2019-07-17: New Stories

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<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

In the days since the fateful battle of Luca, the Highroad has been busy.

Refugee camps have risen from the safe pockets of the road where travelers and adventurers go; some closer to the city, where it all started, and others closer to the shore, including one such camp where the 'Fereshte', a sailing ship with a Dragon-headed blimp, is currently perched at its shores. It's a familiar sight in the last few months, from Kilika's restoration efforts and Operation Mi'ihen.

There has been an energy about some of the refugee aid workers lately; these are the people of the Wayside Outreach, a varied lot both local and abroad. Amidst the most bizarre are metallic, ailing people with accordion tubes for legs and arms and other such patchwork repairs; then there are the people from offshore who identify as Azadians.

The people of Azado, who've been reinvigorated ever since they were brought to these selfsame shores where the creature that took their home -- Sin -- came from.

The people of Azado, who've worked with the Guard, the Outreach and other Drifters prior to the unfortunate battle to help the Kilikans, who suffered the same fate that they did... and now continue their work of aid and relief.

There's a warm greeting and a cheer to Yuna and her Guardians when they arrive, a great expression of gratitude for their help with Luca... and to Jacqueline, of course, they've been fellow aidmates for quite a while now.

And amidst this?

There is a blonde woman in steppe-like robes the centre of a nice picnic mat where several children -- once more Spiran and abroad -- listen in awe to a story she's telling. A majority of her body is covered in what look like Dragon-like scales, including both her digitigrade legs and one of her arms.

She is seated on a wheelchair.

"... a-and, um ..." she's flustered, though, as the children chime excitedly, "Yeah! Tell us the story of the kid who became a Blitzball, mom!"

Her horns wiggle a little and start to droop as she obviously has to start to improvise. "A-and Mydia discovered a magical ball upon the shore one day. A cat spoke to her to call upon its power, and a brilliant curtain of light shone upon her body whereupon she became... Blitzball the Kid, ready to-- to fight evil day and night."

".... not take on the Goers in the cup?"

"A-and that too..." the woman stammers. W-who's the storyteller here?

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Yuna remains far to the back of the crowd, avoiding at all costs interrupting the proceedings with her presence through the simple expedience of not letting the kids see that she's there. She listens, hands tucked inside one another at waist-height, with the utter contentment of a person who takes small joys where she can find them. After a while, she allows her spine to curve, as gently as a willow yields to the breeze, leaning a tithe of her weight into the taller Lulu.

So it is that Lulu has the opportunity to feel, through the sudden rigidity of Yuna's shoulders, the exact moment in which something is wrong. Her lashes were half closed in any case, but the gaze behind them goes blank, trapped in the middle distance.

'Lady Yuna!'

The tangy smell of the sea, and also blood.

'Quickly, over here!'

Rushing from survivor to survivor.

'This way, milady summoner!'

In the present she's forgotten to breathe, until reflex takes over and she sucks in a sharp burst of air. This, inevitably, leads to a coughing fit, which she does her best to suppress behind hands raised to her mouth, trailing flowing petal pink all the way up. This also snaps her back to where she is.

Listening to a story told by a woman she's seen before -- but not met.

Another healer, there that day and long long night, upon the shores of Mushroom Rock Road.

Her cheeks burn as she wills the coughing to stop before it causes a commotion. They're small and soft enough, at least, but there are a lot of them. Like hiccups, sometimes such things don't simply go away on demand.

  • hic*

Oh no.

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Yuna's leaning against her might as well be a feather fallen on Lulu's shoulder, for all it seems to actually impose on the black mage--but also perhaps for the subtle care she gives to /keep/ that feather. ...it changes, some--when Yuna suddenly moves rigid.

Lulu keeps support of her as she shifts, head shifting immediately as she looks down, "Yuna?" Her voice is quiet--and of course, as she's coughing, Lulu continues to support her in place, shifting a hand to her back both soothingly and in case some mundane remedy is the matter at hand...

She is not terribly troubled by stories for children, naturally, /whoever's/ in control. ...Though, a cat, with its pwoer, hm?

"Breathe," Lulu suggests, but it is less of an order and more of a word that means 'calm' because she can tell when something's compounding. And she can guess what that kind of rigid stop means.

"Are you all right?" Quiet, naturally.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline has been a common sight amongst the refugee camps. By pooling her talents with those of the Wayside Outreach, they can more easily provide aid to those who need it in these troubled times.

At the moment, she's just coming away from restocking the camp's medicine supplies - it was important in these times to ensure that everyone was kept healthy.

