2019-09-10: Save The Date

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  • Log: Save The Date
  • Cast: Yuna, Marivel Armitage, Tidus, Lulu, Rikku
  • Where: Thunder Plains
  • Date: September 13, 2019
  • Summary: The pilgrimage takes a quick break while crossing the Thunder Plains so that Yuna can share a decision with her friends and Guardians.

==============================<* Thunder Plains *>==============================

The Thunder Plains, occasionally known as the Gandof Thunder Plains, are an open, barren landscape connecting Guadosalam to the Macalania region. It is an area that is constantly - yes, /constantly/ - bombarded by lightning and thunder. Crossing the plains was all but impossible due to the never-ending storm, until an Al Bhed named Bilghen set up several towering lightning rods to draw the storms' fury and provide travelers with a (comparatively) safe road. He was in the process of setting up the final tower when he was struck by lightning and killed, something which lesser minds would regard as irony, but which the faithful know is poetic justice for a blasphemer against Yevon.

I mean, they'll still /use/ the road. Because Yevon wants them to. 

Clearly.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gea_xz-cJ8
<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Somehow, they made it to Rin's Travel Agency. And, somehow, they managed to leave, Rikku in tow. In between those two statements, a ghost met an old friend, and a new friend eavesdropped on an old ghost. But that's already in the rear-view mirror, and firmly so, because no sooner did they exit that oasis were they thrust most thoroughly back into the problems that assail any traveler upon the Thunder Plains... and other problems, besides.

But the end is in sight; it's difficult to see past the smoky darkness, but a different-colored shadow blots the horizon, one that can be hazily recognized as Macalania Woods (or at the very least, projected upon, in the same way that the mind's eye fills in what the physical eye expects to see). It's less than a day's walk (and fight) away.

Right at this moment the group is crowded around a campfire. No, right at this moment the group is crowded around a campPYRE, as in pyreflies, so many of them spiraling into the air all at once that the mistake is easy to make. They must have just finished a considerable battle against fiends. No one is particularly injured, but there's still a pall upon the group, as though, in wholesale paradox to the lightning storm they are within, they're fighting underwater. Pressure pounds at their shoulders, weighs down their smiles.

Yuna straightens up from a crouch that occurred when she leapt out of an Iron Giant's final strike, then further still, bending a crick out of her back. Her spine makes an almost audible pop.

"I..." It sounds like she's about to say something else, but then she spots Kimahri licking at a small wound on his forearm, and her priorities change. Or, perhaps, she's relieved by the excuse to change them. "...is everyone all right?" She walks slowly to his side, mending magic preceding her like a silvery carpet, like petals before a bride.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel, despite her propensity for acting otherwise, does not know everything that is going on at all times and even a behind the scenes master of all can sometimes be behind the ball. Yuna is getting married! To Seymour?! Honestly even if Marivel COULD tell the future, that was definitely not a possibility she would have ever foreseen and the news, well, it had an effect on Marivel and she knew she had to pay the Summoner (or as Marivel calls it her favorite necromancer) a visit.

She expected to run into her at Guadosalam but when she catches a whiff of the group and, of particular, the presence of the CampPYRE, she elects to make her approach here. Probably so she can say something cute when she shows up as usual.

"Bachelorette parties are very different here than back home."

Yep! Marivel steps out from behind one of the lightning rods that dominate the Thunder Plains. In her hands is an item wrapped in colorful paper that seems to have a fair amount of cute bats on it. And strangely, the item seems vaguely bat-shaped as well! Though it's kind of flat so it's not, like, an actual bat.

Hopefully.

Hob and Nob rush out from behind Marivel's cloak to immediately start bothering Yuna and Kimahri. Nob even tries to help Kimahri lick his wounds before Marivel briefly panics and pulls the construct back before it can lick a friend without permission.

"Eheh." Marivel laughs. "Now I do not wish to make a presumption about your culture, but I have the feeling that this atmosphere is not actually typical before a wedding?"

Marivel stares at the CampPYRE for a moment before adding, "I am... sorry I was unable to come to fight for Besaid myself, but glad that it seems the support I was able to lend proved beneficial and that your home is safe."

There is probably someone out there that loves Guba, Marivel thinks after a moment.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Auron rolls his shoulder with practiced ease as he rests the flat of his katana upon it, the flurry of Iron Giant pyreflies seeming almost to frame him like an ukiyo-e. Not that he'd appreciate the comparison. Whatever injuries he has, he bears them with his usual stoicism; Yuna's call of if everyone is all get gets her a grunt and a nod.
    
    Tidus is less reticent, babbling an awkward, "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine!" After he barged into Yuna's room--totally not in a creepy way, he just... heard unfamiliar voices inside, and didn't stop to think--it's been a little weird. When they first left Guadosalam, he was glad. Now, he's... not so much so. Apparently someone tried to kill Seymour, and Tidus doesn't hate the guy quite enough to be sorry it didn't succeed, but he has a bad feeling that the attempt might tip Yuna's decision about a certain proposal towards what Seymour wants.
    
    Not that it's Tidus's business or anything if Yuna does get married. It's just. You know. She shouldn't have to get married because she feels sorry for a guy, or she feels like she ought to, or anything like that. It's not fair to her. It's definitely not because Tidus is jealous or anything. (And even if he *was* jealous, it'd be a real jerk move to only say something about it because someone else made a move on her.)
    
