2019-09-08: Guilt is One Slippery Enemy
- Log: Guilt is One Slippery Enemy
- Cast: Yue Rohay, Acacia Saitani, Isolde, Marivel Armitage
- Where: Besaid
- Date: 8th September 2019
- Summary: After the battle at Besaid, Yue tries to fix herself up from getting gashed open. But people are abound!!
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
ASSUMEDLY,
Yue got kicked off Guts-Dozer at some point because ARMS has to pack up and at the very least not hang around Besaid despite Guts-Dozer being Everyone's Friend #2 (#1 is Big Shal) so she's instead lounging on one of those huge broken Machina remnants that stick out of one of the cliffs of Besaid.
You know, the one where you can only land if you know the secret password for some reason.
She's got a huge gash over her torso thanks to the Pulse Saber that she's wincing and working on at present, amongst other things.
... which is why it's possible, right now, to sneak up on her and see that she's actually cheating and has unshackled herself for the express purpose of surrounding her hand with an Ether glow to knit that wound.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia might be a reporter, but she'd like to think she's a reporter with some kind of moral code, particularly when it comes to not plastering people's secrets across the front page of her paper. She's consistently avoided mentioning any of Marivel's stories, discussing Kamui's long history, listing Kaguya's stated motives in the war, revealing many of ARMS' secrets-- the list goes on and on, out of respect or affection or even sheer pragmatism in some cases.
Maybe it doesn't make her a good journalist, she often wonders to herself, but it does at least make her the sort of journalist she'd like to be, running the sort of paper she'd like to run.
Which is why, when she stares almost glumly up at Yue, her notepad is not in her hands and her camera is nowhere to be seen, tucked away for the time being. "... you're kind of bad at this," she notes in a deadpan, then immediately breaks into a breathless and quiet chuckle as she shakes her head. "I don't see Minder around, at least. She'd run herself in circles."
Her gaze sharpens as she looks around her, towards the horizon and the remnants of the battle. Rather than interrupt Yue's concentration any further, she's silent as she surveys the scene, preferring for the time being to pick out what she can with her own eyes.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Excuse me," says a nearby patch of dense beach grass, just a bit up slope from where Yue has sat down to try to repair herself and where Acacia is approaching with intent to have a tender moment. "I don't mean to intrude, but I was very curious - now that I can tell there are several of you there."
The voice is familiar, but who could it be?
The voice concludes, "Did we win?"
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel Armitage needed a mental health day so she wasn't really at that last battle. She can't be at EVERY battle against the Guard and battling them is particularly stressful towards her and ever push Marivel to acting less like a human or like the Althena she once knew or the Anastasia she knows and more like herself which can be a pretty eccentric and horrifying experience. It's best she is herself only when the occassion calls for it and right now she's told enough stories.
"Oh good," Marivel says, sitting behind Yue. "I think this means we won the battle and Yuna's home is safe. We probably could've saved Lunar even if we lost here but I'd like to spare Yuna some extra heartache. Something tells me she'll have plenty of that in her life."
She looks over to Acacia. "Oh hey Aces." Marivel says, probably not saying Acacia IS Ace so much as offering up a nickname. "Didn't expect to see you here." She looks to Isolde. "Ahh but Isolde. Isolde is a sight for sore eyes." She waves at Isolde even though she's literally blind. "Does anybody truly win in war? Or tis it but a matter of who loses more?"
She trails off. Then she says, "We totally won."
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue jolts a little as Acacia starts speaking up, which might be something incredibly precious given it's usually her that gets the jump on her when she sits on her windowsill and yoinks her towards another adventure.
"/Excuse/ me. 'Tis poor form to approach while I am licking my own wounds," she starts petulantly--
Before staring at her unbound arms and kind of looks left and right as a voice speaks up and asks if they won.
Hesitate!
"Yes, the Drifters saved the day and repelled the zealous, colonialist invaders! Pay no heed to why I am still here!"
Her hand erupts in what looks like Thermo-aspected Ether (by Solarian terms) as she... she...
Literally glues both halves of her shackles back in place. There's a thrum as several Glyphs upon it glow, and the very feeling of Ether dampens instantly.
You're really bad at this Yue.
She looks towards Marivel as she realises she's sitting behind her and mutters, "/I/ need to talk to /you/ about a certain girl's well being."
