2019-08-08: Between Laziness and Linaweyul

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<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Linaweyul has not been terribly kind to the group, but at the very least they survived... and with select items and weaponry from the mysterious Vault of the gold-and-blue-hued extradimensional realm.

Yue taps at a door that's somehow here again, now, and pushes through it--

And tumbles over as gravija realigns itself and winds up tipping her back to her jail cell, still sideways-up. Which means most of the furniture that's fixed is... on the walls.

"Ah. Here we are," she speaks as if she hadn't exerted more effort than a light jaunt. "Welcome to my cell. It's kind of dreary, but it's home. We can speak outside if you prefer."

... really?

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

Acacia came in from this route, so she's a little more prepared for the sudden disorienting shift. Which is not to say she doesn't stumble - she absolutely does - but at the same time she's more ready to catch her fall, making for a slightly undramatic exit.

Which is fine by her, because she's had quite enough of drama today. "... home sweet home," she mutters glumly, her thoughts still a little low. She's been staring at her new 'weapon' on the way back, sinking into some fairly unpleasant memories. Still, as she picks herself up, she sucks in a quiet breath, and with some measure of resolve tucks the pen away into a pocket of her vest, the twisted shape of it threatening to cut a gash in the material.

"I'm surprised your minder isn't here to yell at us," she adds wryly, using the light jibe as a chance to centre herself. Afterwards, she stands a little straighter - but not too much, or she's going to bang her head against the ceiling, and not for the first time.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Carrying along the thing that he'd found at the heart of Linaweyul with him, Loren follows, since the alternative is to.... Well, no, there isn't even a weird shimmering portal back into Linaweyul. His only other option is to sit here in a golden hell, forever.

Naturally the way out opens into a cell. He knows it's a cell even before Yue welcomes them, because he knows what a cell looks like. ...and not just from being locked in one, once.

"Why are you in a cell?" he asks, inching his way towards the door (it may be a bit cramped in here) and pushing out into what turns out to blessedly not be a jail.

He stands there for a moment, staring at the cell's position here along the Highroad with all the air of someone completely baffled by what they see... while also just sort of going with it, because Emperor-damn-it, he's had a long day and he doesn't want to think about this too hard. All channels have been gagged.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Why are you in a cell?

Yue kind of... takes a long look at Loren, still with that quiet smile on her face, then just jingles her shackles as her response.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clarine steps through the door after Yue and Acacia. She stumbles a bit as she does, but the lazy sort of way she floats down after doing so makes it look much more elegant than it actually is. She touches down - and has to take a second to regain her balance - but eventually she manages to right herself.

"We...we are back..." She says, and exhales - a sign of relief, rather than any actual need to breathe. That place had been rough though she had found /something/ there of interest. She takes a moment to look at the mirror in her hands and manages to startle herself a little again, though not quite as badly as before.

"...Is everyone alright...?" She asks, looking around. At least on her end, any of the physical injuries she sustained in Linaweyul seem to have vanished the moment she stepped through the door. She notes that Loren is here with them, as well. She stares at him for a moment in wide-eyed surprise. That was unexpected.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

"I'm not /stupid/," Loren snipes back, shooting Yue a Look. "I mean, /why/ are you..." he starts to ask, before shaking his head. "Ugh, forget it."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel steps into the cell with little fanfare. She seems to be frowning faintly at the weapon she picked up as if she thinks there might be something wrong with it, but weapons are useful things to have right now so she elects to hold onto it. She dabs at her mouth with a kerchief purely for aesthetic purposes.

"Why did you go into a portal?" Marivel asks of Loren, since he seems to be feeling inquisitive and Marivel enjoys such games.

But she then adds, "I could tell you if you want to know." Her lips twist into a bright smile. "All sorts of truths. Though to be honest," She exhales faintly. "Most people don't believe them so I better not."

She stretches her arms out behind her and adds, "So! That was something wasn't it? I wonder what is causing these rips through timespace. Whatever that location is, I suspect that it's drawing people to its location for a purpose."

She looks over to Clarine, smiling at her briefly before all smiles fade from her face and she looks back at that blade of hers.

"Oh!" she looks up suddenly.

"Should we go around the table and properly introduce ourselves?" She sounds excited so this may be a bad idea. "We could tell each other of our tragic pasts, our dark secrets--but not ALL of our dark secrets, just the most tantalizing bits--like in the Brunch Club."

She pauses. "It's a movie where five students from various different backgrounds find out what they have in common by talking to each other in detention."