She just so happens to be passing by that picnic mat when she overhears a story being told. Quietly, Jacqueline listens in. There's a warm smile, and she chuckles good-naturedly as she spots Riesenlied beginning to flounder a little - and then, there's the sound of a coughing fit, and a hiccup. And there she spots Yuna, looking very much like she doesn't want to be seen. Jacqueline sends her a knowing smile and then looks back toward Riesenlied.

"I hear she was the best Blitzball the land had ever seen. And she made her mothers very proud." Jacqueline comments with a knowing smile from the sidelines. Maybe getting the flow of the story going again would help distract the crowd enough from Yuna's situation long enough for her to get those hiccups under control.

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

Rikku is not a being to remain still for long. And even in stillness there's movement. To the Fereshte where she sort of mentally examines its unique design - but not commenting in any way on the way she concludes it was probably designed to be aerial. Airship? Who would know anything about airships? You must be imagining things. She's idly watching that while listening to the story of Blitzball the kid.

Her hands are laced behind her back when she stops paying attention to it and starts paying attention to Yuna and Lulu again. The way the two lean upon each other as if they were younger sister and elder. Their bond is enviable to Rikku, without it being poisonous.

Despite watching the two - she doesn't in fact notice anything is wrong. Not Yuna's rigidity - nor her coughing fit. It's only when it becomes a spell of hiccups that she does.

Rikku moves into view only then. "Got the hiccups Yunie?" She says in her muted way. "You know I've got a really quick cure for that. Way better than all the standing on your head and drinking water cures."

Rikku fishes around in a pouch, and produces this small capsule like thing - which looks fibrous, with a thin inner layer glint of glass, as she hands it over. "Break this then inhale."

It's only then that she hears Lulu asking if Yuna is alright, that she gives her this look of wonder. Like she's only now getting a sense that something greater might be wrong, giving this worried glance Lulu's way.

Which causes a delay of a full five seconds for her to remember the downside of her cure. "Oh. And it smells really bad. I usually use them to revive people who are... out."


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Certainly the large fins, propellers and other contraptions upon the blimp-equipped ship, Rikku, suggest it might be an airship. But at the same time, it looks... kinda ratty? Like it might be the kind of ship that's taken more than a few maiden voyages under fire and it's a miracle it still holds together.

... the Dragon head sheds a tear, for some reason.

As fate would have it, Riesenlied winds up coughing as well -- as she muses on the improvised story of the brave girl who became a blitzball to fight evil.

But it's not the sound of her own coughing -- but rather her noticing another woman's coughs nearby -- that brings her head up, horns perked up just a little bit more to where Yuna, Rikku and Lulu are.

"Oh..."

The woman shakes her head as she coughs further; she's holding her hand onto her arm under her capelet -- the same one, Jacqueline notices, as the one where the arrow struck. She has a sympathetic look on her face as she notices Yuna's attempts to not draw attention to herself. She smiles at Jacqueline's attempts to keep the story going.

"... and with the final strike, the Foul Offsider was defeated. Punishing those that would use the game to their own ends, the Junior Champion Ball is dedicated even now in her honour," the woman explains. She looks up to the air, as if to gauge the time.

"Should ... we wrap our story here for now? Why don't you all go back to the ship and get prepared for dinner? I made spaghetti today..."

The children jump up and down in excitement. "Oh boy, mom's spaghetti!"

It isn't long before they filter out; there's a strong sense of enjoyment from the children as they look forward to having a meal together. Riesenlied nods again to Jacqueline as she looks... she remembers Yuna from Mushroom Rock Road... the summoner who'd performed the Sending, working with them all night. But right now--

Someone who's coughing! Oh no!

The Hyadean woman pushes her wheelchair forward slowly, despite the wince on her face. The woman next to her -- Lulu -- is a more familiar one, from the time she spent chatting with her at Luca's docks a long while ago. Rikku, she's not as familiar with, unfortunately...

"Excuse me... I'm sorry. I couldn't help notice--" she looks up to Lulu. "Is she all right?"

Before Rikku reveals the downside of her cure. "E-eh??"

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

"I'm okay," Yuna lies softly to Lulu, and not very convincingly, since she had to jam the two words in between a pair of hiccoughs. She receives and returns Jacquineline's smile -- and subsequent distraction -- with gratitude.

The same is true of Rikku's offering.

Such is the trust Yuna has in her Guardians, her family: she IMMEDIATELY takes and breaks the token -- and inhales.

It is, mercifully, a very small smelling salt aerosol. Of course it would be -- the reviver wouldn't want to have to smell it, in a situation where someone is fainted. So everyone else only has to experience it vicariously.