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"Ah, good, then I don't need to hide," says Isolde, who relaxes and immediately seems to appear from the patch of dense grass, her head and upper body seeming to emerge with her legs splaying out in the other direction. Her boots are off, but --
Wait, those little stones nearby. Two of them are actually her boots, set to dry in the sun!
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia is obviously basking in her momentary victory as Yue hurriedly reshackles herself. "Uh-huh," she drawls - but the sensation of some kind of unknown but distinctly familiar power makes her glance up, and from there she's stuck watching the process with open curiosity. When it's done her gaze lingers further, looking past Yue's hands to her torso; the sight makes her let out a breath as she shrugs a small pack off her shoulders and starts to rummage through it.
"You're probably still going to need bandages. And ideally you should be disinfecting that first. Get down here," she grumps as she pulls out what appears to be a servicable field kit, obviously something she'd hung onto since prior to arriving in Spira.
She doesn't start at the sight of Isolde, but she is left pausing for a moment, uncertain what to say. "... I don't think anyone won exactly, but I can at least say the battle's over. I don't think anyone here's gonna be opening up on anyone else any time soon."
"Gotta follow the news, right?" she replies to Marivel with a wan smile. "... is what I should say, but I brought some supplies and medicines. Figured it'd probably be right to ferry some this way, and just kinda reconfirm what's going on." She takes another sweeping glance along the Besaid coastline, uncertain how to sum it up. "... better than I expected, honestly."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Oh must we?" Marivel says with a faint smile. Yue can see the old and infamous (of the time) Crimson Noble arrogance behind that smile and in those eyes as if daring Yue. This isn't strictly antagonistic on her part but it probably means that Marivel is feeling pointed today. Considering she is coming off a 'mental health day' it's probably best to not consider what Marivel's attitude was before taking the day off and Marivel makes very special care that she is not in the way during those times. Simply being an inhuman undead monster doesn't give her the authority to be cruel.
She smiles back over to Isolde, though that look in her eyes doesn't quite fade. "Mm, we are very lucky aren't we? To not be forced to hide. In dark times sometimes we must learn to scurry all the samme."
She seems to normalize a bit when Acacia talks of the news.
"Small territories like this are frightening places to strike. Only bands of heroes can stop such invasions. It cannot be left up to locals and despite clearly having mechanized weaponry, Yevon seems content to stand back and allow us to do the heavy lifting. Oh what could have been."
She crosses one leg over the other.
"I am glad she has made friends of course but she hasn't been feeling well, has she? I worry about what her new friends will think and feel if her situation is allowed to worsen."
She rests her head in her hand. "But I cannot save Minder from the Factor, Yue. I wish that I could but tis beyond my ability. I have my suspicions as to who will save the Veruni one day, but tis not I nor will I risk such an unwritten mission by shining a light on it now. I can but entrust that responsibility to those with a chance to."
Wait is she just intentionally misinterpreting for the moment? Maybe. Unless...she actually is mistaking Yue's meaning here.
"Guiding Minder to friendship is the most I could do for her. For what it's worth, I believe she is already well on the way to saving herself."
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
There's a grumble towards Acacia as she gets up, when the reporter tells her to come down. She gets about halfway down before lightheadedness takes over because that's not an insignificant wound and she winds up rolling and crashing into Isolde's pile of tall grass.
"Sorry," she calls out to the swordswoman, crawling out and nearly smacking face-first into a boot. "Though I am glad I did not have to face you."
Really, Yue could herself be planning on taking a mental health day soon though given what Acacia, Isolde and Marivel have seen of her, that time she took Minder with Ranna and Dorca to go play blitzball with the Little Lightnings is probably her idea of a mental health day.
"Yes, we do," she punctuates each syllable, rather on air as she says, "And I do not mean the minder." Because being reminded of the Factor right now is just making her more miserable.
She grumbles for a moment to sigh and go, "Do you remember weeks ago, when I petulantly said to you I would not be involved and start mothering? Well, you win."
A pause.
"Let's talk about Xiumei."
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"I ask these things only because it is hard for me to tell, at times," Isolde tells Acacia. "I was not engaged with a unit, you see; in fact I'm not engaged at all. I came down because I heard the clamour arise, and I heard the fear in the voice of children. That's all."
