2019-07-08: Wow, Betrayal!!
- Log: Wow, Betrayal!!
- Cast: Kamui, Acacia Saitani, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Thunder Plains
- Date: 8th July 2019
- Summary: Kamui returns with Acacia and Marivel after the events at the giant's crater...
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui has returned with ARMS from the events at Giant's Crater within the Gandof Thunder Plains. The Travel Agency looks to be extremely relieved that whatever incident had started brewing appears to have been resolved, and in exchange, the members of ARMS have been granted shelter and rooms within...
... and Kamui herself has been cleaned and changed into warm clothes and apparently is currently not moving away from Marivel and is quietly napping on her lap or whatever first available place the Crimson Noble acquiesces to avail to her!!
A heck of a punch, indeed.
The YOU'VE GOT GUTS!! sticker has been added to her sticker album on the table. It's next to ICE MOVES!! and ACE REPORTING!.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia's starting to feel the stress of the last few days be released, and with that comes the sleep debt she's been racking up. She stifles a yawn behind a hand, shuffling little notes on the table in front of her. Despite how tired she is, she at least feels like she should finish her work for the day - organizing the various classified ads she's been getting of Spirans trying to find friends and family, searching for any matches between them.
Still, every so often she glances over to where Kamui's blobbed out, and snorts lightly under her breath, and more than once she's snuck over to ruffle a hand through the girl's hair. Her own is down; she gave up trying to look after it given how soaked she was, and she's curled up under a couple of blankets with a coffee next to her.
Part of her is intensely curious as to how much punishment Marivel can take and how her regeneration works, exactly - but most of her is happy enough to leave those questions for another time.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel is alive! Again! Perhaps it was not by her own will that she was once again made flesh but by journalists who wished for more cute robot master/maverick themed stickers.
Marivel has acted like she hasn't seen the journalists of the Meria Bouletin in ages and has more than once asked Acacia what 'year' it was, but that's probably just some kind of side effect from her HORRIBLE DEATH.
Which may not have even happneed? It's honestly a bit confusing.
This doesn't mean she can't sit in her chair, reading a book (that she seems to have written herself since it's titled Wisdom of the Crimson Nobles by M. Armitage) and is patting Kamui with a free hand, a fond smile on her lips. It's almost ALMOST motherly but then you remember it's Marivel and she's a 4'10 bundle of sass. Wait--is she 4'11 now? Did she grow an inch just to spite Kaguya?!
It's a mystery probably. Regarless, she is content to be in this position for the moment. Marivel seems if nothing else able to keep to a singular state for long periods of time without getting bored of it. At least, compared to most people's views of what a long period of time is.
"She's a sweetheart isn't she? You're lucky to have her. She's a very devoted child." Marivel murmurs to Acacia.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui looks incredibly happy to be petted by Acacia's; no less than Marivel's own, the journalist's own spoilings seem to elicit as much pleasure from the little robot with the terribly curious and storied history.
Also, Kamui is technically taller than Marivel, despite being a relatively squat robot because--
ZEBOIM ERA
Clickety-clack clickety-clack clickety-clack.
"If I build my robot daughter to be smaller, her hitbox will be tinier and she'll be harder to damage," Dr. Lumen muses like she just achieved galaxy brain status again as a CONTINUE screen appears on the scrolling shoot 'em up game she's playing.
Chill Pengy stares at her incredibly nonplussed... ... ...
NOW
And so Kamui was literally, exactly to the dot, 5'0". It's some law of creating a very divisible number, or somesuch.
"... not just ... Master," she mumbles with a squint of her good eye, after Marivel pipes up. [OOC] Marivel Armitage says, "i love how lumen just keeps getting more and more professor"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
@emit Acacia puffs quietly to herself, glancing across at the vampire. "I'm more like a big sister, if anything. At least, I don't exactly think I'm about ready to be much of a mom just yet. Pretty sure that's your job, right now," she points out with a quiet smirk.
"... I, uh, wrote some articles while you were away," she adds, scratching at her cheek briefly before picking up her cup in both hands. "Just figured I wanted to get the word out. To be honest, I was feeling pretty pissed," she admits, not all that proud of the admission. She's aware enough that she probably shouldn't base her reporting on those kinds of impulses - but in the moment, it wasn't the easiest thing to manage. "Guess you've already seen them?"