    Thankfully, Marivel's there to provide a distraction. Sort of. "Oh, hey, nothing to apologize for!" he reassures her, breaking into a genuine grin and also coasting right past the part about bachelorette parties. "It's thanks to you we got there in time in the first place!"

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

The Thunder Plains haven't... really gone as planned, by Lulu's scheduling, and it isn't just because Rikku has shown more grip strength in the last twelve hours than Lulu thought her capable of since they'd met. No, it is... Other. And it's not just the sudden rush of Fiends, either.

Lulu looks around for any final waves, and shakes her head; it was... definitely an intense battle, to say nothing of... Everything else, to go with it.

"...?" Lulu starts, as she turns to look at Marivel approaching. It starts to make sense more quickily--

"I'm fine," Lulu answers, perhaps late, and then answers first, "...It's fine. We can't always ask so much of you."

"It seems as always you manage to hear about possibilities before they're even determined, though. Sometime I'll have to ask your secret."

She pauses. "Yuna has been asked," she allows after a moment. "But parties of any sort are somewhat premature, at the moment."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

 
"... Eh heh heh heh heh heh..." Rikku seems something between both giddy from the trip across the other side of the Thunder Plains and exhausted. It's a strange sort of mania that can only come with a second brush against an endless amount of your phobia. When Yuna asks if they're all okay though she says aloud, "Not... at all." Though it's clear she's uninjured, "I'd be better if Auron understood that I'm too young to die. My heart is going to give out if I deal with much more of this! He could at least try to be comforting! You know - cheer me up! Anything? Helloooo-" She directs pointedly at Auron, "-are you even listening to me?"
 
Perhaps she's projecting upon the person who she views as least understanding of her plight.
 
And then Marivel shows up- "Marivel! What are you doing in this horrible place? And hold off on planning any parties Yunie isn't engaged yet." She says as she backs up Lulu there.
 
A moment passes though and she then adds, "Second question, could you get us out of this place faster? Like... much faster? Please? Pretty please? You can do that right?" By the way she's slowly approaching Marivel after every hopeful interrogative... Marivel may get the impression she wants to not let Rikku get in grapple range, she seems especially clingy in her fearful state.
 
"There's nothing I wouldn't do to get out of this place."
 
That's a lie, but in the moment it feels like the absolute truth.
 

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Having tended to Kimahri, Yuna accepts Auron's stoicism with a nod, and Tidus' with a slightly more awkward little bob. Her shoulders droop -- then stiffen, as they're approached unexpectedly.

She turns and, once it's been established that this is no stranger, and certainly no threat, through main force of will Yuna summons a smile for Marivel, Hob, and Nob. It isn't a fake one -- her gladness to see them is always real -- but it does become steadily more brittle as the Crimson Noble makes it clear that Spira widely believes that she's already accepted the engagement. That Spira widely expects her to wed.

Lulu and Rikku clarify the current situation engagement-wise, but Yuna doesn't.

She just looks tired, and maybe, underneath those etched-on lines of joy, a little bit miserable.

But her gratitude is very real, very fierce, even, as she shapes Yevon's prayer in greeting and just skips right over to Marivel's extremely convenient change of subject. "Truly, we are in your debt. There is no way we might have arrived, otherwise, before all was lost. I thank you both for myself and for all of Besaid Village, and for the fayth, too... praise Yevon, but she is free of this 'Sealing' 'Baskar' magic they sought to imprison her with."

(Her pronunciation is a little off. They're foreign words, words she hadn't heard before, until Djose. But she's trying hard to get them right.)

Her hands freed of the responsibility of gesture, she closes the distance between them to clasp Marivel's gently. Hers are very cold, much cooler than usual, at least. It's probably the endless storm that's chilled her to the bone. Or perhaps the prospect of war at her home's doorstep. Maybe both.

"You are always so generous to us, Marivel. Thank you for being my -- our -- friend."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel is hearing a lot of insistence that Yuna is not actually confirmed for real married. Marivel can't really hide the relief on her face. She wouldn't say she thinks of Seymour as a bad guy--she hardly knows the man well enough to speak too much of his character--but she is accustomed to really long courtship rituals and it just kind of felt wrong for it to happen, by her perspective, incredibly quickly. Even accounting for her sense of time being warped.

Marivel glances towards Auron, giving him a small nod before lowering the gift and wondering if she should just throw it away now? She was kind of in a rush and didn't think that far ahead. She is feeling very uncharacteristic of herself in this moment.

"Gutsdozer... I imagine he liked the company." She tends to speak of robots--even robots like Nob or Gutsdozer--like they have their own spirit. "He's a bulldozer so, as you can imagine, he is always fond of making an entrance." She smiles. "Well, I'm glad that the rumors proved to be jumping the gun. If I may be honest, I had to rush the wedding gift." She looks to Lulu. "Because despite how I may appear, I was actually quite surprised by the news. I've been trying not to--reflect on how your adventure will end since I'd rather have my own quiet little hopes and see if reality matches or surpasses them."

She probably shouldn't tell these good folks she's a time traveler while they're being faced with a big choice such as this. It may just be superstition on Marivel's part but she can't imagine that ending well.

Rikku rushes over but Marivel is off guard at the moment and doesn't think to flee Rikku while she's approaching. Oh no! Rikku might be able to perform 1x COMEDY ACTION on Marivel if she so chooses, or get real close, whichever she likes!

"If any of you want a bat themed dinner plate, though, let me know." Marivel adds, tilting her head to Rikku. "I...coould." Marivel answers the Al Bhed. "But a lot of the places I can take you are under Guard control right now." She grimaces. "Sorry, first time to Lunar, limited teleport list."

