2017-10-31: For Adlehyde

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===========================<* Great Aveh Desert *>============================

The heart of the Republic of Aveh is its great desert. The rolling dones and blistering heat here are infamous, and all but the most foolhardy would ever dare to cross it on foot. Most do so via the great rail lines running north to south, east to west, leading as far as Krosse and Adlehyde. The ones who do cross it on foot will find the heat isn't the only danger. Mirages can lead men astray, oases are few, and great and terrible beasts sink beneath the sands until they find their prey.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddOSJ8571M

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

At present, the Carakin - the Caravan Kinship's signature vehicle - was parked in a safe location. They had reunited with the Yggdrasil Alliance, and for now were laying low for a bit as they waited for some of the heat to die down.

Ordinarily, the outside of the Carakin was decorated with the group's color scheme and symbol, proudly displaying who they were to the world. Obviously, this was not the best thing to have in the world, and so the exterior was largely covered in protective plating to enhance the vehicle's durability and coverup the identifying features.

Well, as much as they could.

Because of this, at present, the interior of the vehicle was a rather...jarring change from what one might expect. There was a rather cozy, home-like atmosphere to it. In place of ordinary seats there were comfy sofas attached firmly to the floor. Not far from that was the designated dining area, where there was a board with notes to and from members of the Kinship attached, adjacent to a fully functional kitchen. There was even a hallway nearby, leading to the member's rooms.

Jacqueline can be found reclining in one of the sofas, now. Though amongst everyone gathered in this location there was plenty of healing available, it could no undo one simple fact - her body was still pretty sore from everything that happen! And besides that, it was nice to just sit back and drink in the familiar atmosphere.

The door of the vehicle is currently open, indicating that people are free to enter as they'd like. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        The Rephaim is still perched outside the CaraKin; it's a rather ominous looking Gear, all told -- dug from the depths of Rujm el-Hiri, it possesses some characteristics not seen in some of today's more commercial or military-grade gear, like the more sleek features and the sensation of the Leylines that are gently still thrumming in the ambient air as it seems to recharge itself, grafted on the large vented backpack upon which a golden wheel mounts itself.

        Still, Lunata's been peeled away from Gear maintenance into something she kind of more enjoys--

        --laundry? Laundry. Ge Ramda's currently acting in the service of head maid, it would seem, for the ghostly lich is currently hanging up bedsheets on what appears to be an ornate katana's sheath, taking the term 'washing pole' a little bit too literally. Next to her, Lunata's carrying out another basket with washables as she ties a lunchlady bandana into her hair. "Make sure the sides don't touch!" she cautions Ge Ramda, who wails soflty. 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune is usually to be found nearby to Lunata; in this case, she's actually sat atop the caravan itself, cross-legged and with her pad of paper in her lap as she scribbles out notes and tries to keep her hair under control so that she can figure out what notes she needs to scribble. "Aww, ma~an... we really took a beating," she grumbles softly to herself, squinting up against the breeze as she tracks a row of solid dents and pockmarks where a number of Aveh soldiers decided to try to harry their retreat. "Ja~ay, we're gonna need better armor next time, for sure."

        As much as she complains, she seems refreshed and pleased at the idea of having something to fix up to let her return to typical days; next to her, standing a little higher than the vehicle, Big Shal, the twelve-foot golem of a much more mechanical style when compared to Asgard or Diablo, leans over to take a look at the mechanic's proposed list of work. It still carries a number of component bits of scrap that are rather obviously Aveh make - but the two have been working to fix that, and much of the golem's bodywork is now restored.

        Throwing herself to one side, Shalune peers over the edge of the CaraKin, her eyebrows raised as if watching the waitress and lich do the laundry together were the most natural thing in the world. "Lunieee~ how did the Rephy look? Arm aside, didja need anything sorting out on it?" 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

For Cecilia Adlehyde, anything that gets her FAR AWAY FROM BLEDAVIK is just fine with her. Still, she'd been expecting maybe a horse-drawn carriage she'd have to hunker down in, or one of those Aquvian hovercraft that's more like a jet you sit on. Though perhaps it would be more honest to say she had not really put together a plan at all; Leon was to figure that part out.