"As for the rest-- eh, it can wait. Kamui, you still hungry? Cold anywhere?" ... for a not-mom, she sure fusses when she wants to.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel blinks and looks over to Acacia. "Well...more like a niece really." She then cracks a small smile. "I wasn't trying too say you were a new parent or anything, even if you do some caretaking."
There Marivel goes again talking nonsense.
Marivel doesn't mind that Kamui is taller than she is. After all, she's not going to get any bigger but Marivel still might! You never know. She won't, but maybe!
She pulls her hand free and adds, "Are you awake now, Kamui? Let's see...what time is it again?" She looks about a bit for some manner of clock but fails to find one. "Mm... I left my pouch with Yuna, didn't I? She hasn't finished her journey, has she?" She cups her chin thoughtfully. "Mm... I should try and fetch it back at least."
Acacia mentions she's been sending out articles and Marivel adds, "I've seen the special edition. Was that the last one you sent out?" Marivel asks of Acacia, genuinely uncertain. "Ah but--I'm grateful for it. I was hoping Althena taking her ire out on me would encourage them to leave Yuna alone. T'was kind of you to not report my death, even if tactically speaking t'would have been nice if Odessa thought I had perished."
She looks back to Acacia. "Though that kind of method will never kill me. So long as my soul is intact, I do not die though the destruction of my body is inconvenient regardless." This might explain the new outfit and lack of goggles right now.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui rubs at her head and blinks a few times at Marivel, lowering her head with a quiet frown on her face when the Crimson Noble asks if Yuna's finished her journey.
"... did a long time pass?" Kamui asks very pointedly. "It was a few days for us, but ..."
She places her hand to the gem at her chest.
Acacia talks about the special edition, but Kamui doesn't mention if she's read it or not herself. She's usually jumping up and down whenever they release a new edition of the newspaper.
"... hmm ... hungry," Kamui mumbles quietly towards Acacia. "Not cold, though... it's a really familiar warm..."
Well, Crimson is a warm colour, after all!
There is silence.
"I'm still scared," she admits with that childish grump on her face. "Mari..." She clings harder to her.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
The reporter blinks, lifting her head up from her hand a little at Marivel's search. "Ah-- sorry. I didn't realize you'd left anything behind," she notes a little awkwardly. "I'll see about getting in touch with her, I guess, try to get it back. It's been-- more or less a week," she adds, her brow furrowing a little as she considers that. It certainly felt a lot longer, in the moment.
A pause as Marivel mentions reporting on her death - and Acacia, ever-stubborn, puffs out a breath as she glances off to one side. "... well. I figured you wouldn't want to be named or have your death thrown around like that. And I wanted to think you might not be gone," she adds evasively, tugging for a moment at her hair.
She hesitates again - but as Kamui further entreats the Crimson Noble, she lets out a light chuckle. "Whatever you'd like to eat, we'll get it. I don't have the energy to try to fuss over decisions right now, I don't think," she snorts to herself lightly.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"It felt like years," Marivel says to Kamui, "But if it has only been a few days, a few days it must have been. I suppose I couldn't say how much longer her pilgrimage is but I doubt it has been completed in a week.." She closes her eyes briefly in thought. She should check in with Yuna too. She doesn't know how she functions though thi might mean her UNDERSTANDING what she is rather than simply knowing it. It's a different sort of thing. Probably not to Yuna though. She knows what she's like.
"Ack! you've got a strong grip!" Marivel quips and hugs Kamui. "Don't worry. Ana won't let me leave you alone even if I wished to." Pause. "Which I do not, to be clear. But I admit I was a little worried myself." She looks to Acacia. "After all, I had not perished on Filgaia. My body was in Spira and it has its own rules on death. Still, it seems that its rules do not carry sway over how I operate."
Acacia gets evasive and Marivel's cheeks get that blue anime vampire blush briefly as she also looks away so Acacia doesn't get a good look at it.
"Well... When you say it like that, I suppose you're right! Thank you, Acacia."
"Hmm... but it can't just be more sweets." Marivel says.
OH NO! THIS IS THE MONKEY PAW PRICE FOR MARIVEL'S SURVIVAL KAMUI. SHE WANTS YOU TO EAT PROPERLY.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui is about to open her mouth and her lips contort into the shape of 'shoopuff pastry' except Marivel tells her--
But it can't just be more sweets.
GANNNNN--
Kamui's been struck with a Weapon Weakness. What is her Weakness? It's Proper Nutrition Man's weapon! In turn she strikes hard against Empty Calorie Man.
