2020-10-17: Rattling Their Cage

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<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Those imprisoned by Yevon have found themselves shuffled back and forth between cells several times throughout their imprisonment. It's hard to tell if it's for a true purpose, or if it's just to keep them from getting some semblance of comfortable while they wait for their sentencing.

It hasn't been that long since the last one. Jacqueline has done a round around her cell, studying it for any potentially useful messages left by its previous inhabitants. Finding nothing, however, she settles down a sigh, sitting down with her back against the bars.

What would her mother think, hearing that she'd been put into prison...?

...Well, considering her reaction to hearing about her first bounty, probably proud of her for causing trouble. With a sigh Jacqueline takes a quick look around.

"...Anyone else out there?" She asks. Her voice can't reach far, due to the enchantments - only to the surrounding cells - but it would be nice to know whether or not there was anyone else around. It wouldn't be the first time they'd put her in a cell separated from others.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Tidus has also gotten shuffled around a bunch since he was imprisoned. He's most worried about Yuna, but he's also worried about the rest of his friends. Sometimes they're together, sometimes they're apart... He's hoping for a reunion at some point. That'll happen later when he gets kicked into jail by an irritable guard after making the absolute most of a nuisance of himself to piss his jailers off, but for right now he's sprawled out on the floor of his cage, calves hanging off the edge.
    
    What's he being so obedient for?
    
    "Huuuuungryyyyyy," Tidus complains. "When're they going to *feed* us? Or is starving us to death the plan?"
    
    ...well, 'obedient' might be a strong word.
    
    He registers another voice nearby, and tilts his head that way. "Jay?" he calls. "You got shuffled back here again? Or maybe they shuffled *me* back here again. I can't tell anymore. Man, I'm sick of their nonsense."
    
    His stomach growls as if in agreement.
    
    "And REALLY hungry."

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Mariel hasn't been doing great in jail.

She's not hurt, or more accurately she is hurt less than some of the people that were put in the dungeons under Bevelle. It's not that kind of a problem. No, it's being shut in; locked away from sun and sky and anything living, except for the few times she's moved to a cell near someone else or the guards come to move her around or drop off food. It's being so far from Filgaia; Spira isn't the same, and she feels achingly homesick for the sensations of home.

Mariel looks a little ragged, not that anyone can see her; she unbraided her hair and tried to comb it with her nails, but it didn't really do much. She wants a proper brush, and to file her claws, and a change of clothes, and, most of all... she wants a bath. She can smell herself.

But instead she has this little room where she's spent most of her time in silence. The faint voice of others (or loud voice, in the case of Tidus) get her to stir from where she was sitting, knees drawn up toward her chin.

"Jay? ...Tidus?" Mariel doesn't speak loudly, but then again, when does she? It's enough to carry, at least a bit.

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia is starting to find this whole process to be more wasteful than anything. She's a princess! She knows how many people are involved when you shuffle 30 people around your doom dungeon every twelve hours! It's so many people!!

Anyway that's what Cecilia was ranting about before they Sleeped her unconscious and threw her in her new cage.

Her voice comes up from one of the higher cages. "If they keep this up maybe their accountant will kill someone important," Cecilia offers, helpfully, and shifts her weight to look down on the cages below. "Good to see you guys, at least..."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Avril, alone in her cell, has not been doing particularly great either, frankly, for perhaps more obscure reasons than the one than had led her into this position.

    Eventually, everything will be alright. Somehow, for some mysterious value of 'alright'. In that, she has faith. But in the meantime, she's still alone here, in such a small place. It's enough to make her breath catch in her throat, sometimes.

    'Anyone else out there?'

    A voice breaks into her reverie. She rises slowly within her cage, taking the time only to straighten out her skirts before clutching the bars and calling out, "Jacqueline? Is that you? I am-- I am here!"

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel can turn into a bat and also smoke but seems content to be in jail for the most part. She isn't in any rush to leave even if by a matter of linear time she already has but ... but don't think about that. That is just a future vision that hasn't happened yet thanks to the power of the event horizon and bad translation. It's fine. She's here. Yup.

