this dismal age, where human will is beaten and broken; to see someone like you invites both vicarious joy and wicked jealousy. There will be people who see your rise as worthy of being dragged down because they lack the will to follow your example. There will be people who see your rise as something to cheer because they can identify with you and feel that they are rising with you." "But," Gilgamesh adds, his red eyes flicking around the crowd, looking surprisingly nonchalant for a shirtless man in gold armor bottoms, "The ones you will want to know are the ones who are inspired by you. Not those who cheer for you with empty voices, not those who see you as a threat to be dragged down, but those who chase you as you chase your mother - those who see you as an obstacle and an exaple." "Those, you will wish to remember. Those will be worth watching." Gilgamesh waves his hand over his shoulder idly. "The rest are all just noise."
Yang Xiao Long	"Funny you say that... I guess there's someone else I'm chasing after as well as mom." replies Yang, as the crowd parts and the pair leave the dock area, the sound slowly fading behind them. "My little siter, Ruby... she's grown so fast, become so strong. I don't feel like her big sis anymore... it feels more like I'm chasing after her cloak tail, desperately trying to keep up." she doesn't sound bitter about it. In fact, she sounds kind of proud. She then begins to sing a short refrain. "And though I miss the little girl, You've made me awful proud, Funny how our lives change; Cause you're my hero now" her voice is soft, pure, a little ring like a crystal bell.
Gilgamesh	"A sibling." At that, Gilgamesh just gets...quiet. He walks with her, he listens to her sing, he claps appreciatively, but he doesn't /talk/. It's not for a good ways into the city before he speaks again. "What is that like?"
Yang Xiao Long	"Having a sibling?" she asks, the silence cluing her into the meaning behind the question. "It's... hard to put into words. It's like, having a best friend who you grew up with your whole life. You were there for them, they were there for you." she sighs, shaking her head. "But that isn't quite right. it's subtly different to the relationship between two people... it's, deeper."
Gilgamesh	Gilgamesh stops walking and stares up at the sky at that. Then he shakes his head. "That is something the King cannot have." He falls back into step with her. "An equal. A partner. Something like that is impossible. Something like that is something for humans to enjoy." "The King can have no siblings. The King can have no wife. The King can have no equal." He falls quiet again, and this time there's a gulf of silence between them, a vast and impenetrable chasm that separates the two. Gilgamesh walks, and it is as if he is enormously far away, as if he is as distant as the sky. With each passing step the distance seems to grow, until finally he breaks it with another word, and the whole thing seems to crack like glass. "I have enjoyed your company."
Yang Xiao Long	"You don't have to be alone now, Gil." says Yang in the wake of the silence breaking. "You hold yourself up on that high pedestal, but you don't have to. Here, in the Multiverse, you can be anyone you want to be." she looks over, giving a little smile. It's subtle, subdued. Nothing like the big, bold and brash grin she usually sports. "Don't stop being the King of Heros, but come down here sometimes to just be human occasionally." she reaches over and gently thumps the King on the shoulder. "YOu might find you'll enjoy it."
Gilgamesh	The King looks off into the sky, red eyes catching white clouds. He seems again distant, alone. Then he smiles, and leans over, and plants a quick kiss on her lips. He straightens and turns and waves over his shoulder. "You are extremely familiar with the King," he says, and his tone is slightly mocking, but in the sort of cheerful mockery, where it's not /real/ mocking, it's making fun of himself more than her. "If you did not burn so beautifully I would call it impudence." "But..." The King looks over his shoulder. "I am told that to forgive is divine. Since I am divine, I will forgive you." There's a wry smile on his face, and the barest hint of a blush. "Next time you strike me, though, I expect it to be in earnest. I'm still looking forward to testing your strength, Yang Xiao Long." He turns back away from her. "Rest. Heal. And then I will come test your fire for myself. And you will see the might of the King of Heroes. "After that..." "After that, you can tell me if you still believe that I can be a human."
Yang Xiao Long	Yang laughs, it's that carefree guffaw she's well known for, and as the King moves away she dips in a half curtsey. "Thank you for your forgiveness, Your Majesty." she says, lightly mocking in return, then lifts her uninjured fist. "Sure, I'll be the crap out of ya sometime once I've not a walking disaster site." she adds, her face a fierce near-snarl at the challenge.
Gilgamesh	"I will look forward to it eagerly, fair Huntress." Yang gets a glimpse of the Gate of Babylon rippling, of the King's outfit changing to his more mundane black coat and white sweater, and then he vanishes around the corner.