She frowns. "Of course, everybody seems to have forgotten about it even though it explicitely said not to."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

"I am fine, Lady Clarine. But my gratitude for your concern," Yue bows her head very quietly, cucco feather lilting a little as she chuckles to Acacia and quietly drags her up and towards a nearby... stack of books, the closest thing there is to a seat at present.

"Hmm. I do wonder where the Minder is..."

SOMEWHERE ELSE

"N-nooo, come back! Give me my Black Mage Points! A Black Cat's got to be worth at least 5 points, right?!" whines the Minder as she chases -- very slowly -- a black cat that's gotten the once over on her as it jumps ontop of her head and up a tree.

NOW

"Ah. As to the /why/ I am in a cell..." Yue remarks with a quiet murmur. "Hmm. Yes, I shall have Marivel tell the truth, however she wants to. She is a truth teller, after all."

She's saying this with all the Demi2 of telling Loren where the peanut butter in the pantry is.

But on the topic of Linaweyul itself....

"It certainly has a certain gravitas to it, does it not? It does draw certain people, for certain reasons... and shows them certain things, which may not be clear initially."

A pause as she raises her eyebrow further, chuckling.

"Well, you know me as Yue Rohay, but I am also Solitary Confinement Prisoner CR-S01, as my Minder would say."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

Acacia huffs a brief laugh to herself at Loren's exasperation. It's kind of familiar; she's self-aware enough to realize that she's the straight man to Marivel and Yue's antics, and while she'd like to think that she's the adaptable sort there's definitely a level to which it's pretty hard to adapt. Getting dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to traipse through an otherworldly(?) dungeon(?) is definitely one of those times.

Accepting Yue's hand, she lifts herself up, then stares at the offered place to sit with a genuinely confused look. "I can't just sit on your books," she grumbles, but acquiesces only after some very tentative checking to make sure they can hold her weight - and after arranging a couple of the top-most ones to ensure that they're hardback rather than softback.

Later, she'll try to evaluate her life based on reordering a convict's library so she can sit on it after travelling through an extradimensional space to get an evil pen, but for the time being she's more just going by the motions.

"I'm good, I think," she replies to Clarine, patting herself down except for the part where she nearly catches herself on a rough spike of the pen in her breast pocket. "Looking forward to getting back to bed, that part I'm sure of." She squints at the sky as if she had the ability to check the time based on their position. Unfortunately, she's only read about it, so the best she can do is fake it.

"... you saw that like you know the place already," she offers towards Yue with the thoughtful frown that indicates she's shuffling facts around in her brain. "Like you've been through it before. You and Marivel both, actually, now that I think about it."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

It's with a bit on unease that Clarine returns Marivel's smile, and it's with much the same that she returns Yue's bow of the head with one of her own in a polite, but nervous, gesture.

She draws out one of her mirrors and takes a seat on it, even as it floats above the floor. She would offer one to the others, but she not sure they'd be light enough for it to be able to support them. She does send Acacia a smile as she confirms that she's alright, though.

"It is...an unusual place. I do not know if it is malicious, but...it...certainly has a way of striking at one's weaknesses..." She replies, on the subject of Linaweyul - and then pauses, bowing her head again. "A-ah! Um...I am the Seraph of Light, Clarine...I am pleased to meet you all..."

Most of them /already/ know her already, by this point, but that doesn't change the fact that she is pleased by it.

She pauses and blinks, though, as Marivel and Yue both say things that confuse her. Her head tilts to the side, uncertain.

"...Ah, what is, um...a movie...?" She asks, confused. And then to Yue -

"Um...if I may ask...what does 'CR-S01 stand for...?" She asks. [OOC] Yue Rohay says, "oh god now i have to pull out the log where i made this up" [OOC] Yue Rohay says, "there it is"

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

"Because I thought it was a normal /door/," Loren huffs, turning away to take a closer look at the thing he found from within the golden maze. At a glance, it looks like a somewhat elaborate bracer -- somewhat tarnished with age, though, and he's hazarding a guess here, probably not looking nearly as old as it actually is. You get a feeling after exploring a few places. It felt /ancient/ in a way that even a place like Rujm el-Hiri hadn't. Flat blue stone at the one end here. Hmm. Probably right about where it would be wrist-wards.

"Then say something," he says, off-handedly, when Marivel says she could 'tell him'.

Then, at last, he turns back towards the lot of them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he says to Marivel, before turning his attention towards the others.

His gaze lingers on Yue in particular. "Great. You were in solitary confinement." His shoulders slouch, as if he were just tired at this point.