And figure it out he seems to have done. The only thing that stopped Cecilia from gawping in naked awe the entire trip here is that emotional, physical and magical exhaustion conspired to ensure she fell asleep just about as soon as her body convinced itself the odds of her dying in the next ten minutes had dropped below 90%. The Princess remained out like a light until ~about now~, when the princess emerges from whatever hole the CaraKin had found for her, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she looks around blankly. "Another sandship," she mutters, distantly. "Didn't know Bart had two..."

She may not have put two and two together yet. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

There's a warm smile on Jacqueline's face as she hears Shalune and Lunata working outside. It was a much needed dose of normalcy after everything they'd been through , and she can't help but chuckle to herself as Shalune calls into the vehicle at her.

"I kind of hope there isn't a next time..." Jacqueline admits. "...But I'll be sure to order better quality material if there is."

There was no chance that this wouldn't draw attention from someone after all.

For Cecilia, Jacqueline had chosen one of the guest rooms. It didn't have the personal touches of all the other rooms, but it was still plenty comfortable. When she emerges from the hallway Jacqueline takes notice, getting to her feet.

"Ah, Princess, good morning! Did you rest well? I hope the drive wasn't too rough for you..." She greets with a bright smile and a wave. It fades a bit, as Cecilia mentions a sandship.

"Hahah...it's flattering that you'd compare the two, but the Carakin isn't anywhere near on the level the Yggdrasil is...it's just our humble vehicle. It isn't a sandship..." Jacqueline says, a bit sheepishly. It might be a bit early in the morning for those kinds of distinctions, though... 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        Lunata is batting at the bedsheets with a wicker rod as she sighs and looks to Shalune, saying, "I'm not so sure about turning the CaraKin into a combat vehicle, but..." A pause. "I guess it really is worth considering, huh...?" She raises an eyebrow as she glances inside and hears the call.

        She pauses.

        "Oh... I guess the Princess' up?" Lunata asks to Shalune, before climbing inside to peer her way with a tired smile.

        They hadn't met since Cecilia frequented the Starfall Saloon, so long ago, hasn't she? The... ghostly lich in the bridal kimono and ancient regalia following her is certainly new.

        "Morning, Your Highness!" Lunata's smile is a bit more forced, but she doesn't want to be inhospitable. Then, she says the most dangerous words to Cecilia Lynne Adlehyde:

        "We've got food if you want some."

        A spread of tasty-looking scones, biscuits, fruits and cereals on the table behind her may fear for its very short life soon. 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        "Like Jay says, it's more just a big ol' truck, but it's home. We've got wheels an' everything, you just can't see 'em cuz they're right under the chassis," Shalune continues to motor-mouth, switching topic in an instant as she leans down past the edge of the doorway to peer at Cecilia. "I mean, maybe sandship? Once I figure out how to do some decent fins or airfoils or somethin'? But I'm kinda running out of material right now to make any decently big changes. Mebbe once I tear this armor off an' get the Carakin looking nice and cute again," she decides thoughtfully--

        --and then her brain catches up to her mouth, and she perks up. "Oh, um! Sup, ma'am!" adds the upside-down and significantly large blob of talking pink hair, because she can't really lean down all that far. "Um, is it 'ma'am'? Your Princessnessnessliness?" she tries, finding it kind of hard to stop saying the word once she's started.