"Well it's one way to end us, isn't it?" Marivel asks. "But I suspect they're trying to kill me with boredom instead, and I suspect it's working. They should just drop us into the trial already so we can fight our way out and end their tyrannical regime already. Might as well skip to the good stuff...! Though..." She ponders. "Maybe that's why they keep moving us around...Trying to delay the inevitable, sap our will to fight."

She looks to Cecilia. "Right?? You'd think they'd be hurting economically speaking with their one of like two cities of commerce being under Guard control. But I suppose when your currency is 'belief', then your pockets don't actually need to carry anything."

She looks around a bit and says, "I spy with my little eye, something that begins with C."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"At this point, I'm not sure. ...But I agree." Jacqueline says with a slight chuckle at Tidus's words. "...On both accounts, but I'm afraid they haven't given me much of anything, either."

And then, she hears Mariel and Avril both calling out for her. Jacqueline quickly hurries up to the bars.

"Yes, it's Jay! How are you both doing?" Jacqueline asks. They were some of the ones she was most worried about - besides Lunata and Shalune, of course. Avril especially - she had seen that nasty spill she had taken.

And their conversation attracts another voice, too, this time from higher up.

"Cecilia?" Jacqueline says, craning her head upwards. She can't really see her... but, that's definitely her. "It's good to see you too... in a manner of speaking. Though I wish it were under better circumstances."

And Marivel, of course, who provides a reasonable reason on why they might be doing this.

"...I wouldn't be surprised. They already know we're all the troublemaking sort." She comments.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Does anyone thrive in jail, though, really? Still, that's a mood. Tidus... knows what it's like to be homesick for a home that might be impossibly far away.
    
    Also, a bath *would* be really nice. They'll all get that soon, though that too is something for later.
    
    "*I* think they're just doing it to be jerks," Tidus offers back to Cecilia. He sits up, though, looking up towards her and then down towards some of the cells below. "Hey, Cecilia! Mariel! ...Someone whose voice I don't know?" (He means Avril.) "I guess we're all feeling pretty antsy right now, huh? I feel that. It's the waiting that's really getting to me."
    
    Marivel suggests that sapping their will to fight might be why their jailers keep moving them around. "Mmm. I'd believe that," he agrees, tone flat. A beat, and then, just as flat, "Is it a cage?"
    
    At least he can commisserate about being hungry with Jay. "That sucks. I guess they figure they don't need to feed us if they're just gonna kill us anyway," Tidus grumbles. (He'll get fed eventually. It just won't be enough. Teenage boy and all.) He does laugh, though, and adds, "Yeah, we're the biggest troublemakers there are! And we'll keep on making trouble! They'll regret messing with us!"

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"I'm glad to hear you! They kept me isolated for a while... they had me treat some of the more badly hurt first, when I told them I was a medic, but that didn't mean they let me go. And..." Mariel hesitates. "...I'm not badly hurt," is all she says about her status.

Under normal circumstances, Mariel might say she doesn't intend to fight. And indeed she doesn't *want* to fight her way out, but she is increasingly aware that sometimes (most of the time) she doesn't actually get what she wants.

So she doesn't. Instead, Mariel shifts to a more natural sitting position. There's still no point in getting up - it's not like she can go to any of the other people - but she can at least move a little. "I suppose they're still recieving tithes..." She seems a little uncertain. Mariel doesn't really have any use for (or knowledge of) economy bigger than a village's. She sells things, she buys things; money just sort of happens incidentally between the two. When she needs to refresh her stockpile, she sells exotic spices; when she doesn't, she gives flowers away.

"Chain," Mariel adds, in response to Marivel. It is the only joke she has made since she has been captured, weak as it is. (It can't be cage, she figures; that is far too obvious.)

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia sighs lengthily before adopting her more princessly tenor, shifting herself up to lean against the bars. "Yes, it's me, Jay, Tidus. Good to hear from you. And everyone..." She lets herself smile a little. "Wait us out with hunger and boredom...I mean, given shooting us hasn't worked, I guess this is a pretty good Plan B, all told."