A moment passes.
"I hope they didn't throw out my dice," Isolde sighs. "I already lost that sword."
After this, Yue comes down. Isolde is a pleasantly firm thing to plop against. "Were you on the other side? Well... I'd question why, but you seem rather mannerly now. Did you come here with the gigantic machine, or something else?"
After this she laughs at the mention of mothering, and falls silent otherwise, because this sounds like some good gossip. (At worst.)
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Summons /have/ done a lot to try to push back the Guard whenever they've shown up," starts Acacia's measured response. She can pick up that Marivel still feels off, like there's a little too much tension in the air - but part of her still insists on meeting the vampire head-on, and she's fairly sure Marivel would prefer it that way. "It's more a matter of capacity - too few summoners, no easy way to patrol everywhere."
Her expression turns glum when the Crimson Noble mentions the mechanized weapons, though. It's really not hard to pick out her thoughts on that aspect of Yevon worship, and if they were in happier and less distracted times she'd probably be nosing into that discrepancy pretty hard, edging her way towards the Al Bhed for their side of the story.
"I think that's true for a lot of people," she admits towards Isolde, scratching at her hair as a couple of thoughts start to crystallize. "... honestly, a campaign like the Guard is waging doesn't feel like something you can sustain for long. When you add in a bunch of sudden pinpoint strikes at the Temples - feels like they're trying to overextend, get something done, then get out of dodge."
She lets that linger in the air as food for thought, and then abruptly lets it go - not least because Yue has just bounced off the ground. "Yue! You--" whatever she was going to grump is bit off as she darts forwards; she grimaces, then softens it. "I can't tell if you're a glutton for punishment or something," she tries instead, frowning as she gets to work.
... she doesn't say anything, but you can see the way she gravitates towards the gossip, and Xiumei's name.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
The tension is thick between two old rivals...! Who will be the first to break! Though apparently the conversation isn't about Minder so maybe it's all meaningless tension? That's the problem with being a tricksy vampire. When your actions and motives aren't always clear it's easy to read into what you're about trying to do, sometimes inaccurately.
Marivel closes her eyes a moment and exhales slowly, leaning back as Yue mentions the TRUE topic at hand. Her poker face flickers ever so slightly when Yue mentions when Yue petulantly said she would not be involved and start mothering.
"Oh you started mothering? Who could have anticipated this turn of events?" She pauses and adds, "But Xiumei..."
She cups her chin for a moment and then adds, "Veryy well, let us talk about... Xiumei."
She steeples her fingers together.
Isolde asks about Yue's situation and Marivel admits to her, "Opposite sides after a fashion if oyu wish to be technically correct, but tis not wholly correct if you catch my meaning. Nobody can hold the weight of the world on their own, no? Not even one group of comrades."
She looks to Yue.
"What about Xiumei?" She glances towards Acaia then down towards the very machina they're sitting around on and around.
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"Ah. You have my condolences. Losing a sword is a heartbreaking outcome," Yue muses. She's kind of wondering about Isolde's sword-skills after what she's seen in Almarytt, but at the same time, maybe it's not healthy for her to want to duel it out with her, even for fun...
"Also... yes. I was with my Commander," Yue dourly chuckles. "It ... cannot be helped," she shouganais particularly fiercely.
Yue raises her eyebrows to Acacia for a moment. She doesn't have a cucco feather to lilt and it feels wrong to her right now. "They are interested in the Fayths. To what end I do not know. But that much I know. Perhaps they fear Yevon's Summons as you say. But I feel there must be more."
She idly thinks a little at this casual sharing of information and how her mother says she doesn't even care who she betrays her to.
Because she'll come crawling back at the end.
Coward, she thinks to herself.
"Do not presume to give me the runabout," Yue grumbles. "I have too much respect for you. But start by telling me how she got to ARMS and what your involvement -- or lack of involvement -- in it is."
A pause. "Also, I assume she hates you."
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia wasn't around for the whole Sealing Rod thing, so she's missing a slightly critical bit of information to pull everything together - still, it isn't that hard to imagine conflating the Fayth and the Guardians together given the way they mirror each other. She marks Yue's comment with a nod of thanks, and a frown of understanding - that this is another thing she really can't put in the newspaper, for fear of whose wrath it might invite.
