2022-01-05: Strange Rumblings in Guadosalam

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<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Spira is in uncharted territory and ever more turbulent times. Few places illustrate this more than Guadosalam. The late Jyscal Guado pivoted his people towards greater cultural influence by embracing the tenets of Yevon. So enraptured and surrounded by death, the Farplane had become less and less a place to guard and protect, and instead something approaching being little better than a tourist trap.

     With Seymour's broader, bolder, openly malicious actions as the leader of the Guado, and the ingrained insular nature of their sense of right and wrong as pertains to their own... they no longer enjoy the decadence of the last few decades. Almost none visit Guadosalam now, and indeed, the few Guado who make their living outside of Guadosalam have found themselves shunned. Only worrisome whispers leave, as if a quiet murmur for help. A murmur ignored, for what the Guado people have enabled.

     One - no, two - have an idea. They ignore the firm protest of their mother about Guado affairs. They get the word out through the providence of a Bevelle-born soldier making scouting rounds about the perimeter of Guadosalam.

     A Bevelle-born soldier that both saved the life of, on the day Mauri extended that false diplomatic offer. From there, the various Drifter contacts - and even Yuna's own - receive a message.

     'Come to the outskirts of Guadosalam at this time, this is important and concerns Seymour.' Not Maester Seymour. Just Seymour. The sheer gall of it would have garnered hushed whispers and clutched pearls. 'My sister and I need your help. Everyone here does.'

     "Will they come?" Asks a young, green-haired Guado girl no older than about ten or eleven, holding an oversized staff for protection. This close to the Farplane, no matter the efforts of the Guardians, there are Fiends... and there are less Guado Guardians handling them. She stands now among the tangled wood and the humid air, resting upon one such trunk like one might a seat.

     "They're going to!" Defiantly snaps her older sister, maybe three or four years older than her, a dark blue-haired Guado dressed in her Blitzball uniform - the closest thing to combat-ready armor she can find, a better self defense-grade ball in her grasp due to the connections the two have made. She's at her limit in stress, both are making a big risk.

     Would the Drifter community lend aid to those so deeply culpable for many of Spira's current problems? Doubt starts to weigh ever heavier with every passing hour, staying at the meeting place out of conviction that it's the only way. 

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Yes.

The answer is yes.

"Of course we must go," Yuna says immediately when the message reaches her and her companions. It's the most decisive she's been in some time; she is seemingly content to let others steer the ship, on the whole, after her long long watch at its helm. And maybe this is just more of the same.

It's always been hard to separate who Yuna is as a person, from cries for her help.

She is not in disguise, and as she approaches the Guado children on the outskirts of the city, she bows deeply, as though to an elder, instead. Having heard them chatter among themselves, she does not inquire as to whether they're the ones who put out the call. Instead she smiles at them, very gently. Though her eyes are grave.

"Good day," she greets them. Once upon a time that might have been 'blessings of Yevon upon you.' Once upon a time, a lot of things were true.

Yuna's skirts are heavy with the mud of the swamps, plus a thousand other places on her journey.

"I am Yuna," she adds politely. "From the Isle of Besaid. My friends and I have come to aid the Guado."

<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.

It is not how Lulu expected to return to Guadosalam. ...Not that she, indeed, expected to return to Guadosalam anytime soon. But when the message came, Lulu made no argument; she simply started to prepare to leave. Yuna is grave; Lulu, behind her and to the side, is also grave, as always. She looks over the young Guado before her...

Children, really. ...Just like she was, all those years ago. She will not see their tale end like hers did back then.

Yuna speaks, and Lulu simply makes eye contact with the elder and the younger in turn, nodding once. There is nothing more that she needs to say until they elaborate. 

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Maybe it's irony, or maybe just good timing, that this call for help from Guadosalam has come just after Yuna and her Guardians had a trip aboard the Chibiki-Iwa Express, which prompted them to wonder if maybe they could find a clue about the path forward if they were able to visit the Farplane again. At the time, Tidus wasn't expecting it to ever happen. Now?
    
    Well, now here they are. Because of course the answer is yes.
    
    "Right behind you, Yuna," Tidus said at the time. Now, he walks with her towards the outskirt of the city, likewise as he is, looking curiously at the two Guado children.
    
    "Hey there! Howdy," he says in greeting as he raises a hand. A bit of a smile plays at his lips; it figures that if any of the Guado reached out to them, it'd be a) the youth b) at least one blitzer. He nods along with Yuna's greeting, adding, "I'm Tidus. You're the ones who called for help, right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    Boudicca was in Filgaia, when Ida radioed her with the message. It's quite a ways to rush through, to get to Guadosalam, at this time. She gets the very next train out, through the Elw's network...

    There are many people with sisters, of course. A message passed like whispers again and again and again cannot possibly say WHO was asking, to any level of detail. But when it comes to sisters of Guadosalam, Boudicca can think only of one pair who would send such ripples out through the worlds to seek assistance.

    In full helmed plate, all trimmed with silk skirts and ruffles and a sweeping green-and-orange cape, Boudicca sweeps in; her feet do not bother with touching the ground, all the better to get her here on time. Relief floods her grey-green eyes to see Yuna and her Guardians here, dipping her head in a nod to them before she turns to --

    "Timu," Boudicca says, her voice warm. She addresses them as equals, no matter their stature; she knows what they have wrought. "Pani. How glad I am to see you well." Her hands clasp together, and she smiles, to them, before her expression grows more serious. "You require aid, and we are come."

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

CYRE IS HERE TOO.

...

Honestly he feels a little bit guilty about everything that happened after the whole 'your leader is a genocidal maniac who deserves to be punched in the face repeatedly' thing. Seymour might deserve a judicious amount of limitless face-punching, but in the pursuit of such a lofty goal, Cyre ended up punching a certain other Guado instead.

Metaphorically, of course. Cyre rarely actually punches things. He's a shaman, after all! Wind is his prefered bludgeon of choice.

Still, the plight of a marginalized spiritual people being persecuted to the point of destruction somehow hits home for the BEASTMAN BASKAR SHAMAN. So... He is here.

"Hey, you two..." Cyre says upon his arrival just behind Yuna and her entourage. "How's your dad been? Hopefully he's been resting up properly after everything that happened over in Zanarkand?" 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel isn't in disguise either. "Oh ho ho ho!!!" She rises out of shadow, wearing a JACK O LANTERN for a head, her BLACK CAPE swishing dramatically around her as she she rises triumphantly to her maximum mighty height of like 4'11.

"How are my favorite Guado this fine SPOOKTACULAR day...!"

When you're a vampire every day is Halloween.

Her eyes settle on the powerful blitzball in the elder sister's hands.

She remembers... Besaid Man...

"...Be careful with that thing. You could hurt someone with that. My sensitive pumpkin head can't take another hit!"

She had no idea Yuna was going to be coming either. So when she shows up and introduces herself...

Marivel in her pumpkinhead costume looks towards Yuna.

"...."

"...."

Somehow the pumpkin gets blush stickers and says, "Ah--ahhh.... This is just..." She makes frantic gestures with her hands, worrying that her COOL IMAGE of a MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT is forever ruined!

Again! 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Spira's one of the first areas Azoth found himself exploring in earnest and learning the plight of when he found himself mingling among organic lifeforms and trying to learn their ways. But a request from a certain pair is doubly something he does not want to ignore, and with what he discovered in Zanarkand, Azoth doesn't have to. And near Guadosalam... A place Azoth's reached once before, only to be turned away at the gates, like so many others.