But he does look over at Acacia. And he nods.

"Yeah. She's right. It seemed like you knew were you were going. Are you being haunted by that yellow place?" he asks, before he pauses, considers what he's just said, slouches further, and just looks away. He's... going to pretend he didn't say that.

Clarine, meanwhile, at least provides (a sort of) familiar ground. So to speak. "So you /are/ a Seraph. I thought that might be it. I've run into things like you before."

They were much less pleasant, but so it goes.

"CR-S01... The 'S' is probably for Solitary. ...Solitary number one?"

He looks just completely, absolutely done at this point.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel points to herself with wide eyes faintly but it's clearly a mock gesture.

"Mm? Well, maybe..." She is also unfortunately the type to let people make their own assumptions on what she knows and what she doesn't know. Boy that might explain her troubles with Zhang right? So well 'maybe' she has been to Uzda before but then she adds, more quietly, "Honestly once you've been to one dungeon of fear you've been to all of them though."

She rubs the side of her neck, yawning faintly before adding. "The portals are more interesting to me since it seems to be located more closely to the Glenwood area than Spira itself. Pity that I cannot use it to visit the continent earlier. I do have to get to Pentagulia."

She steals one of Yue's books and just casually starts leafing through it. She can only ignore literature for so long!

"Hmm... It's weird for me to tell the story of another so let me think here..."

She glances to Clarine. "Oh a movie is like a story but you use moving pictures instead of words. Though words can be present too. It's a versatile medium. I have a whole collection back home."

She flips a few pages and adds, "You don't know about movies? Well of course you don't. Humans are fools, soldiers doubly so. Ahh--yes, how to start..."

She snaps the book closed.

"The story of Yue is this: Sometimes a woman deserves better than what she gets. Sometimes a woman pays the price of trusting the authority figures of her life. And sometimes these things happen not because tis right, but because tis what society demands. And even in spite of all of these reasons to spit on her fate, Yue Rohay has apparently decided to accept her fate for the time being rather than seek opportunities to defy it. Time will tell whether it's foolishness...or patience."

She leans against air.

"So is anyone willing to share their own stories? Or shall I name volunteers?"

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

"Oh, it is entirely fine. Books spend the majority of their lifetimes in the darkness, in the confines of a library, anyway," Yue chuckles very faintly towards Acacia's comment that she can't just sit on her books.

"Besides, that one is terrible drivel, so perhaps it's best we all just sat on it."

But both Loren and Acacia call her out on knowing the place.

First she answers Clarine, to space herself. "You are correct, dear Thomas. The 'S' does stand for Solitary -- Confinement Record, Solitary..."

A pause.

"Most prisoners have five digits," she cackles very mildly to herself. "I hear I cause problems for some filing systems."

Then...

"Hmm... 'haunted' is certainly a way to put it... is it not?" Yue remarks with a quiet waggle of her cucco-feather. "That promised Golden Land where happiness can be attained, but never reached..."

A shrug.

"Or perhaps I just enjoy terrifying realms of derring-do?" Yue chuckles as she listens to Marivel. She's not sure if she's been there before, herself. It wouldn't surprise her. But she doesn't sense a personal stake like she did herself...

It's for the best. She also doesn't comment on movies. Acacia would garrote her. Then Marivel tells a story about her.

"Let it be known for the record that I never denied being an idiot," she smirks very proudly. But then adds something more concrete, since Loren seems to be chomping at the bit:

"I am in solitary for the great and odious crime of attempted regicide. So beware! For I am a nefarious Would-be Queenslayer."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

Perched awkwardly on some books, the reporter slowly raises her eyebrows towards Yue, looking a little glum. "Sure, but they don't usually spend the majority of their time next to my butt," she replies bluntly before sighing. "Acacia Saitani, of the Meria Bouletin and the Spiran Edition," she offers - rather woodenly, because she's all too aware that Thomas is the only one that doesn't know exactly who she is and even more aware that Marivel and Yue both seem to know a little more about her than she'd ever have expected.

"... it was pretty specifically a set of tests, right? To prove you're worthy of-- one of these, or something," she adds as she carefully takes the pen out of her pocket, turning it over between her fingers, fidgeting with the top of it as she wonders whether to uncap it.

She's obviously trying not to keep her eyes on it too long, maybe because of what it represents to her specifically, but does rub her thumb carefully over the open 'slots' that run down the side of the pen's length. "Not really certain what the actual point of these are, though. Best guess, they're... incomplete, or something like that."

