2019-09-24: Still a Prisoner

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<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Well. /That/ also just happened.

Approximately the entire Odessan army (one hopes, one really hopes, oh god there's not more backup right) just teleported in like Vinsfeld just hit go-mode on his Warp Gate timing push and ARMS nearly died and there are child robots that wanted to self-detonate to protect everyone and someone got /shot/ and then Guts-Dozer came and saved everyone.

Yue's had an incredibly fun time with the Minder deciding to come up to Macalania when Odessa exploded in through the doors; she split apart from the ARMS group but now that the fighting has finally died down...

There's a trail of fallen Odessa soldiers not far from Guts-Dozer where ARMS is recuperating for the time being. A huge trail of them. They're all--

Wait, they're all not /dead/. Broken bones, crushed ribs, suplexed into the ground, kneed to the face, sure, but not a single one of them is dead. And there's an Odessan Gear that looks like it got mysteriously cleaved in one clean screen-splitting slice too, its cockpit hatch open and abandoned.

And at the end of that trail, there's Yue... breathing out rapidly as she huddles by the base of an enormous crystal-tree, one of so many in Macalania. A straw hat is poking out of her arms where the Minder is huddling in her.

"It's okay. It will be okay, dear Minder," Yue fervently whispers to her. She's bloodied too, though. Her face is smeared. Her hair is disheveled.

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

Kamui and Eleanor both seem like they're stable and peacefully sleeping. Varius and Xiumei-- well, that's a whole other bag of worms, but at least he's going to be able to handle keeping an eye on them. Clarissa and Felius have the Guts-Dozer in hand, and Marivel-- she'd never really pegged the Crimson Noble as a medic, but she's thankful for it.

So as one of the less-injured members of ARMS, Acacia is the first one to decide that she could really use a little fresh air. Besides, there's a nervous tension and fear running through her that makes her want to move around. She's never been very good at sitting and stewing over something, and in the absence of her home comforts she's only got her other habit to fall back on: walking, looking for stories.

There's one waiting for her almost the moment she steps out of the machine and over the crest of a nearby hill, to the point where her pistol is in her hands before she knows she's even drawn it. Carefully, she nudges the prone soldier, furrowing her brow in uncertainty - and looks up to follow the trail with her eyes as she feels a distinct suspicion start to crystallize in her mind.

(When she spots the Gear, that suspicion becomes a certainty - and that's when she doubles back to the Dozer for a moment to grab some things and stuff them quickly into a bag.)

In her haste, she nearly goes straight past Yue's hidey-hole; it's only when she realizes there's no blood trail beyond that point that she doubles back, jogging around in a circle until she comes across the pair. She has to stare for a moment, wide-eyed; the Veruni woman has always seemed to be some kind of untouchable, and to see her like this is an adjustment that takes Acacia a while to come to terms with after everything else today.

Then she spots the shivering hat, and realizes Yue is talking to someone else. The thick blanket she'd grabbed really /was/ a good idea, she thinks, and her shoulders sag in not-quite-relief as she pulls it out. Offering Yue a wordless look and a nod, she spreads it out and then tucks it around the Minder's form.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel Armitage has elected to let other people worry about the act finale gunslingers as she tends to the wounded. She is certain she won't be catching up to Yuna in time now, after all, so she might as well go where her services are most useful. She is ill inclined to get TOO far from Kamui and Eleanor. They need moments to rest.

She spots Acacia and Yue running into one another and--ahh! There seems to be a Minder as well.

She hops over a fallen Odessa soldier who isn't dead and doesn't uh offer a hand or anything.

She frowns faintly upon seeing Yue's condition and says, "Mmm... May I lend a hand?" She tilts her head curiously.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

"W-who is that?" asks the Minder quietly, timidly. Yue tucks her head and whispers, "It is fine. It's Mari and Acacia. You recall them, do you not? We played Blitzball, and other good, fun times," even kind of working through the burble of blood pooling in her mouth. "You do not have to turn your sight on if you don't want to."

The emoji helmet is currently completely turned off at the moment. It looks like the Minder can just black out her vision, probably on the sugestion of Yue.