"Must be," she muses to Mariel. "We saw how well trying to expose them went...I'm sure there's all sorts of people praising Yevon for saving them from..." She spends a second trying to come up with something, and then settles for a tired, "...us."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I am..." Avril's hesitation carries on a beat too long. "...I am well enough," she finishes, her grip on the bars easing. "It feels as if I have been isolated from all others for some time." She had called out at first, upon arrival, but had only been answered by an echo. But, since then...

    Many of the voices here are familiar, but one -- masculine, she believes -- is not. Tidus as much as addresses that fact. "I believe we have not met, no. My name is Avril Vent Fleur. ...Please, call me Avril."

    Maybe it's because she was caught first of those who attempted the rescue. Maybe it's because she's been alone for so long. Maybe it's because of...
    ...that dream.
    But she feels particularly dislocated in time and space, right now.

    More than she usually does.

    "...With 'C'?" There is a long pause.

    "The... ceiling?"

    Unlike Mariel, she's not making a joke.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"They aaarrree pretty big jerks," Marivel agrees before pausing. "Oh...yeah. It's Cage." She grins. "How'd you guess it??" She was going to do 'Chain' for the next one but Mariel already guessed that one! Now she can't do it. Or maybe she could and Mariel would get it wrong because she'd think that was too obvious? Buh! Wellit wasn't really a game so much as a gag to lift spirits up through the power of being kind of a shsit.

"Hehe, they probably will." Marivel says. "I mean... You can only be so cruel and care so little for so long...before it bites you back in the ass. Sociopathy isn't exactly normal behavior for a reason."

She glances towards Mariel and adds, "...Um. Hm. I guess you already all know each other mostly."

Marivel flops lazily back into her cell. "Well, sometimes doing the right thing isn't good PR. I'm sure you know all about that Lynn."

She pauses as Avril suggeste the ceiling. "..Oh that's a good one too."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I'm not a big fan of waiting, either." Jacqueline admits to Tidus. She liked having something to put her mind to - a problem to solve. Here, unfortunately, the biggest problem was that they were currently imprisoned - and without her Crest Graphs and her potions, she's essentially just a regular human. And not exactly the physically strongest of the lot - certainly not enough to pry open her cell, which really limited her options for planning.

As for them being troublemakers... Jacqueline can't help but chuckle at that.

"I plan on it." She says. Mariel speaks up, then, and Jacqueline brightens even further.

"...I'm glad to hear that... but, I'm sorry they had you isolated. ...And you too, Avril." Jacqueline says. Mariel says she isn't badly hurt... but, Jacqueline gets the feeling she isn't saying everything. She doesn't pry, though.

"Probably. Bevelle couldn't run without them - they're probably still receiving donations of food, too, if the Guard haven't put a barricade on the seas. But the Warrior Monks are still marching, so it has to be coming from somewhere." Jacqueline comments. "As far as the rest of Spira knows, Bevelle and Yevon are still legitimate and aboveboard."

Jacqueline does know economy - she couldn't be a successful merchant without that, after all.

Cecilia points it out that things have probably gotten better for them, in fact, thanks to their invasion.

"Yeah..." Jacqueline agrees with a sigh, massaging the back of her neck. And then repeats, a little more reluctantly, as Marivel points out something about doing the right thing. "...Yeah."

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Mariel is trying not to think about food for the very simple reason that she is very nearly vegetarian and, as it turns out, Spirans aren't; while Mariel does eat fish sometimes, that's about as far as it goes. The low-grade meat that has been in what she will politely call 'stew' that she was given turns her stomach.

"Some of us have met," Mariel says. But just to be sure, and to be polite after Avril introduced herself, Mariel says, "But, I am Mariel... I'd say it is nice to meet you, but nothing in here is very nice." This is her way of agreeing with Marivel.

She falls quiet for a few moments. Then: "When you came to my home to tell me you had heard of C - Clysmians," Mariel says, with a slight stumble, "I did not expect this to be how it ended up." She looks in the general direction of Cecilia's voice. "Did you know, I had only been to jail twice in all my life, until I came to Spira? Now it has been twice here alone, in less than two years. This one is rather deeper than the other, though... I don't think anyone is coming for us here."