        She looks past the Princess, raising her eyebrows at the alchemist. "Honestly, problem is more the shape. If you have curves, it'll just sorta bounce bullets right off, y'know? It's just less wear and tear that way. I could make it the BigShalKin, next time!" she beams, spreading her arms out in triumph--

        --before having to pinwheel instead, turning her very ungraceful position into a rather ungraceful dismount. At least she seems none the worse for wear, as if she's taken that particular tumble before. "Not for good," she promises Lunata immediately when she manages to pop into the doorway once more, comically solemn as she pats off a sandy smudge from her sleeve. "I don't wanna do that. Just-- when we need it, y'know? For safety's sake." 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

"I'll take it over running out of there," Cecilia replies, wakefulness coming to her as she finds Jay amid the surroundings. "Still, this is more than anything I've seen except the Yggdrasill, I'd say. I'm impressed you've seen inside it." Switching gears to the Yggdrasill. "Bart plays at the flirt, but he knows better than to open his doors too wide."

She steps over toward the door, as much to get a sense of scale as anything, at which point she discovers she's being talked to. She stares at Shalune sort of blankly for a long few minutes. "Hi," she replies with a small titter to the stuttered greeting. But it slowly turns to a faint grimace as the play with titles continues. "Just Cecilia's fine," she says. "If I wanted people hanging on my title, well, we wouldn't be standing here." She doesn't even mean to imply anything specific; she'd have taken a course so different she can't even imagine being that person.

She's about to add more, when a ghostly lich in a kimono shows up, and Cecilia finds herself just...pointing and staring - not aghast but with a blank, gawped face as she attempts to process the vision. Fortunately, Lunata knows how to defuse the moment, and Cecilia says, "Nice to ....meet you?" in a curious tone to the literal ghost before saying, "Yes please! That troll of a man wouldn't know a good meal if I gave him a diagram!" with visible excitement. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"It's not something I'd want to make a habit of, certainly." Jacqueline agrees with a nod, at talk of the CaraKin's transformation. She hadn't built it for combat, after all. It's primary purpose was always to promote her business and help distribute her healing potions.

Her attention soon returns to Cecilia. She can't help but be a little proud at the compliment to the vehicle, though she frowns slightly as she tries to consider the exact sequence of events that had lead her to seeing inside the Yggdrasil

"It's a bit of a long story...Lunata and Shalune are more familiar with it than I am, though." Jacqueline says.

She goes right back to feeling a bit embarrassed as Cecilia grimaces at the use of her title.

"Ah, my apologies..." She murmurs, observing as Cecilia sees Ge Ramda for the first time.

That was the typical reaction. She agrees to a bit to eat, though, so Jacqueline starts to move toward the kitchen.

"Would you care for something to drink to go along with it? We have milk, tea, coffee..." Jacqueline starts, sorting through the cupboards. Ordinarily this would be Lunata's job, but she was busy outside!

"And, ah...I don't think I've had the opportunity to introduce myself, in all the chaos. I'm Jacqueline Barber, of the Caravan Kinship. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She says, sending Cecilia a brief smile. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

There is something of a faint pause from Lunata, but-- but she can empathise with that desire in the end... despite everything else. "Okay, just Cecilia then. And we take pride in our food -- you have been to our saloon before, --so enjoy!"

        "That is, um... Ge Ramda - it is something of a really long story, but she's a... spirit of Ge Ramtos' ilk. ... a lot has happened." 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        "Ah, yeah!" Shalune perks up all of a sudden, all smiles despite having literally just tumbled down from atop the caravan. "Ehehe, I'm Shalune Amira! We're all Adlehydeans, more or less, so we sorta figured we should throw our lot in to help, y'know?"

        "As for the Cap'n, um, he sorta saved us and Lunie's mom a while back," the mechanic trails off as she scratches at her hair, not sure how much detail to go into. "Ah, but eat up first! Lunie's food is the best," she adds with an unabashed smile. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia grimaces at Lunata's summation of Ge Ramda. "Yes. I recall as much from the tournament...it seems we've all come quite far from home." Her eyes linger on the spirit a few moments more; but great presences are no longer quite what they once were for Cecilia and she finds herself at the table soon. "Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about me enjoying it!" she laughs. "Milk or tea, I think!" Cecilia adds, in Jay's direction. "That absurd troglodyte thinks coffee is some kind of status symbol, it's inescapable in there."

