2019-06-25: The Coop That Flew

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  • Log: The Coop that Flew
  • Cast: Yue Rohay, Ambrosius, Isolde, Shalune Amira, Marivel Armitage, Amaterasu
  • Where: Mi'ihen Highroad
  • Date: June 25, 2019
  • Summary: An ordinary day on the Mi'ihen Highroad is interrupted as a highly-secured jail cell drops from the sky out of nowhere, attracting attention from passersby. The prisoner turns out to be none other than Yue Rohay, convicted of attempted regicide...and some of them seem to know her.

============================<* Mi'ihen Highroad *>============================

Many years ago, a man named Lord Mi'ihen, commander of a mercenary group known as the Crimson Blades, was summoned by the Grand Measter to Bevelle to answer the challenge that his group was a threat to Yevon. Though his followers suspected he would be executed and begged to follow, Mi'ihen ordered them to stay behind and walked along an old path to Bevelle, without stopping to rest. 

Moved by the display of piety, the Grand Maester formally adopted Mi'ihen and his soldiers into Yevon as a defensive force, known now as the Crusaders. In recognition of the momentous moment, the path Mi'ihen walked now bears his name.

...except not really, because the original one was wrecked by Sin a few hundred years ago. You can still see bits of it as you pass along the Highroad, on which the Djose Temple can also be found.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

        Several days prior to the Battle of Luca...

        Oh, what a bright and sunshiney day it is in the Mi'ihen Highroad! The Chocobos are trotting, the Bombs are resplendent and aflame, even the Chocobo Eaters seem satiated. Nary a miss and a glimmer from the Elementals, and the Mi'ihen Fangs chase each other in joy and frolick--

        Before a mass of sorcery warps the air high in the centre of the road.

        A weary elderly traveler looks up from where he's seated. "What the?"

        Out of what appears to be an enormous blue mandala, a rectangular metallic and brick-and-mortar object has emerged from thin air! He stares at it dumbfoundedly...

        And then it tips on one of its sides as gravija starts to take hold. "O-oh my goodness--" he scampers away as the object -- nay, let's just call it what it is, a building -- descends and lands with a resounding *WHAMMMM* on the Highroad, cratering one leg of it.

        The building appears to be of somewhat high-technological make -- the design is testament to that, with its sleek gunmetal sides where the mortar does not cover. There is a high-security door upon it... as well as the designation 'CR-S01'. The windows suggest the building might be some manner of prison, given the metal bars upon it.

        Well.

        What in Spira could've possibly happened here?

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Up to that point, it had been an ordinary day. Ambrosius was walking the Mi'ihen Highroad, though not merely to enjoy the sights. He was scavenging - specifically, looking for parts for...something. He just needed some last few parts before he would be able to call a certain project of his complete.

That was the plan, at least until the systems built into his internal suit start going berserk, warning him of high-level fluctuations of energy. The sort that preceeded a powerful spell, or the workings of a sorcerous device.

He is compelled to follow the source, and what he finds is, in one word...

"...Impossible..." Ambrosius breathes out incredulously, staring at the structure. It is. And yet, here it is, clashing vastly with its natural Spiran surroundings. "...Where? How...?"

Before him was a structure, quite clearly of Veruni make. Had it been sent by headquarters? Or were the Moderates or the Infiltrators to blame for this?

In a bit of a trance, Ambrosius walks up to it. He pays the old fellow no mind. From where he's sitting, he must look a little made, walking up to this building/machina like it's nothing.

Ambrosius scans it carefully...and then, wordlessly, his eyes track toward the designation on the security door.

<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.

 
Near the entrance to the Highroad there is a worn stone space loosely connected to a water pump and with a privy down and out of sight. People gather there for it is folly to travel alone. Sometimes someone sells skewers of meat or something. There was a dice game breaking up -

'ah! machina!'
'machina is bad luck for me.'
'big same'

And so it is that the ringleader of that dice game is at loose ends. Isolde sweeps up the gil and shakes it in her hands while putting the dice back where they belong. She rises up, pulls her coat back on, tosses her hair back, takes a breath, and walks steadily towards the impact site.

"Hello!" she calls forwards. "Ahoy in there! Is anyone hurt? Try to speak up - I'll get someone if you're stuck!"