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    So they had Mariel treating the injured... That lifts Tidus's spirits a little. If they did that with her, maybe they're doing that with Yuna, too. "Glad they didn't rough you up, Mariel," he says, because Tidus is not the best at detecting what's left unsaid.
    
    Avril responds and introduces herself. "Nice meeting you, Avril. I'm Tidus," he replies. "Thanks for trying to help save Yuna--and sorry it ended up like this. But we'll get out of here sooner or later!" He does not promise this, because Tidus is well aware that they might not get out of here *alive*. Still, reassuring someone else helps reassure himself, too.
    
    Marivel reveals that the C word was, indeed, cage. Tidus snorts. "Gee, how *did* I guess it?" he says dryly. Then, of everyone mostly seeming to know each other: "But yeah, it sure does. Guess that figures. We're all in jail for basically the same reason."
    
    Come to think, how *is* Bevelle running with a barricade in place? "They have ships, I guess? From what I saw when we were flying in, the ocean's on both sides with Bevelle this tiny strip of land in the middle, and the Guard can't be on *both* sides of the continent," he muses. Tidus pauses. "...Can they??"
    
    Jay counter-commisserates about waiting. Tidus laughs a little. "At least we've got good company. ...Hey, another C-word!"

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

Cecilia mutters, "Starting to be hard to believe that, sometimes," to Marivel boldly declaring that sociopathy isn't normal.

She closes her eyes, reaching out with her thoughts. She can't hear the Guardians, here - the silencing enchantments, maybe, though they've always been quiet on Lunar. She glances down to Mariel as she calls up. "....perhaps I should've predicted that. I'm sorry it's come to this for you. It's...I certainly never wanted something like this..." Sigh. "No, getting here from outside likely involves the same thing we did. If we get out, it'll have to be the way they intend."

Cecilia adds, for Tidus, "It'd be...conceivable, at least. They already came from an end of Spira, so splitting their force to be on both sides isn't out of the question. It'd be quite a challenge, though." She grimaces. "More concerning is the possibility that they have enough reserves just in Bevelle to hold the city. It's starting to seem like Bevelle itself is where much of their strength lies."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Well, that's true but they control a major port." Marivel considers. "And the Guard has had months to make their own navy here. If Leo wanted to, he could send out privateers... And some people will simply be on the wrong side of Bevelle to make a journey like that, no?"

Still, she supposes the Spirans likely know these waters FAR BETTER than the Guard. "Still, colonialism isn't easy and I'm only roleplaying as a military commander, I'm not actually one."

She looks to Cecilia. "What makes you say that? Aren't your comrades proof enough that it isn't?"

Cecilia further posits that Bevelle IS the power of Spira. "Hm... they do seem to enjoy hoarding power. Perhaps as we escape we can get a glimpse of whawt that power is, but I suspect their true power is just going to be their summoners. There are plenty of 'shamans' here even besides Yuna, and some of them are nearly as strong as a Princess."

She frowns. "Though of course, tis necromancy, even if the output is similar. Before we were sent down here I saw a fayth." Pause. "And a boy representing that fayth."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline listens as Mariel speaks of the times she's been jailed. Jacqueline can't help but chuckle sympathetically.

"...This is my first time, actually. It's been... a little difficult. I'm not used to it." She admits reluctantly, then goes quiet. "...Are you... alright with how things have turned out? Coming with us?"

But, no one's coming for them...

"...I want to believe that the others will try. I don't think it easy, but... I'm sure they'll come for us." Jacqueline says.

As for the barricade, and how Bevelle's weathered it...

"...I don't doubt it. Not only is it a big city, it's surrounding one of their Temples - and they don't let those go easily." Jacqueline says. Speaking of Temples, Marivel says she saw a Fayth. Jacqueline looks toward her with surprise. "You actually saw one? I didn't think anyone but Summoners were able to get close enough..."

But then she frowns.