Yuna's eyes water; her red cheeks slide steadily down the spectrum towards green; she sways a little, more of her weight put onto Lulu. One of her hands drifts down from her mouth to her throat. The other one sweeps outwards to grab Rikku by the shoulder for support.

And then -- she breathes.

No hiccups.

"I'm okay," she lies again, differently, in the odd squeak of someone who's lungs are mostly contending with not drowning in stink, leaving only a little bit of capacity for unnecessary things like words.

But it's more true the third time, a moment later.

"I'm okay..."

She retrieves her hands, and adds, with honest relief:

"Thank you, Rikku."

She looks to Riesenlied, and bows.

"Thank you for letting us listen to your story," she says, a note of shyness slipping into her voice. "Spira," she adds, slowly, thoughtfully, "Is in need of new stories."

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline, the second-in-command of the Wayside Outreach, can make for an imposing presence when she wants to. In Azado, however brief it may have been, she went toe-to-toe with Sin in an attempt to protect the Fereshte and their evacuation efforts. She watched the vigil at Mi'ihen, marking it alongside Riesenlied with utmost solemnity. She's faced down fellow Hyadeans, Gebler, the worst of the Drifters that dot Filgaia.

She's still not quite sure how to face down a small mob of hungry children, though.

More or less bowled over as she attempts to leave the ship and they attempt to enter it, the 'Crimson Noble' huffs a little as she shifts over to let them scoot by. She's not quite got the cliche of an apron over her robes, but the ladle she's drying off with a cloth still looks very domestic when compared to the rest of her. "--remember to wash your hands! Dunking them in the sea doesn't count!" she calls behind her.

She turns back, realizing that they have guests; Jacqueline is more or less an honorary member of the Outreach at this point, and it's the Summoner and her-- Guardians?-- that really catch the eye of the ex-spy, her eyebrows raising a little at the sight.

The vain pride she used to have has given away to a more self-assured sort, and she doesn't hide or try to pretend the kitchenware in her hands doesn't exist as she steps down the gangplank, letting her presence brush against Riesenlied's as a greeting. She'd offer a touch on the shoulder instead, but damp hands. "I'm sure we must have something that can help," she adds to Riesenlied's offer, before the smell of Rikku's cure makes her break into a grin. "Or just some perfume, perhaps."

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Okay enough to lie about it is okay enough not to worry in public. That's the Summoner way!

...More seriously, Lulu gives Yuna another moment's look and then nods. When asked she says, "She's fine. The dread curse of /hiccups/ affects even the best of us," she says wryly, and inclines her head to Riesenlied coming up. And...

Well. Her nose wrinkles. She can smell that thing from /here/. "You are resourceful, aren't you?" Lulu says to Rikku. She doesn't comment as to other all rights--

"I think we could all do with something as simple as a place to sit for the moment. If we just stand around forever, the kids are sure to become /extra/ curious."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline takes note of the way Riesenlied carries herself - and particular, the way she holds onto the arm that had been injured before. She hoped the injury was still healing nicely - but fortunately, the story can still keep going, ending up a happy note before Riesenlied sends the children off to get ready for dinner.

Jacqueline steps aside to let some of them through before returning Riesenlied's nod with one of her own. She moves closer to Riesenlied as her friend approaches Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu.

She takes a moment to assess Yuna's condition but, thankfully, she appears to be alright - though it takes her a little to get there. Judging from the lingering scent in the air, she doesn't blame her - it's a scent she recognizes. Very potent, but very effective. She can respect the quick thinking of whoever was responsible for it - Rikku, by the looks of it, though Jacqueline is not as familiar with her as she is the other two. Jacqueline sends her an respectful nod.

She can't help but smirk a little at Noeline's comment, but instead she addresses Lulu's request.

"I think that could be arranged - I could whip up a few extra chairs, if need be?" She says with a nod, with a glance to the side toward Riesenlied and Noeline to make sure.

She muses for a second on Yuna's comment. New stories, hm...?

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

Rikku upon realizing her... well not error, but lack of forewarning, puts both of her hands over her mouth - recoiling a little in posture. Her eyes going from Yuna to Lulu to Yuna to Riesenlied to Noeline(where she lingers for a moment on the perfume comment.) - and back to Yuna.

Which is when Yuna grabs her shoulder for support. And she willingly relaxes, offering it, by moving to her side.

"They're a little pungent..." Rikku says to Yuna's first okay - perhaps not entirely believing her on this one as she scoots in to offer her even more of her shoulder to lean on.

By the second okay, she starts believing it might be becoming true. And by the thank you, "Don't mention it."