She may not be aware of Ambrosius's presence at all.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune is really liking the idea of Highroads on the whole. She's mostly hanging around Guadosalam and Macalania at present, enjoying the chance to take in the otherworldly scenery and learn a little about the Yevon faith, but having well-established paths means it's pretty easy to zip back and rhide ze shoopuf one last time. And then another last time, and another. It also means it's that much easier to keep tabs on Lunata, as she helps out within Luca.

        It makes it easy to travel - and it also makes it easy to avoid travelers, as well. All it takes is an empty stretch of road and Shalune can pull out the Little Dipper, veer off to one side, gain a little height, and then ride the Spiran winds. Flight feels so much better on Lunar's side of things, she's decided - less sand in your eyes, clearer and crisper air, and Spira adds in some sea salt for good measure that reminds her of home and the port.

        (Steering is a little harder given that she's switched from her comfy clothes to a long robe that looks like a cross between that of a swordswoman and a summoner, but she's decided she really likes the way it billows and the way the wind catches her hair. She's allowed a vain moment once a decade.)

        Her newfound cool is for naught, however, when an incredibly load bang catches her attention for long enough to send the Little Dipper careening into foliage. Yelping as she gets whapped by palm leaves, she does her best to try to arrest the scooter's descent - but it isn't long before she's practically ejected back onto the Highroad in a tumbling mess, sliding down the banked hill on one side to land in a bit of a pile at the base of the large box, narrowly missing bonking her head against it.

        Still trying to catch up from the fall, her mind doesn't really know what to do at first, and she stares slack-jawed at the sight in front of her. Her thoughts are very scattered, but full of memories: that's Veruni architecture, she knows. She remembers the automated barge that would carry several per trip to Granny's Junkyard. But it's here in Spira, which means the Veruni either have a barge that can cross space or they can just teleport it. Maybe they're going to use Spira for landfill? Granny could look after it. She could use the sun, after all--

        --but the sight of Ambrosius in particular snaps her up to attention, shaking the cobwebs away as she springs up to her feet, hands in front of her in placation. "Uh!" she blurts. First things first. "Look, I'm not gonna dispute anything. I'm as curious as you, especially if it means a way back! Truce, okay?"

        And then natives come along and her scooter's just lying on the ground next to her and uh-ohhh, she's going to have to reset the Days Since Heresy counter, isn't she? Lunie's gonna be mad...

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel arrives slightly behind Isolde, carrying a very large machina weapon on her shoulder that she must have cobbled together from recovered parts. She whistles faintly perhaps to assure Isolde she is nearby in a friendly way without forcing her to listen to footsteps or something and she comes to a stop even as Isolde continues on a bit.

"Ah," She says. "Don't get any closer, Isolde."

She then turns her gaze to Shalune. "And you are here! Good, good. I am going to suggest you also do not get too close."

She does not give the Veruni any such warning (but it's pretty obvious as it is) as she exhales faintly in a long drawn out sigh and says, "Well here we go," as if she is dissapointed by results that haven't happened yet.

She fires a trio of rockets towards the high security door. The machina makes a churning noise and smoke starts billowing out from around it and Marivel tosses the weapon to the side.

"So what brings you here?" She asks the gathered. "I'm here to do a jailbreak. Don't worry about it."

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

        It had been an ordinary enough day. With little else to do -- for now -- Amaterasu had accompanied Ambrosius on his expedition along the Highroad, largely in the hopes of locating a Fiend of some strength or power.
        Thus far, the commando has been disappointed. The Fiends here have either played it smart and stayed clear, or been distressingly feeble. She can't hone her blade on weaklings...

        Still, being out and about is better than standing idle, so she has taken these disappointments in stride.

        Until Ambrosius had detected a disturbance and she, of course, had followed.

        "...Reinforcements?" she says to him, squinting at the structure from afar.

        "Or, perhaps, trouble."

        She has fought enough Moderates to know that such an act -- though unprecented in scope and sheer reach -- is not entirely beyond the pale. Perhaps they're seeking to similarly apply their influence upon the moon, or any number of possible scenarios.

        Which Amaterasu considers only briefly before shaking her head. Speculation accomplished nothing. "I suppose we should see for ourselves."

        She nods, as if to gesture towards the Drifters approaching the structure.

        "Before they find out for us."

        With that, Amaterasu does a leap from the rock she has been perched atop, making a seven point landing before approaching the structure.