She blinks abruptly, and then draws her brow down in a frown. "Hey, hey. She's Clarine, not a 'thing'. I get that Seraphs aren't exactly common and it's been a long night, but still," she grumbles, feeling a certain degree of protective streak run through her.

Any other thoughts are lost as she falls hook, line and sinker for Marivel's story, her curiosity running high. The natural instinct is to take notes, and the dark jagged pen even lifts a little as if to tempt her - but she catches herself with a frown, and jams it back into a pocket. She'd long since decided she wasn't that sort of reporter, even if her eyebrows leap up at Yue's statement.

Even then, the 'why' is still on her lips, and it takes much more of an effort to bite that back. For the time being. "... m-mm," she grumbles wordlessly instead.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"Th-things...?" Clarine murmurs in response to Loren's own reply, quailing a bit - but Acacia speaks up for her and Clarine offers her a small smile of thanks.

She nods, then, as Yue explains what 'CR-S01' stands for, and a second nod as Marivel explains what a movie is.

She thinks back, then, as Acacia comments on the tests, and the artifacts the acquired from it.

"...Incomplete...that may well be a word for it..." She murmurs. "I can sense a great well of Malevolence in these items...dormant, but waiting to get out. However...it lessened, just a touch, when that fire consumed it and the gem formed..."

She pauses.

"Do...do you all know what 'Malevolence' is...?" She asks. She knows Marivel knows, but she isn't sure about the others.

She looks between Yue and Marivel, then, as the latter tells her story. She's quiet, her eyes finding the ground...and then she fidgets a little, as Marivel asks for volunteers.

"U-umm..." Fidget, fidget. "...What...wh-what would you like to know...?"

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Yue provides a little context about her prisoner number. "Great, glad to hear it. Wonderful."

It's only when she echoes his weird statement about Linaweyul that he twitches a little, but remains thus defiantly silent. Attained but never reached. Now /that/ makes his skin crawl.

"I want to know who made a place like that," he grouses. "Somewhere where people /die/..." He might be a little hung up on that part, maybe.

Loren does in fact know what a movie is -- he's a Solarian! -- but he's not about to clarify /that/ part. Honestly, he was just wondering what she meant by that weird story about a Brunch Club...

Some things may forever remain a mystery.

"I get it," he grumbles, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"So you're a..." he starts to say, looking over at Acacia. He pauses, as if racking his head for the word. "...Reporter. Right." He glances down, turning the mostly-metallic bracer over in his hands as she talks about the pen she found. It might not look overtly infernal at a glance, no. But that blue stone at one end does sort of look like a flat eye, the more he looks at it. Something feels as if it crawls behind one of his own eyes and he suppresses a shudder, instead turning away to rub at his eye. There, it's gone now.

"Worthy, huh... worthy of what? I don't even know what this thing is."

Clarine reacts like most people would; he doesn't seem to notice. ...Before Acacia corrects his word choice, that is. He squares his shoulders, as if just about preparing to gear up for a fight before shaking his head. "Fine. Person," he says with a sigh. This isn't a hill he feels like dying on.

"So it's some kind of hard luck story? That still doesn't explain the 'solitary confinement'," he points out. Before Yue provides the missing context.

He looks over at her for a long moment.

"So attempted murder. Got it." And perhaps if he were a little less of a damp rag he might have given her a sarcastic thumbs-up. But he is a damp rag, so he just looks away again. Lambs are weird. If someone attempted to kill the Emperor, they would die. Or be executed. One or the other, and all the same in the end.

He just about drops the thing he's holding when Clarine brings up the sense of Malevolence within the items they now possess.

"/What/," he says, flatly. Before, at little choked-sounding, and certainly sharper than the situation warrants, he adds, "/Yes/, I know what Malevolence is."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"She had it coming." Marivel tells Loren (and maybe Acacia). "But apparently the queen is having cute adventures now so I guess things worked out for everybody. Except Yue."

She considers for a moment. "I wonder if I can trick Avril into granting you a pardon. That could be fun, yes? Not that I imagine t'would have much effect on current Veruni society with their feigned devotion."

"Acacia Saitani is also the very distant descendent of the brilliant Dr. Lumen, mother of advanced robotics in the Zeboim era." Marivel quips out of the blue NOW despite having been cagey about it FOREVER. Maybe she just needed a time where Kamui wasn't present for whatever reason. "Naturally to expect such brilliance to transfer through time is impossible but on the other hand Acacia seems to be particularly more concerned with being mature than creating new life but she is young yet."

SShe consideres Clarine for a moment but holds off on sharing Marivel's Vversion of Clarine's Backstory for the time being.