....wait did she mean Shakhan with that...

In the time it takes to process the smiling princess referring to someone with such open malice, one of the scones is just sort of gone. She reaches for an apple. She considers it in her fingers before looking up, a little more subdued. "Thank you. For your assistance before, and for your help now. It means a great deal."

Shalune revealing the party to be from Adlehyde sees her smile grow, but it's melancholy as she takes a bite. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Indeed, they were all pretty far from home. The Carakin served as a replacement, though she had the presence of good friends to thank for that. It went a long way toward making this journey what it was.

"A status symbol, really...? What a waste..." Jacqueline comments with a frown. She has to assume Cecilia's referring to Shakhan, and, well...it wasn't exactly painting the greatest picture of him.

Not that he needed the help with that.

"Milk it is, then!" She says. She pours out two glasses and brings them over to the table, setting one in front of Cecilia and keeping the other for herself.

She watches her for a moment before shaking her head slightly.

"I wouldn't have been able to do anything without everyone else behind me. I'm just glad I was able to help..." She replies. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        "... ah-- yeah, I wasn't sure..." Lunata twiddled her thumbs as she sort of slips inside and helps with the drinks as necessary, in part because Ge Ramda was... well, that certainly is a lichly spirit doing laundry. Does this count as an abuse of power in some way? It's hard to tell sometimes.

        "... yeah, we-- we heard about your imprisonment, and we couldn't sit still. I'd been-- I'd been struggling with all the news about Adlehyde."

        She sighs. "I'd talked with Hiro about how he said Leo wanted to... to burn the corruption out of it." She frowns deeper. "And now, with Krosse withdrawing their support... I'm just..."

        She looks genuinely towards her princess. Like she's pleading. "I want to help my hometown. It's been there for me my entire life, like Zeldukes has. I can't just ignore it at a time of need." 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune kind of bobs uncertainly from side to side, not quite sure to say when they've got a princess in their midst; even if the Princess herself has said not to worry about it, it still obviously sticks in her mind as kind of a Big Thing, and she bobbles for a long moment before her stomach gives in and propels her forwards to sneak one of the scones for herself.

        "... ah... well, yeah," she finally admits, agreeing with Lunata as she glances at the waitress and bites at her lip. "I mean, we kinda headed out our own way, but we were still really worried about what might've been happening back in Adlehyde. I guess we just sorta-- wanted to at least find out? Mebbe help you as part of that? So we could clear the air? ... um, not that we wouldn't try to save anyone, too!" she adds all of a sudden as she pumps her fists, pouting a little as she awkwardly stumbles over her own comments.

        She catches herself, not least because she's kind of adorably nommed onto the treat much like a hamster. It gives her a chance to wind her mind back, and just nod in concert. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

"It's how he is," Cecilia murmurs, polishing off her apple. She considers the core quietly. "I knew. It's the only reason this worked."

She shudders. "Barely," she breathes, quieter. Her whole posture curls inward for a moment.

She sucks in another, longer breath, looking up. She's empathetic enough. She understands; they don't know what to do with the princess in their midst. They are expecting someone more regal; calm, and caring, and composed, and it's a person she is normally able enough to be. She finds the expectation galling, after the last few weeks, and her eyes fall away again.

"I appreciate all you've done," she says, again. She's fit not to say more; but the words Lunata says of Hiro and Leo has her eyes up and squinting. And then she just shakes her head. "I don't know that I recall this 'Hiro', but I rather doubt the White Knight would say that." (She's met Hiro but not very directly, and not recently besides.) "The Kingdom is in good hands. I'm sure of that."

So saying she begins eliminating another scone. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline frowns slightly at the admittance that the plan had barely worked. She doesn't comment on it, instead taking a sip of her drink as Lunata and Shalune share their worries with the Princess. Perhaps she feels this really isn't the best time to be chiding her, not while she's still recovering.