        "I will open it," she says, though this probably will do little to stop anyone already in the process thereof.
        Such as the person firing rockets at it, for example.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        "--uh, ma'am--" blurts one of the people in this scene with a remarkably complete knowledge of Veruni metallurgy and its response to explosive stress testing. "--I don't think that's gonna aaaagg--" Arms up and roll! Arms up and roll!!

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

        Curious indeed, Ambrosius, Amaterasu. Was this a strategy employed Headquarters? Perhaps backup, given the unintended way in which he and other Veruni operatives had been sent to Spira in the first place? But if it were backup, why did it come in the form of a jail cell with a very familiar prisoner designation to them--

        CR-S01. Confinement Record - Solitary. A designation assigned to maximum-security prisoners of the Veruni interred in solitary cells, typically isolated from the world...

        And the designation '01' is very familiar. Both in person and in television, thanks to Duogrammaton.

        Isolde calls out. There's no immediate response. People can see a glimpse of the bottomside of the cell from where Spiran sunlight trickles in through the bars and sees... books? A whole lot of books. Looks like a whole lot of it just got disheveled.

        Then Marivel appears. With a rocket lawncher, intending to do a jailbreak.

        The trio of rockets go 'WHIZZZ' and go 'BOOOOOM' and a whole lot of smoke and some fire erupts and there is a sudden springing cough and a woman's voice with a low, raspy exhalation of:

        "Peace! Peace... do not set my abode on fire."

        The door is incredibly dented, but somehow holds. Marivel can tell the reason why, as it gleams with a familiar magic glow. Ah, Duplicator Door. The Elw are such filthy cheaters.

        A brown-haired woman can be seen as she pulls herself up to the window. The sound of chains clink as she draws her hands up to the bars. Her eyes bear significant black bags under them, and she has a distinctive crest-like tattoo on her cheek.

        "My... is that you, Ambrosius?" She sounds genuinely surprised. "Your works are burning inside. Pray lend me your water magics so I may save your best fiction from flame..."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

"Agreed." Ambrosius says, with a nod of agreement toward Amaterasu before continuing onward toward the structure.

Ambrosius tears his eyes away from the designation on the door as he hears Shalune address him from nearby. He seems a little surprised to see her here - but he relaxes, as she makes a placating gesture.

"Do not fear. I have no quarrel with you today." He replies. "However, I do not think you will find a way home here."

He steps up to the door, glancing briefly in Isolde's direction. He looks back at the door and opens his mouth.

"Mi-" He doesn't get to finish his statement before he leaps back suddenly as a trio of rockets rush past him, bombarding the door.

He turns his head toward Marivel and gives her a Look before looking back toward the door, and then to the window as a brown-haired woman appears - one who seems to know him.

And he, her, from the way he had been about to address her before sudden missiles happened.

"My apologies. I should have spoken sooner. Please step back." Ambrosius replies to her. He extends a hand, and water begins to swirl. It floats forward, into the cell through the window, and disperses in an extinguishing cloud - just enough to get rid of the fire, without causing too much water damage to anything inside.
Game> Yue Rohay just +fingered you!

<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.

 
Other vehicles arrive at great speed. There are explosions. Isolde is warned to keep clear by Marivel, and this seems to suit her fine. She folds her arms loosely beneath her breasts, smiles in her faintly idiotic way, and awaits the fading of banging.

"I was just in the area," Isolde tells Marivel. "Who are you breaking out? - Ah! Good, she survived the fall. And she has a friend! Well on her way to rejoining society." She seems to be talking mostly to Marivel, mostly by accident of proximity.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        By the time she pops her head up, Shalune is looking a little (more) dishevelled (than usual), grimacing at Marivel as she stumbles back up to her feet and does her best to pat herself down. At least it gives her a chance to sneakily reclaim her scooter given the way she rolled towards it for a miniscule amount of cover; she coughs to herself as she folds it up, adding a Half Heresy to her count for the mechanical way in which it packs itself away.

        "I told you, jeez! Those things are tough enough already until you get onto whatever they cheated on the door! How the heck did they even install one of those?" she grumbles to herself, then starts in wild-eyed surprise as a voice comes from within. "--and you nearly shot someone, let alone something!" she blurts afterwards, scurrying back up to the now smouldering prison and craning her head to one side to peek through the bars.

        "Hello! Hello? Are you okay? I hope it doesn't smell in there too bad!" she adds, her brain still a little addled even as it becomes increasingly clear this is not so much a storage crate for discarded parts so much as something else entirely. "Uh, I'm sure we can find a way to get you out! You've got--" Maybe she shouldn't say 'Veruni' out loud. "--friends out here!"

