2021-04-28: White Clouds II

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<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

The purge at Ethos Society headquarters did not spare the rest of St. Heim. Chaos rolled through the Cathedral itself and even spilled out into city streets at times as the Solarian wing of the Ethos rebuffed the efforts of the earthbound Etones to break free - and rebuffed them with main force. An enormous number of Etones died in the ensuing bloodbath.

So did no small number of mainline clergymen, from regular monks and nuns at orphanages and monasteries around the world to no small number of the highest cardinals and bishops at the holy city itself. The chaos claimed even the most highly-ranked of church officials.

Pope Zera Innocentius himself, apparently killed in the fighting - and in the chaos, a sede vacante left behind. And while the highest ranking survivor, High Priestess Selene, did call the Cardinals to order, even getting a quorum was a challenge given the sheer attrition left by Solaris. The citizenry of the Holy City have looked on towards the damaged Cathedral with trepidation and anxiety, wondering every day what might occur.

It is on the eve of a tense Tuesday, amid wounded silence from the battered Cathedral, that something finally changes. Vigilant watchers and frightened faithful exclaim in surprise as white smoke pours from a chimney high on the cathedral.

Word spreads quickly. Citizens and visitors alike begin to flock towards the gates of the great cathedral, towards the largest and most open square in Saint William's Annex. The message going around is simple and clear - an event that happens only a handful of times in a lifetime, but carries more weight today than ever.

A new Pope has been chosen.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius has attempted to keep watch on the goings on (aside from a period of time where he was incapacitated by a strange robot with seemingly impossible mechanical functions, these small details have bothered him a bit more than the actual near-death experience) ever since the Ethos organization got gutted. This, along with a difficult truth he only had a split second to start grasping when falling into that aforementioned near-death experience...

     His chat with a handful of others down in the pastures from shortly after the attack... also bothers him. A lot of bothering to go around. He's still dressed as a slightly out-of-place brigand of the seas, someone who doesn't look particularly ready to repent and grasp the Light. A brief inquiry about what the white smoke means among locals has him among the emotionally wounded and spiritually uncertain, of which his presence will not be helping all that much.

     He's holding a piece of bread because one of the local bakers is still so caring and giving even in times like this that... he couldn't make them go away until he accepted it. He has yet to take a bite. (He will not be doing so until he has found an ample moment to turn it into a crispy blackened brick, which he hasn't.)

<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.

Eika's first instinct, after everything, was to stay away from St. Heim.

Despite everything, she had survived it, and the battle at the Zeboim ruins. There was no need to press matters; no need to make herself available as a target for anyone who might recognize her and think she, remembered as a heretic, had something to do with it. It would mean she wouldn't be able to make sure Father Zuse was alive, but she could do that when things cooled down a little.

But part of her wants to know. Did Solaris plant one more trap in the Church? She doesn't know. They do not own the whole Church - she knows that, feels it in her bones. But that doesn't mean they can't sneak their way in - or shoot their way in - and take advantage of the chaos. She has no optimism anymore to think they would not try it.

So she's here. There's probably not much she can do unless Solaris drops in some soldiers with guns, but it's something that's just possible enough that she wants to be sure. Also, it gets her a name, which is all to the best.

Eika is half-down an alley at the fringe of the Annex. She can see, if she leans out, but nobody's going to get in her way, and vice versa. Her battered clothes are covered with an equally-tattered robe. She looks like she wandered in from the poor part of town, but given the recent chaos in St. Heim, she could be anyone. Her hood is raised to hide her hair.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

It has been a very testing time for the followers of Granas. So much widespread chaos and bloodshed... it's awful.

Yulie usually doesn't like to stay in one place for too long, but in the wake of everything she feels like she needs to - that she needs to stay to tend to who and what she can before continuing her flight.

The others understand. They haven't questioned it.

And so it is that she is in St. Heim when white smoke pours from a cathedral chimney. A signal. She pauses, staring at it for a moment... and then hurries to join the crowd at the square.

She needs to see what's happened.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    There are somewhat less reputable sections of the holy city -- though by the standards of most, even this publican house or whatever you want to call it (a bar) is comparatively still a god damn church. The woman in the hooded cloak pauses a moment in one of those places of 'lesser repute' taking the time to regard the wanted posters. One particular poster has gotten slightly folded over, a crease running diagonally across its length. Taking the moment to readjust it and tack it up again, the woman considers the poster's placement as a wide grin splits across her face.