He bounds up to the meeting place, all smiles. "Hey, Timu, Pani!" His expression softens. "I'm glad to see you both in one piece." It hasn't been easy for them, he knows.

With a glance to Yuna, his eyes brighten as he perks up, looking back to the two children. Children who, woefully, must act as if they are not. "Looks like you'll have no shortage of good help. So what's all of this about?"

<Pose Tracker> Mariel has posed.

Similarly, this is not how Mariel expected to return to Guadosalam.

Still, she came. If it's important...

Mariel walked, and so it took her a while to pick her way through the swamp - swamps are dangerous if you don't know them, and while she knows swamps in general, she doesn't know this swamp in specific very well. If it was on Filgaia, she wouldn't have even needed to slow down, but on Lunar... she'll take her time.

She doesn't crowd, which means she's quiet. But she often is, and there are people here she knows. Rest assured that if she has something to say, she'll say it, but right now she just offers a faint smile, both toward the children and some of the others. Marivel, Boudicca, Yuna and her crew. It doesn't look very forced, at least.

It being about Seymour worries her. Seymour... is difficult, for a number of reasons. 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

A Drifter contact who is involved in the slow-motion escape plan of the Hounds of Hell from 'Spira' to 'Filgaia, and freedom' (rather than 'western Lunar, and probably dying for Althena or something, again') passed on this particular request, as they were well situated.

Guadosalam is a difficult place for Margaret. Her group is not large; and a detachment was cornered in a vicious skirmish here, in this twisting place that once had beauty and luxury among it. That detachment had one of her oldest allies and friends; and it did not have him when it returned from Guadosalam. It did have everyone else -- but that is cold comfort.

So that's why there's four people who approach this rendezvous point through the trees wearing dun-grey cloaks and who stay some distance away. When they get within eyeshot, there is a pause and a moment of discourse. DIspute. Confusion.

("Children?" "Why children?" "They had better not be some kind of unsent murder spree." "... why would...")

Shuffle, rustle, shuffle, and in the end they stay back, two of them with bows at the ready. One advances. And...

"Oh for the goddess's sake," Margaret says as she gets within about eight yards and is faced with the pumpkinic force of Marivel, sweeping back her hood and letting out an enormous SIGH as if her entire scenario and tone of approach was just thrown into the swamp.

Margaret's head turns. Seeing Tidus and Lulu, she raises a hand to wave; seeing Yuna, her eyebrows lift, and the wave gains a little energy. "Well," she says, "I'm glad to see you're well, Lady Yuna."

Facing the children, Margaret puts her hands on her hips. "I see you've met the rest of these people," she says to Timu and Pani. "I am Margaret, a legendary bandit queen, now turned to the cause of not doing that middle part any more. ... What's up. As they say, on Filgaia."

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.


Rikku answers Yuna's simple declaration, "Then - we're going!" Without a hint of hesitation.

Despite the fact it's Guadosalam. Obviously her feelings regarding that place must be complicated.

After all, it still stands.

Boots caked in Macalania mud, the Al Bhed girl hurries up alongside Yuna and the other Guardians.

"Must be!" As she answers Tidus, "The name's Rikku! And we're here to..."

Rikku pauses, then takes a good long look at Marivel's costume. Looks at it long and hard, up and down - gazes deeply into it's Pumpkinheaded visage.

Rikku uses Bribe.

Rikku hands over 99 gil to PUMPKINHEAD.

"As I was saying-"

She's holding out a hand expectantly, what will the fiend do!?

"-whatever it is we're here to lend a hand." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

While Jacqueline's attention has been largely on Filgaia these days, she hasn't forgotten Spira's plight. As always, she's keeping an eye on the situation there... which means that when a message is delivered to the Drifters, Jacqueline receives it shortly. From there, it's... pretty much a foregone conclusion that she'll answer it. They said the words that'll always get her attention, after all - 'I need your help'.

And so, she arrives at the outskirts of Guadosalam at the appointed time, offering the assorted a nod of greeting.

"Hello, everyone." She greets with a wave, before turning her attention to the Guado children with a smile.

"Timu, Pani. It's good to see the two of you again." She says. "Ah... if I may ask, how's your father doing?"

But of course, he's not why they're here.

"Don't worry. We're all here to help." Jacqueline says. Others have already asked the question, so she elects to quiet and let them continue. 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel gives Rikku a hard candy. It looks (and tastes!) like butterscotch! Did she misunderstand the gesture?? 

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.


No not at all, Rikku happily unwraps the candy and chews on it. Just as planned.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    Boudicca looks over at Rikku and Marivel, and back to Timu and Pani. Straight-faced, she assures them: "Please do not be concerned. Miss Pumpkin is very dependable."

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Word filtered in, and spread quickly among those Drifters who've made contacts in Spira. Ida had a few guesses as to who might be behind it, and after getting in touch with Boudicca, she agreed to answer the call, as carefully and discreetly as possible. Between the two of them, it wasn't a matter of "if", but "when".

    A big draft chocobo trots through the swamp behind Boudicca, his talons sinking into the loam. Sterling's plumage is a pale white-gold, and he bears his tack, saddle, and pack as easily as he bears his rider. Ida wears a colorful green-and-gold patterned cloak over her usual Spiran attire: a scandalous shirt that bears arms and midriff, and pants that tuck into her traveling boots. All of it bears the blues and golds of her House.

    Ida smiles. She climbs out of Sterling's saddle, and leads him towards the rest of the growing huddle. "I kept an eye out," she says. "I don't think we were followed, but if we were, I think they'd think twice about starting anything." Her smile grows sisterly as she looks down at the two young Guado. "As Boudicca said, we're here. And quite a few of us, too--"

    An idle glance to the side. There, near Tidus and Rikku and Lulu, is Yuna. Surprise lights up Ida's face, but it quickly gives way to a look of relief. They can catch up later. Right now, the girls' message takes top priority.

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Of course the Outreach has come. Given their leadership, how could they not? Not only is the good of all their aim and goal, there are many of their number who know full well of the plight relayed by the young Guado.
    And of the silence they likely have received.

    Someone -- maybe an entire people -- are in need. That is all that matters.

    "We have come to lend aid to the Guado," Avril says. Because that is all there is to say -- all that there is that matters.

    She has come here with open hands today, in the hopes that this is a wall that can yet be climbed over. 

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    It is amazing how word can spread across the two worlds, from one coincidental messenger. But it spreads, and spreads far and wide. And of the many it reaches, one of them is a woman now recovered from burns in an ill-fated assault on Lake Macalania. And when it reaches her, she knew she should go.

    When she realized the messengers, she knew it was a summons she couldn't and wouldn't refuse.

    As they crest the path leading towards Guadosalam, Pearl looks much different from both the last time she was here and the last time the young Guado saw her. Her hair is cut much shorter, a little more than medium length and covering one eye. She wears a bold short robe, in green and yellow and white, with blue metal embellisments hanging from the skeeve and chest, plain gray martial arts trouser, and white knee-high boots, with touches of green and yellow. Her companion, on the other hand, is no longer wearing his scarf and beanie, but instead has gone back to his traditional red cape.

    It was a gift from his father.

    A gift that, right now, is getting muddy and wet as Leo Jr rolls full speed past and through the gathered crowd, driving straight to Pani. Leo Jr is a bulb with no sense of decorum, joyously screaming "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu' the whole way. He'll stop softly enough to just bump in to Pani's legs, if not interrupted.

    Which leaves Pearl to chase after him and catch up to the rest of the group, the young Summoner looking out at those assembled. At least they are taking matters seriously. As is she. She gives a bow- not a Yevonite one- before walking forward to see Timu and Pani. "I am glad to see you both well." Everyone else has asked about news, it's known why they're here. "Thank you for contacting us." She steps back, not to crowd them. Time for the message to come across. 