And on whom.
She does blink in surprise at Yue's volley of questions towards Marivel. Xiumei's artifact aside, she never would have thought that Eleanor's-- secretary? friend? partner? clerk? Probably all of the above-- would cause this much interest in Yue. Her hands work the bandage around Yue's midsection as she sizes up her options. But Yue has just given her a tidbit, and she believes in like for like.
"As far as I know," she glances again to Marivel as if checking what she's saying, because she's still not quite sure when it comes to ARMS in general. "She joined up along with Eleanor. They're both from around Meria Boule, after all, and I get the impression they've known each other for years." She knows that doesn't exactly answer Yue's question, especially not given the presence of Model V and how those abilities are used in service to ARMS, but perhaps it's a start.
"... I can't really imagine her hating anyone," she adds. "Not in an Eleanor way. She'd just go 'ugh' a single time and that'd be that."
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Summoners are brought up by Acacia. Or does she means summons, themselves? Isolde wonders, as she shifts herself up into a cross-legged seat. "I don't really understand their goal at all," Isolde tells Acacia. "These summonings are meant to defeat Sin, aren't they? I have no idea what else would work, but I also don't understand why they're here in the first place."
She smiles at the topic of mothering, but then murmurs to Yue, "Don't worry; I'll find another. Or win one."
"Meria Boule sounds like a wonderful place," she asides to Acacia.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Hates me?" Marivel's eyes widen. "Why is that?" This reaction does seem genuine at least. She cannot peer into the minds of others. "I know she doesn't care for me, but I never felt she was at 'hate'. And with her, at least, I have been uncharacteristically forthright."
She frowns, crossing one leg over the other, sitting back again impossibly.
Yue gives Marivel the rundown. There isn't much there to pluck out from it all but Marivel suspects that no matter how much Yue dug, there wouldn't be much to find. Some people live quiet lives before the call to adventure drags them kicking and screaming towards their destiny. And sometimes they aren't even kicking and screaming but a lack of struggle is a far cry from acceptance.
"Well, perhaps that is what Zhang Xiumei would like us to think." Marivel admits since she isn't one to doubt Yue's insight so much. She didn't say for certain she was hated but perhaps it's not precisely Marivel who is hated so much as what she represents. And in this case, it's the same thing.
"I can expect she'd hate at least one person." Marivel murmurs thoughtfully. "The same person everyone can readily hate. I feel terribly for them."
She does not say who this person is as she looks back up to Yue.
"To be clear, there is only one person I am personally responsible for being in ARMS--well before arriving here on Lunar--and that is Ashley Winchester. The others were selected by Valeria. Nevertheless, the reasons for our choices both before and after arriving at Lunar are not pleasant nor are they designed to be. Zhang Xiumei had access to a biometal of a powerful warrior. Brad Evans is a war hero. Eleanor has a talent for time magic and is a prodigy mage, those sots of things. This is because our objective is of such importance that clinical analysis of what we need cannot be wholly centered on the right sort of spirit."
She shakes her head. "But we did not force her to join, Yue. If she wishes to leave the organization--she is welcome to! Everybody has a choice and so does Zhang Xiumei, perhaps especially Zhang Xiumei. I do not wish for that to happen, but I will not make sacrifices of our selections. That is my promise to myself."
She tilts her head ab it and adds, "Her performance has been satisfactory. I have few complaints and the complaints I do have are of little consequence. I was concerned about Varius, but of course I had to be. I have my own family to worry after, after all, but at this point I don't even have particular complaints against /Varius/. Perhaps I even should say my expectations have been surpassed."
"Regardless," Marivel adds. "I don't think the problem is that she hates me. Even if your analysis is correct. The problem is that is that Xiumei hates the same person many people often do. Do you know who that personn is, Yue?"
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue does sidle closer to Acacia perhaps out of company but also in part because she's taking her up on that offer of disinfection and bandage. Though it's kind of awkward given she can't really replace her shirt and ulster coat (yes she can, she just literally broke her own bindings earlier. Go take a shower Yue).
"I do not think she hates you. You, as in, Marivel, the Crimson Noble, the ally, the one who walks and bleeds and struggles," Yue clarifies after a long and pregnant pause as she visibly struggles to find the right framing.
A pause.
