2023-02-22: Skies Unknown

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<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Earlier this morning, Heimdall Gazzo appeared in the skies of Filgaia, over Aquvy.

It had taken some time to cross space -- without the virtue of teleportation, it had to do it the old-fashioned way -- to come into Filgaian orbit, then descend into the atmosphere. It is not lost on the leaders of both worlds, though, that it could readily move between Filgaia and Lunar. Days don't allow timeto rebuild cities.

And thus, ARMS and any Drifters willing have arrived at Valeria Chateau on the invitation of Irving Vold Valeria. They are in the war room -- a variety of Zeboim-era and Metal Demon Wars-era monitors display images of Heimdall Gazzo, maps of Aquvy with its position and expected route noted, and the rest.

Irving stands at the front, hand gripping his crutch.

Towards the back of the room, Zhang Xiumei is among those gathered. She wears her usual vest, collared shirt, and tie. She smooths out her skirt with one hand; her other has a book in it, with a page open and ready to take notes. She looks nervous.

Two triangular drones -- with the relief impressions of helmets on them -- float behind her. Varius and Avile are quiet, though the flicker of light over them indicates they're certainly present.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor Klein is very, very troubled by this news; already she's started to make arrangements, all but insisting that Danielle take up and leave Klein for a time. She can't ask the same of her mother or father, but at least Tristan is in Meria itself, her younger siblings are off at their schools for the most part, those old enough...

She can't protect them from Heimdall Gazzo alone. The best she can do is ensure that they aren't all lost if they strike one city. And that is a sobering, distressing knowledge for Eleanor to have.

She has invited some who she felt would be helpful here; Eleanor will use all means at her disposal to counter this threat. All. ...Which means she's invited one Josephine Lovelace, formerly of Odessa, to this meeting, and taken responsibility for her actions.

She is not to the back; she is nearer the front, despite her wish to stay near Xiu, dressed in warm colors, a long dress with a jacket over, her Crests ready at her hip in her satchel. Her expression is calm, and even, but those familiar with the tricks of makeup may imagine it's had a greater toll than she's been letting on so far.

Still. She will not hold back. 

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"LAST CHANCE! LAST CHANCE!" Lydia shouts, having set up shop with a wagon full of HEALING ITEMS, ARMOR, AND ACCESSORIES! It's a little fancier than before with a covered top and larger but still small enough to fit inside the wagon. "LAST CHANCE BEFORE THE POINT OF NO RETURN! APPLE GELS, ORANGE GELS STRAIGHT FROM LUNAR! LOCALIZED POTION BERRIES FOR THE CONSERVATIONIST CONSUMER! THE LATEST IN PROTECTIVE GEAR AND STATUS AILMENT PROTECTION!"

She bangs the side of her wagon with Tiebreaker loudly enough to make clanging noises.

"Don't go into the final dungeon unprepared! Once you're inside, you won't be able to restock! So be sure to get everything you need now--before it's too late! No pressure...it's only the fate of two worlds at stake!"

"Excellent and fair prices!" Lydia shouts. "Saving The World Discounts! You won't find prices like this at NON-PORTABLE SHOPS! That's the LYDIA SEREN GUARANTEE!"

She bangs the side of her wagon again.

"Everything must go...! Or we might all go! Up in flames!"

'I am a genius,' Lydia thinks to herself. 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

The danger Heimdall Gazzo poses is clear to everyone. Clarine has always said that the problems of either world affect the other, even if in subtle ways... and that has never been more true than now, with the readily-apparent knowledge that Heimdall Gazzo is more than capable of moving between worlds.

She is needed here, with the rest of ARMS, to address this. Everything else she will put to the side, for now. She will do what she must.

She sits with the others in the Valeria Chateau's war room, hands folded in her lap and a serious expression on her face. Small though she may be, and usually of a pleasant but quiet nature, it's times like this when one is reminded of just what she is. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Ashley Winchester is present.

Also, he has provided snacks!!

This isn't unexpected. They are in the Valeria Chateau, and Ashley has long ago cowed the cooks into submission with his frankly distressing capability to bake delicious pastries even in the most dire of circumstances. His baking has not quite reached the point of zen meditation, but one would be forgiven for making the mistake of assuming that it had.

There are numerous baskets full of tasty baked goods sitting atop a long counter at one side of the conference room, right next to a series of stacked plates and handy cutting utensils (for the more discerning of donut devourers).

Even with the subject matter of the meeting for the day as dire as it is, there's no excuse to confer on an empty stomach.

"I'll take some healing potions," Ashley says... from the other side of the room, at a certain cart. "And probably some status curatives. And maybe a few of these accessories..."