"I wish I could put the same faith in the White Knight that you have." She comments. "I am afraid my interactions with some of his Guard have not given me the same opinion." 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        Lunata pauses just a little bit -- she kind of... does find that gap in their expectation of the Princess and what Cecilia wants to be... well, it kind of feels separating, in a way. But... in the same way, once more -- she can't just push all the burden of expectation onto someone in an undue way.

        "... yeah," Lunata nods slowly. "I trust Hiro... he's the one that travels with -- with the people the Guard call the 'Fiends'. They were there during the Metal Demon siege, fighting the Quarter Knights..."

        There's a furrowed, deeper brow. ... Cecilia saying that the Kingdom is in good hands feels... dismissive in a way she can't easily ignore.

        She breathes a bit deeper, and then says, "Sorry, it's been... really burdensome on my mind." Her lips thin a little. 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune looks to Lunata with a frown; she gravitates slightly in the other Lunie's direction to quietly sort of threaten a hug, which might work better were she not still having a scone kind of stuck in her mouth. As it is, she sort of rubs arms with the other girl in a quiet 'I'm here' sort of gesture, nodding slowly to herself as she finishes it off.

        Immediately, she's drawn in a breath with a sort of sigh, not sure what to do with the air in the caravan - but that just seems to pump her up as well as she puts on a brave face. "A-aw. It's okay! And-- yeah, y'know, I'm not really sure either. I mean, I know the Guard really hate Hiro for some reason, but it's hard to imagine them just doin' as they like around Adlehyde. But bein' away from the place, your mind wanders, y'know? It's only natural to worry," she adds with a scratch of her cheek and a light grin.

        She puffs for a moment, and then looks between the two Carakin members with a brighter smile this time. "Anyway, um-- I mean, if the Princess trusts him, that's gotta be okay, right? And besides," she adds with sudden bravado and a cocksure grin. "I'm pretty sure whatever happens, it can't be as bad as the guy whose place we just kinda knocked over and ran off from. Didn't we just prove that we could really help, even if worst comes to worst?" 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Lunata's visible displeasure rattles around Cecilia's head as she deletes her scone, but her ultimate response is just to swallow and take a breath. Her eyes shut for a moment, taking a long, steadying breath. The temper of a princess is a shorter thing than some may expect. "It has nothing to do with faith. I've never met the man."

Her hand comes up to her chest, resting where the Teardrop should be. When she speaks it is much quieter and palpably strained. "Many..." She swallows hard and spits out, "most, of our knights were killed by the Demons. The alternatives were Krosse - unwilling; Lacour - recently traumatized; or Aveh or Kislev - unacceptable. If order was not restored the Black Ties were liable to seize the castle itself, or Gebler would just walk up to the door." Her lip curls, barely containing a deep anger. "Or both. The Guard was there and ready."

She folds her hands to disguise the shaking in her shoulders. "If they wish to proselytize in the city, that's their privelege for making sure our people remain alive and free."

She quiets again, eyes lidding while she struggles to calm her nerves. "The Guard and Minister Johan will protect Adlehyde. The Kingdom is in good hands." Repeating the words with the greater gravity. "As for myself..."

She puts a hand on a scone.

"I will retrieve the Teardrop."

She shoves it in her mouth, eating with absolutely no grace. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline glances toward Lunata with some concern, then toward Cecilia. It seemed like tempers were starting to rise a bit. Hm...maybe she should've gone with the tea.

"Perhaps you should, at some point. I hear his people have begun doing work in Krosse, though I don't know if he himself is with them." Jacqueline suggests. That would be the quickest way of learning their measure, assuming they didn't put on a different face for her.

She remains quiet as Cecilia gives her opinion on the situation. She speaks of making sure their people remain alive and free, but she's heard of some of the restrictions Althena - and therefore the Guard - places on Her faithful.

Maybe it was a worthy sacrifice, or maybe it was a price they'd soon regret.