"But I think, over time, subconsciously, she will grow to hate the Marivel that has become the more readily available and close authority symbol that governs her destiny in the way the more distant Valeria is not. The way her parents are not."
Marivel does explain, but it's at the point of Zhang Xiumei had an access to a biometal of a powerful warrior that she visibly scowls at.
She slumps her head down, looking terribly tired as Marivel asks if she knows who that person is.
She tries spacing her thought out by thinking of what Isolde mentioned about summonings being there to defeat Sin.
"A summoner is there because of their achivement of bonding with a Fayth. I have seen many children covet this in my short time in Spira, not noticing the quiet look of anxiety on their parents' faces."
She looks to Marivel in turn.
"It is a similar thing. You understand what I am saying, right, Marivel? She loathes that she is wanted for a destiny that she has. 'Tis a tragically common story for child, teen Drifters who fall into cockpits and artifacts of untold power."
Her voice gets really thick and sorrowful.
"You and I have seen it time and time again. The way young, bright stars cling to these powerful objects. Because they make them feel /wanted/ and /approved/. They let them govern them. And in turn, let it throw them through the meat grinder."
She lifts her head and finally answers Marivel.
"But in her case, she has discovered the truth early. Because she is struggling to have love for herself and her identity that people would want, away from her artifact of power. And that is what keeps her imprisoned in ARMS and not away."
Her lips purse thin. She sounds really exhausted. She begs:
"... I can't stand to see it happen again, Marivel."
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"It is," Acacia asides to Isolde, because she's increasingly aware that the conversation between Yue and Marivel is one she should perhaps not butt into quite so much, at least not until she has something clearer she should add. She's kind of grateful for Isolde to be present, like a social release valve. "You should come--" the usual platitude screeches to a halt just in time. "--check it out sometime. I'll take you down the tiny alleyways where all the good sounds and smells are."
If the reporter hesitates anywhere, it's when Marivel suggests that Xiumei is free to leave whenever she wants; a frown flickers across her face, because the situation that Eleanor and Zhang Xiumei are in mirrors her own. Technically speaking, she's free to leave as well - but where would she go, with Odessa present as a threat? What would she do, knowing that this is the best path she's got towards clues around Kamui's past? Would Kamui herself even leave, at this point - and if not, could she bring herself to?
She's wondered before exactly why she and Eleanor were both admitted to the group, and wonders for a private moment if that line of thought brushes up against the truth. (It feels childish and mean to call the noble 'just a prodigy mage', but ARMS will be ARMS and Lilka needed a better mid-season upgrade than the one she got.)
She catches that line of thought before it can get any more self-deprecating. Marivel's riddle is not hard to figure out - but the reporter purses her lips for a moment. "... this is going to sting," she advises as she tips a bottle of iodine into some cotton wool. "And... I don't know. She certainly seems a lot more grounded than that, if you ask me. Maybe measured is the word. She seemed pretty aware of where she was in the world, is the best way I can put it?"
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel says, "Don't misunderstand me. Why she was recruited has little to do with why she is desired now. If she lost the biometal tommorow tis not as if I would throw her out of the organization and deem her useless. Her presence means more than that simple design though I 'do' count on the bonds forged since. I have been in enough adventuring groups to respect the pattern."
Yue explains human nature to Marivel and the vampire sighs and nods slowly. She can't argue that. "Shall I forbid her from utilizing the biometal? I do not know if that is possible. The biometal seems quite willing to take over these days, Yue. And I do not /know/ her. Not for a lack of trying either. It is possible I am not the shoulder for her to lean on. And that's okay."
It's true though, where would Zhang go? Or Acacia? Or any of these people, really? Marivel glances towards Acacia herself for a moment there and she rests a hand on her cheek. "I understand that not everybody here has great circumstances. Brad has a bomb in his neck. That is not my choice but I am respecting it enough so I am hardly able to wash my hands of it." She grits her teeth, fangs showing. "Just like the Veruni are with their own little...poisons."
"I suppose the issue is this." Marivel summarizes. "I know that Zhang Xiumei is suffering but am I the best mentor for her? Maybe not. Perhaps I am a bad mentor all around right now. I have tried again and again to end this war peacefully. For months I begged the Guard to give me any reason to trust in my friend once more, but for all their faith? Even they recognize there is strangeness afoot. I have far more people I didn't intend to, including sweeet Kamui, than I ever desired to hurt. What could I even do to defer this fate? I have yet to be able to defer a single one.