...It looks like he's also being a Responsible Field Commander today. What a considerate guy...!

(He has a promise to keep. There's no way he's taking a chance of not making it back alive if he can help it...!)

</poem> 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Josie sure had been aware of Vinsfeld Rhadamanthus' statement. She'd also dutifully ignored it, at least at the beginning.

    You can't run from consequences forever. Even she knows that. No, she especially knows that.

    Eleanor's request had come at just the right time. It had been not long after Josie's own return to Filgaia and subsequent realization about how bad things had gotten, and...

    ...is the only reason why someone of her pedigree, former affiliations, past and current inclinations, and all the rest of it is standing in a space like Valeria Chateau without being in handcuffs. She might not have explained the reason why she's no longer with Odessa, but it's perhaps for this very reason that Eleanor invited her: she'd know better than others about the organization.

    Also, Eleanor probably likes Josie where she can see her, her promise about not shooting Eleanor in the back nonewithstanding. Which, speaking of: mercifully, no one has let her take her own ARMs into the conference room. This was probably a well-justified decision.

    Josie stands to one side of the table, not terribly far from Eleanor, her arms folded across her chest. She looks uncharacteristically pensive. 

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
Well, Venetia thinks: Shit.

Venetia came, of course. She is frowning and more intensely than is usually the case, because this is a grave matter beyond casual jocosity or even her usual disapproval, which is in significant part an act.

Besides...

"Alright," Venetia tells Lydia, "I'm calling your bluff." She slaps down eight 500-gella notes from the central bank of Guild Galad.

She stares Lydia in the face.

"Your best," Venetia says, "and I hope you'll share if it's in the pinch of things."

... she got it out of her system.

Here and now, though, her arms are folded loosely, and occasionally she glances towards the northeast. She has been munching on a bread roll, though how much she's enjoying it is an open question. It certainly isn't HURTING. Other than her waistline, maybe, which may soon enough be irrelevant. 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth is summoned. She keeps a pleasant, gentle smile on her face in a time and space where such does not belong, dressed in her usual manner of being somewhere between 'experienced Drifter' and 'outright pauper.' This is relatively normal behavior on the surface, and that this is consistently being maintained speaks to something already well-understood about what she keeps down.
 
     In this moment, she's uncomfortably alive with the prospects of what is bound to follow, as she looks upon Lydia's little well-placed final sales pitch. Compared to Venetia, she mostly puts down coinage for a suspiciously specific array of status-related items.
 
     After which, a look around the room, taking in the individual stresses, distresses, and tensions as she takes her place around the middle-sides of the table. She closes her eyes in wait for the briefing to begin. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    This is it, then. The day of wrath, when Vinsfeld brings his weapon to bear against two worlds. Ida was going to have one tense conversation with her family, but ended up having another: her mother, father, and aunt were adamant on staying in Guild Galad. They had the means to leave, but so many didn't; civil defense has become a paramount matter, no matter how futile it might be in the face of the Heimdall Gazzo.

    Ida respects that, but at the same time, it makes her sick with worry. Everyone is experiencing this, at least. Ida promised Medli she'd take care of herself, and wouldn't put herself in any unnecessary danger, but she wonders if the current situation will make a liar of her.

    But, as Eleanor pointed out: she's not alone.

    Ida leans against the back of a bank of consoles, clad from neck to foot in gold-and-black combat armor, minus gloves. Those are in a holding pouch; she eats a glazed donut delicately, nibble by nibble. It's unquestionably delicious, but Ida sometimes has to force herself to eat when she's under stress, and now is one of those times. Her attention is torn between Josie (why is she here?) and Lydia's money-grubbing. (Ida did her preparations over the weekend, in Sylvaland.)

    Part of her wonders if this will be the last time she sees those beautiful forests alive and thriving. Or if this will be the last time she walks through the old, proud halls of Meria. Or if this will be the last time she descends the Devil's Stair into the thriving, clanging heart of her hometown.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth had been on Spira when he saw Heimdall Gazzo fire. Now he's returned to Filgaia. And so has the Heimdall Gazzo, and not with much terribly worse arrival time. It's difficult to say which is more terrifying: how powerful Heimdall Gazzo showed itself to be, or how that power was not enough to destroy even Sin.

But in this life, there are those that can be called comrades. Companions. Friends. And one of his he can trust to help deal with the Sin situation. For his part, he'll do what he can to assist in preventing another attack and putting an end to the threat of it looming over both worlds. Because next time, Azoth suspects, Sin won't be Vinsfeld's next target.