        To her credit, when Isolde and Ambrosius approach the crate, she's quick to step back and give them space - though her gaze still roams across the surfaces of the cube, trying to pick out what she can about its locking mechanism. The only conclusion, unfortunately, is... "... I think you're right," she mutters in Ambrosius' direction, scratching at her hair. "I don't see anything much like a propulsion system, so to retrieve it - if they're gonna retrieve it - it's all done on the originating side. Right?" Is she asking his confirmation about Veruni technology? But in the end, that's just how she learns.

        That and hitting things with a hammer.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel doesn't so much as ignore the Look so much as not realize she is being given a Look. There's a distinct sensation she is 'going through the motions' here.

"I know it isn't going to work," She asides to Isolde. "But I still have to do it." She performs a mystical gesture with her hand that Isolde can't see. "It's Jeremy Bearimy. Just act naturally." She proceeds to not explain Jeremy Bearimy and instead reaches into her pouch and draws out Nob, pulling the top of his head back and revealing a drill. "Elw and their fucking doors," She mutters before asiding to Isolde again, "Like I said, not going to work but somehow still upset."

"Yue! Bust through the window!" Marivel shouts. "This is a jailbreak!"

She looks back to Isolde. "Well here I go," She says glumly as she approaches the door, aiming to dig Nob into the door and/or bars and start drilling.

"'Fraid not yet!!" She shouts over drill noises (though she can be stopped from approaching the door with it). "She's still in the prison! That's Amaterasu who landed! She lent me a light novel once!"

She looks to Shalune and says, "Oh I'm sure she'll have been slash will be fine. I only used three rockets."

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

        Amaterasu's gaze settles, in fact, on that designation on the door once she's close enough to sight it. She glances back, meaningfully, at Ambrosius. This is a problem, and one that itself raises a whole suite of questions...

        All of which are best answered by getting the thing open and asking questions of the singular occupant within.

        Not only does Amaterasu watch TV (or did, back in Laila Belle) but she's well aware of the identity and crime of the one within it.
        So what's it doing on the moon?

        This, above all else, is what she intends to find out.

        She approaches the door as the missile dents it.

        "Stand down," she informs Marivel, before coming to a stop just before the glass porthole.
        (This statement still probably will do nothing to stop the Crimson Noble from applying her Drill to the situation).

        "CR-S01," she says, her expression as cold as stone. "What are you doing here?"

        Her gaze flicks downwards as Shalune attempts to apply a tool to the situation. At this, she says nothing.

        "There is a fire within? I see. Ambrosius--"

        Has it covered.

        "Hmm. There's nothing else for it."

        She fidgets with something along the back of her armoring on her gauntlet, which begins to softly glow. And then applies her hand, palm first, to the door.

        "Emergency Override 2594272004. Engage."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

It doesn't. It's Jeremy Bearimy.

This is all pretty unfortunate especially since everybody involved, including Marivel, knows that Amaterasu can probably just open it the way it's supposed to. Marivel is a weird one sometimes.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

        It doesn't take much for the water spell to put the flame out. "Ah. Here we are. 'The Friend from Afar'... I am glad it is undamaged," speaks the woman triumphantly, holding up a small novel with a bookmark upon it. "It's compelling, my friend. A tale of joy and sorrow both. But, how rude of me..."

        The woman draws her head a little closer as she gleans the rest of them. Isolde and Shalune draw looks of fascination, but the look Marivel and Amaterasu draw is a fair bit longer. She bows her head as she smiles faintly to wryly say to Shalune and Isolde:

        "Hello. My name is--"

        Her expression of amusement fades as Marivel calls her name out. 'Yue'.

        Then Nob's drill starts blaring.

        "Mariabelle, would you -please- cease with the violence for a moment?! I have no need of such jailbreak!" she balks. ... 'Mariabelle'? "Commander Amaterasu! This is violence against my domicile, surely...!"

        But Amaterasu soon invokes the emergency release code. The door opens with a smooth 'hiss' after the light turns green.

        "Pray put Nob away, Mari," begs Yue. "He is much too lovely to be a driller."

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius's gaze meets Amaterasu's as she looks toward him meaningfully. A problem, indeed, and many questions - but they may both be on the same page here.