She lifts her head up and takes the blanket as she bundles it around the Minder. "Appreciated," she half-whispers, groaning. Marivel comes up as well. "I could use a... something. They do not have heal berries here, do they."

She glances behind her, wincing. "Tell me there aren't more reinforcements."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

"Ah - sorry, Minder. It's me, Acacia. I'm just gonna make sure you're warm and wrapped up, okay?" she adds, doing her best to be gentle even as she looks sharply up at the state of Yue's wounds; her voice tremors a little, but she swallows it down to continue: "I dunno if your suit's any good at keeping your temperature up, but you can't beat a blanket to snuggle into at a time like this."

"You're freezing," she murmurs the next moment, urgently putting her pack down to start rummaging through it; she does her best to keep her voice low so the Minder doesn't hear, but there's only so much she can do to hide it with both of them right there. "I've got some warm coffee and some medical supplies, but--"

She chews at her lip as she cuts herself off, carefully nudging Yue's coat to try to take a glimpse underneath and wincing at what she sees. It's kind of hard to tell if Yue's at the point where a heal berry will be enough, and she's pretty sure blood's not going to mix with coffee all that well in her mouth.

Sucking in a sharp breath, she twists to look towards Marivel, tilting her head in Yue's direction. For the sake of the Minder she doesn't say it out loud, but her meaning is obvious enough - if the Crimson Noble knows any tricks for healing Veruni, they might come in real handy right now.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Mm... healing magic is not my forte. What I can heal...the wounds must be rather recent otherwise it won't work. A bit of a workaround rather than true healing. But...hmm.... Perhaps I can work something up..." She taps her cheek lightly with an index finger before approaching.

"/Aport/." Marivel says, catching a pail as it appears in the air and turning it so the open end is facing up. "/Geyser/." She adds, pourirng water into the pail. "And...lets see..."

She takes in a deep breath before heating the pail with FIREBREATH until the water is warm.

"Lets see, do we have cups? Or chocolate syrup?" She does, at least, have the COOKING talent and so can get involved in that method of healing. Or you know. Just making hot cocoa. This isn't vey different beyond what Acacia is offering though, well, Minder probably prefers cocoa to coffee.

"Sadly most of my supplies have been used by now. If I were on Filgaia, yes, I could get you all manner of healing items."

She pauses, considering Odessa. "Mm, I doubt there will be more. Odessa is moving further in. We will find what they desire soon enough, I imagine."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue's coat is even more bullet holey and slashed apart than it was before, and is trying to gun for a serious contender for Grand Finals for Most Tattered Cool Piece of Clothing in some imagined contest. Kamui's cloak is probably another contender. It's DCMUSH, tattered hems on clothing are in vogue OK.

The wounds, though? Well, there's a riddle of bullets in her, at some point, probably; she probably had to keep carrying Minder while she fought, while cuffed the entire way. "Coffee... coffee sounds great," she remarks, pausing. "Or maybe some hot chocolate with marshmallows for my dear Minder, for being so brave."

There's a quiet sob-grumble from the Minder. "'m not a kid..." she whines, before saying, "T-the blanket feels good. ... it does keep me warm. But I felt cold anyway."

Yue feels a little heartbroken to hear that but she doesn't speak up.

But Marivel says she's low on supplies which she expects, as well as Acacia, so she sighs and remarks:

"... ... I'm going to have to make you both complicit in a dirty little cheat, then."

There's a quiet bit of focus -- and Acacia can briefly sense what looks like a complicated Ether circuit on her shackles flash -- and then split apart, and the magic unravels. What feels ambiently like some kind of Ether black hole to her... is no more.

She slips her hands free while trying to not make it super-obvious to Minder that she's freeing herself, and her hand starts glowing with that same mixture of fire-and-light-aspected Ether as she starts convalescing herself around her stomach with a grunt.

"... I'm still a prisoner, by the way."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

The reporter nods curtly as she digs through her pack; the thermos and cups she hands towards Marivel, though the idea of having chocolate syrup on her gets kind of a raised eyebrow and a huff of air. Still, she does have a collection of little packets from the ARMS Standard Operations; she hands them over as well, even if she's making a bit of a face when she does so.