He does not arrive at Valeria Chateau empty handed. Empty armed? (ARMed! No.) With a performative 'hup', Azoth hauls in a large, technological device -- a familiar looking piece of tech to anyone who has seen one of the Lumen Capsules, though currently folded and compacted without its long cylinder to make it more cumbersome than it already is. Presumly it's a button press away from being able to fit a whole Kamui in it. Despite the size (and weight), Azoth sets it down with barely a gentle sound. He glances toward Varius and Avile.

"A delivery for Marivel," he says quietly. "Experimental antiviral..." He frowns. Its delivery means Marivel doesn't plan to see Kamui herself. But is also means, despite everything, Kamui's suffering won't go forgotten.

Azoth quiets, dimming his own lighting, as if it'll make him even 'quieter', while he reviews the monitors. 

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

Irving stares, for a moment, at Lydia's wagon. Then, he clears his throat: "Please keep it down," he says. "We have important business." He glances at his guards. "Miss Vuong, Mister Winchester, I will need your full attention now."

Xiumei glances at Eleanor -- near the front, not at her side -- before she eats a scone from Ashley. It wouldn't be a meeting at Valeria Chateau without them. She takes a bite, before she looks at Josephine.

She can keep an eye on her. For Eleanor's sake.

She looks at Clarine, then she flashes a nervous smile at her.

Then, she looks at Azoth -- and the capsules -- and her eyes widen. "That's--thank you, Azoth. That's wonderful. We'll need that..."

"Good work." Varius sounds worried. "Especially under the circumstances. We'll get it to her soon as we can."

Irving looks over all of them, before he nods. "Heimdall Gazzo will be able to begin directing fire on Filgaian targets within twenty-four hours," he says. "Marivel is currently... unavailable. As such, it's vital that we move upon Heimdall Gazzo. Filgaia has a future with it, but not one I care to entertain."

He looks over them. "We're going to fly the Chateau to it," he says. "We've readied the same cannons we used for the Warwing Varukias. We've modified them with designs from Shevat to pierce its armor -- and with a barrier, drawn from Zeboim Federation designs, that we think will work."

He frowns. "Moreover... there's been a disturbance with Kamui. We lost communications with Tishrei two hours ago. We need to finish this quickly, so we can help her, too. Vinsfeld has given us quite the list of problems. All the more reason we cannot be deterred."

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor is not eating at the moment, perhaps the truest sign of all of her poor mood. Not even Ashley's scones can entice her now.

Eleanor doesn't pay much attention to anything but the meeting at hand, either. To Josie, of course. To Xiu. But mostly to Irving. "...Thank you," she says to Azoth, of the machine. And then she looks back to Irving. Within twenty-four hours...

"Very well," Eleanor says. "And this barrier will shield us long enough to reach the ship?"

She considers. Kamui...

"Yes. We cannot abandon her. But neither can we let Filgaia be taken under the sway of the Heimdall Gazzo. I..."

She hesitates, and shaeks her head. It's better not to share her visions in this company, at this time.

"I will go, of course." Pause. "As for Marivel, this is what we trained for. We knew she would be not with us all the time. It's up to us." 

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren waves at Josie because Josie shot her in the face once and Lydia is over it now but if you can't wave at someone who shot you in the face, who can you wave at? Honestly it's all bygones being bygones for her now because far worse has been done to her at this point than being shot in the face. Somehow being molten down into goo makes it all seem like a fun story for her now.

Ashley shows up first to buy buy buy! Fortunately Lydia is being serious about using low prices. She actually does want her buddies to win here! Odessa sucks!!

And sure, she technically doesn't need to eat but she likes doing it.

"Sounds good! This..." Lydia pulls out a badge shaped like a frog then shrugs and tosses it over her shoulder. "Eh that's probably nothing. Not for a big buyer like you. Let's see..."

"This..." She raises up a purpleish rock. "This is a moonstone. It protects you...against being poison." She offers it to Ashley in exchange for money. "And these... These are SUNGLASSES. They protect your eyes from uh. Being blinded. But be careful--wearing too many accessories at once turns them into outfits, not accessories, so they don't work as well then."

She bobs her head at that. "I've got one orange bottle, one apple bottle... Two antidotes--you know for buddies--and a Bullet Load for refilling your bullets nice and quick."

She shoves them all off ot Ashley. "Thank you for buying from Lydia Seren's Symposium of Sales."

She then turns to Venetia. "The best.....what?" She asks. Then she frowns and pulls out what looks like a witch's hat. "I hear this boosts...your magical ability! Though perhaps your magic ability... is already at max?" She is not above flattering wizards. "I also have a carrot. A foooorce carrot..."

She wiggles her fingers spookily.

She brightens upon seeing Azoth. "Azzy!" Lydia waves an arm at him. "I got you something too!"