"These demons," Marivel murmurs. "Even I struggle with them from time to time. Sometimes to feel the hand of kindness, of empathy, of one who worries naught of the secrets I might share or the wisdom I might hold or the toys and tricks I might carry... But the woman who was like that for me is dead now, and Yuna has her own path. I have had to learn to live without such soft touches and perhaps one day, so will Zhan Xiumei."
She looks to Acacia again for a moment before nodding back and adding, "Or perhaps she is stronger than we give her credit for. That would be nice, wouldn't it?" She smiles. "To be surprised and see our limitations cast back at us? I will speak with her again. I suspect my honesty will not be appreciated, but I will be as kind as I am able. Is this what you desire from me, Yue?"
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
Isolde makes a little 'hmh!' at Acacia's offer, and she leans over to say, "You're a very thoughtful woman."
After this she listens further. Two women are suffering near her, of somewhat familiar things.
"If I may ask, to be sure that I understand you both," Isolde says. "Xiumei has this relic, this Bio Metal, and it gives her great power. But you are concerned that she will resent you, Marivel, who guides her in the use of that power, for the benefit of the group "ARMS'. And it sounds as if the Bio Metal is haunted, yes? That something within it will speak through her?"
Isolde considers, then asks, "Has she lost people close to her?"
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
"... I too would like to see Meria Boule, if the fates would so allow. Having the both of you as company would be lovely," answers Yue to Acacia and Isolde. "But there is a very likely chance you may not see me ever again when we return to Filgaia."
She wonders, of that fate, whether or not she herself is the right person to be her mentor. She wants to. She may not be.
But who gets their ideal mentor anyways?
Acacia says it's going to sting. "Surely I am a brave and seasoned warrior enough--HNGGGGOHHH"
Yue lowers her head as she trembles and oh lordie that smarts. Trying to ignore how much it stings oh my god ow, she looks back towards Marivel.
"... I do not know," she first answers Isolde. "I do not know her well enough and should endeavour to do more, like meeting this Eleanor that is close to her. And from what I /do/ know, the metal /has/ taken over her at times."
She lowers her head again, hiding her eyes underneath her bangs.
"Maybe," she speaks, "Maybe I can be a mentor where you cannot. Not because of anything you lack but because you must lead where I can oppose."
She lets out a sordid laugh to say, "She can vent her frustrations out through her saber through my stomach again any day. Ow, ow oh that really hurts actually, ow."
Marivel asks what Yue desires from her.
"I do not know, in truth. Because I know you struggle with your own demons. I know you have to compromise with unpleasantries, politick with the worst of kings. Because I know you would already be kind."
She slumps backwards and mumbles, "... maybe I merely needed to vent."
A pause, as she discovers the desire to be a smart aleck and looks to Acacia:
"If only I'd known you were so into pain play."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel looks to Isolde and says, "Mm... I suppose that is correct, more or less, but I do not know her well enough to know about any particular loss she may have endured. I know she is from a noble family and the fourth daughter of that family. I imagine you know the tribulations of such families better than I, Isolde."
She smiles a little. "Eleanor is a sweetheart. They are very different people, but their friendship seems genuine to me."
Yue makes an offer then and more importantly offers understanding. Perhaps Marivel too needed to vent.
"Heh," Marivel chuckles. "True, you are a particularly capable rival. The role suits you well, my old enemy."
And then with little warning she gives Yue a hug. She doesn't squeeze too hard out of deference to her wounds.
"You know I would whisk the two of you away if you but asked. Out of their reach. Even help Minder as I could." Considering Marivel's attitude towards MOST Veruni this might be a surprise to those that have seen that side of Marivel. "No cell could hold you for long." Perhaps that side is fueled in part by what has been done to Yue, and what is being done to Yue. "T'would be nice to fight alongside one another for once, no?"