"I am afraid I know little more than you in this situation. By all accounts, this should not be here." Ambrosius replies, looking toward Shalune as she asks.

The water spell goes successfully, and the books are saved! There is a good-natured chuckle as the woman within the cell holds up a certain book.

"I am glad to hear you enjoy it. My work of late has made finding time for writing difficult, but that was one I knew must be shared." He replies.

And then, Marivel gets out a drill and moves toward the door again...and says a certain name.

"...How do you know that name?" Ambrosius asks, eying her suspiciously. And then his attention turns toward Yue herself as she speaks as if she knows her, as well.

It's quite the shock, and it prevents him from really doing much to interfere - but thankfully, Amaterasu is in her element here and takes charge, invoking the emergency release code.

The doors open, then, and Ambrosius offers Yue a polite incline of his head in greeting.

"It is good to see you again, Miss Yue, though the circumstances are quite unusual." He greets. In contrast to Amaterasu, his greeting is far more polite - but then, they both had their reasons.

<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.

 
Isolde puts a hand on her hip and the other hand comes up to tap a finger on her temple. She seems to be contemplating matters, and opts to advance, if carefully, towards the figure that seems to be within the door that just opened. "Hello! Welcome to Spira. It's a little difficult here just yet, and if this really is a 'machina' you are in, I suggest you move it if you can. They don't care much for 'machinas' around here, I've found."

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        "Three rockets is still an irresponsible amount of rockets! You should always know what you're pointing them at!" Shalune whines back to the Crimson Noble, never mind that Marivel probably knew exactly what she was pointing them at and it's not like that would have stopped her anyways. The voice of experience bubbles up from within her at the sight of the drill as she winces to herself. "You're gonna need at least an arc welder or else really, really, really good gloves for something like that, too!"

        She dimly registers that Amaterasu is referring to the occupant as a prisoner, and with that realization the rest of the situation resolves itself, leaving her-- well, leaving her rather confused. If this is a jailbreak as Ambrosius' comment to her implies, it is one hell of a jailbreak, and she's pretty impressed at anyone who manages to take a jailbreak cross the boundary of two worlds while still leaving them in their prison at the end of it. Any way she looks at it, that's some serious ambition.

        Unless someone else did it, which is apparently the case. In which case it's just very, very odd. Who is this, and why's she getting tossed over to Spira?

        So it's pure curiosity that makes her peek around the doorway when it opens, catching a better look at the Veruni prisoner within; she finds herself smiling with relief at the fact the woman looks relatively normal, and even pleasant in the way she goes to greet them. "Ah, hello, ma'am! My name's Shalune-- um, I'm human, by the by," she adds with an slightly bashful smile as she scratches at her cheek, not sure what else to add. "You've landed, uh-- I kinda don't know where to start with that one."

        "It's not really a machina," she does at least add to Isolde, smiling brightly. "It's just a box, really. There was probably machina involved somewhere along the way, but it's not here right now. I can tell you that much safely, I'm pretty sure."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Nob's googlyeye wobbles a bit as Marivel closes up the drill (Thankfully) ((there is no longer a door to drill after all).

"How do Yue know that name?" Marivel asks of Ambrosius, eyeing him suspiciously! She has the nerve to eye him suspiciously when she's the one being the most suspicious here! She slides Nob back into her pouch but leaves it unclasped so the little orb drone can peek out and look at Yue.

"Drills are lovely." Marivel says. "But I suppose I've done enough for appearances." She tilts her head to the side. "What took you so long? I can't imagine you enjoying the barbarism of it all."
rShe looks to Amaterasu for a few moments and then back to to Ambrosius, then over to Isolde finally.

"Isolde. This is one of my ancient immortal enemies, Yue Rohay."

Why...Marivel is/was intending to jailbreak one of her immortal enemies is another thing she doesn't explain, really, but she does add, "One of the respectable ones."

And then she smiles at Shalune but doesn't actually answer any of her comments.

<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.

 
"Charmed," Isolde says interstitially after Marivel's introduction.

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

        The door opens as expected.

        Once Yue emerges, Amaterasu stands at ready to greet her. She bears no weapon... but it could be argued that all of Amaterasu is a weapon. By contrast to Ambrosius, she is far from polite -- she is as direct as a bladed weapon, as befits a former security officer. "CR-S01. Explain this situation," she repeats, glancing at the chamber's interior. "How have you come to be on Lunar? Was this an action by the Moderates?"