She holds up a ... tiny piko hammer.

"It cures 'Forgetfulness'... So I hear!" She won't even charge him!

Actually the fact that Lydia kept whalloping Ethius in the head... Maybe her belief in the power of this tiny hammer explains the why as to why she thought hitting Ethius in the help would HELP him.

When Irving tells her to quiet down, her face silvers faintly and she's gotta half a mind to yell at Irving that THE MAN can't tell her what to do before she realizes that most of the people here work for THE MAN in question and yes altogether they probably could tell her what to do since she'd be really embarrassed and sad and probably curl into a literal ball...! So she just quiets down.

Her eyes widen. She had forgotten that the Chateau flies. She gets the Steven Universe eyes for a moment.

She gives Eleanor a thumbsup. Kamui...told her she was cool! So she wants her to be okay too! 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

Xiumei flashes Clarine a nervous smile and, for a moment, Clarine's serious expression fades. She returns her smile with a calm, reassuring smile of her own. She can understand why she's nervous. She looks toward Azoth briefly, too. Experimental antiviral...? She doesn't quite get it at first, but Xiumei and Varius's words clarify the situation.

"Oh, that is... Thank you so much." Clarine replies, eyes widening. She quiets, though, as Irving begin to speak.

...Twenty-four hours... That is really not a lot of time at all for a mission like this, is it? Irving explains the plan and Clarine's expression falters, just a little.

"So, we will be shot out of a cannon once more. ...I suppose it cannot be helped." Clarine says a bit reluctantly. However, what he says next is... alarming.

"Kamui...!? Tishrei is..." Clarine murmurs with a frown. Worry for her friend takes over for a moment. She exhales as a centering gesture and nods. "...Yes, of course. We must act swiftly and decisively - for Kamui's sake, and the sake of both worlds." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    A third unusual happening earns Ida's attention soon enough. The heiress casts a curious eye on Azoth, but only for a moment--the greater curiosity at the moment is what he's carrying. "Thank goodness," she says, as Azoth explains what it is. "And thank you, Azoth." She knows DELTA is a personal issue for him, as well--deeply personal. He's doing this at great risk to his own integrity.

    Ida falls silent as the briefing begins. The plan... is quite similar to how they took down the Warwing, and Ida remembers how that turned out. For a moment, she considers asking if there's an escape plan if they can't somehow land the battleship. Then--

    "Oh God," Ida whispers. "She's succumbed." Horror widens her eyes. "Do you have any idea where she could have gone?" Her eyes dart to Azoth, then Clarine.

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    Eyes are on her, sure enough. In another situation, Josie might have gone so far as to wink back in response or even grin in response, but her attention is on the man of the moment, so to speak.

    Irving Valeria, someone who, under different circumstances not all that long ago, she might have been attempting to kill, instead. But circumstances change, and, hell, it's not like she ever bore him even remotely any sort of grudge.

    They have twenty-four hours.

    "Well, ain't that a fix," Josie drawls at last. Her gaze breaks from Irving and she glances about the conference room. "Guess it's time to address the elephant in the room, yeah?" She gestures towards herself. "Used to be with Odessa, sure enough, but it weren't nothin' personal holdin' me there. Not as such, anyhow. Besides, I ain't in their good graces now. Might've killed Antenora," she explains, unable to keep from cracking a slight grin at that fact. "On purpose, mind. And, well. Guess if there's anything else you want knowin', I ain't got any reason to hold back."

    But back to the matter at hand--

    "...So this place flies, huh? Wouldn't mind havin' a look or three at that machinery." Josie seems wistful, nearly. A damn shame she couldn't have an intimate look at it, say, with a hacksaw and a set of screwdrivers.
    Perhaps once the world is saved. 

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
In the preamble, Venetia frowns towards Lydia. Perhaps also towards herself. She tilts her head forwards, even as the hat is offered. "Not my style," she says. "Potions or other healing items, if you don't mind; I'll also take spiritual refreshers." Venetia, of course, doesn't know what an "MP" or "TP" is, even if she may have awareness of the general parameters of her own 'tank.'

Given the choice: She stocks up on Ethers.

One never knows.

But then now there is gravity.

Irving speaks to them. Venetia focuses, naturally, on him -- and perhaps only him. He speaks of just what sort of straits they are in. Armitage out; a tight timeline. The venture is dire, and she thinks to herself: How long can this luck I've had hold out? She also thinks to herself: This is a very flaky roll. I should have gotten some water to go with it.

Lost contact with Kamui. "Horrid," Venetia says with a faint sigh, "and now we're in the pinch. Well, it can't be helped. First one thing then the other; we'll just have to strive to -"

A pause.