"You said it was a boy...?" She comments. ...How young was he? The idea makes her a little comfortable. She had thought the Fayth would generally be... older.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Thank you, Jacqueline," Avril says, pulling back from the bars for a moment. "You are... a kind person." Her fingertips run along their edges, as if she were unwilling to let go of them entirely. "..."

    Is this, right now, truly happening? Or is it another dream? Here there is no cold and there is no swallowing darkness, but...

    She shakes her head, hard enough to cause her silver hair to flutter from the motion. "What will become of us?" she asks at last. "I do not believe that they will set us free." One hand lifts to her chest, lingers there. If it comes down to it -- if it becomes necessary for everyone to survive...

    ...Then she will. Then she will have to.

    "Tidus," she repeats, as if trying out the name. "Then, Yuna is your friend? You have my apologies. We were unable to rescue her."

    The Fayth are...? "Necromancy? I..." she utters, turning her attention Marivel's way.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline listens as Mariel speaks of the times she's been jailed. Jacqueline can't help but chuckle sympathetically.

"...This is my first time, actually. It's been... a little difficult. I'm not used to it." She admits reluctantly, then goes quiet. "...Are you... alright with how things have turned out? Coming with us?"

But, no one's coming for them...

"...I want to believe that the others will try. I don't think it easy, but... I'm sure they'll come for us." Jacqueline says.

As for the barricade, and how Bevelle's weathered it...

"...I don't doubt it. Not only is it a big city, it's surrounding one of their Temples - and they don't let those go easily." Jacqueline says. Speaking of Temples, Marivel says she saw a Fayth. Jacqueline looks toward her with surprise. "You actually saw one? I didn't think anyone but Summoners were able to get close enough..."

But then she frowns.

"You said it was a boy...?" She comments. ...How young was he? The idea makes her a little uncomfortable. She had thought the Fayth would generally be... older.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"No, it's... important. If Spira has had the Clysmian attack the people for so long, then..."

Mariel trails off. Her feelings on this are complex, and she doesn't feel at her best; she isn't sure she can (or wants to) explain them in detail. She says nothing for a few long moments. "...I'm not responsible. But I want to make things right, anyway. And Seymour... what Seymour did, on Filgaia as well as Spira... people need to know. If they put me in jail for saying it, well..."

She still said it. And that means someone listened, however briefly. "...I don't regret it. I made a promise, a long time ago, but... I don't think the way I was trying to fulfil it was the best, or only, way. just sometimes wish there was a different way to help Filgaia ...and Lunar. I don't like fighting."

Mariel doesn't know much of the details of making war, despite having lived through more than anyone else in this conversation (except Marivel). The horrors of war she is acquainted with, but how to hold territory or barricade cities - she doesn't know as much about that, and the others probably have a better read on it, she thinks. Certainly she didn't hear anything she would object to.

Instead she focuses on what Marivel says. "You saw a Fayth?" she asks. Like Jay, she didn't think they showed themselves to non-Summoners. And Marivel is not a Summoner. Mariel doesn't take 'a boy' as meaning anything in particular, because to Mariel, all humans are young. It must be even more so for Marivel.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Hmm. Yeah, I guess you've got a point there," Tidus concedes to Cecilia. "But Sin's still in the ocean destroying anything in its path, right? If I were in charge of the Guard, I'd want to avoid splitting up my forces and having Sin destroy half my fleet in one go." He throws his arms in the air. "Then again, if I were in charge of the Guard, I wouldn't declare war just because I was mad some ancient wrinkly geezer was mean to me, so who even knows!"
    
    Bevelle, the power of Spira. "They *do* seem to have a lot of control around here. The Temple was full of all kinds of outrageous technology, especially compared to the rest of Spira," he says. "And... yeah. That fayth..." He trails off, thinking of the young boy in the hoodie. He's seen that child several times in visions now. There's something just plain weird about that. He'd ask if fayth are capable of projecting themselves across long distances, but, realistically, who here is going to know the answer to that?
    
    "Yeah, we barged into the Chamber of the Fayth," Tidus tells Jay and Mariel as casually as if he were letting her know the weather. To Avril, he says, "Hey, it's okay. We all tried our best. We'll turn things around yet." As for what will become of them, well... "Good question. We're still waiting to find out," he says, tone grim.