        This is followed by silence as she appears to have parsed what Marivel has said, if because Ambrosius brings it up -- drawing her attention away from the prisoner for a moment. "...How do you know that name?" she echoes, glancing down at the vampire (princess?). She recalls that Marivel had been in the habit of reading Veruni materials, but surely...

        Surely all record of that one was expunged from the historical materials.
        Then she remembers, again, Duo and his TV program and frowns. This still asks the question of how Marivel has been able to witness Veruni programming but--

        "One of your 'immortal' enemies?"

        It's a... fair question. Probably.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

        The first thing Yue does is emerge from her cell with a soft, effortless hop.

        As with the clink of chains earlier, the massive shackles that bind both her wrists and elbows are evident, and so is... the enormously long chestnut brown hair that cascades well below her heels onto the floor.

        She's wearing a supremely beaten-up ulster coat with a white button-down blouse and tie underneath, with leggings and a black pleated skirt.

        "I felt a tinge of autobiography from it. But perhaps I err," Yue remarks to Ambrosius of his book. Her vantage point is only the one that is brought through life from the ink on the page, after all, not one that she has seen Ambrosius himself experience.

        Isolde greets her to Spira, and Yue gives her a bow as well.

        "Lady Isolde. Spira, you say? Well. Commander Amaterasu, that would be my report. My gaol appears to be in a place it ought not to be," Yue reports with the slightest of wry smirks. "I possess no additional knowledge of how this came to be. What of you and Master Ambrosius, pray tell? But ah..."

        "I am unavailed the Herculean effort to move this myself. That may be an issue, Lady Shalune, was it?" she remarks with a glint to Shalune. Oho, this one's quick on the observation. The way she seemed to need to strike up a truce to Ambrosius was fascinating. Do they know each other?

        She cocks her head one side with that smirk still present as Marivel explains. "Come now, Mariabelle, would you convict me of tardiness? I am already prisoner enough to be shackled to time!"

        "S-stooop! Stop, everyone!"

        The voice that cuts across is a lightly tinny one, as if spoken through some speakers. And indeed where that voice originates--

        There is a short figure in a floppy straw hat and loose blue robes, with the baggy extremities of what appears to be an environmental suit underneath. Where there would be a face on a normal person there is instead a helmet. A helmet with a matte black surface and--

        A glowing =S that shimmers underneath the brim of the hat.

        "CR-S01! Whatever are you doing out of your cell! As your minder, I-- I order you to get back inside!" she exclaims inbetween tinny electronic huffs of breath. As she shouts, the emoticon on her helmet changes that to >_<.

        Who... is this sassy lost child?

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Ugh! Time! let me tell you about--"

Amaterasu asks her a question and Marivel actually opens her mouth to answer it but then--

S-stoooop! Stop, everyone!

Marivel gives a helpless shrug at that and turns towards noted smol child.

She keeps looking. And looking. And looking.

And then she looks to Yue. "Okay nevermind you definitely need to be looked after by this child forever this is too cute."

She crouches down a bit to look towards the sassy child.

"I have a prisoner too! His name is Brad. Maybe they can be friends. He looks scary but he's actually a sweetheart, probably. I mean they always are, right?"

She winks.

<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.

Ambrosius looks toward Marivel and frowns slowly as she has the nerve, the gall, the sheer audacity...to pun at him.

"She is a fan of my works." Ambrosius replies simply, electing to leave it at that. The significance of that 'immortal enemies' comment doesn't escape him, though - that wasn't the sort of title one gave someone after meeting them only one or two times...though from what he knew of Marivel he wouldn't put it past her for the sake of theatrics.

He looks back toward Yue, then, as she comments on his book. He considers this for a moment, and then chuckles softly.

"...No, you may be right. My own experiences may have leaked in a bit...but, I feel they strengthen the narrative as a whole, for their basis in reality. I hope you feel the same." Ambrosius replies.

He listens, then, as the others introduce themselves...and Amaterasu takes charge of the situation.

It is then that it is made clear that Yue is not alone. A short figure appears in a familiar-looking suit.

It is possible that he even knows her, but he acknowledges her simply with a polite incline of his head.

"It is alright. Amaterasu is here, and she has the situation fully under control." He says, as a form of reassurance.