"... I only remembered. More things... after you were gone. After I thought you were gone forever," Kamui admits. "I could not deal with the fact that I forgot so much and you were enduring it quietly, patiently..."
She lowers her head.
"... so for doing that for me, OK, I'll eat vegetables." She puffs up at Acacia for a moment. "And I'll write a new article too."
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Is that really how it works?" wonders Acacia, when it comes to Crimson Nobles and interstellar travel. "I suppose Spira has its own afterlife, but the minute I start thinking how that all fits together, my head starts to hurt." Still, she's twirling her pen on her fingers, which is usually a sign she's been hooked into a story one way or another, her curiosity caught as she considers it.
She's naturally disposed towards treating Kamui, which is why she hesitates when vegetables are brought up, and which is why she huffs a little when the Reploid capitulates. "I don't mind if you want to have something sweet. Afterwards," she adds, catching Marivel's expression with a wry smile before it softens in Kamui's direction. "And I'll look forwards to it."
She pauses, though, and turns solemn. "About that, though," she frowns, deciding that it's hardly the time to be subtle or reticent when she continues. "I just wanted to make it clear, and say it out loud: it's not your fault that you forget some things sometimes. We both know that, okay? It's alright," she adds as she pats the girl's hair once more.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Proper Nutrition Man is a common weakness amongst robot children. And in fact Proper Nutrition Man is a common weakness to many adults for that matter. Marivel's 'nutrition' does not qualify he same kind as what Proper Nutrition Man would concern himself but if he was, she might be in trouble. She seems to be okay with dirnking from just about anything that doesn't smell rotten or has been on the floor for more than five seconds.
Still, in terms of actual 'food', she tries to be discerning to set a good example and also because if she eats too many sweets she doesn't feel so sweet herself.
"I wasn't just doing it for you." Marivel assures Kamui. "It was also for my own sake." She smiles. "But I'm glad you're willing to give them another shot, Kamui! If you keep it up, soon you might even grow to like them!"
It's been a few millenia, sure, but you don't know! Maybe she will!
"Probably best to not worry too much about it. Afterlifes aren't born so much as shaped. Tis what I believe, at least."
"Afterwards," She agrees since apparently this time Acacia is feeling spoilery for once and who is she to stand in the way of a good spoiling.
"Acacia is correct." Marivel smiles. "You can't be blamed for it, we can't help our own minds. If anyone is to blame tis I, no doubt, though in all honesty most of me feels nobody is truly to blame but the rest would see me take it."
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
"I know..." Kamui nods very slowly, to Marivel. "But..."
She closes her eye for a moment longer. Even her camera eye has shuttered itself until the red glow is not visible.
"I can't help how I feel. The frustration of not remembering. The horror of only remembering too late. The fear of wondering what else has yet to be remembered. What can't possibly be remembered anymore."
Her lips squiggle for a moment in hesitation.
"... but taking pictures, writing articles ... at least that is one way I'm combatting it ... so thank you, Master."
She opens her eyes.
"But to have remembered a bit... about my time in your Castle, Mari. That is a really fond memory. Can we visit it again, when we return to Filgaia?"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"... I can think of a lot of holy wars that would disagree with you on that point," Acacia huffs back to the vampire, but there's another wry smile on her face. She'd be the last person to call herself religious - Guild Galad upbringings tend to do that to you, surrounded by ARMs and technology, and the reporter's rather blunt outlook does the rest of the work.
"... I know," she says back to Kamui, letting out a softer sigh this time. "It sucks, and it's not like I like it either. If we had a way to fix your memory for good, I'd take it. But until then, we'll work around it as best we can. We already accepted that ages back. ... you're doing good," she adds as she ever so lightly bonks Kamui on the head in a manner that's decidedly affectionate.
"Besides, it was... kinda lonely, making that last issue. I'm just saying," she adds with a harrumph. Part of her is absolutely ready to document Marivel's house, and take a reporter's investigative mind to it.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Pah," to the matter of disagreeing holy wars. "Most of these religions are made up anyway." MOST? "And those that aren't are not wholly accurate either. Indeed, much of what makes a religion a religion is largely the story it chooses to tell rather than the reality that it bases itself from."
She frowns a bit. "But Althena. She is very much real. Most religions do not follow that kind of paradigm, worshipping someone who is walking the same dirt as you or I. After all, if someone can be seen tis far more difficult to claim godlike power and for."