Venetia rewinds her mental filmstrip.

Her brow knits.

"I'm sorry," Venetia says, "you're going to what the Chateau? You mean the building itself and not - I don't know, some Shevati craft you've -- no, you mean the building itself."

This seems to shut her up for the moment, as if considering the prospect. 

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    Ruth listens to the briefing with her one good ear (her right). She has already lived a time where her homeland of the fallen kingdom of Celesti let itself be blown apart by any opportunistically unearthed Zeboim weapon anyone could get their hands on. None of that compares to what Heimdall Gazzo could, can, and will do - but that she already has something of a taste of what it all might be like is in its own way grounding.
 
     ...If one uses 'grounding' in a rather liberal way, anyway.
 
     Eleanor's hesitation to speak doesn't go unnoticed, as the Hellion's eyes open like a beast caught a scent of prey. (This is not exactly untrue.) It takes her a moment to start accepting the other senses of the world around her. Hearing, sight... smell, in the case of delicious baked goods.
 
     "I know where I am best suited." Ruth says, keeping her gaze level towards Eleanor but not quite meeting her eyes. Her right hand squeezes, feeling both the glove and the rosary tied around her right forearm as she says this. With all the dread about Kamui's well-being...
 
     "Don't forget how DELTA was described," she says, all too level as if saying this were to prevent herself from succumbing to the weight of it. "We need to let her keep a world surrounded by something other than... sorrow, ruin, pleading for a release and rescue that will never come."
 
     She is notably silent about the idea of the Chateau flying. She didn't know, but... she's keeping herself occupied on the tension. 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

With Ida's gratitude, Azoth rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "It's not as much as I wish I was doing." Perhaps because it's so personal.

Azoth nods to Xiumei and to Varius. "I know it would have been better to get it there directly. But with that thing in the sky..." He smiles, but it fades to a wince. There was not a lot of time for going back and forth.

And as Irving points out, the calculation on urgency was not wrong. Azoth has come to prefer being wrong. Twenty-four hours. It fits with what they knew of the weapon. But then there's more bad news about Tishrei. He gives a flinch and a startled, distorted beep.

"Wait, what?!"

Nevermind, Azoth should have gone straight there...! Or would that have only caused more problems, given DELTA...? Calculations catch up with him and he droops with a sad beep. Finishing this quickly is the only option now. And it's exactly as Ruth says: DELTA's nature means there has to be a world worth returning to, or the virus will only worsen.

"...Yes, you're right," he says to her softly.

He looks up as Lydia calls to him, lights brightening just a smidge at first, then back fully online with the offering of... a piko hammer. Azoth accepts it with a single blink, then smiles brightly at Lydia. "Thank you. Hm. I think I'll save it until there's something in particular I'm trying to remember."

It it can't cure all the amnesia, maybe it can be the last push he needs against a specific forgetfulness.

With the respite to process, Azoth turns back to Irving. "I know I'm not of ARMs, but... I'll give everything I can. For Filgaia and for Kamui."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

"Much obliged!" Ashley tells Lydia, setting a clinking satchel of silver on the cart counter... After picking out a few coins to make sure the value is right. "Thanks," he says gratefully, "We've got no idea what's waiting for us up there. So anything we can stock up on while we have the chance is good."

But the briefing is to begin, and Irving is being relatively civil today, so Ashley obliges him. The gunslinger takes his seat at the table, stashing his new purchases away in his inventory pouches.

He briefly considers the moonstone. Maybe after all of this is done, he can do something with this...?

...

"An antiviral...? For Kamui...!" Ashley lights up, briefly distracted again from the mission briefing by genuinely good news. Even if what follows is a whole host of bad news. The kind of news that sits in your gut and occupies it like an old, squatting grimalkin and claws at your insides until you just want to curdle up and sleep the end of the world away.

So not only is Heimdall Gazzo a threat... But now Tishrei has gone dark, and with the message that Kamui left still at the front of his brain, he's sure it can't be for anything good.

And they only have twenty four hours.

Ashley slowly exhales, his breath hissing out through his nose. "Right. We'll get it done. We've not got any other choice." 

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"It should," Irving says. He hesitates, before he looks at Clarine. "Clarine, we've also incorporated ether enhancers. We believe we could combine the barrier with your magic -- which should maintain it against the impact. Can we get your assistance with this?"

Maybe it will make her feel better about being shot out of a cannon.

Xiumei swallows. She looks sick when Ida says that Kamui succumbed; it doesn't take that for her to think this is all her fault. She already did. Her green eyes widen, until she lowers her head. Light reflects off them, glinting and hiding her eyes. "I... I don't know."