Clarine instead asks her what she wants to know about her. "Mm... I'm curious about a great deal, but I would like to know one thing about you that you are nervous about sharing. One secret." She smiles again. "Nothing too far out of your comfort zone, of course, just a little bit outside of it. Neighboring it, perhaps."

She then cracks a smile at Loren. "But tales for tales, no?" But does Marivel (publicly) KNOW Loren is Solarian? No. So obviously he wouldn't know about movies. She doesn't think to go into more detail on The Brunch Club except to add, "I could really go for some brunch." while looking at said Loren like he is some tasty tasty steak.

Clarine mentions the malevolence. "Interesting isn't it?" She tells Clarine. "I wouldn't touch a carelessly malevolent weapon but since they seem stable, perhaps they can be studied for a method of contianing malevolence. T'would be nice to sing again, wouldn't it?"

"As for my tale, I am of course the wonderful Crimson Noble you all know so well, true ruler and savior of Filgaia, last of my people, and secret behind the scenes master of pretty much everything. I had left this world behind but 'twas not by my own hand I was once again given flesh!"

She then asides to Loren. "So friend. Tell us a bit about yourself. Lie if you must."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue, on the other hand, looks incredibly curious about the Devil's Pen That's Mightier than the Sword. She grabs the book one down from the one Acacia's sitting on.

"Does the pen actually /write/? Here, scribble on this utter nonsense. I will allow it."

There is a quiet hum as Acacia calls it a series of tests, though. To prove oneself worthy...

"'Worthy' is a weighted word. Is one 'worthy' because of their valour or achievement?" A pause. "Or because they prove that they can bear the weight of such items?"

She's still particularly speaking in circles, but perhaps she's not ready to tell the whole story quite yet. "Which form of worthiness manifests in the end... that is not something I can merely explain with words."

Acacia clarifies that Clarine isn't a thing, prompting a chuckle and a nod as she looks to the Seraph. "... Lady Clarine, perhaps an explanation is in order, that we would all be on the same page." A non-answer, but not saying 'no' is as good as saying 'yes', it would seem.

She glances over to Loren for a moment, towards his bracer. Her lips purse for a moment... but she lets it go.

"Oh, it's so dreary when you say it. 'Murder', she wrote!" Yue jostles with a tease. She pointedly doesn't respond to Marivel just dropping bombs left and right, though, because. I mean.

"Marivel. I am going to... very, /very/ pointedly take what you are saying as a most cruel jest, made in poor humour."

She leans back on her stack of books.

"Because to believe such right now would unravel all that I currently am and I would be left a lifeless dreck."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

"... I haven't encountered it myself," Acacia is forced to admit towards Clarine. "I did read up on the news enough when it started showing up around Filgaia, but even at the time, there wasn't a whole lot to learn about it. Some guy gave a big talk on it once, right?" she furrows her brow, thinking back. "I covered it, if only because no-one else gave it any mind. Dressed in white and blue? Something about knowing yourself?" she adds, grasping at straws a little.

Straightening up, she nods in Loren's direction. "Not that I'm doing a whole lot of reporting here on Spira. Mostly it's been trying to organize people's attempts to search for each other," she adds with a distinct note of pride. "A lot of people got scattered in the wake of the Guard's attacks, so I've been trying to get people in contact with each other. Mixed success, but every little helps."

At least she doesn't seem inclined to keep a grudge, not that it's really her grudge to keep. Rather, she pats the pocket where she's stashed the pen, frowning slightly to herself. For all that Loren seems worried about it, she's not sure how she feels. It's obvious that they're tailor-made for them, so... is throwing it away really an option?

Stopping short, she squints, and then holds up her hand. "Woah, woah. Woah. Woah," she adds, then pinches her forehead as she screws her eyes shut. "It's not like I couldn't tell a chunk of that already, but you're not supposed to just announce it outright like that," she huffs out a heavy sigh, hanging her head to one side exaggeratedly. "Anyway, I'd like to think I've got /some/ brilliance about me! You make it sound like you're a mother-in-law waiting for grandkids!"

She's distracted when a book is pushed into her hands, and blinks up at Yue, her curiosity matching the convict's as she pulls the pen out and uncaps it. When it touches the paper, there's a faint sizzling sound - and the words appear as Acacia writes, bright red heat fading to black: "This is a totally innocuous sentence with no subtext whatsoever."