    "Heh. Lookin' sharp," she remarks to the poster, before heading on her way.

    Even if she's a wanted woman, Josephine Lovelace has a job to do.

    She strides into the square soon after, joining the rest of the waiting throng.

    The announcement should come along soon.

    It's strange to think it, though. The pope's dead. Here's hoping the little lady in Nisan doesn't kick it just yet...

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida is not sure if she still believes, but she couldn't let Yulie come here alone. She needs support, and perhaps protection from the Odessan agents who are hunting her, and the illusion of safety in St. Heim has been broken.

    A taller figure stands next to Yulie, dressed in a grey mourning cloak like so many of the other parishioners. The hood is pulled up to shade her face, but there seems to be some bandaging underneath--a great deal, in fact. She carries a walking stick, equal parts support and potential emergency weapon.

    As smoke pours from the chimney, Ida's breath catches in her throat. "What timing," she breathes, her voice soft and full of tension. She hurries after Yulie, blending into the edge of the crowd.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

The good news is, nobody makes a stink about Eika hiding in an alley. She's inconspicuous there, and the Church has bigger problems right now - and those out to winnow out the ranks of the Etones have mostly been dealt with, deep in the ruins of Zeboim. Similarly, nobody spots Josephine Lovelace, or at least nobody singles her out as a troublemaker. Not yet, at least.

 Steadily, the crowd grows. Those gathered are not merely civilians, but priests and a handful of former Etones - and Drifters, of course. The air in the Annex is one of anxiety and worry - no one is quite sure what will happen.

The stir stills as attention is drawn to a balcony up the side of the great Cathedral of Granas, overlooking the Annex. A curtain parts. The figure who steps out onto the balcony is a simple priest in Granasian garb, an old man with silver hair. He looks out over the balcony a moment before raising his voice.

"Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum," he intones, the words echoing over the square. "Habemus papissam."

The statement draws a stir. A few deacons in the crowd translate it quickly enough: We have a popess. Some in the crowd jump to conclusions. Selene, no doubt - the High Priestess. The announcement plays on, translators keeping up earily enough.

The assumptions are quickly undermined. "The most emiment and most revered lady, Lady Aria, Priestess and Seeress of the Church of Granas, who has taken the name Callista."

A cheer rises from the crowd - most of it, anyway. There are flickers of confusion and surprise. The priestess known to the faith community as the Impetuous Friend had been something of a gadfly to the Church, criticizing its corruption as bringing about the conditions for the Day of Darkness. And now, the curtain behind the balcony parts a second time.

The priestess who reached out to the Drifter community a few weeks before emerges on the balcony in the white and red robes of the Pontiff, mitre exchanged for a simpler gold diadem set with a few colourful gems and tassels. Sightless as she is, she's guided by a slimmer figure - a pallid young woman, emotionless, a pair of blue twintails spilling out from beneath the peaked red and white headgear of a Granasian cardinal.

It's not the choice most of the crowd expected.

<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.

Eika isn't going to start a fuss unless someone starts it for her. She seems a little tense, but half of St. Heim is tense, so that doesn't stand out at all.

She was a priestess, sort of; she was an Etone, not a preacher or a religious scholar. One of the ones sent to ruins to recover, and if that failed, destroy technology that could be dangerous. She knows what this ritual is even if she's never seen it before in person, and when silence dawns, she looks out of the alleyway.

Eika squints for a long moment, trying to view her more clearly at a distance. She doesn't recognize the priestess. Aria. Callista. That in and of itself doesn't mean anything; being an Etone doesn't mean you know literally every other priest, because there are a lot of them and it's not like she was ever high-ranked. Recently, of course, she's been avoiding as many religious figures as she can, which is why she got all her information about the recent events second-hand - until she decided to show up herself, anyway. But it's clear that people do, and didn't expect her selection.

She's not immediately sure what to make of it. Usually, she knows, they have a vague idea of who the likely electee is, or at least one of a handful of names. But with all the chaos in St. Heim, the whole lot of them could be dead completely accidentally. Then again, they could be dead completely on purpose to install...

...who?

"Huh," she says to herself. She clambers up onto a barrel so she can see over the crowd a little better.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie is thankful to have Ida here. After everything that's happened, she's been a little nervous - jumping at shadows, worried that something worse will happen... Her presence is reassuring.

She, too, is dressed for mourning - in place of her usual blue outfit, she wears a black dress, and for the time being her ribbon is gone from her hair.