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Yuna leads the way, and there is an audible gasp from the younger of the two - Pani Guado - as they receive the most unexpected, but most welcome response of all. Just as it seems all is lost from others of Spira, Yuna and her own answer the call to come aid the very people who did so much to make her life - and the lives of her Guardians - so difficult and miserable. The younger comes down from where she's seated and bows with the deepest respect, as if tears were about to form in her eyes. She was about ready to give up. "Th-thank you," the stoic grace of the Guado leaves her in favor of emotion, "all of you...!"

     The older one - Timu Guado - meets Lulu's eye contact. Game recognizes game. Give the older sister a few more years and she'll have a discerning gaze worthy of that one, and she's already inherited a particularly memorable scowl from a certain somebody. She nods at Tidus' assertion. "That's right... this isn't the best place, but it's the only one."

     Boudicca appears, and speaks their names. She who saw to their safety in Bevelle as they endeavored to see what was going on for themselves. From the looks of it, the experience hasn't completely robbed them of the light in their eyes. Now it's Timu's turn to exhale a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you listened... we only had someone from Bevelle who was willing to hear our message."

     Cyre appears, and asks the difficult question about someone who has done hurtful things in the throes of despair and conflict about the values of his people. Timu shakes her head, with a look of irritation. "I don't know where he went." As if she doesn't want to see him. Like she can't.

     Marivel almost does get beaned in the head with that ball until she recognizes that voice. Timu doesn't make demands of whether she has that thing on her head or not. She calms down some at the confirmation she's dependable.

     Pani receives Azoth and Mariel together alike, with a bow as they both make their approach. "I'm sorry, you brought so many," as if she might be doubting the importance of it to require so many Drifters, and their friends. When you're a child, understanding the scale of something's importance is a difficult thing to grasp (the default tends to be 'everything is scary and urgent'). "I," she steadies herself as she leans on her borrowed spellcasting staff for balance. It's her reminder of what she fought through, and for. "We... everyone is acting strange in Guadosalam."

     The Hounds of Hell come together, loud, bold, and making it clear this business is very serious with the attention of a legendary bandit queen. Timu is the one who turns to face her, holding the ball in between her over-large clawed hands that all her people bear. "...I'm Timu of the Guado. My younger sister... she's Pani of the Guado." This gets everyone on the same page with names as she levels her gaze to Margaret. Timu's not as tall as her yet, but give it a few years.

     Pani looks a bit shy as even an Al Bhed - people deeply wronged because her own father was the one who organized that attack on Home as an overreaction to the perception they were aiding Otherworlder schemes to threaten everything his people knew - just enthusiastically declares she's going to lend a hand. A testament to Rikku's strength of character.

     "I don't know," Pani's turn to answer the inquiry about father not-so-dearest to Jay. "He hasn't returned since... but... he's not at the Farplane." Beat. She shakes her head. "There's less Guado Guardians about... so many died. Not even we are supposed to go there unattended, but my sister and I looked several times." Evidence that despite everything, they do miss his presence. He is their father.

     Ida's met with another nod from Timu. "If you were, it was by Fiends. There's almost no Guado Guardians out here... that's why we had to have you come here." Which corroborates what Pani just said about there being less about. That's not a great sign. This close to the Farplane, you need a constant guard detail to hunt down errant Fiends, and a Summoner to keep them Sent - but right now, it is indeed... safe. Safe enough. They have numbers. As Avril has said, they have all come to lend aid to people who have on the whole given them utter grief.

     On Pearl's approach - following the amusing appearance of a strange onion creature - Pani gasps and lets herself be a young girl again, kneeling down even into muck to reach out with an arm to scoop them up and give them a hug, dropping her staff to do so. She needs this right now.

     Timu's going to have to be the grown up leading the conversation, better containing her happiness and enthusiasm in seeing Pearl, who returns that bow out of respect. "No... thank you." Timu looks to the assembled as Pani just loves up Leo Jr. Something Timu would be rather upset about when this is serious, they have the attention of so many people... but she's a good enough big sister to understand how much of this makes up a situation too big for either of them. 

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

     Timu does a respectable job asserting the idea she could speak with some kind of authority, but the Guado have 'haughty, look down nose' down to a science. An accidental inflection, but it keeps her steady as she stands upright and holds her Blitzball at waist level. "It concerns Seymour." Not Maester Seymour. Just Seymour. She closes her eyes. "Most of the Guado Guardians are loyal to him... as we're all told to be. Guado affairs remain with the Guado," echoing the words her parents both have said a few times over. Even now, with their mother.

     Pani steps forth, holding Leo Jr for a while longer. "They're all going underground," she says, Timu shooting a look as if to say 'no I can say this,' but nothing comes of that. "Deep, deep in Guadosalam... no one's allowed there. Not even the Guado Guardians on the surface. Not even the new head." Their father was the previous one 'in charge.'

     "He's down there." Timu interjects. "He hasn't left. No one with him has. We don't know what's down there... our father never told us anything about it."

     "He used to share a lot of things about his day to mother," Pani says, shaking her head as she lets Leo Jr down. "But I don't think he ever said anything about it..."

     "But he's down there. And..." Timu knows the weight of what it is she's saying, even after all that happened leading to Mt. Gagazet and beyond. "...I know he needs to be stopped."

     "He should be at the Farplane." Pani says. "Father always said the Unsent can't stay here..." And yet, he has followed him and his whims. 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

So... Gon hasn't returned yet. But he isn't at the Farplane, either. Jacqueline nods.

"...I see. I'm sorry. I'm... sure he'll return eventually. He might just need a little more time." Jacqueline replies sympathetically. It's supposed to be reassuring. She's not sure that it is. But, she quiets, as Timu and Pani begin their explanation. Seymour and the Guado Guardians have gone below - deep into Guadosalam, where even most Guado aren't allowed to go. Jacqueline frowns, at that.

"...What could they be doing down there...?" She considers with a frown. "That's concerning. They wouldn't be there if there wasn't something important."

She doesn't think Seymour's the type to just go into hiding. No, he had to be planning something.

"Did you want us to go down there to investigate?" Jacqueline asks. She pauses for a moment, then.

"And, ah... what about the rest of the Guado? How are they doing? Do you need anything? Food, supplies, anything?" She asks. She was concerned about their well-being, too. 

<Pose Tracker> Yuna has posed.

Yuna is flanked by Lulu, Tidus and Rikku so often that one might imagine that she's used to it by now -- that she thinks nothing of it anymore. One would be wrong. Although her attention is intently focused on the youngsters, her smile changes, subtly, at each of their involvement; Tidus' greeting, Rikku's antics, even Lulu's silence. Her gratitude to them, and affection for them, take no words to communicate.

The same goes for the rest of the gathering. Numerous Drifters among them have not met her again since Zanarkand; and as some of them acknowledge this, in their own way, she bows again, once, after the group has fallen quiet to receive their answers from the Guado. This is grossly inadequate to the feelings of the moment; the chance to see them all again, so unexpected, is powerful, and she is clearly as moved by that as by their willingness to help one of Spira's peoples. As they all helped her, back in Zanarkand.

She has so much to repay.

Pani's emotion rocks her, Timu's determined, forced adulthood even moreso, and she allows her posture to relax a little -- she had been standing tall, but now she leans in slightly, and if the younger girl allows it, will reassurringly clasp her shoulder for a moment.

"Pani," she says softly, so softly. "Timu."

She swallows some feelings that had swollen her throat shut. "You've been very brave. You are very brave."