She does not take up Rikku's offer of 'nothing I wouldn't do' because she understands the fear of a particular weakness that can in short order destroy you. Marivel doesn't react well to LIGHTning either even if it's not quite as bad as actual sunlight.

"Plus--I have never seen you in such of a poor mood," Marivel adds more frankly even though she has seen Yuna shortly after Operation Mi'ihen. "So I am guessing this is not a love-based request."

Granted, Yuna doesn't even really seem to be in a poor mood NOW but Yuna has always come across as an endless ball of optimism even in the darkest of times. Now that endless ball of optimism seems a little flat even if 'a weddding proposal' is probably less dire than the slaughter unleashed by Sin. It's a noticable difference.

"The Baskar, I imagine, would be displeased to know their artifacts are being used as such." Marivel murmurs. "But I suppose I can't speak for them." She does not correct Yuna's pronunciation.

"I was simply being selfish," Marivel assures Yuna. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if we couldn't at least protect the home for you to return to. You are my friends after all, as unreliable as I may be."

So she doesn't know how the Final Summoning works as of yet despite how she acts. "I heard Xiumei suffered during the operation. I know you don't have much time, but I'll be sure to pass on any kind words you have for her."

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Rikku pointedly asks Auron if he's listening to her. Auron pointedly looks away from her and towards Macalania Woods. "We're now more than halfway through. You're better off pouring your energy into completing the cross than complaining about it." So... that's a yes, he *is* listening, then?
    
    He falls silent at Marivel's approach, though he gives her a cordial nod of greeting in return, a little more relaxed than he gives most outsiders. Her remark on the Baskar magics, and how the Baskars wouldn't be happy about how they're being used, catches his ear. "So this isn't what those 'sealing staffs' are for?"
    
    He also doesn't comment on the marriage, but that's because he thinks it's a waste of time. No point in saying anything, especially when it's not true. And especially when there are others to say something instead.
    
    Tidus, on the other hand, makes a face. So much for shoving the marriage stuff to one side. He thus nods vigorously when Lulu and Rikku set the matter straight. "Shyeah, uh, of course Yuna's down in the dumps after getting proposed to by *that* guy. But Yuna's totally turning Seymour down, right Yuna?" Tidus asks, flying in the face of his internal determination not to be a jerk about this and it not being his business anyway. He mentally curses and wonders if he'll ever get to learn a Reversega spell for turning back time and undoing his dumbass moments. "Uh, not to talk for you or anything," he adds in an ill-fated attempt to backpedal, "but it's just so obvious--"
    
    "You're still talking for her," Auron notes.
    
    "Shut up, old man," Tidus hisses, kicking him in the shin. Not hard, but it's still like kicking a steel rebar. Auron chuckles, which does nothing for the young man's mood.
    
    At least Marivel provides another distraction. Hopefully this one will work better than the last. "She did? That sucks," Tidus tells her. "Let her know to thank her back for all the help." He pumps a fist with renewed enthusiasm and continues, "And to thank her bac, we'll double-time it through this pilgrimage and knock the stuffing out of Sin so this stupid war can end already!"
    
    Hey, Leo *said* this was all because of the Maesters being jerks over the Crusaders who fell to Sin... No Sin, no problem, right?

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Lulu spots the relief. What it means she isn't sure, of course... But it's there. "Hmm, is that how it is?" Lulu asks of Gutsdozer. She'll have to file that piece of information away. ...Much like... Well, she doesn't ask the details of what Marivel meant just there.

"Rikku, we're almost to the end. You can make it."

A pause, though, as, unable to resist the siren call of stating information, Lulu adds, "These... sealing rods--I don't know all of the details... but the Baskar have nothing to do with the Guard, so far as I know. They're a people who follow the 'Guardians' some of the Otherworlders speak of--some sort of... world spirits."

It's simpler than the rumors spreading.

To Tidus however, "In the end, that's up to her." Then she pauses, at his statements. Double time... End the war...

"...Yes," Lulu says simply, glancing out over the Plains. "It would seem that much comes down to that, doesn't it?" Pause. "...Please do pass our appreciation on to Xiumei. She was brought to harm helping to defend our home; we won't forget that."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

 
Rikku unfortunately gives him no credit for listening, "Your mom would be ashamed of you for being so cruel!" Immediately complaining and in her head labelling him Sir Meanie Sword, a title she only barely holds back. "See? Lulu was cheering me on! She supports me! Would it kill you to be more like Lulu Auron?"
 
Rikku gets within range of Marivel. And at first she does not make contact, until Marivel says 'I coould.'
 
Marivel suddenly finds the Al Bhed Guardian latched to her legs, arms laced around her skirt, "OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"
 
...But a lot of places are under Guard control right now.
 
Rikku's eyes look up at Marivel with a certain mania, "That is a chance that I'm willing to take. I'll just - I'll just take a boat, and be right back. Rightttt back. Meet them on the other side! I mean how long will it take the rest of them to get through the forest? Weeks at least! I bet they stop to enjoy the view... and the butterflies..."
 
Okay she's babbling now.
 
"... I hear they're so pretty that they'd have to."
 
A beat and Rikku's forehead is resting up against the shape of Marivel's leg as she mumbles, "I'll take a bat dinner plate." That's probably her admission of defeat.
 
"As far as I know Yunie hasn't said one way or another which way she's going to decide..."
 