"I've got some berries, too. Not many, but..." she trails off as she takes out a small and rather rumpled bag and hands it off to the vampire. Sure enough, there's precious little in there, and what is there is a bit smushed and beat up from their flight - but perhaps it might help a little, especially when combined with Yue's own healing methods.

She twitches a little as she feels the Ether move, and her natural curiosity draws her towards that sensation. She's not about to prod at the aura around Yue and risk disrupting things, not when the Veruni is so injured and she's still so new to all of this, but she can't help but try to pick out a little about the technique.

Instead, she chooses to distract the Minder, patting her on the back. "Never said you were. Everyone needs to disappear under a blanket sometimes. I do it /all the time/," she-- boasts? Well, whatever works to try to divert her. "Back home, I've got a big one with a heater underneath. I've spent whole days under there," she mock-whispers.

And then looks up at Yue's last line, offering her a quiet smile. As worried as she is, there's a part of her that's assured by the sight of the Veruni woman and her capabilities. "... well, yeah. /My/ prisoner, wasn't it?" she huffs quietly. Now that's just being indulgent for Yue's sake.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

It probably didn't help Marivel's supplies that she had to do some pretty major surgery for that matter!

"Don't be in a rush to grow up, Minder," Marivel murmurs. "The world will be happy to push you along just fine."

She takes the bag from Acacia. "Thank you." She mixes the heal berries and cocoa dust in together with the water, no doubt to make the beverage more palatable for Minder who will likely need some of this as well, but also to add a bit more flavor.

She whistles and Nob floats over, head opening up to reveal a pair of small cups which Marivel collects and pours the contents of the pail into.

She hands one each to Yue and to Minder.

"Brave children take their medicine." She says before looking to Yue.

"It seems Odessa caught you off guard as well." She exhales briefly. "Sorry about that. No marshmallows I'm afraid."

She glances to Acacia for a moment but manages to avoid saying anything sassy this round. It must've been a herculean effort.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

"... it is up to you how you visualise Ether and its workings," Yue catches the note of Acacia's interest in her technique. "Some practitioners imagine it as a closed, complete circuit. A symbol, much like Symbology, but within the air -- within the world itself," she chuckles.

The Minder groans just a bit as she whines, "Be showy about your magic, why don't you... stupid CR-S01..."

Yue chuckles very quietly and pats her on the back. "... I hope I was able to teach you enough in the nick of time to help you survive. I may yet have to disappoint you more, after all."

She raises her eyebrows at the comment of her being Acacia's prisoner.

"You /left/ me," she grouses. A pause. "Though that would put you on the level as some of my former minders."

The Minder lifts her head up when she starts smelling cocoa, though. "... is it OK to open my eyes?"

Yue glances around, then remarks, "... yes."

The emoji helmet quietly blinkers into a :( expression. "Uuuh..." She takes the cup and starts sipping from it -- the little straw compartment whirrs out and flips on her helmet.

Yue takes her cup too. "But I am a cowardly adult, Mari," she answers, but drinks from it nonetheless.

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

"I was getting shot at. A whole lot, actually," Acacia grumbles in return to Yue's complaint. Just like that she feels relieved, letting out a wholehearted breath as she sags her shoulders anew. "I'd have seriously preferred to take you with us, but there just wasn't time to even figure out where you were, let alone bring you along safely."

She catches herself the next moment, closing her eyes as she plants a hand in her hair and rakes at it. "... I'm sorry I left you behind," she decides to amend, her tone both serious and a little sulky in her embarrassment. "You really helped me out a ton, yeah. I'm glad you're both alright."

"If you keep saying you're disappointing, I might slug you," she adds in a deadpan, though there's a quiet smile on her face at the comfort of the back-and-forth. "'Cause I'm pretty sure you're not. And I'm pretty sure Minder isn't thinking that way either right now."