Seriously don't. Tidus would probably be probably teasing her endlessly over this if he'd seen it.

Then to Lulu, "It's one of my better qualities." A beat and her tone becomes a little sheepish, "Most of the time..."

She then instantly agrees with Lulu wanting a place to sit down, nodding quickly, "Uh yeah-!"

Before smiling appreciatively at Jay. "It's been a long day anyhow. I wouldn't mind taking a load off for a while..." She says in part to try to divert the focus off Yuna being the one to need to sit down.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

You could very much follow the expressive trail of fretting concern in Riesenlied's face as Yuna sprays the token and inhales and-- well, to say that she hasn't had to be resuscitated with smelling salts before is a terrible lie, so vicariously or otherwise...

She knows a little what she's going through...

But Yuna recovers, and speaks of her story.

"It's... it's all right," she whispers to Yuna, drawing her hand a little closer to her neck. "I love telling stories. Not just to the children, but to other people in all the towns and places we visit. To give them more of a reason to smile... hearing them share their own little takes on it, the way their eyes would light up..."

She tilts her head and lowers her head slowly.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Riesenlied, from the Wayside Outreach."

Still... it's unmistakable to see the way Riesenlied's own eyes and countenance light up when Noeline arrives from the plank, beckoning her towards her and just going out and holding her damp hands because... well, what's love if you're not willing to hold dishwater together.

"Thank you for preparing the table," she expresses to Noeline.

Lulu mentions sitting, and she gestures towards a nearby open-air tent that's currently unoccupied. There's not enough seats, but Jacqueline has that covered. "Over there, if that suits you all?"

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

"Thank you," Yuna replies, quietly but earnestly, to Noeline. "Lulu is right... a place to sit would be lovely." She gives Jacqueline a second grateful smile in two minutes, extends it once again to Rikku, and finally to Riesenlied, who she listens to with intent interest.

She looks between her and Noeline, and the love she sees there reflects, softly, in her newly clear eyes. She takes it into herself like light, and re-emits it the same way.

"I am the summoner Yuna, from the island of Besaid," she returns, as they make their way as a group towards the tent. "I am glad to meet you properly. And to thank you properly. For the stories... and for your aid to Spira, which seems to be..."

She glances around the encampment. The safety that surrounds them. A fragile sanctuary it may be, but sanctuary nonetheless.

Children, nearby, run and shout and play and eat.

"endless," she concludes, with a wondering look.

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"Seating is something we can /usually/ manage, though even that can be touch and go at times," Noeline quips back to Lulu with an amused sort of laugh; it softens almost immediately in her throat as Riesenlied takes her hand, and she pauses for long enough to close her eyes and gently squeeze her partner's hands in return, letting a silent moment pass between them. Once done, she hums as she leans in to place a kiss at the dragon lady's forehead, then move to the back of her wheelchair with a practiced motion.

She tilts her head towards Jacqueline in a motion that's more 'thanks' than it is 'go ahead', and picks up on the thread of the scene as she raises her eyebrows. "If you'd like, we probably have some extra to go around. We can't exactly make a lot of promises, of course, but I don't doubt you're welcome to it," she adds, carefully wheeling Riesenlied forwards towards the now assembled chairs.

She offers Rikku a slightly apologetic smile, and then nudges one of the chairs out with a foot in what is apparently supposed to be a peace offering - then leans lightly on the back of Riese's wheelchair as she hums. "I'm fond of Besaid, I have to admit. As introductions to Spira go, it was certainly a pleasant one - not to mention how patient they were with some of the worst-disguised Al Bhed they've surely ever seen," she adds with another chuckle.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline can't help but smile a little as Riesenlied explains how she enjoyed telling stories. It was something she'd seen, herself, and something she respected about her.

She looks toward the tent that Riesenlied points out and, sure enough, there aren't enough chairs.

"Allow me." She says. With a quick gesture of her left hand - some might notice a slip of paper emerging from one of her sleeves for a moment - stone rises up from the ground, forming a shape that is, unmistakably, that of a chair's. Contrary to what one might think, it's actually smooth and quite comfortable - just another one of the convenience spells she had prepared.

These days, unless she was specifically going out somewhere she might need to defend herself, her Crest Graphs were mostly filled with spells like that, to help make setting up that much quicker and easier.

Jacqueline takes a seat in one of the conjured chairs.

"I'm Jacqueline Barber - though I /think/ most of you know me already." Jacqueline says.

"I'm with the Caravan Kinship, but we've been pooling our efforts to so that our reach can extend even further." She adds, gesturing to herself, Riesenlied, and Noeline.