Her nostrils flare, slightly, as she forces herself to straighten up. It's her turn to be an adult.

"Seymour is... incredibly dangerous." Among other things. There is nuance there, still, even after all that's occurred between them. "We will go if you wish us to. Down, beneath Guadosalam. Except for those of us who stay. To protect you, and the city."

From fiends, and more specifically, from reprisal. Yuna takes whistleblower protections deadly seriously. And all things considered, she probably should.

<Pose Tracker> Rikku has posed.


Rikku's chewing starts to slow down as Timu and Pani explain their situation, giving them her full attention. It's hard to say whether she notices Pani's shy look or not, but if there's any hidden resentment - she's at least not showing it towards the kids.

She's not sorry to hear that Gon hasn't come back. However she does feel sorry for this pair.

"Yeah." She nods at Yuna's declaration that the two are brave, "It's really hard to go against... everything you know, because you know it's right."

Giving a look to the other Guardians and Jay, she grimaces, "That issss a problem, given what Seymour pulled off back on Gaia..."

Rikku trails off, perhaps not wanting to go too far into that right now. The Clysmian Summoning after all did not leave the people involved... unscathed.

"... Maybe he's trying to do it again?" She speculates hesitantly.

Despite the very serious conversation Rikku starts handing PUMPKINHEAD smaller and fewer increments of gil and seeing if she still gets a piece of candy each time.

The optimal use of Bribe after all is figuring out the lowest sum of shinies that one needs give up to a fiend in order to get something dispensed.

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel looks towards Margaret. She gives a shrug at the HOUND OF HELL but does, of course, throw her a familiar lackadasical salute.

She reaches up and removes the pumpkin head.

"It's strange that you feel the need to reassure them. Is it not self evident that I am a dependable f(r)iend?"

She holds the pumpkin underneath one arm. "Probably some kind of magic or technology he wants to use to murder everyone because his goal is to end all life. A goal with a surprising number of adherants!"

She crosses her arms for a moment, looking at the two children. No doubt Marivel feels they had to 'grow up' too quickly. Childhood is an important time and it shouldn't be skipped.

"Well, rest assured as 'dependable' as we are we'll be sure to handle the situation with minimal fuss."

She is relieved when an Onion Child leaps into Pani's arms. It's something.

Marivel looks to Pearl.

"Oh I've something for you too." She says. "Now that we've finally met." 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Oh gosh what is that tiny little bulbous creature skittering along the ground? It's Leo Jr! The cutest onion around!! (Now disputed, because of the presence of Another Onion. Possibly even a... rival onion...)

Cyre has some experience with this particular bulb, though. If it's here, that means Pearl is as well. The ex-assassin gets a nod of recognition from the shaman of wind, and it comes just in time, too.

Because Cyre's expression tightens the moment he hears that Gon Guado is apparently doing that thing again where he's putting some lofty goal ahead of spending time with his kids. Again. "Your dad is... Ugh, that guy. That utter stump of a man!"

get it

'cause they're trees

"Ughhh, alright, so we need to go into the Farplane and haul the Guado back out before they do something to... I don't know. Drain the Ghost Pool? Guh. It's like heading back down into Xibalba, but somehow worse...!" Cyre groans, he complains, he does Cyre Things.

But he also promises: "We'll do it. Whatever they're doing down there, if it needs to be stopped, we'll do our damnest to stop it. If Seymour is down there, then triply so. God, if he thinks he's about to summon another Clysmian using his own people's misery as a catalyst...!"

Cyre is: leaping to the worst case scenario. But...

...Really, can he be blamed? He remembers what happened the last time Seymour was said to be Up To Some Stuff far too keenly. 

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Marivel shows up in a pumpkin head and lets Rikku bribe her into giving her candy. Tidus watches this exchange, watches Marivel stammer when she notices Yuna's here, looks at her directly, and grins. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to.
    
    A lot of people have shown up besides her, though! Tidus gives enthusiastic waves to Boudicca, Pearl, Ida, Cyre, Margaret, Jay and more. It seems like a bunch of them already know these kids, too--Timu and Pani, apparently. Tidus looks back at them, listening as they speak--and holding out a hand when Pani deeps (that's right, deeps, as opposed to dips) into a bow.
    
    "Hey, hey, no need to overdo it!" he reassures her. "Pani, right? We're here because we wanna help. That's all." He frowns a little when Timu speaks, but that's because of the mention of Seymor--which he does notice *is* Seymour, rather than Maester Seymour. Yuna speaks to them gently, and honestly, she says it all. Tidus only needs to nod along.
    
    He does mutter something under his breath though. Those next to him might well hear something that rhymes with 'ducking Seymour.'
    
    "Either way, you know he's up to *something*," he adds dryly to Rikku. He adds a firm nod to Cyre after that. "Hear, hear." 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    "Someone from Bevelle..." Boudicca reflects, looking to Timu. She remembers their strain, under the broiling heat; it's not impossible for her to think of why someone from Bevelle would help them, given that. "I understand. I am glad they helped you, in turn. This is the best way of the world." In this way she tells the assembled, perhaps, that Timu and Pani once did a good deed themselves, though she does not speak directly of it.

    She does look concerned, though, to hear they haven't found Gon. Though they've looked... Gon is by all accounts an unpleasant person, but he is still their father, and she can be sad for them, if not him.

    Boudicca is relieved to see many of her friends and allies here, dipping her head in a nod to Avril as she expresses the soul of Outreach, and smiling to Mariel, who respects the way of the swamp. Boudicca, who knows something of swamps just the same, was sure to lead Sterling along a path that wouldn't be too hard on his big chocobo claws. (She doesn't call too much attention to Mariel, though, because she respects wallflower spirit.) She's glad to see Jacqueline and Cyre, too, with those difficult questions -- and when another Summoner enters the field, Boudicca offers Pearl a little wave, from where her hands have found themselves in front of her. She's glad to see Azoth, too.

    (Margaret is a little surprising to see, given Boudicca mostly knows her through notoriety, but if she's here to help the children then she'll hardly argue.)

    When they speak of Seymour, Boudicca looks to Yuna -- she knows something of how well the Summoner understands that man. No wonder she would think of their safety. And no wonder Jacqueline would think of their practical necessities, the food mortals need to live. She said Miss Pumpkin was reliable, but that doesn't mean everyone else is unreliable. They're all very reliable, really.

    "I thought they may mistake you, given such a clever disguise," she asides, to Marivel, and finds for her a smile even now.

    She looks back, to Timu and Pani, serious again. "I understand it is a transgression," she says, minds the gravity of what they dare to ask. She thinks of the world beyond a swampy Domain, not so different to this, climbing a mountain to another existence. "Nevertheless, we shall transgress. But Yuna is quite right," she gestures, to that woman -- she is being an Adult -- in her robes. "What of you, when we go? I know you are capable, but even were the situation normal -- with the Guardians below, the Farplane..." Boudicca trails off, in concern. She learned a little of Guadosalam's dangers when she spent enough time here to collect her ribbon from a dusty corner.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida's smile turns into a somber frown. "I'm sorry," she says. "Your father has much to answer for, but that doesn't mean you two don't deserve to have him in your lives." Beside her, Sterling takes a step forwards, head bobbing as he takes in the sights and sounds of the small crowd. He seems fixated, though, on Timu and Pani--clearly the most distressed of the lot of them. He takes another step closer, and gently nudges at Timu with his beak. (Leo Jr. gets a curious--almost hungry--glance, but Ida issues a correction in the form of a soft "Leave it," and a gentle tug on his reins.)