Perhaps the wedding discussion, Yuna's future, is at least managing to mildly distract her. "... but she might want to say something quick before someone runs all the way to Macalania to turn him down on her behalf.." She adds, in a blatant tease towards Tidus.
 

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Marivel's ignorance about the pilgrimage doesn't bother Yuna, or even elicit any reaction at all. She's much more concerned about their fallen ally.

"Xiumei was very kind to us, and then, very brave," Yuna replies, soft-spoken but not downcast, not about this. She looks Marivel straight in the eyes as she says so, with her usual earnestness, and nods agreement to Tidus' assertion that they will repay her by defeating Sin. "I will pray for her healing, of mind, body and spirit, every night. It was a terrible battle, and she played a vital role in saving our home... I will remember the sacrifices she made. We all will."

'We all' meaning herself, Kimahri, Lulu and Wakka -- the Besaid Villagers -- who she glanced at, in turn, as she spoke.

"And the others, who helped us, on the... Gutzdozer. Please tell her, and them... everything."

When Rikku gang-rushes in, she reluctantly lets go of Marivel's hand as though surrendering custody to the Al Bhed, and glances curiously at what has been promised to be a bat-themed dinner plate. And then she looks around at the group, and their attention, all trained on her, and the question of her wedding.

Marivel's relief.
Tidus' assumption.
Auron's stoic patience -- and Lulu's ostensibly stoic patience.
Wakka and Kimahri are very quiet, in the back.
And Rikku's desperate eagerness to talk about something, anything, even the wedding...

"You're right, Rikku," Yuna agrees, a little bit haltingly, her ease vanishing, her cheeks flushing in an echo of the proposal at Guadosalam. Her tongue becomes thick and clumsy in her mouth. "We should... I should... tell you. Tell you all. My decision. Now, before we go any further."

She closes her eyes, then reopens them, squaring her shoulders, summoning... something, within herself. You could call it strength, or determination, or resolve. You could call it acceptance. You could call it sacrifice.

At the very least, you could call it calm, or at least tension replacing the mortification. Her cheeks fade from red, back to their normal peach, and then overshoot to white.

Lightning crashes overhead, but she doesn't flinch from it. It safely strikes the nearby tower... a figure of strength, protecting them all. Yuna stands directly in its shadow, raised stark upon the plains in that moment of backlight.

Her hands fist in her skirt. She's trembling, as one does, upon the edge of a precipice.

"I've decided to marry," she declares, quietly but firmly, at last, looking everywhere but Tidus. It is Lulu whose eyes she actually meets in the moment of terrible admission.

Her own are... tired, and sad.

But they aren't afraid.

Her tone is that of an apology, though, rather than a happy announcement.

"B-but why? Why'd you change your mind?" bursts out Wakka, running his fingers backwards through his hairspike with sudden, incredulous energy that needs an outlet (and also accidentally revealing a truth to Marivel, that at one point between the proposal and now, Yuna had indeed seemed to decide as Tidus had hoped).

With every word, Yuna at least seems like she's on firmer ground. There's a quiet confidence there -- and a quiet misery. "For Spira's future... and Yevon's unity. I thought... it would be... the best thing to do."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel covers her mouth briefly with a hand so nobody sees the smile forming at Tidus's Youth Energy. Her eyes then promptly bug out comically as Rikku gets ahold of her and latches onto her legs. Marivel flails her arms as Hob and Nob float about chirping excitedly at Rikku,apparently oblivious to her terror out of sheer happy-to-see-Rikkuness.

"B-but you're doing so well...!" Marivel latches onto whwat Lulu said to Rikku and runs with it hypertime. "Think about all the character development you'll get when you overcome this trial...!" She exhales faintly when Rikku finally gives up--again that little look of relief. Though uh, this time it might just be relief at no longer being grappled by a manic/terrified Al Bhed rather than having any hidden meaning.

She listens to the kind words directed towards Xiumei. She gives a small nod to each, and then a growing small smile. "Thank you. I'll be sure she receives your kind words."

She bows her head.

But Yuna turns out to have already made her decision. Today has already been a wild day. This time the expression behind Marivel's eyes is far more complex.

She is quiet for a while. No doubt plenty of people are in the face of that pronouncement. Again, the talk of a wedding seems anything but happy. She doesn't dare look at Auron in this moment. He knows her too well.

"Sacrifice..." Marivel murmurs to herself, closing her eyes and letting out a soft sigh.

"If that is the path you wish to walk, I am in no position to criticize, I who sacrificed her..."

She shakes her head slowly, wiping at her eyes briefly with her hand and shaking it off before raising her head. "I suppose I was wrong. It is love-based. Love for your people. The Guard is wrong, they aren't a cursed people. They are very fortunate to have you."

She smiles faintly, then. "If that is your wish then I will support you in whatever way I can. If your journey ends here, then I will bring the world your eyes don't see to you. I suppose if that happens I should be grateful you are no longer doing such a dangerous thing and rest easy knowing I can see you for many more years to come."

She looks to Tidus for a moment before looking up at the sky, avoiding looking anyone in the eye.

"You who saw me and did not so much as flinch, whose smile reminded me of those I lost."

She too can smile when she's not sure what other expression to have on her face.

"A long time ago, a friend of mine and I disagreed on an important matter. I was angry and wished for the taste of my enemy's blood in my mouth. I remember every awful thing I said to her. I still think my decision was the correct one, but I don't think that moment was about being correct or incorrect. These days I feel that moment ought to have been an opportunity through our disagreement to see that we both shared the same love for our world and its people. If we hadn't gone our seperate paths, I would never have had such respite on this world. And perhaps if I had been kinder, more understanding..."