"That's my last, by the way," she notes quietly to Marivel - not accusing, so much as a status report. "Guess we're out until we can get home, or figure out how the hell Odessa are managing it." From her point of view, of course, Heal Berries aren't the problem so much as how to fix Kamui up; that still makes her chew at her lip a little in consternation.

She shakes it away when the Minder boots her helmet up, though, and a bright idea hits her. "Here," she adds, passing over a small pouch to the girl. "Crunch it around between your hands for a bit, then stick it under the blanket. Share the warmth with Yue a bit too, okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel doesn't comment on 'Ether' but she does frown a little as it reminds her of Gebler's presence in all this. She hasn't seen much of them, just their corpses, but that's in a way more alarming than if they had been fully committed all along.

"Cowarldy, mm?" Marivel asks without immediate further commentary. She steadies Minder's cup until she's sure she has it before pulling her hands back. The straw is super cute.

Despite everything that she has said about the Veruni deserving what they get, that doesn't mean she enjoys seeing it. Every civilization has its innocents but the Guardians don't think in such terms. They see the scale, it's up to mortals to see the notes.

"Well, worst case scenario, I can forage around. I just hope that doesn't prove to be neccessary."

She smiles at Acacia's acts of kindness.

"There is plenty to fear," Marivel says. "Perhaps cowardice is the only sensible option."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue looks towards Acacia's deadpan and smirks quietly--

--then darts forward to give her a quick smooch on the cheek. Whoa!!

"Better?" she asks.

The Minder grumps for a moment as she folds her arms into her mug of cocoa and mumbles, "I--I haven't decided whether it's okay for the two of you to--" she sinks down into silence and keeps sipping, though when Acacia gives her a disposable hand-warmer, she lights up and then immediately remands her position: "I'm good. She gave me cocoa and heating pads."

Yue chuckles and sinks back to remark, "... it's fine. I happen to be extremely familiar with being left behind."

She doesn't specify very much, but she looks towards Marivel. "Those soldiers have supplies on them, if we want to loot. Not sure what Odessa does about leaving its own soldiers behind, though."

She sucks in a breath. "Be careful, though. I knocked all of them out cold, but none of them are..." She pauses as she looks to the Minder, who's busy with her heating pad. Then she draws a quiet line over her neck.

... really? Fighting off an entire army and not killing anyone?

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

"I remember seeing a bunch of ointments around stalls, but it's kind of hard to tell how much they might work. I get the feeling they're not exactly, uh, quite as immediate," Acacia points out to Marivel, snagging another heater out of her bag and then tossing the pack back around her shoulders. The way it flops around indicates she's pretty much tapped out her resources, or at least those she's brought along.

The look on her face suggests that she'd be morally and intellectually prepared to take part in at least a /little/ looting, and that maybe getting to put the boot in a couple of times on top might also help her mental well-being. Not that she'd ever do that last part, or at least not in the name of ARMS, but-- well, it's just really tempting right about now, that's all.

She leans over to stash the second heater in one of the inside pockets of Yue's coat, and that's when she gets outright surprised by the kiss; she sits there blinking and wide-eyed for a moment. Any blush on her cheek is hidden by the way the cold is stinging her cheeks, but she kind of wears her heart on her sleeve for things like this.

"I-is that really-- at a time like this--!" she blusters before sinking into a glower, sneaking a long glance towards Yue. "... this from the sort of person who'd totally try a 'farewell forever' moment," she sulks, but shifts a little to take some of Yue's weight against her.

"That's the power of common sense," she puffs towards Minder the next moment, and here she has a slight air of smug amusement. "That, and reporters are rea~ally good at bribing people. ... but speaking of heating, Marivel, we should probably get them inside. The cold's not going to help anyone."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel gasps! A kiss! It's a pretty exagerated gasp so she must not be seriously shocked or scandalized here. "Aw," She says a moment after, which is probably her true reaction to that. Her hand only twitches a little at Yue's commentary at being 'left behind'. She doesn't comment on it with words in the slightest.

"Mm. I suppose tis fair game to plunder the bodies of those who would put us in the grave. I'll make a search in just a moment."