    "Has anyone else voiced their concerns?" Ida asks, after a moment. "It may take some doing, with people this isolated--but I'd be surprised if there weren't people who were also scared. Sometimes adults are so concerned about their face, or their families, or their livelihood that they'll do whatever's asked of them, and worry about it in secret."

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

Others are here, a veritable assembly. Margaret's expression softens slowly but steadily at Pani, though it did not at Timu, who was perhaps being a Challenge.

"Hrm," she says, folding her arms as she considers the issue presented. One of her ears twitches, flicking back against the side of her head.

To Marivel, she says, "Don't speak ill of a parent in front of the child, for the love of..." Then she exhales with great force.

To the young, but not small, children, she says, "I want to ask you something."

"You're asking us to go down there. To investigate. I understand why you are asking the heroes of the road to help you, because you do not have anywhere else to turn. But with this as our mission, it sounds as if you wish us to only find out more and to report back to you. What we would have called 'reconnaisance,' before our army fell apart. And--"

Margaret stops herself and takes another enormous, almost frustrated breath. She raises a hand, running fingers through her hair.

"You want us to bring your father back, don't you?" she asks them then. "I mean, you, specifically, want that, specifically; it is not the only thing, but it's the thing. It's what's led you to draw us all out here to this chillsome moor. Do I understand you correctly? Because speaking only for myself, I want to know the reason behind this sort of a venture."

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

With others present Azoth recognizes, Azoth smiles brightly in greeting.

Azoth decides to have no reaction to the way Timu speaks of her father. Family relations are still something he lacks the nuance on. They tend to mean something to organic by virtue of existence -- letting go of it is difficult. Or happens because of extreme circumstances. And what little he knows of all of it, Timu and Pani have had to face too many extremes.

"No one's allowed, huh..." He muses out loud. "There's a lot that's been happening that's not allowed." He catches the comments from the others about Clysmians, and that does not sound comfortable.

"If you're worried, I'm worried. You've both shown to have good judgment." He glances toward Margaret, then back to the two of them. Azoth isn't sure whether or not there's a more personal worry the pair would need to ask for help on this, but a more personal worry is does matter if it exists. "This is a place important to your people, right? If there's anything we can do to make investigating it feel less... awkward for you..."

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    Pearl's eyes narrow slightly. "He did not accompany you back from Gagazet?" Even now, after all that has happened, Gon Guado continues to disappoint her.

    Fortunately, Leo Jr, emotional support plant, is there to help! He nuzzles into Pani's cheek when she picks him, and stays close when she puts him down. He knows where he's needed right now. Pearl, meanwhile, quietly pretends not to the recognize the other 'pearl' (Margaret. It's greek, you geek, it means a pearl.) who has defected from the guard. She is quietly grateful for someone seeing the purpose of time and place."

    And then, they mention where Seymour is. And the loyalty of the Guado guard. She knows what it's like to follow a monster, but at least she did so out of fear and brutal conditioning. That doesn't make it better. "...With so many pyreflies, and so many of the dead..." The Summoner doesn't exactly have the best theological grasp on the farplane, so she looks to Lulu and Yuna for confirmation. They're the real deals here. "Then our task is to force our way in and put a stop to whatever madness Seymour plans this time. Very well." There'sno question that Pearl is doing it. It's her fight against sin, and Seymour wishes to join Sin.

    Pearl blinks when Marivel says she has something for her. "...You do?" She seems utterly confused by the prospect. Stuff for her is never... good, traditionally. She missed the Clymsian affair, but it seems rough. She looks back to Timu and Pani. "...How do you intend to proceed, having told us this?" 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    It takes a moment, when the children tell them all what has happened.
    What, in a sense, may yet happen.

    "...I see," Avril says, at last, and she feels, not for the first time, an unsettled feeling in her chest. As if she were, there, host to a great many uneasy starlings. She has clasped her hands before her, bowed her head, and fallen silent.

    It is hard to pinpoint the root of what troubles her. Is it... a premonition? A feeling of what is yet to come? Most certainly what lies in the depths of Guadosalam -- particularly with Seymour's involvement -- cannot be anything good. She remembers a long period where she had hung with others, a bird caught in a cage.

    Or perhaps it is something else.

    Guado affairs remain with the Guado.
    And, the Veruni? Is that the same? If tomorrow the Ice Queen were to return, they would--

    "Then what is it that you would wish us to do? Is it to travel below and learn whatever they may be doing?" She glances towards Margaret. "Or, would it be a... rescue?"

    She pauses.

    "Or shall we instead be the ones to stop whatever might be happening, even if it is of their own will? Seymour..." Something to her gaze has hardened. 

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

     It's a difficult mix of emotions, what Jay says. They miss him, but they are also upset with him - but they have far more important matters than just their father. At question of how they're doing, Pani speaks up. "My mother does not receive guests any more... but we still have food. We used to have a lot more money, but... no one wants to visit, and we've almost run out." So they're going to be very upset about how they got their clothes dirty!

     When Yuna moves to both of them, they take notice. The quiet strength and unyielding grace of Yuna is not fought against, as the younger allows her shoulder to be touched, and for the praise to reach her. Going against the ways of their people - yet again - for the sake of what is right, when Spira may yet retaliate upon all of their people (and have already done so, in some quiet ways). A tear leaves Pani, again, and a nod from both about how Seymour is incredibly dangerous beyond words. The offer to give help is met with a nod. They would accept. That's why they asked - but what of the rest of their people?

     When Rikku talks about what Seymour might be pulling off 'again,' she has both of their attentions. Do other places have deep, dangerous-sounding underground places no one's allowed to enter, they both wonder. (But not aloud. This is how you know they're both kids and not Drifters. One huge stand-out adventure aside!!)

     "I don't understand why anyone would want to... die," Timu, the older, crests with a more difficult subject with confusion. Why would everyone just want to give up and stop living? She holds her ball up closer to her face in contemplation. Fiends are everywhere, who envy the living, after all.

     "...He is." A more sullen Timu responds to Cyre's exasperation with their father, as Cyre explains the situation as he understands it. "If... they're going to the Farplane, they're not doing it through the way others come and go." Timu shakes her head. "I don't know what's down there. But he is--"

     Pani looks a bit more scared as Cyre elaborates on what it is the 'again' was, looking up to Tidus again who is probably the most earnest person she's ever seen. Something about him just stands out, like a more idealized... look of someone who is optimistic in a way untouched by the death and destruction Spira lives with. It's comforting.

     Boudicca asks the most important question. What of the two of them, when this all goes down? "I don't want mother to be scared or lonely," Pani says off the bat, and that might be for the best as she picks back up the staff she dropped. Timu has the look of someone who wants to go, as she reasserts the grip of her Blitzball, which is one hundred percent Teenager Overconfidence trying to seep in there.

     "No one else speaks about it in the open!" Timu says, in a bit of an outburst to Ida's question. "Not even our mother approved of us trying to reach out," she doesn't repeat her peoples' maxim, riled up as Margaret wants to ask them something as she gets to the nitty gritty of a clear emotional want between them.

     In which Timu cannot completely lie, her gaze starting to waver. "If our father were here, he'd... already be with Seymour. It's all right. He'd just... make it worse." She hugs the ball, tellingly.

     "Seymour has to be stopped!" Pani speaks up. "We can't do it. You're the only ones, because no one else wants to help! Maybe father will come back after Seymour is Sent." Pani takes in a breath. "...I can't do the Sending, either." She did have aspirations to be a Summoner, after all. "Also... I'm afraid if everyone saw me try to, if I saw Seymour again..." It's not a subtle thing. Yuna tried during that wedding, and that... was a plan that did not pan out.