"But I see no reason to be cagey about it. You did not wish for me to make anyone 'pick a side' in this conflict, so I will not." She looks towards Acacia. "But everything I said about Althena and what I intend to do is true. If this is what their religion does, then they are my enemy at the very least." She smirks a little. "Whether I desire that to be the case or not."
She looks to Kamui who can't help how she feels. She smiles to her. "But we can always talk of future troubles. Now, at least, I would like to appreciate the gift you've given Kamui--the gift of records. Even should she forget, she will always have a reminder."
Pause. "But of course you are invited. Your room is as you left it and your exercise program is still functional." She frowns. "Well, it should be. I haven't had occassion to examine it but I'm sure everything is still working as it ought."
She brightens, somehow, "Have you taken any pictures you'd like to show us?"
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui seems, uncharacteristically, incredibly silent about Althena. But there is a quiet reaction to her face. Something that makes her frown so very slightly. Something that makes her hurt a bit. But she doesn't really understand why.
"... mmm. What Master did... isn't wrong," she muses. She curls up onto her knees slowly. "The gift of records... Master, it might seem really obvious to you ..."
A pause, as she lowers her head.
"But for Mari and I... I definitely remember moments where we whiled the time away without capturing each moment. Because moments feel like specks of sand in a sea of time when we don't have to savour each moment like a human does."
She tilts her head.
"It might be nice, if it could be fixed, Master. But I think a lot of humans, especially as they get old, also suffer the same thing, don't they? I hear it a lot. 'I wish I took more records...'"
A pause, as she lights up a little at Marivel's comment.
She holds out a picture.
It's a picture of Marivel in the ARMS hideout when Kamui gave her the Macalania Macaroni and Cheese and she has macaroni tubes in her fangs.
"... you thought I didn't have a camera, Mari, but I have--" she taps her camera eye. "My internal camera!!"
A pause.
"It took a lot of memory to save. But it was worth it. Here."
She hands it to her.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia's eyebrows raise; she's obviously drawn towards the bait of the vampire's response on religion, but manages to not let herself be drawn into it too deeply. At least, not until after she's had a full night's sleep and a long moment to think about exactly how much Marivel is trolling her right now.
"I dunno. I'm about ready to 'pick a side' after all that," she mutters instead, folding her arms with a deep-set frown - but she catches herself a moment later, rubbing at her forehead. "But I have to be careful, too. It sucked writing that article, and having to stop myself bitching at the Guard," she adds bluntly. "But I'm not going to let the Bouletin dissolve into angry ranting, as much as I'd like to sometimes."
She hesitates when Kamui speaks - more eloquently than she's used to, and with the weight of time and perspective behind it that it's easy to forget Kamui carries with her. "... yeah. They do. I'm glad I could give you that chance to make more of them," she admits, bowing her head for a moment - before puffing out her cheeks in an exaggerated fashion. "Still, I'm trying not to take it /too/ much for granted," she lightly teases. "And all I'm saying is that it'd be nice to get your memory fixed up a little. To give you more options, and more chances."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Like most people who 'troll' are leaving a little bit of actual belief in what they say though not always. Even so, Marivel has never really shown much fondness for religion though she does seem to get fond of particular acolytes.
"Well YOU are welcome to," Marivel tells Acacia. "But Althena is not a concern of ARMS..." She pauses for a moment, thinking about it. "Though you know..." Marivel murmurs. "If you want... I imagine some of the Vile Fiends would be happy to conduct interviews." She smiles. "And who else knows more of the Guard than those they are chasing, mm?" She laughs a bit. "I wonder if Leo is aware that while he is engaging in this tomfoolery, the Destroyer is clearly free to do as she sees fit." She laughs a bit darkly there.
"Though perhaps I should not be... giving my opinion lest it be taken as more than such."
She wonders about Yuna again and not for the first time.
But she sets it aside. All of it. Because Kamui is giving Marivel a picture. She looks at it.
She blinks a few times. "..." Beads of sweat appear on her face. "..."
She slides the picture away. "I will take good care of it."
IN THE FIRE?
No actually she is going to keep it in her coffin where she can treasure it always AND keep anybody else from seeing it forever.
<Pose Tracker> Kamui has posed.
Kamui looks intensely proud as she says, "This is the secret arte that Master taught mui. It was, something to do with mail. And a colour."
She tilts her head.
"Wait, I think I wasn't supposed to give it to you..."
Wow, betrayal?!?!?!