She probably doesn't care too much about what Odessa thinks about it. Nevertheless she adds, "I suspect they underestimated you. Being wrapped in chains has its advantages, mm?"

She nods once to Acacia, hardly disagreeing with her position.

"You are starting to remind me of me when I was young," Marivel quips to Acacia with a faint grin before considering her suggestion.

"Mm. We can look after you in kinder settings than this. At least until you warm up and recover."

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue can't help but have that little playful smile as she looks to Marivel with that quip of hers to say, "Perhaps that is why I've taken such a liking to her? Because she reminds me of you." She can't help the flush on her own grin, perhaps trying to create a bit of levity as the Minder stares between the three and shakes her head.

"You flirty adults and your dates," she sulks.

She perks up at Acacia as she says, "I'll remember that... common sense. And bribes." Yue pats her on the head to say, "Pray be careful of what you learn. You may become incorrigible."

The Minder sulks for a moment, before-- pausing to go, "... is it really okay?" at the idea of coming inside.

Yue pauses for a moment with a calculated thought, then murmurs, "... the travel agency is too far away. This may be the safest course for you." She's not quite as certain about herself, though. "And you might be right, Marivel -- at least, until they sent that Gear after me."

The Gear that's sliced in half now. A low groan. "Still sore from that one."

She gets up very quietly, adjusting Minder to help her stand until she's ready. "Go on -- Mari and I can scavenge for medical supplies, then join you."

<Pose Tracker> Acacia Saitani has posed.

"... I'm not entirely sure what reporter-me should think about the idea of ARMS looting its enemies. I mean, it's not good optics," Acacia cuts in, but there's an edge of fatigue to her voice that gives away the rest of the thought even before she can voice it: "But given everything, I think we're firmly off the record right now."

She blinks towards the Crimson Noble, and then her eyebrows slightly raise. You can just /see/ the range of quips on the tip of her tongue, waiting to be voiced - from references to Lumen's behaviour to Marivel's behaviour to everything in between - but she just swallows it with a quiet chuckle, recognizing that they've all had a long day. "I'll take that as a compliment," she notes instead--

--but still grumbles a little in something like jealousy when Yue and Marivel share a flirty moment of their own. Hmph, hmph.

Minder's question makes her look up to meet Yue's expression, then twist a little to gauge Marivel's. "... I don't know," she admits to the Minder, letting out a quiet sigh. "But right now, Odessa are the biggest threat around. And I'd suck if I were the sort of person to just leave you here. We can get you somewhere safer, at least, or drop you off once you can contact someone. Deal?" she offers the smaller Veruni, sneaking a nod at Yue over her head.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Mm... I have never been one for believing that one must act as if they have higher moral authority than their enemies," Marivel says. "But that does not mean sharing some kindness should be taboo either. Finding the appropriate path is part of the fun of being a drifter for the path is always different and what is a certain journey can become an unexpected trip at a moment's notice."

She gives Minder's helmet a quiet pat. "Look after yourself too, alright? I want to see what you're like in a hundred years." She knows she has VR Factor so she must be hoping she beats it somehow.

She nods to Yue once then back to Minder and Acacia. "You wouldn't mind looking after her while we engage in this ugly business, would you?" Marivel smiles at Acacia. "And thank you."

Marivel prefers to let actions speak louder than words as far as optics are concerned. A bit of a double edged sword, that.

<Pose Tracker> Yue Rohay has posed.

Yue raises an eyebrow at Marivel and smiles in turn, preferring to focus more on her kind words for Minder, who... trembles for a moment, but puffs up as she stammers with a >:) and says, "J-just you wait. I'll grow up to be the world's strongest and best minder." A pause. "Am I still going to be minding in 100 years? That's a weird thought..."

She lalawaddles over to Acacia with her hand up to the reporter. "D-deal! And, I want to see the others too... like Xiumei..." Oh no.

Yue smirks as she sees that hmph of hers. "Oh, don't be jealous. Mari and I have only known each other for thousands of years now."

She turns to head off with that in mind. Time is of the essence here, and one doesn't know when she's going to slip and fall and bwarghhh headlong into a finale.