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

"My comrades are a a comfort," Cecilia says, though her mind strays to the number of them that have proven to be evil, the bad kind of murderous, or prone to turning into hypersatans. "But it can be difficult to have faith when it seems like I was the only one that was taught to govern with the people in my heart."

She turns her gaze down. "'The royalty are the foundation of the nation, and must work to hold the people up.' My father taught me that. It's been an Adlehyde family believe for centuries. And yet..." Sigh. "Don't mind me, I'm sure I'm just hungry," she lies, and thumps her head against the back of her cage.

She chuckles at Tidus. "Would you believe I managed to forget Sin was a factor, for a moment? Sorry. Yes, of course, I...gosh, I can't even think of how you'd handle a fleet with Sin in play. 'Don't', I guess, that's how Yevon seems to do it."

"Yes," she affirms for Mariel as well. "Several of us did. It seemed to be an idol...it felt a lot like a Guardian Statue, in a way, but it wasn't of the Guardians. There was an apparition of a boy. Sir Auron told us the Fayth were...forged from the faithful. I guess, that boy must've..."

She trails off, leaving the ending implied.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

TO BE FAIR MARIEL, despite thee fact that Marivel doesn't take damage from CURE, she is very much not alive. Not in the way that life is so often understood, anyway. "Moments before they caught us." Marivel says. "Some manner of spiritual projection, I'd suspect."

She can't help but laugh at Tidus's depiction of the Guard. It IS a little more complex than that, she knows, but she understands the feeling. And it isn't exactly offbase. It's certainly seemed to be a major contributor.

Marivel's answer to Tidus's question would probably be a shrug in of itself, so she at least isn't really going to know that particular answer. It must be particularly hard on him, she thinks, all told. She frankly admires he's as well adjusted as he is.

"Ah, yeah." She agrees on the matter of the Fayth. "We busted in. T'was not as if I were given special permission." She smiles ever so faintly. "Yuna at least was able to commune with it..."

Marivel looks at the floor of her cage when Cecilia speaks to how he was taught to govern. How her father was taught to govern. In many ways, perhaps the line of Adlehyde remembers most their line of nobility. Perhaps that is why the Guardians chose her. But Clarissa...

...Not worth reflecting on now.

"It may be a fused entity, many spirits representing themselves as one entity." Marivel thinks. "Like Legion."

She then looks to Cecilia for a long moment. "Ah..."

She looks back down to the floor of her cage. "He was a great man, your father. Being unable to save him...Filgaia is lesser for it." She pauses, "But--the fact that even through experiencing the world as you have, knowing that you keep his lessons in your heart--He would be proud of you. If I should ever see Adlehyde again--I will do what I can."

She grips the bar tightly. For a rare moment, Marivel has the appearance of someone who... looks not just frustrated, but guilty. And she does not say why she feels guilty at all, even if the feeling is on her face.

"Power and circumstances encourage kings with sticks to play at war and tyranny. They are but children unaware of what they hold, and how easily sand drifts through their fingers."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Necromancy. The Fayth. The form of a boy.
    Her head swims with it all as she tries to take it in. It all still feels like part of that dream, in parts, in pieces.

    "...I see," Avril answers, pressing her lips thin. "Then, we do not know what they intend of us."

    Frost, gently, begins to coat the bar of her cell where her one hand rests, a small spider-web pattern that grows outward, at speed.

    She can feel it. The power in her almost itches to be used. She only needs enough to make these bars brittle, to rupture this entire cage. She only needs enough to escape, to fell all who would stand in her way. She only needs enough to...

    "..."

    Slowly, with deliberation, Avril moves her hand from the bar. Clasping both hands to her chest now, she bows her head anew. "You, too, wish to be free..." she murmurs, closing her eyes. "...I understand. But we must not."

    Straightening, she stands the taller now as she turns her gaze from the bar and the already vanishing frost.

    "Then... we will wait, and see what may come," she says, more audibly. With more warmth than before, she smiles, for whatever it might be worth at this distance. "'We will turn things around yet'. Yes, I believe that I agree with that sentiment," the young queen remarks.