His eyes stray toward Marivel then, as she admits to taking prisoners. Ambrosius's frown only deepens.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        Shalune is in too good a mood to grump at Marivel too much, so instead she just puffs her cheeks out for a moment as she throws a glance in the Crimson Noble's direction. "Jeez. I might not look it, but I know my safety rules! They got drilled into me real, real hard!" More like 'mentioned in a quiet, even tone', but Shalune knows that's just the sheer power of Granny in the end.

        "CR-S01... CR-S01..." she mumbles to herself under her breath when Amaterasu says the codename, tapping at her chin for a moment. Something about it is really familiar, but she can't exactly put her finger on why or where she might have heard it before. It's a complicated frown that crosses her face; she's not really used to forgetting things that feel this important.

        (Somewhere, many many miles away, a old woman performs a daily ritual - fixing herself a tea with slightly shaking hands, lowering herself down into a comfortable armchair, pulling her feet up, and turning on a small television set at an appointed time. "I ain't got time for this thing," she'd said once to Shalune, as sharp as ever. "I'd even let you take it apart, except it's special.")

        Lost in thought, the pink-haired girl perks up in surprise as she's addressed, her eyebrows raising. "Oh! No, no, um, I'm not really any sort of Lady. I'm just a mechanic who's studied your guys' stuff. I didn't really get a good glimpse of whatever sent you here, but I don't think it was anything we can do much about from here." A pause, and she looks up at the cage with an uncertain frown. "Getting you right-side-up might be pretty difficult... we'd need a heck of a push, and they're not big on cranes here."

        She's a hair's breadth off suggesting Big Shal before she's interrupted by the bustling of Yue's minder, her eyebrows shooting up at the sight of the animated 'face'. For a moment, she's transfixed, imagining that technology applied to her own golem; a friendly wink to go along with the archetypal thumbs up... ... ... but for the time being she beams brightly. "Aww, I'm sure it's okay for a little bit, right? There's officers here! Besides, there was very nearly a fire inside her cell, y'know? I think you're honour-bound to at least give her a bit of fresh air after that, right?" she encourages, pumping her fists.

<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.

 
Isolde taps her temple a few times as Amaterasu speaks. She purses her lips for a moment, then seems to relax, putting her hands on her hips as she hears rattling. Chains... And then...!!

"Ah," she says, "the gaolkeeper."

Isolde turns her attention towards the new arrival, who, she reasons, is probably the machina her fellow gamblers have spotted. "Excuse me," she calls, "My good lady; may I ask how this entire sordid tale came to be told? For what crime is this woman incarcerated? If I gather the facts correctly, she fell from the sky, and I know of only one realm that dwells up there."

After a moment, Isolde does ask Yue('s general direction), "Is that the secret here? Are you all from Neo-Vane? You know, I never met anyone from Neo-Vane. Probably too good for the likes of me."

She seems to be smirking as she says it.

<Pose Tracker> Amaterasu has posed.

        "We were caught up in an enchantment or similar effect some months prior. This transported us to Lunar, specifically the place we stand in now," Amaterasu answers coolly. "I suspect that you, under your circumstances, would not have heard about the event." Assuming that her chain of command was able to figure out what happened. Then again, with the sudden disappearance of one of the Sentinels, of a learned scholar, and a soldier...
        They might have been able to piece it together, with whatever evidence had remained.

        "It is, however, late for you to have been transported by the same means. Which suggests another had a role," Amaterasu surmises, folding her arms over her chest. "Hm... It is a pity we cannot communicate with anyone on Filgaia," she laments, shaking her head. "There's nothing else for it. We will have to take you into--"

        ...She falls silence as a voice squeaks a protest.
        Amaterasu tilts her head.
        "I see that you are not alone, CR-S01. Gaoler, you have my apologies. I am the one who opened her cell." She pauses, then glances off at their surroundings. "It appears that you and your charge have been transported by some means far from where you were meant to be."
        She shakes her head and unfolds her arms. "Come with us. I am afraid neither you nor your charge can safely remain with your cell. ...We will have to think on how to conceal it. The Sentinel may know."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

        "... ah. Minder No. 7. I had wondered if you were spirited away as well," Yue first speaks to the child. She arcs an eyebrow at Marivel. "You mind a prisoner too now? Tis poor comedy even for you, Mariabelle."

        Minder No. 7 hurries next to her and looks up. She's maybe half her height. When Marivel calls her a child--

        =O

        "I am NOT a child!" Minder No. 7 explodes with raised arms to Marivel, then at Shalune. "I am a great and esteemed member of the-- the--" She pauses as she stops and gawks at Ambrosius, then Amaterasu.