She doesn't comment on the situation, instead focusing on her declaration that she would retrieve the Teardrop.

"Have you worked out a plan for that yet?" She asks, curious. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        Lunata looks -- looks surprised, really, and she sucks in another breath. Then another. She glances towards Shalune, as if she's trying to remind herself of the terrible things she's done in a fit of pique last time.

        She clenches her fist, tightly. She's getting agitated.

        "Fine. You do that, Cecilia." The presence of the name seems distancing, more than ever. Her voice is becoming a bit more erratic.

        She swallows. She feels her heartbeat rising. Mumbling, to herself. ... even Ge Ramda looks concerned, and that's incredible when she has a skull for a face.

        "I'm glad. I'm glad you're there, to fight the Demons, to protect the world."

        She's squeezing the words out as she closes her eyes, starting to strain to a growl.

        "I'm glad you're making the calls... on what we have to put up with..." She slams her fists to the desk. "You haven't even been there for us. How long'd you have to practice that one? 'The Kingdom's in good hands'."

        Her face contorts, and she knows she looks ugly right now. She feels ugly.

        "Forget it. I'll spill blood for Adlehyde!"

        She hurries out in a sudden rush -- and there's a sniffling, growling noise of pain as... she starts running for the Rephaim. 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune sucks in a breath, sensing the change in the air; she opens her mouth as if to reply again, as if to try to make some kind of peace - however tiny it might be - between the two as her brow furrows.

        But then Lunata's broken into a sudden cry, and bolted for the Rephaim, and Shalune's eyes widen as a spike of panic. "--Lunie! You can't! Don't--" she starts to blurt, with a panicked look towards Jacqueline - and has clattered after Lunata immediately in a rush of pink hair. 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Perhaps indeed; Cecilia hasn't touched her milk yet. "Yes...I've heard word of a few people with concerns. I have faith Johan would have sent me word if he knew of anything out of line happening..."

Her hands clasp quietly. With the words out, she feels just a bit better. "This," she says, motioning vaguely. "It's in the demon castle, wherever that is. The Guardians were unable to send me there...Siegfried's terrible dark spear stopped them when they tried. So we're trying to preserve the statues while..."

She trails off, because Lunata's building anger still has her on edge, and tickles a raw nerve of her own, prompting her own thoughts to stray and her eyes to hood. She doesn't interrupt while Lunata works herself up, though her breathing does turn deeper as Lunata merrily tapdances on her buttons.

She opens her mouth to snap back - so much she can say about Lunata's immplication of presumption - but what she cuts to is an utterly alien jump for Cecilia, and it leaves the Princess staring when she dashes off. "Spill--huh?"

She doesn't rise with quite the same panic because she's not quite sure why this suddenly turned from the responsibilities of a princess to imminent manslaughter.

She looks to Jay with open confusion, because Shalune doesn't really strike her as the voice of authority here for some strange reason. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I see...yes, I suppose that's as good a plan as any..." Jacqueline comments, with a nod of understanding. There was no point in sitting around and waiting for things to change.

And then, something happens that Jacqueline would never have expected.

To hear that much pain and anger from Lunata is...horrifying, to say the least. It was a side of her that had been lurking beneath the surface for a while, but was just now boiling over. To see her kind, loving friend sling insults at the princess and declare her intentions to spill blood for Adlehyde...

It was jarring, beyond even the events that had occured not too long ago.

She could not blame Ge Ramda for this - even the spirit appeared disturbed by these events. Jacqueline bolts to her feet, accidentally spilling her own milk in the process.

"Cecilia, I'm so sorry...!" Jacqueline says, then hurries after Shalune and Lunata.

"Lunata, wait! You don't want to do this!" Jacqueline shouts, concern obvious in her voice. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        Lunata has... not actually gone all that far in the end -- while there are obvious upsides to an ancient Gear whose control mechanism can literally detach from its dashboard and follow you around as a cube or a sword, it... doesn't help when it doesn't follow you.