Yuna says she's from Besaid, and Jacqueline smiles.

"Oh? Besaid is lovely - I've been there a few times, and it was really relaxing." She comments.

She smiles a little as Yuna thanks Riesenlied. It was nice to hear people thank her for everything she's done, for how much Riesenlied put her all - sometimes quite literally - into helping others.

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

She waits for Yuna to introduce herself back to Riesenlied - before giving her own introduction.

"Pleased to meet you! Rikku - I'm Yunie's Guardian!"

The idea of introducing herself as that had not given her pause since the moment that became true. All the other things she is - she's quite proud of this. Even if the rest of her family won't be fond of that decision.

She does however notably omit where she's from. Bikkanel Handshake or not - 'Home' is a secret.

"I've never been to Besaid - but I hear it's lovely!"

That's actually a little bit of a source of a small amount of bitterness in Rikku - that they stayed away from Yuna - until she set off on her pilgrimage...

She tries not to dwell on that though. Better to make the best of the present times with her.

However then she finds herself looking at Noeline, and mouths 'worst-disguised', she's mid-descent into her own chair when that happened. "W-Well I'm glad they were good about that... I mean... it's understandable that they'd want to be a little incognito right?" Does she sound slightly nervous? Maybe a little. "Anyone reasonable would be able to see that." She finally sits down in the chair.

"Yep. Through Prissa. And at Rin's ranch." Rikku makes this small but energetic wave Jay's way. "Nice to meet you face to face though." And then she gives Jay a little wink, "Thanks for taking care of Prissa by the way while she was 'away'."

That little wink perhaps suggesting that they downplay whatever common ground Prissa and her have there.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied finds herself needing some aid to go to the tent, but that's not a problem now that Noeline is here. There's an ease in which she shifts her body in the way her partner moves her along on her wheelchair that suggests they've been doing this for quite a while. She smiles at Jacqueline's burgeoning talent in magic -- she has a chair of her own, of course, but it's still nice to see.

... the forehead kiss, though, prompts a little bit more of a blush than she'd like, even if the squiggly smile is terribly fond and cozy.

"Thank you. It... it isn't just us," Riesenlied bashfully admits. "There is Jacqueline and her Caravan Kinship, of course. We've been friends and working together for a long time now... and it was she and a lot of other Drifters who helped me have the courage to find my way.

She looks to several more Azadians, who're working together to lift a gurney to help someone injured to a triage clinic.

"And... everyone travelling under our banner, from all kinds of places... the inspiration that people who've lost something to Sin, giving something back so no one would have to feel the same pain alone."

She laces her fingers together, as if in prayer for a moment. There's a tender smile on her face.

"But... I thank you too, of course," she nods, in response to Rikku's introduction as well. Guardian... the term has such a warm connotation for her. "We struggled to just save the people thrown overboard in our flight from Luca."

She winces just a little as that arm of hers continues to bother her.

"I am glad as many people as possible had the chance to evacuate, thanks to all of you..." She glances over towards the camps further along.

Jacqueline and Noeline both mention Besaid, and she bashfully chuckles as her partner relates the tale of how they arrived. "We... our ship crashed near an Al Bhed ship of chocobo breeders. They were very kind to us. And-- oh! You know Prissa as well? She is a good friend of ours."

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Yuna is obviously and openly surprised that anyone has ever HEARD of Besaid, let alone been there. A smorgasbord of feelings travel across her face; pleasure in their happiness, pride in her home, embarrassment, too, and something else that underlies which could surely only be homesickness.

She keeps all of that to herself, however, only smiling and nodding at each of their experiences.

"You're an inspiration to one and all," she agrees softly, earnestly, as to Jacqueline and Riesenlied's efforts -- unstinting in her praise.

Each of their experiences, except for Rikku's -- perhaps sensing her undercurrent of distress, she gives her newest Guardian a longer look.

"I hope you go someday, Rikku," she murmurs, which is a slightly odd thing to say. Why doesn't she offer to take her there?

But then she smiles again, more radiantly than before.

"It is well," Yuna adds, "For there to be more friends for the Al Bhed. And for the chocobos."

She's clearly remembering Jacqueline's bravery that day, facing down the Chocobo Eater.

Suddenly there's a call for her, from elsewhere in the camp.

"Ah," she breathes a sort of accepting inhalation, the opposite of a sigh, as she stands up; the girl is no more able to refuse a request, apparently, than she is able to fly. "Please excuse me for a moment."

Shaping the Yevon prayer in her bow to the group, with fingers that are tender and reverent in their faith, she hurries off to be where she must.

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