There's a pause, and the reporter lets out a breath. "In the end, I don't think it's about whether the pen can write or not. It's about what you write with it, and what you write in general. I /could/ take down everything Marivel just said and push it straight out the door, but I'd like to think I'm the sort of person who wouldn't do that. This pen's more like a reminder, as far as I'm concerned."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Clarine grumps a little at Loren's reluctant admission, looking away from him. Instead, she focuses on his other question.

Who made Linaweyul? Clarine isn't sure - it certainly seems...primal, enough to have formed of its own volition. She's not sure she knows enough to say one way or the other.

Yue asks for an explanation. Clarine thinks for a moment.

"W-well, um...we Seraphim...are born of the Earthpulse, formed of mana... we each embody a specific element, typically related to the nature of the Earthpulse from which we formed..." She explains. "It is said that the Goddess Herself created us to be Her messengers, and channel Her Blessing...but even so, we are still people, the same as all of you - to the largest of us, even to the smallest Normin..."

...What's a Normin??

And Acacia is uncertain about Malevolance - whereas Loren comments on it sharply. She shrinks back a bit, at that.

"W-well, um...essentially...Malevolence is born of...an incongruity between how one acts and feels." She explains. "In small quantities, it is fine...it is natural for humans to possess it. But...in large quantities, it can manifest, and twist the minds and bodies of those who are consumed by it... becoming Hellions." She explains. She hesitates again. "Hellions can be purified...but, to us Seraphim, it is a deadly toxin. If it takes too deep a hold on us...it becomes uncurable."

She takes a deep breath, mostly just to calm herself down. That was a pretty heavy subject!

She looks toward Marivel, then, as she recites some pretty surprising details about Acacia! Clarine looks in her direction, blinking in surprise.

"Y-you are...? I did not know that..." She says, impressed, then considers Marivel's own request.

"...A Secret..." She murmurs. "...Truthfully, I do not have many secrets..."

Well, that wasn't technically true - but the secrets she did have were the type to...bring down the mood a little.

"...I shared it with you already, but the others may not be aware...so, I shall explain. In...in the interest of fairness..." She says. She looks at all gathered - her eyes lingering on Acacia for a moment longer than any of the others.

"...You may have realized that I...fear the dark. ...Truthfully, that was...not always the case." She begins. "There was a time when I served as a guide, in a maze-like canyon known as Biroclef Ridge... by condensing myself into a small ball of light, I could appear even to the non-Resonant, and in doing so I could lead them to safety..."

She hesitates a little, and continues.

"But...one day, one of the humans I was leading...attacked me. I was...trapped, in a lantern - my condensed form used against me. I could not escape...so I was stuck there, forced to light their way...and, when not in use, I was...kept in a dark room. I...I do not know how long this went on. Many, many years...but, one day, the opportunity to escape arose...and I took it. I was scared...so I hid myself away from the world, until a chance incident found me brought to the Blue Star, where I was yet again trapped in the darkness, this time at a ruin that sapped at my very strength. ...But, they saved me."

She looks between Marivel and Acacia at that.

"...I am...forever grateful, for that."

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

Already, this object is sounding like more of a burden, the more that Yue -- and the others -- chime in on it. Loren wilts further at the discussion of 'worthy of bearing the weight'. Like he needs more trouble than he's already got!

"Huh," he says, to Acacia talking about what she's doing now. "Could have used that when I first arrived in Spira." But it's too late to feel despondant over what was, honestly. Eventually he met up with everyone again, without even being all that worse for wear (sleeping on the floor for a month aside).

Marivel gives a rendition of Acacia's backstory. Loren glances between her and the reporter, as if to ask in silence, 'really?'

Today's been weird enough that while his default mode is sort of a 'seems fake', he can't really rule anything out right now.

Marivel gives him a look like she'd like to eat him. He shifts under that gaze, as if distinctly uncomfortable.

Loren, normally permanently hungry, thus replies to her suggestion for a meal with, "I'll pass." Even his Soylent bar seems a little more appetizing by comparison.

And this is all before Marivel declares she is a Crimson Noble, ruler of the world made flesh.

Today has been a lot. Loren just squints, then glances at the others as if /anyone/ here knows which way is up anymore, or if the blonde girl's just pulling his leg.

Crimson Nobles are just myths. Or perhaps horror stories, considering the one someone told him a year or so about about monstrous Crimson Nobles that used to crawl out of the dark places at night and devour the unlucky, leaving little but gnawed bones. Ughhh, why does he have to think about this now.

The basics on Malevolence, he knows -- but on Seraphs? Not so much. He hasn't really had the chance to interrogate any of them, just been the target for some significant harassment. So, this is all interesting -- he'll file it away for later.