She lowers her head then and looks to Yuna. "Mayhaps that friend would not be trying to destroy your people now."

She closes her eyes a moment. "...The Baskar Sealing Rods have been modified from their intended purpose--to seal and protect the Guardian Statues. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to properly examine one or their seals...but we sensed a darkness behind those seals. And not the fun kind."

She dips her head once more before looking to Lulu, eyes opening once more. "I thought I ought to tell some involved in the Yevon Church."

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    'Would it kill you to be more like Lulu, Auron?'
    
    Auron's mouth slants to one side. "Hmm."
    
    He doesn't point out to Rikku, as she latches onto Marivel's leg and gushes with gratitude, that leaving the Thunder Plains for Guadosalam would take *more* time at this point than finishing the trip to the Macalania Woods. Auron isn't a fan of repeating himself. If Rikku wants to be ridiculous, that's her business.
    
    "Oh come on, Rikku, you're not seriously gonna leave the team *now*?" Tidus, who doesn't know how to not make things his business, says with a good-natured eyeroll, chiming in after Marivel. "You know you're not leaving Yuna's side." Rikku then teases Tidus about running to Macalania to reject Seymour on Yuna's behalf. As he chokes, he cycles through half a dozen tumultuous emotions before he finally settles on trying to lighten the mood by joking(-not-joking), "Hey, if Yuna doesn't wanna have to deal with that guy, I'll go running anywhere she wants to turn him down for her!" He grins at Yuna, to show how much he's totally joking.
    
    Except then she says she ought to tell them all her decision. His smile drains away. Somehow, his bad feelings always turn out to be right. He wouldn't say he knew it, exactly, but... somehow, in this moment, in this most important of moments, he can't think of anything to say.
    
    Fortunately, there's Auron. He was indeed watching Marivel, after he was done watching Yuna. His frown has grown steadily more pronounced. And when Yuna tells Wakka, tells everyone, of her reasoning for deciding to marry, he tells her bluntly and with no hesitation, "That's not good enough."
    
    Tidus, himself, looks from Yuna to Auron to everyone and finally to Marivel, just before she looks away from him. She's really just--giving up? But when she explains about her friend, and their involvement in this war, he gets it. Or at least, he thinks he does. It's better to stay close to someone you care about than split off with bad feelings because you don't agree on something. Even if it is something important.
    
    He looks back at Yuna. Love-based, huh...
    
    "A darkness, hm," Auron murmurs to Marivel, once she moves away from the topic of her friend. "You'll let us know when you figure out what it is?" A half-question, half-statement. Really just a request for confirmation of what he already suspects.

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

More like Lulu, is it? The black mage lifts an eyebrow at Rikku's way of running away with her encouragement, such as it was. "Is what what I said?" she muses, and looks to Auron for a moment.

She just lets Rikku tire herself out for the moment. Neither does she answer much for Tidus at the moment any further... until Yuna speaks up, suddenly. Lulu listens, waits--

Someone who doesn't know her well--some who do--might believe that she doesn't react at all to Yuna's declaration. But Yuna will not get that impression; as their eyes meet, Lulu sees fatigue, sadness... apology, sure.

There's something of that in her expression, too, a sadness that isn't really directed at Yuna. It's something she was afraid might be the case; something...

Something that isn't her decision, regardless. Wakka blurts--Yuna explains. Auron makes his disagreement...

Lulu listens to Marivel's talk of another time, but her gaze remains on Yuna's, for now. Each detail. Maybe she's memorizing her in the moment; maybe this, too, is significant.

The talk Marivel has, the words she gives of disagreement, of whether right or wrong was important... Lulu knows that feeling far too well to be able to easily answer it while retaining the remove she prefers.

A glance, finally, to her--one of understanding, maybe--and a nod. "So we imagine. I appreciate that you gave us this information. Obligation, as always. Perhaps Tidus might hope that Lulu would chime in the same way Auron does. But...

Looking to Yuna again, she nods, after a moment. "All right," Lulu says simply, voice just as always; gentler with Yuna than with most, but not as if dealing with someone fragile.

But there's something that lingers for her, and she looks thoughtful as she asks, "Does this decision have anything to do with Maester Jyscal?" Lulu asks Yuna, her tone firm in the way of an important question.

She waits for that answer.

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

 
"I don't want to build character!" Rikku mistaking Marivel's statement of character development to building character, as if she were her father telling her that she needs to go salvage Machina in the desert. "I want not to DIE YOUNG TO A BOLT OF LIGHTNING!"
 
...She's better during the conversation after, promise.
 
"No. No... I wouldn't." She says, miserably, even though the idea of staying with Yuna doesn't make her miserable. Just the idea of being in an eternal storm under any circumstances. Rikku has to force down a giggle at Tidus' earnestness. He's got it bad for her - she thinks.
 
"I mean... no pressure." Rikku adds lamely as Yuna tells her she's right, sounding small. Perhaps smaller still because of the endless storm raging around her. Here she feels like an infinitesimal speck at the mercy of some electrically charged cloud deciding to randomly discharge her way. No part of her wants Yuna to rush into this decision. However Yevon - Yuna the Summoner. They all feel bigger than her even if they don't frighten her.
 
Some part of her is scared by what comes next though.
 