     Azoth mentions how to make it less awkward. Timu shakes her head. "People from outside... those not of the Guado are always watched carefully. Seymour had a human with him for a time... and even with his approval to be at his side, sometimes they would still be watched like they were a stranger." There's no way to make this not awkward, is what she's saying.

     How do the two of them plan to proceed? Timu still looks about battle ready. Pani, the younger, reaches up to tug at her arm - aware that her sister wants to suggest something reckless.

     "We have to leave it to you," Pani says, as a collective to some of these inquiries. "Whatever Seymour is doing... please stop him. If... if he wants to die," who is already dead, "the Farplane is right here. That's where everyone goes. So please," she bows again, "for everyone's sake. Even if they may say otherwise... Seymour can't stay here any more."

     Avril, at this point, may have a premonition of something familiar about to happen. Something noisy, something worrisome...

     But not something, unto itself, an issue. 

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    There is a shuddering and a roar. A large, powerful Fiend about to make their rounds, the silhouette of something enormous, purple, with a hunched back. A behemoth of a Fiend. Maybe it is best to just call it that. The swampy environs do little to slow down its bulky form, standing up on its hind legs as powerful sorcery starts to channel itself through. Now, there are no less than a dozen elite Drifters among them. In a straight battle, this would be easy.

     But this environment is difficult to navigate, too enclosed, and too many uncertain factors. Are there more? What is that Fiend about to unleash? There is enough time for initial volleys of pre-emptive strikes to try and halt whatever's happening...

     Followed by glints of steel from behind, a wide raking motion... followed by a leaping silhouette. Lanky, clothed in the loose fit grab of the Guado Guardians, and a downward shining slice like the blue crescent reflected upon the Moonflow.

     There is a release of countless wailing prismatic lights scattering... and a man knelt down.

     "One would not call one of the most secure perimeters about Guadosalam a place for discrete matters," a scolding voice. "Unless the Guado Guardians have all but vanished from the face of Spira."

     The riotous rainbows of pyreflies disperse, and the man rises. It's none other than...

     "Father?" Pani asks in a small voice.

     He holds up a gauntlet-clad hand with a firm scowl. A moment of tension. This man went to the lengths he did for Seymour, of all people.

     "Father," Timu's voice, raised and angry, sees the same gesture. She hurls that Blitzball with all the frustration she can muster.

     He catches it effortlessly. He played for the Glories for four seasons. He was rather good at the position of Left Defender. "You were speaking to Otherworlders about secrets within Guadosalam, were you...?"

     Timu's about ready to scream her defiance. Pani is already holding her, as if to go 'no, don't.' It's a tense situation for all.

     "Please." Gon's voice softens. "It is rude to keep guests waiting." He about-faces to them. "There is a place underneath Guadosalam that none are supposed to approach. For even a Maester to visit it... even should it be their right, I have known of several Guardians whose lineages spoke, rather adamantly, that none should ever approach the stone door underneath."

     Timu doesn't shout over her father just yet.

     "Vast quantities of pyreflies gather before a stone door underneath Guadosalam. Whether they seek entrance, or are those cut off from what lies within... I know not. There are fewer places in Guadosalam that see such dedicated protection. Entire lifetimes have been spent in pledge of seeing to its protection."

     That he is volunteering this information, means...

     "Unless my own have sought outside counsel in regards to its protection," Gon continues, "I may yet save you the trouble of having to glean and navigate the particulars of their routes and associated rites involved."

     The children have yet to voice their say. 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel says, "Yes, yes, of course, of course."

She reaches into her pouch. Elbow deep somehow?? FOR A WEAPON??? No, she has two items however.

The first of course is a tiny Leo Jr sized white mask.

The other is a small bag of fertilizer.

"Onions work best with nitrogen infused fertilizer with plenty of potash and phosphate to draw nutrients from." Marivel explains, offering the bag to Pearl. "It's important for a growing onion boy."

"Also I've got a mixtape for 'singing to plants'--"

She is pulled away from Pearl by Gon.

She watches him carefully--

--and then smiles. She says, "Well, if you're going to invite the vampire in."--And then, more genuinely. "I'm glad to see you are well."

"........And not 'Gon' from this world." Well mostly genuine. 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.

    Boudicca nods, to Pani, with concern. "Those of us who stay above shall be sure to protect your mother, as well," she assures her. She's speaking for them, a little, but -- isn't it natural for children to be worried for their parents?

    But when they speak of their father, they say he'd only make things worse, and she cannot help but be sad to hear it. They're not wrong, by her estimation, but...

    "We will stop Seymour," Boudicca says. Again, she does not say, and again, and again, and again. How many chains shall he loose before the end?

    She thinks this and has no time to voice it, Behemoth raging into the scene. "Ah--!" Boudicca exclaims, tonfa to her hands, but she worries a moment overlong for the youngest heroes amongst them, and --

    All a sudden the behemoth which rises is one she has always considered more a moral horror than the base physical, that enduring symbol of the eternity of Guado affairs, and for a moment Boudicca is speechless. She listens, instead, as Timu and Pani speak to him, and Gon's steel gentles.

    Marivel spells it out, invited across the threshold, and with a little shake of her head, Boudicca shuts her jaw.

    "You would help us?" She asks, still somewhat dumbfounded.

    She looks to Rikku, for a concerned moment, and then she looks back -- to Gon Guado.

    "... I am listening," she says, finally, carefully, personally.

    For all his crimes, if he is willing to help them now, she won't turn him away.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Rikku suggests that Seymour might be looking to do a repeat of what happened on Filgaia, and a frown crosses Jacqueline's face.

"If that's the case... then we definitely need to find out what's going on." Jacqueline comments. "...Though we ought to find out either way."

She looks back toward the children, then, and nods.

"...I see. Well, as long as Guadosalam is still well-stocked, that's good. But if that changes let me know, alright? I can take care of it." Jacqueline replies. She goes quiet, then, to let everyone else get their two gella in. Ultimately, they, they're all on the same page - Seymour has to be stopped.

"...Right. I'm not sure what he's doing but it can't be good, whatever it is." She agrees. "We'll see to it."

And then, there's a roar as a silhouette appears within the swampy surroundings. Jacqueline moves quickly, instinctively placing herself between Timu, Pani, and the Fiend, hands at the ready for spell-casting.

...But, in the end, she doesn't need to do anything. For in a brief instant, the silhouette is cut down... and a familiar, scolding voice sounds. Jacqueline's eyes open wide in surprise and she steps aside... though she watches Gon carefully."Gon? You..." She starts. She stops, though, when he speaks. What he has to say, though... is helpful!

"I see..." Jacqueline murmurs, nodding in understanding. "If you're volunteering to help us, I'd be glad to accept. You'd know the place better than any one of us, and if it's that sacred then I'd like to ensure the proper steps are taken. But..."

She pauses though, looking from Gon, to Timu and Pani, and back to Gon. She hesitates for a moment. It doesn't really feel like her place to interfere, but...

"...But, isn't there someone else you should be talking to first?" She asks. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Something twists in Ida's chest as Timu and Pani elaborate on their family's fortunes. "I'm sorry," she says, as she looks down at the loam beneath their feet. "I wish there was something I could tell you to make the pain stop. It's easy to tell someone that doing the right thing isn't easy--" And Ida's face twists into a sad, knowing smile-- "And hard to make that choice. Moreso when your livelihood is at stake, when making that choice means being shunned, or thrown out into the street."