Despite saying it, Marivel seems aware that this isn't actually going to happen. [OOC] Acacia Saitani says, "oops sorry typing, just slow due to meeting" [OOC] Marivel Armitage says, "no worries"
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"... I mean, I'd like to think I'm a friend of her and Eleanor," Acacia starts, before she pauses to let out a soft sigh and scratch briefly at her hair. "Maybe just an acquaintance, I guess - but it's kinda hard to draw her sometimes, given how reserved she seems to me. Kamui seems to get along better with her, if you ask me, but that might be 'cause they're both on a quieter wavelength. Still, I should really be doing what I can to lend a hand, I guess."
She hesitates - and then looks up from Yue's shoulder to level a tight frown in the Crimson Noble's direction. "... you're both being too hard on yourselves," she notes bluntly.
"Sure, we haven't exactly had a whole lot of successes here on Spira, but we were thrown here out of the blue with a bunch of superpowered villains gunning for us alongside a kingdom dead set on warring their way across the peninsula, and we're all /still standing/. There's value in that - just like there's value in making up after a mistake, or fussing over your--" she hesitates, then ploughs forwards. "--granddaughter. Pretty sure Valeria wouldn't manage that much."
She gives Yue's whining a glum look, then snorts confidently to herself as she winds the bandages in place. "And of course, I'm absolutely going to drag Minder round Meria Boule sometime. I've gotta show the place off properly if I'm gonna be smug about it. And if she's there, of course you have to come along so she can Mind you. ... besides," she adds more quietly, "Who are you really wearing those shackles for, in the end?"
With a final tug, she huffs and decides the bandages will hold. "I'm not the one who got stabbed for kicks," she quips, obviously enjoying her pun as she watches the hug. She is a reporter, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"I'm sorry," Isolde says - "Shackles?"
To Yue, she asks cheerfully, "Is this still related to that prison thing you arrived in?"
Then to Marivel, Isolde says - "Maybe; but I've never been involved with a truly LARGE family, I am sad to say. Being a fourth child would be hard, though. Especially if there are more after you, yet."
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue blinks with surprise when Marivel gives her a hug and she lets out a noise she isn't aware she could still make.
"... I know you would," Yue answers Marivel very mildly in the midst of their hug. Two old enemies. Frenemies. Frenemies with benefits. They have a very odd relationship. "I know no cell can stop you. No wall. Not even the boundaries of a Veruni Control Zone."
A pursed lip, as she remarks, "... but maybe not past my mother and my guilt." It's rather clear who she wears the shackles for, isn't it?
She sucks in a breath. "But the Minder is not a lost cause, no?" she talias (yes that's a verb now). "Her time with Dorca and Ranna was precious. She still hasn't stopped talking about all your time playing Blitzball with her. She wants to know more about you, Isolde. To learn dice games. She still wants to learn board games from Xiumei."
There is silence for a moment.
"... and maybe even if it cannot be permanent," she speaks of fighting alongside one another--
I don't care who you betray me to. I can always destroy them. I can always drive you back to me.
She looks at Acacia and the way she emphasizes that they're still standing despite all else. She quirks her lips for a moment.
"We can find that opportunity sometime--"
Isolde asks about shackles.
A pause, as she jangles them and the chains ring. "Oh. Sorry. I am sure you have heard the chains, but... these shackles are on me, always."
Except for earlier when they saw the kayfabe break apparently!!!!!!!!!!
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Guilt is one slippery enemy," Marivel assures Yue, pulling back and patting her briefly on the arm.
She looks to Acacia, smiling at her. "Ahh, that keen journalistic insight." And then more seriously. "Thank you."
Her mouth hangs open when she's called Kamui's grandmother. Kamui isn't that much younger than her! Only by like a century! That's nothing!! It seems this time at least Acacia gets to be the one who wins the tease-war.
She looks to Isolde, "Ahh Yue is a prisoner slash gladiator." It's another small aside and Isolde explains not so precisely but precisely enough that being the fourth child in a noble family sucks balls. And if there's more children after even moreso. "Mm. I was the only child. Perhaps I was lucky there."
Apparently 'gladiator' in this theme also stands for 'Wrestler'. Nevertheless, Marivel smiles a little at hearing at how Minder is doing. Moments like those....Moments like those with Dorca and Ranna too...
"Saving the world has always been just a way to keep the game running." Marivel murmurs. "But seeing friendships like those bloom, seeing them grow up strong and kind. Those moments last forever."