"...I guess... after everything that happened, that felt it was important to find a replacement quickly..." Yulie murmurs, with a glance toward Ida at her comment. After everything that happened, some sign of stability would be key to restoring peace to the people, she supposes.

She goes quiet, though, as a curtain parts, and a man speaks - his words quickly translated. Soon enough, the identity of the one they'd chosen becomes clear -

"Sister Aria...?" Yulie remarks, surprised. She only knows her as the one who had been rising a stir among the church - she wasn't among those who received an invitation to the secret meeting. "I wouldn't have guessed..."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The strange man who has yet to eat any of his free bread holds something else in the other hand idly as the announcement is made. (It's held close enough that there's not much to be seen other than a glint of something metallic.) He mouths out the words to himself as the announcement is made, and is only moments ahead of the common words. He hears whispers of the name 'Selene' here and there around him. Selene, High Priestess, that name was uttered several times following the wake of the news of Pope Zera Innocentius' untimely demise.

     'Lady Aria, Priestess and Seeress of the Church of Granas, who has taken the name Callista.'

     Ethius has not been personally present for meetings concerning an Impetuous Friend, but the appearance of the young woman next to her seems familiar (...ish) and her mannerisms noteworthy to him at this distance. He walks up a bit closer through the crowds, only coincidentally coming up closer towards where Yulie and Ida have gathered as the whispers and surprise are barely audible over the cheers of people just happy there is a new Popess to see the faith through.

     "Hm," is as much as he vocalizes as he looks to the blue-haired woman by the side of the new Popess, which... from this distance (and amount of movement by people about as tall as he is near him) isn't easy.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Even if someone did ID Josie and start a fuss (which the hood is meant to, at least, forestall) that wouldn't be so terrible a problem as some. Sure, it would take some bullets and quick thinking to manage, but...

    It's probably the least of the Odessa agent's concerns. Besides, she'd been asked to watch, not start a riot.

    "...Never was any good with the old tongue," Josie laments, turning her attention on one of the deacons doing the translating job. She can keep up with about... half of that, maybe.

    We have a popess, though?

    "Huh. Must be--"

    Not Selene.

    "...Don't that beat all. I'm gonna owe Yue money."

    Not that Yue had guessed correctly either -- no one had as far as she knew, in the betting pool. But Josie had quite firmly put her chips on Selene, and...

    So they have a Popess Callista.

    She surveys the crowd close enough at hand, trying to see what the people on the ground are thinking, feeling. Surprise seems to be the order of the day. But no one seems precisely upset... unless they're in the ranks of the orthodox followers, that is.

    One particular face catches Josie's eye. Yulie.

    Even with nearly half her face hiden by her hood, perhaps the grin that Josie flashes her way -- coupled with a little wave -- might be familiar.

    Maybe she'll pass it along. Maybe not. Today it's not her concern.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Perched atop a veranda that in no way belongs to him, face and features hidden amidst a bundling of cloth robes that seem more at home on a desert prince than a devout Granasian is... someone who very much projects the air of belonging specifically to that particular space in that particular time. He projects an air of rulership and total reign over his usurped veranda like a squatting tiger holds unquestionable court over its stretch of the jungle.

It's Cyre Lorentz, of course, who is here to watch the proceedings play out as he's sure they will. He's fairly certain he knows a thing or two about what's going on and why, and the churning sense of disquiet at the seat of his skull won't let him forget that he had played a hand in it all.

Of course, in many ways, this whole process was inevitable the moment She set her mind to accomplishing it. Maybe he could have derailed it much earlier. Much, much earlier. But he is a man with a painfully sentimental heart.

So at least, he can bear witness. If this is indeed Her doing, then he should probably be present to see it.

...IF it's Her, anyway.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    "Quite possible," Ida says. Convenient, too--but she doesn't say that out loud. Too many listening ears around. Given the devastation wrought by the purge, it would be incredibly easy to slip more agents into positions of power. Even if Selene--whose loyalty seems legitimate, and whose office makes Ida deeply upset via its mere existence--is elected, they have other vacancies to fill. The question then becomes: who would like to subvert a major world religion?

    Who wouldn't?, Ida thinks, bitterly. She no longer wears her scapulars, but she reaches up to touch where they'd rest.