    Something shudders in the distance. Sterling notices a moment before Ida does, and lets out a sharp, booming cry of his own. Ida sees that flash of purple between the trees, and hisses out a curse. "Behemoth!" Ida shouts. "Timu, Pani, get down!" Her hand blurs through the air. In the space between heartbeats, she's drawn Devil's Due, aims at the onrushing Fiend, fires--

    A glint of steel. A furious slash. The Fiend rips apart into scattered clouds of Pyreflies. Ida stares at Gon Guado, her ARM still in hand, but pointed at the dirt, finger tight against the outer edge of the trigger-guard. Tensing up on the trigger is a mistake Ida hasn't made in years.

    'Father?'

    Ida is silent. Sterling starts to crouch into a defensive posture, and has his wings halfway out when Ida reaches out and plants her free hand on the back of his neck. She listens. She wants to lash out at him--the man responsible for the butchery of Home, for his people's continued isolation, for the xenophobic rhetoric he has undoubtedly used to manipulate them.

    She lets out a breath, and holsters her ARM. Beside her, Sterling lets out a warning rumble, but makes no attempt to harm them.

    Gon Guado will answer for his crimes. But Ida means what she said--that this doesn't need to involve killing him, or cutting him from his childrens' lives when he hasn't done a thing to hurt them.

    "That's no good," Ida says. "He did something alarmingly similar on Filgaia. If he means to call down another Clysmian then all of Spira will suffer. A second Sin." A pause. "Miss Barber's right, though. You do have someone to talk to, first."

<Pose Tracker> Seymour Guado has posed.

DEEP WITHIN GUADOSALAM

Seymour stands before a stone door.

He looks much as he did in life -- standing tall, human features, but the longer limbs and clawed hands of a Guado. And yet, the left hand flickers; the fingers, where Tidus's blade once severed them, shift between prismatic light of the pyreflies and a simulacrum of flesh. His robes are the same; the same blue, the same ornamental beads, and even the same staff.

Biggs and Wedge stand behind him. Biggs, the larger Guado wearing armor, steps up behind Seymour. He looks at the Maester, with alarm in his eyes, and then beyond: to a huge pair of stone doors. The crack between them and underneath is bright, with pyreflies slipping out -- in steady streams, rising up, wafting about, and then falling into Seymour.

"Maester Seymour..."

"Biggs," Seymour says. "Have you acquired the sealing rods?"

"We have, Maester. And they've made the alterations you requested," Biggs said. "But--we're concerned. About... the intention, here."

"Will Guadosalam be at risk?" Wedge interjects.

Seymour does not face them. He continues looking at the stone doors -- and smiles. "No," he says. "No more than the rest of Spira."

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

The children answer her, more or less.

Margaret replies to Timu. "Few do, unless there's no hope at all. More people, I think, want other people to. I'd like to think that in the end, it's all a huge misunderstanding... but all my magic and banditry and queendom doesn't let me read minds. But I think those who are deep down wicked are very few."

Margaret looks at the ring on her hand. "Sometimes there's something you want more than surviving," she says, before looking back up.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out, and says to the two of them, "I see. Good enough for me. I suppose I owe your town this much, for the war, don't I?" She rolls her head back, closing her eyes. Margaret is probably hoping that it starts raining.

Instead, a Fiend roars.

"Well, shit," Margaret says. She steps back a pace when the great beast manifests itself in full, glancing at the others with a look of slightly quizzical disgusted surprise, then back at the enormous violet thing. She takes a deep breath and shouts out: "DOLLIE!"

The three guys sitting near a tree straighten up - more than they had already, since, you know, they have ears too (presumably). Margaret points at the beast. "I have to warm up -- kill it for me, kiss kiss!" ("YES MAM" comes the shout back; the two bowmen nock arrows, taking aim...)

Margaret's first action as the creature approaches is to stretch her arms above her head, sway back and forth, rotate her torso, twist up her legs - she is able to put her ankle behind her head but she only does it with one leg behind her head - in rapid succession. All of this concludes by doing a hop-crouch, sweeping up the cloak she has on her shoulders and -- whipping it off, to reveal the armored dress beneath!!

PHASE TWO: The two bowmen let loose their darts, aimed towards the behemoth's eyes and face. As this happens, Margaret - who has a sword at her back now - draws the blade out and holds it two-handed, sinking into a poised, almost arched posture. She murmurs sorcerous words under her breath, darkness swirled with luminous nebulas surrounding her in threefold loops and then arcing up to sink into her body with a minor thunder-crack and a residual crackle.

Her eyes narrow. For now: "There has been enough bloodshed, creature! For the ones who can't say their peace, I shall let my blade speak! In the name of we all, let Steel's Kiss send you to your repose! STARLIGHT--" The blade comes up aaaaaaaand

PHASE THREE:
TERMINATED.

Margaret stands there in her wind-up with the blade uplifted and the full lambent halo of her enchantments around her for nearly two seconds before, slowly, she brings herself up to a full and upright position. The glow fades significantly but has not dissipated when she thumps the blade back into its back strapped scabbard, and her hands return to her hips afterwards, lips pursing into a thin line as if she's chewing on a lemon for a few moments.

"Well," she answers Gon finally. "Thank you for that. Very kind of you."

Another deep breath, a swift exhale. Jay says it first. Ida concurs. Margaret helps by pointing. "I am a vision of beauty, I know," she informs Gon, "but these children of yours showed hearts worthy of knights of eld, or whatever you have instead of them. Team spirit or what-not. If you wish to deny them and walk the world then have the courtesy of saying something, for let me tell you, you always wonder what your father would have said to you-- once he's gone."

Margaret's eyes glow eerily for a moment.

(She is probably mostly mad that her big move got stepped on.) (Mostly...)

<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.

    I don't understand why anyone would want to... die.

    Pearl can. When every day is pain. When you have nothing to live for. When you're no longer able to fight and there's nothing left but despair. When a part of you thinks 'the only way to balance the scales' is to die at another's hand.

    But Timu doesn't need to hear all of that. Not now. But maybe... She should hear some of it.

    "Hopelessness is a weight that crushes, and traditions can be shackles that keep you breaking free." She's surprised to hear it out of her own mouth, of all people. It's more eloquent thahn she had ever been ableto describe it to herself. Pearl's tall, but she doesn't need to lower herself much to put a hand out to the young blitzer, a motion she has seen, but never partaken of. Another would slap their hand into the waiting hand and grip it, was her understanding. It seemed something Timu would appreciate. "...The two of you are that hope right now. It should not be your burden to bear. But you must keep it alive if any are to be pulled from their stupor." The very astute will notice that Pearl is trembling.

    She is distracted by Marivel giving her her plant food and a mask. "...Why is there-" No nevermind, a bigger issue grabs her attention. The sending. "...It appears both Lady Yuna and myself will be making our way in. Should a sending need to take place, it will." Pani.... is the path of a summoner still the one you wish to walk? Pearl can't help but wonder.

    And then the fiend rears it's head, and Pearl drops into her new stance, facing it- That should be a dangerous ambush except for someone interrupting. A flash of steel. She knows that style. Her grey eyes narrow.

    "...Gon Guado." The woman that was once novice Ena stares up at him. She's a different woman from when they last faced each other... But will he be a different man? It remains to be seen. "...It would be much swifter. I merely know the ways into Guadosalam without the guards noticing, and with this many drifters it would be too busy and crowded. I do not think this is a time where subtlety will benefit us, with so many Guado resigned to inaction." There's no point hiding it, is there. Not now. But if Gon Guado shall offer his aid, well...

    Pearl was ever more the villain than Gon was, but people accepted here.