And perhaps that more than anything is the true essence of Marivel in the end.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"Yes," deadpans Acacia, keeping her expression level at Isolde to at least make sure her tone stays flat. "Yue's a /very/ shackled prisoner." Still, however grumpy she might sound, she walks it back a little in the face of Yue's uncertainty, meeting her quieter remark with a lighter breath. "... Family's the worst," she eventually decides, and chuckles quietly. "And the best, too. Both at once. Even if I feel a little underqualified to say that, I guess, as an only kid."
"She can play another game of football with Kamui's head," she snorts with a lopsided smile, deciding to change the subject. "There's a bunch of kids that're pretty similar to Dorca and Ranna. Bet she won't resist the bakery's smell, for that matter. She'd like the place, or at least I'm confident I can show someone a good time there."
She punctuates that statement with a solid pat at Yue's back, a wordless show of support.
Her grin persists as she glances at Marivel. Maybe it's a bit of bravado, maybe it doesn't quite meet her eyes until the Crimson Noble stands aghast, but she keeps it up regardless. "Well, that's why you brought me aboard. It sure as hell wasn't for my ability to panic in the face of creepy guys talking about my blood."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Man fuck Scythe." Marivel says. "Just because your blood is probably delicious doesn't mean that he should drool over it."
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"I'm still not certain how we were able to use her head as a blitzball... were there lasting effects?" Isolde says, regarding Kamui. Will the impacts lead to her going muiverick, or will she be able to take it easy?
Isolde then folds her fingers together and rests her chin on her hands. "Hm," she tells Marivel. "I see."
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Oh Kamui's head can be detached and operate wirelessly." Marivel explains.
She smirks faintly. "That was my idea."
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
Yue pauses and looks to Marivel.
"/Please/ do not tell me fate is so cruel you discovered the only surviving Crimson Noble is like that one creepo Ana and I had to ring campus security on."
A longer pause.
"Besides, your blood is mine." A pause. "No, wait, I don't even want to play pretend Crimson Noble, tomato juice for grownups is grotesque. hmmmm--" she gets really distracted trying to find some alternate one-liner.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
Acacia scratches briefly at her cheek, because Isolde's question is one she's had to ask herself before and she's still not sure how satisfied in her answer she is. "... well, Kamui says she's okay, and she's pretty insistent on it. I think she kinda likes it, so all I can do is trust her on that."
The reporter pauses as Yue and Marivel back and forth about Scythe, leaving her to puff out a breath as she tries to ignore a familiar churn in her stomach. "We'd--... already met. I just didn't know the 'Crimson Noble' part. Anyway, I really like my blood being on the inside, thanks," she's quick to skitter back from the topic.
She lifts up to her feet more for the motion of it than any intention to actually move, and then offers Yue a hand in turn.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
"I have only one question," Isolde says, "about this matter, Marivel."
"What do wires have to do with Kamui's head in the first place?"
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
A LONG TIME AGO
"Hey hey hey hey mari," a breathless Dr. Lumen says. "You know why we made her head wireless?" A pause. "cause we couldn't wire them on right!!"
Chill Pengy quietly rolls over where he's dozing, slightly more discomfited with his existence.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
Marivel makes a >_< face. "He's not a Crimson Noble!"
She pauses. "Oh? You actually met him before? Mm..." Marivel closes her eyes for a few moments. Scythe has some pretty dangerous powers even so and there was something else behind him that she couldn't quite gasp.
A LONG TIME AGO
"Heh heh heh... We can go bowling..." Marivel murmurs.
NOW
"Oh, ah, Isolde. Kamui is a reploid."
A tumbleweed blows by.
"I mean, mmm, a mechanical person?"
<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.
That's no tumbleweed. That's... a tumblemuid! "I'm a tumbleweed," whispers Kamui's Head, wrapped up in it.
<Pose Tracker> Isolde has posed.
'Kamui is a reploid'
Isolde rests her chin in one hand and frowns in thought.
'A mechanical person.'
"Ahh! That muikes sense," Isolde says.
<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.
"--Kamui you get back here this instant--" blurts Acacia on reflex as Kamui's head rolls past. She's already on her feet, but looks ready to jump up to them all over again, and with a speed somewhere between a friend's seen-it-all-before and a guardian's sense of preservative panic, she scurries after the rolling tumblemuid.
<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.
"Muiments like these," Marivel murmurs. "These ones as well."