    "...Jacqueline... Marivel... have either of you seen Dean or Rebecca?" At last, Avril gives voice to what truly lingers on her mind. "I do not believe anything unfortunate has happened to either of them."

    But...

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

"You... just... went inside? In *Bevelle*?"

Mariel is more taken aback by the audacity than anything else. And she thought the time she tried to break into temple grounds to get a look at a certain Seal was dangerous enough.

What Mariel knew, didn't know, or feels about the Fayth is hard to tell; she's not where she's easy to see and, for a moment, she remains absolutely silent. She exhales through her nose, a silent sigh that goes on for a surprisingly long time.

"I see," she says, carefully. "Perhaps I'll learn more about the 'Fayth' soon then. If - When we can leave this place." Forged from the faithful... she shivers, though there is nobody to see it. "But there was technology here? Was it..." Mariel hesitates. How to ask this question. "Was it human-made? Or something else? I assume it was not made by the Al Bhed because they are not allowed here..."

She trails off again. Then: "How is Yuna? She was not one I was allowed to treat. I asked. They said no." A pause. "I did not see either of those either. I'm sorry."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Avril says she's a kind person. Jacqueline can't help but smile.

"...Thank you, Avril." She replies, cheered up a little.

And then, Mariel speaks. Jacqueline goes quiet, listening. She says she doesn't regret it. Jacqueline is a little relieved to hear that.

"...I agree, honestly. I wish... I wish that was possible, to." She replies, shaking her head. "I don't like fighting, either. I'd prefer to avoid it, if at all possible..."

But these days, it felt more and more like it was the only way to get people to listen to reason.

She chuckles a little at Tidus's comment on the Guard, and what he'd do if he were in charge.

"That certainly would solve a lot of problems..." She says. She listens quietly, though, as Cecilia recounts her experiences. ...She's really not sure what to say. She'd like to reassure her somehow, but... it's hard.

"...That's a good saying." Jacqueline comments. She had always been proud to be a citizen of Adlehyde. A part of her can't help but wonder if her being from there was part of the reason she turned out as well as she did.

But, then there's talking of the Fayth...

"All of you did?" Jacqueline remarks with surprise. This must have been after the rest of them got captured. Cecilia speaks of the Fayth and trails off.

"...Yeah." Jacqueline replies with a murmur. ...How much choice would they have had? A part of her can't help but internally compare it to Lunata's situation.

But, Avril speaks again.

"I agree, too. We'll get out of here. All of us, alive." She says... then glances in the direction of Marivel's voice. "Well, um. For certain definitions of the term, I guess, depending."

And as for Dean and Rebecca.

"I haven't, I'm sorry. ...But, as you say, I'm sure they're just fine. Dean... this is the kind of situation in which his relentless optimism is needed most."

Jacqueline, too, is worried about Yuna, so she pauses to listen for the response.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Hey, I believe it. We both grew up in places without Sin," Tidus reassures Cecilia, a note of joviality in his tone. As for his comment on Althena's Guard, it *is* true that it's more complicated than how he described, but he's not feeling charitable towards any major antagonistic organization right now. "And I hear you. I'm *starving*."
    
    He quiets as the topic turns to Cecilia's father. Tidus may not always catch on to what's left unsaid, but he can at least pick up clues where they're hinted at. So, her father's passed away... Having a tumultuous relationship with his own father, Tidus doesn't offer any words of sympathy; the best he can do is keep his mouth shut, he feels.
    
    They just went *inside*, though? "Yeah. If they don't even respect their own religion here in the heart of it, why should I?" Tidus tells Mariel plainly. "Well, 'we'. But I went in first, I guess. Anyway, if you wanna learn more about the fayth, Yuna's definitely the one to ask. Or maybe another Summoner? Dona's still on the Fahrenheit, unless she left after we did."
    