The idea of marrying for a political decision - for the sake of Yevon. For the people to have an icon to rally around. The idea of Yuna, the idealized High Summoner's Daughter to the people of Spira becoming the Maester's wife becoming... High Summoner herself.
 
That's what scares her. The cause and effect. The one leading to another. The inexorable march towards the conclusion of this pilgrimage. The sacrifice on the altar of Spira's happiness.
 
And that whole night at the Travel Agency, where Yuna was alone in her room. Grappling with this alone...
 
... she knows that it probably would have been that way even if she hadn't spent the night herself grappling with terror, but she can't help but kick herself anyway.
 
She's too focused to comprehend Marivel's statement of sacrificing someone, until she blinks her eyes several times in befuddled consternation between Yuna and that from Marivel.
 
Marivel's support though... it seals it. She feels a certain empathy for the past Marivel. The idea of still thinking Yuna ending her pilgrimage is right. The idea of being angry about it - just not at Yuna. Never at her.
 
What does she tell Yuna? No? That she's against it. Force that no? Then she's right back where she started - taking part in some half-baked kidnapping plan. Why does she - the absentee cousin that just came into her life - have the right?
 
"I wish your story had a different lesson Marivel." Rikku mumbles, mostly to herself, not expecting or perhaps even wanting to be heard. Perhaps moments like these are why she prefers to keep her memories on the inside.
 
"If this is what you want Yunie... I won't tell you you shouldn't want it." She finally says, "I just.. want you to be happy."
 
In her head, she wishes that she'd said that she just wishes Yuna didn't look so sad announcing it. Yet, she's caught on enough by now to know... if she calls attention to it, Yuna might redouble those efforts to appear happy.
 
She wishes more than anything she could help Yuna with whatever she's going through, whatever she's feeling right now.
 
If she can't... then at least she won't add to those burdens by making her waste energy looking happy for the rest of them.
 
However... suddenly her eyes drift to Lulu as she asks this question. As if this question might help her understand... what Yuna is going through. And thus even the boom of thunder that splits the sky just after can't hope to compete with her attention to this subject right now.
 

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Tidus blinks when Lulu asks, in that uncannily sharp way of hers, if Yuna's decision has anything to do with Lord Jyscal. He wouldn't have thought of it himself, but now that she brings it up, he remembers the scrap of holo-imagery he saw when he busted into Yuna's room from-- "Hey! That sphere!" he blurts out.
    
    Auron, more on the ball, turns to Yuna. "Show me."

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.
<SoundTracker> To Zanarkand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8

Yuna feels feelings.

It's a maelstrom of misery with her at its heart. She doesn't have to look at Tidus to know exactly what he looks like right now. She doesn't have to look at any of them. Marivel's determinedly supportive disagreement feels like a rickety bridge across a vast chasm; Auron's bark, from the closest thing she has left in this world to a father, is practically an act of violence, as red and sharp as he is in battle. Kimahri and Wakka's quiet unhappiness seep into her from behind like being slowly lowered into a swamp. And Rikku's sweet worry... is its own kind of pain.

Unlacing her fingers from each other -- they had unconsciously formed up into the closest thing she had to a shield, though useless -- she takes Rikku's hand in hers and squeezes it, gently.

But Lulu -- sad, knowing Lulu -- pries at the deeper truth. Rikku can feel how Yuna's hand tenses, from fingertips to palm. Others in the group pile on, trying to expose... everything.

Her lips tremble and her nostrils flare, but she stands tall against Auron's demand.

"I can't," she tells him, tells them all, and fierce determination has never looked so gently miserable. "Not until I speak to Maester Seymour on my own. I'm really sorry."

She's telling the truth, or at least, she believes what she believes.

"It's... personal," she explains, with a faintly hopeful sort of awkwardness, like this will be enough to get them to let her off the hook -- and it was a big fat lie. Obviously. Yuna's a terrible liar. Rather than let everyone dwell on that, however, she steers the conversation -- the group -- onwards.

To the one thing that she knows will force Auron, at least, to back off. Though at the price of disappointing Rikku -- and Marivel, who made a false assumption. Each of them gets a glance, as she says it:

"I won't quit my pilgrimage," she continues, earnestly, racing back to the far more comfortable shores of truth. And, indeed, it sparks in her eyes, makes her stand up straighter; within moments she's transformed from a reluctant, apologetic bride-to-be to her usual self: a summoner resolved. She reclaims her hand from Rikku, and it clenches into a fist above her heart. "I will fight and defeat Sin. A ceremony won't change that. It's just... another thing, to do, along the way."

Along with blitzball games, refugee aid, and occasionally dipping into the battlefields of an ongoing war. What's one more sidequest?

Though she tries to imply it as such, her tone doesn't match the lightness of the idea. Arguing in favor of the wedding -- justifying the ease of doing BOTH -- is taking everything she has, if in an understated, low-voiced way. She doesn't shake. Her voice doesn't shake.

But something deep inside is both warmed, and shaken, by the devotion of all around her.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel notices Lulu seems to have a better read on the situation than she does but that shouldn't really be a surprise. She smiles at Lulu. If she were Kamui, she'd probably have gotten a sticker for that kind of insight though frankly knowing that there are other unknowns behind this situation involving a Maester she hadn't heard of before isn't something that makes Marivel feel much better.

She looks back to Auron, as if hoping to get an old story out of him to help her understand rather than it coming from her for once. But she doesn't actually ask for such a thing.

Instead she just looks back towards Yuna who is standing up straighter, and is clenching a fist above her heart.