    The deacons continue to translate, and Ida's eyebrows rise. On one hand, Selene. On the other, this unknown quantity who appeared, oh so conveniently, to foretell the fall of the Order of Ethos. And that woman with her looks so familiar, but from this distance, Ida can't tell exactly why...

    The net result is that Ida looks up at the balcony with a thoughtful half-frown beneath her bandages. "I wonder how the vote broke down," Ida murmurs, to Yulie. "That cardinal, with her... is she new?"

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

The anonymous blue-haired cardinal steps off to one side, hands clasped behind her back impassively to clear the way for Aria to step up to the railing of the balcony. Unseeing but aware through noise and sheer presence, the newly-minted pontiff looks out over the crowd, moving her hand to trace a shape in the air. A simple blessing for those gathered.

"Peace be with you all." Her voice carries across the square with a simple gravity, subtly amplified by some manner of magic. That in itself isn't unusual, at least. Popes make announcements from this balcony all the time.

Aria's hand falls to the balcony. "This was not the situation we thought we would find ourselves in," she says to the crowd below. "When I spoke out first against corruption within our Church - at behaviour that had paved the way for the Day of Darkness - it was understandable that many would doubt. But what we have seen in the past days has revealed the truth. The Order of the Ethos was compromised by outsiders with their own agenda - and compromised for a very long time.

"The late Pope, Zera Innocentius, knew this. His records reveal it - that this deception was hidden from us for ages. That the leader of the Church of Granas himself could turn a blind eye while our faith was subverted... it is inconceivable. And yet, we are here. We face this. This monstrous sin."

She bows her head and closes her eyes. "It has been asked of me, because I foresaw the doom upon us, that I finish removing the corruption - to prepare our faith for the days ahead. I did not seek this. This was never the goal I sought.

"But I would betray the faithful if I turned away now," she says as she raises her chin again.

"The time ahead will be difficult for us all. The taint of corruption has been woven deep into the foundations of our faith. It will take serious measures to finish rooting it out. But we must own up to it. It has been the failures of those who professed faith in Granas that have led us to the doorstep of Darkness. We must do what we can to drain the swamp that has been allowed to fester for too long. We will renew the Church, if you can but place your faith in me."

<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.

There's Ida, Eika thinks, and that weird summoner. She doesn't want to talk to them. She ensures her hood is tugged all the way up so she's slightly less recognizable.

Eika had wondered that, when she was piloting Firewheel from the Headquarters to the Dig. Zera Innocentius... he'd been an Etone. The Etones had been proud of that, because it helped to unify them with the rest of the Church instead of being a monastic order occasionally in conflict with the rest of the priests.

She digs her nails into her palm for a moment, then relaxes. A moment where she calms herself. She doesn't miss the speech, though - she's still listening.

But she does not, other than that, visibly react. Part of this is the Church saying what it needs to. Other people may be losing their faith, but she still believes - the Church can and must do good, and that involves finding everything Solaris left behind. But part of it still makes her uncomfortable. She can't say why. She doesn't *know* why.

Maybe it's paranoia. She's been burned before, and if they're even stricter about keeping the faith - well, she won't be welcome here, ever. Maybe she should leave before the speech finishes.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Yulie glances toward Ethius as he approaches. She's a little surprised to see him... but at the same time, maybe she shouldn't be. She offers a brief nod in his direction... but as she moves to look back at the balcony, she spots a face. She's covered, so she can't tell for sure... but that grin is familiar.

Yulie, for a moment, looks surprised... but then, cautiously, returns that small wave with one of her own. She doesn't smile.

"I... don't know. I'm sorry..." Yulie replies, looking back at Ida. "I don't think I've seen her before, though..."

She returns her attention to the balcony, then, as Aria speaks. She listens quietly, then looks toward Ida to see her reaction.

"She seems... dedicated, at least..." She comments, sounding a little unsure. She's still not entirely sure what to make of Aria yet, though.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    With the aftermath of the tragedies in St. Heim, what comes next is the need for supplies. Some are mundane, like water and food, while others tiptoe towards the reaosn for this uptick in business, like bandages and salves.

    The rest are things Gwen can't deliver. A courier can only do so much with one Gear, and things like coffins are best left to people better able to handle such grim subjects with the gravity and dignity that is necessary.

    Wiping the sweat from her brow as she watches the proceedings with mild curiosity, Gwen's eyebrows raise as Aria's name is declared. "Well, this is good news, considerin' she stuck her neck out."

    That's what Gwentes softly, as she comes in earshot of Ida, Yulie, and the others near there.