    His demeanor deflates when Mariel says she wasn't allowed to treat Yuna. "...I haven't seen her either," he admits quietly. "I've been worried about her." He hasn't seen anyone named Dean or Rebecca either, though he does offer, "Hey, if no one's seen them, that's a good thing, right? That means they got away." Or were never captured in the first place. "And yeah. Some of us managed to get away from Seymour's goons and over to the Temple. Yuna managed to commune with the fayth there, but... they got us on the way out." Tidus kicks the bars of his cage petulantly. "The jerks!"

<Pose Tracker> Cecilia Adlehyde has posed.

"Yeah," Cecilia says, quietly, to Marivel and Jay both. "I...want to hold on to those words. That, at least, nobody can take from me."

Her hand bunches in her shirt, where the Teardrop still isn't.

The others have somewhat answered Mariel, but Cecilia notes, "We had already drawn the ire of the Maesters. I suppose we figured...why not?" She chuckles, low. "Besides, I think I count as a holy figure to somebody, at this point." That doesn't work any better than the princess line, but at least she's branching out.

"I should prefer a peaceable solution, myself, but it seems obvious we won't be getting one."

Hum. "I haven't seen her either. Hopefully she's just being isolated. That seems like the kind of treatment they'd give her."

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Speaking from experience?" Marivel asks on that last point, but she is pretty quiet otherwise.

That kind of withdrawal into herself is, well, something some folks here have likely seen before.

"...To be honest," Marivel admits after a long moment. "I'm impressed that though you are clearly upset and angry, you are still this calm. That's not really my style but, well, my people aren't known for supression of our hearts when they've been pierced."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Yeah. Hold them close..." Jacqueline replies to Cecilia with a nod.

But, they talk more about their entrance into Bevelle's deeper sections. Jacqueline chuckles a little.

"I suppose so - if you've already made yourselves an enemy of them, you might as well learn what you can about them!" She comments. "Information is paramount in any situation - especially one like this."

As for Yuna...

"Yeah... I hope she's okay, too." She says. She doesn't know anything further, unfortunately.

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Mariel nods after Tidus' comment. She would like to talk to Yuna. She's not sure Dona would be as... well, interested in talking to Mariel; after all, she's never met her before, and would feel kind of awkward asking her prying questions. (And Mariel is aware that her questions are likely to pry a little.)

When Mariel was thinking about the audacity of entering the Fayth's area, she wasn't thinking about the political situation so much as the part where the Warrior-Monks have guns.

"I don't think that is how it works..." Mariel doesn't think of Cecilia as a holy figure. But then again her relationship with the Guardians is rather different than the Shamans', and always has been.

Mariel falls quiet again. Like Marivel, she has a tendency to do that, though usually for different reasons. Still... "I wish I could tell where she is. Or anyone else. But I can't. It's quiet here. Isolated. I..."

Even talking to people, she feels alone. She can't shake that feeling even though she knows that it is wrong.

"...I don't like it here," she says, almost too quiet to hear.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    "Isolated... Yeah, I guess they'd do that," Tidus says in response to Cecilia's suggestion, though it's clear he's bummed by the notion. He just hopes Seymour isn't creeping on her while she's being isolated. Cecilia's comment about being a holy figure gets a snort of amusement, though. "Yeah, uh huh."
    
    Mariel's quiet, almost too-quiet remark nonetheless goes heard. "Yeah," Tidus murmurs. "I don't like it here, either."
    
    Information might be paramount, but they're not going to learn much more inside here. At least, judging by the noises approaching from outside, they might finally be getting some food soon, though... or getting moved around again. Either or.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    No one else has seen Yuna since...? Avril purses her lips, an unhappy expression on her face. "I see. So no one has seen her since then..."

    What could Yevon be planning?

    "Indeed... I do not believe Rebecca or he have come to any harm. They were not among our number in the rescue mission, after all."

    Even if the presence in the depths of her heart whispers the possibility of it being otherwise and offers, ever so sweetly, the chance for her to change the situation for the better here and now.

    ...Because it is worried too, she's come to realize.

    "I am certain that they are even now seeking their way to us. We must be patient," Avril says, more certain now that this is no waking dream. The frost, after all, is gone when she glances back at it.

    "And we must not give up. Is this not the time for Dean's motto?"