She puts her face in her hands, and does her best to hide from the world. Which is awkward, when she's sitting next to Azoth, and hearing the rawness of his shock.

"It's hard to say. DELTA doesn't make Kamui stop being Kamui... but its influence could give her any idea." Avile's voice wavers. "It doesn't matter. Azzy gave us what we need. We're going to save her. And like Ruth said -- that starts with protecting this world for her!"

Her Biometal, floating near Azoth, pulses with light.

Irving frowns, as he considers this. Then, he looks at Eleanor. He hesitates for only a moment. "Eleanor, you will be in command of this operation. Marivel has prepared you well," he says. Then, he looks at Ashley, nodding after him. "Ashley, you will be second in command -- and Vinsfeld is fearsome, with little to live for. We're placing our faith in you, when it comes to a fight."

He looks to Ruth, nodding. "We'll rely on you. And you," he says, with a glance as Josephine. "I don't know if you seek redemption. But if you're of a mind to, it's a fine time."

Then, he looks at Venetia. Irving hesitates for only a moment -- before he smiles. "Yes. About that..."

He nods. The windows are opened -- the room brightens, as sunlight comes in -- and they can see soemthing odd, outside. There is light flaring in lines about the grounds of the Chateau. Then, a rumbling -- and the whole manor, grounds and all, begin to lift into the air. The teacups and plates on the tape rattle with it.

"Always save a trump card," Irving says, with a smile.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor is disturbed and upset about Kamui--she's worried. But she has to put the matter of her feelings to the side in order to be ready to act. And action is what is required here. The elephant in the room, though. Eleanor looks to Josie. "She's proven her willingness to help to me," Eleanor says of her. "That much we can count on."

"Xiu..." Eleanor looks to Xiumei, and worries at her openly. But Azoth... Yes, what they need.

"Gami is making preparations as well," Eleanor says of the gentle giant who works with ARMS at times. "She mentioned it to me."

But Irving considers, and--

"I understand," Eleanor says of being in command. Of Ashley at her second. The fight... yes. Ashley is much more in a fight than she could be. But she has her own talents, that will be of aid here.

The room brightens...

"No going back now," Eleanor says, and starts to rise, looking around the room. "Unless you fancy a long jump." 

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia hands Venetia the carrot. "Trust me." She says in an untrustworthy tone.

She looks to Xiumei for a moment but--she doesn't know her well enough to tell what she's thinking, just that she clearly isn't in a great space. She grins at 'AVile' though, also having no idea what that is, but what she does know is that AZZY is catching on and that makes her thrilled.

"Wow, Kamui totally is cool if she's got all these buddies fighting for her." Lydia says.

The chateau starts shaking.

"Yessssss..... Super Floating Fortress....!"

She's trying to keep quiet but there's this undercurrent of 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' that just isn't going away.

"Good thinking," She murmurs to Azoth. "Mess 'em up real good, okay?"

She grins. "Man it's a relief knowing I can't accidentally order you around anymore so I can just say shit and it's just like... Friend Talk."

She beams happily. She gets to be with her good buddy Azoth AND fly in some kinda mecha house? YES. Best day ever. Er, well, aside from the Kamui stuff. It'll probably be fine!

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

The ground shakes, quakes, trembles. Ashley glances over his shoulder, at the distant cityscape of Meria falling below the lip of the windowsill. They're flying. The Chateau was a flying fortress all this time. Of course it was, dangit Valeria. But nevertheless, he nods. He's second in command of this mission. To say it's a heavy responsibility is a bit of an understatement. But... "Got it. I'll do my best to make sure we all have a home to go back to, once this is all over."

"I don't suppose we have any intelligence about the kind of hell we're going to be walking into?" Ashley arches a brow Irving-ward. "If the Al-Bhed had any old plans for the Heimdall Gazzo lying around that we might have been able to get our hands on or... Something like that? Or will we just have to fight our way to the bridge the hard way?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Xiumei is suffering. Ida can't overlook that, even though it seems like everyone is. "We'll get through this," the heiress says, and there is steel beneath the gentleness in her voice. She turns to Avile's Biometal, and nod. "Well said, Avile." Logistics. Ida finishes her last bite of donut, and dabs her hands on a napkin as she listens. Ruth's words hang in the back of her head all the while.

    Somewhere along the way, Ida came to acknowledge what everyone knew: the world was dying. Even further along that way, she became determined to give it the future it deserved.

    The floor shakes. China rattles on the table. "Oh," Ida says, eyes lighting up with surprise. "Is there no end to what this place can do?" But there's an undercurrent of fierceness in that. There is only one way forward, now, and it is violent. They have to take it, for the sake of the millions of lives at stake.