        "Ambrosius! Commander!" she salutes, face updating to =D. "It's such a relief to see familiar faces! This land is-- is... is..." she's melting down a little as her helmet updates to DX. Gunununu... (In a few years' time, she'll upgrade to Mrgrgrgr. But not yet.)

        "'Tis fact, that I am a fan," Yue speaks up while the Minder gets tongue twisted. "Between Duogrammaton's death games, I spend time with ink on the page," Yue answers. "Ambrosius' is a most compelling account. I've the whole library of works in there, as well as great and obscure classics and contemporaries of our time." She cranes her neck to Isolde and Shalune. "I recommend it heartily."

        Shalune starts commenting on a push. It sounds like she has an idea, yet...

        Still in Shaft tilting position, Isolde asks her a question. Her face darkens a bit.

        "Ah. You have the advantage of me, Lady Isolde. I do not know what a Neo-Vane is. But you ask me what my crime is... well?"

        Minder No. 7 pauses for a moment, looking back to Amaterasu as if for permission, before clearing her throat.

        "CR-S01 has been found guilty of attempted regicide and is serving a lifetime sentence for her impudence!"

        The >=) face is... maybe a bit inappropriate, but she's clearly proud of her job...?

        There's an almost silent chuckle from Yue. "... And there you have it. Lifelong convict, CR-S01, at your service."

        Minder No. 7 salutes again at Amaterasu's command. "Yes, Commander! The convict will not leave my side for even an instant!" She pitter-patters next to Yue's side and starts poking.

        "Heavens me," Yue remarks lightly, in a real shikatanai kind of tone.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Drilled?" Marivel lifts up Nob again WHAT HAVE YOU DONE. No it's okay. One gets the feeling Marivel makes her own protocols.

She catches Ambrosius's frown. "Oh don't you start. It's a 'legal' prisoner." She says this as if she thinks that prisoners in general should be illegal but she doesn't make the rules she just plays.

She allows Yue to tell her own life story as she sees fit.

"Well I don't mind him at all," Marivel says, purposefully misunderstanding to induce MORE poor comedy. "Honestly, if t'were up to me I would happily free him, but circumstances are what they are."

She looks to Minder No. 7 and says, "Oh everybody's a child really. I wouldn't take it personally." She barely refrains from trying to ruffle her...helmet? It's so adorable okay.

She wonders for a moment if there have been Minders No. 1-6 that just gave the job to their kids which seems frankly more cruel to her than an infinite life sentence.

"Well, if you ever do want a jailbreak, Yue, you know where to find me." Pause. "At my address." Pause. "If you still have the key."

She glances to Isolde for a few moments. She doesn't seem surprised to hear of WHAT Yue's sentence is but that seems to make sense since she seemed to know who she was, but she does add, "But I will find you again," She adds to Yue after that brief strange pause. "Perhaps you could even meet our new friend Avril. She gives swimming lessons."

And then she vanishes just like that.

<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.

        "Ah, no," chirps Shalune, so very helpfully, to Isolde. "They're offworlders like the rest of us, just--" She's quickly butting up against her self-imposed Veruni Privacy Rules. "--just not quite like the rest of us, either. Anyway," the mechanic immediately rallies, "That's why it's so weird. If Miss Yue got sent all this way by something, was it the same thing that sent the rest of us here? That's the big question."

        She frowns a little at the thought of what to do about the cage, puffing out a breath. Her initial consideration should probably not be 'take the books out and toss it in the sea', she knows that much, and yet it is a little tempting... "There's a lot of little islands around," she suggests eventually. "You could probably stash it on one of them and no-one would be any the wiser. I mean, it'd be some really nice scenery, too. I dunno if you've got gears around, but I miiight have something that could help?" she notes innocently to the open air, kind of directing her comment towards the Veruni as a whole.

        "Wah!" she adds when the Minder explodes in her general direction, jolting her hands up. "O-okay, okay! Then it's good to meet you, your Esteemednessness," she can't help but grin sheepishly as she says it, biting back the snicker. "... it's hot, right?" she adds with a more lopsided smile. "But a really humid heat. Took a bit for me to get used to, as well."

        "Um! It's nice to meet you?" she adds, not really sure that sort of declaration warrants a reply like this, but feeling like she ought to give something. "I, uh. I honestly didn't realize you guys had royalty."