Marivel can't help but grin at the sight of it.

"Well, alright." She sighs, but this is more wistful than a downer sort of thing. "Humans sure can be too strong sometimes. But don't forget, you promised a journey full of smiles, so I'm holding you to that." She lifts up the ends of her lips. "Let's shoot for a happily ever after."

She lets her hand drop. She can tell from the context that whatever is in that sphere, whatever Jyscal had to say, and for whatever reason Yuna has to talk with Seymour... it is likely something unpleasant. She will simply have to trust Yuna can handle that on her own, what with her requesting privacy on the matter (so to speak).

"I have some time so I can lend a hand with whatever you'd like, though I cannot stray too far from Macalania right now."

She taps her nose. "Secret ARMS business by which I mean the next time I leave your company it may be the last you see me. While I cannot be certain, we may have found a way back to Filgaia by studying the Gutsdozer's data. Of course, it might not be that. Perhaps it's just some doomsday weapon or some other problem we'll have to break, but if tis a way back to Filgaia... I will be taking it."

She smiles again. "My own pilgrimage, you could say." She pauses. "So I suppose if we end up parting planets... I promise I will see you again once your pilgrimage is over. I imagine you'll be done by the time I make it back here and everyone will be singing your praises. Yuuuuna Yuuuunaa you kick so much butt...! Maybe there will even be a book."

She looks to Rikku and adds, "And I guess tis foolish of me to worry with such kindhearted guardians....friends by your side. So I'll try not to worry. Too much."

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

Lulu has long passed by the innocence to truly appreciate the gift of a sticker. Even as a child she left such things behind... But they are not the only sting that can be there. Lulu sees the shield, such as it is, Yuna brought up for herself; she knows full well that she is hiding something, that she lies after telling the truth.

Personal. So many things are personal on this journey already. And this?

"...That's your right," Lulu answers Yuna, as much to explain it for Tidus, perhaps Rikku, Marivel--as anything. She does not press here, though it's obvious in her eyes that she has not rescinded the question in the least. Still--she knows Yuna's certainty when she sees it, however little she likes it applying here.

She doesn't seem to react in the least, when Yuna clarifies about her pilgrimage, because the black mage expected that. 'Just another thing along the way.' It is as it is.

"...So long as you continue the Pilgrimage," Lulu says, "This is your business, and your choice. None can say otherwise."

But it may sound heartless. It may be worse, after all, in the face of Marivel's grin. There is clearly something, but...

The talk of friends leaving seems distant, for now. But perhaps it would be for the best if it were that way. Then, they wouldn't have...

"Of course," Lulu says softly, to Marivel's promise, and turns to look over the Plains, again, gaze away from the others.

"There's no need to worry," she says simply. "I'm Yuna's Guardian, no matter what else happens." She turns--and looks at Yuna, again. She may manage to meet her eyes, just then.

Some things can be said, and some can't. ...Some need to be, even if they're already known.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Auron catches Lulu's eye as she looks to him. He only shakes his head a bit. He's a brutally pragmatic man with little time for foolishness. If Rikku wants to insist that Lulu's that much nicer, that's fine by him.
    
    Then he peers at Yuna, long and steady, as silence stretches between them. It's of course not his intent to hurt her, emotionally or otherwise. But being young... can sometimes mean not understanding when you're really hurting yourself. Auron, ancient early thirty-something man that he is, understands that well.
    
    Ultimately, she refuses. She may look miserable about it, but she does. Under his coat collar, his lips thin... but in truth, this willfulness, in the face of someone she respects, is something he wants to encourage. Even if he's not personally happy about it in this precise moment.
    
    "...Do as you will, then," he replies. His gruffness might be mistaken for uncaring. "One thing, though--"
    
    And Yuna preceeds him, guesses his concern and pre-emptively wards it. He bows his head. "Then it is... fine," he concludes, turning away.
    
    "Woah, wait, are you serious?" Tidus utters, boggling at Auron. "Don't you care she's doing this to herself? I mean--aren't you going to stop her?"
    
    "It is a summoner's privilege," Auron replies, sparing him but a glance. "So long as she journeys... all else is her concern."
    
    Tidus gawks at him, then at the rest of the room. Rikku echoes his own thoughts to Marivel, wishing that her story had a different lesson, but that's not the big problem here. Even Rikku is just--letting this happen. Because, what? She's priviledged? She says 'I'm sorry.' He says 'It's fine.' But couldn't they just--do *not* that?
    
    Except Lulu echoes what Auron says, about how none can say otherwise as long as Yuna continues her pilgrimage. Tidus looks to Wakka to silently beseech back-up, but... he just shakes his head. And Tidus knows, then, there's no stopping Yuna. When he gets down to it, it *is* Yuna's decision. Even if it's a terrible one that'll make her miserable.
    
    "Indeed," Auron rumbles after Lulu states the obvious: that they are Yuna's Guardians. "We will keep her safe, come what may."
    
    "Yeah..." Tidus mumbles, fists clenching. He looks over at Yuna. No--he can't be a little kid about this. Taking a deep breath, he stands up straight and nods. "Yeah," he repeats, strong and clear this time. He smiles at Marivel. "You said it! We can still make this work out." He doesn't really know what he means by that, and Marivel's talk of doomsday weapons is frankly alarming, but that all aside, it's better than giving up on happily ever after altogether.
    
    Even so, when he looks back at Yuna... he hurts. Something she might see in the pinch of his lips, in the furrow of his brows. He's never felt like more of an outsider since coming to Spira since this moment. But if he left the group, then what? Where would he go? He'd be all alone. And that'd be even worse.
    