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"Indeed," Venetia concurs with Ruth. If she seems distracted it's because she's just realizing she's in a building that, apparently, can fly. "There's plenty of bad out there; no need to go searching for more. There is plenty that's quite indifferent; and of course, plenty that's good as well."

But an antiviral -- Venetia glances to the side, back up towards Azoth. "I won't even try to ask," she says to him, "but for Kamui's sake-- thank you. If I can help, I will." The thought crosses her mind: Shouldn't they prioritize?

Should they? Venetia doesn't know. Priorities are a decision. There is clear evidence that Venetia has met eye to eye that making decisions is a potential trap. Perhaps if you start prioritizing who to save, Venetia reasons, on any sort of a formal basis, you're on the road that has led past people to failure.

And failure, thinks Venetia, is not my business.

The ground begins to shake... the windows open...

And Venetia lets out a laugh. "Well, that's one way to keep yourself focused, isn't it!" she says, straightening up in her seat and reaching behind her head to tug-tight on the knot of her hair ribbon. "Hopefully more than floating," she answers Lydia as she pushes upwards.

Walking over to one of the baskets of baked goods, she picks up another bread roll. "I don't know about the bridge," she answers Ashley a little coolly, "and I suppose on this scale I don't have a reasonable shot of doing more than weakening it before being utterly annihilated; but I'll tell you, Mr. Winchester, that I'm rather sure I can make you a DOOR."

"Or rather," Venetia adds, raising up the bread roll, "a space where a door COULD be - but conspiciously is NOT."

("A hole," Venetia adds, in somewhat smaller letters. "In the ship, I mean. We might not need it.")

"There is one thing this place can't do," Venetia tells Ida, before walking over to clap her on the shoulder.

"Lose!" 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Clarine has posed.

"Ether enhancers..." Clarine repeats consideringly. Her head tilts to the side as she runs that over in her head. Eventually, she nods decisively. "Yes. I believe that should be possible. I shall do everything in my power to protect us."

The knowledge that they'll be trusting her does, in fact, make her feel better. She can't worry about things like that when there's something that needs to be done.

And, Avile assures that they'll save Kamui - and as Ruth says, they need to protect this world so that Kamui has a brighter one to come back to. Clarine nods to both of them in turn.

"...Yes. Well said." She agrees.

And then, the Chateau begins to take off...! Clarine... does not seem to be alarmed by this. Unlike some, this isn't her first time witnessing the Chateau's flight.

"The ingenuity of people truly is astounding, is it not...? To lift a building such as this in the air and allow it to fly..." She remarks brightly. 

<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.

    'I don't know if you seek redemption', says Irving.

    "I don't," Josie says to his face, as bold as can be. "I ain't apologizing for what I did, or why I did it. But I'm here 'cause I also ain't running from it." She pauses, her gaze turning down towards the table.

    "I'm here because that man's broken, and he'll break the whole damn world with it. I'm here because there's little girls who need to have their older sisters come home safely," she finishes, glancing Eleanor's way.

    The floor trembles. Josie can't help but grin, realizing perhaps what is underway.

    "...And there ain't no going back now, anyhow." 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth looks to Xiumei. He can guess what it is she's feeling now, not because it's her fault, but because it's Xiumei. What she's done for Avile and Varius, and what happened that day... As Avile rallies, Azoth gives a firm nod, pulsing his own blue eyes in time with her light as a gesture of solidarity.

"You're right. We'll save her." He smiles again at Xiumei. "... It's DELTA and Vinsfeld that caused all this. Don't get caught up aiming at the wrong enemy." Herself, he means.

To Venetia, his smile is more sheepish. "That may be best. It might take a while to explain..." Ruth had been the one to explain it best before as it was. It's difficult for Azoth to put DELTA into words. "But the faster we get this done, the better for Kamui."

As light fills the room, Azoth gives another startled beep. He rushes to the window, staring out of it as the manor moves, the lights pulse, and dishware threatens to fall. Even under the circumstances, Azoth allows wonder to spread across his face. "Right now, then!"

He sobers a bit, but only a bit, smiling back at Lydia. "Not that it would have been a bad order, in this case. We have a lot of messing things up to do."

<Pose Tracker> Ruth Pauling has posed.

    'We'll rely on you,' Irving says to Ruth. She dips her head a bit. It sounds like they already have the means to help Kamui once a matter is settled...
 
     The castle takes off. Ruth is unmoving, despite it, as Ashley asks the important questions about what they're walking into.
 