        Lunata's yelling outside, as she stares towards the pile of laundry as she tries to drag at it -- bedsheets just yank and spill away, landing on the ground as she tries to seize and pull at the katana that remains unmoving to her will, her teeth gritting so hard she feels like she can start to feel blood pool out of it.

        "What use are you if you won't even listen to me?! What's the point of the price I paid?! You're useless, you're useless!" Lunata howls as she grasps at the sheets and yank and pull away, and-- a particularly slippery tug prompts her to spill onto her knees instead.

        "Useless... useless... what am I paying my life to you for...?!" Lunata's voice is pathetic as she lowers her head, gasping and seizing up as she claws at the bedsheets and grasps onto one. She's wailing. It's clear she's not referring to Ge Ramda.

        "It's all so ... useless... ... I'm so useless..." 

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune ends up just kind of impacting with Lunata sideways - she doesn't mean to, per se, but her rush has been urgent and uncontrolled, and she almost ends up rolling sideways with the girl, scooping her up into a hug as she buries her head into the crook of her neck. "--Lunie!" she yells over the girl's wails, not sure if she's trying to voice an objection or just drown out her self-hatred. "You're not-- you're not--" 

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia stumbles out last - it's only when Jay rushes out that Cecilia quite understands that this isn't just someone running off in a huff but a situation that could in fact escalate enormously.

....could, being operative, as they find Lunata not so far away, weeping bitterly over a weapon that will not do as she says. Shalune barrels into her and embraces her. Jay apologies to her as she runs off. Cecilia...stops well out of conversational distance, eyes cast down. She wasn't aware of the scope, but it's familiar in its way. Paying her life...

Is it so different, in the end, from the immutable destiny Cecilia has been faced with at every turn?

Cecilia's fingers curl over her chest, where the Teardrop should be, but she can only watch. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Those howls of pain and desperation tear and stab at Jacqueline's heart, but she can't help but be inwardly relieved that the weapon refuses to budge. If Lunata was allowed to access Rephaim...she might do something she could never undo.

She looks away as Lunata tumbles to the ground, a part of her unable to bear watching Lunata like this. But she does move in, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around Lunata and Shalune quietly.

Try as she might, no words come to mind. It may be, she feels, that there are no words for this. Nothing that can spirit away these feelings of Lunata's at the moment, as much as she would like to. The only thing she can really do is...

Be there. 

<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.

        If it's the howls of lament that Ge Ramda usually echo, it's only Lunata's that seem to ring through the little valley that the CaraKin and Rephaim is nestled into. It's a rollercoaster of a ride, a horrible cavalcade of emotions... the feeling that you might be recovering one moment, then thrown off your game horribly the next--

        It's exhausting.

        She shakes her head, clutching, tugging at her hair. The humiliation feels palpable, she feels ashamed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

        She swallows weakly, knowing she's become the spitfire thrusting it all onto everyone now.

        Words feel useless. Jay is right. No words can be of service right now. Being there...

        It is why the CaraKin is there, isn't it? The dents on the side of the vehicle's armor where damage has occured is but a reminder that even if you fall, in the end...

        You'll always win... with the CaraKin. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        A silhouette's arm lowers, a ways away from the center of tumultuous emotion.
        The hand goes to their forehead instead, head bowed a short ways as two long-time friends attempt to pacify one whose sacrifices have not brought the intended peace they seek. A troubled princess finds themselves facing the dissatisfaction of one of their subjects, with no easy answer or assurance in sight for those who have stood to sacrifice the relative safety of their lifestyle and trade for this very moment.
        The silhouette turns away some moments later, to move at a measured pace back down through the CaraKin. Whoever the owner - maybe another familiar face, maybe another set of hands, maybe just another headcount - appears reticent to add more beyond the almost silent sound of footsteps on the steady retreat.
        Just how involved is too involved? At what point does putting oneself, or even suggesting oneself, only serve to make matters worse?

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