    The one thing that bugs Gwen about the whole thing is...

    "What'd'ya feel about all this, Ida?" The courier's face is the face of someone who has her own opinion, but doesn't feel she can necessarily say it aloud.

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre is not a political sort. He is, however, probably one of the most... savvy members of the Carakin when it comes to doublespeak and innuendo. It comes with the position of Official Rogue-man. To the faithful Granasian whose world has been so viciously turned on its head over the past few months, words of reassurance and purpose and renewal must be balm to the soul. But there's an undercurrent there, a suggestion that there are <pure> Granasians and <impure> ones, that there is a corruption to be purged, and that it is only right and good to take part in or at least acquiece to that purge.

But... there's poison there. A kind of venom that seeps into the soul and brands certitude upon the heart. If this is the work of... a certain other impetuous friend, then...

Well. It certainly wouldn't hurt to be vigilant, would it?

Cyre continues to watch and wait, building scenarios in his mind.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Ethius' gaze continues to track the cardinal off to the pontiff's side for some time, like there's a specific detail about it he's not yet ready to let go. Whether it means anything more than he stands around and exists to make people vaguely uncomfortable is yet to be seen. He turns away briefly only when a young woman nods at him (that's Yulie, he recognizes now) and picks up some of Ida's utterances (Gwen ends up identifying her for him by accident).

     "The cardinal, by the side of the Popess... there is an uncanny resemblance," says the odd man uninvited and unsolicited as he ends up taking his place off to the left of Gwen, but mostly because it lets him put a back to a wall somewhere. "To the... automaton?" Ethius has a notable pause that breaks his usual rhythm and tone in the way he speaks, as if the exact word choice he uses were of far more import than what follows. "That ARMS retrieved some time back."

     A hand to his forehead. The hand is holding bread. There is now bread to his forehead. He doesn't comment on the actual content of the speech or what is said of Pope Zera Innocentius and his apparent crimes.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida feels Yulie tense up beside her. She glances in Josie's direction, catching sight of her--she doesn't recognize the other woman at a glance, but her knuckles tighten around her walking stick. "It's all right," she says. "Just something I noticed." She falls silent, then, and listens. The newly-crowned Popess Callista speaks volumes. Ida's expression does not waver beneath the bandages, but her hands grow tighter, the leather of her gloves creaking softly. Gwen addresses her, and it takes a little effort not to jump. Instead, Ida turns to her, and smiles a grim little smile. "The dawn of a new era," she says. "Our blind prophetess is now a divinely-ordained inquisitor, sent to cleanse the faith." Ida is smiling, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

    Gwen has seen that smile before. When it happens, Ida's making grim calculations, and possibly figuring out if she's going to have to kill someone.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Is that Ida?

    The smile doesn't leave Josie's face, precisely; she wiggles her fingers in a sort of greeting across the distance. It's a little too bad about the hood or she might even have winked.

    But the new pope -- something about her seems vaguely familiar -- is giving a speech, and Josie ought to pay attention to that.

    Huh. That doesn't sound like the usual address you'd expect at these -- not that she's all that much of an expert, having only seen the Holy Mother... once in her life? But it's sounding like something was up and the former pope kept it quiet, and...

    Josie rubs at her chin. Did Vinsfeld and Antenora know something like this was going on? Was that why...
    A thought occurs to her. But, no. She doesn't think the new pope's one of theirs.

    There'd been a rumor the church was eating out of Solaris' hand amidst some of her fellow agents, and now she's wondering if that particular table hasn't been overturned by someone who isn't with Odessa.

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

The masses seem to respond well to the speech, but there's an undercurrent of anxiety to it all. The revelation that even Pope Zera Innocentius was compromised leaves more than a few looking at one another uneasily. The Pope is supposed to be above such things.

If even the Vicar of Granas can be compromised, what does that mean for the rest of them? It's a question on more than a few minds as Aria speaks.

"In the days ahead," the newly-minted Aria Callista continues, "you will hear more as we move to restore the faith. But there is one act I shall take today, before you."

She holds a hand out. "The evil ones who subverted the Ethos," she says, "preyed on the most vulnerable among us. Used our own orphanages to harm innocent children. When they struck against our Church, they struck at many of these orphanages. Holy Granas will not tolerate this any longer. For the sake of our children, we will rebuild our network of orphanages and monasteries and place them not in the hands of an unaccountable order answerable to none, but in the hands of ordained brothers and sisters of the faith. We will begin restoring our faith by restoring our covenant with our most vulnerable."