    "...You have the statement wrong. I think there are questions. The first is: do those bold enough to summon us accept the aid of this man?" Pearl pauses, and then nods to Leo Jr to 'resume emotional support role' before speaking.

    "The second," she speaks more softly this time, "is this. Timu, Pani: Do you wish to hear him in this moment? Or is now not the time?" 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Why some lands are sacred and how to behave on them can be difficult business to understand. Here, it seems, there's nothing Azoth, or anyone else, could do to ease it for the girls. Or anyone else among the Guado, for that matter.

But there's that roar, and Azoth gives a string of alarmed beeps in warning. There's no time to act before someone unexpected arrives, and in that tense, terrible moment of father and daughters, Azoth rapidly calculates a number of possible events and how to best react. But all his grimmest calculations prove unnecessary.

Something that had not entered into his predictions at all happens instead.

"That's deeply concerning information," Azoth says with understatement. He looks to Timu and Pani, hand casually on his hip as he waits for their take on this. He came answering their request for help, and it is their judgments he will hold in highest regard.

<Pose Tracker> Tidus has posed.

    Pani looks a little--well--panicked. When she looks to Tidus for reassurance after overhearing the Clysmian talk, he offers her a reassuring smile and leans over a bit so she doesn't have to crane her neck so much.
    
    "Hey, don't worry! We stopped him before and we'll stop him again," he tells her, utterly confident. "It might be tough, but we'll do it. Promise."
    
    But then Gon himself appears, and Tidus straightens, his stance and expression wary. It turns out he didn't need to worry. Gon actually gives him information, which means...
    
    "You on our side now?" He looks thoughtful, then gives him a single nod. "...Thanks, man." Some of the others might be more reluctant to trust him, but Tidus is willing to give him a chance. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Fear and distress are perfectly reasonable reactions to the possibility of another Sin awakening in the depths of one's home. Cyre understands. He... shares in that fear, for more than a few reasons. What is Seymour even hoping to do, releasing these things? The last time, he used Malevolence as a catalyst, consuming much of it in the process. If he does the same to the Farplane, with a force seemingly antithetical to Malevolence...

What then?

A monster appears. Someone even more unlikely makes his appearance. Cyre fixes Gon with a stare of disbelief and some measure of relief. "You... came back for them. Damn, and here I was worried that you had gone and hurt them all over again." Well, he did do that, but the others are already giving the man a dressing down over it.

"Tell us what you know," Cyre says, instead. Whether Gon will apologize to his daughters... Well, Cyre can hope! But... Right now, there's a crisis they just can't ignore, isn't there? "...And if there's anything you want to say to them," he gestures in the direction of those two girls, "You might want to do that now."

Because the future... the future is always uncertain, isn't it? 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    What is happening below may not be the important thing. The two girls, of course, want their father back -- a thought that brings with it a strange, almost curious introspection within Avril that she knows not at all that feeling. But it is not one she lingers terribly long upon, for it is hardly of any importance.

    Rather, instead, aside from that fact from Gon's daughter, there is the matter of their request.

    "Very well," says Avril. "Then we shall stop him and whatever he may be attempting to bring about."

    An odd statement, Avril has the moment to reflect upon.

    But there is only just the moment to reflect upon how she knows that. ...Something is about to happen. She can feel it, like a finger hovering right over a harpstring, the echoes of a vibration about to resound.

    And yet, speaks the sensation, do not be afraid. All has already been accounted for.

    Even when she turns towards the Fiend, silhouetted in the darkness, she does not reach for her sword and does not bring to bear mighty magics. Instead Avril stands there, watching, waiting, her expression almost as if she were no longer in the same place as the lot of them and instead regarding the proceedings from enother point altogether. The creature draws near as fury and chaos from various parties is directed upon it, and then...

    And then, it is rent into so many swirling Pyreflies. As she had... known it would be, Avril realizes, blinking the once. Her eyes widen and she straightens slightly, as if returning to this time and place once again.

    This man, she bears no rancor.

    "I see," she says to him. "I understand. Then you will assist us." It is not a question, rather the assumption of one of the upper classes -- of royalty. "We do not know the way, and would not see your daughters come to harm. We wish only to see this brought to an end." There is a pause.

    "For the sake of your people." 

<Pose Tracker> Gon Guado has posed.

    Gon tries very hard to remain stone-faced before Marivel's punning. He blinks, it's a genuine blink. Like he wants to say 'please, hold the jokes,' but cannot. He has never been able to stop the Otherworlders from being themselves, as what little dignity he has erodes ever more incrementally, as an irritated Margaret thanks him for UPSTAGING HER. (This may also be why he doesn't say much mid-vampire punning, like he knows he's being circled by a shark made of lightning.)

     He watches as Pani moves closer to Boudicca rather than approach him, wide-eyed and dealing with an array of emotions she's having trouble getting to the surface with all that transpires, and attempting to pull her older, stronger sister with her. He gets to watch one of his girls cling to someone else before him.

     "Yes, I am, as you said, doing just that," his furrowed brow and trademark arrogant way of talking down his nose surfaces as Jay reiterates his means, only for her to subtly speak right over him with that question, as if showing him up over his own game.

     Something Ida reiterates, after musing about the idea of a second Sin. Gon had once commented that maybe Filgaia and its visitors would be better behaved and appreciative of the way of things if they had their own, but now...

     Timu breaks free. She releases all that built-up emotion and frustration. She's had to be the adult between the sisters, when she's not ready to be yet, hurling herself at him in a display that breaks with all the deeply-held conventions about the way Guado act in front of non-Guado. She can't 'wait for the guests to conclude their business' or however he'd voice it. He gets pinned right up against a nearby tree with an exaggerated wince of pain and a gasp for air. There's no words. She's angry. She's scared. She's upset.

     But that's her father, an irreplacable part of her life she had just written off - and to the timing of Margaret's firm words. To always wonder what your father - his - would have said to you once he's gone.

     "I imagine they would be words I would have difficulty reconci--" He deosn't get to finish. He can't. He can't yet wrap his arms around his daughter, the vestiges of his people's ways. To the suppositions of 'Ena,' he can only nod. She would know several of his secrets already. What with so much he showed her in helping see to her Summoner training. To push her as hard as he did, as he did anyone under his charge when they expressed interest in undergoing the pilgrimage.

     Timu looks up from Pearl's question. Pani, finding her courage to answer when actually asked, says what may be boilerplate. "We're... to listen to our elders." Like struggling to say 'yes' outside of dictated tradition, in her wavering.

     "I want to know why," Timu is at the point of screaming, "you're doing this now after all you've done!" Gon has a look on his face as though, to Azoth's further bewilderment or perhaps his relief, that even organics might struggle for a clear-cut logical solution to any of this. Avril speaks that he will assist. To not see his daughters brought to harm, to bring it to an end. For the sake of his people.

     "Ever have I... labored to see to the continued prosperity of our own," Gon is stuck in that place where he cannot quite let his hair down, because he is used to that divide between 'to outsiders' and 'to their own.' It may be novel to some of the gathered to even see Guado engage in such open emotional displays. Even there are tears in his eyes, as Pani approaches and tries to get her own hug in too.

     Cyre suggests he tells them, now, what there he should tell them. Just as Timu might raise her voice again, he speaks anew. "I should see to our future as well - the both of you."

     The words are difficult for him to say now. Maybe they need to say them when it's between the three of them, should they get that moment - but this much is certain. Seymour is here in Guadosalam, who needs to be stopped. They have about the best possible help they can get in infiltrating the darkest depths... to a door that leads somewhere none know of.

     Given their collective past history with doors, they have more time than they normally would have to stop Seymour.

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