    Fine. If it has to be this way, then he'll just deal. For her.

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.

 
Rikku's heart should fall upon hearing Yuna state outright that she won't quite her pilgrimage, but she knows that.
 
She knows it. She always hopes, but she always knows she's kidding herself, after she's seen Yuna in action.
 
No what truly upsets her, more than anything, is Yuna telling Auron - that she can't tell him.
 
It hurts knowing that she's holding something inside. Keeping it from the rest of them.
 
It hurts knowing that she can't help her with this. Whatever pain she's suffering with all surrounds this decision to marry Maester Seymour for all of Spira.
 
She knows it's not personal that Yuna is shutting her out - that it's not because she's so new to her life. Because Yuna is shutting out the rest of the Guardians too.
 
She can only imagine how Lulu must feel, given how close she is. How the rest of them must feel.
 
Her eyes lid painfully as Marivel states that Yuna promised a journey full of smiles. One she'd hold her to.
 
She's certain now at least that Yuna will deliver... no matter what lies behind the smile.
 
By the end of Marivel speaking, she has a look on her expression like she might when Tidus says something like - they'll go to see something once this is over. And right now she can't help but feel for the guy as he tries to try to tell Auron he ought to do something. "Even if you have to go elsewhere a while... I'll hold you to that Marivel. That you'll be back..."
 
Rikku smiles herself, and in this smile it isn't feigned. Since Marivel brings them so much cheer. Because Marivel shakes up things around her in a way she likes - unlike Odessa and Althena's Guard. "And I don't think it's foolish to worry at all."
 
It doesn't matter how many people stand with someone as their friends. It's only natural to still worry, she thinks. She certainly worries about Yuna despite how many Guardians Yuna has.
 
Her eyes drift over to Lulu for a moment, as if watching her. Something heavy in her throat as Lulu says 'that it's Yuna's business - and noone can say otherwise.' Maybe like she's searching for something in Lulu's eyes - even just some wish - some desire that it might not be true.
 
In the end, it's too much for her. As Rikku suddenly moves to stand right in front of her and puts both her hands on each of Yuna's shoulders.
 
"Oh Yunie- it's just-"
 
And that moment is interrupted by a sudden bright flash and titanic crack of thunder, that resounds across the plains.
 
Yuna can feel the trembling in Rikku's hands as it transfers to her shoulders.
 
But also she can feel the moment where Rikku shifts her weight onto Yuna's shoulders through her palms, to stand up on her tiptoes.
 
"Quiet!"
 
And yells defiance over Yuna's head at the thing she fears the most. For a moment's peace to say what needs to be said.
 
Before her weight shifts back on her heels and she says while looking into Yuna's eyes. "I just wish that we could help you somehow - some way!"
 
Her eyes might as well say right now. That it's why she became Yuna's Guardian. To do that for her.
 
And now it feels like she can't even do that.
 

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Marivel and Tidus understand everything and nothing at the same time, but dutifully living up to Rikku's expectations, Yuna tugs a smile back onto her face, when reminded. There are things to smile about, even here and now, and how much everyone cares about her is one of them... at least when thought about in just the right way.

"Happily ever after," she repeats, a little bit dreamily, as though it's an unfamiliar phrase. And maybe it is. That isn't how Spira's stories end. "Thank you," she says -- to her, to him, and when they look at one another he isn't the only one to know pain. "Truly."

The hand over her heart unclenches, softening beneath Lulu's gaze -- and her words. Her own mismatched eyes lift to meet her Guardian's straight on, and hold them, hold her. Even with this distance between them... and their first true secret, separating them... they're still together.

Auron reluctantly giving way is like a dam breaking, and although Yuna knows relief in the released tides that swirl around her, she knows something else, too. Something has changed, between them. Perhaps not for the worse, but... there's no going back. When he reaffirms their relationship as summoner and Guardian, she ducks her head into a nod that lacks shyness but is filled with respect. "Sorry," she whispers, again.

Rikku grabs her, returns her to the moment. Of course she can't look away, but she also doesn't even want to. Every second with her cousin is a small, impossible miracle, and she loses herself in those green spiral eyes, diving into them readily, willingly.

Again she takes Rikku's hand -- lifts it off her shoulder, and holds it like the precious, incomparable treasure that it is. "It's okay... I'll be fine."

And for once, it's impossible to know whether Yuna is telling a lie or telling the truth.

Wakka interjects for the first time in a long time. At some point, he's taken out his blitzball and is spinning it on a pinkytip, a nervous tic. "Yuna, just one question -- can't you just talk to Maester Seymour? You've gotta marry him?"

Yuna's hair brushes Rikku's cheek as she turns her head to the side to answer him. "I don't know. But... I think it is the right thing to do."

The right thing to do. That's that, in the end, the driving force behind all of Yuna's decisions.

She does not so much detangle herself from Rikku as maneuver them both closer to Marivel, so she can use her other hand to touch her friend gently, affectionately upon the shoulder.

"We're going too... to Macalania Temple. For the next aeon... and to meet with Maester Seymour. Let's travel together... especially since this might be the last time."

Beat.

"Um, for a while." Yuna hurries away from that beat. "I know how urgently you wish to return to Filgaia; may Yevon guide your travels, safely and swiftly. I only wish we could go with you... to begin to repay your kindness, and everyone else's. And to see such a wondrous place for ourselves."