That, at least, draws applause and a few cheers from the crowd, mostly of relief. Soon enough, Aria raises her hand to bless the crowd once more. "Please, listen in the days ahead for more. You will hear from us on what is to come. Go with Granas, and may you be blessed."

With a last bow of her head, Aria turns to the blue-haired cardinal. The pair vanish back behind the curtain, leaving the crowd to chatter amongst themselves in a whirlwind of mixed opinion.

<Pose Tracker> Eika Zuse has posed.

The orphanages...

Eika grew up there. Under the watchful eye of Father Achim, whose name she took when she became adult; Achim Zuse. Hearing the Pope speak about it cuts deep and not for the reasons it's probably meant to. It hurts that some of them were controlled - but not all of them were. She wasn't. Father Achim wasn't. And she's giving them a target to blame, whether she means to or not; the children of the monasteries, believed traitors simply because of where they grew up and with who.

Eika slams her fist on the wall in the alleyway. This gets some looks - she's not that quiet - but nothing beyond that; it sort of blended in with the applause and didn't carry further than the people nearest her.

A few moments longer, and she turns in a swirl of robe, vanishing into the depths of the alleys. She doesn't want to be here any more. Maybe she *shouldn't* have come back to St. Heim, this time.

There's nothing here for her any more.

<Pose Tracker> Yulie Ahtreide has posed.

Gwen approaches, too. Yulie offers her a nod of greeting, as well, and a slight smile. She nods, though, as Ida reassures her... but frowns as she speaks. Cleansing the faith...

"...Hasn't there been more than enough of that...?" Yulie murmurs. Is that what Aria was after...? She hadn't even processed yet the revelations about the Pope.

...She finds she's unsure what to think as Aria continues. It sounds nice, but... she can only hope this will lead to good things.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    The odd man who is now even odder because he's doing one of his stock animations with bread against his forehead as he keeps most of whatever he's thinking about all this to himself, up to and including how ridiculous it is that he is putting bread against his forehead. This may be a new personal low in his roughly five years of recollection of being someone that exists. He must now contend with how he has bread against his forehead.

     This personal revelation aside, this impetus to bring that bread down away from his forehead also aside, he looks off to the side as a loud noise comes from a nearby alleyway (just barely audible above the applause). He doesn't dwell on it overlong since it doesn't sound like anything he considers alarming (not an ARM going off, etc) beyond just the suddenness of the event.

     These events alone are not abnormal, at face value. He thinks to himself. How he has a basis for these events being 'not abnormal' is not clear to him by the span of his memory. Has he seen proceedings such as these before? He's... sure. In what capacity, where, when, and how often? That much is not clear. (But he also just put bread to his forehead.)

     The cardinal's a bit more interesting, but he's not yet certain how much of that should move beyond 'this is novel/interesting' when he is always juggling so many details of 'this is odd' against a criteria he sometimes taps glimpses of.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Indeed, Gwen knows that smile like she knows the point of one of her own knives.

    "So," Gwen states, her grin gaining that polished, practiced ease of a courier used to smiling in all situations, good and bad. She claps her hands together once.

    "So we're on the same page!"

    a-are they..?

    "... Hey, isn't that Ethius over there?" Pause. ".... Huh, is that a loaf of bread he's got on his forehead?"

    Her stomach growls.

    "Heeeeyy, how 'bout we all find a nice place that hasn't already temporarily closed down and get a bite to eat?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The children. The orphanages. Ida feels like she's just been punched, but she doesn't so much as flinch. That she's kept her public face in one piece after all she's been through is remarkable, but the stakes... well, if half of what Ida suspects is true, they're very high.

    "Yes, Yulie," Ida murmurs. "There's been more than enough of that." She turns to Gwen, then. "I hope so. I truly do." At the mention of Ethius, she frowns, slightly, and files it away for later. "In the meantime, I... have a doctor's appointment to get to."

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Go with Granas, says the new pope of the Orthodoxy, and Josie is just left resting her hand on her chin, her lips pursed thoughtfully.

    'Cleansing the faith', huh. After what's just happened...

    Throwing up her hands, Josie shakes her head before, as the crowd -- slowly -- starts to disperse, vanishing into it herself.

    They'll be interested in this one, for sure. And then...

    Well, who knows. Maybe this might be more up his alley than the last one apparently was.