     "What we're going into... it can't be measured by how deafening their cannons, or blinding their sorceries, or uncountable their numbers." Ruth says to Ashley without looking him head on. "Of those who are left with one like Vinsfeld... perhaps years ago, they all dreamed of being the one to pull Argetlahm out of the stone. Of risking themselves, their values, to be Heroes."
 
     It's like when Ashley shared his own dreams with her, in a peaceful meeting, back before they managed to find some way to get a powerful Hellion to co-exist with them as a friend and comrade.
 
     "Driven to fight, to kill, to do anything - only to be left with nothing but blood and tears. Again, and again, and again." The irony of how a 'former' soldier like herself didn't get swept up in Odessa isn't lost on her.
 
     "The only way forward to be a Hero for them, then... must be to destroy all the stone unworthy to house it." Another smile. Ashley once spoke of how the people she was seeing to at the time didn't need an angel of death to save them from Guild Galad's encroachment.
 
     She is under no illusion about how she will be seen by the forces that remain, or what value she has to the mission at hand.
 
     "Whatever awaits," she finishes saying to the second-in-command of the operation, "your heart will have to bear it." 

<Pose Tracker> Zhang Xiumei has posed.

"Splendid," Irving answers Clarine. "Then, I have every faith in you. We'll trust in and rely upon you, Lady Clarine."

Irving's eyes turn towards to Josephine. He is quiet, for a moment; then, he nods his head. "I will not argue," he says. "Siblings... rely upon each other. Let's be sure this world can keep them."

Xiumei keeps looking down. Eleanor says her name, and she stays quiet, for a moment. She is one of those people that tends to withdrawn when upset, and that sticks out right now. Her eyes are on the table.

"I..." She looks up, finally, at Ida's words -- and then to Azoth. She meets his glowing eyes, and she nods. "...right," she says. "Thanks, Azoth. I... I'll do my best for her. It's what I promised her."

When Ruth speaks to Ashley, Irving watches. He is silent -- spotting this as a test for him. A statement of ideals; of the past, but also the future for Odessa and them. Irving could say more, but she said what needed to be said.

He nods to her. Then, he looks to Ashley. "I am sure you will. And... no. The Al Bhed had no intelligence on this -- they scarcely knew it was down there. The best we have is vague," he says. "But we can expect Zeboim era automated drones, along with everything that Odessa could possibly throw at us."

He hesitates, before he looks at Venetia, then he smiles. "Just so," he says. "ARMS." He hesitates, then corrects himself, as he considers who all is here. "No, my comrades. Prepare to move. We have a world to save."

<Pose Tracker> Ashley Winchester has posed.

Zeboim-era defenses, and all that Odessa can throw at them. Ashley's lips draw into a tense line. "An escape hole would be useful though," he asides to Venetia. "Either to get in or to get out. Like Irving said, this is going to be a rough one. I'm counting on you, Ven." But Venetia and Irving are not the only ones who have words for him.

Ruth.

That night in Zoara, a powderkeg was defused not with the bayonet of a soldier, but the kindness and honesty of words. Ruth speaks, and Ashley fixes her with an attentive stare. What they're going into...

It's not just security systems or a wall of guns. All of that, the physical obstacles, they can overcome. They can. The fact that he is here means that in the absolute worst case, those obstacles can be overcome.

But it's the weight of things. Of what they might face. Of the burden it will place on the heart-- that's what awaits. Ashley is quiet, and he listens. He listens until Ruth finishes, and then he nods.

"...Yeah," he says with a sad smile. "Those people up there, they're all doing this because they want to be <<Heroes.>> People who carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Forcing peace under their thumb, becoming the tyrants despised by the oppressed-- to save them. Their convictions... I get it."

"I understand," he nods again, more slowly this time. "...We're fighting people. If I have to be a <<Villain>> to save the world I love, I'll do it. Even if I have to destroy their dreams to do it... I have my dreams to chase, too. Thanks, Ruth. I appreciate it. Whatever happens, I'll do my best to carry the weight."

"...I won't let myself fight with hatred in my heart." 

<Pose Tracker> Brad Evans has posed.

"We do," rumbles a voice from the door, affirming Irving's rallying call.

Brad Evans steps in, flicking the last few clamps on his Mechanical Arm, long black hair down past his surprisingly thin waist. "We have lots of people counting on us to stop this from turning into just another tragedy. Filgaia's been dying from those for ages."

He yanks the last one, leather pulling tight, and looks up to all. "Doesn't take a hero to stop it. Doesn't take a villain to fight a man, just another man. Just takes folks willing to step up."

He stomps over to his habitual spot, leaning on the wall, and even his habitually serious face cracks into a shallow smile. "Seems like we got a few of those. Let's go show 'em."

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