The Seraph's the nervous sort. It's as clear as day to him. He wonders, fleetingly, as she continues on, starting to tell some story about Biroclef, if she was bullied once (too). In a way, it seems, she was. He folds his arms over his chest, bracer still dangling from one hand.

"I'm a former medical student," he says, flatly, with the sort of dead-eyed stare that dares someone to challenge his story. "An extremely unlucky medical student," he corrects, considering his current status and situation.

Which may be underscored when he watches Acacia try out her new pen. He looks down at the bracer again. Great. He's going to end up extra cursed with this thing. He just knows it.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel says, "Oh okay. In that case I'm totally lying." with a deadpan expression but she doesn't seem inclined to force Yue on this point any more than she already had. Marivel can keep secrets but they faced a soul ripping ghost together. They can afford to be a little open and honestly Acacia was squinting at her secret backstory for so long that she was kind of just tired of being quiet on it.

"You may be the first journalist I've ever known who didn't want to be given answers." Marivel quips at her before adding, "Besides I didn't want to tell you while Kamui was around because you should have some time on your own to reflect upon it, if you care to."

She smiles. "Well, true. You do have a certain shine to you."

Acacia further accuses her of being a mother in law waiting for grandkids.

"I think godmother is more accurate. Your vampire godmother." She crosses her arms. "Who is very interested in these supposed grandkids. /Do/ you have someone you fancy?"

Loren, well, hard to tell what he's thinking when his default mood is surliness but he does say something that piques Marivel's interest. "Former? Did you have to end your schooling early?" She can't really challenge the 'extremely unlucky' part since that just seems to be a fact of life around Loren here, one that even Marivel can pretend isn't there.

Clarine then shares a bit of her story. Much of it isn't new but it's still a powerful (to Marivel) story. One with one key point: 'Humans can be real dicks sometimes.'

Not a lesson Marivel needs to learn, hench her sympathy

She gives Clarine's arm a small squeeze with a bare hand.

"Aww, how could we let one of our closest friends languish down there?" She ... says as if they were pals before they met or something. "I should be thanking you for sharing your company even after everything you've been through."

Her hand starts combusting so she pulls her hand back and mildly shakes it from side to side to put out the flames. [OOC] Loren Voss says, "i'll have to get to bed in the next half-hour though FORTUNATELY i won't have to get up stupidly early tomorrow so i have a wee bit of flex" +vote: Seraph Clarine has voted for you. +vote: Loren Voss has voted for you. +vote: Marivel Armitage has voted for you. [OOC] Marivel Armitage says, "no worries we can fade whenev"

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue's face droops along with her feather as Acacia's pen starts to sizzle as it writes.

"It /literally/ writes hot takes. Or perhaps scathing reviews?"

She doesn't really comment about Malevolence or its presence in Ignas, either because she doesn't know or she's keeping mum about it. Instead she adds to Acacia with one of those wry smiles of hers:

"Worry not, I care for you far more than who your ancestor is, whether they are Marivel's once and former dreary /nerd/ friend or not."

... It feels a bit cheap when you're shooting over at a character over the bow of eels, Yue...

She glances to Marivel. Despite what she's saying, it's rather clear there's a great turmoil brewing further inside of her. ... ... ...

"... suffice to say I can share an ounce of sympathy at the topic of imprisonment, Lady Clarine," Yue points out as she distracts herself with Clarine's tale of being trapped in a lantern. "But...."

A pause.

<Let me compliment you on overcoming an ounce of your fear, your> "Linaweyul" <in still maintaining friendships in the face of all that.>

She gets up after that's said; there's a very visible heaviness to her movements that wasn't there before after killing herself to face a soul-ripping ghost.

The real soul-ripping ghost is Marivel's revelation, it seems.

"... I have much to ruminate on, so pray let me be for now. My literature is available to you. Feel free to scribble over it in pen."

Then she climbs up to the sideways door and flees like a hair-mollusk out of hell.

What a linaweyul that Yue is.

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

Again, the reporter chooses not to take as many notes on what Clarine's saying than you might expect from a member of the press - though she does at least pause to take out her notepad, preferring to get some of the more factual information down on paper. It doesn't seem likely that the Meria Bouletin is about to put out a primer on Seraphs and Malevolence any time soon, but you never know when the information will come in handy.

"Ah... well, I didn't really know myself," she comments back, scratching her cheek with the tip of the normal pen she's using. "Just guessed. Between stuff Kamui and Marivel were saying, and the way that image looked, I could piece that much together. This is a hell of a time to drop the rest, though," she grumbles towards the vampire.

"You don't have to--..." she adds, but Clarine's already recounting her tale, and the reporter lets out a quiet breath to herself. It's a long moment before she replies. "That was honestly kind of an accident," she admits, somewhat sheepish about it. "But, still... any time."

She lets that hang in the air for a moment, then offers a toothy grin in Loren's direction. "You don't look a whole lot like a Spiran native looking for their family, but I'm not gonna discriminate. Just figured it was something I could help with. It's basically like running the classifieds back home."

"It's not a matter of not wanting to know answers!" she blurts towards Marivel. "More like I'm still catching up from getting a demonic pen stuck into my hands! Besides, even if I reflect on it, it's not like it changes a whole lot, right? I'm not going to treat her any different." She hopes. She has a feeling it might make her even less inclined to 'use' Kamui than she is already, but it's not like that's a bad thing.

The question of whether she's romantically inclined towards anyone gets an extremely glum look. "Yes, /mom/," she starts to say, but rather than joke any further, she plants a hand in her hair as she glances at Yue. "I know, and-- well, I appreciate it. I mean, as far as I can tell she's not going to pop up back out of nowhere." It would explain how that capsule caught up to them-- no, no, she tells herself. Don't think about it.

"Anyway, I-- er--" she blinks as Yue abruptly escapes, and she's left staring at empty space in confusion.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Marivel gives her arm a small squeeze of reassurance - with a bare hand even, despite the risks to her. She can tell that Acacia is taken a bit aback, but even so Clarine sends her a smile, bowing her head toward the two of them.

"An accident it may have been...but even so. I consider it good fortune." She replies. And then, she goes quiet, as Yue says something to her in the ancient tongue.

Clarine beams - literally and in her expression, the light around her visibly intensifies.

"...Thank you...it means a lot to me..." She murmurs. She goes quiet, then - though her grip does tighten a little on the strange mirror, taking a moment to think about it.

...Thoughts of it are driven out of her head, though, as Yue bolts from the cell, fleeing upward.

Clarine stares, dumbfounded, with her head tilted to the side.

...She'll probably be stuck like that for a while.

<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.

"No, but I /was/ separated from my," he pauses a moment here, "comrades," he settles for a moment later. "Or is that service just for Spirans? Hmmph, well, it doesn't matter now. We /did/ find each other."

On the other hand, he privately considered, he could have ended up running into deVriese so much earlier. A part of his brain gives up the ghost at the thought of that fresh hell.

Did he have to end his schooling early? "Yes? That's what former means?" he says, his tone rising in the manner that it sometimes does for someone reaching the end of their proverbial rope. If he has to put up with any more of this today, he may just follow the lead of a certain weird young man he met in Macalania and find somewhere nice and quiet to scream.

And speaking of scream -- or at least, speaking of words -- he just stares as Yue -- as Clarine and Marivel also had in the dungeon -- again speaks in a language he doesn't know, but which sounds very very familiar. (He will place where he's heard it before about six hours from now, and that's the point when he actually /will/ scream.)

Yue, then -- after a certain bit of information is imparted by Marivel -- decides now is the time for her to get on out of here. He just sort of slowly cranes his neck to watch her go. He unfolds his arms and rubs at the back of his neck. Huh. He and Clarine may be somewhat two of set.

Oh, and now Marivel's hand is on fire. He just stares as she shakes the fire out, craning his head to the side as if he would welcome it if his soul started to exit his body (again) right here and now.

Why does all the weird stuff keep happening on his watch? He was supposed to be assisting Aveh against Kislev on the front lines, but instead it feels like his life took a very weird long sideroad to somewhere instead.

Ughhhhhhh.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Wow, you totally called the roboticist out. She was, absolutely, a /nerd/." Marivel says, still deadpan but then obviously every expression Marivel makes is by some sort of default 'dead'.

"Rest well Yue." She says, faintly concerned but she leaves it be.

Acacia comments about the pen among other things.

"Well if the pen is mightier than the sword, it's only natural to be cautious in where and how you swing it." Marivel points out reasonably(?).

She stands up at this point and adds, "Well I thnk I will avoid distressing everyone further today. Thank you for your company and good night."

She turns into a cloud of bats and departs.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO

"Mari, Mari! I bought this labcoat that looks ... like twenty percent more /labcoatty/ than the actual labcoat I wear for work," beams Lumen as she holds up a clothes hanger. "So that people thousands of years from now who see my hologram will totally think I'm a super-scientist."

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